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The Power of Simple Stories
In the summer of 2006, I was doing my summer internship with McKinsey in New York. My manager was an MD from a top medical school. One day, he and I were waiting for a cab to visit our client's office. Soon, a cab arrived. But before us, a woman...
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The path to greatness
Learning new skills is hard. Learning daily is hard. But you don't climb Mt. Everest by watching National Geographic. You get there by pushing...
Focus on the Process
As a kid, during our train travels, when we got close to the destination, I would be constantly pestering my parents, "When will the station...
Be a good human being
There is no such thing as 'karma' - good deeds don't always generate tangible rewards. What goes around, need not come around. One might then ask:...
Experience is overrated
When I first met my Inspector General of Police (IGP) after taking charge as Trivandrum Police Commissioner, he went on a rant. He said, "I don't...
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Changing perspectives
A few years ago, I was on a flight from Jaipur to Bangalore. As soon as the flight took off, the plane ran into the kind of turbulence I had never encountered before -- it was getting violently tossed up and down. Sometimes, it felt like the plane...
Overcome FOMO
In the early 2000s, I got into the habit of regularly watching TV. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong per se with that, but at some point, I started feeling anxious that I would miss out on some new episode or some upcoming movie. In those...
Is your time worth $1?
A few years ago, WhatsApp wanted to charge an annual subscription fee of $1 but later gave up on the plan. Why? Had they charged $1 a year, many would have stopped using the app. But let us do the following exercise: 1. Estimate the time we daily...
Companies must encourage focus
If we want employees to do great work, we have to stop expecting them to respond to every email or message instantly, for which they have to constantly interrupt themselves and check their phones/laptops. It is almost like having to open the door...