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What Yuvraj Singh Teaches Us About Transformation
When I first saw Yuvraj Singh in Bandra Gold's gym in Mumbai, around 2010, he was in poor form and sadly, a little pot-bellied. He was out of favour and "hope" was not in the air. Anyhow, nobody paid much attention, and after some time, he was not...
Recent Posts
How to Handle Multiple Urgent Tasks Effectively
In my first job (in the Civil Services), virtually every task marked for my personal attention was 'urgent.' And then, the next task would also be,...
Why We Remember Challenges More Than Comfort in Life
Whenever I ask people about the best time in their lives, they rarely reminisce about fun stuff (e.g., exotic vacations). More often, I find people...
The Truth About Focus and Productivity
How many people ACTUALLY work 9 to 5? And when I say work, I mean: 1. Working on something you deliberately prioritised (not playing email...
The Price of Dreams: Fear, Risk, and the Life We Don’t Live
Earlier this week, a retired civil servant (IAS officer) dropped in at our house. And during our conversation, she said that on many, many...
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The Real Cost of Hostile Business Environments
Sensing an opportunity created by Karnataka's self-goal (the proposed reservation for locals), Kerala's Industries minister lost no time in inviting businesses to move to Kerala. And it was a truly heartening to hear that but here is a backstory....
Why Great Leaders Know When to Stay Out of the Way
A friend, who used to be a partner at McKinsey, occasionally conducts a training exercise for team effectiveness in which one person has to perform a complicated physical task blindfolded. Everybody else on the team is given some role (e.g.,...
How Framing Shapes Our Happiness and Decisions
I was once listening to a meditation audiobook by Joseph Goldstein, in which he recounted the story of a guy who had moved into a new house where he could hear beautiful bird sounds coming from the basement. And it pleased him no end. But later, he...
Why Company Values Often Fail
During my MBA, an investment bank was visiting the campus for a pre-placement talk. After the talk, students were mobbing the visiting bankers, trying to impress them with earnest-sounding questions. So one of them asked, "What makes your bank...