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Early Struggle Is Not a Signal of Failure
During my tenure at McKinsey, a new colleague got started at the Firm. And in the initial days, this person really struggled despite a stellar academic background. The work in consulting is often ambiguous, and no matter how intelligent you are, it...
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Why Throwing More People at a Problem Makes It Worse
During one of my consulting projects, we had a very influential and intimidating client. So to dazzle him, a lot of senior leaders were added to the...
Remote Work Isn’t the Problem — Fake Work Is
I was recently chatting with a youngster in the US, who told me that his sister has a full-time remote job where she works only one hour a day and...
Why Top Performers Don’t Work More Hours
When I landed as a 1st year student in IIT, I imagined that the all-India toppers would be obsessive bookworms. But not only did they study the same...
Why Constraints Make You a Better Writer (and Thinker)
Back in the days when LinkedIn had a 1300 character limit for posts, writing was a real pain -- I often had to edit out even seemingly essential...
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Why Life Is a Daily Event, Not an Achievement
LinkedIn posts from many successful Civil Service aspirants reminded me of the feeling one often gets on clearing the exam -- that you have arrived at the final goalpost. That there is nothing more to be done -- life will now be on cruise control....
Why Work Expands to Fill All the Time You Give It
During my consulting stint in New York, I had two Jewish colleagues who observed Sabbath and would leave office sharp at 5 pm on Friday. And for the next 24 hours they were unreachable. And this was in a firm where late nights, long hours, and fast...
The Highest ROI I Ever Got From Writing One Page
When I applied for my MBA, my monthly government salary was comparable to one day's cost of my MBA. But thankfully, that year, Wharton constituted a $40,000 Emerging Economy Fellowship. So, on an online discussion forum, I asked one of the...
Why Most Business Problems Are Not Analytical Problems
Before my MBA, I used to think that business "problem solving" was about analytical thinking. But during my consulting days, and then as an entrepreneur, here is what I figured out: 1. Human emotions and ego create a vast number of "business...