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The Secret of Confidence: Focus on What You Know
As a rookie consultant at McKinsey, before the final client presentation, I used to feel very jittery. No matter how much work I had done, there would be so many things we were not sure of -- what if the client asked about them? But the senior...
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Hidden secret to longevity
Once I wrote a newsletter about a sprightly 101-year-old Navy veteran Commander (retired) Sriramulu, who runs 18 km every alternate day. In...
Do less, focus more
A McKinsey colleague, curious about my policing experience, once asked me, "What was the most difficult aspect of leading a police force?" The...
Perspective is everything
Once I had to visit a cancer hospital in Trivandrum to seek a medical opinion for a friend's father. The hospital was packed with patients, many of...
The Truth About Influencers
Most influencers are lying. They tell you that you can make a 6 or 7-figure income working 2-4 hours a day while chilling on the beaches of...
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How to Find Your Inner Motivation
Today, during a Q&A session I was conducting at Nokia, someone asked -- "How do I find motivation for a task?" A part of the answer is hidden in plain sight -- in your own life. Take this example: Nobody likes filling out forms, waiting in...
The Pain of Growth
Talking about growth mindset has become such a cliche that not a day goes without hearing it. Then why aren't we all adopting that mindset? Because growth does not come free. Take the example of muscle growth -- how does it happen? You go to the...
The Yerkes-Dodson Law
Why do deadlines improve performance? It makes no sense because deadlines create anxiety, which is the enemy of focus and productivity. For that, we need to understand Yerkes-Dodson law. When we have a deadline, our brain releases an alerting...
Pain is Private While Success is Public
What happens when you take a risk? If you succeed, people will sing folklore about you on LinkedIn. And if you get really lucky, Harvard will write a case study, which MBA students will interpret in all kinds of funny ways. But if you fail, you...