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Why Even the Smartest People End Up Doing Meaningless Work
An ex-colleague of mine once worked for one of the world's best known private equity funds as an analyst after graduating from Harvard. His job was to make financial models for billion-dollar acquisitions that the fund would typically do. For one...
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All our good habits are subject to entropy
As a consultant, I have helped companies cut costs. But 3-5 years later, many of these costs come right back up. In fact, most company initiatives...
Reinvent or Stagnate
One of the consultants at McKinsey I worked with, is today leading McKinsey's digital initiatives. You might say -- naturally, an engineer can't...
Change Your Defaults, Change Your Life
When you wake up, unthinkingly, you grab your phone and check messages or some social apps. You are doing it for just one reason -- it is your...
Attention Is the Scarce Resource – Not Information
When I was a kid, finishing books was so effortless! But today, it feels much harder even though I spend a lot more time reading. The problem is...
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Conviction – The Real Secret to Success
The secret to making money is out in the open. On websites like Trendlyne, you can find the stock portfolios of India's best public market investors, starting from that of the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. And since these guys are super successful,...
Critical Feedback vs Confidence Management
The most damaging thing you can do to an employee: Give them non-stop critical feedback for even the minutest of things. This claim may sound plain wrong. After all, without critical feedback, how would people improve? True. Honest feedback,...
When Constraints Fuel Strength
During my consulting days in New York, three of us were walking to our client's office for a meeting. One of my colleagues was an Indian-American while the other was Jewish. The Indian-American asked, "Why are so many consultants, lawyers, and...
Real Secret to Success: Keep Restarting
One year back, I received an email from a young lady who was torturing herself for not qualifying the NEET exam. And I receive loads of emails like this. Why do we needlessly torture ourselves for our past failures? Because we don't realize this...