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When Bad Luck Turns Out to Be a Blessing
In the 2008 financial crisis, most of my MBA classmates working in Wall Street lost their jobs. The rout started with Bear Stearns going bankrupt and ended with Lehman Brothers' collapse. When the first set of layoffs happened, we felt terrible for...
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Why Entrepreneurship Makes No Financial Sense
In a VC finance course at Wharton, our professor said, "On a risk-adjusted basis, becoming an entrepreneur does not make financial sense -- you are...
The Costly Startup Lesson That No MBA Teaches
When I launched my first startup, we urgently needed some cash to keep the company alive. So I roped in a world-renowned expert to conduct a pretty...
The Real Meaning of Consistency in Habit Building
If you fail in building habits, the most likely culprit will be a misunderstanding of what consistency really is. We think that consistency is like...
The Invisible Currency That Makes Teams—and Markets—Work
When I was first exposed to the trading floor of a global bank (as a consultant), I learned about a curious phenomenon. Traders would sell or buy...
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Don’t Let 3 AM Donkeys Define Your Work Ethic
When I started my policing career, a fellow officer heading another police unit started working in office till 3 am! He would come home, have dinner, and then again push off to work. Whenever we had review meetings with our boss, he would flaunt...
The Conspiracy of Silence Around High-Paying but Torturous Jobs
After my MBA, whenever I met my classmates in New York, the way they described their jobs (especially in investment banking), it sounded like a house of horrors. Some were getting 24 hours of sleep -- per week! And when people around you are so...
Stop Normalizing 14–18 Hour Workdays
To anyone who thinks it is ok to overwork people for 14-18 hours a day: In the name of God, please stop! If you want to work those long hours, please feel free. But stop normalising it and even worse, prescribing it as a "character-building...
How the Modern Grind Is Wrecking Young Professionals
I recently met a young member of my extended family who was looking overweight and out of shape, with deteriorating posture. It was a shocker because as a kid, he was solidly built like a rock and was very sporty. I asked him, "What happened?" He...