Latest Post
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 stuff to fit the character limit. Today, with a 3,000 character limit, your creativity is no longer...
Recent Posts
Digital Distractions, ADHD, and the Attention Crisis
These days, every other person seems to have ADHD. I am not a psychiatrist but ADHD is a real medical condition that requires proper therapy and...
Give Bad News Early: Why Hiding Problems Backfires at Work
During my consulting days, we had project reviews every 2-3 days. And every review felt like a final exam -- you wanted to blow the audience away...
Not All Failures Are Equal
Everybody says, "Embrace failure." Sounds such bullshit, right? But here is the thing that we don't talk about. There are two kinds of failure: Type...
A Negotiation Win That Didn’t Feel Like Victory
In my 'Negotiations' course at Wharton, we had a live negotiation exercise, where I had to sell a boat (or something like that) to another student....
More Articles
Micromanagement Is Not What You Think It Is
When I was working with a private equity fund, some of the companies we invested in were performing poorly. So what was our response? We would start doing monthly 'performance review' calls to put pressure on the management to act faster and...
Why Staying Small Became My Biggest Advantage
When I became a first-time entrepreneur, one question I dreaded was: "How big is your team?" Because everyone was trying to size you up. And my startup was practically just me. 😬 Embarrassed, I craved the day when I would be leading a large team....
The Real Reason My First EdTech Startup Failed
I expected my first EdTech startup to crash but for not for the reasons it did -- here is what happened. In the early days, my biggest worry was -- what if so many users show up that the website crashes? I had endless discussions about technology...
The Day You Stop Learning, You Become a Know-All
Just before I was leaving the Civil Services for my MBA, I went to say farewell to many of the senior folks I knew. One of them said that he also wanted to attend some program for senior executives at a US university, but only to network, not to...