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Micromanaging
In a project at McKinsey, I was loving it totally until I started hating it. At that time, I had joined the Firm just a few months ago. And when the project started, there was so much to do that my manager gave everybody full autonomy. I did my own...
Recent Posts
Beyond the Startup Drama
The startup world has today become a circus. Once, ‘startup’ meant innovation. Today it has become this drama of VC funding, valuation, unicorn,...
The Power of Daily Meditation
I have been working out regularly for more than a decade but it took years of struggle to make meditation a daily habit. Without guidance, it was...
Handling difficult life-situations
In 2003, I was facing a potentially career-ending crisis. A group of tribals from northern Kerala landed in Trivandrum and started agitating. As the...
Happiness from Within
In investment banking and Wall Street jobs, the ‘bonus day’ is an interesting one -- everybody gets a cash windfall. Naturally, they should all be...
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Life is unpredictable
When I joined the Indian Police Service, I was in for a big disappointment -- I was assigned to serve in the Kerala cadre for the rest of my life. Folklore says that for the Civil Services, the north Indian states are ‘good cadres’ -- good...
Grind Leads to Success
Two decades ago, when I was serving as in the police, I saw the current Kerala Chief Minister, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan, personally lead a protest ‘dharna’ before the Trivandrum Collectorate. At that time, his party was in the opposition. He was...
Life Beyond Resumes
Having pretty much wasted my 4 years at IIT without learning much, I was determined to not repeat that mess, ever. So when I joined my MBA, I was focused and doing well academically. But it created another problem -- I became greedy for top grades...
Too Much is Too Much
Two decades ago, during a lunch at some government function, I first met Mr. Karunakaran, former Chief Minister of Kerala. On his plate, there was just one appam (a dosa-like item) with some vegetable stew. Seeing him eat so little, I later asked...