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Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.
When you are learning, there is no senior or junior.
I started my MBA 10 years after completing my B Tech. And since most of my classmates were much younger, I felt a bit like a dinosaur (in a not-so-cool way). If fact, I did derive some mischievous pleasure when I found classmates even more experienced – and therefore...
What is holding our country back?
At the private equity fund where I last worked, in about half the investments where we lost money, the culprit was fraud by the promoters (i.e., company owners). In some cases, the promoters blatantly stole more than a hundred crores, but shockingly, not one guy went...
Leadership is not a ticket to comfort and luxury.
For all practical purposes, my first job out of college was to head the Trivandrum City Police as its Commissioner. Prior to that, I had only undergone the IPS training and done a piddly 7 months in a field assignment. But compared to me, my ACPs were battle-hardened...
Life is not a zero-sum game
Envy is an amazing thing. I never envy the British Queen, who has inherited this massive fortune and privilege without having worked for it for even a day. Yet, if our classmates get ahead and do really well in life, we feel a tinge of envy. And the fact remains that...
What freedom feels like
When I left my last job to do a startup, a new reality hit me – no more Car Club pickups, business class flights, expensive hotels, or unlimited travel budget. On the next flight, when I walked into the economy section, it felt a bit weird. But pretty soon, I got used...
What makes us special is our convictions
In early 2009, I attended a townhall at McKinsey. This was just a few months after Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, and the US was still in the midst of a horrible recession. The partners running the meeting assured us that all was well – in fact, McKinsey did not lay off...
Don’t let other people’s judgement decide your life
In the 2nd year of my MBA at Wharton, I asked a finance professor for advice on landing a job with a private equity fund. When he learned that I had only worked as a cop, he told me bluntly – “With your background, it will be very difficult.” I was dejected but since...
The ethics behind profit
Once, while driving in Trivandrum City, I saw a shop with a big banner: 'Margin-free shop’. Presumably, they don't keep any profit margin. On seeing that, you almost get the feeling that 'profit' is a dirty word. In fact, my daughter even asked, "What’s wrong with a...
RDX or Detonator?
If you set fire to a lump of RDX, it does not explode - it just burns harmlessly. To unleash its killer explosive power, all you have to do is - hook it to a detonator (a thin pencil-like explosive device). Similarly, to achieve our life goals, we often already have...
2 AM Warriors
In IIT hostels, most of us were 2 am warriors. We would be routinely awake till 2 or 3 am, and the canteen would be crowded after midnight. That may sound heroic, but hear out the rest of the story before you decide. Since the night was infinitely long (in our mind),...
The Real Mastery is Over our Mind
We want to conquer the world, but what we need real mastery is over our mind. I learnt this lesson when I was in charge of the security arrangments of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s visit.
Distraction = Death
Distraction is death. It’s a bold statement, I know. But there’s a reason why I say it. Read the article to find out more.
Life is too short to not be lived fully
If you’re struggling, or you feel like you’re not living your best life, then this article is for you.
What is it like to be in a state of “flow”?
During the first year of my MBA, as I sat down for the end-semester exam of the Operations Management course, a classmate next to me noisily opened a packet of potato chips. As he started munching, its crackling and rustling sound irritated the hell out of me. How...
Why does the glass appear half empty?
The story of 20-year-old Joe Dimeo receiving the world’s first face and hand transplant got me thinking about how lucky we all are to have our health, yet we do not realize it. Is your glass half full or half-empty?
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Rajan shares insights from his own life journey to help you build better habits in yours.