An ex-colleague used to show up at work with a Tumi bag. When I learned how atrociously expensive these things were, I asked him, "Why did you buy this? Was it worth it?" This guy had bought it while working with a top-tier private equity fund, which paid insanely. He...

About half of the IAS/IPS officers who reach out to me ask me about career opportunities outside the Services. Of course, there is an obvious self-selection here (why else would they reach out to an ex-Civil Servant). Yet, the number of dissatisfied people in highly...

During my tenure at McKinsey, a new colleague got started at the Firm. And in the initial days, this person really struggled despite a stellar academic background. The work in consulting is often ambiguous, and no matter how intelligent you are, it takes a while to...

A packed calendar seems like the ultimate productivity hack. Yet, it is a terrible idea. Here is why. When your calendar is packed, your mind feels a time scarcity, as if someone is constantly whispering -- "Hurry up! There is not enough time." Soon, it starts...

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 our friends who...

Is consulting the best training ground for future CEOs? I think the answer is complicated. Consultants are very good at getting to quick first-cut answers, without boiling the ocean. And that's an incredibly valuable skill for any business leader, including a CEO. But...

During one of my consulting projects, we had a very influential and intimidating client. So to dazzle him, a lot of senior leaders were added to the team. And what was the end result? A top-heavy team, which resulted in the poorest work I have done in my consulting...

I was recently chatting with a youngster in the US, who told me that his sister has a full-time remote job where she works only one hour a day and is seemingly having a gala time! But for now, she is discharging her responsibilities just fine and nobody has a problem....

When I landed as a 1st year student in IIT, I imagined that the all-India toppers would be obsessive bookworms. But not only did they study the same hours as everyone else, the were also involved in a lot of extra curricular activities. In that case, what explained...

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 stunted by these...

LinkedIn posts from many successful Civil Service aspirants reminded me of the feeling one often gets on clearing the exam -- that you have arrived at the final goalpost. That there is nothing more to be done -- life will now be on cruise control. No it won't. You...

During my consulting stint in New York, I had two Jewish colleagues who observed Sabbath and would leave office sharp at 5 pm on Friday. And for the next 24 hours they were unreachable. And this was in a firm where late nights, long hours, and fast email response was...

When I applied for my MBA, my monthly government salary was comparable to one day's cost of my MBA. But thankfully, that year, Wharton constituted a $40,000 Emerging Economy Fellowship. So, on an online discussion forum, I asked one of the admissions officers and she...

Before my MBA, I used to think that business "problem solving" was about analytical thinking. But during my consulting days, and then as an entrepreneur, here is what I figured out: 1. Human emotions and ego create a vast number of "business problems". This would...

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 much better off as an investor." Many of us revolted -- how could she say that? Aren't entrepreneurs the richest people...