You vs You

I write almost every day, except on Sundays. Some days, the writing flows effortlessly, like water. Ideas just snap-fit into words. Other days, it is like you are dragging a dead body. And yet, the key is to accept both experiences with equanimity. If you are able to...

Knowledge keeps you relevant

When I left the Civil Services to join an MBA program, I found people looking down on technical knowledge as something low-value, meant for the ‘junior guys.’ The senior folks were the ones supposedly creating real value because they could speed-dial an Ambani or a...

Prioritizing learning

At Wharton, in Prof Jeremey Siegel’s class, we had no place to sit for the first 10 minutes since people would crowd for his ‘daily market updates’. He was a rockstar professor but had one quirk — to keep his teaching material exclusive, he would give his course...

Finding luxury in simplicity

On a hillock in the jungles of Tripura, we were assigned small huts for our stay in the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) camp. This was during the IPS training when we were attached to our paramilitary forces for first-hand exposure to counter-insurgency...

Building clarity through journaling

Three years ago, my startup was catastrophically burning cash. We only had cash to pay salaries for 3-4 months. To survive, we had to change the business model. But for that, we needed to survive. It was a catch-22, without a way out. Or at least, that is how I felt....