Mothers

Growing up, when I was facing my life’s first major exam (IITJEE), I was virtually biting my nails. I would often ponder, “What if I don’t make it? Would I have any future?” We were not an affluent family. Nobody in our family had been to college — my sister and...

Recognize excellence beyond academic

My de-facto co-founder at HabitStrong, Nisha Salim, is brilliant but often runs into a problem — she does not have a degree from any tier-1 college. She has been way better than any pedigreed folks we have hired from IIT/IIM etc., but investors have often been...

Small steps for lasting change

When starting my MBA at Wharton, I kept telling myself, “Don’t ruin it again. This is the last chance.” Earlier, I had ruined my 4 years at IIT — bunking classes, always falling behind, cramming before exams to barely get a passing grade. But this time, the...

Micromanagement

It was my most amazing project at McKinsey. And yet, just when things were looking great, they went downhill. Here is what happened. This was the kind of project consulting firms talk about in their advertisement brochures — we were advising the CEO and the...