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The Secret of Confidence: Focus on What You Know
As a rookie consultant at McKinsey, before the final client presentation, I used to feel very jittery. No matter how much work I had done, there would be so many things we were not sure of -- what if the client asked about them? But the senior...
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The Power of Problem-Solving Under Pressure
During my consulting days, whenever we felt unclear about what to do next, my panic would start rising. And my instinct would always be to push...
How Morning Routines Shape Your Day
Many of us live by default -- not by choice. After waking up, we all default to some behaviors, e.g., hanging out with a cup of coffee, going to the...
How to Stay Calm in a Crisis
The first time I fired a 9mm Browning pistol was at Mussoorie's Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy. The instructor lined up five of us, 10 yards from the...
The Real Struggle Is in the Mind, Not the Body
I came across a video of the Indian Army special forces training, in which the soldiers have to run 100 km, with a 17 kg load. I thought it was...
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Why “Retire Early” Is an Empty Fantasy
When I launched my first startup, on the way to my rented office in Mumbai's Bandra, I would see a house where two retired-looking men would be sitting, listening to vintage Goanese and English songs. Their faces had no joy, no expression. All they...
The Most Overlooked Learning Tool: Note-Taking
The most effective tool for learning is also the most overlooked -- taking notes. We often assume that we should take notes so we can refer to them later. That is NOT the best reason, especially in today's age when ChatGPT can summarize things and...
Why People Struggle Without Mentoring
During my MBA program, I became a student consultant for local businesses in Pennsylvania, as part of a University-run initiative. And like most of my fellow student consultants, I was pretty useless. Here is why. The program implicitly assumed...
The Hidden Cost of Recurring Meetings
My last project at McKinsey was a very high-profile one -- the client was a vertical CXO at a large global bank. The goal was to flesh out their overall corporate strategy. So naturally, many bigwigs were involved and because of our collective...