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Beyond Exam Charades
During the compulsory military training in Taiwan, recruits are seemingly trained with a singular objective – to pass the exams. When practicing the bayonet drill, you practice a chant for each movement, which is what they will test for in the...
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Unlocking happiness with gratitude
In sixth grade, I started wearing glasses, and then began my nightmare. While playing, I would get sweaty and the glasses would keep slipping and...
Conquering with consistency
In my first year programming course in Pascal at IIT Kanpur, I learned a few life lessons -- some of which I regretted for a long time. In the first...
Mindset for accomplishment
In 2009, during my consulting days, a team member who was a former US Army officer, once casually told me that she would be running a marathon the...
Choosing to be grateful
I have never envied anyone more than this guy I met one evening in 2008, near New York City. He was the brother-in-law of a friend, who introduced...
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If not now, when?
Years ago, I was talking to a contemporary from an IIT, who was well-settled, working in a good, stable tech company, with a good salary. He didn’t mind the job even if he wasn’t madly in love with it. During our chat, he started talking about a...
Prioritizing customer happiness
A private equity fund I know, once invested in a startup led by a rockstar CEO -- or so we were told. The startup raised seed capital of $100 million on day 1 -- no kidding. Flush with money, they had a private jet parked at London’s Heathrow...
To lie or not to lie
When I was recruiting during my MBA at Wharton, people said that if an interviewer asks whether you have other job offers, always say ‘yes.’ The logic is that if other companies have offered you jobs, then it shows that you are a strong candidate....
Best work comes from not burning out
Twice in my life, I have worked 6 months or more, without a single day's break. Here is what happened. The first time, I was serving as the Trivandrum City Police Commissioner, facing a near-daily political circus, agitation, and rioting. Usually,...