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Why Yoga Classes Won’t Fix Workplace Stress
When companies feel that their employees are stressed, they organize yoga and meditation classes. But does it address the REAL problem? Is it not yet another bandaid applied on the poor human soul, which is already heavily "bandaided?" People are...
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How to Truly Get Things Done
My favorite childhood author, Robert Louis Stevenson, reportedly burnt the first draft of his bestseller 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.'...
Why Ambitious Plans Often Fail
Whenever my planning has failed, it is because I did it in "Rambo mode." During my student days, I would sometimes set ridiculous goals, e.g.,...
To start a forest fire, it just takes a spark
I received this email from a young lady suffering from depression and severe weight gain, which is preventing her from socializing and living a...
Why Consensus Doesn’t Lead to Greatness
Long ago, during an evening stroll with a retired VC in New York (from Bessemer), I asked him, "What differentiated your best investments from the...
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How Discipline Breaks Down
How does discipline break down? Answer: One exception at a time. But then, how can we be 100% consistent or never make exceptions? That it true -- we can't. However, the real problem is not the imperfection itself, but when we tell ourselves, 'This...
Life Is Finite – Don’t Wait to Live It
Last year, I lost three friends who passed away unexpectedly, including an ex-boss I was close to, whose passing made national news. When you lose friends, it is hard to accept that it is all over. With one of them (Amarnath Raja), I am still...
All our good habits are subject to entropy
As a consultant, I have helped companies cut costs. But 3-5 years later, many of these costs come right back up. In fact, most company initiatives work well for a while, and then, regress. The same thing happens to us individually -- we build new...
Reinvent or Stagnate
One of the consultants at McKinsey I worked with, is today leading McKinsey's digital initiatives. You might say -- naturally, an engineer can't help being an engineer! But this person was NOT an engineer. He was a hardcore Pharma and Lifesciences...