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How to Handle Multiple Urgent Tasks Effectively
In my first job (in the Civil Services), virtually every task marked for my personal attention was 'urgent.' And then, the next task would also be, unsurprisingly, urgent. Some days, I got so fed up that having a law and order problem almost came...
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There Are No Shortcuts in Financial Markets
A few months ago, a youngster (in mid-twenties) working in a tech role asked me how to get a job in a PE fund. When I asked him why he wanted to do...
Why Nobody Tells the Truth About Their Jobs
One of the culture shocks I got on joining the corporate world (on transitioning from government) was that nobody tells you the truth about their...
The Power of Youthful Ignorance: Why Naivety Sometimes Wins
Fresh out of college, in my very first job, I picked up a fight with a powerful figure in Kerala over a very small matter. Clearly, I had little...
Why Action Is the Only Way Forward
This may be unpopular but let me say it. If you have to climb a mountain, at some point, you need to start climbing. Yes, you can watch all the...
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The Silent Shift Already Reshaping the Workforce
I am not hearing good things. From New York to Singapore, whoever you talk to, is talking about job losses. And the driving force is not economic recession, but almost certainly AI. We were debating whether AI will take jobs away. That debate is...
Prestige, Power, and the Hidden Costs
Yesterday, more than half a million people in India wrote the Civil Services exam, to compete for a few hundred jobs. From my firsthand experience, I can vouch that the kind of responsibilities these jobs give you while still in your twenties is...
How the “Urgent” Culture Is Killing Productivity
In my consulting days, we saved a client a few million dollars with a simple recommendation. This company was spending $10 million plus on postal mail, mostly on overnight/express delivery that cost 3 to 10 times more than normal (and slower)...
Can Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World?
Can generalists thrive in this new world order? To answer this, let me go back to the McKinsey I saw a decade and a half ago, which was full of generalists. Even specialists were hired as generalist consultants. For example, it was common to see...