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How to succeed in the workplace?
To succeed in the workplace (and even in your personal life), here are some things you should never say: 1. No offence. Why is this a bad idea: Saying ‘no offence’ after saying something offending is like slapping a person and saying, ‘No slap.’ It...
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Change your beliefs
Two decades ago, I was sitting with a good friend and college senior who had recently relocated to Trivandrum after a PhD in the US. He was talking...
90% of the battle
I don’t need the motivation to run 10km — I need just enough to put on my running shoes. 90% of the battle is getting started. Yet, sometimes, even...
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?...
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...
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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...
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...
Be your best
On the National Police Academy parade ground, our assistant drill instructor, head constable Ram Singh, would bark at us like he was General Patton. And even a millisecond delay in obeying his command would invite his rage, and the drill sequence...
Failure vs a life of regret
Five years into my first job with the Indian Police Service, I was unsure what to do next -- something had changed. In the beginning, everything was just so exciting --- nothing like anything I had done earlier. After spending years doing crazy...