Latest Post
The Best Articulation
A guest speaker at Wharton told us – ‘Every time you open your mouth, your earn or burn market share.’ In today’s world, articulation is like oxygen – you need it to survive. - Persuading your boss to give you a raise is articulation. - The debates...
Recent Posts
Real tragedies
In 2008, working in New York, every week I would hear about my friends losing their jobs. In the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,...
Hardship as a Training Ground
During my training in the Indian Police Service, we had to do a long route march in scorching sun, with a rifle and backpack. What was the point of...
Unsung Heroes
When I joined the Indian Police Service, my seniors told me about a Rambo-like officer, who would be out patrolling at night, catching criminals....
Zig-Zag to Success
Once, while heading to lunch with a Wharton classmate who was a sailing expert, I asked her, 'If a boat needs to sail DIRECTLY against the wind, how...
More Articles
How to create real value
During my stint with the Indian Police Service, I once got an assignment with barely an hour of work daily. It was a welcome breather after a long back-breaking assignment. Naturally, I would leave the office at 6 pm. My boss, on the other hand,...
Excellence through hard work and intelligent practice
In IIT hostels, the worst insult was to call someone a ‘maggu’, i.e., a studious, hard-working plodder. But how was that an insult when we all studied like maniacs to clear the IITJEE exam? The subtext was that if you studied really hard, you...
The value of deep work and focused effort
A few years ago, a friend volunteered to help me for a few days with my startup. He showed up at my office and after a long discussion, offered to create a detailed execution plan for me. He then left, promising to reconnect in a bit. For the next...
The risks of learned helplessness: pessimism and depression
During my middle school in a small town in Assam, we had a very strict English teacher (Goswami Sir). Kids who couldn't answer his grammar questions got caned -- never a word of encouragement. I am pretty sure that in their mind, our teachers...