Latest Post
If you are a leader, the buck stops with you
On his desk in the Oval Office, US President Harry Truman famously had a wooden sign which said, "The buck stops here." No shifting responsibility, no passing around blame -- when the push came to shove, Truman promised finality. And true to his...
Recent Posts
Specialization
I would attribute half of my struggles and disappointments in my startup journey to just one factor: "Doing too many things." This may seem weird –...
Focused Work
Last Friday, I figured that 24 hrs was not enough for me – there was way too much to do. So I ran this experiment: 1. I picked a priority task...
The joy of lifelong learning
I started my MBA 10 years after completing my B Tech. And since most of my classmates were much younger, I felt a bit like a dinosaur (in a...
Poor corporate governance
At the private equity fund where I last worked, in about half the investments where we lost money, the culprit was fraud by the promoters (i.e.,...
More Articles
Commitment of Leadership
For all practical purposes, my first job out of college was to head the Trivandrum City Police as its Commissioner. Prior to that, I had only undergone the IPS training and done a piddly 7 months in a field assignment. But compared to me, my ACPs...
Overcome envy
Envy is an amazing thing. I never envy the British Queen, who has inherited this massive fortune and privilege without having worked for it for even a day. Yet, if our classmates get ahead and do really well in life, we feel a tinge of envy. And...
Freedom
When I left my last job to do a startup, a new reality hit me – no more Car Club pickups, business class flights, expensive hotels, or unlimited travel budget. On the next flight, when I walked into the economy section, it felt a bit weird. But...
Conviction
In early 2009, I attended a townhall at McKinsey. This was just a few months after Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, and the US was still in the midst of a horrible recession. The partners running the meeting assured us that all was well – in fact,...