Latest Post
The Real Genius
When preparing for my Civil Services interview, I did so many mock interviews that when I went for the real one, it was a cakewalk – there was no curveball the interviewers could throw that I was not prepared for. And I aced that interview....
Recent Posts
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...
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...
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...
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...
More Articles
Defending your time and attention
When my wife was the District Collector, Trivandrum, she was heading 200 odd committees. If the average committee met twice a year, you end up with 400 meetings -- i.e., approx two meetings per working day. Yikes! And this does not even count all...
Improving systems from the inside out
During my stint with the Indian Police Service, a top police official once said this to me with immense pride: 'I only travel to countries where I am not frisked at the airport. I go to Dubai because I am not frisked, but I won't go to the US or...
The Power of Social Contagion
A few years ago, I was attending a dreadfully boring conference, where we were listlessly sitting around a table. During a break, out of sheer boredom, I picked up a bottle of water to drink. As soon as I did that, 2-3 other people on the table...
Fix your day
Two years ago, one evening, a team member called me and said, “Today, we are going to work the whole night.” He was leading a team of 5-6 people and intended to work overnight to fix a problem. Here was the problem: Our startup had created...