During my student days, one morning, when clearing up my hostel almirah, I found a copy of Michael Crichton’s book ‘Congo.’ I casually opened the book to see what it was about and when I closed it, I had finished the book. About 8 hrs had gone by, I had missed my...

During a video interview, the interviewer asked me this question: What would I do if I did not have any college degrees or any pedigree? Here is my answer: Even if I had nothing else, I would still have Coursera. There was a time when to get a good job, you had to...

The biggest mistake I made in my twenties wasn’t that I lacked focus, ambition, or hard work – none of that. My biggest mistake was that I took life too seriously. I worried about too many things, cared too much about what my bosses thought (including the ones I did...

Here is a simple skill that can accelerate your career: Learning to disagree without being disagreeable or putting others on the defensive. When you tell someone, ‘I disagree with you,’ more often than not, it makes them defensive. If people take it as a personal...

When I quit my last job to become an entrepreneur, I could no longer afford my house rent. So I moved into a place with half the rent. Later I moved from Mumbai to Trivandrum, and my rent further went down by two-thirds. Strangely, even though my 'quality of living'...

At McKinsey, the skill I needed the most was not maths. In fact, the most advanced maths I used was a simple regression. Surprisingly, even more than ‘problem-solving’, the skill I used the most was 'articulation' - writing, explaining, and crafting persuasive stories...

“You want to change the world? Start by making your bed” – famously spoke Admiral Bill McRaven, the former head of US special operations command. How you start your day is often how your day goes. And how your days go, is how your life goes. So if you want to change...

If you ever feel guilty about not figuring out your career path quickly, please take heart – I graduated more than two decades ago, and I still feel like I am just exploring life. Maybe some of us take more time than others. Or maybe we are all like that – I don’t...

I know you love your smartphone more than you should -- but this is not your fault really. Between 2010 and 2012, Facebook made two changes that kicked off our smartphone addiction. Here they are: 1. Before 2010, everybody on Facebook had a ‘wall.’ Anything I posted,...

At my last job with a private equity firm, we had retreats at some really fancy hotels. At one of them, as part of the ‘evening service,’ the hotel staff would leave an array of small perfume bottles on the bed to help you sleep better. For sure, it felt like luxury....

On day 1 of my first job with the Indian Police Service – I was quite useless. I had some theoretical knowledge of law enforcement but I am pretty sure I was good for nothing. But people tolerated me and with time and exposure, I learned. The same thing happened at...

Should you choose success over health or the other way around? It is a false choice. No job should make us choose between health and success. Without health, there can't be any success. When we are in good health, we do better work. When we are relaxed, we think more...

Growing up in a strictly middle-class family, we did not have too much money. And it may seem like it put me at a disadvantage. It did not. In fact, I consider my upbringing my biggest luck. Not having money, I knew that whatever I wanted to do in life, I had to do it...

Yesterday, when I needed some medical advice for my dad, I called my friend Dr. Shankhabrata Bagchi, one of the best doctors I know. And yet, Bagchi has never practiced medicine – he joined the IPS right after his MBBS and was our batch topper. But such is his love...