It hurts to see many nice people struggle through life. Just like gravity doesn’t care who you are, the world doesn’t care how much money nice people make. The marketplace rewards value and it helps if that comes from a nice person. If being nice is on one axis, having the power to make things… Continue reading
Post Category → General
Goals with and without help
Goals are easy if you never have to fulfill them. Everything is clear when it is in your head. Only when that has to be translated into reality, there’s a problem. So, if you are alone and you are going at your goals, chances are you may not reach where you are headed. Why? Because… Continue reading
You can't do it alone and you can't get help easily either
One option is to have simple goals. Goals that you can achieve easily. Goals that won’t make a big difference in your life or in the lives of others. Goals that really don’t matter. The next option is to have big goals – goals that can change you and more importantly – goals that can… Continue reading
Managing Time vs Increasing Leverage
Since we can’t manage time, all we can do is to work towards increasing our leverage. The first step to increasing leverage comes from superior thinking as thought precedes action. Our society pays a premium for action as compared to thinking. Why? Simply because thinking is invisible and action is visible. You can’t make out… Continue reading
In search of certainty…
What if you could be absolutely certain about how your projects will shape up? Sorry. You can’t. Simple reason is that for any significant project out there, there are always going to be factors that are outside of your control. Think whatever you want – you have only so much power on factors that are… Continue reading
A quick lesson about the value of mentors and teachers
Coming from India, I have to say cricket is my weakness. So much that there is only one site bookmarked on my blackberry and it is CricInfo. Just keeping the priorities right 🙂 I was reading the story of a young spinner Pragyan Ojha who just got selected into the Indian Test Squad for the… Continue reading
The Chasm on the Road to Distinction
Most people fall into the category of being an “Also Ran” in their careers. A small percentage of them will start on the road to distinction. It is a work in progress for a long time. Exceptions exist like in anything in life and work. Just like a trapeze artist who has just let go… Continue reading
The Personal Branding Dilemma
You can’t NOT work on your personal brand. You have got one and you can never escape from it. It is “who you are” to the world. It is “your promise to the marketplace” and you are making one – whether you want it or not. Now, the real question is “how powerful is your… Continue reading
On Inspiration by Wislawa Szymborska
This is an excerpt from the Nobel Prize lecture of poet Wislawa Szymborska. The topic is Inspiration. I’ve mentioned inspiration. Contemporary poets answer evasively when asked what it is, and if it actually exists. It’s not that they’ve never known the blessing of this inner impulse. It’s just not easy to explain something to someone… Continue reading
News and its journey upwards
At a broad level there are only three kinds of news in the organization. 1. Good news 2. Bad news 3. Irrelevant news The way good news and bad news travel within the organization is typically different. Good news has a way of growing through the layers and showing up as bigger than what it… Continue reading