Tradeoffs Our choices of who we want to be would mean we make choices of who we don’t want to be. This is applicable both in business and life. Successful businesses choose to serve specific customers and their needs which means they say no to others. e.g. Walmart stores do not serve people in Manhattan …
Tradeoffs | Offering help | Gaining confidence from failure Read More »
Create space for growth When I tried to disentangle a growing mango plant from a the grips of a tiny climber, I was amazed at how the fragile climber could bind the leaves and stunt the plant’s growth. Our self-limiting beliefs can stunt our growth just like these weeds. Some catch us when we are …
Create space for growth | Allow to compound what we value | Focus on what has gone right Read More »
Making use of new beginnings Are you still wondering what is the point of making new resolutions and not keeping up? Don’t give up so easily. Choose a resolution that you have never tried at all. You can always try to use the new year to begin a fresh start. Behavioral scientists call it the …
Contrarian thinking Following the crowd is our ingrained survival mechanism. Being stuck in slow-moving traffic for six hours over the Xmas weekend made me realize that sometimes it does not serve to be where the crowd is. In life and entrepreneurship, we want to go with the crowd for fear of being left out. However, …
Contrarian Thinking | Year-end reflection | Ending Rumination Read More »
Playing a positive sum game Last week I attended a seminar, where I met people who are in my industry as coaches. It was a big learning experience as I interacted with them and exchanged ideas. On reflection, I realized business competition need not be a zero-sum game. Unlike war or sports where a single …
Playing a positive sum game | Our hidden strength | Expressing gratitude to your team Read More »
Helping someone grow Reflecting on a recent engagement, I realized that Coaching a person is about enabling their self-discovery and self-realization. One of the fundamental learning I gained was I cannot change a person. I can only aid them in being who they want to be. It meant learning to trust in the innate wisdom …
Helping someone grow | Surviving before thriving | Wielding power gracefully Read More »
The power of learning mindset A dynamic young manager shared with me his success story of starting grounds up and now becoming a marketing expert. In his words, “I had a very humble background. As a fresh undergrad, I recall going to my mentor, who had just started his business, and saying, “Please give me …
The power of learning mindset | Taking a higher view | Munger’s wisdom Read More »
Giving permission to understand My work revolves around conversations. Hence, I found this simple advice from Carl Rogers, an eminent psychologist, deeply insightful. “I have found it of enormous value when I can permit myself to understand the other person… Is it necessary to permit oneself to understand another? I think it is. Our first …
Giving permission to understand | Action comes before motivation | Expressing gratitude Read More »
Reminder of Superpower Superpowers are not lost. They are forgotten or taken for granted. The best way to develop superpowers in others is to remind them about it. If you are a person of credibility or someone in authority remind others of their superpower and they will start seeing it again in themselves. Kalpana Chawla …
Reminder of Superpower | Defining Success | Futility of being dead serious Read More »
Readiness for great ideas There is no dearth of ideas to solve a problem. However, there is a reluctance to accept a good idea as it requires courage to change and imagination to see a different possibility. As leaders, you may find yourself fighting hard to convince the people around you of an idea. It …
Readiness for great ideas | Leadership and parenting | First-day mindset Read More »
