Author: vinodnarayan
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Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
A few months ago, I listened to a podcast featuring John Green, where he spoke about his new book Everything Is Tuberculosis. My first reaction was an almost reflexive one: “Really? TB? Even now?” Like many of us, I’ve heard stories of tuberculosis somewhere in my family tree, distant, almost archival. For years, I hadn’t…
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Thoughts on being useful and visible.
It’s an interesting question, especially because we often assume the opposite of useful to be ‘useless’. That’s not true. There is a wide space between the two. In that space, many of us simply exist, present, are involved, visible but not really adding any specific value. None of us can be useful 24×7. And that’s…
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On Value and Clarity
We often mistake motion for progress. Value emerges when we slow down enough to decide what actually matters. Take meetings, for example. A clear set of action items or even a shared direction for what comes next is crucial. I have been in meetings that felt energizing in the moment, only for that excitement to…
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Can 2026 be about Value
December 31 is always a strange day for me. It is like turning a chapter or even a new book. While I know I will inherit everything from last year, the good and the bad. Yet I feel January 1 is a new thing and demands more action. Maybe December 31 asks us for more…
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Career at 50s
A few months back, I wrote a small piece about how our relationship with work changes across the decades. Now in my 50s, I often think about the decade and a half of employable life still ahead of me and the quiet fear beneath it: Will I stay employable? If I do nothing with what…
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Beginning to Understand
I’ve recently begun to understand something about myself that feels uncomfortable to admit: I need closures for every conflict. Even the smallest disagreements sit with me longer than they should. Some people can walk away without a second thought, but I carry unresolved moments like quiet burdens. I replay them, analyze them, and somehow they…
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Finding my Pressure Valve
Writing is my pressure valve. But lately, every time I post on LinkedIn, I feel the walls closing in. I know people at work also read my posts. And suddenly everything I write feels like a “commentary on work.” Even when it isn’t. Also giving people an opportunity to judge you 😄 Even when the…
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Some days feel so ordinary, but..
Some days feel ordinary, yet they leave you with a quiet insight. Today was one of those days. Nothing remarkable happened, but it reminded me of something I’ve been working on: the simple act of building relationships by judging less and listening more. I’ve never been the kind of person who instantly likes everyone. I…
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In Silence we find ourselves
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” Blaise Pascal once wrote. It’s a quote I love and yet I’m also aware of its limits. If everyone sat quietly in a room forever, we would never have explored, discovered, or built anything. Progress needed people who stepped out,…
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A time together at work
I don’t think I have ever shared a picture from work on social media and blogs but this one I needed to 😊 Last Thursday we had a team-building event. I look at these events to do three things. Connect during the event, Reset & Rewire for work when the event ends and Reflect on…
Penpositive 