Category: Articles & Opinions
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Doing Something as If Our Life Depends on It
When I started my professional career, someone told me that being a professional meant doing something as if our life depended on it. That definition has remained with me throughout my career that I can see when my work does not mean that way. Over the years, I have done several things with that level…
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Where Are We Headed?:
The question is simple. The answer might take us a lifetime to find. And perhaps most of us will be nearing the end of our lives by the time we figure it out. That is why I think we need both a long-term and a short-term outlook on life. If we stretch the long term…
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Collaboration in the age of AI
AI may make us more productive individually. But I think it will make collaboration even more important. The reason is simple: things are changing too quickly for any of us to keep up alone. New tools, capabilities and ways of working are emerging constantly. What one person learns today could change how another person approaches…
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The Art of Being Ordinary
In my twenties, I knew someone who told me that we should not settle for an ordinary life. So many people live ordinary lives, he said, and we should strive for something extraordinary. At that time, I never asked him what an extraordinary life meant. Looking back now, I feel there is perhaps nothing more…
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Real Work is Before Planning
One thing I am reminded of after every planning cycle is how much work happens before the planning event itself. When people look at a successful planning event, they often see the agenda, discussions, and final commitments. What is less visible is the preparation that made those conversations possible. Planning is rarely successful because of…
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Away from Work for 3 days
I spent three weeks in India on vacation. When I returned to work, something surprised me. I’ve been away from work before. I’ve come back to overflowing inboxes, new priorities, and projects that had moved forward without me. This time felt different. It wasn’t the volume of work that caught my attention. It felt as…
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The Human Advantage of AI
The more I try to understand the progress of AI, the more I find myself thinking less about what it can do and more about what it asks of us. As we start using it to analyze information, write, create, summarize, reason through problems, and automate work, where does our human element stand ? Yes…
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Loneliness is not always Alone
There comes a point in life when you feel alone and realize it is not because you are physically alone. It is because you have become disconnected from yourself. No one can do that work for us. People can support us, but the journey of finding ourselves is one we must take alone. Some of…
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Predictability and Clarity
Clarity on what a team can realistically take on. Clarity on dependencies, risks, and tradeoffs. All of these are critical to a team’s success. When teams lack clarity, everything starts to feel urgent. Work keeps getting added. Priorities keep shifting. People overcommit because no one wants to say no. Eventually stress becomes the new operating…
