Category: Articles
-
Readiness is so important
Most delivery problems don’t start during execution. They start much earlier. When we convince ourselves we are ready. Readiness is probably one of the most less talked aspects of delivery. We treat it like a checklist. A few documents, some estimates, dependencies noted and we move forward. But real readiness is not documentation. It is…
-
Why we need Poems at work
“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body. love what it loves.” These are the first few lines from the poem Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. I read…
-
Improvement, Planning and Repeatability
Improvement is an interesting word, especially when the change we are talking about takes time. Because improvement is not just something we measure. It is something people should feel. Not just understood, but experienced, a sense that something is moving in the right direction. There will always be naysayers, people who prefer to complain rather…
-
If people hate Mondays, something is broken.
I’ve never fully understood the idea of Monday blues. Monday is a beginning. A reset. A fresh page. And yet, for so many people, it feels like something to endure rather than look forward to. I see it across teams and conversations. People who actually enjoy parts of their work—their colleagues, their interactions, even the…
-
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…
-
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…
-
What should I read Next?
Last weekend I was in Dallas attending a literature festival, where I also had a short session titled “What Should Be the Next Book to Read?” The crux of my talk was simple: people who read regularly rarely ask this question because the next book usually finds them. Most often, this question comes from people…
-
Having a Decade View of our Life
Yesterday, I was listening to James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) speak to students at Ohio State University. One question and his answer really stuck with me. The question was about short-term and long-term goals and how we manage both. Personally, I’ve never been a great goal setter. I am trying to change that.Without goals,…
-
Some New Learning on Confidence
A few Thursdays before as part of Throwback Thursday I posted a picture on LinkedIn. It was from May 2010. A time I was at the rock bottom of my life both financially and even professionally. Full of self doubt and absolutely stuck and unable to see what was ahead. But from a family standpoint…
-
Our Relationship with work
We don’t work for the same reasons at 25 as we do at 55, yet companies and people could mistakenly treat us in the same way. It is not anyone’s fault it is about change, about what matters, what is visible and what transpires in our professional life. What We Seek at Work Changes with…
Penpositive 