Tag: Learning
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Did I make the right career choices ?
I often look back at my career and ask. Did I make the write choices? It depends on what I wanted. It was all fun in my twenties. I did some pursuits in my thirties. But I was all the while lost, distracted, confused and directionless. One of my friends also told me this I…
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Some Thoughts on Reading
I think it is more and more important for us professionals today to read classics and poetry and short stories and memoirs. Books about things other than our profession. A lot of things can be automated but not people’s wants and relationships. We can force systemic behavioral changes but for us to connect with others…
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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…
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Is all value visible?
Is all value visible? When does value become invisible? And how long can invisible value keep you going? I finished reading Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis last week. I haven’t seen the film starring Anthony Quinn, but while reading, Zorba looked exactly like Quinn in my mind. Some characters do that. They move from…
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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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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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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…
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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,…
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