Long-distance vs. Sprinting, or ‘The Role of a Teacher’

It was during a casual coffee chat that A and I found ourselves discussing trekking and sports. Turns out he has been to the glaciers above Badrinath, right along the Indo-China border. I asked him about how he trained, and he said: I was not in to sports. It was during my first year in [...]

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Happy New Year!

Drove to Niagara with some friends. Nature, beauty and fun — a good recipe to end one year and brace up for a new one. As a year ends, a lot of stuff is water under the bridge. I hope that the times to come bring warmth, sharing and togetherness for everyone! Happy New Year [...]

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Michael Useem on Leadership Lessons from Capt. Sullenberger

He had just taken off on Airbus A320 from New York, when his plane was hit by a flock of birds. Captain Sullenberger reported a “double strike”. Both engines had been hit in mid-air, and anything could happen. With a composure bordering limits of human objectivity, he landed the aircraft safely in the middle of [...]

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The Surprising Science of Motivation

Dan Pink, the author of A Whole New Mind, talks at TED about motivation. Pink claims that extrinsic motivators like performance-based rewards (especially monetary) do not always improve performance. In fact, he argues, they have a largely diminishing effect on productivity, creative satisfaction and quality of work. Now Pink is not a philosopher or your [...]

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Book Review: The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

Why do we want to have friends? Why do we want to make money? Why do we want to travel, or explore? A lot of these whys trace their beginnings at the quintessential human search for happiness. Happiness — the great motivation behind so many of our actions — who to call a friend, what to [...]

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Why Manmohan Singh is Not as Weak as You Think

Sometimes over hot sips of chai with friends, the vapors have occasionally brimmed up a conversation about the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. Even before the mention of his trademark blue pagri (and the fact that he wears the same-colored clothes everyday), or any talk of his unparalleled resume, or a word about his acheivements [...]

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3 Lessons from Stanford, from Oprah Winfrey

Born to a poor teenage single mother, this African American girl was raped at age 9 and 14-years-old. Few could have predicted she would go on to become the host of the world’s highest-rated talk-show in the history of television. Oprah Winfrey had a candid message to give to the graduating class of Stanford. It [...]

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Until Death Do Us Part

Imagine being an unknown woman, and distributing condoms on the city roads for an election campaign… ! Just finished reading Ingrid Betancourt’s memoir about her political struggle for Columbia. Betancourt was a presidential candidate in the 2002 elections in Columbia, when she was kidnapped and chained in jungles, until her rescue six and a half [...]

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Big Russ and Me

I just finished reading Tim Russert’s book “Big Russ and Me“. The book is full of anecdotes from daily life, focusing on the lessons Tim Russert learned from his father, whom he calls ‘Big Russ’. Russert has been one of the finest journalists on American Television, and was known for his ability to translate complex [...]

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Randy Pausch — a Tribute

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and given only 3 months to live. Randy Pausch – the smart and popular computer-science Professor at CMU – did not resign and spend all his time crying. Instead, he chose to rise up to the occasion and delivered the famous “Last Lecture“. In it, he summarized his lessons [...]

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