Do we love or hate feedback?

Do you love feedback? We may assume ‘Yes’, because we all want to learn and grow. However, the challenge is that we all have another, deeper human need – to feel competent and be accepted for who we are. Feedback often destroys that! Feedback uniquely sits at the intersection of two very deep and...

What they should teach you in B School

While advising a B School on their HR curriculum, I recommended HR Analytics, Design Thinking, and <add your buzz word here>. But the turning point was when someone said – “but kids who join us don’t even know Excel”, which made us all realize what we actually need...

How do you make a beautiful slide?

Data Interpretation is one of the three sections of the CAT Exam – the entrance test for the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management. Most MBAs are adept at making sense of even the most complicated graphs or badly presented data. However, its rare to come across people who...

Heroes and Scapegoats

Winning stories invariably revolve around an iconic CEO, statesman, MVP, inventor, prize winner or team leader. We attribute most successes to one person – a hero. Conversely we attribute failures to an incompetent CEO, rogue ideologue, unfit leader or a bad team member – a...

What is normal? Who says so?

To understand why ‘being’ inclusive was harder than ‘doing’ DEI, I zoomed-out: India had a history of women rulers, and had an elected head of state decades before the west Transgenders were historically part of mainstream society, but today we see them only at traffic signals Homosexuality was...

Us and They/Them

Despite several DEI programs, I noticed something amiss: When they hired for diversity, women hated being a ‘diversity candidate’. When they leveled the playing field for PWDs, they replied that they didn’t need their help; they needed respect. When they created affinity groups for...