Gene Weingarten won a Pulitzer Prize for his article ‘Pearls before Breakfast’ Washington Post, April 8, 2007. He documented a real life study on a world-class violinist named Joshua Bell who became a street musician for 45 minutes in a Washington D.C. Metro station. It was a Friday and the time was 7.51 am when…
He looked at the CV and spoke to the 4-person panel with enthusiasm, ‘Ah! This guy is from my school and he has also played rugby’ and winked and said ‘must be good’. Two of the panellists looked at each other in exasperation; deep down, I sighed myself. Interviews, by far, are the most widely…
Imagine setting out on an important journey towards a place we have never been to, on a road with no signposts? How sensible would that be? Where would we go? How would we drive? Drawing on this metaphor, road signs and indicators are similar to external feedback in the journey of career and/or personal development.…
Imagine being an athlete who, from humble beginnings has risen to unimaginable heights through a string of heartbreaking defeats and exhilarating triumphs; the courage, motivation and determination of beating the odds to realize the impossible. How did you train? Who was your coach? One of my clients recently asked me, “Why is this big hype…
Just about a week ago, I was at the florist. Normally, I like to take my time with my flowers, but I should have warned the manager though, who was visibly present due to her loudness. I placed my order and continued to walk around the shop admiring the flowers. It was difficult to ignore…
Why do some of us feel that our organizational cultures are full of drama with scripts of shifting blame, endless complaining, wanting to be right, wanting the last word, sarcasm, forming cliques, making fun of others, holding grudges and obsessive thining? Numerous incidents from the past fire up in my memory as I write this…
‘Sometimes, it is so hard to manage my team. Some are so competitive and want to be on the top in everything, so much so that I wish I could tie them down to their chair and make them understand that they need to be a team player. Some cannot care less; winning or succeeding…
“I am just not good enough” “I have not achieved enough for my age” “I’ve not experienced any real success in life” “I have nothing to show for the work I’ve done” Some decades ago, these were the words of the college dropouts, the newly unemployed professionals, the victims of the recession. These were the…