S Venkatesh

The perils of ‘perfectionism’

September 27, 2022

A ploy overused by interviewees, over countless job interviews and employee appraisals, has been to disguise a strength as a weakness. As the interviewer asks the candidate to share his or her greatest weakness, pat comes the reply, ‘I am a perfectionist’. While the interviewee hopes to convey the impression...

WHAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK?

September 13, 2022

In 2008, a young Google employee named Kevin Systrom was overcome by the feeling that he needed a larger canvas that he could do more with his capabilities and drive than what his current role could offer. After unsuccessful attempts at widening his role within the firm, he finally quit...

The inner critic and the freedom to fail

September 3, 2022

I often get asked to identify the moment that marked the biggest turning point in my journey as an author. The answer usually takes people by surprise. It was not the moment when the idea for a story first occurred to me, nor was it when I first put pen...

The Lost Art of Persistence

July 30, 2022

The story goes that in the 1870s, the legendary inventor Thomas Alva Edison had, after several thousand trials, failed to find the right material and design for the electric bulb. A reporter apparently questioned him about the lack of results for all his work and investment. Edison famously replied, “I’ve...

TAP-DANCING TO WORK

July 14, 2022

We live in an era where “finding your passion” has almost become a religion. According to a popular adage, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life.” We are assailed with anecdotes about creators, startup founders, and popular icons who seem to be living the dream, for whom...

‘OVERNIGHT SUCCESSES’ CANNOT BE ATTRIBUTED TO PROVIDENCE

June 30, 2022

“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen,” goes a quote attributed to Lenin. For Eric Yuan and the team at Zoom, those weeks were in March and April 2020. That was when the world was reeling under the twin impact of the pandemic and...

LET A LITTLE MAGIC INTO YOUR LIFE

June 17, 2022

It was in 1936 that a collection of secret papers was released from Sir Isaac Newton’s family archives. Till then, the world knew Newton as one of the founding fathers of rational and scientific thought, whose discoveries spanned a grand expanse from gravity to calculus. But the secret papers revealed...

THE POWER OF SAYING ‘I DON’T KNOW’

June 2, 2022

“I have it all figured out”, said the charismatic founder of a technology company during a pitch to potential investors. This company had developed an innovative product with promising prospects. Going by the founder’s words, it would seem that he had gazed into a crystal ball, figured out exactly where...

LOGIC OR INSTINCT, WHICH DO WE FOLLOW?

May 19, 2022

During the last days of 2004, as a giant tsunami-ravaged a dozen countries, killing almost two hundred thousand people, researchers noticed something odd at the Yala National Park in Sri Lanka. The park, home to several hundred species, hardly had any animal carcasses. National Geographic magazine quotes observers reporting strange...

Why you should get rich slowly

May 5, 2022

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once asked legendary investor Warren Buffett, “You’re the second richest guy in the world. Your investment thesis is so simple. Why doesn’t everyone just copy you?” Buffett replied, “Because nobody wants to get rich slow.” Warren Buffett may be an outlier, but the lesson from this...

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