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About 16 years back I held a camera for the first timeand fell in love with it, instantly

We weren’t rich and this camera was a gift. 

Back then films rolls were how we used to take photos. 

A 36-photo roll used to cost Rs.100 and another Rs.3 to process one of them. 

So an investment of Rs.200 – not knowing which one would come out the way you want it to. 

But just the fact that I could imagine a picture, capture it in my lens, and see it convert into an image forever, was fascinating. 

And overtime I realized the biggest lesson of my life

I could change the image

At my will

By controlling how I saw it through the lens and how I captured it through the camera
Every single day, we meet people at work

And as we grow, we will meet even more

More often than not, we will have an image of them, even before we meet them

Always remember – you have the power to change that image

At your will

Watch this beautiful video and you will know what I am talking about

Don’t ever let perception come in the way of discovering people

Every interaction can be a new image

Of the very same person

beautifully composed

I couldn’t watch XFiles the movie when it  was released in india, because the ticket was too expensive 

But I don’t remember missing out on it. I remember loving the movie when I did watch it several months later

I didn’t travel to even one city during my masters in the US, because I had to save up for home

But I don’t remember missing out on it. I instead remember the awesome time Ruchi and I had going back to the US several years later 

I didn’t have enough money to enroll for classroom coaching for IITs

But I don’t remember missing out on it. I instead remember topping college and going to the US for my masters. 

I dont party. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. 

But I don’t remember missing out on it. I instead remember feeling awesome at the end of everyday, having accomplished things at work and anticipating love at home. 
FOMO is always instantaneous. 

It never ever helps. 

Because it does not inspire. It instead scares. 

How about converting FOMO into something else. Something that could drive, could motivate, could make us move. 

The fear of never being able to do it

Question to Vidur (my 4yr old): “Aap bade hoke kiske jaisa banna chahte ho?” (Who do you want to become when you grow up?)

“Apne jaisa” (I want to become me)

Life lesson 101

Michigan state university was the only university I got through, for my masters 

ISB was the only MBA school worth it’s name that I got through 

A. T. Kearney was the only consulting firm that I got through, post mba 

Rocket Internet was the only company that shortlisted me, when I quit Accentium 

The management buyout was the only option Groupon india had

It’s scary to think what would have happened if either of these things didn’t happen in my life 

I never had choices 

So I grew up giving no choices to myself 

When you are building a company, you must believe there is an answer and you cannot pay attention to your odds of finding it. You just have to find it. It matters not whether your chances are nine in ten or one in a thousand; your task is the same. 

Hard Thing About Hard Things 

Success is the only mother f***king option; failure is not 

Last year, during my fitness transformation exercise, my coach Ajay (who also happens to be a colleague) gave me the best gift ever

A Nike dryfit tee, size medium 

It sticks to your body. Showing all your contours. 

I called it The embarrassment tee

“Wear it everyday to the gym. Your bulges will show, that extra mass that needs to be worked upon. You should feel embarrassed” 

Because then, you have two choices

1. Stop wearing the tee to work
2. Work so hard on yourself that the tee now looks good on you

The easy path

The right path

When you say sorry to the customer, you wear the embarrassment tee

When you apologize on behalf of someone, you wear the embarrassment tee

When you tell employees that we fucked up, you wear the embarrassment tee

When you own up to who you really are, with your mistakes, your shortcomings, but determined to work hard to overcome them 

You wear the embarrassment tee 

And that is any day better than wearing a loose fit tee of an awesome expensive brand. 

When Facebook recently moved to their new office, Mark Z posted a video of the same. It was a walk through, of his desk, his discussion room etc.
Personal
No jazz
All content

I loved it
And remarked to my colleague that we should do the same when we start our new office
He replied “he is Mark Z. Any video of his will look good. We are not Facebook yet”

This is how most of feel. This is how most of us operate.
However, I am pretty sure that Mark Z doesn’t get up every morning thinking he is someone big. He gets up wanting to do the same things he wanted to do 10 years back. Just that the scale has changed. But never for a moment would he have thought he is any lesser.

When I was young I used to love chess. And everyone around me was better than me. But each time I used to start a game, I used to ask myself – what is it that they know that I can’t know.
Never for a moment did I used to doubt my ability to win.
And I used to fail.
Almost always
But this attitude made me learn much faster than I would have otherwise.

Every single day when you wake up
Tell yourself that there is nothing
Nothing at all
That can make you lose today
Except your own belief

Self doubt has killed more people than self confidence ever will

The nearbuy team was at ISB this Tuesday, for a PrePlacement Talk. 

We decided to follow an unorthodox application process. 

• We will not accept black and white resume. There needs to be some color added
• When you apply, you need to name one more candidate who you think deserves the role more than you

We are told this has created quite some activity on campus. 

Do I need to add color in spirit, or actually add some real color?

Does it need to be creative or colorful? 

Does font color qualify as color?

Will I be rejected if it isn’t colorful enough? 

The campus resume template was a comfort zone. They knew what they had to do. And it was easy to establish that you fit in. 

And we broke the template. We changed the format. 

And when formats are broken it makes people anxious. Or makes them work harder. 

Or both. 

Irrespective, the output is magically different from what would have been the case. It will reflect emotional labor. 

The world doesn’t need one more format. 

It needs one more rebel. 

When things are not going as per plan the easiest thing to do is to gain control. To review everything. To approve everything. To become the system through which everything has to flow.

If this process worked in the new world, things would never go wrong.

How about doing exactly the opposite.
Let go
Things are not going as per plan, but I trust you to fix them. I am there should you need my help. And I happy to sit with you every now and then to act as the sounding board.
Let’s make it happen

Control a person
And they will slacken when you are not around
Give them the autonomy to take their own decisions
And they just might become you

Peter Thiel mentions his favorite interview question in “Zero to One”

What is that one belief you have that very few people agree with you on? 

Here is my response, Peter

The best way to become great at something, is to do multiple things at the same time, all the time. 

It goes against the concept of specialization. 

Well, if you think about it, it goes against the concept of almost everything we all have been told, as part of our education and training. 

Here is my rationale to this belief

• No one in the world knows what they are good at. What is their true calling
• We supposedly are meant to find this elusive thing, to have a shot at being successful 
• And once we find it, just spend hours and hours pursuing it. Mastering the art
• However,
• What if there was something else better out there, that you didn’t even discover, or
• What if delving into something else, even if to explore and not master, would have helped you master the original skill

If I look back at my life, I have been so many fascinating things 

• An astrophysicist 
• A statistician 
• A photographer 
• A consultant 
• An entrepreneur 
• A public speaker 
• A fitness convert
• A singer
• A DJ
• A product manager, recently
• An HR professional too recently
• A multi country manager 
• A writer 
• And am sure something else too that I am forgetting 

But the thing that I am best is, is none of these. I think I am good at connecting with people. That’s where I find peace, that’s where I draw my strength from. 

And all of the above roles have helped me exponentially in doing so. In ways I couldn’t have even imagined. And still can’t. But I know they helped. 

And that makes the multidisciplinary path fascinating. 

It’s amazing how many people begin to slow down discovering new things, as they grow old. When it should be exactly the other way round. 

Come to think of it, there is a reason why the best intellectuals the world has seen, from Newton to Archimedes to Leonardo were all so many things in one. 

Come to think of it, the people you look up to, are so many things in one. 

Ask yourself “who am I”

And hope that you don’t have a single answer