Podcast Themes

Grit can be defined as “courage and resolve; strength of character”- something we all need to live our lives and face successes and failures. Raghu says, “We all have the DNA to create that reservoir of strength”. Hear him talk about the elements of grit and how an organization can create an environment to foster it.

Chris speaks about how Roger came back from different phases of his career when he was having a rough patch. He speaks about how, at each of those inflection points, his career could have taken a nosedive.

Michiel speaks about the criticality of rest and recovery for a leader to be effective. He speaks about how the recovery period could actually spark some creativity and new possibilities.

Manjari speaks about what it takes to raise an independent girl child. We specifically touch upon the notion of ensuring that the girl makes choices that make her financially independent which in turn gives her agency.

Manjari speaks about the challenges she experiences in her first marriage and how she had the courage to walk out of the relationship and rebuild her life and her career. She recounts the role of her parents and some of her friends in this phase of life.

Thomas speaks about the myth of the False Binary and how that can lead us to choosing from a limited set of options. It is a very powerful concept which can have a profound implication on how we make choices especially during key phases of transitions.

Ayelet speaks about the fact that we often have celebrations at the beginning of a journey and at the end of the journey and it is the long messy middle during which we often struggle to find the motivation to keep marching forward. She shares some insights on how we can overcome this long middle.

Ayelet speaks about how we should think about Goals for the long term. They need to be enough of a stretch but at the same time, they shouldn’t lead us to satisfice or burn out once we get there.

Dorie speaks about how we should think about situations where the green-shots might take a while to appear especially when we embark on something new. She shares some perspectives around how we should think about cutting losses versus persisting and what metrics we should track.

Bruce speaks about how resilience as a term originates from the Industrial age where our lives were shaped by manufacturing and the paradigms around it. He says that it implies that we sprint back to the earlier status quo. He goes on to say that life and transitions are complex and we rarely go back to the old (as we have seen with the COVID-19 pandemic). He urges us to think about shapeshifting instead. He speaks about how we could use lifequakes to rebalance our lives across 3 dimensions which he calls ABC (Agency, Belonging and Cause)

Ramesh speaks about how he and his wife Charuta dealt with the trauma after losing two of their children to cancer. Their daughter Shruti was 9 when she passed away in 2009 and their son Aditya was almost 12 when he passed away in 2015. He speaks about how they dealt with the shocks and how they found meaning and purpose post that to move forward.

Vinay speaks about how the RSS and BJP use the interpretation of history to create a certain purpose for the institution which is beyond the individual. He also speaks about some of the institutional norms that ensure that the organization stays cohesive and there isn’t unnecessary “chatter”. He also uses the term “sulking on mute” to denote how leaders would disagree yet commit to a chosen path putting the institutional interests ahead of theirs.