Life Acumen at Work

Preview: You did everything right. You studied hard, built a successful career, earned the title, the credibility, and the rewards. But in a world where people live longer, careers last decades longer, and AI is reshaping work, a new question emerges: Is the career you built still enough for the life ahead? In this episode, we explore why the traditional career ladder may no longer be sufficient,...

What success quietly takes from you: This episode explores the hidden vitality cost of ambition - the patience, presence, humor, and energy leaders often lose long before burnout appears. Resources: Leading Off: A leader’s guide to strengthening employee health ‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says | Stanford Report Half of Workers Around the World Are Struggling with Burnout Podcast Descr...

How to See Beyond Positions: When a tough conversation gets tense, it often stops being about the real issue - and turns into a quiet battle over who will “blink first.” In this episode, you’ll learn how capable leaders get trapped defending a position, why that kills discovery and alignment, and the simple shift that lowers the emotional temperature fast: stop asking “How do I get them to agree?”...

Stop Negotiating Your Position explains how positional bargaining turns problem-solving into a contest of credibility, slowing decisions and damaging trust - especially for senior executives who must preserve relationships beyond the deal. Using examples (Infosys board crisis, Camp David Accords, Disney–Pixar, and Oracle–PeopleSoft), it contrasts positions (what you demand) with interests (why you...

Picture this: You're standing at your office window on a quiet Friday evening, looking out at the setting sun. You've just closed a major deal, and by all traditional measures, you're at the peak of your career. You have been through the ruthless climb up the corporate ladder, the sacrifices, the wins, the losses, the political battles, the strategic victories. You've built the...

Imagine you're a senior leader who has navigated market shifts for decades. But suddenly, you're confronted with technologies that don't just change how business operates, but fundamentally redefine what's possible. The question isn't just how you'll adjust – it's whether your leadership can transform this disruption from a threat into your organization's gr...

What is a culture of accountability? How crucial it is for leaders to model accountability? What environment makes accountability thrive?  In Focus How do we, as senior leaders, foster a culture of accountability?  How do we navigate the complex web of human emotions, corporate politics, and bottom-line pressures to create an environment where accountability isn't just a buzzword, but a way o...

Picture this, a founder CEO struggling to build a business savvy team? What exactly does it mean to have a 'business savvy' team? How to build such a team? In Focus How do you nurture holistic business acumen among your top-tier leaders? How do we help executives develop the breadth of understanding, needed to navigate the complexities of modern business? How do you balance this kind of...

Whether you’ve been a C-suite leader for just a few years or a seasoned veteran of many years, there comes a time when you reach a pivotal moment. A moment where you're faced with critical decisions that could reshape not just your career, but your legacy. Have you ever paused, to wonder, if the path you’re on, is still the right one? Or maybe, you’ve considered stepping away, but are not sur...

Many senior executives struggle to get effective feedback from their team.  That’s a pivotal challenge leaders face constantly. When leaders don’t receive clear insights, into their strengths and areas of improvement, it can create a cascading effect, that ultimately impacts team performance. In Focus How can leaders effectively break down the barriers that hinder candid feedback from their teams?...

The World Health Organization has officially recognized burnout as an occupational syndrome. According to some estimates more than a third of employees' experience burnout intermittently, with nearly 25% feeling it recurrently or constantly. In Focus What is Burnout? Does, each one of us experience burnout differently? Why is burnout so pervasive and what triggers it? What is Employability? “...

Persuasion is not to be seen as tricking or forcing other people to your point of view, it is to be seen as understanding what engages and opens other people up to new ideas and insights. In Focus How do you define persuasion?  How does engagement influence persuasion? What is physical and temporal proximity? What are some techniques for increasing engagement? What are some of the behaviors which...

Many middle managers make the mistake of relying too much on their job performance, consequently leave too much to chance and fail to effectively manage their careers. In Focus Are modesty and quiet work not virtues in the corporate world? But doesn’t good performance help you secure your job? Is there a weak link between job performance and promotion? Great job performance by itself is insufficie...

Recent research on people’s life satisfaction by social scientists suggests, that in general, life satisfaction follows a “U” shape. It starts at the upper range in youth, bottoms out in 40s, and then picks up again in older age.  In Focus Why do you feel anxious despite being successful? What are some of those specific things that start to get in our heads when we hit the 40’s? What does your def...

Bad managers are the top cause of unhappiness in the workplace. According to a survey by an HR consulting firm, more than 50% employees leave their jobs to get away from a bad boss. Everyone who’s had a bad manager knows what it can do to your stress levels and job satisfaction.  In Focus Keeping you in an off-balance state Passing along second-hand criticism Intimidation – turning a simple reques...

Is multitasking a strength? Are human beings good at it? Or is this a delusion that majority of us have fallen for? In Focus: Where do we start in this distracted world to regain focus? How can you slow down in a world which takes pride in speed? What are the costs attached to constant switching? Does constant switching makes us slower? How do we fix this urge to constantly switch? What damage can...

There is usually a lot of optimism this time of the year as the world slows down and people get time to reflect about what actually matters. Amid this hope what resolutions are people making for the new year and how to keep them. In Focus: Many people set personal and professional goals this time of year. Why choose new year to set resolutions? New years resolutions can be as fleeting as fireworks...

A study by Professor Michael Posner at the University of Oregon found that if you are focusing on something and you get interrupted, on average it will take twenty-three minutes for you to get back to the same state of focus. Another study of office executives found that most of them never get an hour of uninterrupted work in a typical day. If this goes on for months and years, it scrambles your a...

Candor is not just about telling the truth. It requires openness, sincerity and some degree of vulnerability. Lack of candor is not just remaining silent, it’s deceit by omission, which means that an element of honesty and truth is intentionally ignored IN FOCUS:    When we say there is lack of candor in organizations. What does it mean? Why is candor so important in the workplace? How can organiz...

IN FOCUS:    Many people set personal and professional goals this time of year. Why choose new year to set resolutions? New year’s resolutions can be as fleeting as fireworks, one study found that about 25% give up after 2 weeks and only about 12% actually achieve their goal. Why is that most of us fail at sticking to new year’s resolutions? How do we get our new year resolutions become a reality?...

       POINT OF VIEW:    There seems to be a belief among managers that critical feedback is essential to push out complacency and drive performance in employees. But behind this belief we may be overlooking a fundamental question “Should managers point to weaknesses or nurture employee’s strengths to drive performance?”    What is the issue with feedback reviews if they are used to improve perfor...

POINT OF VIEW:    360-degree reviews are well entrenched in performance review systems of companies, then why the skepticism around their utility?   Does our evaluation of others tainted by our own understanding of  abstract qualities like "assertiveness", "business acumen" etc?   Does it mean 360-degree reviews are meaningless and companies will eventually move away from them?...

IN FOCUS:       What is the issue with feedback reviews?   Isn’t it that we humans crave feedback?  If feedback is perceived as a threat, how do managers point to employees when they are not performing well? And push them to do better?   Won’t employees prefer the manager tell them something that they are doing wrong rather than what they are doing right?    360-degree reviews are well entrenched...

IN FOCUS:     What is workplace incivility? And what kinds of behaviors in the workplace can be seen as uncivil? Why is workplace incivility so prevalent? If leaders know that treating employees with respect is critical, why is then they struggle to demonstrate it? Do leaders need to tread carefully on how they are treating their employees? What can leaders do to demonstrate respect? Related Episo...

POINT OF VIEW:     Many successful executives get worn down with putting on a mask of confidence while burdened with internal feelings of incompetence. How can they navigate this duality? The inner critic in high achieving executives can be quite strong. How can one treat his or her inner critic? Related Episodes: #14: Better Things Happen When We View Ourselves as Work in Progress #13: Reprogramm...