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  • Phony Games

    There are lots of phony corporate games played at work. Perhaps the worst of them is the game of “competition”.

    It happens in law firms, sales jobs, and almost everywhere else.

    For some reason, we have all been led into thinking that beating someone else motivates people more than… doing well. Or doing work we’re proud of.

    No matter how harmful and stupid, executive “leaders” seem to get away with terrible work cultures all in service of “competition”.

    It starts in school. I’m learning that in America at least, schools are pit against each other. District against district. The very existence of teachers, schools, etc hang in the balance.

    We’re taught that for one company (or country) to succeed, another must fail. Something disputed repeatedly by Nobel Prize winning economists.

    Why do we accept this Squid Game like zero-sum way of thinking?

    It seems like people care more about how their kid’s school is doing compared to other schools. As if that’s a marker for the quality of education.

    We are taught that we need to compete with one another to “win”. But research repeatedly shows that the pie gets bigger for everyone when we focus on cooperation instead of competition.

    At work, teams are pit against each other. Within teams, people are put against each other.

    All in the mistaken notion that people do best when they have to “beat” someone else.

    I saw this in law practices where the draw of the almighty billable hour made people burn out. Competition didn’t help.

    Sales has insanely high attrition rates. Let’s stop pretending that the cost of hiring/retaining sales teams is lower than the revenue you get.

    All this is based on some artificial scarcity.

    Research shows that cooperation works better across the board. But all this talk about competition certainly helps us vie upwards for the approval of the overlords.

    Which might be exactly the reason why this game continues to persist.

  • Endless Skill Trees

    If you grew up gaming, you know all about skill trees. But what makes for the trunk and roots in your work and business?

    In gaming, you start at the lowest branch of the skill tree and level up with experience. You unlock more abilities as you climb the tree.

    Skill trees exist in our work as well. There is an endless universe of courses and certifications to help you “level up”.

    As a society, I think we’ve overemphasized the branches of skills. We keep upgrading and trying to climb higher.

    We even think about the trunk, which I consider to be schooling.

    But the roots? The soil?

    I think that is about the culture. Wisdom. Self-knowledge. Consciousness.

    The amazon is facing deforestation everyday mostly to raise soybeans for cows.

    No matter how tall the tree, nor its many branches, there will be a deforestation of human work this century.

    Maybe it’s time to stop thinking about leveling up on our skill trees. And instead find a different forest to thrive in.

  • The Treadmill of More

    Running faster on the treadmill of “more” still keeps you stuck just in one place. The place of “not enough”.

    When “leaders” talk about their visions, they talk about “more”. More products. More services. More shareholder value.

    When people talk about vision, they also talk about more. More skills certifications, more work, more overtime, more income.

    Implicit in this understanding is that if we just do “more”, we will be okay.

    But the harder you push something, the more quickly it breaks. When “visionary leaders” ask for more, they break people. Employees worldwide have some of the lowest satisfaction scores ever.

    When “more” is the goal, you focus on making the treadmill run faster.

    After all, the faster you run, the sooner you will arrive at the land of “more”. But ultimately, it is just a treadmill.

    What vision do we have for ourselves?

    I don’t think we will figure this out until we get off the treadmill of more.

  • Distorted priorities

    A friend was asked to attend a work call at 9.30 PM on a Friday while on vacation with just a day’s notice.

    My friend politely declined and reminded the CEO he was on vacation.

    The CEO kept this in the back of his mind. A few months later, the CEO expressed his frustration at my friend for failing to show up during that call.

    Would my friend have received any upside from this client call? No, only the CEO would.

    Did my friend get any equity from all the times he had worked long hours? No. It was expected of him.

    Many “leaders” lament that their people (aka ‘assets’) don’t work hard enough. That their priorities seem so different.

    They run workshops and give sessions to explain things like vision and corporate objectives.

    It seems to me that this time would better spent sitting down and listening instead. To really see and care about what their people want. To understand the world from their perspective.

    To recognize that work isn’t always the center of the world for people. That the executive’s upside is not the employee’s upside.

  • The Practice of Culture

    I’ve heard that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Yet, culture doesn’t get the reverence it deserves.

    Except in one place. It’s called “satsang”.

    Satsang means the coming together of true people. In satsang, you share stories and ideas. You share plainly the hard work of growth.

    You feel your insecurities. You feel your failures and struggles. It’s a time to aspire for the highest of ideals. You recalibrate and find your true north.

    It isn’t top-down, it’s bottom-up. Anyone can be part of satsang.

    Again and again. Week after week. Over and over again.

    Not once a year at some annual company retreat.

    Not once a season with a team lunch or outing.

    It is an intentional practice. It is meant to cultivate wisdom. Not just knowledge. It is goal-less, because growth is without an end. It is inward-focused, because satsang acknowledges that 99% of the game is internal.

    People dismiss this kind of practice. They think that all that matters is how you do things. Time is money after all.

    But in my experience, doing must go hand-in-hand with this type of satsang practice. We all need the time and space to breathe, slow down, and reset.

    I’ve seen miraculous things happen with the practice of satsang.

    It brought together 12,500 people from across North America to build Akshardham (including me). It brought 80,000 people together for 2 years to create an event that changed the lives of millions.

    Satsang nourishes. It helps people (including the leaders) realize their responsibility to each other. It is a chance to practice gratitude. It is a chance to realize each other’s greatness.

    It isn’t heavy. It uplifts.

    I’ve done my most fulfilling work wherever satsang has been practiced. I’ve flourished the most in those environments as well.

    I’ve seen this same sentiment shared by the thousands of people I’ve met over my life from across the globe.

    Maybe it’s time we practice satsang at work. And if there isn’t anything like that at your work, you can create a tribe of your own.

    I’m trying to put together something like this practice for people from around the world. Just as my way to give back.

    If you’re interested, do send me a message or write a comment below and I’ll be sure to include you.

  • The silence of the grads

    Recently, I met a bunch of grads out of high school going into college. This was an Indian-American group of teens, so high expectations come part and parcel with this group.

    I should know. Almost two decades ago, I was part of this group.

    I saw almost every one being exceptional in exactly the same way.

    I saw the honor roll society accolades. Principal’s awards. The high SAT and ACT scores. The plethora of the same extracurricular clubs. DECA, Model UN, etc.

    The president of this-and-that.

    All heading off into the same directions. Pre-med. Commerce programs. Engineering.

    In other words, I saw this grads acting exactly like me and my peers from 2007.

    But the world is so dramatically different today.

    The industrial era is coming to an end. Our work no longer has linear paths. They didn’t even back then, but we didn’t know any better.

    Doctors tell me about the lack of control they feel as private equity takes over their practices and clinics. When they feel like their “customer” is the insurance company they’re dealing with, not their actual patient.

    Lawyers tell me how unceremoniously they are dumped from their big law jobs where they thought they were safe.

    And engineers. Well, the tech world has upended almost every norm about how things should work.

    What do I even say about those going into the business fields of white collar work?

    Almost every group telling me that they wish they’d looked at more options. Expanded their vision a bit more. Before committing to a path that an 18 year old decided on (and more likely a 15 year old).

    Despite this completely shifting world, these grads hold on. They hold on to the dream of becoming doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants and management consultants.

    Nothing wrong with any of these jobs. Except I wonder how their path will unfold for them.

    I wish I could go back into the past and prepare myself differently.

    I wish I could tell these grads to take some time off before going to college. I wish I could tell them to actually see what other things you can learn to do right now that can expand your worldview.

    That what actually matters is creativity as much as left-brained logic, plans, and linear thinking.

    That initiative and vision matters. And that mindless compliance won’t get you where you want to go.

    After a lifetime of becoming excellent test-takers, they have become excellent at fitting the mold.

    I wish I could tell them these things because I have been this person. And I wish I could tell them they can do things differently.

    I hope and pray the best for them. They are all hardworking extraordinary people. They are honest and sincere. They are optimistic and starry eyed.

    I want the world for them. I just hope they figure out the silent new rule book sooner rather than later.

  • What’s Next for Workers in an AI-Driven World?

    Klarna fired 700 employees last year because the CEO thought “AI” would replace all their work. A year later, they wanted to hire those people again.

    Turns out AI is not so intelligent.

    Recently, James Watt asked the question:

    “What’s left for humans when AI does everything better?”

    He makes the case that, “the barista, the accountant, the professor, the CEO, the creative director – we’re all in the same boat now. AI isn’t just coming for “low-skilled” jobs. It’s coming for the Nobel Prize winners, the Fortune 500 CEOs, the world’s best doctors.”

    I really don’t think LLMs are going to pour my coffee at Starbucks anytime soon.

    But the rest, sure. But not because AI is smarter in any way.

    But because CEOs are on an endless road to promote growth at all costs. And they need employee loyalty and retention until of course employees become disposable by AI.

    The one group exempt from this: CEOs. Maybe Klarna’s CEO could have asked AI if it should have fired 700 people. CEOs are never questioned about their poor decisions made so confidently that upends the lives of hundreds and thousands.

    At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if AI is going to replace you or not. Most business “leaders” are looking to replace us no matter what (read more about this from my post a few days back).

    The only option left: we start to create our own conscious path to success. Our own road that’s inspired by own skills, creativity, interest, and desire to contribute.

    Video about that coming soon by the way.

    Let me know what you think. And if this point is of interest to you, let me know. I’m putting together a private group discussion where we figure out what’s next for us.

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