The Return to Innocence
A lot of people go from lighthearted when young to bitter and caustic or indifferent as they get older. They might remain adequately friendly and cheerful in public, knowing well not to cross boundaries or…
Category: Life or something like it
Gimme Your Best Question!
A few days ago, I shared how one re-framed question unlocked a breakthrough solution for a pediatric hospital project, and opened up a contest for you to share YOUR transformational questions. I've been thinking about…
A Coupon Code for my Potato Book
My "potato book" was feeling left out with all the posts and coupons for the two design thinking books. So here's a coupon for Main Batata Hoon, a collection of short stories written in a…
Merry Christmas!
This story here has been a favourite for many years now, and I have probably sent it to hundreds of you around this time of the year, either as part of my work mailers or…
My Writing Journey so Far
It’s easy to look at a finished book and forget the chaos it came from. Recently when rummaging through an old box of papers, I found this (top left, circular diagram thing). That was from…
Design ThinkingHuman BehaviourImproveInspireLife or something like itNot So SeriousThe known unknown
On Writing..
One of my favourite fictional characters is Poirot. In the 2023 film A Haunting in Venice, when explaining his method, he says: “When a crime has been committed, I can, by application of order and…
On Re-reading Books..
Most of us don’t read enough. And those who do, often fall into a numbers game: how many books can I finish this year? In this mindset, re-reading an already finished book feels almost wasteful.…
From Quality Revolutions to Design Thinking: Where Did All the Productivity Go?
Back when I was researching for my book, 'Design the Future', that simplifies design thinking for businesses and curious individuals, I noticed something striking. The popular 5-step Stanford design thinking model closely mirrors DMAIC, a…
The Funny Route Life Insurance Companies in India chose to Bridge the Gap in Insurance Cover
Startups often struggle to find a healthy balance between becoming and staying relevant, with marketing and sales, and competition and growth. Their efforts and struggle, while not necessarily always logical, is usually understandable. However, one…
Coin Tossing should be more commonplace
I recently watched the 2006 political action thriller, 'The Sentinel.' It had a character follow this practice that is old, obvious and practical, but is hardly used nowadays. In the movie, a senior Secret Service…
Part 4: A bit about my journey for Young Change-makers
Part 4 of a series of posts aimed at young professionals. The world is getting increasingly confusing. Here are some of my learnings. In the last post (here), I mentioned the need for taking bold/…
Building Trust
There are brilliant behavioural science wizards across the world unfortunately employed with companies that have them busy finding behavioural science tactics to quickly build trust among customers. And maybe it works sometimes. To my knowledge…
Echoes of Doubt – Information and Trust in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Elections
Our present realities can get very grey with information overload, misinformation, and fake news. Which is why this news from last week was so interesting. In the recent Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, supporters and politicians…
Part 2: A bit about my journey for Young Change-makers
Part 2 of a series of posts for young professionals and entrepreneurs. Reflections from 12 years as a freelance innovation and strategy consultant in an increasingly chaotic world. As I mentioned in my last post,…
Part 1: A bit about my journey for Young Change-makers
This is Part 1 of a series of posts aimed at young change-makers. As the world can seem grey at times, you might find some of my learnings useful. Reflections from 12 years as a…