Upbringing Here’s a thought regarding upbringing. Views welcome; and especially so if you have kids and your parents either stay with you, or you visit each other often. You know how curious for information kids are. And parents often ask them to say or sing something they have learnt, in front of family or in…
Dr. John Virapen on the Greed of Pharmaceutical Companies Sometimes when you think about one particular country or another, and admire it for a great government, a transparent press, a robust healthcare ecosystem, and so on. Or when you believe the doctor when he tells you your child has an attention-deficit disorder, as he or…
Image: The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the Ghostbusters movie, 1984 The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, Delayed Gratification and more In June this year, Jessica Calarco wrote a very interesting article around the famous Stanford marshmallow experiment from the 1960s, which were a number of studies conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel. Mischel was studying correlation between children who…
The pros and “Cons” of Storytelling! Storytelling. Steve Jobs wasn’t the first to talk about, or practice it. Nor was he the first one to focus on the customer and build differentiation. Function and form. And he wasn’t the first to capture customer personalities, traits and passions in their marketing and communication, instead of just…
The Stand-off called Life Random musings. Life, in some ways, is like a standoff with a wild animal. You are puzzled, scared and unsure of its next move. So is the animal. If you panic or succumb to your fears, it will pounce, attack, and possibly consume you. And fast. On the other hand, if…
The Non-Financial Side of Business A call with an industry colleague last week set in motion, thoughts on how we measure individual or business success. As a kid growing up in India in the 80’s, studies used to be quite a tricky part of life. Studying history, for instance. We had a ton of dates…
Rate Wisely Imagine the simple process of rating a book you’ve just read. Let’s say it is a non-fiction. Perhaps a business or even a self-help kind of book. The normal tendency would be that if it has even an average amount of useful stuff, you’d give it a good rating. Especially if it contained…
The Illusion of Ratings and Feedback Life in present times has become an increasingly rapid process of experiences and feedback. Businesses are always asking us to rate the services or experiences they offer. And often, they feel inclined to “reward” us for it. While no one’s complaining about the free stuff or great discounts, are…
Pigs Rule I recently found myself around a humorous discussion around politics at a relatives’ home.A grand aunt asked another relative if they planned on getting into politics. The relative laughingly retorted that for one to be in politics, they must be prepared to hit and to be hit. As an example, he cited a…
A Pad Idea! Once upon a time, there was is a man named Arunachalam Muruganantham from Coimbatore in India, who could not bear to see the discomfort and embarrassment that his wife had to go through, just to buy/ wear a sanitary pad / napkin. Risking even his very marriage, Arunachalam’s empathy and resolve lead him…