Time flies! It’s been 9 months since I wrote Part I of “I am in Love with Intuit“. This week I celebrate my first year anniversary at Intuit. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to wrap up the first year than spending a week for self-development with my colleagues at Leading@Intuit workshop. I have to say that in the…
Category: employee developement
What makes Google, GOOGLE?
My last day at Google! Tomorrow, I head out to explore the next adventure of my career and wanted to get this post out before I return my Google badge. My love & curiosity for Google started at Dubai airport! In the winter of 2009, I was heading back from Houston, Texas to Bangalore, India. I met this proud father…
Manage passion, NOT people!
Last week, I was at a conference in Dublin and one of the participants was articulating how she drives best-in-class performance with her team. The “AHA” moment for me was her quote on her leadership style. “I manage passion, not people”. One of the most powerful and thought provoking leadership quotes I have heard in…
After all, the manager is not as “evil” as you thought!
For the 5th or 6th time in the last few weeks, I saw a Linkedin ‘share’ like the one below, showing how leaders are all about people and on the other hand, managers are evil and mean. For decades, we have been told to be leaders and NOT managers. The picture painted is that of a manager being a…
The MOST powerful performance coaching tool, EVER!
In one of the recent networking sessions, someone brought up the topic of effective performance coaching tools. Participants were talking about different interpretations of what they thought were some of the most effective performance coaching tools. It included: Coaching softwares, coaching exercises, frameworks, coaching conversation starters, coaching models etc. On my drive back, I was reflecting on the topic and was thinking about…
The brand of “YOU”. Have one? Need one?
A brand is not simply a word. It’s what comes to one’s mind when they hear a name. Let me give you names of a few companies and think about what is the first thing that comes to your mind outside of the products/services that they are known for. Google, Comcast, Uber, Walmart, Bank of America, Apple,…
Who gets the credit? Isaac Newton or the apple tree?
We all know the popular story that Newton was sitting under an apple tree, an apple fell on his head, and he suddenly thought of the universal law of gravity! Based on the story, it seems like he was sitting in a peaceful and quiet place. Maybe a park with trees and flowers and Newton sat…
Is your team playing kiddie soccer?
What a beautiful Saturday afternoon in San Francisco! Amazing weather, bright sun, beautiful trees…..Love this place! My first weekend after moving to California from Michigan. Love this view from my balcony, I didn’t realize there was a park so close to our place. My wife and I decided to go check out the park with our…
Are you a “WHAT” leader or a “HOW” leader?
How many times, have you sat in a business review where someone was presenting how well a metric performed and asked, “Great job, you folks. By the way HOW did you guys do it?” Vs. moved on saying “Great work & well done!”. Maybe a few leaders want to know the HOW piece and a great majority is pleased with the…
Do you “deal” or “DEAL” with ambiguity?
No doubt! Dealing with ambiguity is critical to being a winner in today’s corporate environment. Every single job description out there, irrespective of the level or expertise asks for the ability to deal with ambiguous situations. It’s a must for your career journey to be successful. Don’t expect things to be black & white with utmost structure…
Love hormones for employee well being!! What the heck??
I was introduced to Oxytocin in 2011 during a seminar on ‘organizational strategy & the next generation of leadership’ in New Delhi and since then it has been a topic of great interest and learning for me. But wait! Are you wondering“What the heck hormones have to do with organizational strategy & employee engagement??” I thought the same…
They don’t let you touch the bananas? Wonder why?
“I don’t know why, but this is how we have always done it!”. Does this statement sound familiar? It has to be!! A statement that makes me want to giggle every time I hear it. Below is my favorite ‘5 monkeys’ video that helps articulate the severity and the impact of the “I don’t know” statement in any organization. “Why…
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