Ravi Bhuthapuri

The Power of Metaphors

Metaphors, a figure of speech, are a powerful way of communicating our thoughts and ideas. We denounce an unfair comment as “a low blow” and a flimsy plan or weak organization as “a house of cards”. We are in the doldrums if depressed and in Siberia if sitting at the worst table in a restaurant. […]

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Difficult Stars

It will come as no surprise to anyone that all leaders want capable and dedicated team members. We are delighted when some of our team members turn out to be star performers. These are the men and women who need very little motivation from us and almost no hand-holding to get things done. We laud

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Mea Culpa

When I worked in the IT industry, I often advised my Project Managers to avoid leading with “I’m sorry” when fielding complaints from our clients. I would ask them to respond first with words of understanding and a promise to look into the issue immediately. “If after a little investigation, you discover that a problem

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The Role of Failure

For several years now, the mantra of innovation-hungry tech start-ups has been “fail fast, fail often, fail early”. Implicit in this philosophy is the assumption that the company will learn from its mistakes and plough back the lessons it learns into the next iteration of its product or service. Innumerable management gurus and coaches tell

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First impressions

Leaders need to be able to work with all kinds of people. The ability to identify those who matter, understand how they can influence the outcomes you care about, and getting a good read on them is critical to your success. Getting a good read on a colleague isn’t terribly hard but it takes time

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Circling the wagons

In the 19th century in the United States, early settlers from the East Coast traveled by horse-drawn wagons to claim land in the “Wild West”, in territories such as Oklahoma, Kansas and so on. When resting at night, and during the daytime too, these settlers formed a tight circle with their wagons to protect themselves

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Mutatis mutandis

(Mutatis mutandis is a Medieval Latin phrase that means “the necessary changes having been made”) It is often said that management and leadership are not for the faint-hearted. They are also not for the simple-minded. We learn from experience that no two employees are the same, no two clients are the same, and so on.

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