Ravi Bhuthapuri

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 […]

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

  When I lost my father a couple of years ago, the day went by in a haze and I don’t remember much about it. But I do remember that a friend was by my side throughout the day as I took part in the funeral rites. I also remember that he did not offer

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

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

Colin Powell, the retired Army General and former US Secretary of State, said, “The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.” It seems obvious that managers need team members to speak up. By virtue of their position, managers don’t always know all that is happening on the

Why do we complain so much? We know it isn’t good for us. Our health, our career and our relationships all suffer when we give in to this habit. And a habit it is for many who don’t realize that a ‘glass half empty’ mindset has become their default setting. Some of us use it

(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.

Leaders are expected to live in the real world, to make decisions based on evidence and where necessary, seriously weigh the counsel of experience. Effective leaders know how to read people and when they are being sold a bill of goods. Such street-smarts are indispensable in a world filled with hype, exaggerated claims and outright