Shreyasi Singh is the Founder and CEO of Harappa, an online learning platform that focuses on building Thrive Skills - an essential set of cognitive, social and behavioral skills that enable professionals to succeed at all stages of their careers. Although Shreyasi is now an entrepreneur disrupting the Ed-Tech space, she’s had diverse experience in broadcast and print journalism, editorial leadership, book writing, teaching and higher education administration.

In this free-wheeling conversation, Subbu and Shreyasi discuss entrepreneurship, leadership styles, the representation of women at the workplace, research insights from Harappa's studies, and so much more.

Key topics

0:05 - The Harappa origin story

5:45 - Overcoming imposter syndrome

8:30 - Know your why

12:50 - The perks of being an outsider 

17:45 - The misplaced value of effortlessness

19:15 - Disrupting the ed-tech industry as a woman founder and CEO

25:00 - Shreyasi's style of leadership

31:15 - The culture at Harappa

35:35 - Insights from Harappa's research studies

41:30 - How entrepreneurship transformed Shreyasi

45:47 - Rapid-fire round!

47:45 - Is DEI a Utopian dream?

49:45 - A podcast-a-day...

Tessa West is a Professor of Psychology at New York University and a leading expert in the science of interpersonal communication. Her research focuses on understanding the nature and dynamics of social perception, addressing issues in the study of interpersonal and inter-group relations.

In this episode, Subbu and Professor West explore the topic of Jerks at work – toxic co-workers and what to do about them, incidentally also the name of the book authored by Professor West.

Key Topics

1:00 - Prof West's journey into academia, research and writing

5:00 - How common is the phenomenon of toxicity in the workplace?

7:40 - Why we are in a state of denial about toxicity at work

10:25 - Common misconceptions about jerks at work

14:40 - How toxicity can negatively affect our physiology

19:00 - The kiss-up kick-downers and how to deal with them

24:30 - Why the credit-stealers behave the way they do

30:00 - The impact of biases on how we gauge our contributions at work

32:00 - The bulldozers - people who take up all the airtime in a meeting

36:30 - Are micro-managers really just neglectful?

41:00 - Beware of the gaslighters

46:00 - Becoming better allies to each other

50:00 - Rapid fire round!

51:20 - We can do far better than virtue-signalling

Jeremy Utley is the Director of Executive Education at Stanford’s d.school and an Adjunct Professor at Stanford's School of Engineering. He is the co-host of the popular web series "Stanford's Masters of Creativity", and the co-author of the book ‘Ideaflow’.

In this episode, Subbu and Jeremy explore the concept of Ideaflow – why generating more ideas is critical to business success, and how leaders can enable a culture of ideation, experimentation and implementation.

Key topics

1:35 - Jeremy's career trajectory and the courage to deviate from the past

3:30 - Primed for a breakthrough

4:25 - Quantity over quality of ideas

7:55 - Why we need to focus on creativity

10:00 - Every problem is an idea problem

11:30 - Defining Ideaflow

12:30 - Psychological safety as an essential enabler for Ideaflow

14:40 - The Einstellung effect

18:20 - Dare to be obvious

19:30 - Why is picking the best idea so difficult?

22:00 - Designing great experiments

28:20 - Working in a culture that doesn't support creativity

31:00 - Rapid-fire round!

33:45 - Why is collaboration so messy?

36:30 - How to brainstorm well as a team

38:30 - The value of a non-homogenous team 

40:00 - Pixar's dailies

42:50 - Creative collissions - what they are and how to have more of them

45:45 - What leaders get wrong about the creative process and what they should be doing instead

Anita Bhogle is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad. She spent her early career in advertising, market research and marketing consultancy. Over time, Anita went on to become an entrepreneur. She’s an author, most recently of Equal Yet Different. Anita wears many hats, she is also an amateur keyboard player and a homemaker.

Anita brings her years of consulting, entrepreneurial and research experience to weigh-in on the question: what holds women back from succeeding at the workplace? In this podcast episode, Subbu and Anita explore how women are equal yet different, and how organizational culture can either impede or enable progress for women at work.

Key topics

0:13 - Anita's unique can-do approach to life

5:15 - Creating a niche for yourself

7:15 - Crossing the chasm between intrinsic motivation and execution

8:30 - Equal Yet Different: the backstory to Anita's book

13:10 - How ingrained mindsets can be detrimental to advancement for women

16:20 - When gender becomes a liability for women's progress

20:53 - Why being 'mentally feminist' isinsufficient

23:05 - The role of allies at work

28:00 - The upsides and downsides of hybrid work

33:30 - The diversity agenda and the role of inclusion

40:20 - Anita's experience with inclusion at IIMA

43:45 - Best practices in reducing unconscious bias at the workplace

Anshuman Tiwari is the Global Head of Quality and Continual Improvement at DXC Technology. He is also a mid-career coach and a top voice on LinkedIn. He has taught quality principles, methods, and tools to over 10,000 professionals and 1,000 students, and helped his clients win several quality awards, including the Deming Prize. His mission is to make an impact and to lead people to deliver 10x results.

In this episode, Anshuman and Subbu delve into the fascinating realm where careers and organizational culture intersect.

Discover the impact of organizational culture on career trajectories and personal growth as we explore how culture can act as a powerful catalyst for success or a stumbling block to advancement. 

Key Topics

0:25 - How Anshuman built his career 'brick by brick'

5:10 - Anshuman's advice to his younger self

8:30 - Trends and patterns from the future of work to watch out for

12:20 - Anshuman's method for coaching mid-career professionals

18:30 - Is burnout a challenge among professionals today?

24:50 - Insights from the intersection of careers and culture

32:00 - Great cultures create great career opportunities for their people 

36:00 - The role of the manager in nurturing team culture

41:30 - The role of the organization in meeting career aspirations of its people

48:00 - The big post-pandemic shifts that have impacted our world

Sharath Jeevan works with global leaders to navigate direction, build motivating cultures, and nurture potential. Sharath was awarded an OBE in the 2022 Queen's New Year's Honours for founding and leading STiR Education, which has helped ignite the motivation of 200,000 school teachers around the world.

In this episode, Subbu and Sharath explore reigniting the power of intrinsic motivation in the workplace. They discuss topics such as guided autonomy, wicked work environments, pay transparency, the Big P and Small P of Purpose, and much more.

Key topics

1:00 - Sharath's journey to rediscovering Intrinsic Motivation

4:20 - A manifesto to reignite our inner drive

5:20 - The Big P and Small P of Purpose

8:45 - Autonomy and Mastery at work

10:45 - The problem with focusing too much on extrinsic motivation

13:45 - Is all burnout due to long working hours?

16:30 - Guided autonomy in action

19:00 - Thriving in a wicked work environment

22:50 - The power of pay transparency at work and why it matters

25:30 - Rethinking meritocracy

28:30 - Building talent v/s nurturing skills

30:00 - Re-framing how 'talent owners' approach the talent selection process

Sonali Gupta is a highly sought-after clinical psychologist, author, columnist, and workplace consultant, having worked with numerous leading organizations. Her book - 'Anxiety: Overcome It and Live Without Fear' was published around the time of the pandemic and has received wide critical acclaim.

In this episode, we shine a spotlight on fostering a culture of mental well-being in the workplace. As the world of work continues to evolve rapidly, understanding and prioritizing mental health has never been more important. Sonali's expertise in the field enables us to have a deep conversation about anxiety, mental health, well-being, and more.

Key Topics

0:07 - Sonali's journey to becoming a therapist

4:53 - Covid-19 and the importance of focusing on mental health

9:20 - Differentiating between normal and crippling anxiety

13:45 - The notion of the high-performing individual

16:45 - The physiological consequence of being always wired and always on

19:50 - Letting go of the 'itch' to get back to technology

25:35 - Advice for the high-performing individual

30:10 - Soothing rituals and pause rituals

35:05 - How managers and team members can take care of each other

40:25 - Building a culture of well-being

43:00 - Rethinking our basic assumptions of what constitutes good mental health

Hari TN is the Co-founder of Artha School of Entrepreneurship. He is also an evangelist, thought leader, and influencer in the Startup ecosystem. He is an alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Calcutta. Hari has authored 8 books and is a columnist at Mint. His books ‘Saying No to Jugaad', ‘From 'Pony to Unicorn', and ‘Diversity Beyond Tokenism’ have been bestsellers.

Hari has been part of the leadership teams at five high growth start-ups and helped shape their growth journeys and exits, including a listing on NASDAQ. Three of these went on to become Unicorns. He is also passionate about helping founders build great companies and supporting women leaders discover their potential.

In this free-wheeling conversation, Subbu and Hari discuss organizational culture in the context of startups.

*Key Topics*

0:25 - Turning points in Hari's trailblazing career 

4:45 - Big insights and 'aha moments' about culture

7:30 - The 9 determinants of scale (and where culture fits in)

12:10 - The role of the external ecosystem in helping founders make sense of culture

13:10 - The analogy of the 'invisible hand' applied to org culture

15:30 - Executing on culture beyond the culture playbook

17:55 - Leveraging moments of truth to drive the right set of behaviors

20:30 - Aggressive v/s soft cultures

23:00 - Organizational self-awareness

26:00 - The role of the leadership team (beyond the founders) in driving culture

27:40 - Scaling culture across geographical boundaries

29:00 - Human Capital as an Achilles heel for startup founders

30:00 - Culture starts with hiring the right people

35:00 - Hiring for homogeneity v/s diversity

37:00 - The strongest elements of the BigBasket Culture

39:30 - The fox and the hedgehog strategy

Colleen is a highly sought-after coach, trainer and speaker, and she works with clients spanning the globe. Her areas of expertise cut across Neuroscience, Mindfulness, Brain-based Learning, Personal and Professional Coaching, and Emotional Intelligence.

Colleen has over 10,000 hours of training and coaching experience, a master’s degree in leadership, a Postgraduate Diploma in Neuroleadership and a PhD in Mindfulness and Leadership.

In this conversation, Colleen and Subbu discuss how coaching can be used as a tool to enable leadership development and drive positive organizational culture. Great leadership is synonymous with coaching. Being in tune with our emotions and being present in the moment are skills that leaders can master, and this reflects in the way we show up for our people. A knock-on effect is that this behavior reflects in our culture. A culture of coaching leads to humility, strong relationships, and a truly empowered workforce.

Key topics

0:35 - Colleen's journey into coaching

2:30 - Defining coaching as a construct

4:15 - The myths of what coaching is (what it isn't)

6:20 - Where neuroscience and coaching intersect

10:05 - The role of emotions in the workplace

13:15 - Being mindful in an always-on work environment

16:30 - Mindfulness as a way to becoming more present

18:50 - Getting in touch with your emotional self

20:00 - Coaching in the context of leadership

23:30 - The paradigm shift required for leaders

26:10 - Driving a culture of coaching

29:00 - Tracking the success of coaching interventions

30:40 - Empowering people from the top-down

34:00 - The shift from leadership to managerial coaching

Professor Rishikesha Krishnan is the Director of IIM Bangalore and a leading expert in strategy and innovation. With over 140 publications spanning from academic journals to the popular press, Professor Rishi is an accomplished author and thought leader.

In this conversation, Subbu and Professor Rishi discuss the steps to enable innovation in any organization, how to tap into the creative potential of employees, dealing with honest failures, and much more.

Key Topics

0:25 - How Prof Krishnan was inspired to study innovation

2:00 - Biggest takeaways from researching innovation through all these years

3:35 - Four steps to successful innovation in an organizational context

7:10 - The pipeline, velocity and batting average problems when driving innovation

9:15 - Day-to-day behavioral factors that may slow down innovation

11:40 - The 'jugaad' way of innovating

13:10 - Low prices don't always equate to poor quality or sub-optimal user experience

16:00 - Have we crossed a tipping point in the startup ecosystem?

19:05 - Maximizing the creative potential of your people

22:30 - How to deal with honest failures

24:43 - The impact of managerial practices on driving an innovative culture 

29:00 - Building and encouraging communities of practice 

31:28 - Decoding empathy as a construct in design thinking

36:10 - Expanding methods to conduct customer immersion in the digital era

37:00 - Exciting innovations in the health-tech space