This episode is special. A one of a kind storyteller we ever hosted on SOS. Welcoming India’s premier film critic whose reviews are our one stop go to for any movie. Today we have Anupama Chopra with us. 

Some movies, actors, …. have a place in the heart of every Indian.

And that’s why Anupama Chopra’s latest book published by the Penguin Random House is rightly titled ‘A Place in my Heart’.

But each one of us have strong preferences when it comes to the movies or the actors since they evoke such emotions in us, and hence a movie critic’s job becomes so much more difficult to review a movie honestly from every angle without bringing personal likings and dislikings.

This discussion is on one hand a personal journey in the industry and on the other about her professional career over the years with the film industry.

Tune in!

An MBA in India is one of the most sought after degrees in the country. As usual tons of people compete for getting admissions into the top B-schools and the competition is no less than a dog-eat-dog situation. The competition is ruthless, why? Because the gap between the demand (disclaimer: the demand for quality institutes) and supply is humungous.

Tarun Anand, understood this gap and set out on a journey to fill some of it, leaving behind an illustrious career. We do hear a lot about startups and new age businesses, but what does starting a business school entail and how does one compete with the top B-schools to create a space for themselves? Let us hear from him a little about his journey, the process of setting up a B-school and more importantly the challenges he faces in the current uncertain times.

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The most important decisions about your career and growth in an organisation are taken in your absence! Do you agree?

Hence, its super important that you have the correct perceptions about yourself at the workplace among your peers and your seniors. We generally tend to shy away from office politics thinking it is probably unethical and wrong to indulge in it. I ran a short poll on how people think about workplace politics and a whopping 54% said they stay away and that's exactly what you shouldn't be doing.

Why? Because 'if you don't do politics, politics will do you', which is also the title of Niven's book. A perfect title I think.

Niven goes onto claim in the book, 'there is strong evidence that our work ratings, bonuses, and promotions are weakly correlated to actual performance – in fact, performance may even matter less to our success than our political skills and how we are perceived by those who make the decisions', harsh and scary but true.

I discuss at length with Niven trying to first clear the clouds around politics and make a strong case for why you should take the 'politics bull' by the horns. By the way, there is a thing called positive politics. Tune in!

The discussion is based on the book: https://www.amazon.in/YOU-DONT-POLITICS-WILL-effectively-ebook/dp/B08G8SMFSC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EEOLNOIFQPW5&keywords=if+you+dont+do+politics&qid=1641676378&sprefix=if+you+dont+do+politics%2Caps%2C320&sr=8-1

Mahabharata is one of the oldest scriptures and its relevance transcends any era and situation. The beauty of the story is that the lessons we draw from every situation and character is subjective and could be totally different from the next person.

However, over the years the way the story has been depicted and narrated, it has always left us with deep perceptions which are difficult to shake. For eg., Do you think Shakuni was a great leader, regardless of the end result? We seem to have labelled him with everything negative and everything we shouldn't do. But maybe that's not true.

This discussion with Prof. Asha Kaul and Prof. Vishal Gupta at IIM A, is an objective discussion analysing some of these important characters, what they stand for and what we can learn from them.

The discussion is based on their book published by Bloomsbury, Demystifying Leadership: Unveiling the Mahabharata Code. You can pick up the book here: https://www.amazon.in/Demystifying-Leadership-Unveiling-Mahabharata-Code/dp/9354350933/ref=sr_1_1?crid=8XA9EOSV29W7&keywords=demystifying+leadership&qid=1638419033&sprefix=demys%2Caps%2C291&sr=8-1

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How cool would it be if we knew how our future boss is going to be before we were to join a new organization. Isn’t it? Here’s a suggestion, ask the to-be-future-boss at the interview, ‘Could you tell me a little about the people who have worked for you in the past?’

Because bosses can make a lot of difference to your careers, remember the famous quote, "People leave managers, not companies". 100% true it is. There are both good and bad bosses but there are also these 'Superbosses' who can accelerate your careers by leaps and bounds.

Have you worked for a Superboss? Or are you a Superboss yourself?

But who is a Superboss? What is this concept?

Listen to the episode with Sydney Finkelstein, Professor at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, where we dissect this breed of superbosses and explain in depth on:

- How do they work?

- What sets them apart?

- How do they propel careers?

- How can one find a superboss to work for?

Tune in!

Have you ever had a life-changing idea that you think could be the next big thing or transform people's lives or if nothing else, could change the course of your own career? But haven't implemented it yet for the fear of the unknown or for the lack of direction?

If it is so, this episode is for you. We have Kara Goldin, Founder & CEO, Hint Inc., speak to us about how she built the company with practically zero experience in making fruit-infused flavored water, in fact she wasn't anywhere closer at all. What's special about her journey is how it connects in many ways with each one of us. She isn't a dropout from a big college or the founder of a highly funded start-up, she has come through the ranks with her consistent efforts, hard work, and most importantly 'showing up'. Intrigued with the last part?

Tune in to listen to her story and find the much needed push and advice to propel your career and future into a wonderful tomorrow.

The discussion is based on her best-selling book 'Undaunted', you may want to check out the book at: https://www.amazon.in/Undaunted-Overcoming-Doubters-Kara-Goldin-ebook/dp/B085XNDWYT/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=undaunted&qid=1629349430&sr=8-4

What is the difference between ‘mentoring’ and ‘coaching’?

“While mentoring is watching you from the balcony, and giving you lots of career advice over a long period of time. Coaching is being on the dance floor with a person, you roll up the sleeves, and you sort of get your hands dirty”

Isn’t that a beautiful way of explaining the difference? I totally think so.

This episode with Ruchira, is all about:

- How ‘Coaching’ is the bedrock for an organisation to build great future leaders and grow them

- How should companies build future leaders as against the current methods of quarterly and yearly reviews

- What traits to look for in people to assign them leadership roles, and

- What are the 4Cs of Coaching and what do these rest upon

Ah, and the secret at the end. It’s what we live for. Tune in!

Here we are with our second SOS Shot. We received great response from the first one and so we thought of resurrecting some of oldest conversations and present a capsule version.

Here is one with Dr. Shalini Lal who talks about how did she find her own calling, what decides if you would be successful at work and how can you assess an organization before joining a new one if it's worth it or not.

All of it in just about 10 minutes.

You can also listen to the full conversation at:

Every individual has a journey of their own, unique in almost every aspect possible.

But there is definitely a thing or two we can learn from greats or legends. This episode on Secrets of Storytellers is about one such person - Virat Kohli.

He has not only been an inspiration to people associated with the game of cricket but his dedication, hard work, grit, and passion are so infectious and teach many lessons on how to become a better version of ourselves.

It is the actions and incidents in one's life that show their real character, their real strength. We discuss with Vijay Lokapally, India's most famous cricket journalist, about:

What makes Virat Kohli such a great player?

What sets him apart from the others in the game?

What were those few incidents which became the tipping point in Virat's career?

And how has he led the team so wonderfully while ensuring he gives his best to the game as an individual.

The discussion is based on Vijay Lokapally's book 'Driven', published by Bloomsbury.

Here is a first of this kind, SOS Shots is an attempt to deliver the crux of the full conversation in under 10 minutes. No bullshit.

This first is a short version of the last episode with Hasan Kubba, who talks about a very interesting concept 'Unfair Advantages' which defies the concepts of meritocracy and equal starting line. Everyone has one or rather many Unfair Advantages in life which makes the playing field 'unlevelled'. Listen to the episode and find out your Unfair Advantage with the framework shared by Hasan during the discussion.

Looking forward to hearing from you!