To form a successful relation with others, we need to relate with our own negative qualities I had been feeling guilty about not spending enough time with some houseguests who were staying for the weekend. Being in their seventies, the couple was quite happy to chat with my mother who had also come over to [...]

Many businessmen do good quality work but are hesitant or squeamish about selling their goods or services. I have met several who say ‘I’m not good at it’ or ‘its demeaning to make business calls’. But the truth is that selling like any other work requires planning, persuading and perseverance. Recently I was at a [...]

A lot of the times we end up saying or doing something we regret later.  One aspect of Emotional Intelligence is self-regulation- or impulse control, or simply self-control. Recently I was discussing this subject with Prof Sudhir Jain, Director of the new IIT at Gandhinagar, who is a rare combination of an academic with international [...]

What is assertive behaviour? Assertiveness is the middle ground between aggression and passivity. It is about reasonable behaviour and finding solutions that suit both sides. Assertiveness means: Acknowledging your own feelings to yourself (“My boss gives me bits and pieces of tasks without total responsibility of the entire project, and I am feeling restless and unfulfilled”); Understanding [...]

Communication at the workplace (particularly with the boss) is as important as lubricant for our car engine. Without it our career will sputter and stall, and work life will be full of breakdowns and headaches. In quiz, you saw a few situations, which if not clarified, have the potential to worsen our irritation with time.  [...]

(Dilip Chhabria is the founder of DC Design, internationally recognised for quality services in vehicle customizing and modification) The first thing that strikes you about Dilip Chhabria as he walks into the restaurant where we are meeting him for dinner is his utter ease with himself, as he laughingly explains why he wife couldn’t make [...]

Yesterday, I was at a Best Practices seminar organized by one of the reputed MBA colleges of India. After the inaugural session when the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour had left, there was a tea break followed by a talk by Srikanth Surampudi, the Regional HR Head of one of the largest IT firms [...]

Polishing your interview skills View more presentations from Rashmi Datt.

Recently I was at the IITs on the invitation of the placement cell. They wanted some grooming tips on facing interviews. Running the workshop for 300 students was fun! One of the questions which needed the most preparation was the seemingly innocuous question: “Tell me about yourself” . Interviewers often ask this question at the [...]

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks”, said Winston Churchill. Earlier, I wrote about the importance of Choosing Your Battles to Win the War: You need to ignore the small stuff— minor setbacks, obstacles and conflicts; so that you focus your energies for the big [...]