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Leading Without Noise: The Strength of Emotional Discipline

I was in a meeting recently where voices slowly began to rise. Disagreement turned into argument. Argument turned into noise. A few people tried to calm things down, and then, almost quietly, they became part of the noise themselves. I stayed mostly silent. But it stirred something in me. Because I have been there, more […]

Untapped Potential: How Pakistani Businesses Fail Their Young Workforce

Almost 65% of our population is under the age of 30. That is not just a statistic, it ought to be a national asset! Yet, almost every day, I come across poor young people in their 20s working in factories, retail shops, restaurants, car workshops etc. They are often underpaid, unseen, and written off as […]

When Gender Bias Becomes a Business Risk

Sometimes, the solutions to our problems are so obvious that we fail to see them. One such problem I observe is when I sometimes have the opportunity to attend management meetings in local businesses in Pakistan. I instantly notice the absence or minimal representation of women. Beyond the social and macro-economic implications that have been […]

The Invisible Growth That Actually Moves Us Forward

Most of us grew up with a very one dimensional idea of “growth”. More revenue, more clients, more employees, more products. Simply more of everything! In my consulting work, I often see businesses pursuing growth in numbers without a solid business model. They replicate mediocre solutions and copy paste strategies to show growth in revenue, […]

The Leadership Paradox: Why Empty Space Matters More Than Full Schedules

I was trying to set up a meeting with a business owner recently. Every attempt ran into the same wall, a calendar packed for weeks. And when he tried to bring in his senior team, it became an even bigger challenge. Eventually he pulled rank to make it happen, not because everyone genuinely had space, […]

Patience, Empathy, and the Unseen Choices We Make

On a recent flight, after landing, as we waited to disembark, the line came to a halt. A young mother was struggling with her child’s stroller, and within seconds, people began urging her to hurry. That moment stayed with me. For most of us, it was a couple of minutes delay. For her, it was […]

How Top Performers Choose Opportunities, Not Jobs

I had an interesting conversation the other day with a friend who is a senior C level leader. We were discussing if the best people were ever really “looking” for jobs? His view was that if someone is actively putting their CV on platforms like LinkedIn or working with headhunters, it must mean they are […]

Decency as a Compass: Navigating Ethics in Leadership

In my business school ethics class a long time back, I recall an experiment conducted by our professor. Before class, he privately asked me to say something provocative in our class discussion. He would then get angry and throw me out of the class! The purpose was to observe my classmates’ reactions. He wanted to […]

Good Hearts, Heavy Minds: Understanding Mental Health in the Workplace

Today is world mental health day! I have been reading about the growing importance of this subject in our daily lives, particularly in the workplace and have recently discovered a critical aspect, that mental health issues like depression are not signs of weakness, but rather proof of conscience! Good, caring individuals often carry a heavy […]

Time as a Gift: How Age Brings Perspective

In my family, this is the season for birthdays. A lot us are somehow born in these couple of months! And birthdays for older people like myself often carry a different kind of meaning compared to when we were younger. They are more moments of gratitude for health, family, friends and the simple gift of […]