Srikumar Rao's Blog, page 6

It Begins so Early, and the Penalty is Severe!

When my daughter was born many of my friends gave her presents. Quite a few of these were rattles. We bought toys for her. One she liked was a device that had different ‘attractions’. Press a button and a clown would pop up. Move a handle and a nursery rhyme would start playing. And, when…

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It Goes Away. It All Goes Away!

Peter Evans wrote about a woman who had called him to write her story. “The stroke she’d had a year and a half earlier had partially paralyzed her left side and frozen half her face in a rictus of sadness. It would have been a hard blow to bear for any woman, but for an…

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How Does a Change Agent Surrender?

In a recent blog I spoke about the benefits of ‘surrendering’. One of my former students asked a highly pertinent question. “Professor Rao, as executives, we do have to make some hard decisions. How do we balance being a change agent vs surrender?” Many of my students have MBAs from top business schools. They have…

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When Terror Strikes

I have written about entrepreneurial terror. This is a cold, clammy all-encompassing fear that every entrepreneur feels at some point in their career. The fear that they made a mistake. That they will not be able to make payroll. That their company may go down the tubes. Others may also feel the same dread. It…

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Living in Pure Awareness with Professor Srikumar Rao

In life, there will always be challenges that will come our way. The key is to navigate these challenges while staying grounded with a sense of inner balance and peace. Many people seek to be “happy”, as it’s in our nature to strive to be happy or at least, to be content. However, the secret…

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“I Won’t Do It,” He Said. He is Correct!

This blog goes into deep waters. I was having a conversation with one of my long-time coaching clients. He has a deeply spiritual bent and frequently asks questions that take us far into the rabbit hole. We were talking about the exercise, “Feed the dog, not the wolf” that I recommend strongly. Here it is…

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Stop Thrashing About! Stand Up!

I went to Gainesville, Florida, a couple of weeks ago to meet with Michael Singer. Mickey, as he prefers to be called, and I had a private conversation after his Sunday morning service. We strolled around the magnificent grounds in which the Temple of the Universe is situated and soaked in the sheer beauty all…

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Lesson From a Blockbuster Movie

Dangal is an all-time blockbuster Bollywood movie. It is loosely based on the story of an Indian wrestler, Mahavir Singh Phogat, a national wrestling champion, who was forced to give up wrestling by his father and seek gainful employment. Dejected that he could not win a medal for his country he determines that he will…

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Try Being Giveful!

Tony Akel was the Dean of the School of Business at Long Island University in the eighties. He recruited me to join the faculty there and I was chairman of the marketing department for many years. He became a good friend and mentor. We were at a formal party soon after I joined LIU, and…

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You are Addicted!

I did not know her age, but she looked to be in her mid-fifties. She was weary and there were care worn lines in her face. It was hot despite the air-conditioning and her make-up was running. She had a huge pile of quarters in a casino bucket in front of her and she reached…

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