Rajat Agarwal

Tech Enthusiast, Work at thoughts here. Not meant to influence.

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

@TheLallantop @ANI @PTI_News @ndtv @ABPNews @CNN @IndiaToday @indiatvnews @news24tvchannel @punjabkesari

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

Amritsar to Delhi road blocked due to farmer protests. Rerouting near Sambhu border via villages.

Now the problem areas;

1. No road infra. Kacchi sadaks.
2. Highly unsafe at night for women and children. Tragedy brewing.
3. No police personnel whatsoever. What poor management.

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

@rashtrapatibhvn @nitin_gadkari @aajtak @ZeeNews @republic @INCIndia @RahulGandhi

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

@narendramodi @rashtrapatibhvn @BhagwantMann @ArvindKejriwal @NayabSainiBJP @cmohry @CMOPbIndia @police_haryana @PunjabPoliceInd @DGPHaryana @DGPPunjabPolice @BJP4Haryana @AAPPunjab

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

Only police is sitting at blocking site with very poor info management.
4. Radom blockades on village roads causing hours of delay with no one to manage, causing problem for villagers.

Someone needs to intervene. State govt should take responsibility for pathetic management.

[Gabbar @GabbbarSingh]

A guy running a business can never be super happy.

There is never a clean win. Coz with every win there are 3 losses lurking in the corner. There is no absolute state of happiness. While a corporate guy who gets the top rating, or cracks a dream role, is delirious. Coz that’s a clean win. The more you know, the farther you see, the more subdued you become. :)

[Sanjeev Bikhchandani @sbikh]

On the Ashoka WhatsApp group there is a discussion on the convocation speech and what kind of convocation speakers we should look for. Most people are posting videos of commencement speakers from US universities.

I posted the following message

👇

A random thought on convocation speeches.

We want a convocation speech that is slick. One that is delivered by a speaker in polished sophisticated English. With the right accent using the right words.

The convocation speaker in my graduating class at IIMA was V Krishnamurthy. Chairman of SAIL. He said all the right things but guess what - thirty four years out I don’t remember a word of what he said and I don’t think what he said made any difference to the lives of any of my classmates. That speech did not change anyone’s behaviour or influence any of the choices we made in our lives.

However I vividly remember remember the speech made by the chief guest at IIMA in the previous year. Being in the junior batch I was not invited to the event so along with several others from my class I watched the function from the first floor of the building on the side.

The chief guest was Dr Verghese Kurien Chairman NDDB.

He was not polite. He was downright rude. He was condescending. He was sarcastic. He was caustic. He was insulting. He spoke a few home truths to the graduating class. He taunted us.

He opened by congratulating the graduating class. He then said that this is not the Indian Institute of Management. This is the Indian Institute of Management for Shampoo Salesmen. And that the entire graduating class could now look forward to a life where they spend their time selling soap and shampoo. For that is the limit of our aspiration and ambition he said. We just wanted to work for Multinational Corporations peddling their wares to Indian consumers. Such a collosal waste of talent he called it. And throughout his speech he repeatedly used the term “shampoo salesmen” derisively to describe the graduates of IIMA.

He challenged us to do something more meaningful with our lives and try and make a difference.

But then he lamented that his words were going to fall on deaf ears and that we would take the safer option.

Now it requires some guts to go as a chief guest to a function and then make a 30 minute speech berating and insulting your hosts. But that was Dr. Verghese Kurien. In your face. Blunt. Calling a spade a spade.

By the end of it our ears were burning.

But guess which speech we remembered.

And Some of us did do something different.

The class of 1989 has produced the most number of entrepreneurs in the history of IIMA.

Sometimes warm fuzzy convocation speeches don’t make lasting impact.

[Romeen Sheth @RomeenSheth]

I came across this wonderful piece from @marcrandolph, Co-Founder of @netflix, the other day.

Highly recommend reading it and internalizing it.

5 key lessons I pulled away from Marc’s reflection:

1. Everyone should have a north star - success is what you make of it; money, influence, impact, balance, intellectual satisfaction. There’s no right or wrong; it’s different for each person. The worst thing you can do is build a life around somebody else’s definition of success

2. Values are easy to have, hard to uphold - Your values shine through in difficult times - Extending Marc’s example, it’s not difficult to wrap up at 5 pm on a quiet Tuesday. In a crisis situation, it is difficult, but not impossible. If it’s truly a value, it will be upheld in rain or shine.

3. Compounding is magical - It is so difficult to measure the compounding quality of non-quantitative actions. In business, we see the impact our decisions have daily; these are easily measurable and can be measured over hyper short duration timeframes. It’s why we gravitate towards them - instant gratification.

What we don’t see however is the impact of daily decisions that aren’t easily measurable, e.g. an individual conversation with a colleague, a sit down dinner with a family member, daily inward reflection. In my experience, these decisions don’t breed instant gratification, but they are so important - they’re the source of enduring and sustainable long term gratification.

4. Balance comes from imbalance - I’ve found that the best way to achieve enduring happiness is to go “all in”on whatever you’re doing. If you’re at work - go all in; focus, be the best teammate and leader you can be. If you’re at home - do the same; be the best spouse, partner, parent, sibling, you can be.

5. Constraints force impact - This has been a learning for me as I’ve scaled myself as a Leader. The biggest challenge when you’re operating a high growth business is focus; my friend has a simple framework he uses that I love (and stole!). Every company earns the *right* to do a handful of things really well. No more, no less. Inserting constraints forces you to focus, prioritize and spend time on areas that are highest impact and highest leverage.

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

Person who starts early, sets the context.

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

@VaibhavSisinty Same feeling bro

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

Best form of revenge is to keep people guessing.

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

4th gear over 5th gear. Iykyk.

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

Problem seekers find solutions, solution seekers find problems.

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

An uncanny urge of a book reader to say "I've read this already", while also thinking not to sound boastful.

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

The sum positive of trusting is far greater than building defence against non-trust behaviour.

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

@Akhiles29270627 @bijnismen Sir share your number please

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

To hear the voice, cut the noise.

[Kunal Shah @kunalb11]

Curios people rarely behave their age and often don’t look their age.

Childlike curiosity has some good side effects.

[Kriti Gupta @kritinotkeerti]

what is this sudden obsession with vietnam

[Rajat Agarwal @rajatag4]

Will hai toh skill will come. Not true vice versa.