Introduction
Welcome to The ContraMind Code.
The ContraMind Code provides you with a system of principles, signals, and ideas to aid you in your pursuit of excellence.
The newsletter shares the source code through quick snapshots for a systems thinking approach to be the best in what you do.
The Code helps you reboot and reimagine your thinking by learning from the best. It also enables you to draw a blueprint for what it takes to get extraordinary things done. You can share your valuable thoughts and comments and start a conversation here.
Take a journey to www.contraminds.com. Listen and watch some great minds talking to us about their journey of discovery of what went into making them craftsmen of their profession, to drive peak performance.
Why Contradictions Define India’s Zoomers.
Abhijoy Gandhi is a tech entrepreneur and CEO of Glue Inc., a Greylock Partners-funded start-up building an AI-powered platform. This article by Abhijoy highlights the paradox young workers in India face—confidence mixed with insecurity. It also gives you a lot of insights into understanding these employee cohorts, not just as a leader but also as someone with whom you may be working with, either as a peer or on your team.
Here are some interesting observations Abhijoy makes in this article:
India’s youngest workers live at the intersection of abundance and anxiety, ambition and restraint.
Abundant individual talent, but fragmented collective capacity at the workplace seems to be a challenge—India celebrates individual ambition. But long-term collaboration is undervalued. Star culture thrives; teamwork lags.’
Abijoy’s reflections show how he has brilliantly got ‘under the skin’ of these zoomers and has captured the underlying behaviours and drivers beautifully, like:
‘Dreaming of building startups but craving for steady paycheques.’
‘Yearn for autonomy but fear failure.’
You can read the entire article here.
IMF Podcast: The Shifting Geography of Start-ups-Swati Bhatt.
The US is a breeding ground for startups, and California has been the centre of that universe since the dot-com boom in the late 1990s. But rising costs, tighter quarters, and increasing bureaucracy have driven many tech innovators to seek greener pastures, well beyond Silicon Valley.
Princeton University’s Swati Bhatt has been studying the evolution of America’s startup boom in recent years and has uncovered a surprising trend toward rural communities, better known for raising cattle than for high-tech infrastructure.
Low regulation, a conducive business environment, access to low-cost housing, and attractive tax rates are driving startups to newer cities. Wyoming is one state attracting many of these startups, as life is much better for entrepreneurs and employees. Wyoming, the least populous US state, has seen 50 per cent growth in start-ups over the past decade.
The need for states to develop a policy framework that can attract such investments is essential. Also, such expansion encourages distributed development rather than concentrated development in some key cities or states.
Tragedy And Genius: Prof. Deepak Malhotra - HBS - 2012 Speech To Graduating Harvard MBA Students.
This is a fantastic talk by Prof. Deepak Malhotra of Harvard Business School to the graduating class of 2012. Here, he talks about the importance of how they need to deal with themselves and the world. He outlines principles for succeeding with happiness rather than without it.
Here are some lovely quotes from this video that can make you think, persuade you to watch this full video and of course, practice some of the principles outlined here in your own life:
Quit Early, Quit Often - “Quit something if it is not for you.”
Quitting is not for the weak - “Cultivate the strength to quit.”
Find a way to create value - “Solve problems that create value - Be a value creator.”
“Cultivate greater empathy. How much are you willing to understand the people on the other side?”
“You have to have the ability to look at the world with gentler eyes.”
“Humility and confidence are not enemies.”
“You have to get to learn on - we miss 99% of the learning opportunities that come our way. Be open to the idea of learning from every experience you are having.”
You can click the link above to watch the video.
Quitting, Value And Money.
When we are building our career, most of us enter the world of work with assumptions, preconceived notions, external inputs from parents, relatives, and from the colleges or schools we attend. The assumptions range from:
“That’s a field or area that I like and would like to work in that area. I could be a doctor, an astronaut, a computer engineer, a musician, a marketer, etc.”
“I am good at numbers, I think I will be a good chartered accountant or engineer.”
“That’s the best college and I must crack to get admission there. I can settle in life after that.”
“That’s the best company to work for in my area. Let me try to get a job there. Then my life is made.”
However, what most of us realize is that cracking exams and scoring or topping a class is one thing, but succeeding in that field or area requires more than just a flair for the subject. It requires understanding and working with people, building relationships with clients or peers, wading through the politics and vagaries of an organisation, sustained focus and attention over a long period of time, disciplined habits and work ethic, alignment of our deeply held values and beliefs with what we may need to get done in different situations, willingness to keep learning and flexibility or being adaptable to changes in the marketplace, etc.
Therefore, even though we may have all the flair for the subject and due to the good experience we may have gained, the other circumstances mentioned above may not be conducive to operating at our best possible potential. Hence, our ability to quickly come to terms with it, be extremely self-aware, and be mentally ready to decide to take up something else and quit is critical. Most of us don’t quit, we just keep chugging along, which is detrimental to our performance, growth and job satisfaction. Hence, quitting requires strength and resolve despite a lack of the right or perfect opportunities in front of us. The willingness to take the risk and give them up, despite position, designation, and external negative perception, is something we must prepare ourselves for. Also, being ready to accept some of our calls may not work as we envisaged and reconciling with that is vital. Hence, quitting is not as easy as it is made out to be.
What are the other reasons that make quitting hard? Some jobs and positions indeed pay more than those at other companies in the industry. It makes us incredibly comfortable as it allows us to settle into a lifestyle that we cannot come down from. Deep inside, if we are self-aware and honest, we will know we are neither adding value in our role nor learning fast enough. We may also be aware that we are going through a ‘comfortable but rapid decay of our skills or flair we started our life with, but not improving on them fast enough.’ But the tag of being in the best company to work for, the best-paying job, and quick promotions and designations don’t necessarily make it easier for us to quit. There could be other opportunities that may come our way that would enable us to add more value, but the money may not be attractive. Hence, we desist from taking the hard decisions. The question we have to answer for ourselves is whether we and our family are willing to incur a short-term financial loss for long-term value/wealth-building and job fulfillment. That makes quitting twice as hard, as there is no certainty that this will happen.
We may also realize that there are new areas of personal strength and skills that we would have discovered during the course of our working life. We may feel that we enjoy doing them more than the ones we thought we were good at when we began our career. However, we become wary of taking the risk, as it carries the implications of starting our career all over again, changing tracks, the family stage we may be in, and the downside of not earning as much as we currently do. The challenge posed by the value-money equation makes the decision to quit harder. The best have the strength and courage to make these hard calls and are willing to live with the downside or upside implications.
We must develop the resilience and courage to be a ‘workplace drop-out’ when it actually matters — when things don’t work or don’t fit with what we want or believe in.
Some of the lessons we learnt from this week’s mission:
Autonomy comes with the risk of uncertainty and failure. Learning to accept and cope with it is vital.
There is no shame in quitting early and often, if things don’t work for you.
Empathy, humility, adding value, and a willingness to learn can make a huge difference in your work success and happiness.