Latest posts
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Contextual Intelligence: The Competency That Doesn’t Appear In Competency Models
Part 6 of a series on what working across five radically different organizations taught me about the real competency behind HR effectiveness. I started this series with a story about an LMS that succeeded technically and failed politically. Over the five pieces that followed, I traced a pattern across five organizational archetypes: an offshore consulting…
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Speed vs Precision: When Excellence Becomes The Enemy
Part 5 of a series on contextual intelligence in HR leadership. Every organization I had worked in before this one had rewarded thoroughness. At the offshore consulting firm, thoroughness was the baseline expectation. At the PSU, thoroughness earned respect, even when I failed on other dimensions. At the government ministry, thoroughness was what made the…
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The Visibility Trap: When Smooth Becomes Invisible
Part 4 of a series on contextual intelligence in HR leadership. At the offshore consulting firm where I started my career, I was visible. I knew this at the time, and I attributed it to the quality of my work. My deliverables were sharp, my timelines were reliable, my frameworks were well-received. The feedback loop…
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Influence Without Authority: When Consensus Isn’t The Goal
Part 3 of a series on contextual intelligence in leadership. I didn’t apply for the ministry role. It came through a deputation while I was still at the PSU, which meant I occupied an unusual position from the start: an outsider embedded inside the system. Close enough to be handed substantive work. Distant enough to…
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Expertise vs Network: When Being Right Isn’t Enough
LEADERSHIP April 02, 2026 Contextual Leadership Series – Part 2 10 min read Part 2 of a series on contextual intelligence in leadership. Early in my career, I spent a few years at an offshore consulting firm that served US clients. The operating model was straightforward: you worked with US colleagues on a daily basis,…
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Your Leadership Playbook Is Context-Dependent. You Probably Don’t Know It Yet
LEADERSHIP April 01, 2026 Contextual Leadership Series – Part 1 11 min read Part 1 of a series on what working across five radically different organizations taught me about the real competency behind leadership effectiveness. Within six months of joining a large Indian PSU, I designed and launched their first-ever learning management system. The organization…
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The Glorified Manager Trap
LEADERSHIP 16 March, 2026 3 min read Why senior hires end up doing the job they just left – and how to make sure it doesn’t happen to you You spend years building a career. You move up, earn the scars, develop judgment that only comes from being in the room when things go wrong.…
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Why good Managers stay stuck – and the wrong ones rise
LEADERSHIP 01 May , 2026 3 min read In the past 12 years, I’ve worked across diverse organizations with what many would call “considerable success.” My family would testify that I’ve often sacrificed myself willingly and passionately at the altar of work in pursuit of that success. And for the longest time, I believed that…
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Mentorship, Missteps, and the Middle Seat
LEADERSHIP 03 Aug , 2025 3 min read How to lead with grace when hierarchies, loyalties, and good intentions collide In today’s matrixed organizations, influence travels in unconventional ways – diagonally, informally, and sometimes through invisible corridors of personal loyalty. This creates – or more accurately, complicates an already existing – leadership challenge: How do…