Years ago, when I was at Diageo, some of us from different parts of the world were pulled into a creative setting in Chicago to deal with a problem statement. At that point in time, we found that we were losing a significant number of high-potential employees – those the company had nurtured, moved across markets, and given higher roles, etc. And yet, they were either fired or left. So the Diageo exec asked the group of us in Chicago, What do we need to do to keep people? It

Companies ostensibly trying to drive a performance culture with calibration and forced ranking systems end up with serious, negative unintended consequences. The result? Mismatched and unmet expectations, demotivated employees and a process where everyone including leaders are relieved that its done with for the year . How did we get it so wrong? Let's examine this at 3 levels : 1. Context of Calibration 2. Pay for Performance 3. Organisation Performance 1. Isn’t calibration

-- After a career break of nearly ten years, my friend Radha decided to return to work. I was genuinely happy for her. She had given up her career soon after her marriage and had long resented that decision. Once her son moved to higher classes, she felt it was time to reclaim her professional life and rejoin her former employer. A couple of weeks later, I checked in on her. She mentioned there was just one problem. Her husband, Muthukumar, returned home by 6 p.m., while she

-- Leadership is often inferred from roles, résumés, and results. Yet its true quality becomes visible only when circumstances remove predictability. This reflection explores why mentoring matters before that moment arrives. Leadership is often described in terms of competence, capability, or experience. Yet many of us intuitively recognise that leadership is something more elusive—embedded, situational, and often invisible until it is tested. It is like culture, any number o