The technologists and businesses have been working hard to reap the benefits of AI. Data driven decision making is what makes AI a great tool for businesses.
How the advent of AI can transform the society?
Similar to the businesses leveraging AI, the governments do need to do the same in the areas of:
Public Health – early detection life threatening diseases like cancer
Education – how the curriculum can be tailored for a particular student or a group of students.
Transport – various types of data from the toll stations are analysed for vehicular movement, accidents etc.
Traffic Management – automatic signals can be synchronised to suit the waiting time and to monitor traffic offenders.
Crime monitoring – the police can be immensely helped to do surveillance of sensitive pockets of neighbourhoods and crowd management.
The era of intelligent leadership is waning as it has become an integral part of the skill set. Those lacking it are either departing or awaiting removal. Furthermore, excessive time has been devoted to cultivating future leaders, and this aspect has undoubtedly been overemphasized.
The focus has now shifted to skilled employees. Rather than maintaining a large workforce, organizations are compelled to retain only a fraction of employees who are skilled, tech-savvy, and empowered with ownership. This approach is driven from the bottom up, with skilled employees discovering innovative solutions to customer problems. Innovation emanates from the lower rungs of the hierarchy. Where ownership is evident, rewards follow suit. Boards will likely reevaluate the compensation packages of leaders, given the widening gap between the average median salaries of CEOs and employees.
However, the question remains: what will become of the rest?
This poses a significant challenge for organizations, which have a social responsibility to uphold and cannot simply dismiss employees.
It is imperative for leaders to step forward and create new opportunities, secure new clients, spawn new businesses, collaborate with peers and start-ups, rather than merely focusing on protecting the bottom line and appeasing investors with dividends.
If we think that failure is certain and fail, that failure is a success”
Would anyone think and work towards a failure?
We may have across it in our past. In corporate life, the leader assigns a task or a project to be successfully delivered but the team thinks it is a mission sure to taste failure for many reasons. Yet they go with it and when they meet failure they are hardly affected. The team, in fact, considers it as a success.
In a dictionary, failure comes first before success.
Indians who are in 20’s, 30’s and 40’s are in the cusp of enormous opportunities and good times ahead as the country marches towards a $30 trillion dollar economy in 2050.
The statistics are looking very promising today and with the young population in a vibrant mode, we will wait to see a great nation that will be titled as a Developed nation to stand tall with other economic giants.
Projections suggest India could become the world’s 3rd largest economy by 2028, with ambitious goals to reach $10 trillion in the next 10 years, and up to $30 trillion by 2050.
The young Indians need to believe that it is an achievable feat, no matter whatever be the internal and external disturbances.
The naysayers always talk ill about what the nation or its leadership is doing. Ignore those nitwits and agenda driven individuals and groups. The more we ignore them, the better we are as an individual, society and nation looking to advance. The youngsters need to realise that they have a perfect platform for greater accomplishments and accountability and acceptance.
Enjoy the life and a beautiful way of doing it is unleashing your potential towards something notable and laudable in innovative avenues.
When nothing goes right, they indulge in propagating lies that seemingly make them appear distinctively big for some and dishonestly small for many.
When hard work eludes, success eludes. When success eludes, weak mind takes over. When weak mind takes over, sinister plans emerge. When sinister plans puts into action, wrong narratives are set as cover. And the wrong narratives come out as blatant lies. When the lies are exposed, shame doesn’t bother. And new lies are mouthed again. The cycle continues as it takes a deep root in behaviour and attitude.
Haven’t we come across these pathological liars or mythomaniacs in our circle of contacts in personal, professional and public life?
Beware of these people for they don’t hesitate to pull you down to achieve their plans.
Yes, in the world of insta, reels, advertisements and movies, the influence of parents on their children is going away. Children, especially the teens are hardly seen with their elders and not even on the dining table once a day. Parents on their part go out all the way to provide more than comfortable environment for their kids.
Separate rooms, trendy clothings, smart phones, pocket money and fine dining have all made the youngsters think that they are entitled to these perks and their parents have to give them all these because they brought them into this world. The school goers are no different than their elder brothers and sisters. They ape them and also their young moms and dads who too fancy swanky life style. The disposable incomes are raising with both the parents are working and extrvagent spending of parents catches up with their children.
Do we blame the parents when the kids go astray and pick up habits and talks that are detrimental to their intellects and social behaviour? The blame is always on the children. If there are family or social gatherings, teenagers stand aloof and out of place. The grand parents look sad because neither they nor the parents are unable to get the children to be a part of any festival or weddings.
The malaise of both children and parents ignoring what is good for them is seen not only with affluent families but also with those who just earn to live on. Their children have different challenges as they try to aspire for what they see on the movies and phones. Their parents always quarrel and do not spend time with them. They see their affluent neighbours and yearn to live like them. They become angry and frustrated. They pick up bad habits and turn rebellions.
Parents, please come out of your own world. Be kind and converse with your wards. Create an atmosphere at home where they freely discuss their issues. Be a listener. There are 100s of things that impact their education and thoughts. We don’t have to be watch dogs but be attentive to what they do and speak with their friends.
Today parenting is on high alert than what it used to be with our parents decades ago. High end phones, make-up kits, costly clothings and expensive holidays do not always help to get the children to be responsible. The more the exposure the more is the damage to their education and careers.
Gen Z has grown up in a digital world and the impact is seen in the way they appear both inwardly and outwardly. They are setting up an example for the next generation and we, the parents, better wake up.
Most organizations—especially in the technology sector—fail to use exit interviews effectively. The problem is not a lack of process, but a lack of intent. These conversations are often treated as formalities rather than strategic opportunities to understand why talent leaves.
Exit interviews should not be about last-minute retention efforts. They must focus on the employee’s aspirations and on what their next employer is offering that the current organization is not. Compensation is rarely the sole driver. Employees leave because they seek meaningful challenges, faster growth, and exposure to new roles—opportunities they no longer see internally.
Critically, exit interviews should be conducted face to face by the employee’s direct manager, not delegated entirely to HR. While HR plays an important role, managers are far better positioned to understand the business context, the technology, and the realities of the role. Yet in most organizations, HR alone conducts these discussions, resulting in superficial insights and lost intelligence.
When managers lead exit conversations, the feedback can be aggregated and presented to senior leadership to reveal how competitors are structuring roles, building capabilities, and attracting talent. This intelligence is invaluable. Organizations that ignore it will continue to lose people for reasons they claim they “didn’t see coming.”
Looking back we wonder what we have achieved since the beginning of 2025 or for that matter in all the past years.
Well, we don’t look at each year to be filled with only achievements. If achievements only determine our life, then do we expect them to repeat it every year with a fresh set of goals?
When does it end?
What happens to us when we don’t achieve them? We become remorse, sad and sullying. If these take away our happiness and time, why do we need to set up goals and try to work crazy to achieve them? We become unmindful of near and dear ones and it leads to disconnect with them that we work for.
Could we expect to get promotion at work every year? We will then become a CEO at 20’s. Do we scale mountains every year? Do we break our own record every year? Do we want to be a winner all the time? Do we realise that gets us more enemies than friends? It is humanly impossible to do it year after year but we keep going at them.
Have we thought about putting up a stop to these pursuits that saps our energy and makes us sick?
Life has a higher and bigger purpose. Don’t we agree?
What does a happy life mean? Money? Fame? Status? Luxurious life style? What will we do if we get them all in a few years of our living with our own money or with that of an inherited money? What will we do in the remaining years of life? Blow out the money doing nothing?
Then what are we celebrating at the dawn of a new year?
Every year we yearn for new hopes, success and happiness. Do we get to accomplish all of them?
Do we realise we have some unfinished agenda that has defined our existence? What are they?
Peace. Peace to self and to others living with us in our homes, neighbourhood, city, country and world.
Preserve Nature. We don’t exist if nature turns against us. And we do everything to destroy it. As we become more knowledgeable in worldly matters, we become less knowledgeable in protecting and preserving Nature. We learn new things and also unlearn olden good habits and practices.
Preserve Health It is easier said than done. Inspite of our eating food more than what we need for our bodies, the same food makes us ill. We eat what causes harm to our bodily parts. Human body is designed to function in a specific manner and we do everything to alter it. Medical advancements make us to reset our body but the damage is already done and we only attempt to do how further damage should not be done and live on medicines.
Balance the wealth Bridge the gap between the super rich and the utterly poor. It is good to be decently wealthy only for you and family in your lifetime. Accumulating wealth for the next 3 or 4 generations is meaningless as we don’t know if they get to enjoy them. Entitlement doesn’t keep them happy too. They may be deprived off that wealth one fine day by a Government of that time. Because it may be possible there will be a huge no of poor people who needed that money.
Recognise and Praise the Super natural power that brought us to the earth. Millions of sperms died before one sperm met the egg to become what we are today. That sperm caused us to arrive at the world. And who designed that sperm or the biological / physiological nature of our body? It is The Creator who created the universe and a countless lives of humans and non-humans. Do we thank him enough everyday? Or do we say He is non-existent? Isn’t that foolish to do it when the earth that we live on is only a tiny dot in the universe that is controlled by the Supreme power?
The New Year is just hours away. Let us take a pledge that we work towards the unfinished agenda. We create happiness around us and let us be our own creators and seek God’s help to achieve it. It is the real achievement and an accomplishment that we will be proud of. It is not philosophical to think that way but a practical way of leading a life with a purpose.
The most successful executives are not those who face every challenge alone—but those who know when, where, and from whom to seek support.
Recognizing the right form of guidance at the right time can define the trajectory of a leadership career.
Leaders often speak about the importance of seeking expert guidance at various stages of one’s professional journey. Yet a critical question remains: when should an executive seek such support, and from whom?
Every career progresses through distinct phases, each presenting its own set of challenges. Not every challenge requires external intervention, nor is it practical to seek help at every crossroads. Often, a mentor plays a crucial role by offering perspective and outlining possible options. A mentor does not prescribe solutions; instead, they encourage independent thinking, enabling individuals to assess their circumstances and choose the most appropriate path forward.
A business coach, however, takes a more structured and goal-oriented approach. Coaching engagements typically occur within a defined timeframe and are focused on specific developmental objectives or transitional challenges. Business coaches are frequently engaged under formal agreements with an organization and work closely with executives preparing for expanded leadership responsibilities. This may include building capabilities to engage effectively with key stakeholders—peers, board members, line managers, customers, and the broader workforce. For executives stepping into senior roles, coaching often extends to managing interactions with industry analysts and the media.
Beyond mentoring and coaching, many organizations emphasize internal leadership development as a strategic priority. Senior leaders—often the Chairman, CEO, or Managing Director—identify high-potential executives at the second or third leadership level and actively prepare them for future roles. With a deep understanding of an individual’s strengths and development areas, these leaders groom talent to ensure continuity and stability when critical positions become vacant. Organizations that invest in this approach demonstrate a strong belief in growing leadership from within rather than relying solely on external hires.
As you reflect on your own leadership journey, consider this:
Are you relying on the right form of support for the challenges you face today?
Share your thoughts or experiences—mentoring, coaching, or internal grooming—and let’s start a conversation on how leaders can better prepare for what’s next.
The recent incident of Indigo reminds us of the need for exercising caution and restraint in running an operation in a factory or in a service sector like Airlines. In such a lifeline of an industry, the risk assessment needs to be far more vigilant and awareness of risk mitigation procedures. A business turning a blind eye is vulnerable in the long run. A CEO cannot work only to please the promoters and investors.
We had seen earlier that Sahara,Jet Airways and King Fisher got into different version of risk and the basic reason for their failures was a poor assessment of debt servicing and greedy promoters. ‘One cannot eat more than that can be chewed’ is an apt proverb that describes these case studies that made the lenders and investors poor with liabilities and litigations. Another glaring case study is the failure of Future retail group that borrowed more than it could re-pay and the business didn’t anticipate the risk of a new selling model – on-line sales that Amazon & FlipKart pioneered in India. The boards of these companies ignored their role in protecting the investors and customers and fell prey to the hypes surrounding the short lived successes of these airlines. The watch dogs of the government, the regulating bodies,turned other side and let the promoters have their own ways. The control mechanism woefully failed.
Another recent case study is that of Byju that was among the pioneers in online tutoring model but fell short of preference solely due to it becoming financially unviable and a loss making start-up venture. High profile advertising, heavy expansion across the country and the low cost competition aping the model.
An operation in a factory or a service line is capable of with standing a certain limit with a tolerance factor and stretching it both on financial and humanitarian fronts is inviting big trouble that cannot be undone overnight and calls for rebuilding absorbing the fianancial loss and losing the goodwill of customers.
THE PULSE by Sivakumar Gopal 