sunil nair

Category: Leadership

  • On working with like-minded people

    I’ve long believed that having like-minded people around makes our lives much more bearable, personally and professionally. Although, I would err on the side of moderation, especially if you care about a high-performance culture at the workplace. If that sounds odd, hear me out because you’re either confused or are pretty comfortable in your current…

  • A person first, a professional later

    I had a profound conversation with a fellow professional the other day on what truly makes people perform at the highest level. And unlike most discussions on this topic, we didn’t bother to discuss skills, knowledge, and attitude — attributes that make up most of all theories, including peer-to-peer studies, on employee engagement and high-performance.…

  • Driving an effective organisational communication strategy

    As much as I hate cliches, the one about “culture eating strategy for breakfast” is the bitterest, most accurate, and yet the most ignored. And this is particularly the case in the world of organisational communication, where leadership teams spend countless hours coming up with the perfect “strategy” that aligns with their vision. Only to…

  • Manager vs leader

    I know you have had your share of “manager versus leader” debates, articles, studies, info-graphics comparisons, and even memes! It’s overwhelming. And I don’t want to burden you with more proof or my perspective on this pointless debate. Yeah, leadership is sexy. Everyone wants to be a leader, and nobody wants to be “just-a-manager.” I…

  • Now that I’m over it… why do I still have to create content?

    After reading day before yesterday’s post, someone asked me, “Sunil, why even bother with your blog and podcast when you’ve decided to just focus on your executive leadership career?” Without a doubt, a solid question and something most followers of this blog might be wondering themselves. I don’t think our career choices have to be…

  • Can we have two golds?

    I never thought something like this was possible. And neither did Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Barshim of Qatar. We’ve all been brought up to think of sports as winning or losing. Because it is winning or losing. There’s no incentive for people to watch it otherwise. This is especially true with team games. So…

  • Don’t give me problems, give me solutions

    I’ve always hated the “don’t give me problems, give me solutions” approach. For two reasons: If people were to solve problems themselves, why would they need you? As a leader, you’re the one carrying “food and water” for them so that they can do their best work. If you can’t do that, how exactly are…

  • People are different; don’t treat them the same

    People are different, yet leaders have a hard time treating them justly. Most have a broad-brush approach that’s ‘fair’ and uncontroversial. And given that leaders are almost always in the spotlight, who would want to ruffle feathers or wrestle with other people’s opinions and judgment of their leadership in their right minds. No wonder treating…

  • Writing and speaking are powerful but sharing is a superpower!

    While reflecting on the importance of writing and speaking (solo or with a partner via my podcast) in the bigger scheme of things, I had a profound realization — these aren’t random marketing/personal branding activities for me, but practices that I enjoy. There’s a much deeper emotional connection than merely writing words or speaking, some…

  • How many rounds of interviews are enough?

     As you know, LinkedIn is my go-to social media outlet because it’s the only platform that makes sense*. And I love it when professionals generously share their points of view, hoping to make an impact in their little way.   But if I were, to be honest, the juice is in the conversations that follow these…