💼MBA or EQ? (Issue 013)

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In today’s Issue 📥 :

• MBA vs Emotional Intelligence.

• Make struggle your work buddy.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed.

• Indira Gandhi removed my father as Union Secretary.

In the world of business, my emotional intelligence is my secret weapon, and it didn’t cost me a dime in tuition fees.

Kristen Bell spent the majority of her career in front of cameras rather than in boardrooms.

The star, known for her roles in “Frozen” and “The Good Place,” co-founded This Saves Lives in 2013 and Hello Bello with her husband, Dax Shepard, six years later. Despite feeling out of her depth with business jargon like “ROI and endcaps,” Bell used her strengths, particularly emotional intelligence, to improve communication among her employees.

“I don’t have an MBA,” Bell, 42, said. “I’ve worked with people who are amazing in front of a computer, but not as good with people. But there’s a place for that — for those of us who value the people over the process.”

Kristen Bell’s companies: This Saves Lives and Hello Bello, were created to provide products and opportunities for others, rather than solely focusing on profit. As she lacked prior experience and formal business education, Bell asked many questions to learn about the industry. Her willingness to learn became her “secret weapon” in the workplace, as it informed her decisions, set an example for others, and created a culture of learning.

“I’ve done a pretty decent job of surrounding myself with smart people and I’m going to take full advantage of that,” she said. “There’s the worry about looking foolish, but I’d disagree with that fear. I think you seem smarter when you ask questions because your goal is to get information.”

A proven tactic: According to a 2018 survey from global accounting company Ernst & Young, high emotional intelligence and critical thinking abilities are especially vital in the modern workplace.

For example, founder Mark Zuckerberg told the “Tim Ferriss Show” podcast in March 2022 that Meta would not have become a multibillion-dollar behemoth without ex-COO Sheryl Sandberg’s blend of business and relationship abilities.

“Sheryl always says that the amount of progress that we make is directly proportional to the number of hard conversations that we’re willing to have,” Zuckerberg said. “So trying to build that into the cultural operation system — which is, ‘we’re just going to really reward and focus on being direct with each other’ — I think is a really important thing.”

When Kristen Bell encounters imposter syndrome while running her business, she relies on her emotional intelligence and communication abilities to overcome her insecurities.

and you can too… if you ever feel like her.

“It’s only recently I realized I might be qualified for any of this,” Bell said.

“When I feel wonky about my day, I tell my husband, ‘I like doing this, but I don’t really know what I’m doing.’ And he goes, ‘All you need to do is get the project to the finish line.’ When I think about it like that, I realize I might actually be good at it.”

IMPROVEMENT SIP

Make struggle your work buddy

Have you ever experienced the feeling of pointlessness? That nagging sensation that no matter how much you accomplish or how far you go, it all seems insignificant? It’s a common human experience, and there is nothing wrong with the feeling of pointlessness—it’s such a human feeling. The difficulty comes when we believe it, and make it mean something.

That’s where things get tricky. When we start to believe that our accomplishments or even our existence are pointless, it can be a slippery slope into depression and despair. The good news is that we can choose how we respond to these feelings. We don’t have to make these feelings mean anything more than what they are. They are just feelings, and they don’t define our entire world.

Experience the feeling. Offer it some sympathy. Breathe…

• Losing one or two days is an expected part of the learning and growing process.

• Messiness is a great part of life to appreciate and enjoy.

• Is there something I can look at here, something I can learn if I keep winding myself in the same place? Would that make my repeated attempts worthwhile if I learned something?

• Is there a chance to shift something that would be powerful for me if I continuously fail to finish a course or program? What would it be like if I permanently altered this pattern?

HOT SIP

Indira Gandhi removed my father as Union Secretary

What happened? Noting that he comes from a family of bureaucrats and that his ambition had been to become a secretary, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar recalled how his father, Dr. K Subrahmanyam, was removed as Secretary, of Defence Production by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi soon after she returned to power in 1980, and how he was replaced as Cabinet Secretary during the Rajiv Gandhi era by someone junior to him.

In an interview with the news agency ANI, S Jaishankar discussed his career transition from foreign service to politics. He described the political opportunity to serve as a Union minister as a surprise in 2019 and stated that he had previously aspired to become the best officer and eventually attain the post of Foreign Secretary, which he held from 2015 to 2018.

Recalling his father to be an upright person, Jaishankar added, “Maybe that caused the problem, I don’t know. But the fact was that as a person he saw his own career in bureaucracy, actually kind of stalled. And after that, he never became a Secretary again. He was superseded during the Rajiv Gandhi period by somebody junior to him who became a cabinet secretary. It was something he felt…we rarely spoke about it. So he was very, very proud when my elder brother became secretary.”

He revealed that he became a secretary to the government after his father’s passing in 2011, which was a goal he had set for himself. In 2018, he left his position to work at Tata Sons, but unexpectedly received a political opportunity to become a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. Despite his initial uncertainty, Jaishankar accepted the offer and learned from his experiences watching politicians up close while working in foreign service. He eventually became a cabinet member and was selected to the Rajya Sabha even though he was not a member of parliament at the time.

SMALL SIPS

IAS vs IPS: In Karnataka, an ongoing political controversy has been overshadowed by a dispute between two high-ranking officers, an IAS and an IPS officer, who have both been involved in previous controversies. The IPS officer, D Roopa, has accused the IAS officer, Rohini Sindhuri, of corruption and sharing inappropriate photos with male IAS officers, while Sindhuri denied the allegations and accused Roopa of spreading rumors. The Chief Minister of Karnataka has directed both officers to maintain discipline and follow the rules while their complaints are being reviewed.

Flowing Back: OnePlus is teasing its concept phone, which will be the center of attention at next week’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain. The smartphone in question is a concept device based on the brand’s current-generation OnePlus 11, but it has “icey blue pipelines” running through the entire back of the phone. It almost appears to be its own network of blood vessels.

Educational Rockstars: Despite having two back-to-back film shootings, Shah Rukh Khan took some time off to respond to a viral video of Delhi University professors dancing to the track Jhoome Jo Pathaan from his mega song Pathaan. He, too, is a Delhi University alumnus, and in response to the video, he wrote: “How lucky to have teachers and professors who can teach us and have fun with us also. Educational Rockstars all of them.”

ND solar System: Researchers reviewing data from the European Space Agency’s Hipparcos and Gaia satellites discovered two Jupiter-like planets orbiting a star in a system similar to our Solar System. The exoplanet was discovered by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, using the SPHERE instrument.

Stunned: An old video of a massive great white shark circling shark expert and marine biologist Mauricio Hoyos Padilla’s cage has gone viral on the internet again. The great white shark, named, Deep Blue can be seen poking the cage with its nose and lingering around.

With CHAI ☕

Ceo: Who is BVR Subrahmanyam, the new NITI Aayog CEO.

How to: do investment planning.

Aww: Interrupts play.

It’s Interesting: Residents of Singapore and India can now send money to each other quickly via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow as of Tuesday.

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