Page 2 of 16

Powerful Notes /Reflection on Leadership

May 15, 2026 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

For unexplainable reasons, an article I had read around couple of decades back came to mind suddenly.

“Leader presumes follower. Follower presumes choice. One who is coerced to the purposes, objectives, or preferences of another is not a follower in any true sense of the word, but an object of manipulation. Nor is the relationship materially altered if both parties voluntarily accept the dominance of one by the other. A true leader cannot be bound to lead. A true follower cannot be bound to follow. The moment they are bound they are no longer leader or follower. If the behavior of either is compelled, whether by force, economic necessity, or contractual arrangement, the relationship is altered to one of superior/subordinate, manager/employee, master/servant, or owner/slave. All such relationships are materially different from leader/follower.

Induced behavior is the essence of leader/follower. Compelled behavior is the essence of all the other relational concepts. Where behavior is compelled, there you will find tyranny, however benign. Where behavior is induced, there you will find leadership, however powerful. Leadership does not necessarily imply constructive, ethical, open conduct. It is entirely possible to induce destructive, malign, devious behavior, and to do so by corrupt means. Therefore, a clear, constructive purpose and compelling ethical principles evoked from and shared by all participants should be the essence of every relationship in every institution.

A vital question is how to insure that those who lead are constructive, ethical, open, and honest. The answer is to follow those who behave in that manner. It comes down to both individual and collective sense of where and how people choose to be led. In a very real sense, followers lead by choosing where to be led. Where an organizational community will be led is inseparable from the shared values and beliefs of its members.

True leaders are those who epitomize the general sense of the community – who symbolize, legitimize and strengthen behavior in accordance with the sense of the community – who enable its shared purpose, values and beliefs to emerge and be transmitted. A true leader’s behavior is induced by the behavior of every individual choosing where to be led.”

Source: Hock, Dee “The Art of Chaordic Leadership” Leader to Leader. 15 (Winter 2000): 20-26.

Progress of Women In Corporate Roles

May 9, 2026 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

Data shared in this week’s Business Standard paper, based on the “Women and Men In India 2025 Report” indicates that there is a lot of continued work needed in this area. The data indicates basic incremental progress.

Some key notes:
* Even as women are making inroads into corporate leadership roles, gains remain limited. The change is gradual. Pay gaps continue to persist.
* Women representation in corporate boards inched up from 25.8% in 2017 to 29.1% in 2025 (similar incremental rises across other management roles). However, their share in senior management remains sharply skewed at just over 17%.
* Women’s labour force participation has risen from 23.4% in 2018 to 40% in 2025 but remains far below men at nearly 80%.

Source: Business Standard, May 7, 2026, Datanomics, Women See Limited Gains in Top Jobs, Shikha Chaturvedi.

Human Qualities Most Likely to Matter In Work With AI

April 28, 2026 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

Image generated with Chatgpt

There are lots of discussions and debates nowadays regarding the evolution of work with growing AI impact.

Noticed a very interesting article, “Is AI Smarter Than People? It’s complicated”, in the Wall Street Journal (source below). It also highlights inputs from a related experiment, and the human qualities most likely to matter in the evolving world of work.

These are selected notes from the article.
———-
* My research suggests that we’ve been asking the wrong question and drawing the wrong conclusions.
* In an experiment relating to prediction market accuracy, the hybrid teams (human-AI) reached insightful conclusions that neither a human nor a machine could have produced on its own.

* It’s not that these people were more intelligent than others in the study. They demonstrated two important qualities: perspective-taking and intellectual humility.
–Perspective taking – ability to genuinely inhabit another point of view.
–Intellectual humility – ability to recognize the edge of your own knowledge and sit with that discomfort rather than trying to rush to fill it.
* Perspective-taking requires requires genuine curiosity about minds other than your own. Intellectual humility requires a kind of emotional courage: the willingness to feel uncertain, even a little foolish, in the presence of something or someone that seems very sure of itself.

* These are not the soft skills we typically celebrate.
* What my experiment suggests is that the human qualities mostly likely to matter are the uncomfortable ones: the capacity to be wrong in public and stay curious; to sit with a question…to read a confident, fluent response from an AI and ask yourself, “What’s missing?”…to disagree with something that sounds authoritative and to trust your instinct enough to follow it.
* We don’t build these capacities by avoiding discomfort. We build them, by choosing it, repeatedly, in small ways.
* Most AI chatbots today default to easy answers which is hurting our ability to think critically.
*…the divergence I worry about – the quieter process of people gradually outsourcing the judgment…
* What can any of us actually do about it? Start with the reframe: The goal of working with AI isn’t to get the answer faster. It’s to find what you are missing…use AI as a savant collaborator to explore uncertainty.
* Perspective-taking, intellectual humility and curiosity are traits that can be cultivated.
———-

Source: Is AI Smarter Than People? It’s complicated; Vivienne Ming (neuroscientist, cognitive scientist and author of “Robot-Proof…”); April 25-26, 2026

Finding Meaning After Loss

April 24, 2026 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

Many people face loss and experience grief in different ways. They move through related feelings and often feel lost. A loss can come in different ways.

Awareness of this topic and how to work through it can help a lot, even to being present for someone going through a loss.
We have heard about the five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

This is a video, discussion with grief expert, David Kessler that gives valuable awareness and context on the topic. David was a co-author with Elizabeth Kubler Ross (famous for her work on five stages of grief) on the book, On Grief And Grieving. He highlights a sixth stage that is very important – finding meaning.

According to David, there are seven factors that guide the concept of meaning. This is helpful to understand (from the video).

Importance of understanding Commitment from your team members

April 20, 2026 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

Image generated using Chatgpt

I remember reading this behaviour improvement for leaders in Marshall Goldmsith’s book, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”, and have experienced and observed this play out in most organizational/leadership settings in multiple geographies. This is a really important leadership behaviour that has high linkage to team member engagement and commitment.

Marshall posted the following notes recently on LinkdedIn:

“A classic challenge for smart, successful leaders – especially leaders with technical backgrounds (like engineers) – is ‘adding too much value’.

What does this mean?

Imagine that I report to you. I am young, smart and enthusiastic. I come to you with an idea. You think it is a great idea. Rather than just saying, “great idea” our natural tendency is to say, “Why don’t you add this to it?”

Here is the problem. Although your ‘added value’ may make the quality of the idea 5% better. It may decrease my commitment to make it work by 50%.
Your direct report may be feeling, “It is no longer MY idea boss. Now it is YOUR idea.”

David Ulrich, taught me that, “Effectiveness of execution is a function of A. the quality of the idea – times – B. my commitment to make it work.

As a leader, before ‘adding value’, think, “Will my comment increase the commitment of the person I am talk to right now?”

If the answer is, “no”. Then ask yourself, “Is it worth it?”

Sometimes it is. Often it is not.

These few seconds of reflection can go a long way in helping you build commitment, and ultimately empower, the members of your team. ”

Improving this impactful behaviour as a leader takes awareness, reflection, and continued practice. Effectiveness of execution anywhere does look to be a function of the quality of the idea and the commitment to make it work. It would serve you well as a leader and manager to remember this.

Performance Appraisals And Career Management

April 13, 2026 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

Noticed a great article related to career management and performance appraisals in the Mint newspaper today (April 13, 2026) – “What Your Appraisal Cannot Tell You About Your Career” by Vineet Nayar, former CEO of HCL Technologies. Such posts hold increasingly valuable food for reflection in the fast evolving world of work.

Selected notes from the article:

* Layoffs, cautious hiring and rapid shifts driven by technology have made careers less predictable than before.
* What exactly is an appraisal measuring?
At best, it is a snapshot of performance at a point in time, shaped by business priorities and managerial judgment. At worst, it captures activity but misses what really matters. Yet, careers are often judged through this narrow lens.
* Careers rarely stall because of one bad rating. They stall when we treat that rating as a verdict instead of what it really is: a signal.

* Clarity comes from three simple questions:
1. Purpose – Why are you doing what you are doing?
(There is no right answer but there must be a honest one.)
2. Choice – Why this role, this organisation, this path?
(Layoffs have shown that staying put is not always safe. Questioning your choices is uncomfortable but necessary. The difference between a chosen path and a carried path is the difference between ownership and drift.)
3. Driver – Why are you, specifically doing this?
(In a market where many people have similar skills, the real question is not whether you are good at your job. It is whether you stand out. Is your effort driven by a genuine desire to build something meaningful?)

* The real risk today is not a poor rating. It is letting that rating decide your direction.
* Your career is not defined by a number on a form. It is defined by the answers you are avoiding.

The three questions are worth spending time on and building clarity.

Data On Higher Education Institutions In India And Employability

March 24, 2026 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

These are some interesting notes from a Business Standard article today related to higher education in India (based on a report, titled “From Degree Factories to Employability Hubs”, released on Monday by TeamLease EdTech). In future, would there be increased emphasis on placement and career outcomes?

* Fewer than 20% of higher education institutions in India manage to place more than 75% of their students within 6 months of graduation.
* 31.6% placed between 51% and 75% of students.
* Nearly 29% of institutions reported placement rates below 25%, underscoring wide disparities in employment outcomes across institutions.

* The report highlights persistent gaps between academic outcomes and labour market expectations, even as universities and colleges increasingly prioritise job readiness.
* Higher education institutions must move beyond traditional classroom-based models, and integrate practical exposure, internships and industry linked training into academic programs.
* 86% of institutions say their curricula are fully aligned with industry requirements across all programmes.
* Roughly a quarter of institutions show some degree of industry alignment, suggesting that efforts to connect academic programmes with labour market needs remain limited and uneven.
* Industry collaboration is expected to play a critical role in improving employability outcomes.
* The report suggest that institutions may increasingly be judged not just on enrolment and academic performance, but also on placement outcomes and long-term career progression of graduates.

Source: Fewer than 20% colleges achieve strong placements: Report; Business Standard; Auhona Mukherjee, March 23, 2026

Does Kindness Have A Place in Business?

October 6, 2025 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

Noticed refreshingly different perspectives from Mayank Rautela, Group CHRO at Apollo Hospitals – regarding how kindness is not just a “soft skill” but a business imperative and how it can be strategically embedded into leadership. There are some valuable notes for reflection, especially for healthcare leaders everywhere and the interview (referenced below) is worth reading.

Selected notes from the interview with ETHRWorld:
* Genuine human connection is profoundly contagious. It transforms a transactional environment into a compassionate one, inspiring others to pay it forward and shaping a culture where compassion is the norm, not the exception.
* Kindness is a strategic driver of performance. It’s the foundation of psychological safety…We’ve consistently observed that teams that practice kindness most also have the highest engagement, lowest attrition and better clinical outcomes. Research validates this link: empathy in care leads to greater patient loyalty and trust.
* For a leader, kindness is a core competency, not a soft trait. It’s about leading with authentic empathy and vulnerability.
* We are conditioned to prioritise efficiency over empathy, and many feel they simply don’t have the time to be kind. The real issue isn’t a lack of desire, but fear that kindness may be seen as weakness.
* Kindness must be an institutional commitment, not an accident…also lives in the way we celebrate our people.
* We balance performance with empathy by making kindness integral to our HR strategy.
* Kindness endures when it is deeply woven into the fabric of an organisation’s DNA – through its values, everyday behaviors, recognition systems, and leadership practices…cannot be a one time initiative, must be a way of life.

Source:
Kindness isn’t soft — it is strategy: Apollo Hospitals’ Mayank Rautela on reshaping workplace culture; ETHRWorld; October 1, 2025.

U.S. Visa Shifts and International Student Flows

September 25, 2025 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

One area interesting to watch in relation to the U.S. visa changes, would be the international student flow towards the U.S., and potential financial impact (especially on the universities). Most students tend to seek continuity with work options and better opportunities, after their studies. These would be the short term impacts. In the longer run, this may also hold potential for few ripple effects beyond that (including on local small town economies that are university based).

According to a Wall Street Journal article couple of days back,
* The US enrolled a record 1.1 million international students in 2023-24 – who contributed $43.8 billion dollars to the US economy through tuition, food and living expenses, according to NAFSA, Association of International Educators.
* International student enrolment is sagging at many universities, particularly at the Masters level (due to increased scrutiny of visa applicants, policies aimed at shrinking the number of international students and shifts in the technology job market).
* As per the article, some universities that are very well know (Princeton, Cornell, Caltech) said their international enrolments are similar to prior years but others are seeing clear declines.

Therefore, it seems like the long tail of the remaining universities would be the ones to watch in the coming year(s).

Source: Colleges Rush To Retain Foreign Students; Sara Randazzo; September 23, 2025; The Wall Street Journal.

Origins of Emotional Intelligence (Research perspective)

September 16, 2025 / Tojo Eapen / 0 Comments

A recent discussion about the origins of Emotional Intelligence got me thinking about this topic. Dr. Daniel Goleman has been one of the most well known faces/experts in emotional intelligence, thanks to his book. He actually got the idea from couple of other professors, John Mayer and Peter Salovey. Here are some notes from an interview.
—
“According to Dr. Goleman, it all began with two psychology professors on a summer’s day: “John Mayer and Peter Salovey invented the whole field,” Goleman explains, “when they were chatting about politics while painting a house.” Salovey (President of Yale University) and Mayer (Professor at University of New Hampshire) were talking about their research on cognition and emotion. They wondered: How could someone so smart act so dumb?
Their conclusion: Smart decision-making requires more than the intellect as measured by traditional IQ.
…Goleman continues the story, “And because of that conversation, they published a wonderful seminal article — but in an obscure journal. The moment I saw their concept of emotional intelligence all kinds of bells went off. And I thought, ‘I have to write about this!’”

Goleman is quick to add, “I don’t see myself as particularly gifted in this domain. I am a psychologist, a researcher and a writer, but I am not a guru of emotional intelligence”. “I am a commentator…”
Goleman credits the researchers and innovators. “All I did was amplify someone else’s idea, and other people have run with it…”
—
From another paper, that looks bit earlier:
“It was not until 1985 that the term ‘emotional intelligence’ was first used in a doctoral dissertation by Wayne Payne. In 1987, an article published by Keith Beasley in Mensa Magazine uses the term ‘emotional quotient.’ Reuven Bar-On, an Israeli psychologist proposed a quantitative approach to creating “an EQ comparable to an IQ score” in the first copy of his doctoral dissertation, which was submitted in 1985. In 1990, psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer published their landmark article, ‘Emotional Intelligence,’ in the journal ‘Imagination, Cognition, and Personality’. In 1995, the concept of emotional intelligence was popularised after the publication of Daniel Goleman’s book ‘Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ’. “
—
Few other names/studies are referred to in the early development of emotional intelligence – Michael Beldoch(1964), B. Leuner(1966), Howard Gardner (1983), Wayne Payne(1985), Stanley Greenspan(1989).
—

Would be happy to learn more or be corrected, if anyone has more to add.

Sources:
* Dr. Daniel Goleman Explains the History of Emotional Intelligence; Joshua Freedman; Feb 29, 2024; Six Seconds
* The origins of Emotional Intelligence theory; Impellus
* History of Emotional Intelligence: Origins, Evolution, and Background; Ashveen Sahni; August 17, 2024; Kapable

Lead-Wise

Page 2 of 16

Powerful Notes /Reflection on Leadership

Progress of Women In Corporate Roles

Human Qualities Most Likely to Matter In Work With AI

Finding Meaning After Loss

Importance of understanding Commitment from your team members

Performance Appraisals And Career Management

Data On Higher Education Institutions In India And Employability

Does Kindness Have A Place in Business?

U.S. Visa Shifts and International Student Flows

Origins of Emotional Intelligence (Research perspective)

About Tojo Eapen

Contact

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Recent Comments

Meta