The Conscious Newsletter

"You got so lucky." That's what people said when I became CEO so young. And maybe they were right. But here's what they didn't see: The board meetings where I made sure I was remembered, not just present. The moments when everyone around me was freaking out, and I stayed calm. The failures I got back up from immediately, because I refused to let one setback define me. The years I spent overcoming my terror of speaking in Sinhala (it's not my first language, and I was bullied

I've rarely seen someone look so confused. Christoph Waltz simply couldn't understand the question. He'd just won an Academy Award for playing one of the most despicable characters in modern cinema: the Nazi colonel in Inglourious Basterds. He was so happily and contentedly evil that it was bone-chilling. Image by LucaFazPhoto , via Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 On the press tour for this movie, a journalist asks him: "How did you tap into the evil for that character

In my late 20s, back when I worked a corporate job, I once called in sick early in the morning with a wicked migraine. The sort where you can't have your curtains open. Where your head feels like someone has tied a thick elastic band around it, pulling tighter by the minute. If you know, you know. So I made the call, told my boss briefly what was happening. She said "no problem." I went back to bed, relieved. By 11 AM, I hear my phone (which shouldn't have been anywhere near

Psychopaths (not just the ones in your true-crime documentaries) have a way of getting people to do exactly what they want. And given the statistics, the odds aren't in your favor. There are more psychopaths in business than there are in any other field. So you've almost certainly worked with one. This series is about what to watch out for, how to safeguard yourself, and learn a thing or two from them (to use for better causes, of course). One of their favorite tricks to get

Have you ever told someone more than you meant to? You probably have. And it might not have been an accident. They might have been (knowingly or unknowingly) using a technique the CIA (and a few business psychopaths I've met) love to use. This method is called Elicitation. Its beauty is in its simplicity. Instead of asking a question, you drop a statement that begs to be corrected. How Elicitation Works in Real Life Visualize this. You're at a networking event. You want to kn

There are two words I whisper to myself whenever the rage of workplace injustice rises up: Another Elephant. One of the hardest parts of emotional intelligence isn't staying calm in a meeting. It isn't giving feedback without anger. It's learning how to live with injustice. Because in the corporate world, it's everywhere. Colleagues who slight you and get away with it. Promotions handed out to favorites, not the most deserving. Leaders who look the other way instead of holdin

"If you're always the solution, they'll never solve anything." My mentor once told me this, and it stopped me in my tracks. I mean, I'd heard it before but I needed someone to say it in a way my brain would finally let in: solving everything isn't leadership. Most of us unconsciously believe that a good leader is like a good parent, constantly fixing things, constantly smoothing things over. But a good parent isn't constantly doing those things, and neither should a good lead

One of the hardest lessons I learned early in my career was this: Sometimes you have to be the emotionally mature one in the room, even when your boss isn't. I found myself, as a young (female) professional, mediating conflicts between colleagues, absorbing moods, and trying not to resent leaders who couldn't regulate themselves. And the truth is, it was exhausting. Because you expect leadership to come with self-regulation. You expect them to know how to manage conflict, to