If I was a big fan of Roger the player, I am turning into a bigger fan of Roger the person! Some context below.

Roger Federer recently got inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in New York. Listening to Mirka and Roger speak gives you a glimpse into what playing to potential in a holistic sense over the long game of life looks and feels like! I would strongly urge you to listen to both these speeches if you can.

Speech by Mirka here:

Speech by Roger here:

In my work, I refer to the notion of living a FLAVOUR-ful life in the context of playing to our potential as human beings. Listening to Mirka and Roger leads me to believe that Roger is one of the greatest role models there is of living such a life!

Here is a glimpse into how Roger handles the various elements of FLAVOUR

F – Fascinating to see how Roger has evolved as a player over the years and has made adjustments as he had two twins along the way! His family traveled with him and stayed with him and he didn’t sacrifice one or the other but he made choices so that he could make both work! (Mirka speech….) You could argue he had resources but even then – let us give credit where it is due! Not many others have been able to walk that tight rope across work and family in such a demanding profession. Link here (~4 mins)

L – I love his emphasis on the word “Play”; Appears around XYZ time in Video 1: You cannot work to your potential but you can only play to your potential; I guess each one of us needs to find what that “play” is as we grow! Lovely to see Roger playing and not working over the years. Link here (~10 mins)

A – We live in a world that recognizes ambition (having a goal post on the career front). It is inspiring to people who focus on all their identities as a human being and water all the plants than just focusing on one! Fascinating to see Mirka speak about all his various identities in her speech. Focusing on our ambition is like saying I want to score 100 in Math. Focusing on aspiration across our identities is like saying I want to do well in the exam called life! Link here (~5.25 mins)

VO – Fascinating to see how he started as a ball boy, rose to be a tennis player, through that he has built his charities and has innovated with new formats like the Laver cup and so on. He speaks about how he dabbled with Badminton, Soccer, Skateboarding (Roger speech around …) and many other sports before choosing tennis. I guess getting this right is as much about picking the right canvas (after trying a few) as it is about focusing on getting better at something! Link here (~16:30)

U – Lovely to see his curiosity when he was a young student in Ecublens. Also impressive to see how he has grown by being intentional about coaches along the way. What is impressive is that his scaffolding includes people that have stayed with him all the way that know him (e.g Mirka and Severin Luthi) and people who have worked with him at various seasons bringing their own expertise (Peter Carter, Peter Lundgren, Stefan Edberg,Ivan Ljubicic et al) (Link here - ~12:15)

R – It is wonderful to see how he has built relationships with the ecosystem as a whole (his opponents, brands, tournament directors, media and many more). What is even more heart warming is that he projects a certain human-ness, crying like a child at various points in time in his speech; In a world where AI is getting us to ask questions about what is human, I guess looking at Roger on stage with his emotions welling up for us all to see is a glimpse into what human-ness might mean for us to be relevant.

Last but not the least, it is wonderful to see Roger rediscovering the FLAVOUR of his life as the seasons change. As he moves from being a player to a statesman of the game, am keen to see how he will evolve and contribute to the world of tennis and beyond.

I had the privilege of speaking to his Biographer, Chris Clarey for the 100^th conversation at the Play to Potential Podcast. Chris says that Roger was possibly a better business man than he was a player on the court. I am coming to see that he was possibly a better human being as a whole than he was a businessman or a player! And that might be his biggest contribution to the world at large! The sub-title of the book I wrote was “Lead a full life, Become the best you”! Roger shows that these two are not at odds with each other but if played well, could reinforce each other!

Some resources if you want to dig deeper:

• Podcast with Christopher Clarey on his book – The Master – Brilliant Career of Roger Federer that gives you a peek into Roger’s childhood, the parenting, his choice of coaches, how he handled work life balance and much more. Apple | Spotify | Nuggets

• Play to Potential – Lead a full life, Become the Best you – how do you deal with the pulls and pressures of mid-life to craft a life that is fit for purpose and relevant for the “season” you are in – Video

• Crafting a full life – a finely stitched, leather bound 52 - week journal/playbook filled with audio nuggets from the Play to Potential Podcast, weekly provocations and space for you to reflect and find your own answers in the path to your potential

Thank you Roger for what you do when the world is watching and for who you are when no one is! (Link here: ~7:30)

When we are early in your career and in life, a lot of our choices are often between right and wrong. But as we evolve in our professional and professional journeys, our choices often are between right and right! A lot of the situations are “double-bind” problems with no clear way out! A bit like the kind of situations Vetal would pose to Vikramaditya at the end of each story (if you grew up watching Vikram and Vetal on DD or if you saw the movie Vikram Veda more recently)!

This is where the work of Prof Wendy Smith comes in! She has researched these kinds of problems and gives us a tool kit that can help us grapple with these kinds of situations in an effective manner without resorting to a binary framing.

In my book - Play to Potential - Lead a Full Life, Become the Best You, I speak about the idea of trying to lead a FLAVOUR-ful life (image below).

The core insight on the “how” behind living a FLAVOUR-ful life is actually the Both/And thinking that Wendy speaks about. The core idea is that each element of FLAVOUR possibly tugs us in a different direction. How do we pursue these in a way that we move forward in a holistic sense.

It is not about balance (which is an Either-or paradigm but harmony (Both/And) across the various elements of life.

Links to the podcast (and the book/journal around Crafting a Full Life) can be found here.

From the Archives

Raghu Ananthanarayanan shares his insights from Indic Wisdom around resolving DharmaSankatas (double bind problems)

Upcoming Guests at the Podcast

• Christina Wallace of Harvard Business School speaks about how we all can think about architecting a Portfolio Life

• Amy Elizabeth Fox on Leading in Chaos - how we can bring our human-ness in our leadership

• Sangeet Paul Chaudhary on how we can adapt and thrive as AI reshuffles the knowledge economy

If you have had a child who finished his or her 12th in the last few years and considered education in some of the top colleges in the West, the chances are you have heard of Viral Doshi. While the Education/Career/College Counseling market has boomed over the last few years, one name has stood tall amidst this industrialisation of this space. That is Viral Doshi. To put it in perspective, one of the earliest people he advised was Fareed Zakaria, the reputed CNN journalist.

He has chosen to be a solo-preneur and not expand his staff and is often considered as the Gold Standard of advise when it comes to the decision around which college to apply to, which stream to pursue and how to approach the process.

When I recently completed 10 years of my journey as a Coach and Sounding Board to leaders especially around transitions, two individuals independently (Govind Iyer and Gaurav Gupta - friends and mentors from EgonZehnder) asked me to spend time with Viral Doshi and quoted him as a role model for me in terms of the choices he has made! Excited to share this episode with you.

In this conversation, we speak about

• How he has adopted the Rolex model versus the Swatch model

• His approach to staying relevant over time

• Perspectives on the link between first degree, second degree and career

• How we should think about choices given developments in AI

• Common mistakes people make in some of these early career decisions

The segment I enjoyed the most, however, was the segment where we discussed the movie Goodwill Hunting and how we both felt it has so many perspectives that can provoke reflection!

Links to the Podcast conversation

We meet a lot of people through the year. Are we meeting ourselves enough? In a world that is getting hyperconnected through devices, people are getting lonelier and lonelier. Not only are they losing touch with the people around them but the devices are coming in the way of people connecting with themselves in many instances.

Hundreds of scientific studies have shown that Journaling provides profound mental, emotional, and physical health benefits by serving as a private, judgment-free space to externalise and process what is going on in you and around you. Over the years, people ranging across Marcus Aurelius, Leonardo Da Vinci and Mahatma Gandhi have used journaling to process the inner and the outer worlds around them.

Journaling is like meditation in many ways: universally praised, widely avoided, and completely terrifying without instructions. You ask people to journal on a blank page and very often they freeze like a deer in front of headlights.

In this podcast episode of Connecting the dots on Journaling, I build on the wisdom gleaned from the various accomplished podcast guests and discuss the various ways in which we could use journaling to enhance our life (managing the chatter in our head, processing complexity around us, behavioral change, building gratitude and deliberate practice just to name a few).

We then move to the “How of journaling” and speak about what it takes to be non-judgmental in the way we approach it and the nuance in the way we frame our journaling prompts.

In the episode, we feature insights on journaling from a range of people including Jim Collins, Narasimha Rao, Bill Burnett (Design your Life - Stanford), Neeraj Aggarwal (Former APAC Head of BCG) and more.

Connecting the dots - Journaling

Crafting a Full Life - A year long companion!

On a related note, I am excited to announce a much improved 2nd version of the journal / workbook / playbook - Crafting a Full Life. If you are looking to get started on journaling and want to get exposed to a range of prompts that will help you take stock of life and design it in a holistic way, consider getting this for yourself or gifting it to a friend or colleague/ your team. Some context in the video below.

Whether you are navigating the pulls and pressures of mid-life, dealing with burnout, transitioning contexts, trying to reinvent your career or just looking to evolve into an improved version of yourself, this journal will handhold you through the journey.

Several leadership teams have found the ideas here useful in the context of their leaders finding a sustainable pace and play the long game with vitality, purpose and joy. In some of those instances, I also have facilitated short sessions exploring the ideas of a full life with a small curated group (~15-30 people). People engaging with each other with their full selves brings them closer and deepens trust and intimacy at the top. The journal is then given at the end of the session for people to build on it when they go back to their busy lives.

Order copies of the Journal*

We had come out with a short print run around Dec 2025 that we gave to a few people. Based on the feedback received from many of the first wave, we have crafted this improved version that we hope you will like and find useful.

This summer break, don't just spend quality time with your family—use the opportunity to reconnect with yourself with this journal!

Best wishes,

Deepak Jayaraman

* Currently available only in India. For bulk orders, please email akash@playtopotential.com.

Prof Lynda Gratton’s book 100-year life was my first introduction to this idea of us living till 100 and the implications as a result. Lynda has been researching this phenomenon of longevity and has been studying the implication this has on how individuals approach careers, how organizations deal with their workforce and how societies and governments deal with the budgetary imbalances that might accrue due to this phenomenon.

I had the opportunity to meet Lynda at my alma mater London Business School in 2019 and have a wide-ranging conversation around this at the Play to Potential Podcast. Of the various things she said, one particular sentence stayed with me.

“Earlier if you knew somebody’s age, you knew their stage in life! That is not true anymore.” Ram Bhamidi is a friend and batchmate from IIMA from over 25 years back. After successfully founding and selling a Marketing Tech company, he went back to school and got himself a Law Degree at the age of 50 and is building something in stealth in the Legal Tech space. My Brother in Law, B Muralikrishnan, after a successful stint as a Business Leader across companies like Ebay, Jabong and Xiaomi, got a DBA degree (equivalent of a PhD) from ISB, Hyderabad to set himself up for the next phase of his journey. On the other end of the spectrum, Ritesh Agarwal was just 24 when OYO became a Unicorn. You get the drift. You could be a student at 50. You could be an entrepreneur at 19. Age doesn’t define stage any more!

Podcast with Lynda on 100 Year Life

When one imagines what happy 100-year-olds would look like, the first imagery that often comes to mind is possibly a Japanese community, perhaps in Okinawa where there a group of elders gathered around a bonfire as a community, regaling each other, sharing stories and making merry. A recent documentary titled Blue Zones on Netflix profiled such communities across Japan, Sardinia (Italy), Costa Rica, Icaria (Greece) and Loma Linda (California).

However, I recently came across a slightly different archetype for a 100-year-old. Somebody who is galumphing (walking with a spring in their step) through life and consumed by their work and purpose! I am talking about none other than Sir David Attenborough who recently turned 100 on May 08, 2026.

In the chapter on “Tuning into our Values and Principles” in my book (Play to Potential – Lead a full life, Become the best you), I discuss how reflecting on who our role models are, informs us about what matters to us. I had Sir David Attenborough at the top of my list. I also have comedian Alexander Babu and Dr Sean Maguire - Robin Williams’ character in Goodwill Hunting on the list for different reasons but that is a longer discussion for a different day. The attached photo of the pages from the book give you a sense of why I have these people on my list!

Coming back to Sir David, three things about him inspire me.

1) Awe with which he looks at the world

When you see Sir David doing his work, you can see the awe with which he experiences nature and how he painstakingly ensures that his creative work (filming, editing etc) ensures that the audience experiences it when they see his work. A simple question to ask ourselves is “What gives us goosebumps?”. For me, among many things, it is listening to some of the songs from the South Indian composer – Ilayaraja. I notice that especially in urban cities, we get so caught up in the rough and tumble of daily life that we forget to ask what gives us goosebumps?

If you took a pause and reflected on the various moments that you were in awe, what would those be?

2) Committing to a core

In my work with leaders who are often trying to find a canvas to paint, I use the metaphor of oil drilling (the jarring dissonance with the nature based theme of this note is not lost on me!). I tell people that if you find a spot where you are at the intersection of passion, purpose, skillset and opportunity, just keep drilling to eternity!

Sir David’s fascination with the natural world began as a boy in Leicester, where he obsessively collected fossils and kept creepy-crawlies in tobacco tins. As he notes, he simply never lost that boyish enthusiasm. He discovered early on that natural history film-making is a rare medium that can simultaneously appeal to a 17-year-old and a 70-year-old, providing them both with something deeply sustaining. Ultimately, he has remained in this space because he views the natural world as fundamental to human survival. He notes that without the natural world, humanity would suffocate and starve. In his later years, his commitment is driven by a profound sense of responsibility to younger generations; having spent a lifetime documenting a pristine world that is now in decline, he feels a moral obligation to sound the alarm about the “crime” that has been committed against the planet.

As things stand today, I define my core as helping people play to their unique potential based on my understanding of business, leadership and human development. The shape of what I do might vary but I hope to stay true to this core. How do you define yours?

3) Staying relevant over time

Staying committed to a core does not mean that one stagnates. One needs to keep reinventing oneself along the way. As I mention in the book, he is apparently the only person to have won a BAFTA award for programmes in black and white, colour, high-definition, 3D and 4K. Talking about evolving with the times and staying relevant as the world shifts.

For much of his career, Attenborough deliberately avoided being a political activist or campaigner, preferring to inspire audiences by simply showing them the beauty of the natural world so they would inherently want to protect it. However, as the climate crisis worsened, he reinvented himself into a fierce environmental advocate. He leveraged the unparalleled trust he had built with the global public over decades to issue stark warnings about climate change, the extinction crisis, and plastic pollution.

It is lovely to see how he has evolved organically with time and has made his voice count in the last few decades of his life.

We all have heard the quote “We overestimate what we can get done in a day but significantly underestimate what we can get done in a decade”. Sir David is a great case study on what is possible over a century!

Happy 100^th birthday Sir David Attenborough! Over the years, you have shown us how Millions of Species lead their lives. More importantly, you have also shown Billions of us human beings what a 100-year-life, if lived well, could look like!

There’s a Sunday ritual that my son Nirmal (aka Nemo) and I have come to cherish over the last few years.

Post lunch, we head to Pedder Road in Mumbai for our guitar lesson with Abhishek Shah. We spend an hour or two learning, fumbling, improving, and laughing. On the way back, we stop at an Aarey stall where Nemo picks up a bottle of Energee — that old-school flavoured milk drink I used to happily swill during my local train commute between Andheri and Lower Parel a couple of decades ago.

This weekend, that ritual came with an unexpected lesson — on the difference between intelligence and wisdom.

To provide some context, for the last few months, we had been preparing for our Grade 6 Trinity guitar exam. We chose the digital route instead of performing live before an examiner. The upside? Multiple takes. The catch? You must play 3 songs continuously in one stretch — no separate recordings, no editing, no stitching.

After some trial and error, Nirmal and I picked our three pieces to practice and perform from about nine options:

• Samba Pa Ti — a soulful Carlos Santana instrumental that starts gently and builds gradually towards a flourish in the end

• With a Little Help from My Friends — a Beatles classic, reimagined by Joe Cocker

• Smooth Criminal — a peppy number from Michael Jackson where he is known to have done the gravity defying tilt

We had been preparing these songs since February and on April 12, we did our first serious recording. We thought we had done reasonably well. Abhishek looked at us calmly and said:

“You will probably pass. But as your teacher, I wouldn’t feel happy submitting this. You can do better” Abhishek has the knack of softly nudging you rather than being very strict and definitive.

One song had gone quite badly for each one of us during the recording. Whenever we played three songs at a stretch, we found that we always got one or two right but one song would go horribly wrong. Abhishek asked us to spend another week and come back on April 19.

Honestly, a part of me just wanted to get it done and move on. But we agreed to give it a last ditch effort.

During that week, I had what I thought was a brilliant idea.

Instead of recording the 3 songs once, why not record all 3 songs twice in one stretch? See below:

That way, if I messed up Song 1 the first time, maybe I’d nail it the second time. By recording 2 loops, we would get 4 possible combinations that we could potentially submit. More combinations. Better probability. The nerd in me was super-kicked! I proudly shared this with Abhishek. He smiled, mirrored my enthusiasm (which is very much his style), and said, “Let’s try it.”

April 19 arrived. We played 6 songs back-to-back as planned. And the result?

Worse. Much worse as a matter of fact than our April 12 attempt. Silly mistakes. Frustration. Fatigue. The second round was especially messy.

At that point, Abhishek gently asked us to prepare for one final attempt the following week.

After giving it our one last ditch effort through the week, we went back on April 26 for our final attempt.

This time, Abhishek told us “Record one set of 3. Take a break. Then decide if you need another set.”

He specifically discouraged us from doing all 6 in one go.

We followed that advice.

And this time, in our very first attempt, we got a version that was clearly better than what we had on both April 12 and April 19 — the one we finally submitted to Trinity.

I kept wondering why this might have happened.

Probabilistically, my “smart” strategy should have worked better.

That’s when Abhishek explained something simple yet profound:

“The brain needs time to recover and process mistakes. If you rush from one song to the next, you don’t give it space to learn. Sometimes, the pause is part of the learning.”

That stayed with me. Intelligence helped me come up with a seemingly efficient system. Wisdom understood the human being inside the system and suggested what would be effective.

As a matter of fact, something similar had come up in my chat with the Chess Legend Vishy Anand who spoke about how we can harness the power of the conscious and the sub-conscious mind in an intentional way.

Going back to my experience over the weekend, I’m reminded of the memorable Tata Steel ad that used to come on Doordarshan. The tag line there was “We also make steel.”

In Abhishek’s case, one could say:

“He also teaches the guitar.”

Hosla Eendhan Badla - Courge Fuels Revenge! This was the tagline of the recently released movie Dhurandhar. If I had to find a tagline for Hitendra’s work, it would be - Core Energies (Purpose, Wisdom, Love, Growth, Self-realization) fuel Leadership.

When I started learning coordinate geometry in two dimensions, I learnt that any point could be represented as a combination of x and y (Cartesian system). You define x and y and that determines the point. Somewhere around Grade 11 in the CBSE system, I was introduced to the Polar coordinate system where you could determine a point by r (radius) and theta (the angle).

I remember, the first time I came across this, my mind was blown. The fact that the same situation could be described using a very different language was eye opening.

I had a very similar experience while speaking with Hitendra Wadhwa on my podcast. A lot of the commentary we come across about leadership is often about these grand actions that people take in the way they drive results, develop strategy, inspire teams and so on. Hitendra has distilled these complex behaviours and competencies into 25 small atomic actions we all can take. At some level, these are the micro “atomic level actions” that can potentially translate to game-changing macro outcomes.

Please see below.

Link here for a longer document that lays out some of these 25 actions in a bit more detail.

Hitendra Wadhwa is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School and Founder of the Mentora Institute, he has coached several Fortune 100 C-suite executives and taught more than ten thousand MBAs, executives, doctors, lawyers, social activists, and educators. His class on Personal Leadership & Success at Columbia has for many years been the most popular leadership elective, earning him the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence and the Executive-MBA Commitment to Excellence Award. He brings a mathematician’s rigor and a truth-seeker’s spirit to some of today’s most vexing questions about authenticity, success, leadership, and human potential.

He has studied and catalogued 1000s of such moments (including historic moments involving leaders such as Gandhiji, Gorbachev and Mandela) over the years. He says that Leadership is not about acquiring traits but it is much more about activating states that can unlock the right kind of behaviour from us.

Listen to the Podcast with Hitendra here

Thought Doership

One of my friends recently sent me this HBR article on the notion that in the world of AI, pure Thought Leadership is DEAD. In this provocative article, John Winsor argues that in the world of AI, the ratio of people talking about ideas and executing them has gotten skewed. He says that the future will be about taking a thought and executing it to achieve the desired outcomes. Link here to the article.

In that context, I am excited to share the journal - Crafting a Full Life. It is not just about absorbing some of the insights around what it takes to architect a life of meaning and joy. But it is also about doing the work! The journal has short audio clips and associated journaling prompts to walk you through the various elements of self-awareness, discovering your values, designing a FLAVOUR-ful life and more!

Journal - Crafting a Full LIfe

My Musings

This is a new section in my newsletters. I will share something that is top of mind for me!

Over the last several years, I have been a student of leadership largely from a Western lens as a lot of the research based insights emanate from there. While I have dabbled with Indic wisdom, I haven’t studied it in a systematic fashion.

I am fortunate that one of my neighbours is organizing a series of lectures on Bhagvad Gita where Ms Jaya Row will be sharing the key lessons and teachings from the text. One Chapter a month! I look forward to the learning journey ahead! Gratitude to some of my friends and well-wishers who have been nudging me in this direction (you know who you are).

What stayed with me from Chapter 1: Our approach to any situation depends on the hat we wear when we see a situation. Arjuna was overwhelmed that he was fighting his brothers, gurus and uncles. He was wearing the hat of a “relative”. However, if he wore the hat of a Kshatriya, he would be doing his duty! Being aware of the hat we are wearing/want to wear in a situation can be clarifying!

Upcoming guests at the Podcast

• Wendy Smith on Both/And thinking (how we resolve paradoxes)

• Christina Wallace of HBS on intentionally designing a Portfolio life

This is where Jennifer Garvey Berger’s work comes in. She has studied Adult Development under the legendary Bob Keegan at Harvard and has written extensively about how we all can be intentional about moving across the adult development spectrum.

I had the opportunity to speak to Jennifer a few years back around COVID in the context of her work around the leadership mindtraps we fall into (simple stories, rightness, agreement, control, ego). I would rank that conversation in the top 5 across the various podcast conversations I have had in terms of insight density.

Unlocking leadership mindtraps

In this more recent conversation, we spoke about how we transition from a socialized mind to a self-authoring mind and a self-transforming mind, how we engage with the world with our entire being, how we discern somebody’s complexity fitness, how we can examine our beliefs by placing them on the “operating table” and much more! You can access this conversation and many more resources from the Play to Potential Ecosystem at the link below (Links to the Podcast conversation, Book, Journal, Newsletter and more).

Play to Potential Ecosystem

Special thanks to Purvi Sheth at Shilputsi Consultants for reconnecting me with Jennifer Garvey Berger. If you like what you hear from Jennifer and would like to bring some of these ideas to your leadership and your organization, you might want to look up the global team at Cultivating Leadership. In India, you can reach out to Shweta Anand or Rameet Arora if you want to know more.

Fast forward 10 years, I truly feel grateful for how the journey has played out over the years. I just thought it would be useful to pause and take stock of the journey and share some of the reflections from it in case it is useful to some, especially those who are on the path of being a solopreneur/independent advisor. Its a little long, I am afraid. You can skim the 10 headlines if you are strapped for time!

Pic above: Day 1 at AWFIS where it started. Feb 1 2016. I was there bright eyed and bushy tailed before even the chowkidaar showed up.

1. Be a needle for a balloon

This was something I learnt from Sandeep Singhal of Westbridge Capital, when I went to get some guidance from him while moving on from EgonZehnder. He nudged me to start with a clear niche rather than being a generalist.

When I thought about it, I felt that as a search consultant, I noticed that every candidate conversation was a career transition conversation and every client conversation was a leadership transition conversation.

That got me to start with Transitions as a clear area of focus to start with. When I look back, I feel it was useful to have a sharp positioning early in my solopreneurial journey.

2. What platform are you standing on

Early in my journey, I went and met Prof Ashish Nanda, who was then the Director at IIM Ahmedabad. When I went and told him, I was setting up something on my own, he looked me in the eye and said “Deepak, many of my classmates went on this path at around a similar time in their life. What they discovered was that the depreciation curve of irrelevance was steeper than they anticipated”. He expounded that when you belong to a platform like a McKinsey or EgonZehnder, the platform does the hard work of staying relevant and replenishing itself. Somebody in EgonZehnder- London is probably working on the latest interview methodology that somebody in EgonZehnder Mumbai could use. Somebody in McKinsey New York is perhaps working on a Strategy framework that the consultants in India could use.

He went on to say that if I just focused on the “Operations” of my business without adequate attention to replenishing myself, I could be going down the curve irrelevance faster than I could imagine. This impetus got me to start the “Play to Potential” podcast which, over time, has developed into the legs on which my platform stands (as things stand today).

3. Playing the role of a CEO and COE at the same time

I started out as a solo-preneur but soon realized that even though I was one person, I still had to perform all the roles of a Corporation (Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance and Tech). I realized that I was the Chief Executive Officer but the Company’s Only Employee (COE) at the same time. OB could mean Organizational Behaviour or Office Boy at the same time! It was frustrating to context-switch so much in a day but I also realized that there was interesting learning and over time, I learned to find a rhythm where I found a way to spend time across the various themes without over-indulging on one.

4. Leadership is lonelier when people are solving for themselves

We have all heard the term - Leadership is lonely. There are no peers and everyone interacting with you has their own agenda to pursue. However, I have found that XYZ, the person is lonelier than XYZ, the CEO. The CEO, when he or she is looking for advice, can lean on a range of Advisors (Board Members, Strategy Consultants, Marketing Agencies, Lawyers et al) to have sparring partners for various facets of their business.

However, I find that these leaders are juggling various identities and have questions across these that they are often navigating themselves. Questions such as:

• I have had a successful run in the current role over the last few years? How should I think about my journey for the next 5 years?

• Should I be on this treadmill or slow down and spend more time with my children?

• I just made Partner and had a baby soon after. How should I prioritize across the various elements?

• I am the MD of a PE listed business. I have just signed up for a full Marathon. It keeps me healthy but am I overdoing it?

They often do not have some one who understands the full context of their lives across their various dimensions! That is the space where I have had an opportunity to engage with a few of them and it has been fulfilling to be of value as a trusted sounding board helping them play to potential across the various facets of their life!

5. Be intentional about shape of the pursuit

A few years into my journey as a Coach and Sounding Board, I remember catching up with my friend and former colleague, Vivek Khemka. That was around the time where I had been on my solo journey for a few years and was at cross-roads. Should I hire more people and build an Advisory Services organization? Or should I stay small? When I was discussing this with Vivek, he looked me in the eye and said “Deepak, I think you have an artisanal mindset.” That line stayed with me and has guided many of the choices I have made since then. Many people talk about following your passion. But I believe the manner in which we pursue it matters a lot in the way we experience the journey. You might be passionate about doing something in the field of Education. But you could be a teacher, a principal, a school builder, an investor investing in education, a board member or something else.

I realize that I enjoy the process of helping people towards their potential. But I do not enjoy the process of building an Advisory Organization and scaling it. Being a Surgeon in my field gives me greater joy than building a Hospital where many professionals could come and contribute on the platform. That feedback from Vivek has helped make many choices in terms of the shape of what I plan to pursue. I have noticed that people often pay a lot of attention to the domain they want to focus on but under-appreciate the importance of solving the “how” of engagement!

Sometimes, I wonder if I have a built a cage and have limited myself. When I asked one of my clients for feedback, he asked me “Deepak, do you think you are playing to your potential”. I guess, that is a discussion for another day!

6. Contentment and Ambition could co-exist

I remember speaking to Prakash Iyer at the Play to Potential Podcast many years back. I admire Prakash for his ability to tell stories that are engaging, entertaining and insightful in equal measure. At some point in our conversation, he narrated the story of the writer - Joseph Heller, the famed author of Catch-22.

The story goes like this:

Heller was at a lavish party hosted by a billionaire hedge-fund manager on Long Island. Another writer remarked to Heller:

“Our host makes more money in a single day than Catch-22 has made in its entire history.”

Heller replied: “Yes, but I have something he will never have.”

When asked what that was, Heller said: “Enough.”

It was one of those “Mere paas maa hai” type lines that stayed with me.

I have also come to realize that being content does not mean that one is not ambitious. It might just mean that one is patient about what is yet to come. I have discovered that people often applaud visible short term ambition that is restless but do not often notice and appreciate the version of ambition that is patient about the outcomes.

Over the last few years, I feel bringing in contentment has helped me sleep better at night and show up in a more meaningful way to the various people around me.

7. Potential is uniformly distributed while opportunity is not

The term “ovarian lottery” was coined and popularized by American investor Warren Buffett. He uses the phrase to describe the inherent randomness of birth and how circumstances beyond an individual’s control—such as the country, era, family wealth, and natural abilities they are born into—significantly dictate their life outcomes.

I have noticed that while the distribution of opportunity might be skewed, the distribution of potential is quite uniform. I got a glimpse into this during some of my work with Akanksha Foundation (uses high quality education to unlock potential) and Antarang Foundation (bridges the gap between education and employment).

However, I have gotten a visceral sense of this given my journey with my two colleagues - Akash Deore and Arman Bansod, both alumni of Antarang Foundation. Akash is the Chief Product Officer at the company (taking care of the Podcast Membership, Journals and other elements of the Play to Potential ecosystem). Arman is the Editor at the Podcast. They came with absolutely no prior background in this space but today are some of the leading professionals in this space (if I may say so myself).

They bring undiminished curiosity, a “can do” spirit and a first principles thinking approach that has helped me grow as a person in the work I do. Working with them reminds me that with the right attitude, one can learn anything. Grateful for their support and companionship over the years. Also reminds me that how much human potential can be unlocked if people are willing to take a leap of faith and place trust in these “diamonds in the rough”.

Pic above: Arman, Akash and I practicing to hit our targets

8. Align what you are doing with who you are being

I have come to realize that for a long time, we organize our life into “To do” lists at different time scales. It could be a Vision over 10 years, a Strategic plan over 2-3 years or just a daily or a weekly check list.

Over the last few years, I have come to realize that while “doing” represents the P&L element in our life, “being” represents the balance sheet aspect. Doing things often is depletive but being yourself is regenerative (courtesy Raghu Ananthanarayanan; Link here). The last few years have also been a journey of aligning what I am doing and who I am being at various points in time.

Over the years, I have tried to lean away from elements that are de-energizing (team facilitation exercises, one-off interventions etc) and leaned in towards what brings me joy (pursuing thought leadership, creating value additive content, being a sherpa over long journeys etc.).

More than the impact it has had on my professional front, I feel it has changed how I show up at home with my family. I (would like to believe I) am less drained, more present and playful. I have come to realize that aligning being and doing is a bit like aligning your swimming with the water current or adjusting your sails to the wind.

9. Coaching is often like the 9 3/4 platform in Harry Potter

When I was writing the book - “Play to Potential”, I decided to work with a Coach who could act as a sparring partner in helping me refine my thoughts. I decided to work with Shweta Mani. She is a certified Leadership Coach, has a passion for story telling. It also helped that we have been friends for 25+ years since IIMA days.

The book initially was meant to be a collection of essays which were a distillations of my learnings from the Play to Potential Podcast. Shweta pushed me hard on what the core message was and why my book was different. That got me to the point that I wanted to talk about potential in a holistic sense (across the various domains of life) and that eventually led me to coming up with the FLAVOUR-ful life approach that I discuss in the book. I would not have gotten here if not for the provocations from Shweta! I have come to realize that coaching, often, is not about getting 10% better or 20% better at something. If done well, it can be transformative and can take you to a place that even you didn’t anticipate. A bit like the 9 3/4 platform in Harry Potter.

10. It is often about the photographer, not the camera

This is a phrase I heard when I was at a training programme in during my days at EgonZehnder. The programme was for consultants to raise the game in being a trusted advisor to clients. The core insight was that we were the “product”, not the tools we use! Our job was to suss out the client need and do whatever it takes to solve the problem. One of the faculty members eloquently told us that if it is a wedding of a loved one in the family, you would focus on getting the right photographer for the event. You wouldn’t sweat whether he/she uses a Canon, Nikon or a Sony camera?

I see that in the space I operate in. There are life coaches, performance coaches, wellbeing coaches, business coaches and many such! My mission is to help people play to their potential in a holistic sense. Sometimes, it requires me to be a brainstorming partner. Sometimes, it is asking a question that provokes reflection that sets off a chain reaction. Sometimes, it is connecting the person I am working with with the right resource. Sometimes, it is sharing a story from my journey that could help them. Sometimes it is about sharing a podcast nugget. Whatever it takes.

While I had learnt about the photographer and the camera when I was at EgonZehnder, I have come to realize the value of that advice over the last several years!

Overall, it has been a fulfilling 10 years. Look forward what lay ahead in the next decade!

Thank you to all those that trusted me as their coach and who gave their time and attention to the content I have put out over the years (whether it is the articles, podcast, book or the journal).

Truly grateful for your support and wishes.

Hope you are having a good start to the year.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Roopa Kudva many years back (~2018) at the Play to Potential Podcast. That conversation was about her early years, her growth in CRISIL and how she navigated the transition from CRISIL to Omidyar Network. I offer her approach as the playbook to most people that are looking to reinvent themselves as they transition from one organization to another. Link below to that conversation. That particular insight comes at ~50 min mark.

Roopa's journey and transitions

This time, I had an opportunity to sit down with Roopa and discuss her perspectives on leadership as an observer across the various lens she has worn over the years (Leader, Investor, Board Member just to mention 3) that she has channeled into her recently published book - Leadership beyond the playbook. Some of the themes we discuss include:

• bringing purpose in our lives

• getting the altitude right as a leader

• leading multi-generational teams

• art of decision making

• staying relevant as an investor

• how she is thinking of the next phase of career / life

Listen to the conversation

Upcoming episodes at the podcast include:

• Jennifer Garvey Berger on how we can apply adult development principles (courtesy - Bob Keegan of Harvard) to our professional growth

• Prof Hitendra Wadhwa (who combines a mathematician’s rigour and a truth seeker’s curiosity) speaks about how we can think of leadership in micro-moments and win those with intention

• Prof Christina Wallace of Harvard on how we can think about constructing a portfolio life

warm regards,

Deepak

As we wind down 2025 and embark on 2026, I am excited to share my podcast conversation with Bill Burnett, an individual who has spent time designing computers at Apple and has helped thousands design their lives. He is the Co-Founder of the Life Design Lab at Stanford University, where he uses Design Thinking principles to craft our lives. Thank you to Navyug Mohnot (Certified Design your Life Educator) for making this conversation possible.

I am also excited to share a new “product” from the Play to Potential ecosystem. We have created a journal/workbook (Crafting a full life) that help you craft a full life. 52 curated audio nuggets | 52 sets of journaling prompts and space for reflection. Designed to help you intentionally craft a holistic life with self awareness, 1 week at a time.

Order copies of the journal

Navyug Mohnot is conducting a 2 day workshop on 10/11 January in Bangalore using “Design your Life” principles. You can use the coupon code “playtopotential20off” to get a 20% discount on the course and get the journal “Crafting a Full Life” worth INR 1899/- for free. Brochure details below.

Design your life brochure

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Play to Potential Team

Arman, Akash and Deepak

In our conversation, we dive into topics such as how leadership paradigm is evolving, careers in the world of AI, implications on parenting and much more.

Click to listen

Coming up in Dec 2025

As we approach the year-end, am excited to share a couple of resources that might help you take advantage of the break and be intentional about 2026.

1. Design your life - Podcast with Bill Burnett

Bill Burnett is an Adjunct Professor and Co-Founder of the Life Design Lab at Stanford University & Co-Author of Design your Life, a #1 New York Times Bestseller. We speak about how we can use Design thinking to architect a life that is coherent with who we are. You might find it useful as a companion as you wind down towards the end of the year.

2. Crafting your life - One of a kind journal/workbook

I believe given the busy lives we lead, we all need to slow down the tape and be intentional about the various domains of our life. This journal consists of 52 different pieces of insight (surgically removed and stitched from various portions of the podcast) and associated prompts that can help you go deeper. Something you might want to invest in for yourself and/or your colleagues, clients, loved ones!

Order your copy/copies

I had an opportunity to sit with my friend for 25+ years - Neeraj Aggarwal and discuss his journey from humble beginnings in Assandh, Haryana to his rise up the ranks of Boston Consulting Group - one of the most reputed Consulting Organizations in the world.

It is not just that. I have always known Neeraj to lead a holistic life. I find him to be an inspiring role model in terms of how he juggles his various identities as a professional, father, husband, son and philanthropist just to name a few.

Even back in IIMA (around 1999), he was one of the Gold Medalists of the batch. More impressive than that was the fact that he managed to carve out time for daily frisbee and other social events with friends and at the institute.

In the conversation, we spoke about

• How he was shaped by the circumstance of his childhood (and his father’s daily ritual when he would shave!)

• His early career choices including his decision to pursue Masters in the US and coming back to IIM for an MBA (where I had the fortune of spending two years with him)

• How he has evolved his leadership style as Head of BCG India and subsequently as Head of BCG Asia Pacific

• His approach to managing his energy, leading a full life and managing dual careers

• How we all can stay relevant in the world of AI

• His vision for Plaksha University and how it is trying to reimagine Tech education

• The principles with which he leads his life and the values he wants to pass on to his children

While the long form content at the podcast is available on Spotify, Apple and other platforms, we have painstakingly sliced the conversations and organized them by 60+ themes around leadership and transitions. Members of the podcast can access 1000+ such nuggets from 100+ guests across these themes.

Curated Playlists of Nuggets

As we get back to the long term march of creating purposeful content at the Play to Potential Podcast, I am glad that we are starting the new season with Neeraj who sets a high bar for playing to our potential in a holistic sense.

This is our first newsletter at Substack (we just transitioned from Mailchimp). Look forward to engaging with you here. Welcome your feedback on how we could make this better as we move forward.

Last but not the least, Happy Diwali to you and your families.

best wishes,

Deepak Jayaraman

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