Great Leaders or Great Missions — Which Comes First?

Dear Friends,

In 2009, I had a great fortune meeting Steve Ballmer and had an opportunity to ask a question which was recorded on YouTube as well. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUoGKtZwxsI) He was the CEO of Microsoft (2000 to 2014). As of May 2025, his estimated personal wealth is around $151 billion, making him the eighth-richest person in the world.

Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 and became Microsoft's 30th employee and the first business manager hired by Gates. Ballmer joined Microsoft with a salary of $50,000 plus 10% of the profit he generated and no equity. However, Ballmer's profit share started to balloon out of control as Microsoft grew. When Dave Marquardt (investor in Microsoft) suggested that Microsoft reorganize as a corporation instead of a private partnership, he proposed that Ballmer own 8% of the company in exchange for cancelling the profit-sharing model. Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft along with Bill Gates) initially disagreed, but Gates and Allen reached an agreement to give an 8% stake to Ballmer (Wikipedia).

This is called Intrapreneurship (you are an employee but you work like an entrepreneur). Sometimes, you do not need to be an entrepreneur to experience entrepreneurship. Being an intrapreneur, you can still achieve entrepreneurial goals. Another interesting insight was that although as a child he was very shy, as an adult, he became known for his excited stage appearances at Microsoft events. They were widely circulated on the Internet as viral videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WW2JWIv6G8). Now tell me, how many employees can get this recognition and become the 8th richest person on the earth as an intrapreneur?

Similarly, I see another intrapreneur in Chandrasekaran of Tata. He studied in Tamil medium, completed his B.Sc. and Master of Computer Applications (MCA) (no MBA from IIMs or engineering from IITs). He joined TCS in 1987 as a trainee and became CEO by 2009. He is now the first non-Parsi and professional executive to head the Tata Group as Chairman.

Of course, there is no free lunch in this world. You need to relentlessly work smart and hard and also be in the right position at the right time. Not everyone gets that position. A thousand divine actions should support you in the background. Whether you call it good karma, luck, or nature, it has a significant role in creating a career in one’s life.

Having said that, sometimes a bad decision, misguided action, or complacency can cause catastrophic damage to a career. If you see a few leaders like Kay Whitmore (Kodak) – Complacent Vision – caused Kodak to collapse; he ignored the digital camera.Warren Anderson (Union Carbide) – Negligent Oversight of process – killed thousands in the Bhopal  disaster.John Sculley (Apple) – Ego Clash with Steve Jobs (ousted him) – led Apple into decline; fired after a decade.Ken Lay (Enron) – Ethical Collapse – accounting fraud; Enron lost 99.7% value; died before a 30-year sentence.Gerald Ratner (Ratners Group) – Public Disrespect – called his own products “crap”; customers fled; lost business and job.Chen Jiulin (China Aviation Oil) – Speculative Gamble – hid $550M losses; jailed 4 years; destroyed firm credibility.

Why am I writing this story?

In fact, if you watch my conversation with Steve Ballmer, I asked one simple question –
“Do organizations with successful missions build great leaders, or do great leaders build successful missions?”

What is your viewpoint? I request you to watch the above video for Steve Ballmer’s interesting response!

Ravi Saripalle

The Thin Line Between Efficiency and Emotion or Between Speed and Soul!

Dear Parents,

During my talks at various events, I quote a few inspiring stories. One of them is Usain Bolt. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medallist and the world record holder in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4 × 100 meters relay. He won three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, and 2016).

If we look at his personal background, we will feel inspired. His parents ran a local grocery store in a rural area. He suffered from scoliosis, a curvature of the spine that made his right leg 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) shorter than his left. This condition causes an uneven stride, with his left leg remaining on the ground longer than his right and hitting the ground with less force. Having said that, biomechanics researchers have studied, with no firm conclusions, whether this asymmetry has helped or hurt Bolt in his sprinting career.

Bolt fell victim to a fraud scheme, resulting in the disappearance of more than $12 million from his retirement savings account. The account showed a balance of only $12,000, down from its previous $12.8 million. Now 39, Bolt no longer runs due to a ruptured Achilles near his foot. The eight-time Olympic champion admits retirement has made him feel “human” again — even climbing a flight of stairs now leaves him out of breath.

Life is like this. Most of us go through this normal curve, a bell-shaped curve — a humble beginning, arriving here single, reaching a peak in our career or health or assets or family relationships or name or fame, and losing one after another, and leaving the ground again single. Everybody knows this truth, but while acting, we get covered. Anyway, this is philosophy.

Anyway, why did I bring this topic today?

Alphin Masilamany Santha posted a note on his LinkedIn. Beijing recently hosted the first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games. Over 500 humanoid robots from 16 countries competed in events ranging from sprinting and soccer to boxing and medicine sorting. Unitree H1 dominated the track, winning the 1500m in ~6:29. Robots stumbled, sprinted, and even lost limbs mid-race — a true testbed for real-world AI. Boxing matches were played with real seriousness. The interesting part is, the crowd cheered like it was the real Olympics.

While there is technological development, are we also transferring our emotions? Are we transferring our physical energies to machines? This is the moot question.

In our childhood, every Shivaratri, we used to play dramas throughout the night. The preparations for skits, dresses, podiums, team selection, and many more used to start a month before. We used to prepare the skits as if they were an exam. In one play, as drama, and immediately in the next play, as an old grandmother. The whole street used to witness our dramas. Can a video game replace this emotion?

During our childhood, we used to play street cricket. Though I am not a player, teams used to send me as the first opening batsman. I used to be out in the first over itself. However, when I was walking to the ground, the cheer team used to raise slogans as “Boon.” I used to be a little chubby, like David Boon, an Australian cricketer. We were enjoying the experience, but not the real sports analytics.

Maybe we should be able to draw a thin line between productivity and performance, a thin wall between efficiency and emotion. If we aren’t able to draw this line, the young generation becomes a victim of the virtual world. I teach “AI for Business” to my MBA students, but it should be limited to business. It should not encroach on entertainment.

The 0 to 8 age group is the most vulnerable group to this change. We, as parents and teachers, should save them like how the Olive Ridley Sea Turtles are saved across the coastlines.

Ravi Saripalle

Dibba Rotti, Determination, and the DNA of Innovation

Dear Friends,

Have you ever tasted pure coconut chutney ground by Rubbu Rolu, also known as Sil Batta, Ammi Kallu, or stone mortar? Maybe you’ve compared this to a modern grinder at home—you’ll see the difference! Whenever we used to visit our village during childhood, my grandmother would make Dibba Rotti with this coconut chutney. Dibba Rotti or Minapa Rotti is a classic Andhra dish prepared with urad dal and rice ravva batter. The soaked urad dal is ground into a batter and, after some other process (which I don’t fully recall), it is poured into a hot, heavy-bottomed kadai and made into a pancake.

I still remember, she used to prepare this on Sundays. The process started at 9 AM. By afternoon, around 1 PM, she would grind using a stone-made Rubbu Rolu fitted and levelled to the ground. Today, the machine takes just 45 minutes to grind. Back then, it was double the time. You had to sit or squat and move the hand-stone in small circles or back-and-forth ovals over the base stone, continuously feeding the paste back to the center with the other hand. This was equivalent to burning 100–250 kcal—comparable to a moderate-intensity upper-body endurance workout. On a lighter note, what my grandmother did for dosa batter, modern fitness enthusiasts now pay for at a CrossFit class!

Why am I talking about this traditional tool that was once a minimum household crockery?
In 1955, Coimbatore resident P. Sabapathy invented the wet grinder as a wedding gift for his wife, Indrani. Today, the Coimbatore Wet Grinder holds a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for wet grinders manufactured in Coimbatore and Erode districts. Having a GI means no one else in the world can patent the grinder—the Grinder Belongs to Coimbatore.

In fact, Panasonic filed another Japanese patent (JP2014169818A) in 2014. The world is not stopping. Even if ideas are traditional, they are getting protected through innovation and IP.
In 2010, we ourselves invented a top-attached toothbrush—its bristles could be removed like a blade in a razor to save plastic. The bottom stand was fixed, made from bamboo, and the bristles were crafted from neem and banyan fibers. Unfortunately, we never filed a utility patent. You know what happened? Quip NYC Inc filed a similar patent in 2013 and now sells it on Amazon! The cost of not filing a patent was huge. Of course, my son later obtained a design patent with more sophistication and multi-functionality, but we had already lost the big opportunity.

What triggered this topic today? Amit Singh posted an interesting article on LinkedIn. Last week, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, through orders dated 30.07.2025 and 11.09.2025, decreed suits in favor of Carl Freudenberg KG (the patentee). A public notice was issued by the patentee of the “GALA No Dust Broom” (Patent No. 541962), warning against market players infringing on their patented technology (Hindustan Times, 05 Oct 2025).

Historically, brooms were crafted from twigs. Today, the Indian broom market is estimated at a whopping ₹1,500 crore. Freudenberg Gala Household Products owns this patent. Let’s appreciate their foresight and the act of filing patents for such innovations.

Having said that, we in India aspire to be an innovative nation—let us protect every idea, every thought, and every application. Otherwise, our next generation will end up paying royalties for “pin to peace”! We will continue writing grandma stories… “We used to do things like this…”

– Ravi Saripalle

The Butterfly Struggle: Why Students Must Think Before They Ask AI

Dear Friends,

My father bought a second-hand kid’s cycle during my 6th standard after a lot of persuasion. This cycle was almost in a non-operational condition. We had to repair it and make it run. However, the joy of riding it was uncountable. When I was in 8th standard, again after a lot of negotiation, I inherited my father’s Atlas cycle (1964 model), which I used till my post-graduation. After working for two years, I bought my first second-hand two-wheeler, which I used for another two years before it was abandoned. The initial struggle to get that second-hand bicycle left a deep impression on my mind — so much so that I abandoned my first Maruti 800 (non-AC and non-metallic version) only after 15 years, when it couldn’t move an inch.

What’s the point I’m trying to make? There’s a new issue cropping up in education — called “Metacognitive Laziness.”

An experimental study found that learners using ChatGPT performed better in essay score improvement but did not significantly improve in knowledge gain, transfer, or application. Another experiment showed that when a student struggles through Google searches to find results, their application knowledge tends to be higher compared to when they use ChatGPT and get quick answers.

Recently, I came across a story that perfectly connects to this idea of Metacognitive Laziness.

A student once asked his teacher, “I have read so many books but remember very little. What is the use of reading then?”The teacher didn’t answer. A few days later, he gave the student an old, dirty strainer and said, “Bring me some water from the river.” A strainer is a wire-mesh kitchen filter used to separate liquids from fine solids.

The student tried many times, but the water kept slipping through the holes. Tired and upset, he said, “It’s useless. I couldn’t bring any water.”

The teacher smiled and said, “Look at the strainer.” It was now clean and shining.

“That’s what reading does,” said the teacher. “Even if you don’t remember everything, it still cleans your mind and fills it with new thoughts.”

The point I’m trying to make is that while using GenAI is important for productivity in the working world, we shouldn’t outsource our brain work—especially for students below 20 years of age—to AI. Metacognitive laziness kills our natural application knowledge and makes us handicapped in thinking.

Recently, I experimented with this in one of my classes. When I asked students to do an assignment and allowed GPT usage, many completed it with ease, but the responses were not unique — they were uniform and perfect. Assignments, especially case analyses, should involve creativity and originality.

However, after a few days, I conducted another in-class test with the same set of students using a similar case, but this time in a closed environment without GPT access. I asked them to make their own assumptions and apply their natural understanding of the problem, life experiences, and logic to respond. They had full freedom in defining assumptions and justifying their responses.

Interestingly, in this social experiment, we found that over 35% gave unusual and intuitive responses, and 10% outperformed with their natural analytical flow. About 50% struggled to respond perfectly, but they experienced the struggle of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.

If we repeat this model with those 50% a few more times, I’m confident their responses will align with the original goal of case analysis.

Future education is all about StoEduTain — (Storytelling + Education + Entertainment). If that purpose is missed, the educational train is derailed. https://www.linkedin.com/company/stodutain/about/

– Ravi Saripalle

From Weekly Boy to Falcon Flight: Learning Resilience

Dear Parents

Today morning, while I was walking, I saw a boy around 15 years old dropping milk packets door to door. It was raining and he was totally drenched. I’m sure he gets ready for school after this morning job. I am truly admired by his commitment and striving nature.

During our days, there was a concept of a “weekly boy.” The idea was that every week, a poor or unaffordable boy (mostly male, as I observed) would go to 7 different sponsored houses for lunch—one per day—and this process would repeat every week. Many times, they couldn’t afford dinner. A few of my own relatives went through this process and still completed their education.

Look at the ambiguity in their lives. You couldn’t demand what you wanted. You couldn’t expect timely lunch. You couldn’t expect respect—it all depended on the emotional state of the house on that particular day. You couldn’t even expect a full lunch during month-ends, as sponsors themselves would struggle when rations ran low. You had to drop your ego completely. Many times, sponsors demanded chores in return, and you had to fulfill those obligations regardless of your pain or pleasure. You visited your parents once in a season if you were away from your village. You studied under dim lights if you were lucky—but mostly under kerosene lamps.

In contrast, today’s overprotective parents track their children minute to minute. In spite of this, a few children still make mistakes and depend on parents for everything.

I still remember during my college days, I traveled alone over 1200 km one way—with just one small bag, no mobile phone, less than ₹500 in my pocket, no reservation, changing three trains, standing next to the bathroom in unreserved compartments—just to apply to a few universities across four different states. That pain is imprinted deep in my memory and comes out in different forms when dealing with my students and children. I become emotional when someone misuses their God-given gifts or misuses their opportunities.

In nature, a few are gifted with all three: resources, intelligence, and support. But more than 80% of people don’t get even one of these three. If someone has all three but doesn’t leverage them, it is their loss.

We need to learn from Nature. Just opposite our flat, pigeons live in one corner of a balcony. The owners recently installed a net to prevent them. Still, around 6 o'clock every morning, two pigeons come and try to break in—continuously—for 1 to 2 hours. I’m not sure of the reason, but uncertainty defines the lives of many species.

Look at the Falcon story. This was recently recorded and reported. A female falcon was equipped with a GPS tracker during her journey from South Africa to Finland. She covered approximately 230 km per day, flying in a straight line across African lands until she reached the desert in the north. She then followed the path of the Nile River over Sudan and Egypt, avoiding the Mediterranean Sea. Instead, she crossed Syria and Lebanon and also steered clear of the Black Sea—because if she got thirsty, she wouldn’t be able to drink from it. She continued flying in a straight line and reached Finland after 42 days. This is life for many species.

Let us pray to God for giving us this beautiful life without such stressful complications. Be happy with what we have received in this life. We are all short-lived. Don’t chase after artificial possessions that are temporary—be it beauty, money, position, or even family. At any moment, anything can be taken away.

One of our relatives met with a fatal accident and lost her beautiful face to burns. I’ve witnessed families who were once filthy rich lose everything in business and now struggle for daily bread. I saw CXOs attending calls till evening, and due to a trivial issue beyond their control, being asked to leave the same day. Years of 24x7 commitment were washed away like a flash flood, sweeping away their lavish cars and the foundations of their apartments.

Don’t forget to plan the unplanned!

– Ravi Saripalle

Jobs Then and Now: A Postcard from the Past, A Prompt for the Future

Dear Friends

I am not sure if you experienced this or not, every week we used to wait for Employment News, the flagship journal for job seekers, published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. It started in 1976, used to be referred to as Employment News in English and Hindi (Rozgar Samachar).

I come from a small town named Vizianagaram. It has a fort built by the Maharajas. Besides, there used to be a Pani Puri Chat shop. It was an interesting business model. This guy, named Nagabhushanam, used to paste all employment-related information on a wall. It was not just posters pasted, but he used to run like a mini staffing agency (printed applications, postal cover with target address pasted, photocopy facility, and other key ready-reckoners for a particular job application). All these unemployed aspirants used to apply through the corner and also have a pani puri!! A perfect blend of a business model.

While I am talking about the Pani Puri cart, it reminds me of an Insta post yesterday by Startup Pedia — “At just 22, Nandan turned a ‘weekend cart’ into a ₹3–4 lakh/month streetwear brand in Bangalore. Untamed Streetwear isn’t just clothes — it’s his vision, his vibe, and a growing cultural hub for streetwear lovers.” It is a cart-based fashion startup bringing bold, affordable streetwear to Indian streets.

Anyway, let me come to the topic of today’s story. I used to follow the India Post (those days it was the Indian Postal Service) Assistants. Now they are calling it Gramin Dak Sevak (GDS). It was purely based on 10th Class merit. The expected cutoff is 84 to 95% in the 10th class. I was eligible for this; I used to contemplate applying for this. When IT recruitments began, we used to closely monitor them in the national newspapers; of course, there were a few. They used to run mostly by referral, or you needed to follow them in Bangalore/Hyderabad. Of course, we needed to stand in a long queue to hand over our resume — only to the “Security Guard” during weekends. In rare instances, we used to mail to HRs. Employment News used to be limited to jobs like Computer Operator, Computer Operator (Steno), Computer Operator (Accounts), etc.

From that phase, we transitioned to AI-driven Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). They intelligently screen resumes, match candidates to jobs, reduce bias, and improve the overall candidate experience. In this chaos, yesterday I saw an interesting hiring post on LinkedIn. I am sharing an excerpt of it.

“Meet my all-star team. Time to level up with some fresh talent – because even AIs need humans to hit the ‘deploy’ button without existential dread.

Shoutout to the current squad: ChatGPT: Chief Content Officer,Perplexity: Chief Research Officer,Gamma: Deck Designer,Midjourney: Creative Director,Canva: Carousel Designer,

Veo: Video Editor,Veo 3: Video Maker,Genspark AI: Prompt Engineer,EasyGen: Copywriter.

Now, hiring for open roles: Chief Product Officer (CPO), Chief Software Architect, Coding Engineers: Code like a boss, debug like a therapist, Agentic Expert, Integration Experts. My biggest HR challenge? Keeping these agents from unionizing over server space… and now convincing humans we’re not replacing them.”

Are you ready for the transition?

Ravi Saripalle

From Chai to ChatGPT: The Evolution of Shared Knowledge

Dear Friends

During our childhood days, the most engaging places in the morning or evening times would be the Tea Stalls and Barber shops. People often visit them not just to sip the tea but to listen and participate in the most engaging conversations. They would range from politics to business. Similarly, barber shops used to be hook centres for entertaining discussions, street gossip, and many more!! In these Tea stalls, there would be 3-4 people to make the discussion active. The rest of the visitors keep an eye and lend an ear to them, while scanning through the newspaper. They will not have the ability to overpower those 3-4 debaters, but give them thumbs up with their nods. I hope many of you might have experienced this.

Did you see any such Tea shops and Barber shops now? Did you observe that these Tea shops have transformed into Coffee Clubs? You can observe a few customers silently sitting in one corner of these shops and browsing through their mobiles. Similarly, these Barber shops are transitioning to Salons, in some advanced locations, to unisex salons! What do you observe there? Again, customers are hooked to screens, scrolling through a few reels. Those engaging conversations have become old-fashioned!

In fact, in those days, especially in rural villages, these shops also acted as social cops! They used to enquire like a friendly interrogation — Where are you coming from? Whose house are you visiting? What are you doing? How much salary are you earning and so on? In fact, whenever we used to go to our grandfather’s village, we used to encounter these questions. Surprisingly, by the time we reach our grandfather’s village (we need to cross 2-3 villages on foot or by bullock cart), these cycle peddlers used to share with our grandfather that we were visiting! This is the kind of neural network that runs there. They used to be much more powerful than AI-based artificial neural networks (ANNs) or Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs).

Why am I bringing this conversation up? A recent study (Semrush, June 2025) analysed 150,000 citations across AI outputs from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others — using 5,000+ diverse keywords. Can you guess who is supplying the most information to these LLMs like ChatGPT? You might think Google or Facebook, right? No, surprisingly, 40.1% of citations are coming from Reddit. Next, with Wikipedia 26.3%, YouTube 23.5%, Google 23.3%, StackOverflow 18.7%, etc. As per Steve Nouri, Reddit is now the #1 training source for AI. Reddit isn’t just a forum anymore — it’s the backbone of generative AI.

What does this mean for Builders, Brands, and Founders? Conversations > Content! Authority is being redefined (Not by domain age). A 20,000-word blog post has no significance, but Active Reddit threads, Engaging X posts, and YouTube explainer videos make all the difference. Trust is being crowdsourced. Community is your new homepage!!
 

Will there be any impact on the UX strategy of product and services companies? Yes, definitely! When we were studying RDBMS (Relational Database Management Systems), information was arranged in rows and columns! For many years, storing an image in the database was a luxury until object databases came. Today, your PDF document, your reel, or your picture on a webpage are all considered as database feeds for your LLMs.

Did you observe any other changes?

Ravi Saripalle