Aswath Krishnan

Imagine if someone gave you 3 crystal balls and said your life depends on them. If they get dirty or cracked, your life suffers. If they break, your life ends. If they are spotless and well kept, your life will be a joy.  Now imagine how much you'd care for them. You'd keep them in a safe place, polish and shine them, examine them every day for any damage, and never let anything or anyone harm them.  It makes life simple, doesn't it? Just take care of 3 crystal balls and all is good!  I'm now going to give you those 3 crystal balls that determine the quality of your life.  I can hear some of you groan, "Ah not this mind body spirit hocus pocus again!" or "I already knew that. My grandma told me this." To you all, I say, most of the precious life wisdom is actually simple and know for ages (see Lindy effect). We know them, but we simply don't follow them and chase after the latest trend. Repetition and clarity don't spoil the prayer. So let...

I was playing a few games of Codenames with some colleagues. For those who aren't familiar, Codenames is a game where the "spymaster" can give one clue word that can help their "operatives" guess a bunch of team words (say, blue) while avoiding a bunch of opponent team's words (say, red). It's a wonderful team game that is fun and strategic.  I was the spymaster in one of the games, meaning I could see all the team words and the opponent team's words and I had to give clues to my team of 5 to make them guess my team's words. It gave me a unique vantage point to observe team discussions, dynamics, and decision-making while knowing the right answer.  I said "Greece" to hint at "Atlantis" and "State" (not the best clue!). I felt good when a teammate immediately suggested Atlantis and State to the rest of the team. But another teammate more strongly proposed "War" and that Greece is a country and not a state. T...