Good morning and welcome to another Sunday.

“…and one of the questions we asked was, ‘Would you be willing to take a pay cut for this?’” said Professor Varun Nagaraj.

Prof. Nagaraj is the Dean of Mumbai-based business school SP Jain Institute of Management Research (SPJIMR). Earlier this week, my co-host Praveen and I were recording the latest edition of The Ken’s Two by Two podcast. The topic: should students really be responsible for running the intense and high-stakes process of finding and matching employers with graduates?

I’ve linked to the episode later in the newsletter, if you want to listen to a wonderful (if I may say so myself) conversation on how the entire concept of “placements” needs to be rethought.

But back to the conversation. Prof. Nagaraj was telling Praveen and me about an interesting survey SPJIMR is running around sustainability. Willingness to take salary cuts was one of the questions asked. 

I immediately latched on to it. Because I love survey questions that make us stop, think, and choose hard options. And what better example of that than the “salary cut”, something we need to be more comfortable talking about, normalising, and even accepting a few times in our careers. It is also the topic of today’s edition. 

Meanwhile we’re also in the final gasps of Bengaluru’s short winter season. The days are getting warmer even as the nights and mornings stubbornly seem to get chillier. The numerous types of trees that line the city’s roads have started reflecting the changing seasons too. My favourite these last few weeks have been the Silk Cotton trees around the Domlur flyover. Their red kidney shaped fruits are so incongruous and hard to miss.

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Here’s everything we have for you today. 

1. Pay cuts
2. If B-schools were invented today, would students run placements? 🎙️
3. Observed reality 📚
4. All our furry friends Vol. 2 📸

When it comes to innovation and entrepreneurship, most of us now believe that failure isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it is often a necessary ingredient on the road to success. Because we know that success might come after numerous attempts, many of which might fail but eventually add up to that elusive success.