| Sunday, 03 March 2024 |
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Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Good morning and welcome back to First Principles, our constantly evolving Sunday conversation about learning, growth, and hope. We’re now in March and juxtaposed with the changing of seasons. Behold, the ides of March.
Earlier this week, I met a dear friend for lunch and we decided to simply walk in sans a reservation to Bengaluru’s hottest new restaurant, the Vietnamese restaurant chain, Pizza 4P’s. We got a table, just like that. And both the food and service were fantastic and all that early reviewers raved about.
Feeling emboldened, I went back the next day with my son. Even though we landed up at 12.30 pm on a weekday (admittedly, Friday), we were told all tables were booked out till 4 pm.
You’d think it would be impossible to come across a name like “4P’s”, but I came across it a second time as I was re-reading a wonderful book by Joi Ito, the former director of MIT’s Media Lab. They are the 4Ps of creative learning—Projects, Peers, Passion, and Play.
The latter 4Ps are deeply woven into the work which we do at The Ken. In fact, I’d go on to say they are the reason we’re even having this conversation right now.
Anyway, after lunch, as we were walking back, we ended up talking about mindfulness and reinvention. It’s hard for founders to be able to open up about their self-doubts and existential worries to others, given their (somewhat self-created) persona of “having all the answers”. As we swapped anecdotes and tips to each other, my friend said something that stuck with me.
“You know, in mindfulness, there are basically just two states that you’re in. You’re either observing, or you’re sweeping. But to be sweeping, you need a garden.”
We’ll come back to the theme of mindfulness and sweeping in a later edition, but for today, here’s what we have.
1. Emergence
2. Udaan’s CEO has a big problem to solve 🎙️
3. Telling tales—à la photographers 📸
4.
I enjoy reading The Ken because it is informative, the articles are well researched, well written, without the spin and bias. I admire The Ken team for their dedication to getting closer to the true picture.
Hari Buggana
Chairman and MD, InvAscent
Transparent, Honest, Detailed. To me, The Ken has been this since the day I subscribed to them. The research that they put into each story and the way it is presented is thoroughly interesting. Personally, I’ve always had a great time interacting with the publication and reading the stories.
Harshil Mathur
CEO and Co-Founder, Razorpay
The Ken has proven naysayers wrong by successfully running a digital news publication on a pure-subscription business model in India. They have shown that discerning readers are willing to pay for well-researched, well-written, in-dept news articles.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited
As a designer, it’s easy to get lost in the craft of building products. As a business owner however, keeping up with a rapidly changing landscape is key to saying relevant. The Ken doesn’t just help me stay on top of what’s happening in India(and beyond), but makes it fun to do so.
Rahul Gonsalves
Co-founder and CEO, Obvious Ventures