| Sunday, 18 February 2024 |
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Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Good morning! It was just last week that I spoke to you about spring, and already it feels like we’re in summer. Most of the pink Tabebuias are already past their prime flowering moment and it’s only mid-February.
I went back and looked at pictures of flowering Tabebuias I’d taken from earlier years—7 March, 2018. 1 March, 2020. And 9 February, 2024.
Spring is arriving prematurely by nearly a full month in just a few years. This isn’t good. Yes, it’s global warming. I want to hope (against hope) that this is a temporary phenomenon.
Perhaps, let’s give the pink Tabebuias some space to process this?
Which allows me to talk about my other favourite spring tree—the Honge Mara in Kannada, also known as the Pongamia tree. Its iridescent new leaves can be easily spotted alongside roads, next to lakes, and inside parks all over Bengaluru. They’re the ones with the ridiculously bright, waxy and gossamer green leaves simultaneously reflecting and channelling sunshine. I’ve always had a thing for bright spring foliage.
The Pongamias will start blooming in a few weeks, and then roughly a month or so from now, literally carpet the ground around them with fallen blossoms.
Welcome to our spring edition! We have lots of interesting spring-themed indulgences for you, from books to photos to music! (Even a brand-new job opening!) And of course, we’re kicking off our Fitness Quest too, so be sure to head over here and help us shape it.
Here’s everything we have for you this week:
1. Belief. Actions. Conflict.
2. Job: We’re hiring a Newsletters Intern! 📂
3. #FPPodcast 🎙️
4. #SilentSunday—New growth 🌿
5. #FPBooks 📚
6. #FPPlaylist—Spring is in the (ear) 🎶
1. Belief. Actions. Conflict
You might remember our “Horror Vacui” edition, where I postulated that belief is a key trait to succeeding in our careers, and indeed, in our lives.
Because just like nature does not allow vacuums to exist, modern organisations do not allow lack of beliefs to exist. In the rush to get on with work, belief voids are quickly filled in with the views and beliefs of others (subordinates, peers, bosses, customers, etc.). But for projects to succeed, this void cannot be filled up by others. Especially “HIPOs” (highly paid person’s opinion), to borrow Chargebee CEO Krish Subramanian’s pointer.
Because each time our lack of belief or conviction is replaced with someone else’s belief or conviction, we slowly give up the need to believe. I mean, why believe in what you’re going to do if everyone around you already expects you to believe it, right?
In a subsequent edition, “The Third Value”, we went one step further, and said that “actions” were a logical outcome of beliefs.
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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
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Rahul Gonsalves
Co-founder and CEO, Obvious Ventures