Life Acumen at Work
Vinod Wadhwani is long-time executive coach, who works with corporate leaders to help them in seeking new perspectives, while focusing on tangible benefits to them and their organization. On this podcast, he shares perspectives from the coaching conversations he has had with corporate leaders focusing on the specific leadership challenges they faced in their work life.
Episodes
37 episodes
What Shaped Your Career Success
Preview: We tend to remember our corporate career success as a story of effort, judgment and capability. But that is rarely the whole story. Timing matters. Context matters. Relationships matter. Opportunity matt...
Is Speed Hurting Your Decision-Making
Preview: What if moving faster is not always a sign of better leadership? In this episode of Life Acumen at Work, we explore the hidden cost of speed - what gets lost when decisiveness, urgency, and constant motion ...
The Leadership Shadow You Cast
Preview: The Leadership Shadow You cast - This episode is about the gap between the leader you intend to be and the leader people learn to navigate. Because every leader probably has two leadership styles. The one we intend t...
What Can't AI Replace
Preview:What Can't AI Replace? - What if the real leadership challenge of AI is not learning what machines can do, but becoming clearer about what only humans should do? In this episode of Life Acumen at Work, we l...
Is "FIRE" an Exit Fantasy
PREVIEW:Financial Independence, Retire Early - What if FIRE is not really about money - but about the life you’re trying to escape? In this episode of Life Acumen at Work, we look beyond spreadsheets, savings targe...
Is Your Career Future-Proof
Preview:You did everything right. You studied hard, built a successful career, earned the title, the credibility, and the rewards. But in a world where people live longer, careers last decades longer, and AI is reshaping work, a n...
The Hidden Cost of Success
The Hidden Cost of Success: This episode explores the hidden vitality cost of ambition - the patience, presence, humor, and energy leaders often lose long before burnout appears.Resources:
How to See Beyond Positions
How to See Beyond Positions:When a tough conversation gets tense, it often stops being about the real issue - and turns into a quiet battle over who will “blink first.” In this episode, you’ll learn how capable leaders get trapped...
Stop Negotiating Your Position
Stop Negotiating Your Position explains how positional bargaining turns problem-solving into a contest of credibility, slowing decisions and damaging trust - especially for senior executives who must preserve relationships beyond the dea...
Redefining Success in the Second Half of Your Career
Picture this: You're standing at your office window on a quiet Friday evening, looking out at the setting sun. You've just closed a major deal, and by all traditional measures, you're at the peak of your career. You have been through the ruthle...
Adapting to Tech Disruption as a Senior Leader
Imagine you're a senior leader who has navigated market shifts for decades. But suddenly, you're confronted with technologies that don't just change how business operates, but fundamentally redefine what's possible. The question isn't just how ...
Creating a Culture of Accountability
What is a culture of accountability? How crucial it is for leaders to model accountability? What environment makes accountability thrive? In FocusHow do we, as senior leaders, foster a culture of accountability? <...
Building Business-Savvy Executive Team
Picture this, a founder CEO struggling to build a business savvy team? What exactly does it mean to have a 'business savvy' team? How to build such a team?In FocusHow do you nurture holistic business acumen among your top-t...
Navigating Career Crossroads
Whether you’ve been a C-suite leader for just a few years or a seasoned veteran of many years, there comes a time when you reach a pivotal moment. A moment where you're faced with critical decisions that could reshape not just your career, but ...
Why "Effective Feedback" Critical for Leadership Growth
Many senior executives struggle to get effective feedback from their team. That’s a pivotal challenge leaders face constantly. When leaders don’t receive clear insights, into their strengths and areas of improvement, it can create a casca...
Prevent "Burnout" in the Workplace
The World Health Organization has officially recognized burnout as an occupational syndrome. According to some estimates more than a third of employees' experience burnout intermittently, with nearly 25% feeling it recurrently or constantly.
How Do I Hone My Persuasive Communication Skills?
Persuasion is not to be seen as tricking or forcing other people to your point of view, it is to be seen as understanding what engages and opens other people up to new ideas and insights.In FocusHow do you define persuasion...
Why you must build bridges with your boss?
Many middle managers make the mistake of relying too much on their job performance, consequently leave too much to chance and fail to effectively manage their careers.In FocusAre modesty and quiet work not virtues in the co...
Why do you feel dissonance despite having career success?
Recent research on people’s life satisfaction by social scientists suggests, that in general, life satisfaction follows a “U” shape. It starts at the upper range in youth, bottoms out in 40s, and then picks up again in older age.
Is your manager undermining you?
Bad managers are the top cause of unhappiness in the workplace. According to a survey by an HR consulting firm, more than 50% employees leave their jobs to get away from a bad boss. Everyone who’s had a bad manager knows what it can do to your ...
How to overcome distraction and regain focus at work?
Is multitasking a strength? Are human beings good at it? Or is this a delusion that majority of us have fallen for?In Focus:Where do we start in this distracted world to regain focus?How can you slow down in a world ...
Making and keeping new year's resolutions!
There is usually a lot of optimism this time of the year as the world slows down and people get time to reflect about what actually matters. Amid this hope what resolutions are people making for the new year and how to keep them.In F...
Why is our attention span decreasing?
A study by Professor Michael Posner at the University of Oregon found that if you are focusing on something and you get interrupted, on average it will take twenty-three minutes for you to get back to the same state of focus. Another study of o...
Why candor in organizations so important?
Candor is not just about telling the truth. It requires openness, sincerity and some degree of vulnerability. Lack of candor is not just remaining silent, it’s deceit by omission, which means that an element of honesty and truth is intentionall...