Podcast Themes

Viral Doshi speaks about some of the intrinsic traits that students have and career direction. He also speaks about some gender biases that exist in the way students think about choices.

Viral Doshi speaks about how the financial context often shapes choices children make around the first and second degree. He also speaks about how 1st degree should often be about pursuing one’s passion while the second degree should possibly be about a particular career pathway.

Viral Doshi speaks about some common mistakes people make. He specifically speaks about some of the mistaken notions people have about pursuing Computer Science and AI.

Viral Doshi speaks about the evolution of trends in how students make choices over the years. He also speaks about the distinction between how children in cities are making choices compared to those in Tier 2, 3,4 towns in India.

Viral speaks about his journey from Cathedral to Cornell to Wall Street to setting up a Super Alloys business with his father. When he shut down the business in early 2000s, he speaks about pivoting to what he always enjoyed doing – Mentoring young students.

Hitendra’s career arc — pure mathematics at St. Stephen’s, applied mathematics at MIT, strategy and behaviour at McKinsey — is a story of progressively widening the lens while staying close to one’s core. In this segment he reflects on what drove each transition and what mathematics left behind in him long after he moved on: a discipline of precision, pattern recognition, and the search for core truths.

Jaspreet Bindra speaks about the impact of AI on job destruction/creation and opines on what the careers in the future will look like.

Manjiri Jaruhar speaks about what it takes to raise an independent girl child. We specifically touch upon the notion of ensuring that the girl makes choices that make her financially independent which in turn gives her agency.

Raghu Ananthnarayanan speaks about some of his choices post his undergraduate degree from IIT Madras. He speaks about how he was influenced by the times he was in and the people he came in touch with (Student Revolutions around the world, Meeting Dharampal etc). He goes on to talk about how Dharampal urged him and some of his friends to spend a decade going deep in a subject before moving on to make a difference.

35 years after graduating with a Gold Medal in IIMA, Harish Bhat speaks about how he thought about some of the key career choices that came his way including his approach during campus placements at IIMA.

Ashish Dhawan discusses his perspectives around how we should educate ourselves for the future. He speaks about STEM versus Liberal Arts and the role each plays in informing our mental models.

Venkat Krishnan speaks about how he considered different possibilities for a career in “making a difference”. He speaks about briefly toying with the idea of IAS as a career option. He speaks about his summer internship with Khadi and Village Industries commission and describes the placement process which eventually leads him to accept a job at Times of India. He also speaks about his early years in Times of India and at Sony.