What Jiro Dreams of Sushi Teaches Us About Leadership, Craft, and High-Performing Teams

June 13, 2025June 13, 2025 by Vik

If The Bear revealed the raw energy and emotional complexity of teamwork under fire, Jiro Dreams of Sushi presents a quieter but no less powerful portrait of leadership. Jiro Ono’s Tokyo-based sushi restaurant, run with monastic precision, stands as one of the most revered kitchens in the world — and also one of the most instructive case studies for corporate leaders. In Jiro’s world, there are no performance reviews, OKRs, or corporate retreats. Yet his team consistently delivers at …

Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater? Maybe You Should.

May 30, 2025May 30, 2025 by Vik

We’ve all heard it: “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” In business, this phrase is often deployed as a caution against overcorrection. It urges us to preserve the core while cleaning up the mess around it. Fair enough, except when the core itself is the problem. The phrase assumes there’s a precious “baby” worth saving. But what if there isn’t? Or what if the effort to preserve it is what’s anchoring your organization to outdated …

10 Things Cobra Kai Teaches Us About Leadership and Focus

May 23, 2025May 23, 2025 by Vik

Leadership lessons don’t always come from boardrooms or business books. Sometimes, they strike hardest from an unexpected place—like a karate dojo. Cobra Kai, the modern continuation of The Karate Kid saga, is packed with drama, action, and yes, deeply relevant insights on leadership and focus. Just as The Bear showed us what kitchen chaos reveals about team dynamics, Cobra Kai brings clarity on how leaders rise, fall, and evolve under pressure. Here are ten principles every leader can take from the mat …

AI Is More Than Just Generative: A Strategic Primer for Executives

May 29, 2025May 9, 2025 by Vik

AI is dominating headlines, boardroom agendas, and vendor pitches. But most of the attention is focused on generative AI — tools like ChatGPT that can create text, summarize documents, or even write code. These tools are impressive. But they’re just one part of a much broader AI landscape. For years, companies have used AI to forecast demand, detect fraud, personalize marketing, and reduce churn. These traditional AI applications may not trend on social media, but …

Pushing Through: The Leadership Muscle No One Talks About (But Everyone Needs)

May 4, 2025May 2, 2025 by Vik

Every business hits friction. Sometimes that friction is healthy; it creates checks, balance, and rigor. But too often, friction becomes inertia—slowing progress through convoluted processes, outdated systems, unclear ownership, or quiet resistance from those who’ve grown comfortable. That’s when pushing through matters most. Pushing through is a leadership muscle. It’s not soft power. It’s not charisma. It’s not consensus-building. It’s the ability to get meaningful things done—especially when the odds are stacked against you. And let’s …

Bob McDonald’s Visit

March 8, 2025November 28, 2011 by Vik

Heard Bob McDonald speak today at Purdue. It was an honor to be present over there and learn his experiences of how he landed up at P&G from the military academy, and how his life’s expectations always matched to what he did during the course of his career progression. Among the 10 things he talked about related to leadership, and of course citing stories from P&G and his life, the one thing that really fascinated …