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By:

Divyaa Advaani 

2 November 2024 at 3:28:38 am

Knowing Everything. Growing Nothing

There is a particular performance that most accomplished founders have been giving for so long they no longer recognise it as a performance at all. Every conversation is an opportunity to demonstrate expertise. Every room is a stage for what they already know. Questions feel like exposure. Admitting uncertainty feels like weakness. And so they perform knowledge confidently, fluently, convincingly even when genuine curiosity would serve them infinitely better. Even when the person across from...

Knowing Everything. Growing Nothing

There is a particular performance that most accomplished founders have been giving for so long they no longer recognise it as a performance at all. Every conversation is an opportunity to demonstrate expertise. Every room is a stage for what they already know. Questions feel like exposure. Admitting uncertainty feels like weakness. And so they perform knowledge confidently, fluently, convincingly even when genuine curiosity would serve them infinitely better. Even when the person across from them could teach them something that would change how they lead, how they decide, how they show up. The performance is exhausting for everyone in the room and quietly destroying the brand it was designed to protect. I know a senior professional multiple boards, businesses built and advised across decades who does something most people at his level would never do. When he reads something that teaches him, he says so. Publicly. Without the carefully managed caveat of "of course I already knew this." Just a clean, direct acknowledgement I learned something from this offered openly in a room full of peers, without any concern for what it might do to his image. The effect on everyone watching was immediate and unmistakable. His credibility did not shrink. It grew. Because the room understood instinctively what most founders take years to learn — a person secure enough to say "I am still learning" is someone who has never stopped growing. And people who have never stopped growing are always the most worth being in a room with. This is the single most underused brand signal available to any accomplished founder. Not the polished pitch. Not the curated profile. The willingness to not know. The confidence to say so openly, in a room where knowing is the primary currency of respect. Here is what the performance of expertise is actually costing you — and this is the part nobody says out loud. When you are only ever the expert, you stop being interesting. When you stop being interesting, people stop seeking you out. When people stop seeking you out, your brand begins to contract not dramatically, not visibly, but consistently until the rooms you are invited into start to reflect the ceiling you placed on yourself by deciding you had nothing left to learn. The most magnetic personal brands I have worked with belong to founders who are as genuinely curious as they are knowledgeable. They ask questions that reveal depth rather than assert it. They acknowledge learning without managing the optics of doing so. They make the people around them feel that their perspective is genuinely valued not processed and filed away. And because of that, those people become advocates and connectors in ways that no amount of performed credibility ever generates. Now the question that matters and answer it honestly. When did you last publicly acknowledge learning something from someone you did not expect to learn from? When did you last say in a room of your peers that you did not know something and were genuinely glad to now? If you are struggling to recall a recent example, that absence is not a neutral data point. It is a direct signal about the brand you have been building and the ceiling you have quietly and unknowingly placed on it. Intellectual humility is not softness. It is the most sophisticated brand signal a serious founder can send. It says — I am secure enough in who I am that I have no need to perform it. If that question sits uncomfortably with you, good. A Founder Brand Audit is a focused consultation call where we examine the gap between the brand you are currently projecting and the one that would genuinely serve your next level. This is the beginning of a specific investment in yourself. Five slots open each week. Book your call here: https://www.calendly.com/divyaaadvaani/founder-brand-audit Divyaa Advaani, Personal Branding Strategist (The writer is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries. Views personal.)

Bad Roads, Ugly Politics


The pathetic state of roads in Mumbai city as well as its suburbs has made daily commute a dangerous affair. The residents are miffed with the BMC over its lackadaisical attitude. Mumbaikars tweet photos, post videos to grab attention, but everything is in vain. Who cares for the common people. Backbreaking journeys have become part and parcel of life. Political leaders are busy mud-slinging.


This year the monsoon took a break after almost four and half months. During this time some of the roads virtually became non commutable. It may be recalled that the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde first announced to make Mumbai roads pothole free.


Its almost two years now the BMC has concretised only 9 percent of roads it planned to concretise. This decision was taken when it came to light that due to the properties of bitumen in asphalt roads, potholes are a regular occurrence due to contact with water during monsoons.


Hence, to solve the problem of potholes, the corporation has adopted a policy of cement concreting of 6-meter-wide roads in phases. The decision was taken but the dilly-dallying affair made things more difficult.


Mumbai’s traffic does put a lot of strain on roads which is not the case in the other developed countries. Second most important aspect is concretisation of roads is done partly and in phases.


The worst problem which is faced is repeated digging for cables and drainage, which weakens the roads. Above all corruption in BMC makes matters worse as a result everything comes to grinding halt.


According to experts, repairing potholes is a reaction with symptomatic treatment. By and large we are dispensing superficial treatment without addressing the root cause. The long-term solution will be to have roads with no potholes but what we need is the means and technology to achieve this. But for this political will is necessary which we lack on every step.


Mumbaikar’s are convience that corruption in the municipal corporation is the main reason. Contractors have had a monopoly over the last 20 years and this is the reason why reputed companies never come ahead for these projects.


As a result, in the name of attendance and repair, the BMC does shoddy work. Crores are spent but the end result is nothing. The BMC is not paying attention to the crust. If the crust is weak, potholes will see an increase. Without any thought or technical know-how, potholes are filled with cold mix.


This is the reason why the city and suburbs continue to have craters on the roads.


Craters, a serious threat to the safety and security of people. Mumbaikars fade up from their repeated visits to orthopedic surgeons.


They are in a mood to teach a proper lesson to those who were at the helm of the affairs.

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