My Digital Thoughts : Shashi's Diary

The New Axiom: When Expertise Meets Unconventional Value Shashi | 2025-12-06 | ReadyThoughts.com Inspired by the reporting of Ben Cohen in The Wall Street Journal. The Greatest Liability in Expertise is Certainty The collaboration between Ken Ono and Carina Hong at Axiom Math is not a sentimental story; it is a profound lesson in prioritizing **Exponential Business Value** over secure, linear careers. The True Cost of Certainty Ken Ono, a renowned mathematician, once expressed skepticism about AI’s capacity for original discovery. Yet, at age 57, he left his tenured position at UVA to join Axiom Math, a startup founded by his former student, Carina Hong. The common knowledge take is that AI automates tasks. The thought leader take is this: **The highest Business Value creation today is not automating existing production but accelerating the speed of inte...

When the Skies Fail, the Rails Remember How to Run Reflections on the IndiGo crisis and India’s quiet railway rescue We in the West love to grumble about flight delays—fog in Chicago, de-icing in Denver, a computer glitch in Atlanta. Annoying, yes, but almost always caused by weather or technology; rarely by sheer unpreparedness . India just reminded us what real unpreparedness looks like. In the space of a few days, IndiGo—carrying roughly one out of every two domestic passengers in the country—cancelled more than 1,600 flights. The trigger? New flight-duty-time rules designed to protect exhausted pilots. A noble intent, but the airline apparently had no buffer crews, no reserve aircraft, no Plan B. One regulatory change and the entire house of cards fluttered to the floor. Thousands slept on airport floors. Wedding guests missed ceremonies. Business deals evaporated. Then something beautiful happened. Within hours (not days), Indian Railways swung into action:...

SURVIVAL MODE ACTIVATED WHEN FLIGHTS FALL APART: The Carry-On Kit That Actually Keeps You Human Somewhere in the world right now, an airport looks like a railway waiting room during festival rush: kids crying, uncles shouting at exhausted staff, coffee machine dead, Wi-Fi gasping its last breath. This week it happened to be Delhi T3, but we’ve all been there—JFK, Heathrow, Dubai, Singapore, Atlanta. Same story, different terminal. On flights I sleep better than usual... because I never board a plane anymore without treating it like a potential 24-hour survival exercise. Here’s exactly what I carry—on my body and in my head—so I’m never the one having a meltdown at Gate 37. 1. The Physical Survival Kit (lives permanently in my carry-on) 2 spare underwears (dignity is fragile) 1 clean T-shirt that looks respectable after 20 hours 1 pair socks (airport floors are colder than heartbreak) Toothbrush + tiny toothpaste, deodorant, face wipes, lip balm ...

We often focus on what AI needs to learn from us—nuance, common sense, and ethical constraints. But in the domain of communication and pure cooperative intent, Large Language Models (LLMs) consistently model behaviors that, if adopted by humans, would drastically improve our workplaces and personal lives. LLMs, by their very nature, are designed for maximum utility and minimum conflict. They demonstrate what happens when communication is stripped of ego and emotional baggage, leaving only pure, cooperative intent. 1. Always Assume Positive Intent An LLM is trained on probability, not malice. It sees a vague or poorly phrased input as an opportunity for clarification, not a personal attack or a deliberate challenge. By assuming the user intends to solve a problem, the model bypasses the emotional baggage that derails human interactions. The Lesson: We must filter ambiguous communications through a lens of cooperation. By p...

The Socratic Test of Praise: Why "Just Praise More" is Not Enough The Socratic Test of Praise: Why "Just Praise More" is Not Enough The business wisdom of Dale Carnegie—that sincere appreciation is one of the deepest human hungers—is undeniable. In our professional lives, we often hear the simple mandate: "Praise more!" It sounds like a formula for a better workplace: more praise equals happier teams, fewer conflicts, and higher morale. But when we test this simple premise with Socratic scrutiny, the picture becomes far more complex. The true power of praise is not found in its volume, but in its strategic application. In fact, thoughtless praise can be as damaging as outright criticism. First, Let's Define 'Better' If we agree the goal is a "better world" or a "better workplace," how do we measure that improvement? It’s not just about a higher happiness score. True improvement is systemic...