The Four Competencies Leaders Need to Navigate Conflict

Research conducted by the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University helped to create a set of principles that will help leaders navigate some vexing situations.

Marketing 101: GTM strategy

A GTM strategy is a Go-To-Market strategy. It's a plan for how a company will bring a product or service to customers and achieve adoption and revenue.

Think of it as the roadmap that answers: Who are we selling to, what are we offering, how will we reach them, and why will they buy from us instead of someone else?

Example

Imagine you're launching a new AI note-taking app.

• Target customer: College students and professionals.
• Problem: Taking and organizing notes is time-consuming.
• Value proposition: AI automatically summarizes lectures and meetings.
• Pricing: Free plan + $10/month premium.
• Marketing: TikTok videos, YouTube creators, SEO, and campus ambassadors.
• Sales: Self-service through the website and app stores.
• Success metrics: 50,000 signups in 3 months, 10% paid conversion, customer acquisition cost under $20.

Why companies care about GTM

A good GTM strategy helps answer:

• Which customers should we target first?
• Which marketing channels should we invest in?
• How should the sales team approach prospects?
• How should the product be positioned against competitors?
• How can we grow efficiently?

Without a GTM strategy, companies often spend money on marketing and sales without a clear plan, leading to poor adoption.

Tom and Jerry: The Theory of Happiness

A courtesan's love by Aparna Ganguly

Breath upon Breath

A poem turned into song ...

 

Hope you enjoy!

গাছ বাবা

 দিশারী পাব্লিক লাইব্রেরির সাহিত্য সংকলন "ধ্বনি"তে প্রকাশিত ছোট গল্প " গাছ বাবা " অডিও রূপে প্রকাশ করলাম আমার নতুন চ্যানেলে 

কেমন লাগলো মতামত জানাবেন ...

Daddy’s shoes 👞

 

As a kid, I loved wearing Dad’s tan Oxford boots that were part of his Indian Police Service uniform and walking around the front verandah, where the shoe rack lived—outside shoes are not allowed indoors in my culture.

Growing up, I’ve realized it is not easy to be a father.

Those boots weren’t just leather and polish every day. They were long hours, quiet authority, and the weight of decisions he carried home without words. They were standing straight even when tired, choosing duty over comfort, and love expressed more through presence than praise.

Back then, I only felt their heaviness on my feet.

Now I understand the heaviness he carried every day—so I could walk freely, pretending to be him, not knowing how much of him was already walking ahead of me.

Why Pride Slips When Love Arrives

Pride is a spine—

Straight, deliberate, practiced.

It teaches you how to stand alone,

How to keep your name intact

Even when the wind insists otherwise.

Love asks you to bend.

Not in surrender,

But in offering—

Your throat exposed to the truth,

Your carefully folded dignity

Left on the chair like a coat

You forgot to pick up.

In love,

You want to be chosen

More than you want to be right.

You rehearse silence.

You forgive early.

You shrink the ache so it fits

Inside a smile.

Pride wants symmetry—

Equal effort, equal ground,

A ledger that balances at night.

Love is terrible at accounting.

It overpays.

It tips too much.

It stays even when

The music has already stopped.

You say you’ll walk away.

You don’t.

You say you deserve better.

You wait.

Because love teaches a dangerous math:

That being seen

Is worth being unarmored,

That losing face

Is sometimes the price

Of keeping a heart.

And maybe that’s why it’s hard—

Not because pride is weak,

But because love is a brave,

Reckless act

That asks you to choose connection

Over control.

Pride keeps you whole.

Love risks breaking you open.

And still—

You lean in.

গাছ বাবা - ছোট গল্প

বাকি গল্পটা আপনি পাবেন "ধ্বনি" তে।

দিশারী পাবলিক লাইব্রেরির সাহিত্য সংকলন "ধ্বনি" --

জানুয়ারি ২৮ কলকাতা বইমেলায় মোড়ক উন্মোচন। 

প্রাপ্তিস্থান : 

কলকাতা বইমেলায় - কমলিনী স্টলে। 

এছাড়া : 

কলকাতা, কলেজ স্ট্রিটে - দে'জ পাবলিশিং

বাংলাদেশ - বাতিঘর 

মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্র - www.bookmaniac.com 

পাওয়া যাবে সানফ্রান্সিস্কো, কলকাতা এবং ঢাকায়। ধ্বনির মোড়ক উন্মোচনের দিনক্ষণ জানার জন্য ফলো করুন দিশারী পাবলিক লাইব্রেরির পেইজ। 

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The Neon Rain

 

Nyra stood on the skybridge, purple hair darkened by the drizzle. Below her, traffic streamed like veins of light, autonomous cars gliding in obedient lines. Holographic billboards flickered faces and promises she had learned to ignore. 

She held the shard—thin, translucent, alive with scrolling glyphs. Not glass. Not quite data either. Memory.

The shard pulsed once, recognizing her biometrics, then unfolded a truth the city had buried.

Nyra Vale had been designed to forget.

***

Want to read more? 

In memories of Spring

Spring is not a miracle; it is a certainty. It arrives because life moves in cycles. Because endings are never absolute. 

No hardship is final, no darkness permanent. What feels like an endless winter is only a passage, and growth is already on its way. Even when the world is bare, and breath feels heavy, the earth is preparing to bloom again.

The day I was proven wrong. Again.

The day I was proven wrong. Again.

Years ago, I wrote a post about how my faith in humanity was restored when a couple found my wallet and returned it to me when I was in Noida.

(Old Post here)

History repeats itself.

I lost my wallet on December 31, 2025.

But I didn’t realize it until I needed to go out today and couldn’t find it anywhere in my house.

The first thing I did was check my security cameras to check if I was wearing it on my shoulder like I usually do.

It wasn’t there. I thought that there was a likelihood of me putting it in a grocery bag because I had too much to carry.

Sangram went dumpster diving, in case I had put it in one of the brown grocery bags and forgotten about it. Nada.

I had called the last Uber driver I made a trip with, using the “Find a lost item” option. First, he didn’t pick up. Probably busy with a ride. Second time, he picked and said that he had my wallet with me and had been trying to find my contact number but he couldn’t reach me because Uber said No contact policy.

He found it and kept it safe. That is all that mattered. I promised him a reward if he got it back for me. He said to text me the address and that he could reach me in 10 mins.

Those 10 mins were the longest wait of my life.

I am not who I used to be twenty years ago. I don’t feel things the same way. I have seen people act too selfishly and do petty things driven by their own interests.

But this instance of getting back what is valuable to me— not just in terms of money but what it signifies— my id cards, the wallet itself — which is a gift from my husband— means I can have my faith back for a little while more.

And it doesn’t matter how lost and distracted I feel, someone might find it in their heart to keep it safe and return what was lost.

Midlife crisis: revisited

A midlife crisis is not always about sports cars and bad decisions. It can be a creative awakening. A quiet voice saying, "Rewrite the script."

✅The version of you who wears red unapologetically

✅Say “I don’t want this anymore” without justification

✅No more emotional labor for XYZ

There is no expiration date on becoming.

The Time Traveler’s Wife (After the War)

Loving you

is loving a man unstuck in time.

Just when your laughter

begins to resonate in our house 

and learns the shape of our hallway,

just when your hands remember

where my waist bends,

time grabs you by the collar

and pulls you away.

You leave at the peak—

when love is loud,

when the bed still holds heat,

when promises are mid-sentence.

And I am left

to live in echoes.

I pine in the afterglow of you,

warming myself on memories.

Your shirts smell of ordinary life—

coffee, your perfume, yesterday—

and I breathe them like oxygen

until today stops hurting.

Happy 15th anniversary, Sangram!

Let’s talk about my husband-

Because apparently I am his emotional support STRESS BALL 🙄 

While he treats work like his spouse.

First of all—

He LOVES his job

Too much.

Aggressively,

Romantically,

Like he’s in a relationship with his laptop,

And I am the “other” woman 👩🏻 😫😭

The moment Teams pings

His whole body activates—

He sits up straight,

Cracks his knuckles,

Whispers,

“I’ll just finish this one thing…”

LIES.

Fake news.

Propaganda.

That “one thing” has a beginning, a middle, a sequel, and a spin-off series.

Vanraj was not a simp

In modern slang, a “simp” is someone who:

• sacrifices their own dignity,

• chases someone who clearly doesn’t value them,

• and lowers their self-worth for attention or love.

Vanraj does none of these things.

Let’s break it down:

❤️ 1. He respected her autonomy — he didn’t beg for love

When Vanraj realized Nandini’s heart was with someone else, he didn’t

• guilt-trip her

• force himself on her

• “try harder” to win her

Instead, he took the mature, painful, man-of-integrity route:

“If your happiness lies with another man, I will help you find it.”

That’s not simping.

That’s emotional courage.

🧭 2. His actions were based on values, not desperation

A simp changes behavior, hoping for approval.

Vanraj acted according to his principles, not because he wanted points or to be chosen.

He believed in:

• honesty

• commitment

• doing right even when it hurts

He didn’t drive her to Italy to “win her back.”

He did it because he believed her marriage deserved truth, not imprisonment.

💪 3. He had self-respect the entire time

He never:

• pleaded,

• groveled,

• degraded himself,

• or competed with Sameer for affection.

He simply stood in his own dignity and let her choose freely.

A man who knows his worth doesn’t fear losing someone.

🔥 4. His love was unconditional, not needy

A simp gives everything, hoping for affection.

Vanraj gave everything without expectation.

He didn’t say, “I did this for you, now love me.”

He said, “I did this because love deserves freedom.”

That is strength, not submission.

Nabdini returns to him because of the man he is, not because he manipulated her or demanded anything.

Her feelings change because he is:

• steady

• grounded

• emotionally intelligent

• and self-secure

These are masculine traits, not simp traits.

🧠 In short:

Vanraj was a king, not a simp.

He proved that:

Loving someone deeply doesn’t make you weak.

Losing yourself for them does.

 

And he never lost himself.

Echo Rooms

Sometimes love walks into a room

and hears an echo that isn’t its own.

It says good morning,

But what you hear is

Don’t leave me.

Every silence becomes a test,

Every pause is a prophecy.

You scroll through messages,

Measuring your worth

By the timing of a reply.

You smile,

But your body doesn’t believe you.

It remembers nights of doors slammed,

Voices that cut,

Hands that withheld.

It whispers, 'Be ready to run.'

So you love from the edge of the doorway—

Half in, half gone,

A hand always on the handle.

Friendships feel safer,

But even there,

You count the times you reached out first.

You wonder if they’d notice

The day you stopped trying.

Unhealed pain builds cities inside you,

Each street named after someone

Who promised to stay.

You keep walking them

Searching for closure

Like a child looking for a home

That no longer exists.

But someday,

A quiet hand will rest on your shoulder

And not demand anything.

It will say,

You can stop running now.

And your body will believe it.

The echoes will fade,

One heartbeat at a time.

Bad Hair Days Don’t Have to Be Forever

🌿 Strengthen from Within

Healthy hair begins with good nutrition.

• Protein: Hair is made of keratin (a protein). Include eggs, lentils, fish, soy, and nuts.

• Iron & Zinc: Deficiency can cause hair loss. Eat spinach, pumpkin seeds, chickpeas, or consider                  taking a supplement if you are deficient.

• Biotin & B-vitamins: Found in eggs, mushrooms, avocados, and whole grains.

• Omega-3s: Fatty fish (salmon, sardines) or flax/chia seeds nourish follicles.

• Hydration: Dehydration makes hair brittle; aim for 8+ cups of water daily.

Eulogy of a Bee

She lived her life in motion—

a hum of gold and work,

her wings glinting like small prayers

offered to the morning.

When age found her,

she did not fly home.

No grand farewell,

no final dance in the hive’s dim hum.

Instead, she rested—

on a petal soft as forgiveness,

beneath a sky that shimmered

with the quiet pulse of stars.

There, she listened

to the slow breathing of the earth,

to the whisper of flowers

she had once fed with light.

If dawn returned,

she rose again,

gathered a single dusting of pollen—

her last alms,

her final hymn—

and left it for her kin

before vanishing

into the still air of morning.

So when you see her,

a tiny form cradled

on a blossom at dusk,

do not disturb her rest.

Bend closer.

Say thank you.

She is more valuable than gold.

Impulse Control

Helping impulse control is partly about rewiring how your brain responds in the micro-moments before you act, and partly about shaping your environment so you’re not constantly fighting temptation head-on.

Here’s a structured way to work on it:

1. Strengthen the Pause

You want to insert a small “speed bump” between urge and action.

• Count to 5 (or 10) before responding, buying your brain time to shift from emotional to rational thinking.

• Name the urge out loud or in your head (“I’m feeling the urge to scroll,” “I’m feeling the urge to snap back”). This moves it from instinct to awareness.

• Breathe deliberately — slow, deep breaths calm the amygdala and give the prefrontal cortex time to kick in.

⸻

2. Identify Your Triggers

Impulse control is much easier when you understand when and why your guard drops.

• Keep a trigger log: When you act impulsively, note time, place, mood, and what happened before.

• Look for patterns: Do you overspend when tired? Eat junk after 9 PM? Say yes when you’re stressed?

⸻

3. Change the Environment

Willpower is finite — a smart setup reduces reliance on it.

• If you overspend, delete shopping apps or remove saved payment info.

• If you snack impulsively, keep tempting food out of sight and healthy snacks visible.

• If you blurt things out, write down your response before speaking when the stakes are high.

⸻

4. Train Your “Impulse Muscles”

Small, daily acts of self-control make it stronger over time.

• Practice micro-delays in low-stakes situations (wait 2 minutes before checking your phone).

• Play self-control games like resisting pressing a button for a reward, or doing something with your non-dominant hand — these train your brain’s “brake system.”

⸻

5. Work on Emotional Regulation

Many impulses are emotional reactions in disguise.

• Use mindfulness meditation to notice urges without acting on them.

• Label emotions specifically (“I’m anxious about the meeting” instead of “I’m bad at this”).

• Journal to “empty out” mental pressure before it bursts.

⸻

6. Rest & Refuel

Impulse control is far worse when you’re depleted.

• Sleep enough — sleep deprivation mimics impaired prefrontal cortex function.

• Eat protein and complex carbs to avoid blood sugar dips.

• Take breaks to avoid decision fatigue.

⸻

7. Have an “If–Then” Plan

Predetermine your alternative action:

• If I crave sugar, then I’ll drink tea first.

• If I want to check my phone in a meeting, then I’ll doodle notes instead.