The courage to copy
If you walk into a startup pitch competition in Dhaka, it often feels like going to a winter wedding. Everyone wears the same panjabi and waistcoat, and talks about disruption in the same polished accent they learned from a YouTube video.
16 October 2025, 18:00 PM
OPINION / Signals of change: Telecom Policy 2025
Bangladesh’s Telecommunication Network and Licensing Policy 2025 represents the most ambitious reform since the 2010 ILDTS framework
9 October 2025, 14:43 PM
Purpose beyond profit
A CEO in Dhaka once gathered his managers and declared with great seriousness, “Our company has only one purpose: to maximise profit.
2 October 2025, 18:00 PM
Paperwork over powerplay
One of my friends has been working with a government agency for the last three years on a project, bringing more than a decade of hard-earned experience to the table, as well as the rare distinction of having actually managed the kind of project they were struggling with.
25 September 2025, 18:00 PM
Turning toxic politics into purpose
A king once set out to tour his kingdom with an assistant. In the very first village they visited, they discovered that water and ghee were being sold at the same price.
18 September 2025, 18:00 PM
The soul of wealth
The wealthiest man in the city once promised to donate gold equal to the weight of a cow at a charity event. The organisers, being business-minded, asked for some time, not to think but to fatten the cow, and immediately started feeding it biryani to make it heavier.
11 September 2025, 18:00 PM
Job hugging!
We have always been champions of hugging. From clutching relatives at weddings long enough to make the stage creak, to embracing one another at mosques after prayers, to greeting colleagues with theatrical warmth at the first meeting of the week. And of course, the masters of the art, our politicians, hugging voters before elections with dazzling smiles, then hugging power afterwards as if their lives depended on it.
4 September 2025, 18:00 PM
The untapped power of sorry
In our country, the word “sorry” is rarer than electricity on a summer evening. Not because we do not make mistakes. We produce them in bulk. From call drops to collapsing bridges, from delayed mega projects to disappearing dollars, we are world-class exporters of errors.
28 August 2025, 18:00 PM
Knowing what you don’t know
Such behaviour is called the “I know it all” syndrome
30 November 2023, 18:00 PM
Talent export: A lousy deal!
Brain drains occur only when a country fails to offer living conditions that are not at par with others
23 November 2023, 18:00 PM
Rat race: The treadmill to nowhere
Often, we end up choosing a partner who does not quite match what dreams are made of. It leaves little to the imagination how catastrophic it can be if this realisation dawns after tying the knot! Well, choosing a partner is all about trial and error that does not come with a user manual. But mercifully, most of us are resigned to accepting our fate just as we do when a natural disaster strikes!
16 November 2023, 18:00 PM
What went wrong with data play?
Fed up being obese, Shrek decides to lose weight. He switches to a healthy diet and works out every day, feeling amazed at how well he adapted to his new lifestyle.
10 November 2023, 01:00 AM
Do as I say, not as I do
The cherry on top is not always as delicious as it beckons you to believe. Those who look up to their leaders as infallible are often too soon disillusioned by their fallacies, double standard and hypocrisy being the most common of them.
2 November 2023, 17:59 PM
Self-fulfilling prophecies -- a guide for leaders
Who doesn’t like talking about the boss, especially if he or she happens to be a nasty one. By now, most of us have come across a boss who can predict the future better than an astrologer. And this skill seems to get honed to perfection during the annual appraisal process each year.
26 October 2023, 18:00 PM
Self-fulfilling prophecies -- a guide for leaders
Who doesn’t like talking about the boss, especially if he or she happens to be a nasty one. By now, most of us have come across a boss who can predict the future better than an astrologer. And this skill seems to get honed to perfection during the annual appraisal process each year.
26 October 2023, 17:44 PM
Greeting the new data guideline
In today's modern era, most parents have concerns about their children’s screen time. While we delude ourselves saying the problem is mainly with the new generation and is still reversible, the real test would be to spend a day or a week without a smartphone with all its goodies like Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc! Forget about the kids; try it on yourself first. Your misery is likely to melt the heart of even your Creator!
19 October 2023, 15:38 PM
Why CEOs can’t stand together in crisis
Ever imagined a bank CEO getting slapped in a board meeting? Or a CEO changing his name through an affidavit to save his job just because it annoys the owner of his bank? These are real-life events that took place in our banking sector in recent years.
22 September 2023, 01:00 AM
Overhyped 5G fails to deliver on promises
A teacher was once pranked by two students. They tricked him into thinking that he was experiencing a 5G-enabled VR application that turned out to be a nightmare. They hacked into his smartphone and VR headset to create a customised frightful VR environment and recorded his reactions as he suffered in the VR world.
14 September 2023, 18:00 PM
Family business: echoes of a cracking tower!
Property disputes are nasty, but it is particularly distasteful when it follows the death of a parent. And this phenomenon of fighting over inheritance continues to be a part of human history, no matter which part of the world you are in.
7 September 2023, 18:00 PM
Gear up for 3D printed food
You’re hungry? Not up to preparing a meal? No worries! Just enter your menu choices into a computer and your dinner appears before you.
31 August 2023, 18:00 PM
Foreign trip or company-paid holiday?
While having lunch with his colleagues, Jamal announced he was going to Singapore to attend a training workshop. Cheers followed, but some were struggling to conceal their resentment with “But you came back from Bangalore last month” and the like.
24 August 2023, 18:00 PM
The hard-to-read bosses
A top executive was once giving a speech at a conference. He said, “Ladies and gentlemen, let me share some of the secrets behind my success.
17 August 2023, 18:00 PM
Cyber terror alert on August 15
In 2020, a cyber-criminal managed to take over the Twitter accounts of several high-profile individuals and companies, including Elon Musk, Joe Biden and Apple. The accounts were used to post a Bitcoin scam, promising followers they would receive double their money back if they sent Bitcoin to a specific address.
10 August 2023, 18:00 PM
Who is the next superpower?
One day, the United States, China and Russia met at a racecourse and started arguing about who the next global superpower will be. The United States said, “With the most powerful military in the world, we can defeat any country in a war.”
3 August 2023, 18:00 PM
Dealing with performance pressure
Once, a poultry farmer was advised by his industrialist friend to corporatise his farm and how it would multiply his profits.
27 July 2023, 18:00 PM
Coaching: the most impactful but mostly neglected
A coach was giving a pep talk to his team before a big game.
20 July 2023, 18:00 PM
Ethical data management in an unethical world
In the world that we live in, data is gold, as the saying goes.
13 July 2023, 18:00 PM
Corporate victim stigma!
Incidentally, in the last few months, I had the privilege of spending time with a few top executive-level friends who shared their experiences of being victims of corporate politics. In most cases, their bosses used them as scapegoats to protect themselves.
6 July 2023, 18:00 PM