Yashraj Sharma’s Post

This is a realy funny story about how consultants sometimes give disastrous recommendations. Reminds me of my experience with BCG during my stint at IDFC. We had hired BCG to review our portfolio of assets in one of the sectors. After months of analysis they said everything was fine. They also strongly recommended we give loan to a specific company (don't have the luxury to name the company), which in their opinion was doing pioneering work in that sector. 2 years later, the only NPA we had in that specific sector was the company recommended by BCG. Fortunately it was a relatively small exposure of around 200 crores in our overall sectoral portfolio of approx. 15,000 crore. Lesson learnt: Consultants don't know credit analysis, banks can't take their opinions on face value.

“A team member recently requested a 6-month sabbatical, and we almost said no. It was uncharted territory for us—we didn’t even have a sabbatical policy. So, I had to make the call. The finance-minded side of me immediately flagged the challenges: 1. Service disruptions. 2. Costs to hire a temporary replacement. 3. The need to reintegrate them upon their return. Finance said no. But the human side of me saw it differently: 1. Numbers aren’t everything. 2. This is the right move for them at this stage in their life. 3. Doing the right thing for your team pays dividends—often 10X over. As leaders, we must look beyond short-term metrics and focus on investing in our people. Doing so builds trust, loyalty, and long-term success. What do you think? Would you have made the same decision?” #TomHunt

🚨 Time to Rethink Work: The Power of a Paid Sabbatical 🚨 Let’s talk about something bold, unconventional, and downright transformative: taking a paid sabbatical. For years, corporate America has clung to the grind—where stepping away from your career was seen as career suicide. But stories like Jeremy Liew’s, a Lightspeed Venture Partners partner who paused his career to travel the globe with his family, are flipping the script. His absence didn’t just serve his personal life; it created upward mobility for his team, proving that stepping away can fuel growth for everyone. According to Fortune, here’s the kicker: only 7% of companies in the U.S. offer paid extended leave (SHRM). That’s why trailblazers like McDonald’s, Deloitte, and Bank of America are leading the charge, recognizing the ROI of rest and rejuvenation. These programs aren’t about “slacking off”—they’re about creating space for reflection, growth, and renewed energy to tackle the challenges ahead. Take Ania Smith, who was warned her “adult gap year” would derail her career. Six years later, she credits that sabbatical as the key to becoming TaskRabbit’s CEO. Sometimes, stepping away is the most powerful step forward. Imagine if more companies embraced sabbaticals as part of their talent strategy. The benefits are clear: ✨ Increased leadership opportunities for others. ✨ Renewed creativity and strategic vision. ✨ Improved mental health and retention. If leaders and organizations want to thrive in a world that demands innovation, time away might just be the secret weapon. Would you take a sabbatical if your company offered it? Or have you taken one? Let’s discuss how stepping back can be the ultimate power move! 💼✈️ #CareerGrowth #LeadershipDevelopment #Innovation #RestIsProductivity #PaidSabbatical https://lnkd.in/gmpW2neZ

As 2024 wraps up, I find myself reflecting on the journey this year has been—a year of change, growth, and new beginnings. Moving on from the Ministry of Interior after 7 years of incredible success, lessons learned, and personal growth was not easy. My time there was transformative, and I’ll always cherish the experiences and relationships built during those years. This year also marked the start of a new chapter. Joining a new organization Threshold has been both exciting and rewarding. I’ve had the privilege of working on promising projects that are as challenging as they are fulfilling. The opportunity to collaborate with amazing colleagues continues to inspire me, making this new journey full of lessons and growth opportunities. As we look ahead to 2025, I want to wish everyone a year filled with success, prosperity, and moments of peace. If there’s one guiding principle I want to carry forward for myself, it is this: take things easily. This doesn’t mean taking things lightly, but rather, approaching challenges wisely, without letting them steal our time or peace. Eventually, things get done, and in hindsight, the worry and panic often feel unwarranted. So here’s to a guiding principle for the new year: Take it easy. Wishing everyone a bright and successful year ahead.

I am one month into my 3-month sabbatical and thought I’d share a few of the lessons that have stood out so far: • You can do anything at any age—it’s always your choice. The timelines we think we have to follow? They’re imaginary. • Real change doesn’t happen in a three months—it’s built by the habits we develop, with consistency and patience. • Life gets clearer when you focus on your why and align your choices to it. But give yourself time to understand your why—pause, reflect, write. Here’s to seeing where the next two months lead. #sabbatical #southamerica Protiviti UK Protiviti

Stepping Away to Step Forward After almost two decades of building my career and achieving the milestone of Managing Director at Protiviti, I’m about to do something both exciting and a little daunting: hit pause. This Friday I will be starting a 3-month sabbatical—a chance to reflect, explore, and reconnect with myself beyond my professional title. This incredible opportunity is only possible because of Protiviti UK's sabbatical program, which not only encourages us to step away but provides 20% of our salary while we’re gone. I’m deeply grateful to work at a company that values personal growth as much as professional success. So why now? Over the years, I’ve poured my energy into supporting my teams, my clients, and my career. But as I achieved a major milestone, I found myself asking: “What’s next?” This sabbatical is about creating space to ask bigger, bolder questions: - Who am I when I step away from work? - What do I want this next chapter of my life to look like? - How can I live with more intention, joy, and fulfillment? Over the next 3 months, I’ll be traveling through South America—Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Colombia—exploring new places, meeting new people, and reflecting deeply. I’ll also be taking this time to wrestle with a long-held question: Do I want fatherhood to be part of my future? As part of this journey, I’ll be sharing my thoughts and experiences by answering 100 questions over 100 days—a soul-searching project to uncover what matters most to me and where I want to go from here. To anyone feeling like they’re sprinting through life without time to pause, I encourage you to ask yourself: “What do I need right now?” For me, the answer is this sabbatical. A huge thank you to Protiviti for making this possible and for creating a culture where growth, reflection, and balance are encouraged. I am also so grateful to my colleagues, teams, and mentors for their support as I take this step. This is not a “goodbye”—it’s a “see you soon.” I will be sharing updates and reflections on Instagram (100.days_100.questions), because sometimes stepping away is exactly how we step forward. Let’s see where this road leads. 🌎

After two months of sabbatical 😎, I feel fully recharged and ready to decide on my next professional step. So today, I began by summarizing the roles I've held at various points as well as those I've directly or indirectly managed in my previous positions as CEO. This exercise led me to draw what I believe is a useful diagram of some essential roles or functions for any software-related company, whether it's a startup or a more mature organization, product-based or focused on services and consulting. Below is the result - just a heads-up, beautiful drawing is definitely not one of my skills 😉. Expanding this diagram into a more detailed blueprint could justify a separate article and certainly spark many interesting opinions and debates. Perhaps, I might decide to write it in the coming days. After completing this exercise, I was ready to face these questions: What would I enjoy doing in the coming months? What experience and value can I offer to potential employers? Here are my conclusions: - Management (CEO, COO, Director): I am passionate about planning, defining strategies to achieve a vision, executing them, managing and growing teams, and touching all bases (sales, people, finance). That’s why my favorite roles remain CEO and their right hand (COO - Operations). Whether in a scaling startup that requires a more "professional" CEO, a small/medium-sized company, or a department director in a larger enterprise with its own P&L. - Internal CTO (or CIO with “I as Innovation”): This, in my opinion, is the role that many traditional CIOs should have evolved into, transitioning from the “I as Information” to the “I as Innovation” - the one who uses technology as a lever to transform the organization’s processes by striking a perfect balance between operations and technology. In any organization where technology and innovation are the main driver for growth and competitiveness, there should be a CTO (or a CIO with “I as Innovation”) reporting directly to the CEO and the board of directors. - CTO: This is a role that also balances my two strongest skill sets - management and technology. Ideally, in a mature product or services company (I like to see these companies as products factories) where there are large developments/teams to manage, but where a solid knowledge of technology is also required. - Sales (CSO or Sales Director): Focusing on sales strategy is also something that strongly motivates me. I enjoy healthy competition and helping sales teams smash their quotas and earn great bonuses, especially in fast-growing or established software product companies. I’m leaving out the roles of Software Architect or Developer, which I truly enjoy; For now, I’ll settle for continuing them as a hobby in my spare time. 😉 If you are hiring for any of those roles, let’s start the conversation! #OpenToWork #headhunters #CEO #COO #CTO #management #sales #software 

A question we don't ask ourselves often enough when trying to decide what to do with our lives – "who do I enjoy working with?" When I got antsy after my 18 month sabbatical, this was one of the questions I asked myself. And it led me to a non-obvious conclusion. I realized I really enjoyed building our advisory business. Even more than the fund. And some of my favorite people were consultants. I liked how curious they were. How winsome and charming they were. How smart they were. How committed they were to getting better. While some are arrogant (like any industry), I actually found them to under-index there. Their disposition was to serve. When they fail it's their fault, when they succeed it's the client's success. Now, when I advise firms on narrowing their focus, I find this to be a tremendously useful question. I believe the world is a plenty big place. You might not be able to build a billion dollar consulting firm with a narrow niche, but you can certainly build a $10-20M firm doing it. And for a massive number of firms, that's a worthy goal. So given that, I think it's a question worth asking yourself. You might be able to theoretically help all different types of clients. But which clients do you love to work with? Which ones would you enjoy spending 3 hours at dinner with? Which ones energize you? It doesn't have to be your only litmus test - perhaps there's a group you love that simply doesn't have the budget. But you can probably find a niche that has a problem you know how to solve, that has the budget to do something about it, that you love hanging with. So who do you like?

My 31st year on this planet may have been one of the hardest... 🤕 On 24th February 2024, I turned 31 years of age. My New Years resolutions are never grounded in the actual New Year, i.e. "I want 2024 to be this and that...". Instead, they are grounded in MY new year, i.e. "I want 31 to be this and that..." A big part of making resolutions is to look back and reflect on the previous year - and by God, what a year to look back at... On 24th February 2023, my wife and I were well underway planning one of the biggest changes in our lives. My wife had been offered a unique carreer opportunity in Indonesia, which meant that we as a family had to say goodbye to Europe. It was hard... but it was a decision we were willing to make. It was throwing off the bowline and sailing into the horizon once again. Life was a bit scary, but exciting! However, our adventure in Indonesia ended prematurely due to a change in my wife's professional path. While figuring out how to land on our feet, my wife and I spent the latter half of 2024 stretched to the limit, living in guest rooms with friends and families. The ship that had casts off its ropes destined for adventures in Indonesia, was suddenly without wind in the sails and merely pushed about by the current. Although I have a lot of experience living in unpredictability (and in a suitcase) from my time as a seafarer, this was taking its toll on both of us... So when 24th February 2024 came, and I had to answer the questions "How was 30, and how do I want 31 to be?" a decision was made. Family and stability first, everything else second. So now, we are back in Europe. Although intially less exciting than a few years around Southeast Asia, if there is anything my 31st years of life has taught me, it is that excitement rests on shaking ground if it is not build on a stable foundation... Now, however, I have started a PhD with DFDS and Aalborg University under the supervision of Jesper Raakjær, Nelson F. Coelho, Jimmi Normann Kristiansen and Mads Bentzen Billesø. That is exciting! Now, however, I have started my own company under the name Blue Stamp Innovation Management. That is also exciting! Now, however, I will be back to working with the brilliantly fascinating people in SINTEF, National Technical University of Athens, Maritime Robotics AS, Fraunhofer CML, DST - Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems, Zero Emission Services, A.P. Moller - Maersk, North Sea Port, Syddansk Universitet - University of Southern Denmark, Fundación Valenciaport, Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), IOTA , Lloyd's Register, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Port of Rotterdam, Delft University of Technology and many, many more... That is incredibly exciting! So although 30 was a tough one, it was also the year that set up 31 to be a brilliant one. I can feel the winds blowing again! 😊⛵

5 Years Ago, On the Night of 1st October, I Took the Leap... I resigned from my well-paying, secure job. I remember it so clearly… I was riding high, fresh off delivering my TEDx talk, filled with a mix of excitement, uncertainty, and an undeniable fire to create something bigger than myself. It was a leap of faith – fueled by hope, a bit of madness, and the desire to build what is now Dehurdle. And for that moment of courage, I’m eternally grateful. But let’s be real – I had no clue what lay ahead. A few months into this journey, the world changed overnight with the onset of COVID-19. Everything came to a standstill. Yet, amidst the chaos and broken chains of normalcy, new dimensions started to open up. I had to build my team from scratch, bringing together people who believed in the vision as much as I did. Raising funds was another rollercoaster, filled with endless pitches and rejections before finally finding the right support. And then came the thrill of landing the first Purchase Order from Deloitte—a milestone that made every sleepless night worth it. Back then, I wasn’t sure how far I would go or how I would navigate the obstacles. There were countless hurdles, moments of doubt, and times when it felt like the road would never end. But through it all, one thing kept me going: the dream of making Dehurdle something truly impactful. If I talk about just the past year, it's been nothing short of extraordinary. I still remember sitting down last July with our app's older version, reflecting on the lessons we had learned. We got back to work, pushing through late nights. I recall recording solutions at the studio until 12 or 1 AM, the entire team working tirelessly beside me. Then, we took our first-ever break, a much-needed offsite to Ranthambore. Soon after, the INSEAD Asia Forum happened, and what an experience it was! We showcased the early app, ran trials, made updates, and kept refining the product. Finally, in July, we released the app. And to see it being embraced was incredible. It's been a relentless pursuit, but I wouldn't trade this journey for anything. These five years have been transformative, and I wouldn’t have made it this far without the incredible support from so many of you. To everyone who walked alongside me, offered guidance, and believed in this vision – thank you. But friends, this is just the beginning. The fight isn’t over, not by a long shot. There’s still so much to do, so many dreams to chase. So, here's to the journey ahead. Let’s keep that fire burning, together. Cheers to new challenges, new victories, and the next chapter! #5YearsAndCounting #LeapOfFaith #Entrepreneurship #DehurdleJourney #Gratitude #Resilience #KeepPushingForward #TheJourneyContinues