Episode 3, 2026: Kartik Rao with Shikha Mittal | Office Tales and People Podcast

Always yearn for a CEO who would take me to Coldplay Which may he koi kami hobe I can't believe My founder reacted to the spos badai So, mother responded and it's saying "Hey, I got you Vinod Kho slah signature" So, when I was joining Bahan One of my preconditions Well, I'm a huge Vinod Kho slah And I'm grown up on him Right He's one of my heroes And I said, "Listen if I'm coming I want him to kind of sign something for me" And he had gone to US And he got that for me So, when I posted maybe You know, my CEO doesn't love me He replied on that comment saying "Hey, I got you Vinod Kho slah" So, it was a good idea And then founders are building in a very, very resource constraint Talent constraint Because a lot of good talent Also get poached By top companies like Google, Microsoft And the leave India Yeah, and the leave India right? So, I think I would actually kind of almost say that I'm extremely proud Having worked with founders How hard it is To kind of make a company You are a founder right? You would know how hard it is right? And I wouldn't know because I've never done that I always say Founder can take a company to 0-100 And 100-200 We will take 1-10 10-20 Or else we won't take it down So, that That marriage It's scam, right? Globally That Everyone in the regime is making a look at it A recruiter keyword And essentially this is just a very low-hanging gate pass For someone to meet the interviewer When people come I assume this objective What is written in the regime? They don't know the objective Because it's just copy-pasted I had written a post about it That bring your cards to the interview Keep your flaunting for Instagram Right? People flaunt on the regime But they are also bringing that too Because they want the charge Correct I'm saying that they are bringing all the global scams I have not made a regime for a very long time So, I said, "Hey, this is my LinkedIn" So, you do it with your LinkedIn No, no, you'll make a certain one-page So, I like authentically made that one-page And I saved the file as Geeta-Sar And I sent "Hey, this is Geeta-Sar" Like, "This is the one" And they said, "Hey, this is not going to work I said, "I won't do anything again" Hi Welcome to Office Tales and People Podcast This episode, I have a guest I don't think so I want to introduce him He's extremely popular on LinkedIn And I call him one-liner guy So, I will go straight to Kartik and start conversation Kartik, welcome to Office Tales and People Podcast Thank you so much And like we discussed, I'm not giving any introduction of yours Yes Let people figure out, what are you right? Why you're so popular? In fact, I'm going to do this podcast By reading what you write And I want the story behind because your one-liners are Extremely intriguing And I love reading them, lot of people are loving it So, let's start with the first one Are you ready? Thank you Yes So, I think you wrote one which said in love, it's not you, it's me In PIP, it's not me, it's you I want the story behind this So, thought is simple right? We find the most politically correct way of disengaging from a relationship And usually the most politically correct way of getting out of a relationship is saying Putting things on yourself, like Miri Gelti, I'm bad And in PIP, I feel, you know, it's the other way round Where you just put everything on the employee that he or she is the problem, but you are correct So, I just find that dichotomy very similar in different ways But the underlying soul of both conversations is very very similar So, I usually try and see two different things which usually don't come together But I somehow seem to find common connections and all these things in life and work is where this came from Awesome, awesome So, of course, I've collected too many of these, so I'm going to pick up a few that we can discuss You wrote that problems begin when small companies start having big company problems I want to know more about that So, it's more nuanced So, I think what usually lands up happening is all startups who have grown up on Amazon and Nike and Netflix They kind of think of copying their systems and processes Without realizing that you are pulling out a staring of a Ferrari and putting into a Maruti So, if this thing don't copy if you can't paste So, when small companies try to pretend like a big company and try and bring their systems They neither remain themselves nor they become a bigger company and they completely lose the way So, I think it's that nuance that I wanted to capture in it I really like your example of Ferrari staring into a Maruti, that's a very interesting perspective Coming to the next one You said something on this men's day, let's take a moment to genuinely recognize and celebrate men bravely Fighting patriarchy by finally putting something something I can't read that Essentially, so what typically happens is we celebrate women's day I have a issue with that as well The moment you make that big enough you're almost making it an event But on men's day we usually don't do much and rightfully so But I just felt men have to do very little to kind of gain a lot of respect While women have to do quite a lot to kind of get at the same pedestal So, it was a very sarcastic take on men that finally if a guy puts his plate into the kitchen is celebrated So, it was more sarcasm on men's day and the fact that because I see a lot of people coming to me and saying "Hey man, why don't you do men's day?" And on that I want to tell you in 15 years of running the L&D enterprise The first time I got a query to run a men's day awareness program in the organization And I asked the leader what came in your mind to celebrate a men's day like this Men are feeling left out in the organization I was like is that your reason to celebrate men's day rather than opening up a conversation And helping them to understand what exactly women's day is all about You actually coming up with men's day celebration Is it going to be dead for that? And the leader never called me back, which is obvious But I'm just saying that what has been your experience on women's day and how organizations are treating it to be that pink coupon day That every women will get to shop I'm shocked to death on it So every initiative starts from a good place I genuinely believe that it's a patriarchical world and women have been on the wrong end of it You cannot deny it and I initiative like this was started with the intent that at least it becomes a conversation starter But as this goes along and gets passed through people to companies to corporates, to countries, to generations The process becomes the God So instead of truly saying that through a success is when I don't need to celebrate women's day where they truly are equal Now this has become a milestone event to show how progressive I am Exactly So people don't want to be progressive, they want to show of how progressive I am So I won't kind of, in a way it's changing And like I said, everything that I say I've realized this, if you want to tell truth make people laugh else they will kill you So if you see that's one thing I've kept so I'll usually talk about extremely sensitive issues And it happened this with Kunal Kamradho Yes, yes and then anyways like freedom speech is a whole podcast altogether But that's kind of in a way visible And by the way like I've always said country's cultures become subset of companies cultures Absolutely So I think that's in a way the flow right So Karthik the next one, I think this is one of the funniest ones that you've written Over her two people on my flight calling their manager with the code name Indigo I'm guessing because he doesn't give them any room to operate Kids are good these days So I actually said they don't manage it, it doesn't give leg room to operate So I think see when I was growing up as a kid My biggest battles with my kids were the netrage better pensile ke hapsara But today's kids are like extremely self-aware about their rights about you know Talksicity about a lot of things right and they're very vocal So I did over here two kids talking and I was an Indigo flight And I heard two people just talking trash about the manager And like I said my I have a habit of finding connections between things that usually don't come together I was sitting in the Indigo, I was struggling with the leg space I found these people and I just saw some common connection between this flight and how manages operate So again very very nuanced feedback or opinion on people wanting more space these days I have grown up in a culture where I didn't get space And it took me a lot of time to get out of that problem because I almost inherited it So my first year at CHRO I was the worst person because I wanted to control everything And it's only a bit time I kind of figured and I'm still learning working a lot of younger people That you know you got to let them be right so that's where the nuance comes But I want to ask you on this particular nuance that in today's time The generation that's coming up they are wanting too much of agency Which is the right thing but at the same time Do you feel any resistance from them to upscale or to learn more or to you know to really do more? Enough people have spoken about it so a lot of it I will say something that I resonate with I think we were all born in different eras they've been born in an era of abundance I got my first iPhone after my first job my nephew has an iPhone in six standard So it's almost unfair for us to give them that privilege and when they operate out of that privilege We say come on your privilege right so it's a bit of a conundrum there I do believe ill course correct I think life is like a great teacher And their start point they're better than ours on some regard and they learn from ours in some regard But how we think as Javedaktha said really beautifully that we think everybody before ours is done And everybody will have come after ours is done but we somehow seem to be the most evolved generation So I think I genuinely feel I think we go to take it easy and they go to take it a bit seriously but we'll get there I like that I like that alright so the next one okay very controversial across the world What was that? Always yearn for a CEO who would take me to cold play Which may he go you're coming home? I can't believe you dealt with the subject very humorously And I think it was very interesting way to deal with it I want you to share your thoughts on it No this has no one here this is just me I found it really funny and I am very unfortunate I don't think we should be laughing about it but I just generally found it funny And I just like I said I said here why has someone never taken me to any good place And then in a way I took almost a controversial reverse take on maybe because I'm a man Maybe no one took me out right and I do this because I genuinely don't take sides Like there are places where men have really been on the wrong side right And there have been women but somehow I find this law sided And this was more a take on hey come on we guys also suffer a bit but it was pure humor It really impacted me on a very personal level because I think nobody really cared to find out before You know we all together ruined this woman's career this man's I'm sure he's facing a lot of issues But the way that woman had to run away and literally right now she's just running away from the normal civil life And it is very disheartening to see how people make judgments and without even knowing the real story How somebody's entire career has gone See my view is slightly different one I think there's definitely a learning that don't get caught That's one learning Second is also I think my founder reacted to this post by the way And he responded saying hey I got you a Vinod Kho slah signature So when I was joining Vahan one of my preconditions was I'm a huge Vinod Kho slah And I've grown up on him right he's one of my heroes and I said listen if I'm coming I want him to kind of sign something for me and he had gone to US and he got that for me So when I posted maybe you know my CEO doesn't love me he replied on that comment saying yeah I got you a Vinod Kho slah So it was our video but I also think I think gender agnostic right It wasn't cool I'm sure it's not just that woman right there's a woman at home and there's a husband at home as well So I think actions of consequences absolutely But whatever happened was a bit unfortunate So Karthik then next one 10 people not let go on time because a hundred layoffs later delay doesn't save jobs it compound mistakes Ignore 10 awkward conversations get a hundred favourl cakes Interesting tell me about this is as straightforward as I could be right I think founders have sunk off fallacy where when they take a decision I've seen them getting so attached to it that it takes them so long to realize they should have cut the Court long back and I've been in places I've worked with 23 founders in my life now Wow that's a number Yes and and founders with 20 people employees right 20 employees and then founders with 5000 people And this is common streak and that's why I think good founders have lot of truth tellers around them That's step one step two is are you willing to hear something that you're not ready for I think I've seen in a few founders I think they've been the talks about this about this quite a bit Where he learned this very quickly that he has to kind of take a very non-emotional decision And sometimes I also feel founders do posturing because they have an investor to take care of There is a community that they believe is judging them but the cost of delay can sometimes be cost to the company Actually I have a question on this you know you have worked for international organisation like penitent And you have also been working with a lot of founders in India What is it that you have to share the difference between the two that is keeping the Indian founders behind See I think like I said every country has a stage of evolution In India we are not even 100 years into independence It has taken a lot of time for a lot of people to come out of basic needs Right Today if you have Wi-Fi you have a college degree you have a roof over your head and you eat three meals or two meals You are in world stop 5% that's the privilege with which we live in right So I think India is still far far from where we need to be right So I think Abhi jo founders are making a very hard ecosystem against the government In fact my yesterday's post or maybe recent post was around how hard it is for founders to build companies Because every time you become big there is someone chasing you So I don't think it's also in India or maybe Indian startups you are always a person less and a dollar less So in a way that thrives a lot of innovation but if you look at all Indian startups they are getting a lot of money from western investors So other technical Indian companies if you purely look at portfolio maybe maybe not they have Indian founders So I think we are at a stage Benetan is more equivalent to what I would say reliance maybe Where reliance is like 100 times better than and bigger than Benetan So I think it's not a fair comparison But I do feel Indian founders are building in a very resource constraint Talent constraint because a lot of good talent also get poached by top companies like Google and Microsoft And they leave India Yeah and they leave India right? So I think I would actually kind of almost say that I'm extremely proud Having worked with founders how hard it is to kind of make a company You are a founder right? And I wouldn't know because I've never done that And hence maybe I don't deserve the right to comment on like founders I have views on operating where I feel I've operated for 16 years So I have views on how we can operate a company That's a place maybe I know more than a founder because most of my founders were young never did a job But there is something that they know So I always say founder can take a company for 0-100 and 100-200 We will take 1-10, 10-20, or even a few other companies but they won't take a single one So they will get a marriage And who is taking risks? And who can take risks? It depends on them And usually you get intelligence and hindsight When they go to the market then everybody says wow I said I would go So I think that's why I have a lot of respect in terms of what they bring and what I bring And what all professionals bring in general And I think yeah So Karthik, the last one Yet to read a resume that doesn't have strategic in it So 6 scams are going globally And they make a resume every day and recruit a keyword And essentially this is just a very low-hanging gate pass for someone to meet the interviewer Today if I make a resume and I just make up companies Google Microsoft And I send it There are high chances I will get through where I each person would call me Nobody truly, so I do this exercise when people come I ask them what is the objective of the resume? They don't know the objective because it's just copy-pasted And what most people do is everyone is in love with this word strategy So that's like, and this is again as usual a sarcasm on like everyone who use words And strategic is one common denominator for everyone And it's weird because 99% of the people don't do strategy, don't know strategy And I found it, I just found it very funny And we all see it But somehow I said, what's this connection? So that's very typical In fact, I also whenever read any resume and I see strategy I do something else, I close the resume You know, 15 years of running BRC, I still don't know exactly the strategy that I'm running with right now Whether it's a strategy or not I'm just organically building something day by day, how I feel, what I feel Based on that, I'm just building And I think every business needs to pivot at some point in time or almost all the time How is it that these 21-year-old, a 25-year-old, will say we are the strategic professionals in the space of blah blah blah No, no, yeah, and like everywhere, right? It's like a strategically designed engagement calendar You have done a television celebration, you have done a holiday, you have to put it in a strategy So it's as simple as that I think also it's not really their problem, you know I think we as a culture, the way India is currently working We are just telling all our younger generation to do fastest things With 10-minute delivery, with everything coming on the fingertips I think they're getting tuned to this speed They don't want to invest in thinking, stopping, understanding You know, really going deeper into what should they say that really represent who they are, what they do, what can they do What are they willing to learn, they're not doing anything But everyone is waiting, right? That's my point And I had written a post about it That bring your cards to the interview Keep your flaunting for Instagram Right, people flaunt on resume But they're also bringing that too because they want to get the charge Correct, I said that they've taken all the global scams Resume, trust me, I have done this and you do it because you train a lot of people Ask them, has anyone read cover to cover a resume properly? No, I can vouch on it that no but People long from reading, you cannot read properly Just look for those keywords, look at if it's matching and kind of just moving to the next stage One small fun fact, in 15 years of Biazzi, I have never hired anyone with their resume Never, you know, I don't even know right now who has worth a resume I don't know, this guy is with me from, I don't know, donkey years now I do not have any educational background of what he carries But he's with me from, you know, so many years And that's what matters, right? I don't know how are we going to fix it? What's your take on how are we going to fix it? No, it'll fix, it'll one person at a time So someone, a little few years earlier, someone had reached out to me for a job So I have not made a resume for a very long time So I said, "Yar, my LinkedIn is here" So you do it with LinkedIn, no, no, you make a certain one-page So I like authentically made that one-page and I saved the file as Geeta-Sar And I sent, "Hey, this is Geeta-Sar, it's like this is the one" And they said, "Hey, this is not going to work, I didn't talk to you yet" People just, and I'm telling you on LinkedIn, in everybody sounds the same, everybody's giving yawn I get a lot of this, where I have two people, one set of people who absolutely love my post Message me, I get so many messages, I love your writing And that and the call me out, "Hey, is this a habit?" And I, so I called Delhi and I deleted that By the way, I said, "Hey, Delhi, why is Delhi only worse than Gaza?" And there is a war happening in Gaza So it triggered me, I don't know I get, so I realize that people love it, don't like it, they respond And they're said of people, "Are you a CHRO?" 16 years, do you think you should? Said, "Yeah, if you, the whole point of. " I think they are confused between being childish and childlike You're a childlike person, because I've been following you from quite some time now And I think they feel that this could be childish because they themselves, the ones who are judging Let me be honest that they are confused between the two traits No, they mean well No, they mean well, I think they're just the views between these two traits I think we all need to be childlike and not childish And I think some childish posts that you may have written, you have realized that they were not okay No, you make mistakes And the whole point is be authentic And then let right people come to you And jobs are like that also I've worked with, I've met, I was just having coffee with someone who stayed in Maricopa for 17, 18 years And he said, "Yeah, you know, like 10 years in a company" And I was also like, "Yeah, I've worked 5 years, 4 years, 5 years" And I said, "Yeah, maybe 10 years" And then I dwelled on it for 2 days And I said, "Yeah, it's not number of years, it's rate of learning A person who has been in a war country for 1 year knows more about survival than someone who has been in a normal country for 10 years It's not years So I'm kind of recalibrating almost everything and we discuss this, right? This is not a podcast of people who know, who don't know Let's just say we don't know anything and let's just question everything Absolutely And let's be authentic enough to just take a lighter darker take on how we do things And be okay about it and that's why I take a lot of my digs on nature And how we do things And it's going to be easy with you Thanks, so Karthik, before I close this podcast and with your LinkedIn amazing posts I want to lastly understand you're currently with Vahan and I know Vahan right from the beginning of it Also, you know, I also got a chance to meet Madhav It's a very fascinating start-up And also, you know, a little more about the start-up and also how you guys are, you know, empowering so many blue colours Sure I would love to hear that So I think one love, love the mission and vision Vahan's mission is to break the chain of Ovarian Lottery All of us in here, we just got lucky where we were born Absolutely We are no credit for it The millions and millions of people who didn't get the Ovarian Lottery, right? So what Vahan does is, in a world where AI replaces, Vahan.AI is a company where AI empowers So we use our platform, we are a managed marketplace Where large kinds like Swiggy, Blink kid, Zomato, Uber, Tata Electronics, different industries Need a lot of blue colour workers And we have a lot of recruitment agencies who can offer this And they come on our platform and we help them match demand and supply We have AI Recruiter, it's a voice board which is able to reach out to lots of people Save human productivity, help us get great leads which have faster conversion And we feel, you know, all my life for 15 years I worked in solving and creating for India's 1% Benetan was high in fashion, housing was properties worth crores My glam, beauty, win beauty, serenavilliums and I thought that's the world And now, in last one year I'm serving 95% of India which is like the real India And I'm very grateful that through my work and as a company we are able to kind of make impact in people It just puts food on the table, they're able to send their kids to school And even if you can do a very small part on it, it's a very big personal satisfaction that Vahan gives Thank you for sharing this and many congratulations to you, to Mother, to the entire team of Vahan And thanks from all of us Indians that you guys are working on this particular idea And thanks for coming in and after a lot of follow ups, you finally are on my podcast So thank you so much. It's been a privilege. Thank you. Thank you, Shika. All the best. Thank you for watching "Offer Stales & People" podcast. I had Kartik with me and this was one of the most fun podcast that I have shot. I hope you enjoyed it too. Until next time, ciao.