Harjeet Khanduja – Work Smarter Not Harder

BIO: Harjeet Khanduja is an international speaker, author, poet, visionary, inventor, influencer, and HR Leader. He is an alumnus of IIT Roorkee and INSEAD. He is currently working with Reliance Jio. STORY: Harjeet regrets wasting so much of his life working hard instead of working smart. Though he succeeded in his career, he completely ignored his family and led an unbalanced life. LEARNING: Learn how to delegate so you can have time to focus on other things in your life. You must care for your family and inner self to be more productive.  “When you harness everyone’s energy, then you can work in a broader environment and grow. When you’re happy, you can do more things in life, not just for your business.” Harjeet Khanduja  Guest profile Harjeet Khanduja is an international speaker, author, poet, visionary, inventor, influencer, and HR Leader. He is an alumnus of IIT Roorkee and INSEAD. He is currently working with Reliance Jio.  He is an SAP HCM consultant, Six Sigma Green Belt, and Assessor for Predictive Index. He has 3 published patents, and his book “Nothing About Business” has been a best-seller on Amazon. Harjeet has been conferred with the HR Leadership Award, Pride of Nation Award, HR Personality of the Year, Global Digital Ambassador, Global Learning Award, ET HR Influencer of 2022, and Top 200 Global Leadership Voices of 2022. Harjeet has been a LinkedIn Power Profile, TEDx speaker, Guest Faculty at IIM Ahmedabad, Board Member of the Federation of World Academics, Member of the CII HR IR committee, and Co-chair of Nasscom Diversity Committee. Worst investment ever The first investment mistake Harjeet ever made was opening a PPF account because his father asked him to. Harjeet kept investing in that account year after year without knowing why he was investing. He regrets never having control over that decision. Harjeet also regrets wasting so much of his life working hard instead of working smart. In every company Harjeet worked for, he’d work himself to the bone trying to prove his abilities. Even though he achieved massive success in every position he took up, his life outside work suffered. Harjeet barely had any time to spend with his family. After all the time and effort he put into his work, Harjeet soon realized his life was not balanced.  In 2012, Harjeet started looking at life holistically rather than unidimensional. Now his life is better, and his wife is happier. Lessons learned Your team can solve problems on their own. You don’t need to hold their hands constantly; delegate and only assist where necessary.  You must care for your family and inner self to be more productive. Andrew’s takeaways Life is a balance of opposing forces, and we’re constantly making trade-offs. Actionable advice Learn to delegate and trust. It will take time for others to catch up to your quality or delivery standards. But if you don’t start delegating, you’ll never have time to focus on other important parts of your life. Parting words  “It’s okay to fail. Just believe in yourself. Whatever you’ve got, nobody can take it from you.” Harjeet Khanduja