This week’s theme, “Strategy in a Time‑Starved World,” continues as Vishal guides you through a simple yet powerful three-minute reset. Learn how to pause your mind, refocus on your true objective, anchor it with a quick plan, and return with clarity. Backed by neuroscience, goal-setting research, and creativity studies, this reset helps you shift from autopilot to strategic thinking in no extra time.

🛠️ Episode Highlights:

• Discover why a short pause can boost decision-making speed and reduce stress
• Learn how an “if‑then” mindset helps you stick to your intention
• Unlock creativity with brief reflection—even on a short walk
• Build a practical ritual to bring strategy into your day

📚 References:

• Frontiers in Psychology – 3‑Minute Mindfulness and Decision-Making
• Meta-analysis of Implementation Intentions – Taylor & Francis
• Stanford Study on Walking and Creativity

🎶 Music Credits: “Switch It Up,” performed by Silent Partner, from the YouTube Studio Audio Library

Why do most leaders say strategy matters, but rarely make time for it?

In this episode, Vishal Prasad explores the gap between intent and action using insights from Harvard Business Review, Columbia Business School, and cognitive science. Turns out, it’s not just your calendar — it’s busyness as status, execution overload, and cognitive inertia.

He breaks down three big blockers:

• Busyness being worn like a badge of honour
• Execution overshadowing reflection
• The brain’s default to reaction over strategy

Vishal also shares two practical tools:

• A 10-second strategic pause
• A 5-minute block of “strategic idleness” backed by neuroscience

If you’re constantly stuck in the weeds and struggling to make space for strategy, this one’s for you.

This… is The EnterpriseJoy Podcast —
Enterprise strategies for leaders, in under five minutes.

Music Credit: Switch It Up, performed by Silent Partner, from the YouTube Studio Audio Library

📚 References

1. Harvard Business Review
   If Strategy Is So Important, Why Don’t We Make Time for It?
   https://hbr.org/2018/06/if-strategy-is-so-important-why-dont-we-make-time-for-it
2. Harvard Business Review
   How CEOs Manage Time
   https://hbr.org/2018/07/how-ceos-manage-time
3. Balanced Scorecard Institute
   The Leadership Gap: Understanding Strategy Execution Failure
   https://balancedscorecard.org/blog/the-leadership-gap-understanding-strategy-execution-failure
4. Columbia Business School
   Silvia Bellezza, Neeru Paharia & Anat Keinan
   Conspicuous Consumption of Time: When Busyness and Lack of Leisure Time Become a Status Symbol
   https://business.columbia.edu/sites/default/files-efs/pubfiles/19293/Conspicuous%20Consumption%20of%20Time%20JCR.pdf
5. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
   Why Strategic Idleness Can Drive Breakthrough Thinking
   https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-strategic-idleness-can-drive-breakthrough-thinking
6. Harvard Business Review
   The Business Case for Reflection: Brief Pauses Boost Performance by 23%
   https://hbr.org/2014/10/reflecting-on-work-improves-job-performance

🎙️ Season 2 Premiere: Strategy in a Time-Starved World

The EnterpriseJoy Podcast - Enterprise Strategies for Leaders in Under 5 Minutes.

In this premiere episode of Season 2, host Vishal Prasad reintroduces The EnterpriseJoy Podcast with a fresh format tailored for today’s time-starved leaders. After a five-year pause, the podcast returns not with nostalgia, but with urgency, shaped by the shifting landscape of leadership, the impact of AI, and the growing demand for clarity over complexity.

Gone are the long-form interviews. Season 2 features 350 episodes, each under five minutes, released daily with one strategic theme per week. This new season is designed as a daily companion for enterprise leaders, CXOs, founders, policymakers, and decision-makers looking for sharp, practical thinking on the move.

🗓️ This Week’s Theme: Strategy in a Time-Starved World

The first theme speaks directly to a common leadership dilemma - the feeling of never having enough time to think strategically. Vishal explores how strategy has become something leaders “hope” to get to, and why that’s a dangerous mindset. As he puts it, hope is not a strategy.

This week is about building space for strategy, not in theory, but in the messy, noisy context of real work.

📌 Listeners can expect:

• Monday: Why leaders struggle to make time for strategy - it’s deeper than just a full calendar
• Tuesday: A quick 3-minute mindset reset to switch from reactive mode to strategic thinking
• Wednesday: How to move from constant action to actual leverage
• Thursday: The power of microstrategies - small, timely decisions that move the needle
• Friday: How to delegate without losing the strategic thread
• Saturday: A final mindset shift - strategy is less about having time, and more about protecting focus

This episode also sets the tone for what’s to come - clear, grounded insights delivered without slides, decks, or distractions. Just audio that leaders can carry with them during a walk, commute, solo lunch, or wind-down routine.

Listeners are invited to share reflections, stories, or questions with Vishal at podcast@enterprisejoy.com.

🎧 Hosted by Vishal Prasad - the mover and shaker for your enterprise and leadership strategies.

This is The EnterpriseJoy Podcast - Enterprise Strategies for Leaders in Under 5 Minutes.

Relationships are built on Trust. Possibly every story in history has an element of Trust, be it with fallen monarchs, birth of religions, rise of organisations, or even examples from the animal kingdom. This has been an area of research for many years and as we flourish in the age of information, Trust becomes one of the most essential foundations on which organisations and teams get built. But how do we build trust? Where do we begin? Who takes the first step? And how do we know when it's achieved?

To discuss this in more detail, I invited a good friend of mine Sarika Kharbanda; she's a coach who specialises in Lean Change Management, the first Management 3.0 trainer in India, and the host of the Perspectives of Change podcast. Needless to say, she's probably one of the best I know who has helped teams with their quote / unquote trust issues so it only seemed fair that I pick her brains on this episode for some anecdotes. So welcome everyone, I'm your host Vishal Prasad and this is EnterpriseJoy, educating organisations to be awesome!

If you like what you hear then do subscribe to this podcast for more of EnterpriseJoy and you can access the bonus episode by becoming our patron on https://www.patreon.com/enterprisejoy

Host: Vishal Prasad (www.enterprisejoy.com)

Guest: Sarika Kharbanda (https://in.linkedin.com/in/sarikakharbanda)

References:

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21343.The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team

You can also listen to this episode on;

• EnterpriseJoy Podcast: www.enterprisejoy.com
• Anchor: https://anchor.fm/enterprisejoy
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enterprisejoy/id1519016078
• Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yNmJjNTBmNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qUTug6CiY5BOUrlfakhQM
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1519016078/enterprisejoy
• Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/enterprisejoy
• RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/enterprisejoy-6V3e4X
• Castro: https://castro.fm/podcast/ca896101-d0a0-4a09-8b95-d3e383e90ec2
• Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/87pjxr8j
• Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/enterprisejoy
• TuneIn Radio: http://tun.in/pjUBP
• Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id3021763?country=us
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_tojwmQMreUzPLiqEE0Upu_sOHLGR4ZN

You can also enjoy this Podcast on your Amazon Echo & Alexa Devices via TuneIn Radio; just say "Alexa, play the EnterpriseJoy Podcast".

Optimism, it's one of those unspoken qualities that differentiates a leader from the crowd. Where other's see failure, optimists see opportunity. Where others see chaos, optimists see self organisation. And where others see end, optimists see new beginnings. I came face to face with one such leader in this podcast, Jeff Stuit, the founder of Improvement School. He recently published his book "An Agilist in India", which he wrote while being stuck in a hotel room, 7000 miles away from his home, in-between a nationwide lockdown down & a hurricane; and his stories had me gripped. I consider myself an optimist but Jeff showcases extreme optimism and this talk with him was a profound experience for me. We discussed everything from spirituality to music and I was stunned to how he related every experience as a learning that one could take-away as a human being. This episode is not just an education in being an optimist, it's a showcase of an optimistic leader and the difference it can make in an organisation. I'm your host Vishal Prasad and this is EnterpriseJoy, educating organisations to be awesome!

Interesting bits and pieces:

• 00:01:48 - An Agilist in India
• 00:04:22 - Extreme Optimism Mindset
• 00:11:55 - Agility & Spirituality
• 00:15:05 - Values & Principles
• 00:19:43 - Self organisation in the India
• 00:22:32 - VUCA
• 00:24:32 - Distributed Agile
• 00:26:53 - Learning from musicians

If you like what you hear then do subscribe to this podcast for more of EnterpriseJoy and you can access the complete uncut ad-free episodes by becoming our patron on https://www.patreon.com/enterprisejoy

Host: Vishal Prasad (www.enterprisejoy.com)
Guest: Jeff Stuit (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefflopezstuit/)

References:

• An Agilist in India: https://leanpub.com/agilistinindia
  

You can also listen to this episode on;

• EnterpriseJoy Podcast: www.enterprisejoy.com
• Anchor: https://anchor.fm/enterprisejoy
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enterprisejoy/id1519016078
• Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yNmJjNTBmNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qUTug6CiY5BOUrlfakhQM
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1519016078/enterprisejoy
• Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/enterprisejoy
• RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/enterprisejoy-6V3e4X
• Castro: https://castro.fm/podcast/ca896101-d0a0-4a09-8b95-d3e383e90ec2
• Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/87pjxr8j
• Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/enterprisejoy
• TuneIn Radio: http://tun.in/pjUBP
• Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id3021763?country=us
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_tojwmQMreUzPLiqEE0Upu_sOHLGR4ZN
  

You can also enjoy this Podcast on your Amazon Echo & Alexa Devices via TuneIn Radio; just say "Alexa, play the EnterpriseJoy Podcast".

I've been a fan of the Twitter handle @MeetingBoy since many years now and one of its tweets that I've remembered forever goes something like this - If someone falls asleep during your PowerPoint presentation, you are at least partially to blame. That is true with many teams where individuals mostly engage using conventional structures like presentations and managed discussions. The problem with most of these is that the decision making is usually owned by one person while utilising a centralised mechanism to control the content. That's where Liberating Structures are different and make it possible to include everybody in the decision making process regardless of the group size and this happens with distributed control of content. To discuss this in more detail, I invited a good friend of mine Rucha Kapare who's been an advocate of Liberating Structures. She's the Head of Business Analysis practice at Springer, she utilises Liberating Structures on her job more than one would expect, and has presented it at numerous conferences. So welcome everyone as we unleash creativity, I'm your host Vishal Prasad and this is EnterpriseJoy, educating organisations to be awesome!

Interesting bits and pieces:

• 00:01:31 - What are Liberating Structures?
• 00:03:24 - Microstructures
• 00:04:01 - Design Elements
• 00:04:58 - Principles
• 00:06:20 - 1-2-4-All
• 00:07:40 - Wise Crowds
• 00:08:56 - 15% Solutions
• 00:10:40 - Open Space Technology
• 00:12:48 - Troika Consulting
• 00:14:47 - TRIZ
• 00:16:26 - More Liberating Structures
• 00:16:50 - Bonus Episode
  

If you like what you hear then do subscribe to this podcast for more of EnterpriseJoy and you can access the bonus episode by becoming our patron on https://www.patreon.com/enterprisejoy

Host: Vishal Prasad (www.enterprisejoy.com)
Guest: Rucha Kapare (https://in.linkedin.com/in/ruchakapare)

References:

• Liberating Structures: http://www.liberatingstructures.com/
  

You can also listen to this episode on;

• EnterpriseJoy Podcast: www.enterprisejoy.com
• Anchor: https://anchor.fm/enterprisejoy
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enterprisejoy/id1519016078
• Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yNmJjNTBmNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qUTug6CiY5BOUrlfakhQM
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1519016078/enterprisejoy
• Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/enterprisejoy
• RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/enterprisejoy-6V3e4X
• Castro: https://castro.fm/podcast/ca896101-d0a0-4a09-8b95-d3e383e90ec2
• Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/87pjxr8j
• Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/enterprisejoy
• TuneIn Radio: http://tun.in/pjUBP
• Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id3021763?country=us
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_tojwmQMreUzPLiqEE0Upu_sOHLGR4ZN
  

You can also enjoy this Podcast on your Amazon Echo & Alexa Devices via TuneIn Radio; just say "Alexa, play the EnterpriseJoy Podcast".

The Lean Startup, a methodology for developing products and businesses using short cycles of build-measure-learn to continuously improve. That's probably the crispiest definition one can provide but what impact does this have on products, on businesses, and more so on the culture of an organisation? A startup may embrace this methodology on day one of its conception and not even realise how its culture gets moulded by it, however more mature organisations who wish to realise the benefits of this methodology do witness a cultural change, sometimes not very successful ones. So it only seemed fair to speak with someone like Bob van Luijt, the CEO & Co-founder of SeMI Technologies, who's witnessed this multiple times. His current startup provides a solution called Weaviate which is a Semantic Search Engine with built-in Machine Learning to search through Unstructured Data and this is used by huge organisations for building, for example - their Knowledge Graphs. It was fascinating for me to understand from him how one can balance out cultural differences when working in a space like his and hopefully you and find it just as intersting as I did. I'm your host Vishal Prasad and this is EnterpriseJoy, educating organisations to be awesome!

Interesting bits and pieces:

• 00:02:00 - Effect of Lean Startup on Bob's initiatives
• 00:04:18 - Enablers for Lean Startup
• 00:06:13 - Lean Startup moulding organisation's culture
• 00:10:08 - Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
• 00:12:40 - The complexity with Build-Measure-Learn
• 00:16:23 - Our favourite MVP stories
• 00:20:14 - Working with user experience
• 00:21:41 - Listening as a culture
  

If you like what you hear then do subscribe to this podcast for more of EnterpriseJoy and you can access the complete uncut ad-free episodes by becoming our patron on https://www.patreon.com/enterprisejoy

Host: Vishal Prasad (www.enterprisejoy.com)
Guest: Bob van Luijt (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobvanluijt/)

References:

• The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10127019-the-lean-startup
• The Four Steps to the Epiphany, by Steve Blank: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762542.The_Four_Steps_to_the_Epiphany
• Diffusion of Innovations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations
• Disruption Theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation
  

You can also listen to this episode on;

• EnterpriseJoy Podcast: www.enterprisejoy.com
• Anchor: https://anchor.fm/enterprisejoy
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enterprisejoy/id1519016078
• Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yNmJjNTBmNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qUTug6CiY5BOUrlfakhQM
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1519016078/enterprisejoy
• Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/enterprisejoy
• RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/enterprisejoy-6V3e4X
• Castro: https://castro.fm/podcast/ca896101-d0a0-4a09-8b95-d3e383e90ec2
• Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/87pjxr8j
• Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/enterprisejoy
• TuneIn Radio: http://tun.in/pjUBP
• Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id3021763?country=us
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_tojwmQMreUzPLiqEE0Upu_sOHLGR4ZN

You can also enjoy this Podcast on your Amazon Echo & Alexa Devices via TuneIn Radio; just say "Alexa, play the EnterpriseJoy Podcast".

The title of this episode is Period Leaves, Period. The second period is a full-stop, in-case you didn't get the pun. It's usually unusual for men to talk about periods, but I'm going to do it anyway. It all started with the Founder & CEO of Zomato, publishing a blog on 8th of August 2020. Zomato introduced upto 10 days of Period Leaves for women, including transgender people. And the media went berserk. There was coverage in national news papers and news channels, there were interviews and statements from Zomato officials, however what caught my attention was the eruption on social media. The social media went wild with supporting and against supporting such a policy; there were men & women who were supporting it and getting lashed by those not supporting it, the same happened the other way around, although if you were a man and not supporting it you were just a jerk, women not supporting it got some coverage and commented up on. So I thought, why shouldn't I look at it objectively, keeping all the pseudo-science BS out, and just focusing on what people have to say about such policies.

Interesting bits and pieces:

• 00:01:24 - What is Zomato?
• 00:02:07 - Zomato's blog Introducing Period Leaves (Link in the description)
• 00:04:07 - Does this policy violate the notion of equality at work?
• 00:04:47 - Equality vs Equity (Link in the description)
• 00:09:38 - Does this policy give a handicap status to women?
• 00:11:00 - Temporarily Able Bodied (TAB)
• 00:14:25 - Can this policy be misused?
• 00:16:23 - Trust
• 00:19:34 - Conclusion

If you like what you hear then do subscribe to this podcast for more of EnterpriseJoy; you can also support this podcast by becoming our patron on https://www.patreon.com/enterprisejoy

Host: Vishal Prasad (www.enterprisejoy.com)

References:

• Zomato's Blog introducing Period Leaves: https://www.zomato.com/blog/period-leaves
• Equality vs Equity: https://www.wssu.edu/strategic-plan/documents/a-summary-of-equity-vs-equality.pdf

You can also listen to this episode on;

• EnterpriseJoy Podcast: www.enterprisejoy.com
• Anchor: https://anchor.fm/enterprisejoy
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enterprisejoy/id1519016078
• Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yNmJjNTBmNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qUTug6CiY5BOUrlfakhQM
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1519016078/enterprisejoy
• Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/enterprisejoy
• RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/enterprisejoy-6V3e4X
• Castro: https://castro.fm/podcast/ca896101-d0a0-4a09-8b95-d3e383e90ec2
• Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/87pjxr8j
• Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/enterprisejoy
• TuneIn Radio: http://tun.in/pjUBP
• Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id3021763?country=us
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_tojwmQMreUzPLiqEE0Upu_sOHLGR4ZN

You can also enjoy this Podcast on your Amazon Echo & Alexa Devices via TuneIn Radio; just say "Alexa, play the EnterpriseJoy Podcast".