This is a book review of Catalyst by Chandramouli Venkatesan.

The premise of this book is a framework for success in life and at work. The book is a short read and I particularly liked how the author has given several examples from his own career that helps drive home the points. The book describes a TMRR model (Target, Measure, Review and Reflect) that we could deploy towards how we look at each project and our career trajectory as we go along.

I would have ideally liked to see more discussion on dealing with different kinds of issues at work , namely people and processes that you don’t necessarily agree with but I guess the book is focused on the individual and how he/she can go about facing situations.

I usually like to take home an interesting point from the book and I did find such a thing here. The author strongly recommends building out a hobby that you are passionate about. He takes up the example of folks in their 2nd half of their careers taking up activities like running, etc. Setting up personal goals to keep bettering yourself in a personal activity is what helps us channel our competitive spirit towards that and this in turn reflects on us being more co-operative and not worrying about proving ourselves in everywhere else at our other competitive place i.e. work. I am increasingly believing in that because at the end of the day we have finite energy to spend in all kinds of directions and this could be a good plausible explanation.

I gave the book 4/5 stars.