Habits of the Heart

Category: Careers

  • To be a good teacher, be a student.

    Here’s a paradox in learning that I have come to understand, at a deeper level: to be an effective teacher, one must be a student. What does it mean? It means that learning never stops and to effectively embody what it means to teach, one must continuously humble oneself, keep an open mind and challenge […]

  • Five reasons you should join a professional association

    Students and colleagues who know me know that I am an advocate for joining professional associations. I am a member of several of them, ARNOVA, ASPA, SAJA, among others. As a grad student, I initially was reluctant and during my master’s program didn’t really see the value of joining one. But once I started my […]

  • Have you learnt your crisis communications lessons, yet?

    Covid-19, economic recession of 2008, 9/11 attacks and a great many other events should have taught us one thing: crisis management. I firmly believe that if you have been paying attention to these events then you’d have picked up at least a few lessons in crisis management/ communications along the way. If you haven’t, no […]

  • Six tips to be a successful online student

    With the sudden change in school and college schedules, with the COVID-19 situation, most institutions in the U.S. are going towards online education. Many are scrambling to make this transition, while those who are better prepared are doing virtual classes smoothly. There seem to be multiple resources for teachers on how to teach better, however; […]

  • Are corporations going to save America?

    With the recent Executive Order banning entry of people from seven Middle Eastern countries, the nation is in uproar. This order also includes refugees, who were fleeing violence and oppression in Syria, among other countries. The fact that several companies such as Lyft and Starbucks have stepped up and spoken out against this order is […]

  • Is the ‘American mythos’ in need of revision?

    Is the ‘American mythos’ in need of revision?

    I am writing this on the second day of election results, that have shaken the country; rather badly. With the election of Donald Trump, Washington D.C., is in mourning. It looks and feels like almost all of the country is at the precipice of something. Mainstream media are still coming to terms with what this […]

  • What is wrong with the ‘Islam and the West’ discourse

    First things first : I am happy that Sadiq Khan is the Mayor of London. Nothing could be cooler than having someone who shares your last name become the Mayor of a global city. This incident has been commented upon, quite a lot. Well meaning people point out that this is an indication that the […]

  • Do we  need theory?

    Of late, I have been having a lot of conversations with people in the nonprofit sector. And one clear divide I am noticing is between those who ‘do’ stuff and those who ‘think’ about stuff and theorize about it. The assumption is that those who can, do and those who don’t, teach. You may have […]

  • Two jobs I Could Never have….like ever!

    I dropped off my wife, who is a Catholic, to her colleague’s house on the  morning of Sept 23, at 4 am. Together, they, along with a few other colleagues were going to meet the Pope and the President at the White House.   On my way back, I was thinking to myself: Those are the […]

  • Ten Commandments for an International Relations Professional

    I received an email from a relative in India, requesting me to speak with his niece, who is considering grad school in the U.S. She wants to specialize in International Relations. This is perhaps the fifth or so request I have received in the last year. So, I thought of writing a blog post for […]

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