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What if you could hear, firsthand, from an international sportsperson about the emotional journey that follows a loss?

Not loss as failure, but loss as a teacher: the kind that strips away ego, demands honesty, and forces you to confront your preparation, your mindset, and your emotional control. Hari Kiran has lived this cycle—on the badminton court, on global stages, and in the unforgiving world of regulated industries and entrepreneurship.

As an international sportsman, Hari (founder of HRV Pharma) learned early that losing is brutally transparent. There’s nowhere to hide, no committee to blame, no narrative to spin. The scoreboard tells the truth. And that truth forces introspection.

What stands out is how calmly Hari speaks about this journey. There’s no romanticizing intensity, no performative hustle. Instead, there’s a quiet respect for systems, discipline, and repeatability. He talks about learning to reset emotionally, about not letting one bad point become two losses, and about showing up again even when the outcome previously went against you. 

The episode also gently reframes success. Early on, success was visible—rankings, scale, recognition. But after losing on big stages, success becomes quieter and more durable. It becomes about building systems that don’t depend on you, cultures where people can make decisions without fear, and organizations that can absorb mistakes without breaking. It’s about trust compounding over time, not applause in the moment.

Ultimately, this episode feels less like advice and more like an invitation: to slow down after losing, to stay emotionally steady, to close the feedback loop honestly, and to redefine success not by how fast you move—but by how long what you build can last.

Here are the Top 10 Takeaways from the conversation:

1. Losing teaches what winning never will
   Winning hides flaws. Losing forces honesty. The real failure isn’t the loss—it’s walking away without learning.
2. Emotional control is a competitive advantage
   Carrying the last mistake into the next point means losing twice. The ability to reset quickly matters more than intensity.
3. Discipline sustains what talent starts
   Talent opens doors, but discipline—training, recovery, repetition—determines how long you stay in the game.
4. Preparation doesn’t guarantee outcomes, but it earns you another attempt
   You can do everything right and still lose. That’s not a reason to stop—it’s a reason to prepare better and keep playing.
5. Judge decisions by process, not by outcomes
   In both sport and business, outcomes are noisy. Strong systems and thoughtful decision-making compound over time.
6. Capital can’t fix weak foundations
   Money won’t rescue you from poor capability, low credibility, or fragile relationships—it often accelerates collapse.
7. Trust is an invisible but powerful currency
   In high-stakes, regulated environments, trust shows up in speed, access, forgiveness, and long-term compounding.
8. Success matures from visibility to durability
   Early success is loud. Real success is quiet—systems that work without you, cultures that don’t fear mistakes, lives that still feel whole.
9. Trends begin as friction, not headlines
   Pay attention to inefficiencies, workarounds, and handoffs where systems strain—this is where meaningful change starts.
10. Build before you bet
    Capabilities, discipline, and trust come first. Without them, risk is gambling. With them, risk becomes progress.

 Books: The Art of War