About Me

 

I'm Prashant V. Rao, though most people who know me well would recognise the initials PVR.

I'm curious by nature. I enjoy observing people, listening to different perspectives, and thinking about things that we often take for granted. Philosophy, politics, economics, business, relationships and human behaviour have always interested me. I enjoy the company of like-minded people, but I also value my own space. I'm spiritual, though not religious, and I have always believed that there is something to learn from almost every experience, provided we are willing to look closely enough.

Professionally, my journey has taken me through business, technology, leadership and organisational challenges. Over the years, I've become increasingly interested not just in what people do, but in why they do it. Why do sensible people sometimes make questionable decisions? Why do organisations with good intentions produce disappointing outcomes? Why do we behave differently with different people, even when we believe our intentions are the same?

Some questions are professional. Others are deeply personal. And quite a few have no easy answers.

That is where this blog comes in.

The Elephant in the Room is my space to put down thoughts that may not always find their way into everyday conversations. Sometimes, an ordinary incident makes me pause. Sometimes, something happening around us raises questions that deserve more attention. At other times, I find myself questioning an assumption that everyone seems to have accepted.

I write about life, relationships, society, politics, economics, business and the contradictions that make us human. I don't write because I have all the answers. Often, I write because I'm trying to understand the question better.

Writing, for me, is as much a process of thinking as it is a way of communicating. I may arrive at a conclusion, or I may simply end up with a better question. I'm comfortable with either. And I don't expect everyone who reads my work to agree with me. A thoughtful disagreement can be far more valuable than easy agreement.

My writing has also taken other forms. Verses of Life brought together poems I had written over the years. I'm currently working on two books: Everything We Didn't Say, a novel exploring love, silence and the gradual distance that can develop between two people, and Seeing the System, which examines why capable people in well-intentioned organisations can continue producing outcomes nobody intended.

I also have a podcast, extending my interest in sharing thoughts and ideas beyond the written word.

These are different ways of exploring things that interest me, but the underlying curiosity remains the same: looking beyond what is immediately visible and asking what might lie beneath it.

If you've found your way here, I hope you find something worth thinking about. You may agree with me, disagree with me, or see something from a perspective you hadn't considered before.

Any of those is a good reason to have written.

Welcome to The Elephant in the Room.