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By:

Rahul Kulkarni

30 March 2025 at 3:32:54 pm

The Boundary Collapse

When kindness becomes micromanagement It started with a simple leave request.   “Hey, can I take Friday off? Need a personal day,” Meera messaged Rohit. Rohit replied instantly:   “Of course. All good. Just stay reachable if anything urgent comes up.”   He meant it as reassurance. But the team didn’t hear reassurance. They heard a rule.   By noon, two things had shifted inside The Workshop:   Meera felt guilty for even asking. Everyone else quietly updated their mental handbook: Leave is...

The Boundary Collapse

When kindness becomes micromanagement It started with a simple leave request.   “Hey, can I take Friday off? Need a personal day,” Meera messaged Rohit. Rohit replied instantly:   “Of course. All good. Just stay reachable if anything urgent comes up.”   He meant it as reassurance. But the team didn’t hear reassurance. They heard a rule.   By noon, two things had shifted inside The Workshop:   Meera felt guilty for even asking. Everyone else quietly updated their mental handbook: Leave is allowed… but not really. This is boundary collapse… when a leader’s good intentions unintentionally blur the limits that protect autonomy and rest. When care quietly turns into control Founders rarely intend to micromanage.   What looks like control from the outside often starts as care from the inside. “Let me help before something breaks.” “Let me stay involved so we don’t lose time.” “Loop me in… I don’t want you stressed.” Supportive tone.   Good intentions.   But one invisible truth defines workplace psychology: When power says “optional,” it never feels optional.
So when a client requested a revision, Rohit gently pinged:   “If you’re free, could you take a look?” Of course she logged in.   Of course she handled it.   And by Monday, the cultural shift was complete: Leave = location change, not a boundary.   A founder’s instinct had quietly become a system. Pattern 1: The Generous Micromanager Modern micromanagement rarely looks aggressive. It looks thoughtful :   “Let me refine this so you’re not stuck.” “I’ll review it quickly.”   “Share drafts so we stay aligned.”   Leaders believe they’re being helpful. Teams hear:   “You don’t fully trust me.” “I should check with you before finishing anything.”   “My decisions aren’t final.” Gentle micromanagement shrinks ownership faster than harsh micromanagement ever did because people can’t challenge kindness. Pattern 2: Cultural conditioning around availability In many Indian workplaces, “time off” has an unspoken footnote: Be reachable. Just in case. No one says it directly.   No one pushes back openly.   The expectation survives through habit: Leave… but monitor messages. Rest… but don’t disconnect. Recover… but stay alert. Contrast this with a global team we worked with: A designer wrote,   “I’ll be off Friday, but available if needed.” Her manager replied:   “If you’re working on your off-day, we mismanaged the workload… not the boundary.”   One conversation.   Two cultural philosophies.   Two completely different emotional outcomes.   Pattern 3: The override reflex Every founder has a version of this reflex.   Whenever Rohit sensed risk, real or imagined, he stepped in: Rewriting copy.   Adjusting a design.   Rescoping a task.   Reframing an email. Always fast.   Always polite.   Always “just helping.” But each override delivered one message:   “Your autonomy is conditional.” You own decisions…   until the founder feels uneasy.   You take initiative…   until instinct replaces delegation.   No confrontation.   No drama.   Just quiet erosion of confidence.   The family-business amplification Boundary collapse becomes extreme in family-managed companies.   We worked with one firm where four family members… founder, spouse, father, cousin… all had informal authority. Everyone cared.   Everyone meant well.   But for employees, decision-making became a maze: Strategy approved by the founder.   Aesthetics by the spouse.   Finance by the father. Tone by the cousin.   They didn’t need leadership.   They needed clarity.   Good intentions without boundaries create internal anarchy. The global contrast A European product team offered a striking counterexample.   There, the founder rarely intervened mid-stream… not because of distance, but because of design:   “If you own the decision, you own the consequences.” Decision rights were clear.   Escalation paths were explicit.   Authority didn’t shift with mood or urgency. No late-night edits.   No surprise rewrites.   No “quick checks.”   No emotional overrides. As one designer put it:   “If my boss wants to intervene, he has to call a decision review. That friction protects my autonomy.” The result:   Faster execution, higher ownership and zero emotional whiplash. Boundaries weren’t personal.   They were structural .   That difference changes everything. Why boundary collapse is so costly Its damage is not dramatic.   It’s cumulative.   People stop resting → you get presence, not energy.   People stop taking initiative → decisions freeze.   People stop trusting empowerment → autonomy becomes theatre.   People start anticipating the boss → performance becomes emotional labour.   People burn out silently → not from work, but from vigilance.   Boundary collapse doesn’t create chaos.   It creates hyper-alertness, the heaviest tax on any team. The real paradox Leaders think they’re being supportive. Teams experience supervision.   Leaders assume boundaries are obvious. Teams see boundaries as fluid. Leaders think autonomy is granted. Teams act as though autonomy can be revoked at any moment. This is the Boundary Collapse → a misunderstanding born not from intent, but from the invisible weight of power. Micromanagement today rarely looks like anger.   More often,   it looks like kindness without limits. (Rahul Kulkarni is Co-founder at PPS Consulting. He patterns the human mechanics of scaling where workplace behavior quietly shapes business outcomes. Views personal.)

Calculate IRR of Your Stocks Portfolio: Step-by-Step Guide

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Calculate IRR of Your Stocks Portfolio: Step-by-Step Guide

Keeping track of how your money is growing is essential, whichever product it might be. It becomes even more important if you are handling your money yourself, especially by investing directly in shares. A critical concept for self-directed investors is understanding how to calculate the Internal/Intrinsic Rate of Return (IRR). This measurement provides a clear view of how well your investments are performing over time, accounting for all cash inflows and outflows.


What is IRR?

The IRR represents the annualised growth rate of your investments. It is particularly valuable because it considers the timing of your cash flows, such as when you bought more stocks or received dividends. The formula for calculating IRR can easily be applied in Microsoft Excel using the function: `=XIRR(values, dates, 10)’.


To calculate your IRR, follow these steps:

1. List Your Cash Flows in an Excel spreadsheet - all the money you’ve invested in your stocks (pay-ins), including dividends received and any pay-outs (redemptions). This has to be along with dates.

2. Use the XIRR formula mentioned above - the IRR function will provide you with an annualized growth rate that reflects the overall performance of your portfolio.


Why is IRR Important?

Calculating IRR is crucial for self-managing your investments. It allows you to compare your portfolio’s performance with other financial products. If your IRR is around 20-25%, it may be worth the effort to invest in stocks yourself. However, if your returns fall below this, it might be more beneficial to consider mutual funds or seek advisor’s help for investing in stocks or invest in a portfolio management scheme (PMS) of stocks. This reduces your time, efforts and resources of managing a stocks portfolio. Mutual funds are the easiest and convenient route to invest in stock markets. Some mutual fund schemes have historically delivered returns of 15-20% over 5-10 years. The returns can be higher if your mutual funds portfolio is focused on midcap and smallcap stocks. Why handle the hassles of investing by yourself when you can outsource?


Making Better Investment Choices

The IRR formula isn’t just useful for stocks. It can also be applied to various financial products, such as insurance schemes and real estate investments. By calculating the IRR for different assets, you can determine whether your investments are working as hard as they should. Understanding your IRR is vital in ensuring your money outpaces inflation and delivers better returns than competing products. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced investor, calculating your IRR can help you make informed decisions about your investments. If you need assistance, there are many resources and experts available to guide you.


Remember, your money should work hard for you, just as you work hard for your money.


(The author is a Chartered Accountant and CFA (USA). Financial Advisor. Views personal.)

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