Why Growth Feels Lonely

Success has a strange way of changing the atmosphere around a person. The climb is crowded, competitive, and loud — but the higher you rise, the quieter it becomes. Many founders who once dreamed of hitting big revenues and building powerful teams are surprised to find that the peak feels more isolating than they ever imagined. They have stability, scale, and status — yet they carry responsibilities, decisions, and pressures that very few people around them can fully understand. And that...

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Success has a strange way of changing the atmosphere around a person. The climb is crowded, competitive, and loud — but the higher you rise, the quieter it becomes. Many founders who once dreamed of hitting big revenues and building powerful teams are surprised to find that the peak feels more isolating than they ever imagined. They have stability, scale, and status — yet they carry responsibilities, decisions, and pressures that very few people around them can fully understand. And that isolation doesn’t come from weakness; it comes from leadership. People stay close to successful individuals, but often with expectations — a favour, an introduction, an opportunity, some hidden benefit. Wealth and influence attract attention, but rarely authenticity. And for many business owners, especially those running companies upward of Rs 90 crores, this is where the silent disconnect begins. They are surrounded by people but starved of genuine connection. Yet beneath this loneliness lies a deeper, more strategic issue that most leaders never pause to consider: the brand they project externally no longer matches the identity they need internally. Their success is visible — deals, achievements, awards, numbers. But personal branding isn’t just about visibility. It is about emotional resonance, relational depth, and the quality of the people who enter your space because of who you are, not what you have built. Here’s the truth most high-performing founders overlook: loneliness at the top doesn’t come from success — it comes from the absence of aligned relationships. And that gap is bridged only when leaders intentionally shape their personal brand. When a founder’s personal brand becomes clear, something shifts. People begin to see the human behind the entrepreneur. They understand the leader’s values, personality, and intentions. The communication becomes more meaningful. Teams speak more openly. Partnerships become smoother. Even day-to-day interactions feel less transactional and more genuine. A well-aligned personal brand acts as an emotional filter — drawing in people who resonate with your energy and quietly distancing the ones who don’t. For business owners managing large-scale operations, the need today is not popularity. It is positioning. Presence. Influence. Trust. Because once your personal brand reflects depth, clarity, confidence, and relatability, you stop attracting people who want to take something from you — and start attracting people who want to contribute, collaborate, and grow alongside you. With the right personal brand, authority no longer has to come with isolation. Leadership becomes magnetic rather than demanding. Teams align faster. Networks strengthen naturally. And the circle around you evolves from being crowded to being meaningful. The irony is that most founders think their next stage of growth requires new strategies, new hires, or new markets. But often, what they actually need is a stronger sense of identity — one that the world can see, feel, and connect with. Because expansion doesn’t only happen in revenue charts; it happens in relationships, and relationships are built on perception. The clearer your identity, the stronger your influence. And the stronger your influence, the easier it becomes for people to trust you, align with you, and open doors that were previously inaccessible. So if the world around you has gotten quieter as you’ve risen higher, perhaps it is not a sign of distance — but a sign that it’s time to realign how people experience you. Not just as the owner of a successful business, but as a leader whose presence carries credibility, warmth, and clarity. Success is fulfilling, growth is exciting, but connection is what gives leadership its depth. And only a well-aligned personal brand can create the kind of connection that feels genuine, nourishing, and empowering. If you’ve reached a stage where your achievements speak loudly but your identity feels misunderstood or unseen, then it may be time to reshape the way the world perceives you. Not to impress, not to sell, but to finally be experienced in the way you truly intend to be. If this resonates with your journey, you’re welcome to reach out for a conversation here: https://sprect.com/pro/divyaaadvaani Not for introductions. Not for transactions. For alignment — and perhaps for the first step toward a personal brand that grows with you, not away from you. (The author is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries. Views personal.)

Certificate Calculus

Correspondent
2 hours ago
2 min read

The Maharashtra government’s decision to launch a revised Occupancy Certificate (OC) amnesty scheme is, on its face, a long-overdue step toward bringing order to Mumbai’s urban landscape. Announced by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in the Legislative Assembly, the initiative aims to regularise nearly 20,000 buildings that have gone without OCs for years owing to minor deviations from their approved plans. More than 10 lakh residents - many of whom have paid double property tax, higher water charges and inflated sewerage fees - stand to benefit.

The absence of an OC can trap homeowners in a cycle of financial and legal vulnerability: resale values dip, access to home loans becomes difficult, and even routine redevelopment turns into a labyrinth of restrictions. Hospitals and schools caught in the category of ‘unauthorised constructions’ remain unable to expand or upgrade. A city that prides itself on being India’s financial nerve centre has long lived with regulatory gaps that would be unthinkable in most global business capitals.

The new scheme offers welcome clarity. Buildings constructed under the Development Control Regulations of the BMC, as well as those under MHADA, the SRA and other planning authorities, will be eligible. Proposals filed within the first six months will enjoy complete waiver of penalties. Those filed between six months and a year will face a 50 percent penalty. Societies applying for regularisation will receive a 50 percent concession on premiums, assessed on ready reckoner rates - a significant relief for structures struggling with compliance. In a notable innovation, even individual flat owners may apply independently for an OC, enabling residents in large societies to resolve long-standing issues without being held hostage by internal disagreements. The scheme is to be eventually be implemented in other municipal corporations across Maharashtra, creating a uniform regulatory framework.

All said, the timing of this announcement difficult to ignore. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation - Asia’s richest civic body and the political jewel of Maharashtra - is set for elections. For the ruling Mahayuti coalition led by Devendra Fadnavis, regaining control of the BMC is both a political necessity and a strategic ambition to wrest it from the Thackeray clan, which had controlled the corporation for over two decades and remains a formidable presence in Mumbai’s civic politics. Measures that promise direct relief to more than 2.5 lakh families are bound to have electoral implications.

Governments often push through popular reforms in the run-up to elections. In Mumbai, where urban planning has long been a patchwork of improvisations, stalled projects and regulatory contradictions, any serious attempt at regularisation is welcome. But it is also true that the city’s governance tends to quicken only when the BMC’s vast resources and its electoral significance are at stake.

The revised OC scheme may well resolve hundreds of disputes that have festered for years. But it also serves as a reminder that policy momentum in Mumbai occurs only when the political stakes are the highest.