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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.)

The Chanakya who remained in dark

Updated: Oct 30, 2024

Chavan

The aggression displayed by Congress party workers has significantly decreased over the years. In the 1980s and 1990s, the party’s youth wing, NSUI, was known for its aggressive stance. However, that intensity has diminished over time. On the other hand, Shiv Sena has been known for its assertiveness from the very beginning, a trait that appealed to the youth. But after the passing of Balasaheb Thackeray, the party has softened its approach.


In recent times, Congress leaders like Nana Patole and Vijay Waddettiwar have brought back a sense of aggression, particularly Nana Patole, who has taken a more assertive role following the party’s significant victory in the Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections. Patole, it seems, is no longer in a mood to compromise.


Chavan is known for his calm and composed nature. A highly educated politician, he has built a reputation as a technocrat with a clean image.


Chavan faces several challenges. He may have to compete with aggressive leaders like Nana Patole and Vijay Wadettiwar, as well as his long-time rival, Sharad Pawar, the Maratha strongman. Managing these internal dynamics will be crucial for Chavan’s future. Pritviraj Chavan’s political journey has been relatively smooth. He is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied mechanical engineering. Before entering politics, Chavan worked in the U.S. in the fields of aircraft instrumentation and anti-submarine warfare, and later returned to India to become an entrepreneur. His clean, low-profile image has earned him the respect of many, and he has held several key positions, including Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and General Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee.


Chavan’s entry into Maharashtra politics came in 2010 when Sonia Gandhi chose him to replace Ashok Chavan as Chief Minister, following the Adarsh Scam. The Congress leadership wanted to project a clean image, and Chavan was the ideal candidate and they succeeded for a limited period. Before the state elections of 2014 both the alliances – NCP-CONGRESS & SENA -BJP parted ways which befitted the BJP largely and Modi wave was also the major reason. The corruption charges on the NCP leaders like Ajit Pawar , Hassan Mushrif etc damaged the parties name & Senior Pawar blames everything to this to Prihtviraj Chavan who was the chief minister that point of time.


Maharashtra’s political scenario has changed drastically since 2014, and the state is once again at the centre of a high-stakes political battle. The BJP, which held significant sway until 2019, faced a major setback when Sharad Pawar played a pivotal role in keeping them out of power. The Shiv Sena revolt, which led to Eknath Shinde becoming Chief Minister, further complicated the political landscape.

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