Failure Files by IDR artwork

Failure Files by IDR

20 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago -

Failure Files by India Development Review (IDR) is a show where social entrepreneurs and leaders talk about their failures and lessons learned. In every episode, hear people at the frontlines of social change reflect upon their own experiences with failing, and how those setbacks made them better leaders.

Non-Profit Business
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Episodes

Assume less, prepare more | Sarita Upadhyay

June 23, 2022 20:30 - 15 minutes - 35.6 MB

What should a nonprofit think about when planning for scale? In today’s episode, Sarita Upadhyay reflects on her initial years at Medha, a nonprofit that helps young people transition from the world of education to employment. She talks about the time the team got an opportunity to scale the organisation’s programme. However, decisions based on assumptions, gaps in internal communication, and an overall lack of preparedness resulted in the team at Medha losing out on almost two years of work...

When ambition exceeds ability | Gaurav Singh

June 16, 2022 20:30 - 9 minutes - 20.9 MB

What happens when an organisation’s ambitious plans exceed its ability to execute them? On today’s episode we have Gaurav Singh, co-founder of Slam Out Loud, a nonprofit using the arts to build communication skills in children from vulnerable communities. Gaurav talks about the time when he and his co-founder took on more work than they had the capacity to manage. With their attention spread thin across multiple areas, they ended up losing the project of their dreams. Gaurav Singh is a purp...

Preparing for a marathon, not a sprint | Thenmozhi Soundararajan

June 01, 2022 10:25 - 18 minutes - 41.7 MB

What does self-care mean for those who are fighting systems of oppression and discrimination that are set up against them? On this episode, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, founder and executive director of Equality Labs, a Dalit civil rights organisation, talks about how systems of oppression affect well-being, what healing looks like for individuals and communities, and why failure is an opportunity to build power. Thenmozhi Soundararajan is a transmedia artist and activist. She is the founder an...

The road to recovery | Suchetha Bhat, Vishal Talreja

May 27, 2022 05:25 - 24 minutes - 55.1 MB

In Part II of this conversation, Dream a Dream CEO Suchetha Bhat and co-founder Vishal Talreja talk about what it took to rebuild an organisation in crisis, and how that led to discovering a new kind of leadership—one that the world needs more of. Suchetha Bhat is the CEO of Dream a Dream, a nonprofit that empowers children from vulnerable backgrounds to thrive. Since starting her career in 2001, she has worked both in the corporate and social sectors. Under her leadership, Dream a Dream ha...

Having a dream is not enough | Vishal Talreja, Suchetha Bhat

May 27, 2022 04:29 - 15 minutes - 35.6 MB

In Part I of this conversation with IDR, Dream a Dream’s co-founder Vishal Talreja and CEO Suchetha Bhat share the story of the organisation’s implosion, Vishal’s burnout, and how owning up to failure was the first step in figuring out the way to build back up. Vishal Talreja co-founded Dream a Dream with 11 other people. He is an Ashoka Fellow, an Eisenhower Fellow, a Kamalnayan Bajaj (Aspen) Fellow, a Salzburg Global Fellow, and a board member at Goonj. Vishal was also the founder-directo...

Accepting that you can only do so much | Nisha Subramaniam

May 19, 2022 21:00 - 15 minutes - 35 MB

How much is too much? Reflecting on this question is Nisha Subramaniam, one of the four co-founders of Kanavu, an education nonprofit working in rural Tamil Nadu. On today’s episode, Nisha talks about an online initiative they launched to meet the needs of the community during COVID-19. She shares how their failure to think through the feasibility of the project ended up stretching the team too thin and almost jeopardised the future of their organisation. Nisha Subramaniam is the co-founder...

Good intentions are not enough | Itishree Behera

May 12, 2022 21:00 - 12 minutes - 27.8 MB

Are good intentions enough to create social impact? In today’s episode, Itishree Behera reflects on her year as part of a social change fellowship during which she was placed at a school in rural Uttar Pradesh. She shares how she joined the programme so focused on changing the way things were done at the school that she failed to consider the perspectives of one of its most important stakeholders—the teachers. This idea that she knew what the school needed better than the people working ther...

No right time for hard decisions | Dilip Pattubala

May 05, 2022 20:30 - 9 minutes - 22.1 MB

What happens when a nonprofit co-founder gets caught up in an unhealthy power dynamic with a funding partner? Sharing his experience is Dilip Pattubala, co-founder of Uninhibited, a nonprofit working on ending the stigma around menstruation. In this episode, he recalls how his inability to step back from a toxic partnership with a funder led to his team experiencing complete burnout, and Dilip questioning his own decisions. Dilip Pattubala is the co-founder and CEO of Uninhibited, a Bangalo...

Let’s talk about burnout | Mary Ellen Matsui

April 28, 2022 20:30 - 10 minutes - 24.8 MB

What happens when a leader fails to protect their own well-being? On today’s episode, Mary Ellen Matsui shares her story of burnout from when she was the CEO at Atma, an accelerator for education nonprofits and social enterprises. She details how, during her decade-long stint there, she experienced chronic burnout, which eventually meant that she was unable to lead her organisation effectively. After much reflection and therapy, she realised that one of the most important skills a social ent...

Learning to be a better, braver leader | Manjot Kaur

April 21, 2022 20:30 - 8 minutes - 20.2 MB

Do leaders always need to always have their act together? Unpacking this question with us today is Manjot Kaur, who tells us about her year as the executive director at Mentor Me India, an organisation providing mentorship to children from low-income communities. Manjot shares how her authoritative leadership style left her team feeling stressed, tired, and unwilling to cooperate with her. Ultimately, her inability to engage constructively with team members contributed to the organisation’s ...

Teachers vs tech | Shravan Kumar

December 03, 2021 00:30 - 8 minutes - 11.2 MB

Is technology the solution to providing quality education in India? Shravan Kumar used to think so, until he was proven wrong. The nonprofit he co-founded worked on improving access to quality education in the Naxal-affected districts of Bihar. Back then he thought that technology could easily replace teachers and lead to better learning outcomes. On today’s episode, he shares how his assumptions prevented him and his team from identifying the loopholes in their EdTech intervention. Shravan...

A crisis among co-founders | Garima Sahai

November 26, 2021 00:30 - 9 minutes - 6.92 MB

What happens when co-founders can’t agree on organisational priorities? On today’s episode of Failure Files, Garima Sahai shares her experience of co-founding Svadha, a social enterprise providing high-quality sanitation solutions for rural India. She talks about how the absence of a detailed road map for the growth of Svadha led to differences between her and her co-founder, resulting in Garima stepping away from the organisation. Garima Sahai is a United Nations and Forbes recognised soci...

A donor relationship gone wrong | Sapna Surendran

November 19, 2021 00:30 - 10 minutes - 7.23 MB

Can the power dynamic between a funder and grantee ever be equitable? Public health professional Dr Sapna Surendran tells us how a misalignment of expectations between the two led a programme to fail, and an organisation to lose a funder. Dr Sapna Surendran is a public health professional currently working with an international nonprofit. She works closely with the national and state health ministries to strengthen private sector engagement for tuberculosis (TB) services. Sapna is also invo...

Unrealistic expectations and self-doubt | Zubin Sharma

November 11, 2021 21:30 - 11 minutes - 15.9 MB

What happens when a series of professional decisions shatter your sense of identity? Zubin Sharma answers this question by telling us about his experience as founder and CEO of Project Potential, a nonprofit working on sustainable development in the rural district of Kishanganj, Bihar. On today’s episode of Failure Files, he talks about the problems he faced at the start of his entrepreneurial journey, which led him to question his self-worth as he navigated the challenges of building a succ...

Failure can look like success | Shruthi Iyer

November 04, 2021 21:30 - 12 minutes - 9.6 MB

What happens when your performance at work becomes the only definition of your self-worth? In today’s episode of Failure Files, we’ll hear from Shruthi Iyer about her year as the executive director of a nonprofit working with children from low-income communities. She tells us about how her achievements came at the cost of her mental health, and how she failed not only as a leader and colleague, but as a daughter, friend, and partner. Shruthi Iyer is a development sector professional current...

When failure is part of the feminist process | Disha Mullick

October 29, 2021 03:38 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MB

What does it mean to run a truly feminist organisation? Reflecting on this question is Disha Mullick, CEO of Chambal Media, a feminist media enterprise. Chambal Media runs Khabar Lahariya, a news platform that trains women from remote villages in North India to be professional journalists and produce local news in their own language, and from their own perspective. The team is led by a diverse group of women who cut across boundaries of class, caste, and geography. In today’s episode, Disha ...

To bribe or not to bribe? | Ghazanfar Iqbal

October 22, 2021 04:07 - 11 minutes - 8.72 MB

Is corruption simply a cost of doing business in some countries? In today’s episode of Failure Files, social entrepreneur Ghazanfar Iqbal tells us about a time when he had to choose between doing what is easy and doing what is right, and how this decision turned his life upside down. Ghazanfar Iqbal co-founded AutoSahulat, a VC-funded start-up working towards empowering mechanics in Pakistan. He also has more than a decade of experience in the corporate sector. He is currently working as th...

To fail is to have dared | Rohini Nilekani

October 14, 2021 11:05 - 22 minutes - 50.6 MB

In this episode, philanthropist, author, and journalist Rohini Nilekani speaks to India Development Review (IDR) co-founder and CEO, Smarinita Shetty, on why failure needs to be underwritten in the social sector. She talks about the importance of creating a space that normalises failure in the context of nonprofit work, how philanthropists can support failure in practice, and the role they must play to enable growth in the sector. Rohini Nilekani is chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthro...

Trailer

October 12, 2021 08:29 - 1 minute - 1.64 MB

Failure Files by India Development Review (IDR) is a show where social entrepreneurs and leaders talk about their failures and lessons learned. Every episode, hear people at the frontlines of social change reflect upon their own experiences with failing, and how those setbacks made them better leaders. New episode every Friday.

Trailer

September 30, 2021 09:12 - 1 minute - 1.66 MB

Failure Files by India Development Review (IDR) is a show where social entrepreneurs and leaders talk about their failures and lessons learned. Every episode, hear people at the frontlines of social change reflect upon their own experiences with failing, and how those setbacks made them better leaders. New episode every Friday.