759: The Way to Build Collective Power, with Ruchika T. Malhotra

25 snips

Nov 17, 2025

Ruchika T. Malhotra, founder of Candour and inclusion strategy expert, shares transformative ideas on collaboration over competition. She emphasizes the power of inviting others to the table, highlighting the impact of genuine praise without expectation. Ruchika advocates for asking deeper questions to build trust and encourages transparency in professional relationships to foster collective wealth. Her insights on evaluating connections and promoting community through small gestures inspire listeners to rethink how we engage with one another in our careers.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Friendship Over Rivalry

Ruchika describes her long friendship with Aiko Bathia, a fellow inclusion leader who could have been a rival but became a collaborator.
They once competed for the same contract and Ruchika celebrated Aiko's win, valuing long-term partnership over short-term rivalry.

INSIGHT

Competition Is A Choice

Ruchika realized competition is a default choice, not a necessity, and that opting out can be intentional.
She coined "uncompete" to describe deliberately rejecting zero-sum rules and choosing collective approaches.

ADVICE

Praise Without An Ask

Reach out to someone who inspires you and send a genuine compliment without asking for anything.
Make this a small, regular practice even if it's just one person a year to build collective power.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Ruchika T. Malhotra: Uncompete

Ruchika T. Malhotra is the founder of Candour, a global inclusion strategy firm that has worked with some of the world’s biggest organizations. She’s been recognized multiple times by Thinkers50 and co-wrote one of Harvard Business Review’s top 100 most-read articles in history: Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome. She is the author of Inclusion on Purpose, MIT Press’s top-selling book of 2022 and now her newest book, Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

A lot of people think about work as a competition for resources. But what if, by inviting others to the table, you created more for everyone? In this conversation, Ruchika and I explore the opportunity for all of us to uncompete.

Key Points

Many of us are so socialized to compete that we don’t realize the benefits of collective collaboration.
Reach out to someone who inspires you. Praising someone for something awesome about them, without an accompanying ask, is so rare.
Display genuine curiosity. Don’t confuse “nice” small talk for depth. Ask bigger questions that get to the heart of who people are.
As you build trust, talk numbers. In the professional context, real relationships of trust demand this kind of transparency.
Take regular stock of relationships. Take people at their word and also watch how their actions line up – or don’t.
Invite others to the table. The bigger your circle, the more you create for everybody.

Resources Mentioned

Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success by Ruchika T. Malhotra (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

End Imposter Syndrome in Your Organization, with Jodi-Ann Burey (episode 556)
How to Create Inclusive Hiring Practices, with Ruchika Tulshyan (episode 589)
Doing Better Than Zero-Sum Thinking, with Renée Mauborgne (episode 641)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.