Ep 446: The Joyful Agency of Luis Miranda

**Luis Miranda** (0:06)
The greatest talent in the world is the ability to do things, to not just be brilliant or gifted or skillful in this or that, but the drive to constantly be in motion, try new things, get out of your comfort zone. At one level, this is the part to good fortune. If we increase our surface level of serendipity, good things are more likely to happen to us. At another level, this is also the part to excellence. The more we do things, the more we learn, the better we get. Agency is underrated.
Today's episode is a lesson in just how much we can achieve if we keep moving.

**Amit Varma** (0:42)
Welcome to The Seen and the Unseen, our weekly podcast on economics, politics and behavioral science. Please welcome your host, Amit Varma.

**Luis Miranda** (0:56)
Welcome to The Seen and the Unseen. My guest today is Luis Miranda, who had an outstanding corporate career, was involved in setting up HDFC Bank and IDFC private equity, where he was a CEO, but is perhaps living the most satisfying phase of his life today, in which he spends his time trying to give back to society. Luis is a chairman of the Centre for Civil Society, the co-founder of the Indian School of Public Policy, and has his fingers in many pies in this space. I've known him for a few years, was delighted to get him on the show, and was blown away by his energy and drive. In this conversation, we spoke about his journey as pioneer in Indian banking, about the state of India and how it can be improved, about education, about health care, about parenthood, about the joy of working, and about how there is greater purpose in giving away money than in making it. I love this conversation, you will too, but first, let's take a quick commercial break.
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Uplevel yourself.
Luis, welcome to The Seen and the Unseen.

**Luis Miranda** (3:20)
Thank you, Amit. Thank you for having me here.

**Luis Miranda** (3:23)
You have mentioned in the past that something that you remember and that struck you from your time at Chicago Booth doing an MBA was this sign that you saw while you're here and not somewhere else. So I'm going to ask you that question, not with reference to why are you in my home studio.

**Luis Miranda** (3:39)
Well, actually that's why I asked you that question. Why am I here?

**Luis Miranda** (3:42)
Yeah. No, no. Yeah, before we recorded. Gender readers, before we recorded, Luis asked me why did you call me? Why am I here? Which is, so I don't mean in this room right now recording the show, but in life, why are you where you are, what you do?
How has this question changed for you and where are you with this question right now?

**Luis Miranda** (4:01)
Thank you, Amit. So it's interesting. I've just come back from a weekend in a small village called Shetfal near outside Cholapur.
I was with the team from Koro, which is a non-profit that works on grassroots leadership and women empowerment. We spent some time with some of the communities over there and meeting some very interesting people plus hanging out with the team. At the last exercise, we were all asked to give a comment on what are some of the things that we did. I was actually reflecting on a session that I did the first morning, and it was starting off with this question, why are you here and not somewhere else? That actually has been something that I keep telling people to ask themselves periodically, and it's a good way to help you take stock of where you are.