What I Learned from Lying on My Resume (And Why It Changed How I Think About Business)

Twenty years ago, drowning in student debt and surviving on mac & cheese (the kind that comes in a box, not the fancy stuff with breadcrumbs and bacon that people post on Instagram), I learned my first profound lesson about success — one that no business school could teach me.

As a recent immigrant from India pursuing my MBA in Canada, I was firing off resumes into what felt like a void. Like George Costanza trying to land a job as a latex salesman, my qualifications seemed to matter less than some unwritten code I couldn’t crack. Despite my credentials, the responses were virtually non-existent. The silence was so deafening, I started to wonder if Canada Post was running some sort of elaborate practical joke.

Frustrated and running low on both money and hope (and seriously questioning my lifetime supply of mac & cheese), I decided to put my anthropological training to use and run a small experiment.

I sent out the exact same resumes and cover letters to the same companies. The only difference? I changed my first name from “Ujwal” to “Robert.” Suddenly, I wasn’t just Ujwal with an MBA — I was Bob from accounting, potential team player, possible golf buddy.

The response rate jumped to 20%.

Now, I’m not sharing this as a commentary on bias (things have improved significantly in the past two decades…I think), but rather because it taught me something crucial about success: There are invisible rules governing every system, every industry, every path forward. These rules aren’t written down in books about entrepreneurship or taught in MBA programs. They exist to maintain existing power structures and preserve “the way things have always been done” — even when that way no longer serves us.

This realization has shaped my entire entrepreneurial journey. When I built and scaled MotivBase to a high eight-figure exit, I wasn’t just executing a business plan — I was carefully navigating these invisible rules of the game. I was applying my training in cultural anthropology to understand not just what was explicitly stated, but what was implicitly required for success.

Here’s what fascinated me: These invisible rules don’t just apply to individual careers. They shape entire industries. When you’re building a company and trying to disrupt an established landscape, you’re not just competing with other products or services — you’re challenging unspoken assumptions about how things “should” work.

This is why traditional business advice often falls short. We read the usual tactical frameworks and believe we all have an equal shot if we just follow the steps. But success isn’t just about what you do — it’s about understanding the cultural context in which you’re doing it.

This revelation became the foundation for my upcoming book, tentatively titled “The Paradox of Expectation,” and drives the insights I share in my Decision Lab newsletter. I’ve realized that my greatest contribution might not be teaching entrepreneurs another framework for product development or market analysis. Instead, it’s helping them become culturally astute — teaching them to read and navigate the invisible rules that traditional business education never mentions.

Because here’s the truth: Success isn’t just about working harder or being more innovative. It’s about understanding the deep cultural currents that shape what’s possible, then learning to navigate them skillfully.

Do you understand your industry's invisible rules? Take this 3-minute quiz to find out how well you're reading the game everyone else is playing.

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