Ruchika T. Malhotra | Uncompete

I am enormously proud to share my new speaker reel! I come from a culture where women don't share their wins and it's considered immodest to celebrate out loud. I navigated a HUGE amount of self-doubt and discomfort as we put this together, but the end result is so humbling...and I hope, inspiring for others who were taught to be small, like I was. More thanks than words can express to all who have supported me and made this possible—from my family to childcare providers to coaches to clients to friends! And a HUGE thanks to my incredible Chief of Staff, Vanessa Arias (@vanessa_s_arias ), who skillfully stitched this all together. For more, my website is linked in stories. I'm represented by the wonderful team at Stern Strategy Group, please reach out to them for inquiries.

Woke up to the news that #Uncompete is among the 100 top-selling books in America this week! Thank you to all who helped us get here—especially YOU for buying this book. 🙏🏽💕 Most special of all was sharing this celebration with my mum and my son, who have a beautiful ritual of drinking chai together every morning. They were delighted! 😭❤️

Thank you for showing up, NYC 💙 Video by @starlasampaco , from my conversation with @sahajkohli and @ucheblackstockmd at @powerhousearena ! 24 hours until our Seattle Town Hall book launch! If you’re in the area, I would love to see you there. This conversation is just getting started. I’ll be at @townhall_seattle with @ijeomaoluo , @ekoshy and @lakitamwilliams on November 6. Thank you for partnering @elliottbaybookco and @lt_sea . See you there!! Link in stories. #Uncompete

My first #Substack note is posted. The number one conversation I have with women (of colour) doing any of the things I do: writing, speaking, books, research is “Why is this so hard/why did no one tell me/why is this information not publicly available/why is there so much gatekeeping?” Would love to know whether this is of interest?

There is no part of my identity that has influenced my journey in the US more than being an “immigrant.” It is a fraught, painful, misunderstood and mischaracterized word, but one that is also beautiful because each of us brings a whole home to where we go, and what would any country be without the abundance—ripe and juicy—we bring? My family is so honored to center our giving every year to @n.w.i.r.p and please join us by contributing anything you can. The need is so urgent in this cruel time. Thanks to the brave NW Immigrants Rights Project for hosting a fabulous gala, and board member @karinasanjuan__ and leader @aartikhanna for inviting me last night. It was the hope and inspiration I needed right now. ❤️

For the first time, I painted (collaboratively) before I spoke at an event. As I filled in leaves with different shades of green, I literally felt the tension leave my body. When I painted one side pink (sunrise?), my breathing slowed all the way down. The result was a collaboratively created beautiful mural by @radicistudios at an event this week at @goal_keypr with @lakitamwilliams , Martha Shaughnessy, and Alison Vendt. To make art, hands-on, a few miles away from Silicon Valley, then go on to discuss the role of human-centered work in the age of AI…❤️ Creative, joyful resistance! AI adoption doesn't have to be an all or nothing endeavor; we must be thoughtful to figure out how best to use it and slowing down and time away from our screens offers an excellent way to do this. Each attendee got to paint and @radicistudios expertly added our words to it. I highly recommend making time to make art—whatever that means to you. In the age of AI, it will root you, ground you, nourish you. 🌲

I’m extremely frustrated with this shame-and-blame narrative telling women they need to use AI or perish—a tired old narrative we should really know better to engage with. And yet. I was working on an article last month and actually read the original HBS study in entirety—which LITERALLY was misused by a popular female “influencer” to use scarcity and fear tactics to get us to fear-adopt AI. Here’s what the original study found: 🎤 Women ARE adopting AI tools at an estimated 25% lower rate than men. (Actual numbers are between 10 and 40%.) 🎤 This is because of ethical concerns and fear of being judged harshly for using them. 🎤 Indeed, there’s concern it will impact women’s career progress BUT equally, businesses will lose out as a result AND the AI’s learning will be less gender balanced. 🎤 SO the key takeaway from the researchers was: “it’s important to create an environment in which everybody feels they can participate and try these tools and won’t be judged.” 🎤 AS SUCH: the researchers recommended—widely available AI training where *everyone* has an opportunity to feel comfortable with the tools and also creating a culture where using AI (and the corresponding mistakes) are encouraged. It’s necessary to understand the risks and penalties of bias before shaming women for not doing something. I’ve been banging on this drum for at least 15 years and it’s frustrating that the tech/hot button topics change but the “women, you need to change” narrative is a tale as old as time. 😭👀🤦🏽‍♀️

I’m asked all the time how to look for people who Uncompete. My number one sign: look for people who make you feel safe in their presence. Not because they blow smoke or pomp, but in their presence, your nervous system slows down and your heart feels open. We’re taught to ignore signals from our bodies, but it’s the most powerful voice we have. In the five years I’ve known @lakitamwilliams , I’ve learnt the most important lesson: never, never, ever stop betting on yourself. Even when no one else does. As a result of being in her orbit, I’ve dreamt of more, asked for more, accepted only the best and hopefully, created the capacity to give more. To live the audacious life of my dreams, devoid of scarcity and fear. Happy Birthday, my dear friend. So grateful to live this life (and all the wildest rides!) with you. ❤️😘 (Also, the power of legacy—La’Kita’s daughter Janiah is a superstar!)

This Mother’s Day, I spent my morning in bed while my husband and son whipped up huevos rancheros from scratch. It was absolutely delicious. Even the pico de gallo and refried beans were handmade! 🥰 When we finished eating, I told my son that his dad and I hadn’t seen men or boys in the kitchen ever, growing up. In fact, we were told in many subtle and overt ways that males were too important to prep, cook or clean up a meal. That every day his dad does the breakfast service or packs lunch or he cuts his own fruit & makes his lunch sandwich, we are making tiny shifts towards a more equal world. In these times where injustice is overwhelming and we can feel helpless in every moment, I’m trying to stay the course and keep the faith by looking for little signals of progress. Much of yogic philosophy guides us to notice, understand that all we can control is ourselves and sometimes, in the small there can still be meaningful advancement. It’s not big and there’s no award. But if we stop to take stock, maybe we can find the courage to keep on going.

This week, ‘#Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success,’ turned 6 months old! Thanks to every single person who championed it in these times! If I may, I’d love for you to consider reading or re-reading my book, this Mother’s Day. My book is a love letter to my incredible mum, Seema—a woman who overcame deep hardship to live a life of her dreams. Even in the face of scarcity and pain, she always operated with radical generosity and a spirit of lifting others up that I hope to embody just a slice of someday. Which taught me we have more agency to be generous than we think, no matter what goes on around us. And that it is a radical act to choose that approach as resistance to competitive, zero-sum, winner-take-all systems and individuals. Whatever your relationship is to the day tomorrow, I hope you give yourself love and know that even in the darkest spaces, there can be light when we choose to celebrate one another. ❤️💕

How do leaders addressing some of the nation’s most urgent needs–poverty, emergency food, shelter–move forward when resources disappear, seemingly overnight? With courage, creativity and collaboration. It was my deep privilege to be in a keynote conversation with Tom Gabriel, the heart-centered Executive Director at United Way Westchester and Putnam (@unitedwaywp ) at the 2026 Nonprofit Leadership Summit, where we talked about all this and more. We discussed what leadership looks like when crisis hits–how leaning on each other, not turning against each other or operating from a competitive mindset–is how we survive and thrive in these times. Thank you to the brave leaders in attendance, and the fantastic team who invited me and put on an incredible gathering, especially Tom, Avery Zuvic, Emilie Enciso, and Polly Lagana! Photos by Charmaine White and Michael J. Cardamom for the United Way of Westchester and Putnam.

If you missed it, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing The New York Times, claiming they discriminated against a white man. The EEOC have also been actively investigating Coca-Cola, for holding a women’s event. I stand in total solidarity with the one voice of reason, the only Democratic Commissioner on the EEOC, Kalpana Kotagal, who wrote: “With the agency at historically low staffing levels, every decision to use precious agency resources on political cases like this, is a decision not to bring righteous cases on behalf of the workers who need us most. That is a grave disservice to the public.” If we needed more evidence that zero-sum, scarcity, hierarchical and competitive thinking is dangerous, this is it. When an agency set up to protect our most vulnerable gets willfully misused like this, it’s a concerning precedent. Image: @nymag