Why Authors Can Stop Competing with Ruchika Malhotra
What if success wasn’t about competition but collaboration? In this episode of Kind of a Big Book Deal, host Meghan Stevenson sits down with bestselling author Ruchika Tulshyan, whose new book Uncompete flips the script on what it means to win. Ruchika shares how the myth of “doing it all yourself” keeps entrepreneurs and authors burnt out and isolated and how equity, generosity, and radical collaboration can build true, sustainable success.
Listeners will learn why letting go of scarcity thinking opens doors to creativity, opportunity, and community. Ruchika and Meghan talk candidly about navigating publishing gatekeepers, building authentic professional relationships, and finding courage to redefine success on your own terms. Whether you’re dreaming of your first book deal or just want to stop competing with everyone, including yourself, this conversation will change how you think about success.
This week’s guest is Ruchika Tulshyan. Ruchika is the author of Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success. She is also the founder of Candour, a global inclusion strategy firm. A former business journalist, her writing appears regularly in publications such as Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Seattle Times, and more. She has previously held adjunct faculty positions at Seattle University and the University of Washington, where she now advises the Communication Leadership graduate program.
Ruchika is the author of Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work, MIT Press’s top-selling book of 2022.
Find Ruchika on social
Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success, will be released on Nov. 4. Preorder the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/753092/uncompete-by-ruchika-t-malhotra/
Find upcoming events with Ruchika at https://www.ruchika.co/speaking.