The Lens You Didn't Know You Were Wearing | LC Singh | TEDxBocconiUMumbai

L. C. Singh, Founder and Executive Chairman of Nihilent, recalls a night in 1979 when he arrived in Karachi without a visa after leaving revolution-hit Tehran. He describes how an immigration officer's hostility faded once they found a shared love of ghazals. Drawing on this memory and a later mid-air turbulence scare, he argues that emotion shapes how people build their sense of reality, and that learning to recognise this lens rather than trusting it blindly matters for leadership and technology.

• A 1979 arrival in Karachi without a visa, after leaving Tehran
• A shared love of ghazals changes an immigration officer's attitude
• Emotion as the lens through which people construct reality
• Recognising that lens as a skill for leadership and technology

L. C. Singh is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Nihilent. In this talk, L. C. Singh revisits a night in 1979 when he landed in Karachi without a visa, fleeing revolution-torn Tehran, and found an immigration officer's hostility dissolve the moment they discovered a shared love of ghazals. From that memory and a mid-air turbulence scare years later, he unpacks how emotion is the lens through which we construct reality and why learning to recognise that lens, rather than trust it blindly, may be the most important skill leadership and technology can offer us. "L. C. Singh is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Nihilent, and an alumnus of both IIT BHU and Harvard Business School. A technologist, filmmaker, photographer, and author, his work today explores the intersection of leadership, Emotion AI, and human-centred technology. He is the author of Things We Don't See and The Collapse of Illusions, both of which challenge conventional ways of thinking. His journey is rooted in questioning assumptions and looking beyond what is immediately visible. Drawing from technology, philosophy, and lived experience, he would offer audiences a thought-provoking perspective on leadership, perception, and the ideas that quietly shape our reality." This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx