Ever felt like your career has hit a plateau despite working tirelessly? You’re not alone. Many professionals experience periods where progress feels stagnant, promotions seem elusive, and opportunities don’t knock as often. Often, the problem lies in subtle, overlooked red flags—behaviours, habits, or circumstances—that hinder growth. These red flags can quietly derail your trajectory, leaving you stuck without realising why.

In this article, we’ll uncover seven hidden red flags that could be silently affecting your professional growth. By recognising these early on, you can take proactive steps to realign your path and reignite your career momentum.

7 Red flags slowing down your career growth

1. Overcommitting without prioritising

Why it’s a red flag

Saying “yes” to everything might make you seem helpful, but it often leads to burnout and dilutes the quality of your work. Employers value results, not just effort.

What to do

Learn to prioritise tasks based on their impact. Use frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix to decide what’s urgent and important. Politely decline or delegate tasks that don’t align with your core responsibilities.

2. Avoiding feedback or criticism

Why it’s a red flag

Fear of feedback can stunt your learning curve. Constructive criticism is a tool for improvement, but avoiding it can leave gaps in your skills.

What to do

Embrace feedback as an opportunity to grow. Regularly seek input from colleagues or supervisors, and focus on actionable steps to improve.

3. Staying in your comfort zone

Why it’s a red flag

Routines can feel safe, but they can also lead to stagnation. Innovation and growth often require stepping into unfamiliar territory.

What to do

Take on challenges that push your boundaries. Volunteer for projects outside your expertise or learn new skills to keep your growth dynamic.

4. Poor networking habits

Why it’s a red flag

Your network can open doors to opportunities you wouldn’t find otherwise. Failing to build or nurture professional relationships can limit your reach.

What to do

Attend industry events, connect with peers on platforms like LinkedIn, and maintain relationships by regularly engaging with your network.

5. Neglecting soft skills development

Why it’s a red flag

Technical expertise is vital, but emotional intelligence, communication, and teamwork are equally important for leadership roles and career advancement.

What to do

Invest time in developing your soft skills. Consider courses, workshops, or books focused on areas like negotiation, active listening, and conflict resolution.

6. Ignoring industry trends

Why it’s a red flag

Industries evolve rapidly. Ignoring trends or failing to upskill according to market demands can make your expertise obsolete.

What to do

Stay informed through industry news, webinars, or certifications. Adapting to changes keeps you relevant and valuable in your field.

7. Toxic workplace dynamics

Why it’s a red flag

A toxic work environment—marked by poor communication, favouritism, or lack of recognition—can drain your energy and stifle your potential.

What to do

Identify the signs early. If efforts to improve the culture fail, don’t hesitate to explore better opportunities elsewhere. Your mental and professional well-being matter.

Recognising these seven red flags is the first step toward reclaiming your professional growth. Awareness allows you to address these challenges proactively, fostering a career path that aligns with your goals and aspirations.

Take stock of where you stand today—are any of these red flags present in your career? By tackling them head-on, you’ll be better equipped to break free from stagnation and reach new heights of success.

In 2016, NASA published an image of a fire raging across the largest landfill in Mumbai, underscoring India’s escalating waste management crisis and sparking public concern and action. 

Situated near Thane Creek, the Deonar dumping ground stretches across 326 acres, receiving over 3,700 metric tons of trash daily—nearly one-third of the city’s waste back then. 

Amidst this, two NGO founders–Rahul Nainani and Gurashish Singh Sahni–realised the issue of a large amount of waste ending up in landfills. In 2016, they founded ReCircle to address the same. 

Today, ReCircle–a data and supply chain company–is working on digitising India’s waste supply chain and monetising the data that flows through this supply chain. 

How did it begin?

In 2015, Nainani and Sahni first met at a Google startup weekend and decided to start an NGO model to connect households in Deonar to institutions for waste collection. However, the Deonar fire in the following year led the founders to pivot to develop a system that focuses on diverting waste away from landfills and oceans. 

“One of the things we found was that the average life expectancy of people living around the dumpsite (Deonar) was about 38-37 years of age. These people don’t work in the dumpsite but live in the penitentiary of the dumpsite itself. And that was a wake-up call–it is happening in the heart of the city, in Mumbai,” Nainani, CEO of ReCircle, tells YourStory. 

“If it is affecting the people living around the dumpsite, how soon will it start affecting the rest of us?”–the duo were plagued by the question.

ReCircle started its operations under a business-to-consumer (B2C) model, but after three years, in 2019, the company realised it needed to procure larger volumes of waste to create an impact in the ecosystem and pivoted to a B2B model. “That is when we saw most of our growth come in,” he adds. 

According to the co-founder, the waste management sector did not exist when the company was established–either for investors or customers. Initially, ReCircle struggled to convince people of the need for recycling. 

Another challenge was to get the right team, as the co-founders did not have a background in the waste management sector prior to starting the company. 

“It’s kind of like a non-sexy business. You’re not going to a tech startup that is growing and building something along those lines. So, finding the right team, getting the right people, building around that, and ensuring VCs see a bigger potential around that (was a challenge),” Nainani notes. 

Business model

ClimaOne, ReCircle’s proprietary software, offers a reverse supply chain for plastic waste by connecting waste aggregators and collectors to recyclers and processors. 

The platform enables the company to track and trace material that flows across this supply chain, giving it access to data ranging from where the waste was collected to how much was procured and what value it holds. 

ReCircle sells this data to its clients, including Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Nestle, in the form of credits to meet their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals set by government regulatory bodies under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) service.

The Mumbai-based company works with 400 collection partners across 250+ locations in India. In March 2024, the company recovered over 169,000 tonnes of waste through its supply chain. To put this into context, the co-founder says 169,000 tonnes is equivalent to the weight of over 28,000 full-grown. 

Additionally, it has partnered with local scrap dealers, adopting a similar model to cab aggregators, where the dealer earns a portion of the waste collected. 

“We have collection partners that run their independent businesses, and we provide them with this platform to give an additional source of income and be part of our supply chain. We basically transact with them in terms of volumes that we need to collect from them,” Nainani explains.

The company offers another service to clients, called the Plastic Neutral Program, which targets micro and small enterprises exempted from EPR compliances and provides a voluntary credit mechanism to these companies. 

In April, ReCircle started a new project, Project Extra Life, in Mumbai with Circular Apparel Innovation Factory to target textile waste, where it has a system to recover and collect old textile materials from households, offices, and fashion houses, among others. 

The path forward

ReCircle aims to work towards ethical circularity and is recycling waste material by itself along with its partners to achieve the same.  

Earlier in September, the startup raised an undisclosed investment in a bridge round co-led by Venture Catalysts, Mumbai Angels, and high-net-worth individuals (HNIs). At present, it is in discussions with investors to raise a Series A round. 

“With their focus on working towards ethical circularity and plans to forward integrate into the plastic waste supply chain, the company will not only be able to provide high-quality, traceable recycled plastic content to companies using plastic packaging but also build a new revenue channel,” said Shalini Chhabra of 3i Partners.

3i Partners had invested in ReCircle’s pre-Series A funding round in 2023, along with Flipkart Ventures and Acumen Fund Inc.

“We are already collecting bottles for Coca-Cola, which we are sending for recycling. We intend to set up our own recycling plant with this fundraise, where we convert these recycled bottles into granules that can be used to make new bottles out of that ecosystem. So, our forward integration with the plastic supply chain is one we are looking at in terms of using our investment into setting up our own recycling unit,” Nainani says.

The company, which aims to begin its recycling unit by early next financial year, is also exploring export opportunities for plastic granules in the US, European, and Middle Eastern markets, where there is a bigger consumer awareness and demand for recycled material. 

According to Mordor Intelligence, India’s waste management market size is estimated at $12.90 billion in 2024, expected to reach $13.30 billion by 2029, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 6.10% between 2024 and 2029. 

Going forward, ReCircle aims to increase its revenue channel by selling recycled plastics to the same brand owners it currently collaborates with as a new source of revenue. 

The company targets over $23 million in the next three years and has been cash flow positive since FY23.

ReCircle was part of YourStory’s Tech30 list, which looked at India’s 30 most promising startups poised to become major disruptors across fields.

Hello,

What do you call an ex-unicorn? 

A recent transition towards a direct distribution model and a muted demand for Mamaearth has cost Honasa Consumer its unicorn status. 

Honasa Consumer’s shares fell about 29% across sessions since its close last week, despite the company clarifying that its distribution value chain carried a total inventory of Rs 40.69 crore, against the quoted figure of Rs 300 crore of near-expiry inventory by the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation, 

At market close on Thursday, the company’s shares were trading at Rs 237.40 apiece, down 9.99%, tanking the company’s total market cap to Rs 7,721 crore (roughly $902 million) from its IPO valuation of Rs 10,500 crore. 

It wasn’t a bright day for Gautam Adani, either. 

Adani Group companies lost about $27 billion in market value after Adani and a few others were indicted on alleged bribery and fraud charges by US prosecutors to win solar power plant contracts, expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years. 

Adani Enterprises closed down 23% in its worst single-day drop since February 2023, although Adani Group denied the allegations as “baseless”. It added that it would seek “all possible legal recourse”.

But there was more bad news. Kenyan President William Ruto cancelled certain Adani contracts in the first major business fallout after the indictment.

ICYMI: All that happened in the Adani case. 

Lastly, meet the new entrant to LinkedIn–Varun Dhawan!

The Bollywood actor took to the professional networking social media platform and said he wanted to connect with professionals beyond just the entertainment industry. 

As they say, there’s no age to learn new things!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• India’s love for short video
• Bounce on path to profitability
• Driving diversity in entrepreneurship

Here’s your trivia for today: What Christmas single has the biggest sales of all time?

Internet

India’s love for short videos

India’s short-form video market has grown 3.6 times in daily users since 2020, thanks to its reach in smaller cities and better content, according to Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Scroll:

• Mukesh Kumar, Associate Partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants, believes India’s digital advertising market is projected to nearly double by FY29 to reach $16–17 billion, with video advertising leading the way as the fastest-growing ad format.
• More than 50% of short-form video users are monetisable, the report noted. The discretionary spending of these users is often directed toward ecommerce, OTT, in-app purchases, and paid gaming services.
• Currently, over 63% of the short-form video engagement is coming from Tier II+ regions, with platforms like Josh and Moj tailoring content for local languages and preferences.

Startup: Zopper

Amount: $25M

Round: Series D

Startup: CredFlow

Amount: $3.7M

Round: Pre-Series B

Startup: O4H

Amount: Rs 1 Cr

Round: Seed

Interview

Bounce CEO outlines path to profitability

After multiple pivots, Bounce entered the EV ecosystem in 2021 and has since managed to significantly narrow its net losses consecutively until FY23. The company is yet to file its FY24 results, but according to Vivekananda Hallekere, CEO and Co-founder of Bounce, it turned EBIT positive in September for the first time and is on track to clock in Rs 100 crore in revenue in FY25. 

Growing business:

• The company started its journey in 2014 as a premium bike rental company that offered two-wheelers across a range of brands from Harley Davidson to Ducati. It later became a scooter rental platform in 2016.
• According to Hallekere, the company is the only Indian OEM today that has been able to integrate with battery-swapping operators. 
• While Bounce operates in the B2C segment, it also focuses on B2B use cases. “In the last two quarters, we worked closely with logistics companies and quick commerce companies,” Hallekere added.

Women entrepreneur

Driving diversity in entrepreneurship

Avneet Kohli is the co-founder of Encubay, a global startup and angel platform that aims to drive diversity in entrepreneurship and investing.

Over the past four years, Kohli and Co-founder Deeksha Ahuja conceptualised six IPs or properties. The most popular is the Power Circle—a safe space for women to share ideas, network, and meet peers in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Dubai.

Connecting:

• As part of Encubay Global Immersion Week, it also hosts SoarUp, a pitch competition for startups to showcase what they are building to potential investors. 
• Other initiatives include Fempreneurs—a scaling-up and business acceleration programme led by industry experts; FounderFounder—where women ace their pitch and build relationships with investors over casual cocktails, canapes, and conversations, and Women in Emerging Tech, which helps women upskill.
• In the future, Encubay wants to strengthen its presence in the UAE market, in terms of engagement and investors, including scaling and building structure systems. 

News & updates

• Chrome: The US Justice Department argued that Google should divest its Chrome browser as part of a remedy to break up the company’s illegal monopoly in online search. If the DOJ’s proposed remedy is approved, Google would not be allowed to re-enter the search market for five years.
• Unsubscribe: WhatsApp is testing new ways for users to provide feedback to WhatsApp Businesses about what kind of messages they would want to receive—or not receive. This involves buttons like “interested/not interested” and “stop/resume” for some specific categories of messages. 
• AI: Nvidia said its latest generation of chips, known as Blackwell, launched earlier this year, is in “great shape”, as the world’s most valuable company reported another strong quarter of revenue growth, thanks to high demand for the infrastructure that has underpinned the artificial intelligence boom.

What Christmas single has the biggest sales of all time?

Answer: White Christmas by Bing Crosby, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.

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