Yesterday, I was doing a virtual session for group of school students organised by GUSEC and UNICEF. These students are in 8-12 class’s. Initially, I was a little apprehensive if i can do justice to them in walking them through Business Models. How can I relate the examples? Also, many are also from Hindi medium and I really get very conscious with my Hindi, especially when I know the other person knows the language more fluently than me ?
The session started and I have to admit, these students are much more capable and matured than most of us are.
Let me give you an example. When I ask the participants How do you generate ideas?, many give different answers and mostly they don’t get the right word. Yesterday, when I started my session with this question, one girl (probably in Standard 8 or 9) instantaneously answered “By Observing”. I was blown away. This is the first time someone gave me the correct answer in the blink of an eye. I understood this session is going to be tough. Through the next two hours, many had questions and asked without any inhibitions. Questions ranged from,
- How do I know I have a powerful idea,
- Can I build a business without actually having to run the business
- How do I license my idea to someone and generate income.
Can you believe these questions? Trust me, I have never come across any grown adult who had these questions in any forum I have visited till date.
Now, coming to the main aspect. From the first answer i got from the little girl, I started referencing Observation during most of the session.
Observation is very important and powerful for ideators. Only when you observe do you really understand the problem and the possible solutions.
Have you watched Big Vape? Its a limited series on Netflix. Its the story Juul, the vape which created a revolution. The keen observation of James Monsees and Adam Bowen (who were friends and smokers too) led them to create something which give the kick of smoking, but without the side effects. The story of how it created a revolution and then fell is a different story, but what I am focusing here is their observation to create the pod. The design, the convenience and the ability to charge it using your laptop, made it a huge success.
What Ideators need is the ability to see through the problem, experience it and then start working on possible solutions. Without experiencing the domain, you cannot build a solution.
Observe, it is the key to a successful idea.