Tag Archives: Innovation

Why we struggle to build innovative companies?

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There is always a question in the global and Indian media, “Why can’t India build a Apple, Microsoft or Google or any other innovative company?”. There are many answers, which I call reasons.

I have few theories as to why we face these challenges and is there a way we can address these. These theories do not just apply to building innovative companies, but also apply to our kind of living.

Constant “Follow me” instructions

Our education system is good, but many things changed from the Gurukul system to today’s education system. Times have changed but we have stopped incorporating the learnings into today’s text books. How many of you remember Moral Science? Today, this subject is not even taught in many schools.

Education should teach self confidence and ability to solve problems. But, unfortunately, only few are able to learn these either from parents or seeing the society. Today, predominantly, we do not ask questions to learn, but only to check if the teacher knows or not. Students are not encouraged to explore outside the box, but the pressure is on completing the syllabus and writing exams. What after the exams? Ranks. These ranks are useless and do not help in anything.

We do not identify the uniqueness of each student, but just focus on mass teachings. There are many movies which pointed this out, but we do not incorporate any of the learnings, but enjoy the movie and walk out.

The same attitude continues to work. Almost all companies today hire Graduates based on their marks and train them they way they need them to work, but very rarely people are hired based on their skill and knowledge. What happens then? These freshers fall into the trap of working long hours and solving problems in the way their managers ask them to solve. Here too, if an employee thinks different, manager has a problem.

As time goes by, these new joinees become managers and the cycle repeats. Where do we end this?

Few people quit their jobs and try to do something different, start their own company and industry and as the company grows, new people come into the picture and again, the cycle continues. It is very rare for an individual to become a leader.

It’s mostly “follow my orders” rather than “what do you think” attitude.

So, where is the time to innovate?

Constant Pressure for making money

How much are you making is what defines the standard of living. It will decide how you live and where your kids go to school. The cycle repeats.

In a society where there is constant pressure for making more money, it becomes difficult to innovate. Innovation takes time and dedication and during this time, limited or no funds will kill the innovation process.

Failure is rewarded with coldness

Many organisations talk about innovation, hold seminars and workshops and pretend to encourage individuals to think different, but when they actually do and try to do something, if the idea fails, employees are treated cold. So, many individuals I know don’t tend to take the initiative because of the fear of failure.

One innovative idea comes to life only after at least 100 failed attempts. If one failure decides the fate of the employee, why will anyone think of doing something different?

Bureaucracy

Let us accept, bureaucracy exists everywhere, in the US, In India and any other country. Across the Governments and also across the private organisations. Even the so called innovative companies have bureaucracy built into the system. It is not wrong. However, designing the organisation to overcome this and encourage innovative team thinking is what makes the difference and for this, leadership should take a strong stand.

Evolution of open economy

In India, the economy opened in the 90’s which enabled a lot of western companies to open their extensions in India.

When foreign companies open offices in India, 99.99% of the time it is to get some back-end work done. Employees here are only instructed to follow their motherships. So, we are used to following. Undoing this mind-set needs a very strong leadership, which very rarely happens.

In Summary, all I am saying is that we should find ways to build innovative mindset with small steps by designing a new way of working. This will take time and until then, big innovations coming out of extended offices will be difficult. Not only this, the social stigma also does not allow for thinking different, one needs a very strong personality to achieve this.

Why, What, Where and How of Innovation?

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The brain works just like a computer, so, let’s program it.


Innovation, the most commonly used noun around us. The word is so very powerful that all of us wish to use it in our daily lives, in our resume’s and most importantly, when we talk. But what actually is innovation? Why is this noun so powerful and can change lives, how do we become innovators?


There are quite a lot of books, articles, write-ups, videos and many more just on this topic. Most of these touch on the aspects of why innovation is important to organisations, but here, I would like to touch upon the very same thing for us, individuals.

The Why?

Why should we innovate ourselves? Just as organisations create innovation process to increase their value every day, we as individuals should also think outside the box from time to time to enhance our value to the family, organisation and society we live in. The moment you stop creating value, there is nothing much left for you to do.


The What?

According to science, we use 100% of our brain. However, thoughts and ideas which emerge depend on how sharp your brain is. For instance, say you never ever played basketball in your life. One day, you suddenly started playing a tournament. What would be the outcome? Other players are using techniques and methods to beat you to the game. And they will. Why? Because, they have been training their mind and body to the game. They know all the technical details of the game which will help them to visualise more permutations and combinations to scoring than you.

In the similar way, if you continuously think and exercise your brain, you will be able to bring out the best in you.

The Where?

The big question, where does innovation happen? Is it in the mind or brain?

Innovation happens in our mind supported by the activities of the brain.

Let me back this up. Mind is mental aspect and the brain is physical. When a thought arises in mind, depending on the status of the brain, the reaction comes. If the brain is active, producing normal amounts of serotonin, thoughts are backed up with meaningful thought process. But if one is not producing enough serotonin, the same thought might not yield the same result.


The How?

To learn something new, one must pay attention to two things – The Principles and Methods.
Principals are the foundation stones. Principals are nothing other than the domain knowledge. Understand the domain, to better strengthen the idea which can create a higher probable solution / innovation.
Methods are which in which you depict the solutions.

Sounds simple, but it’s a lot more effort than one can see.

Thoughts?

Is Apple losing it’s IQ?

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Yesterday’s Apple event was not much awaited (let us be honest about it, at least I was not) and what apple fans are looking for is the 10th anniversary of iPhone next year. However, as with each year, we did look forward to seeing if there are any pathbreaking innovations coming out this year.

The two major features which were predicted came true – a dual camera and removing the headphone jack. Are they really path breaking?

Is this really innovation? Let us go back into a little history. When Steve Jobs was at the helm of Apple, suddenly there were outbursts of innovation beginning with iPod to iPhone to iPad. The rhythm continued till about 2010 and then things started to slow down. Except for the change in the size of the screen, not many new innovations have come out from Apple. Every year, the only dialogue you hear is “the biggest thing ever happened to iPhone since it was born”. Definitely. This is an improvement from the previous version, but not a major change or new feature coming in except that they have started to bring out more and more accessories which will generate alternative revenues because we know iPhone sales are slowing down.

Innovation Quotient
It is important to understand at this juncture that there is a cycle of innovation and all companies have to go through it. There is a limitation – in thinking, in market acceptability and accessibility.

Apple over the last 15 years has bought out products which had a different perspective. This increased the hype of their offerings and together with Steve’s obsession for beautification and practicality (read design thinking), Apple products have changed the way the world looks at technology. Competition evolved. Even though not many are able to match/catch up to the beautification (many companies are coming close these days), there is a tough competition which has evolved. With the IP protection and patent laws, Apple was able to withhold many of its innovations and keep them in-house. Alternatives evolved.

When disruptive innovation happens, the level of hype comes down. We take the time to understand the long-term impact of a new feature/functionality. This has to be playing in as time goes by. Let us go back a little into history and look at iPad. iPad initially came in as an offering between a smartphone and personal computer. People predicted that there is no need of this offering and there is no long-term impact, but today, we look at devices like iPad and tablets as a serious alternative to a personal computer because it is easy to carry around and worked with. This lead to bringing in lighter and more compact laptops. It took a while to accept the concept of iPad and tablets, but now, all of us are using them.

During the latency period companies like apple cash in on the current needs. Look at the new iWatch, yes, good load of new aspects came in, water resistant, inbuilt GPS and ability to track your workouts, but bringing Pokemon to the watch is only going with the market craze and if they can add few bucks to their kitty by bringing this game to the watch, why not?

It is not all about Innovation all the time. It is very difficult to sustain the innovation business model. Companies need to offer best what their core is – for Apple, it is any of their products and we know they are very good.

IMHO, Apple’s Innovation Quotient has not come down. It is just that the hype level is coming down and this is a natural phenomenon. This will settle down and for a path breaking innovation to shake the markets to come in, will take a little while longer.

Disruptive Innovation

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There is a little bit of Innovation in our lives each day. We consciously strive to do something new in whatever we do.

Disruptive Innovation is something we do unknowingly or many a times, we re-invent the innovation to make it easier considering the circumstances.

For instance, Telephone is an innovation and Mobile phone is disruptive innovation. Car is an innovation, sports car is disruptive innovation and the list goes on.

Is there a framework or formula for Disruptive Innovation? There are theories on this and various frameworks to define it. But, disruptive innovation mainly focuses on enhancing the innovation which currently exists.

Internet is innovation and what follows is Disruptive. In today’s world, what we mostly see are improvisations of Innovations and most of these are disruptive.

What should we do to be Disruptive? No particular formula, but the first thing we need to look at is understand the subject/domain completely even before thinking how you can ease a solution. For instance, to create the best of the eCommerce site, first you need to understand all the details of Internet and the eCommerce domain. When you understand the subject and then start looking at it objectively coupled with a futuristic view, then you can get disruptive.

Simple as it sounds.

How to Innovate (Cont.)

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One of the big factor for Innovation is finding your Inspiration.

Inspiration comes from anything & everything around us and it becomes very important to pay attention. Once we have the ability to see what inspires us, solutions come from unexpected corners.

The inspiration for Dr. V to create a process oriented eye care centre came from watching how McDonald’s was able to provide the same taste of burgers anywhere in the world. The inspiration to create a car came from wanting to have a vehicle to go places faster for Henry Ford.

The inspiration for Elon Musk came when he realized that the future of mankind was three things – Internet, Solar Energy and multi-planetary life. The inspiration to understand gravity came after watching the apple fall from the tree for Newton. Every innovator in this world has had his share of inspiration come from facets in life.

Today, what we need to keep eyes on are the small things which make a difference and understand them to create a better way to deliver.

The idea for this post came after I noticed the small magic book which was sold on the road yesterday.

Innovation comes from the ability to understand the why and what of the problem you wish to solve. What becomes important is not just identifying the problem, but finding the approach to solve the problem. This comes only when you understand the length and breadth of the subject.

How to Innovate

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Innovation is the buzz word. Every organization and every person on this planet is innovating right now, the very moment.

Today morning as I was stationary at a traffic signal, a lady was walking with a comic book with the characters in the book moving. Correct. You read it right. When you open the book, the character printed on the left side of the page is moving on the right page. I opened the window and asked how much was the book and she replied Rs.50. I immediately paid and picked up. What fascinated me is the very fact that the person who created the comic of 2 pages is sure thinking different and wanted to understand what lay inside.

There is no job in the world which is not worth Innovating for.

How to we Innovate?

Innovation needs hunger. A hunger from the heart with desire to create something new or better something which is already existing. When Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy (fondly called Dr.V of Aravind Eye Hospitals) noticed that the Mc Donald’s burger tasted the same anywhere he ate. He was inspired to create what he created.

The very fact of survival pushed the person to create the comic book.

Whatever the economic situation is, only the person who is hungry to do something better is the one who is innovating.

Along with hunger, Innovation also needs understanding of the subject matter. For example, even though I am hungry, I cannot improvise on a Cardiac operation because I am not a specialist nor a Doctor. Understanding the problem completely is very important, else we cannot address what we want to address.

Innovation needs patience and perseverance. When trying to build something new or improvising an existing solution, having a buy-in and testing the hypothesis is very important. When Starbucks was entering China, it needed them ten years to make a tea drinking nation just to want a Coffee. This is Business model innovation. Ten years is quite long, but what did it get Starbucks in return? Its market share along with creating a change in lifestyle of the Chinese.

…to be continued.

Invention Vs Innovation

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Invention can happen with a single person, but it takes a long time and lot of efforts for that to become an Innovation.

Charles Babbage was the first person who invented the programmable computer in the earlier 19th Century. The following years and decades transformed the whole meaning and design of the Computer.

What we are dealing with today is the transformation of the Inventions to Innovations which can reach people and make lives much better.

Innovations deal with identifying solutions to problems in simplistic manner. There might be an existing solution, but if we can better that up, it is Innovation.

Inventions happen vary rare, and even if they happen, it takes a long time for them to come into light.

What should we focus on – Invention or Innovation?

Innovation. Chain of innovations can lead to an invention.

Innovation Perspectives

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On the 9th and 10th September, PMI Bangalore Chapter organized their Annual PMPC (Project Management Professionals Conference) at NIMHANS Convention Center, Bangalore. I got an opportunity to be invited to the conference at the last minute. Could not attend on both days but squeezed in as much as possible to be there on Day 1.

The key theme around the conference and its speakers has been “Innovation”.

Conference was well organized and there were eminent people who came to share their experiences including Mr. T N Seshan, former CEC of India. I could capture few interesting points during the conference and here, I am sharing them in Q&A format which could probably provoke your thought process.

How do we help “team” think Innovatively?

Many managers struggle with this. Innovation is not a skill, but attitude and the thought process. How can we change someone’s thought process when they are tuned to a particular style? Especially the learning style which we grew up with? One noble Professor who was part of the Panel  provided an interesting thought. Managers should keep pushing what he calls Stress Relievers. What he recommended is that we should push team members to inculcate the habit of reading. Along with this, Management should periodically give Puzzles to its team (group and Individual) and encourage them to solve. This will help them sharpen their thought process and start thinking of new ways of solving real live problems.

Helping team to de-stress regularly by encouraging them in Sports and Dancing is another way of motivating team to think different.

We are so used to follow instructions and solving problems in School and at College. What we need is a different way of solving problems. This comes only when Management/Managers give the opportunity to its team members to think different. Manager’s should definitely understand how to balance the pressure of the demanding milestones and also give the liberty to team members to think and solve a problem. Also, the success for the organization comes when Managers give the same freedom to their Managers.

Why is India far from Innovation?

Panelists had various thoughts on this. One perspective which struck chord with the audience is that we are more Service Driven. Others agreed, however also highlighted that there are various organizations which have started thinking in these lines. Intel’s Celeron processor was completely born out of India. There are many other innovations which are coming out from India. However, the cycle is taking longer due to the infrastructure. What I mean by Infrastructure is the system we have – Our Education System, Incubation Cells, Government Support, Investments and mentorship. These are working today, however, there is loads of differences when it comes to execution. We are definitely in-line, however it is taking longer than the usual cycle.

What are organizations NOT providing to foster Innovation?

One aspect which many have agreed is the timeframe and the service mindset. We need to Quantify results quickly than the anticipated time. This happens everywhere and most of the times. This becomes a burden for Innovation. Organizations need to develop their Delivery Models based on this. Time required for Innovation in solving the problem should be considered while estimating their timelines for Delivery. This builds the culture of Innovation in the organization and also teams are motivated to think in this direction. Organizations which have incorporated this have definitely been successful – Google (20% of time goes towards working on an individual’s passion), ThoughtWorks (Services organization) have been the true differentiators. There are many organizations across the globe, but mentioned the above examples so that they can easily be referenced.

How do you measure Innovation?

Many participants agreed that they use Innovation Index. Others who shared their experiences mentioned that they measure what needs to be delivered to how it is being delivered, essentially metrics.

For each of their goals, organizations should have a quantifiable measurement criteria and this helps measure their Innovation. How many different and effective ways have been proposed to solve a problem is what needs to be measured. This becomes a benchmark in the Organizations measurement.

Does aggressive growth need rapid Innovation?

It depends. There are various parameters in understanding what the end goal is. Organization Goals  take the center stage. What is the Priority of the organization – Growth or Innovative Solutions? Until this is answered, one cannot determine if each of them are inter-connected or inter-dependent.

Is Competition killing Innovation?

One Professor who was part of the Panel started with an interesting perspective on various Era’s:

Socialist – The Nehru age. We need to become an industrial economy to build the country.
LPG (Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization) – This happened across the globe. Each country wanted to build their economy to establish themselves.
WTO (World of Threats and Opportunities) – This is today. We have an Opportunity and Threat sitting beside each other all the time.
Did this kill Innovation? NO. What ever the perspective is, Innovation happens all the time and organizations ensure they stick to what they are doing. Going forward also, these aspects are always existing and how we handle them and build ourselves is what counts.

“Innovation is Attitude” – How can we develop this attitude?

No rocket science. Build the attitude from day one. Give the liberty to your teams to think on their own. Do not provide them with solutions to solve problems (like in a typical System Development Lifecycle). Let teams think for themselves and propose solutions. Match with what your experts have in mind and arrive at a cumulative solutions. This will provide confidence to your teams to think independently.

I was present for a session by Sudhir of Lumium Innovations, Ahmedabad and that was very different.  Lumium is working towards becoming the Indian IDEO. He had a different perspective on thinking out of the box. He says that there is Nothing outside the box, but it is just a bigger box.

The session name on the agenda attracted double the capacity of the auditorium. The initial case-studies he presented which they were working on, gave a different light to many in the auditorium, but what attracted me is one slide he shared toward the end on the three tangents of the Box.

There are three tangents to the graph – Past, Present & Future

Past

  • Cumulative Learning
  • Discrete Experiences

Present

  • Systems
  • Consumers

Future

What happened in the Past is that we banked on our cumulative learning. Imagine the last project you worked on?  The project schedule was prepared based on a similar project done earlier. The design and architecture is based on past experiences of the Architects (This is what they are paid for, right?). The pricing has been based on the projected number of hours taken to complete the project (again, this goes back to referencing earlier projects). There is nothing wrong in this. It is a very well accepted perspective.

In the book Super Crunchers, Ian Ayres begins the book with a reference to column  in a famous wine magazine which mentions that a particular place in France, at a particular latitude and longitude and at a particular time frame produced the best wine in the world till date. How did this come about? This is based on various calculation of the location of the vineyard, climatic conditions and the quality of grapes grown. This came into writing when the columnist referred to various statistics of wine produced around the world. The prediction (even though its in the future) was based on historical data. He did not predict that we will have the best wine prepared in the future, but it is based on the past data.

What is happening at Present is that we are building systems based on the consumers requirement. There is no referential data available. Look at all the applications which are being developed for the Mobile space as an illustration. There is no reference because the mobile space is re-inventing itself everyday. A new kind of platform is being conceptualized and brought to the real world almost every day.

What will happen in the Future is that our reference point is going to be Technology and inclusion of Bio mimicry. How technology takes shape and how consumers want o see what the want and demand what they see.

Most of the notes above are my interpretations and my examples. Feel free to shoot your thoughts.