I am sure you have heard this from every speaker or successful person you have met. EXECUTE on your thoughts and ideas. But, how do you take the first step? Start the journey slowly and step-by-step.
All through this year, I was wanting to start writing. I wanted to give it a good shot. In the mean time, I got distracted and thought I will be consistent on my YouTube channel. I designed the header image and was all excited. But, i wanted to have 50 topics ready before I started. As I continued to build my topics, I decided to keep writing them each day. Unexpectedly, joined a 100 Day project initiative by Kiruba and with that, started writing each day. The 100 Day Project was a very good start for me. Thats the first step and post that, my motivation and commitment have started to roll. Since September 22, 2023, I have been writing everyday on my blog and also on LinkedIn.
Now, I am hooked, how ever busy i am, I try to stick to my every day writing. Unfortunately, due to a death in near family, I missed 3 days, but will make up for it. These writing have paved way for my first book.
In summary, start with baby steps and am sure you will get to the finish line in due course. As a famous quote says “the journey is important”.
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.
This morning, a good friend of mine and I were having a conversation on the phone and he started to scold me. Literally! He does that with brotherly love though. So, nothing to worry 🙂
I mentioned to him that I am heading to Mumbai for few client interactions and he said that in today’s world I should make use of technology and do Video conference with potential clients rather than traveling every time. Not for anything, but as a bootstrapped entrepreneur and someone who is quickly burning cash, this is indeed very important.
I told him, “I agree, but for me, a personal connect is very important. It gives confidence to the client that this person is coming all the way and is real and has a passion to solve the problem”. This is the same way I look at wearing a blazer or suit whenever I meet a client. Many people asked me why I do that. It is to show that I am committed to the time they have given me and I truly respect that. My dress is a way to express my respect for their time and business.
Do you remember Barney Stinson from How I met your Mother? Suit up! And throughout the sitcom, he is the only one who stands out with his passion for suits and, you know it 😉
After the meetings in Mumbai, I now am more convinced that we need to make the first impression especially when you are building your product and getting the first clients on board.
There is one thing which I learned in the last ten years, being unreasonable. Even if it is not in the preview, often people go out of the way and respond to you when you ask.
After I started sales for my product, in the last three months, I have only been doing reference sales. I reach out to people in my network, search on LinkedIn and Facebook, send a personal message and reach out to them. 8 out of 10 times I get a response.
Initially, I searched for professional introduction email’s and I sent, but somewhere in my heart, I was not convinced. It was not touching my heart, what would the person who is reading it would feel?
Just imagine the advertisements and a marketing email from one of your connects coming as a personal message or InMail. How would you respond to it? How would you read it? This made me change the way I write.
Now, instead of writing an introduction about me in a line or two, I start by writing how we are connected and if there was any of my previous experience with their last writing or activity on FB/LinkedIn or use a context when one of our acquaintances was mentioning about them. Then I write about my story and ask if I could make a request.
8 out of 10 times, I get a response.
Please don’t think that this is a marketing gimmick, but it is a way of first establishing a connection with the person, sharing your problem/solution and then making a request.
Whatever anyone says, in today’s world and in the times to come, emotions will always play a role in building your credibility.
Before you start working on your idea either as an Entrepreneur or as an Employee, there are 3 important questions you want to ask yourself:
Where do I want to be?
How to get there?
Can I get there?
Very simple, but yet powerful.
Where do I want to be?
During the last week of December 2015, I was restless. I want to something but did not know what to do and how to get there. So, I tasked myself with a simple project – 100 Blog posts in 100 Days of 2016.
How can I get there?
I did not have any laid out topics on which I wanted to write, but have quite a few interest areas. So, on the varied topics of interest, I have which range from Driving, Photography, Innovation, Healthtech, Inspirations, Running, Entrepreneurship, Innovation etc. I identified 3 areas to focus on – Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, and Life.
Can I get there?
As much as possible each blog post of mine, I wanted to have a real life example which I went through or which someone whom I know has gone through so that I can illustrate better.
Today is 93 Day of my writing. I will do an analysis later on how I fared, but these are the three simple questions which got me to where I am today.
When we have an idea, we focus on building the product. What happens eventually is that the product gets into iterations and over the period of time becomes redundant for various reasons.
What we need to focus on is to build our idea as a platform. Think of it as a broader solution and the products are offerings of the solution. What happens with this is that the ideation has a broader spectrum and it gives us opportunities to build on the platform.
This lays the foundation for the future of your startup. Look at any major organisation, they build their offerings on the platform. Maggie does not just sell noodles, they have soups, pasta’s etc. What is the platform? – 2 minute snack/food.
Look at any car manufacturing company. They specialise in manufacturing a SUV, Sedan, 4X4 etc. The outcomes are quite different and appeal to varied consumers. Maruti in India focus’s on Sedan’s and they offer Compact to Mid-end cars – Alto 800 to Ciaz to Grand Vitara. They have a offering to varied economic diversities. This is how they build their market share.
Entrepreneurs should first identify the platform and then build their offerings to solve components of the problem so that their offering can be varied, affordable, sustainable and if changes are required, only one solution can be altered and remaining in tact.
So, the next time you are addressing a problem – create the platform and not just one solution.
We all make mistakes and we learn from them. Only when you understand and analyze the error can you incorporate into your life and the mistake never comes up again. But, if it is a one off fix, be rest assured that it will come back.
Toyota is quite famous for their Quality and how they incorporate their learning’s back into the system without it occurring back. This is the reason they are epitome of success and many organisations try to incorporate this style into their organisations.
On the Toyota Production Floor, when there is flaw in the production, the employee immediately switches off his machine and all the other machines come to a halt. Managers and other personal gather at where the production stopped, analyze the error and incorporate their learning’s into the system so that they are prepared for it the next time.
As entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs what we need to develop is the attitude towards the error. When we find a flaw, how do we react to it? How do we incorporate our learning’s into our system is the most important aspect of execution.
When there is an error next time, don’t ignore, but study and incorporate into your framework.
Knowledge does not progress merely by gathering data, but by looking for contradictory data.
Many a times we like to make decisions based on available data. You want to buy a car and you start looking out based on your budget and interest. In the process we ask our friends as to what their recommendation is and take in their suggestions. We go with the popular choice and then make our own decision.
In this process, we usually would like to hear only the positives of the observations and do not ask what the potential problems might be in the maintenance of the car.
Five years ago, when I was looking to change my car, I walked up to the Honda show room. The Civic was one of the possible product I was looking for, but I did hear about the low ground clearance and the problems it might give over the period of time when the chases keeps hitting the ground at Speed breakers and bad roads. I shared with the sales person about this observation which I found to be disturbing. The sales person immediately took me to his desk, and told me “I will give you contacts of 20 people who own this car across various regions in the state. Call them from here and even if 1 person says that they faced problems because of this, I suggest you don’t buy this car.” I really liked the confidence of him and chose to call few numbers. I did call and no one gave me any negative answer.
My impression on the car and the reviews changed completely and I was ready to buy. I never picked it up for other reasons, but was completely convinced with the car.
Knowingly or unknowingly I used contradictory data to challenge my assumptions and today, I can correlate to this aspect.
When you are working on an idea, help identify the contradictory data – what if this does not happen, what if this market analysis does not work etc. This gives the power for you to be prepared in case if things don’t go as expected.
Knowledge does not progress merely by gathering data, but by looking for contradictory data.
Many a times we like to make decisions based on available data. You want to buy a car and you start looking out based on your budget and interest. In the process we ask our friends as to what their recommendation is and take in their suggestions. We go with the popular choice and then make our own decision.
In this process, we usually would like to hear only the positives of the observations and do not ask what the potential problems might be in the maintenance of the car.
Five years ago, when I was looking to change my car, I walked up to the Honda show room. The Civic was one of the possible product I was looking for, but I did hear about the low ground clearance and the problems it might give over the period of time when the chases keeps hitting the ground at Speed breakers and bad roads. I shared with the sales person about this observation which I found to be disturbing. The sales person immediately took me to his desk, and told me “I will give you contacts of 20 people who own this car across various regions in the state. Call them from here and even if 1 person says that they faced problems because of this, I suggest you don’t buy this car.” I really liked the confidence of him and chose to call few numbers. I did call and no one gave me any negative answer.
My impression on the car and the reviews changed completely and I was ready to buy. I never picked it up for other reasons, but was completely convinced with the car.
Knowingly or unknowingly I used contradictory data to challenge my assumptions and today, I can correlate to this aspect.
When you are working on an idea, help identify the contradictory data – what if this does not happen, what if this market analysis does not work etc. This gives the power for you to be prepared in case if things don’t go as expected.
When you identify a problem and wish to solve it, the most important aspect is consumer education. Bringing out a product or designing a solution and leaving it for people to use does not work. As an entrepreneur, you should demonstrate the functioning of your product/service which falls under Consumer Education.
There are few path-breaking products which came out in the last few decades which needed no education, people just accepted them. On the contrary, there are few products which are awesome, but needed consumer awareness.
The iPod, iPhone and iPad needed no education, please just accepted them and with the gaining importance, they spent time in learning about them. But, products like a Diabetes testing machine, C arm etc, need consumer education as to how they can be effectively used.
When designing a product, as an innovator we need to first evaluate if it needs consumer education. If required, then the first step to the success is to ensure that the education is planned along with the product.
It is just not the idea, but the acceptance of it becomes very important.
