This Teacher's Day

Teacher's Day is very special for few, very few. And I am blessed to be a Teacher. It's so pleasant to receive more number of messages and greetings on this day, than what I receive on my birthday. I feel honored.

This evening I was watching this beautiful movie- Dead Poets Society. Here, the protagonist, played by Robin Williams, is a teacher of English literature at one of the all boys school. He makes a rather dull subject so engaging and influence the students to pursue their dreams. Adopts some very unorthodox teching ways, and realishes every bit of this anti-establishment approach. This movie puts teachers in a perspective, a rightful one, where she possesses immense power. The power to shape up her students' mind and character. I remember one dialogue from this movie between Prof. Keating (Robin) and one of his students, where the students asks him, something like, "you have so many options and places to go. Why are you here?". To which Prof. Keating says- "because I love teaching". To me that's the morale of the profession. A teacher must love teaching, period. The more she absorbs herself in the subject and profession, the more fun it is and more the society stands to gain. In the interim, one might feel that the world is at odds to one's mission, but a teacher, like a philosopher, often has to walk the path less travelled.

To me, while I work at a firm, what I relish the most is teaching. I often believe that a Manager can (at best) influence the destiny of his team; an Entrepreneur can do the same for his firm; but a teacher can do it for the whole civilization. Look at Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawkings, Peter Drucker, and CK Prahalad, to sight a few. They haven't just taught us something new, they have morphed our imagination.

What disturbs me is the lack of students from across colleges in India (and worldover) who choose a career in teaching. May be it isn't rewarding monetarily, but believe me the blessings you get while shaping up someone's life is worth more than a million dollar. Brings me to an old Indian adage, which reads something like-

"गुरु गोविन्द दोउ खड़े, काके लागून पाए. बलिहारी गुरु आपकी, गोविन्द दियो मिलाये"

This translates as- "I face both God and my guru. Whom should I bow to first? I first bow to my guru because he's the one who showed me the path to God."
I encourage my fellow professional and students to see if you can add value to the next generation in a more meaningful way. Happy Teacher's Day.

Sir, how much of a work experience do I need before an MBA?

is the question I get post often when I visit colleges or I meet up with students who are either in their final years of graduation or are on with some job. Having taught at many colleges over the years, I think I have arrived at some sense around it. And here it is- 3 years. Why 3 years? Why not 2 or 4 or even more?

3 years = year 1 to learn --> year 2 to deliver --> year 3 to teach!

In the past 10 years that I have been visiting schools and colleges across the country, I have just been excited by two things about students- sincerity and curiosity. Regardless of their brilliance or background or communication skills or any other usual suspect, what I look for in students is - how sincere they are to what they are upto and how much of curiosity do they possess. That's it. To me that's the difference between a successful students and the less successful one.

Now let's talk about the relationship between the two factors to the years of experience that someone might have. Let's take two cases. Students who have less than 3 years of working experience before entering into a B School and those who have more than 3.

• Students with less than 3 years of working experience: Most of the students across Indian B Schools (barring a few IIMs or ISB) have no work experience at all, or have less than a year under the belt. Which essentially means they were 'preparing' for the CAT or GMAT in the exile. Many of them aren't sure if MBA is the right course of action for them, or since their friends and family have insisted- they opted for it. And then begins the race that gets even more ugly as the placement season approaches. I have seen more than my share of students who take up jobs which have nothing to do with their MBA education, repaying their heavy educational loans. What is essentially missing is "Sincerity". A sense of conscience on whether the education is appropriate, whether the college could have been better or whether the subjects taken are useful.


• Students with more than 3 years of working experience: These are people with 5 or even more years of work behind them and are stuck somewhere in their organizational food-chain and need to now get some additional 'degrees' to hop on. The pure intent it to further the career. Rarely to learn something new. How good are five years of experience, when one has just repeated the same task 5 times over? What sets with these years of experience is- complacency. Most come with a perspective that I know it all and let me now 'filter through' what comes to me. This is what I call as - lack of curiosity. It kills the intent of teaching (and learning).

So here is my take- If you are a graduating student, don't rush into an MBA course. Wait and take up some job to learn if you really need a management education. If you are a working soul, learn, deliver and teach quickly and then hop onto a good MBA course (if you see the worth). If you have spent a considerable time in the industry, keep walking!

Permanent Innovation

Just finished reading this brilliant book by Langdon Morris, titled- Permanent Innovation. Dubbed as a rare book that talks about the convergence of strategy with creativity, of methodology with humanity.

Ten principles identified are:

1. Innovation is essential to survival and all innovation is strategic
2. There are four types of innovation: incremental, breakthrough products and technologies, new business model, and new ventures
3. The longer you wait to begin innovating, the worse things will get
4. Innovation is a social art, it happens when people interact with one another
5. Innovation without methodology is just luck
6. All four strategic viewpoints are critical to success (top-down, bottom-up, outside-in, and peer-to-peer)
7. Great innovations begin with great ideas, to find them, identify unknown and unmet needs
8. Ready, aim, aim, aim, fire
9. Prototype rapid to accelerate learning
10. There is no innovation without leadership

Suggested in the same book are 40 great sources of idea generation are as follows:

Study - Evaluate your company's innovation results - Audit - Four different types of innovation - Questions - Chief Innovation Officer - iTeam - Rate of Change - Ideation tools - Idea vault - Innovation Advisory Board - Business model - Learning expedition - The past five years, next five years - Ethnographic research - Customer feedback - Scenario planning - Game changer - Strategy meeting - Business Model innovation workshop - Magazines - Idea room - Social trends - Technology trends - Leadership - Prototype - Awards - Return on innovation - Innovation sabbaticals - Local university - Trust - Risk profiles - Company that you admire - Hiring profile - Collaboration center - Communities of practice - Meet with your top 25 customers - Obstacles audit - First, take quiet time to think - Start your innovation journey now!

Here's the mindmap for a quick book review.

A wakeup call from an unexpected place

This notice up here is from a restaurant in Bikaner. If you aren't comfortable reading Hindi, let me translate. In essence, the notice requests customers to carry their own carry bags as (State)government has put a ban on using polythene bags. I was in Bikaner this Monday and then in Jaipur yesterday, on personal account. Was amazed to see the strictness followed by shopkeepers and households alike on not using polythene. All this keeping in mind the literacy level in this part of the country is rock bottom. Truly amazing. Needless to say that all this comes from government imposing a heavy penalty on those spotted using polythene. But then what stops government in other states from putting a ban?

In Jaipur, where I celebrated Raksha Bandhan with my sister, the case was even severe. You could be fined if spotted with a polythene carry bag by the traffic police! A fine of Rs. 400. Steeper than that for not wearing a helmet or breaking a signal!

In Bangalore, polythene carry bags are a vogue. Ranging from large shopping destination to kirana stores, all uses polythene. Fabindia seems to be an exception over the years! It puzzles me that with so many educated folks in this city and so much of money with the government, what more does it take to impose a ban. If a small city such as Bikaner can do so, why not Bangalore or Mumbai or Delhi for that matter?

At least for self, I have always been carrying a jute bag for shopping. But still can't avoid polythene. What we did with CFC or with smoking or with led (in petrol), so can we with the menace of polythene. Just calls a dictum and people will follow the suite!

Hence the need to visit the world around. If all we do is 'copy' the best practices, we can all be better off! Trust me, it just take discipline.

The Rising Rupee

India has come a long way over past 63 years. Intellectually, Culturally, Philosophically and Technologically, India has gifted much more to the world over the centuries than most other nations. A true (though long due) credit comes from recognizing India's currency with a unique symbol.

Currently the only symbol visible on out QWERTY keyboard is $. Sooner we might have the Rs symbol (failed to key it in!).

To identify the most suitable short key for the Rs. symbol on the keyboard, the Government of India has rolled out a survey asking people for their preferred key/ shortcut on the QWERTY keyboard. Call it 'Wisdom of Crowd'.

Click here to give your suggestion. It just takes 35 seconds!

When Sparks Flew at Rayat- Bahra

A land which is known for fun loving and gregarious people, is now also shaping up the innovation frontiers. I am here referring to Punjab, especially Chandigarh and the adjacent town of Mohali. At one of the colleges I visited, I was surprised by the levels of enthusiasm the kids had there and the intensity of sparks that flew. It was the Rayat- Bahra Group of Institutions, a decade old educational institute at the heart of Punjab. The occasion was the inauguration of the institute's Entrepreneurship Cell and I was deemed to mentor students' entrepreneurial spirits. In a day that I spent in the college, it was quite a revelation for me. Here's what transpired.

While most of the colleges (traditionally) have been embarking on 'placements' and are rated on the stats such as average package, number of companies on the roll, etc, I saw this college with quite a different aim. An aim of not creating employees but employers. At first it might seems cliched to open up an Entrepreneurship Development Cell, as almost every college (worth the salt) has one, here the commitment was little different. As it flowed all the way from the top. Punjab (along with Rajasthan and Gujarat) has been know to gift India with some of the well known business houses over the years. Apart from being one of the most prosperous states in India, Punjab has also been sustaining India on multiple fronts, from food to music to sports and to defence. So you can find a businessmen in almost every Punjabi youth you meet, a spirit born not out of desperation, but from ambition.

In the inaugural ceremony, the first talk came from the Chairman, Sardar Gurvinder Singh Bahra, a very popular figure amongst students. Taking the audience in his characteristic Punjabi style of talking, his speech was indeed the highlight of the day. Narrating his journey from a very humble beginning from a village of Punjab to now living his dreams, he left audience with some important life lessons. These being: to become an entrepreneur you must have to sacrifice ego and take up tasks that you won't normally do; to start you need the trait of sacrifice more than courage- to a level of devotion; have short term goals and moving step by step; and finally ensure that you impact people's life in a positive manner. A very simple, yet influential talk.

Then it was Anupama Arya of Mobera Systems, a product development startup based out of Chandigarh. Taking the audience through her journey of how she started against all odds and came so far, Anupama was quick to underline the strategic importance of India as a confluence of market, creators and capital. To her apart from courage, people skills and an experimentative mindset, other traits required for an entrepreneur include 'not taking no for an answer'. She told some very interesting stories on ventures and how even if you fail in a venture, you skills are still valid.

The E-Cell, established in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur and NEN, aims at generating more number of employers than employees! Quite ambitious, but knowing the blessing of the Chairman and his strong inclination towards encouraging businesses, am hopeful of great results. One leg of the E-Cell is around establishing Centres of Excellence, in collaboration with leading corporates and NEN, and the other one being an Incubation Centre with research and consultation focus. With ample funds in pocket and vision in mind, E-Cell might become a conduit for creative talent of this region towards doing something grand.

The inaugural session was followed by a creativity workshop, dubbed as Let Sparks Fly, where I engaged with some 160 students in taking them through a creativity journey, through brainstorming, rapid prototyping and exhibitions. Had great fun interacting with bright young talent, something I always cherish. I didn't find these kids any short of zeal and wit than others I have interacted with. The only difference being exposure and awareness. I am confident that industry here plays a role in not just hiring employees but creating employers. I invite you over to Punjab and other parts of India to create India's next growth engine.

Yesterday, I met myself

Often some strange incidences make you think. Think is a soul searching way and in the end you're just amused to have traversed through the memory lane. One such incident happened to me yesterday when I was travelling from Delhi to Chandigarh. I met this young guy- Avi. A chap oozing with confidence and full of life. Head steady and pretty determined on how to steer his life.

A little bit about Avi- graduated from one of the colleges in Punjab and then working for almost 4 years now at a BPO as a Quality Analyst (BPO police). Having learnt the ways of life at his company and a host of people skills, Avi ventured on a MBA program (part-time though). Coming from a well-to-do family, with high achievements (and expectations), Avi was naturally 'expected' to meet up to standards, and hence an MBA program (one of the factors). Going good, so far so good. A picture perfect mate, with few years of experience under the belt and plenty more over it.

While we continued talking, I realized that music interests him, but his biggest aim was to earn money and status. Nothing wrong or surprising for a youngster, especially from this part of the country. He wants to be his bosses' boss in 7 years from now, earn a handsome salary, propose to the girl he is in love with and then settle (back home in Punjab). Must say a well chalked out path.

After continuous probing, Avi still maintained that 'money' chimes for him more than most of the things in life. The only thing that can earn him a standing and take closer to his dreams. Something which I then disagreed to. But after coming back and sleeping over it, now, I think Avi wasn't truly off track. Money is indeed important and why not, nothing wrong in aspiring to be earning more!

This was me a few years back, or a decade. Having clear plans for my life and some financial marks to achieve. But things started getting clearer, reality started setting in. There's something more profound than money perhaps. Say freedom. To me (now) that I have travelled through the path (still on it in fact), money has lost its charm and more subtle things have emerged. Freedom being the thing. Freedom of choosing my path, expressing my will, living on my conditions and being happy with myself (unconditionally). Now that I believe that freedom is the ultimate pursuit of (my) life (no in the sense of nirvana), I can only reflect on my past. But full marks to Avi for having conceived his dream and arduously walking the path. I can only wish him all the very best, for realities of life await him. (or may be money is reality). I might be wrong (but that's ok).

Anyways life's a perspective, I got it shifted. But it was humble to having met myself.

The Creative Brain

Just finished reading this brilliant book by Nancy Andreasen, a psychiatrist and an accomplished neuro surgeon. One of the rare books written by a women on creativity or science (with all due respect). A clear indication of how biased is our society in giving opportunities, something that Nancy discusses in detail. The winner of National Medal of Science and several other accolades, Nancy holds a distinction of having chosen a path less travelled by most women of her generation. Here's a narration of her book which has surely consumed me in deep thoughts and allowed me to understand the link between brain and creativity a little better.

She starts with depicting the great feats of the ancient civilizations, such as pyramids of Egypt, Mayan ruins of Chichin Itza, Acropolis in Athens, Roman roads and several other magnificent arts of past. Forming that human history is punctuated with great instances of creative expressions, dotted across the world. She then turn attention to the famous experiment by Lewis Terman- 'the study of genius'. Having devised the first workable measure of IQ (used widely in WWI), Terman conducted a life-long study of a cohort of gifted children (aka Termites), born around 1910 for over 70 years. It was the first scientific study that concluded that genius was not the same as high level of intelligence. Also intelligence is not same as creativity.

Deliberating on the question that often the great work done be artists get recognized years after their death- so what role does society play in creativity? She draws learning from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who observed- "Creativity, the kind that changes some aspect of the culture, is never only in the mind of a person. That would, by definition, not be the case of cultural creativity. To have any effect, the idea must be couched in terms that are understandable by others, it must pass the muster with the experts in the field, and finally it must be included in the cultural domain to which it belongs". All three aspects are required for creativity- person, domain and field. Nancy defines creativity comprising of- person, process and product (may occur linearly, iteratively or simply mysteriously).

Nancy now delves into the realm of understanding the creative person and creative process. She says that nothing work better than the first person account of creative process. She narrates five introspective account, those of- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Peter Llych Tchaikovsky, Henri Poincare, Friedrich Kekule, and Stephen Spender. She deciphers that thoughts often moves swiftly and multidimensionally and the solution (idea) occurs in a flash, often during the 'rest periods'. Nancy then dedicates a chapter to anatomy of human brain (very readable) and its working as a Self Organizing System (SOS). She also talks about unconsciousness and neural basis of extraordinary creativity (we all possess ordinary levels of creativity).

Next she talks about her favorite topic- genius and insanity. Drawing from anecdotal evidences, followed by empirical ones, Nancy suggests a close link between extraordinary creativity and mental disorder, including cases of schizophrenia (John Nash comes to mind here). She observes a set of poets, playrights, novelists, biographers and artists in understanding their mild to extreme levels of psychotic disorders and how many abstained from treatment fearing that it might hamper their creative abilities.

One of my favorite sections of the book is titled- What creates the creative brain? Nancy here debates on the influence of nature and nurture on creativity. Focusing her study on the lives of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarotti, both from Italian Renaissance, Nancy depicts the role of nurture in their creative outcomes. While both were great artists, they did an extensive amount of study on human anatomy, by dissecting human bodies and hence got an impeccable understanding of the body, something visible in their creations. A reflection on creative people being polymath. The environment that nurtures creativity comprises of:

• Freedom, novelty and a sense of being at the edge;
• A critical mass of creative people;
• A competitive atmosphere that is free and fair;
• Mentors and patrons; and
• Economic prosperity.

These conditions aren't present all thought the human history, but came together in phases and hence there were periods of 'great creative works' followed by docile decades. While nature and hereditary factors might seem to influence creativity, Nancy wasn't much conclusive on those. A great proof being the complete absence of women in creative fields, historically. If nature were to be responsible, men and women must have been equally likely to produce great work, but since 'nurture' didn't support women, they could never express creativity.

She concludes her book by describing an important feature of brain- plasticity- how it is responsive, adaptable and eternally changing. Then there are those windows- critical periods- where plasticity is at its peak. It especially happens during early childhood (till 5 years) and hence most of creative instinct gets shaped then. She dedicates few pages to suggesting some exercises to keep creativity levels high, as age catches up. One sure thing- watching TV makes one (esp. children) less creative.

So here's to Nancy for writing such a wonderful and well researched book. I highly recommend it a read.

The Call for Innovation

Last evening I gave a talk at the Madras Management Association Hosur Chapter to a group of around 100 enthusiasts from across the city of Hosur. Apart from associates from well known companies, such as TVS, Ashok Leyland and Titan, there were numerous delegates from several SMEs from the city, and also from schools and colleges. All eager on learning about innovation, from a practitioner's perspective and I was happiest to be the one, yesterday. The session went well for over 2 hours (scheduled originally for 90 min), but I didn't see many people getting up and feeling restless. Thank God!

Before I jump on to my talk, here's a quick overview of MMA Hosur Chapter. The team of about 140 enthusiasts meets once every month to deliberate on topics of interest to them, which includes quality, mangement principles, product practices, people practices and innovation. Speakers come from various runs of life, including humanities, journalism, academia, research, large firms, small organizations, and government bodies. The eagerness of people to learn and engage was highly impressive. In making the sessions more engaging, this time the organizers invited suggesions from the audience on what would they want to listen to in coming sessions. That's Crowdsourcing!

Here's a quick summary of my talk that encompassed a lot many anecdotes and stories (that's all I can do, anyways):

• While innovating- enjoy the journey, not the result. I depicted this via a video that featured a race b/w Bugatti and a fighter jet, where inevitably the car lost. But the two drivers (or pilots, if I may) enjoyed the race and so did the audience. Results would be widely out of control and hence don't get disappointed if you don't get good one.
• Organizations are like organisms. The way organizations (biological) take birth, grow, commit mistakes, get hurt, get ill, get healthy, grow old, and one day die, so do organizations. The way organisms mutate over generations, organizations mutate over their lifetime (they must), such mutations are the result of innovations.
• Often no management is best management. Micro-management, something most managers are good at (and do extensively) is a sure kill for any creative spark. The best managers can do to inspire innovation is to leave people alone.
• The first movers advantage is not here to stay, unlesss one does continuous innovation. Eastman Kodak, Xerox, Ford are some of the examples of first movers who couldn't hold their advantage for long.
• Work with people unlike you. These are the people who challenge you and make you uncomfortable. Easier said than done, but vital. Organizations are very good in hiring (and making) clone to expand on economies of scale, but that makes it even tougher to innovate.
• Never ask a customer what she wants. Always observe her for what she desires. As our imagination is always limited by our experience, we aren't good at gazing into disruptive future, we always think incrementally. Goes back to Henry Ford who got to hear about a 'faster horse cart', instead of a car from his fellow countrymen.
• Best ideas come from most unexpected places. For me these come when I am in loo or while taking bath or while on a stroll. Here we are alone, unoccupied, relaxed and not expected to generate ideas. All these things are missing in a typical corporate environment. So what happens- people work in offices and ideate at home, unless we create a relaxed, isolated environment in office.

That'a all I could compress in my 120 min talk, but there's a lot more to talk about on innovation. Let's catch up sometime to exchange notes. A quick video on key concepts might be useful. Here it is:

Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ)

We all live with misconceptions, some even die with those. One of the misconceptions I was living with till date was- TRIZ is only meant for product companies. I am sure there would be thousand others who wouldn't want to challenge the paradigm. This mental block of mine was humble challenged by Prof. Prakash R Apte in a two day workshop on TRIZ last week. Hosted by CII Institute of Quality at Pune, the session saw some 12 practitioners from various companies learning and sharing their perspectives on the subject of Systematic Creativity. These were from Philips Innovation Campus, Mahindra and Mahindra, Honeywell, Praj Industries, Tata Steel, Parle Products, PSG College of Technology and Wipro (yours sincerely). Prof. Apte, with over 31 years of working with TIFR, followed by now teaching at IIT Bombay, was apt as the guide. Here's a quick 101 on TRIZ and what got discussed, and also on how my myth got burst.

TRIZ is an Russian acronym for "Theory of Inventive Problem Solving" devised by Genrich Altshuller in 1946. After doing extensive study of over 40,000 inventive patents, Altshuller arrived at the axiom that- the evolution of all technical systems is governed by objective laws. There exists a standard pattern of evolution of technical systems and the problems that one encounters today have already been solved before. Inventions solve these objective flaws. He identified inventions to largely fall under these categories: Apparent Solutions (32%), Minor Improvements (45%); Major Improvements (18%); Radical Change (4%); and Discovery (1%).

One of the fundamental principles of TRIZ is Ideality, which is defined as total value (good effects) from the system divided by total cost (harm effects). The Ideal Final Result (IFR) thus achieved though consistent inventions, ultimately does away with the system itself w/o compromising on the outcome. TRIZ suggests one to start with defining the IFR and then the 1-step back from it, which should be the true objective of the creativity.

He defined Inventive Problem solving to the solving of such contradictions. He defines broadly two types of contradictions- Technical and Physical. The former are classical engineering 'trade-offs' where if something gets better, something else gets worse. He depicts 39 such features and put them in a Contradiction Matrix. Further he assesses 40 Inventive Principles that could be use to address such contradictions. These include- segmentation, taking out, merging, skipping, copying, homogeneity, and periodic action, among others. At first these principles appear to suite only physical objects, but with a little bit of practice, one could easily abstract these to solve any problem. That's what helped my burst my myth.

On the other hand, the Physical contradictions are situations where one object has contradictory, opposite requirements. One could adopt one or more of the six separation principles to address these contradictions. These separations are in time, space, micro level, macro level, condition or to convert these to technical parameters.

As you can see from here, TRIZ doesn't believe in Optimization, it believes in Elimination of the problem/ contradiction. Means, TRIZ intends to arrive at Breakthrough Thinking instead of Trade-offs. Hence the power.

Another important tool from TIZ is studying the Trends of Evolution of Technical System, aka S- Curve study. Altshuller established 8 patterns of technial system evolution (today extended to 35), which includes- increasing ideality, matching and mismatching of parts, decreasing human efforts, etc. The S-Curve study helps establish the evolution pattern and identification of the room for invention.

One of the other interesting tools from TRIZ was S-Field Analysis and Standard Solutions. Stemming from the fact that every system can be subdivided to the lowest level where it could be represented as an interaction b/w two substances and a field. The so called Substance- Field (S-Field) model is the most fundamental way of eliminating constraint, by leveraging above principles.

In summary:

• TRIZ is logical as it works on addressing constraints, the root cause of a problem,
• TRIZ is not limited to a technical or physical domain. Services industry equally stands to gain from it. Needs ability to abstract and practice,
• TRIZ gives tools which are person agnostic and furthers one's ability to visualise problem/ object in a granular fashion, and
• TRIZ needs a due share of attention and evangelism in the light of the work that has already gone into it and the potential it possesses.

I got hugely benefited from the techniques and now am on with taking up few experiments back home in the company. Adding Practice to Theory (of Inventive Problem Solving)!

We didn't start the fire!

I was walking down the streets of Pune this evening after the completion of my workshop and saw this on one of the walls. I couldn't but think of the famous Billi Joel song- we didn't start the fire. In a rather clean and calm city, this was a gesture of encouragement. Remember, it's always a revolution that brings about a social change. Either it happens through bloodshed or in a more peaceful manner, in either case there are people at the fringes who lead the act.

Aren't our change agents happier than what they should have been? Happier to get into an engineering college, following it by an MBA and then into a good company, just to wait for the next promotion (and another one..). The greatest concern looks like- where do I peg in the corporate food chain. It's like a dog who's happy as long as a bone dangles in front. Coming from the IT industry, let me admit that a huge pile of talent is getting wasted here. Brilliant people are asked to do repeated, mundane tasks, and they don't complaint often as the 'compensations' they get would otherwise be difficult. It's like a whole generation wasted to serve someone's back office.

This hint of rebel was something like a fresh air to me. I wish that more of us (i am still young) push the limits (at least of thinking) and beak in before waiting for the keys for too long, else we are just moving from one slavery to another.

Tatas are masters of Disruption

It's 1230 hrs and I am in Ginger Hotel in Pune (the above snap is though from the Goa one). Just landed a few hours back and now relaxing in my hotel room (the snap here is that of my room, just when I entered :-)). Couldn't wait to write and celebrate the success of this another great innovation from the stable of Tata. One might wonder- why a post at this unearthly time? But my dear, ideas strike you in the most unusual settings. For me most of my thoughts actually struck in the loo or under the shower!

Anyways back to the Ginger story. If 'Nano' is a metaphor, courtesy the One Lakh Rupee Car (that was never for 1 lakh), then Tatas are the masters to create Nanos. I haven't come across another team of spirited individuals who have been doing Nano projects for a century now. Also they have the habit of 'Disrupting' the industries. Remember Indian Institute of Science or Tata Steel, established some 100 years back. Back then most of India was in a deplorable state and hence a true Nano from the Tata Sons. Some two decades back it was Titan (a place I started my career at) that disrupted the Indian watches market, followed by Tanishq almost a decade back. Establishing a pan-India brand and network in a highly unstructured jewellery market was no mean task. And more recently- Tata Swach.

Don't forget Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Institute of Social Science and National Centre of Performing Arts, all first of a kind on Indian soil.

One after another, Tata Group has been able to identify disruptive forces in the industries and leverage those to create Nanos. Dubbed as 'the world of Smart Basics', Ginger hotels are dotted across key tier-2 cities of India and have tie-ups with many corporates. A truly winning proposition, neatly placed between priced hotels and company guest houses. These are self service hotels and truly no frills and no nonsense. One might argue that what's so unique in here, but remember- innovation is always contextual. It's for the market, at a price that an offering becomes unique. Tatas are the masters of doing so.

Was just wondering about the scope of many more innovation in India that can very well serve the country than creating those high-end products getting sold in the west. When one of every six soles on earth dwell on this land, no point in guessing where's the goldmine. Hats off Tatas!

On NH-7

I just returned from a fascinating week-end escape to Yarcaud, a hill station about 200 kms from Bangalore. Having been to a Ooty a few months back, I was happy to be not disappointed. To begin with, it was a drive on NH-7, one of the finest highways in South-India. I drove from Bangalore to Selam and then the beautiful terrain from Selam onwards to Yarcaud. For those who have cruised through NH-7, it's an experience, to say the least. The backdrop of lush green valleys and 4 lanes, makes it a treat, even at 100 kph. A stark contrast with the Bangalore-Mysore highway, the one on the way to Ooty. The Ooty one is infested with traffic and it's hard to exit Bangalore, in all- the fun is ruined.

While I was driving my Swift VDI, the one thing that was constantly on my mind was the brilliant infrastructure in South India. Having travelled most of India, I must congratulate the investment done towards high-class infra in this part of the country. As you drive down, you can't miss the lives of people around the NH-7, with their livestocks and farmlands, their hardships and the beautiful huts. The contrast can't be overlooked. If only you could stop by and spend some time off-road, you would realise what I mean.

Anyways, back to the road. The journey from Selam and Yercaud is really a bliss. Serpentine road amid hills reminded me of Ooty. The big difference being- traffic, of vehicles and people. Yercaud has everything to offer- a lake, breath- taking views, good South Indian food (I love it), gardens and a waterfall (something I didn't see at Ooty). Low traffic, low pollution, low population and low commercialization makes all the difference. Would surely rank Yercaud high over Ooty.

This is the view from Kiliyur Falls, some 4 kms from the place where we stayed. Unlike most of the falls which are infested with people and garbage, this one is a welcome break. Mostly because of a treacherous route to this falls and also as we reached pretty early in the morning. Little bit of tracking and a huge bite of fun. It was refreshing to sit besides the shower and relax.

Now I am back in office, charged up (mentally and emotionally), but a little short of sleep, which am sure I will recover. While this morning I was checking my e-mails, I received quite a bit of mails sent by my colleagues over the weekend. Was wonder of the treadmill effect which our work has on us. I only wish I could abstain from this effect for as long as things don't pound of me severely. Till such time, would keep looking for escapes.

Man's Search for Meaning

If I may only borrow the title from Viktor Frankl's landmark work, and reflect on the hollowness of most of our lives, I would wish we realise the bigger picture. Of all these years that I have stayed at Bangalore and all the places I have been to, the one true self-reflection happens at the lush green campus of IISc Bangalore (aka Tata Institute). I ensure that once every month I am at the campus, and if I don't, it feels like something is missing.

Talking about meaning- the more the time I spend in this corporate jungle, the more I realize the hollowness of the whole affair. Today's workplaces truly lacks inspirational figures (I haven't found any at my workplace). When I look back at my batch of graduates from NITIE Mumbai, it strikes to me that I must be one of the very rare students who has stuck with the same company, right since the campus days. The same remains the case with my students and people I have known. There's a pleasure in shifting companies and a sense of boredom in sticking with one. It's no one's botheration that what's been the seminal contributions. Remember, you don't have to be the CEO to make a meaningful contribution! Promotions, salary hikes, hunting for jobs and hard negotiations have become the norm, at least for MBA students these days. If a student doesn't get picked by a company by the penultimate term, she deems her life worthless. And if she gets hired, she considers studies useless. In any case, jobs have occupied a unhealthy share of our mind and heart.

For those who aren't aware of the beautiful place called Indian Institute of Science, here's a quick 101. It's the foremost institute of research around basic sciences and technology in India. While almost all IITs have gone corrupt with excessive commercialization and complete lack of research activities, IISc is still considered as the mecca of research in India. A little known fact is that IISc was setup by Jamshedji Tata almost a century ago and has ever since attracted some of the brightest minds from across India. A true scientific community dwells here. I am privileged to have visited most of the departments and having interacted with a host of students. While at IITs a tremendous focus goes on undergraduate students (who in turn focus on placements or getting into IIMs), the one at IISc is towards rigorous research.

Now the point I want to drive home is the amount of peace that faculties and students here at IISc have with themselves and with the work they do. A mere walk at the campus will take you to 'good old days'. Bicycles around you, professors walking in their slippers (often talking to themselves), and virgin, lush, green forest with quite a few species of animals. It's a jungle of different kind.

It's a heavy contrast with most of the corporate. A mere pick at people across any grade would quickly reveal that the aim often remains unknown. It's like the treadmill effect. One needs to keep moving to avoid falling behind. Salaries, ESOPs, shares, bonuses, corner rooms, large cubicles and managing a bunch of Dilberts, is all that most employees desire these days. It's pity that over 50 MBA colleges in Bangalore alone are pumping over 7,000 termites every year into this jungle, just to let them follow the suite. I appeal, just for once, to students to visit the campus of IISc, interact with students and faculties (if you are lucky) and gauge their worth.

It's very comforting to survive in the kaleidoscope of the corporate world, climbing the ladder, one rung at a time, but enormously uneasing to stop by and look at the direction. Many who are working in corporate (at least going to offices every day) might really want to do something different. But often they are afraid of pausing and reflecting. I strongly recommend a walk in such campuses as that of IISc once in a while to get the bearings right.

Remember, life is too important to live for someone else's dreams. It's never late for someone to discover the meaning and attempt achieving it systematically. It's sorry to see that India is lagging far behind in research and development. Institutions aren't getting good faculties or brilliant students, because most have identified ways of making quick money and never to return.

America has become the superpower because of enormously rich scientific and research fabric and world-class academic institutions, having contributed a significant lot to the world. India is surely lacking and so are most youngsters. Here's a call for investing oneself into fundamentals, else hollow people will implode soonest.

Walk at academia meccas will help man's search for meaning!

India Inc. calling for Innovation Evangelists

Yesterday I received a call from a head-hunting firm- (demanding my head) for a post of Innovation Evangelist in one of the Indian MNCs. This is the second of such calls in the past two months, where a company is looking for profiles such as "Innovation Evangelists" in a formal way.

Though I have decided not to join it, rather continue with what I am upto these days, there's a strong message which I can't miss out- India Inc. is serious about Innovation.

Innovation has always been given a step-son treatment in Indian organizations. It's more of a medication than inoculation. Unless pushed hard to the corner, Indian companies seldom innovate, while Indians do. Prof. Rishikesh's book comes to mind here. I remember Ovum Research once quoting, "employees innovate, companies sell". It suites Indian firms so very well. Of all the innovations, we typically do, most of these come from process improvements and tiny improvisations (jugaads).

Coming back to the offer I was made, it mapped very much to what I am doing here. Further the position was to report to the MD of the company, again showing the importance the suject deserves. I can only wish to see many more "Evangelists" taking up serious positions, as the traditional roles have lost freshness. There are more siloed.

Taking about B- Schools. I haven't herd of any company proposing profiles anyway near to an evangelist or even innovation. Even B Schools aren't bothered about going beyond the cookie-cutter subjects such as Marketing, HR, Operations and Finance, with specializations splitting the hair. Even subjects such as Strategy don't give due credit to innovation, let alone creativity.

I was pleasantly surprised to see one institute Symbioses Bangalore offering a 2 credit course on Liberal Arts (which I taught). But to my worst fears, the subject is knocked off, owing to no direct relevance to job market!

I strong believe that both corporate as well academia need to realise the important of the "Method in Madness" when it comes to teaching and learning about innovation. It's too important to be left to chance. If there can be zillions of cases on Marketing and Sales and what not, can't we have a few on Innovation (Methods and Stories). Also adopting an innovative ways of delivering that content.

In my little ways I have been driving this message home through my taking classes in various B Schools and talking about Innovation and Creativity. But unless students (and schools) don't see a pull from the corporate, innovation will just get a lip service.

Hence it's good to see that innovation "managers" (hate to use this word), better still innovation evangelist are finding some room in the corporate corridor. I hope some bright young, fearless and hungry fellow takes up that mission. All the very best!