In the early March of 2013, we were in Melbourne. Right around that time, my son had started walking.
One fine chilly Melbourne evening, we decided to go out on a walk with him.
Of course, we wanted to help him get on his feet quicker and learn to walk.
The only problem was - he didn't want to wear his shoes. He was comfortable in his socks. While I tried everything to convince him to put them on, there wasn't much to tell him about the consequences of not wearing them.
So, my wife and I finally decided to give him a taste of reality.
Sure enough, after we walked for about 50 feet or so, he wanted me to pick him up. I put on his shoes effortlessly. There was no resistance. Of course, he got the point.
After wearing shoes, he started walking again.
Sometimes, demonstration is the most powerful form of communication.
In a time when there is too much flux around new technologies, new businesses, and new of everything, things surely get overwhelming. And to help with that overwhelm, we need a uniquely different perspective.
A perspective that may not help in solving the problem but will help handle it more confidently.
A perspective that will help in making a pivotal decision, which then will create a positive impact in the longer term.
But most times I see some people simply missing a point. It is that perspective is not about thinking differently. It is about seeing things differently. To do that one must step out of current reality and explore.
A perspective is seeing things from where you are not.
This is where experimentation plays an important role. Something, I keep doing regularly - in my personal life as well as in my professional set-up.
The Visible Founders docuseries is one such example, where we worked with entrepreneurs to highlight their stories. Most of the audience response after the screenings was around the change in perspective.
It was about how people's perceptions positively changed after watching these stories on screen.
Of course, the first season was a small experiment to test many ideas and hypotheses. It was to test and learn.
However, it was not the learning by trial and error. It was not about trying many random things and seeing what works. It was about well-planned experiments that helped us identify the next steps least expensively.
But the key point was - to start!
Innovation or innovative ideas and steps are all about starting small but starting now.
The basic tenet of innovation is simple - start small but start now!
All in all, whether it is about being an entrepreneur or it is about taking entrepreneurial steps while working for someone - three things often help better:
1. Prefer demonstration over (mere) presentation.
2. Providing a new meaningful perspective is a surefire way to get an 'Aha!' response.
3. Properly directed experimentation is the key. And for that one must start - start small but start now.
Many of us will go in a retrospective mode for the next few days. And then again we'll start looking forward to the new year.
But one thing is clear - much of success is often a result of better positioning.
Think about it - doing your best isn’t about the result.
It’s about the preparation.
It’s about the position you find yourself in before doing whatever you do.
The average person who puts themselves in a better position often beats a genius in a poor position. Because positioning happens way before you get to that decisive moment.
Much of the success is often a result of better positioning.
That is one of the reasons why the work we do at 3DOTS Studios is geared towards that - to enable entrepreneurs, professionals and leaders to position strongly.
And always remember - being innovative or being an entrepreneur is not about merely doing new things.
It is about making choices because we want to...not because we have to!
By the way...many things have changed since 2013. But the learnings are still useful.
In fact, I used all of them this year, with my son, around the same time of the year, and again in Melbourne.
This time, we again were trying to help him get on his feet quicker and learn something different!
