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Innovation Transformation Leadership Influence
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.Innovation Influence The Future of Disruption Artificial Intelligence
These days, everyone on the internet has gone berserk about ChatGPT. Anyone with less than half a clue about technology is overconfidently talking about ChatGPT and how it is going to change our future. And that is a big issue. Half knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance! So, as a qualified professional, let me uncover some of the myths around ChatGPT here.Innovation Transformation Communication Leadership Influence
Many of the bosses I've seen in my career wanted decisions first, a summary second, and details later (if they could spare more time). While some others wanted a summary first, details later, and decisions afterwards, which mostly they had made already. In no situations, they were interested in someone telling them a (customer) story or anything similar. And this is where the advice on storytelling starts to fail in real life. Because we miss a key and almost a hidden (in plain sight) issue in storytelling.Innovation Leadership Disruption Internet of Things
When our IoT (Internet of Things) platform crashed several years ago, I found myself pushed into a corner. With an imminent demo for an important client, I had to take quick action. That action eventually turned out to be a stepping stone for me and to build my profile. Trust me, a lot can happen in 24 hours. The lesson here is - in times like this, the first principles-based thinking is your best bet.Innovation Leadership The Future of Disruption Artificial Intelligence
That evening my bored self decided to visit a nearby zoo. I wanted to look at different animals other than humans that day. As I was strolling through the zoo, nothing seemed interesting as such. A weakened lion, bored hippo, sleepy giraffe, and the zebra that was perhaps trying to get rid of stripes while scuffing against the wall. But as I passed by two monkeys, it sounded familiar. I felt like I understood what they were talking about. So, I stopped. I saw a $5 note in the first monkey's hand while the other had a bunch of bananas. The conversation that followed replaced my boredom with somewhat existential questions.Innovation Leadership Influence The Future of
It was Tuesday. My son and I were travelling back home from the city on a train. As the train was about to reach our station, we got up from our seats and reached the doors. But then something happened. While my son and I were standing near the right side door, everyone else was near the left side door. My son was getting anxious looking at that as he asked, "Shouldn't we be standing on the other side?" I assured him, "No, this is the right side. Don't worry." That didn't seem to work, however. He kept looking back and forth, feeling like a misfit. A few moments later, as the train entered the station...Innovation Leadership Influence The Future of Artificial Intelligence
An interesting experiment was done by psychologist Solomon Asch that highlights this human folly. It shows how social pressure can sway a person to adopt positions that go against all the logic. In the 12 experiments on conformity he conducted, around 75% of the participants conformed to the majority view at least once. It means 75% of the people doing the study were pushed to say an answer which was clearly wrong. And it happened because of...Innovation Transformation Leadership
Do you know the most dangerous word standing between you getting smarter and better is "routine?" It has this uncanny, strange ability to make you irrelevant. But, then, why do we like it so much? What stops us from breaking the routine and finding new ways, better ways to do things?Innovation Transformation Leadership Influence The Future of
My son wanted me to help him choose a drink out of many at the counter one day. And while I did it that day, it made me think - Why does it have to be that way? How did we get to a point where we always think we want to choose from what is available? Why cannot it be something else that isn't there? Part of the problem lies in how we teach and whether we do more multiple-choice questions or more fill in blanks.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of
It was the month of March in chilly Melbourne. My son had recently turned one. He was a new walker. The only problem was he didn't like wearing shoes. Being a responsible father, I needed to figure something out. How could I let him walk and learn without hurting himself? But, I also knew him better than anyone else and was fully aware of the risks that barefoot walking would pose for him. I had a plan to swiftly help him if anything happened when walking in chilly weather on cold footpaths.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption
Tell me, how many times have you heard someone saying, "I have an idea..." And most of the time, what they say after that becomes "blah, blah" for us. So in our heads, we keep shrugging off the idea of whatever they are talking about. I come across at least one person a day who has got an idea of something or about something. But here is the main question... What is so mythical about it?Innovation Transformation The Future of
In defence, not everyone is a commanding officer. In orchestra, not everyone is a conductor. In an organisation, not everyone can be an innovator. Too much of anything is bad; for business and for anything else as such. Innovation is not an exception. Obviously, you cannot keep innovating the same product or process repeatedly. Not for the extended period. Therefore, we need to talk about the other side of the innovation coin.Innovation Leadership Influence
When I started producing my podcast last year, I didn’t know much about it. In fact, besides listening to other podcasts, there was nothing much to it. And I remember thinking that it is probably a very easy thing to do. All I need to do is record an interview, do some minor editing, and upload it on the platform. Just that, it wasn't that easy. Many things influence the quality of the podcast, and I may have made countless mistakes along the way. But the more I learned, the more I started to understand.Innovation Transformation Leadership Influence The Future of Disruption Artificial Intelligence
In the 17th century, electricity was a matter of curiosity amongst several scientists. One of them was Galvani, who did some experiments in 1780. For example, he showed that the legs of a dead frog can twitch when he applied electric current to it. His nephew Aldini, in 1803, took a step further and used human corpses to show that it also happens with human bodies. Soon the news spread and a writer Mary Shelly published a novel in 1818. The main character in that novel was Dr Victor Frankenstein. He stitches several body parts and, using electricity, brings his creation to life. In 1931 the movie "Frankenstein" was produced based on the same story, which Earl Bakken saw during his young age. That inspired him to create the world's first battery-powered pacemaker in 1957. This is one of the many examples of sci-fi turning into reality.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption
Have an idea that you want to implement? Hold on and read this article before you proceed any further. Your idea may be good but there are several other things you need to consider and do before you can ensure its proper implementation. Innovation is one of the most used and abused terms these days. But what exactly it means can be quite nebulous. When we talk about innovation, it can mean different things to different people.Innovation Transformation Leadership
Bringing ideas to life and making them a reality has been a large part of my work and my business for a very long time—nearly 20 years and counting. So when I hear someone say that ideas are worth nothing, I call it out. So, if you have believed that ideas are worth nothing, then today, I want to give you five reasons to reconsider your opinion. Coming up with a creative idea on demand usually involves a process or a plan. And to undermine that is like saying that ideas at Apple are worthless because their products are actually created by other people in China. “Ideas are worth nothing” is a phrase that sounds wise, but it is not. Ideas are worth nothing is a lie, don’t fall for it.Innovation Transformation The Future of Artificial Intelligence
Last week, while crossing the road, I saw a car that was incorrectly parked. Naturally, the first reaction was, “What an idiot!” This person has not only put their vehicle at risk of getting nicked, but they also put pedestrians at risk. Apparently, having a number plate with KING written on it didn’t help much. But then I started to think, “Should I be calling this person an idiot or stupid? And what is the difference between an idiot and a stupid?” So, I searched on the internet and I did find something about it. But I also found something else.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption
Hybrid work! Everyone is talking about it. But how do you really make it work for you? Whether you are a team manager, a team member, or a senior leader, you know that there have been challenges in the work as we knew it. Hybrid makes them even more challenging, or maybe not! So, if you have been wondering how to make hybrid-work work for you, then this one is just for you.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption
Did you ever follow the GPS only to find yourself in the middle of nowhere? Or, without question, followed the advice of an expert - maybe a doctor, financial adviser, or someone similar only to learn later that your instincts and your thoughts were correct? So, why and how do these kinds of things really happen? I think, primarily, the issue is that our complex, data flooded, information flooded world has made us more reliant on experts, protocols, and technology. So much so that we have stopped thinking for ourselves. It's like we have outsourced our thinking to a troubling degree to gadgets and social media. We are slowly and steadily abandoning our autonomy. It irks me. How do you feel? We need a new approach for integrating them more effectively. We need to learn better ways to harness their capabilities without undermining our ability to think for ourselves. And it does take more than just critical thinking.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of
The sourcing and development of innovative ideas are essential to a businesses’ long-term success. Therefore, hiring managers need to keep innovation in mind when reviewing candidates. Candidates possessing innovative qualities and experience contribute to a successful company. They directly impact the work culture and many business practices. However, hiring for innovation is different from all other hiring criteria, processes, and decisions. This article will talk about at least two dozen characteristics of employees who are best suited for innovation.Innovation Transformation The Future of Disruption
That peaceful Sunday morning, I was reading a book when my son came rushing. I could sense a hint of worry in his voice as he said, "Dadda...The laptop shut down again!" I knew about the troubles this laptop was giving for the past several days. So it wasn't breaking news to me. We went inside to check it. Finally, it dawned on me as to why we are repeatedly facing that peculiar problem. I also thought that it might be a good idea to teach my son another useful life skill. So I tasked him to fix it, and this is what happened next.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of
It is one of those questions I get asked occasionally, and in my view, there are bigger and better things than just having a digital strategy. Worrying about your digital strategy is like worrying about a small cog in a large wheel. And, yet, this term has been beaten to death. Several consultants and vendors use this term as a gimmick. Because after all, it helps them to sell their services. But, what does it mean to you? How much digital strategy is enough? And what can you do about it? What is better than digital strategy? I will get there in a bit. But first, let us understand, "What is strategy?" Because we often hear this word, HR strategy, digital strategy, technology strategy, etc. So, what is strategy?Innovation Transformation Leadership Disruption
I was in my hotel room when I took off my shirt to wash. And then I realized. I don’t have another one to wear. The shirt I took off was already soaking in water. And I was standing bare in the middle of the room. It was 6 in the evening, -20 degrees Celcius and snowing outside, and I was in Shenyang, China. I was about to go out to get something for dinner. I missed my lunch that day. I was starving. So, while staring at my thin black jacket on the couch, I had a choice to make. To sleep without dinner or go out in that thin black jacket for food while risking myself with hypothermia. Earlier that day, I lost all my luggage. And this is the story of what happened next.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of
When engineering and electronics giant Siemens wanted to launch hearing aids for kids, they faced an interesting challenge. Leadership was contemplating, "How do you market hearing aids to kids?" Despite being a necessity, how do you make them attractive? How do you make them look cool and not weird? Now for all their experience and technical expertise, these questions were far out of their comfort zone. Their history, their strategy, their culture had never encountered a challenge of marketing technology to kids. The first question they asked was, "Which of our full-time employees can take this assignment?" Unfortunately, the answer turned out to be, "No one."Innovation Transformation Leadership Disruption
How often does it happen? We have an idea. We get curious. We find more about it. And then nothing happens! Fear of failure and perfectionism are the most common reasons people don’t take action. We fantasize about the outcomes, but we never really do anything beyond that. So how do we really overcome them? Let me show you my approach to get past these roadblocks and take action.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of
There are some good strategies adopted by the defense forces that can be useful in the corporate sector. Dig deeper and try to make connections. You will see that corporates can learn from two key characteristics that defense forces exhibit. Agility and mission-based approach are two things, for instance, that can be of great help to the companies. Read on to find out how these can helpInnovation Leadership Influence The Future of Artificial Intelligence
How to develop curiosity? How to get more creative? Unfortunately, answers to these questions often are vague and abstract. If you want five practical tips to bolster your curiosity, become more creative and innovative, this one is for you. If you want to stay curious and become more creative, start learning the facts for yourself. Stop relying on Google or the internet.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of
If you look carefully at the current organizational mix, you will see an exciting emerging trend. Most companies now have at least three different generations in their employee mix. It is interesting because each of these generations looks at management principles and leadership quite differently. So, the question is, with such a wide mix of talent, ideologies, thinking, and operating styles, how do you ensure high-speed innovation? I have rarely seen an employee that wants to be told what to do. Instead, most of them want leaders to trust them for being capable of doing the right thing. And, from that perspective, most of the management principles from the past are not applicable anymore. When we think of a progressive organization and innovation, these factors need to be accounted for.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of
Okay...let us start with the basic and yet core question. "What is a problem?" Sounds trivial, but it is more than a trick question. A quick Google search might tell you that definition of a problem is, "A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome." So, let us take an example to dig down further. Let us talk about Jimmy, our customer. Jimmy is an art lover and recently purchased artwork in an auction last week. Now he wants to install it on the wall of his living room. But Jimmy does not have all the necessary tools to do that. He does not have a hammer, nails, or drill-machine, etc. In this scenario, Jimmy wanting to install an artwork in his living room is not a problem.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption
Extrapolating your existing strategy is like trying to find another bottle. And you just saw, finding another bottle does not solve the problem. It only extends the time. You are only buying a few extra minutes. On a normal timescale, it may be a few extra years that you will be buying. But the problem, that's not going away. Suppose we put one hypothetical strain of bacteria in an empty bottle at 1100 hrs. Bacteria grow by dividing themselves, thus doubling at a finite rate. Let's assume that they double every minute. Then we observe that the bottle is 100% full at 1200 hrs. Now, with this information, I have two questions for you.Innovation Leadership The Future of Disruption
Do you remember the famous quote of Henry Ford? “If I have asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” But think about it. Why should that be the case? That is when you start to see the limitations of incremental innovation and ideas around it. In comparison, radical and transformative innovations are miles apart, especially when comparing their outcomes. Moreover, the process of selling these (radical or transformative) innovations is significantly different. Incremental innovation is often the “pull-then-push” type, whereas radical and transformative innovations are exactly the opposite. They need the “push-then-pull” methodology of selling the concept. It makes all the difference, along with my assertion and the title of this article. Let me explain.Innovation Transformation Leadership Disruption
You can also transform and change the game, but only if you think two steps ahead of disruptors. If you want to do that, you must shift your focus from customers’ problems to customers’ intents. When you respond to those intents in the best way you can, you will stay ahead of the curve! However, most organizations are not designed for the third type of innovation, i.e., disruptive innovation. So, when they attempt doing that, they look like a dad dancing at a teenager’s party.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of
This month marks the first anniversary of one such week of the last year. The disruption was certainly unwarranted (the word says it all) and unplanned. However, it highlighted several flaws in our ecosystem at several levels. It highlighted how our ways of doing work have many pressure points. How, several things that we do daily could fall apart by just changing its medium, e.g., meeting virtually instead of in-person. And why we must be agile, resilient, and well prepared at all times. Nonetheless, it already happened! So, what happens now? What comes after disruption?Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption
Last year I predicted that this decade is going to be a significant one for humanity as I see much disruption planted on the way. Oh boy, was I wrong? Nothing happens for decades, and decades happen in a week. This would an apt definition of what happened last year. But make no mistake, it is far from over yet. And that is why, if you are making any resolutions or manifestos for this year, please factor in these possibilities. Second and third-order effects usually follow any chaos, disturbance, or disruption. And most often, the third-order effects are more prominent and intense. In fact, in engineering parlance, they are known as third harmonics.Innovation Transformation Influence The Future of
When I was a little kid, just about the same time of the year, my family and I went to the local Dussehra festival. It was a fun experience with all different carousels, merry-go-rounds, slides, and many other things. There was this musical instrument seller who had all different kinds of flutes and trumpets. He was playing the flute to attract the audience. Indeed, he had great talent to create that kind of mesmerizing music. I was so fascinated by that; I requested my father to buy one flute for me. Giving in to my nagging, he bought one. I was very excited to play with it and show off my friends that day as we headed back home. After freshening up, I picked up the flute and started playing.Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption
You will often hear when someone is talking about disruptive innovation, "Uber didn't kill the taxi business; limited access and fare control did!" And when you hear this, the typical response comes in one of the two ways - the first says, take the help of incremental innovation and try to fix those problems. In contrast, the other response is to adapt to the disruptive innovation playbook. But, I argue, both are not sustainable, not enough!Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of
Businesses often get carried away by the smart technology at the disposal and assume that we can use it to solve every problem around us. Emerging technologies are new hammers, avoid treating all the issues as nails. You must avoid rushing into the emerging future. Instead, deliberate efforts, coupled with thoughtful steps, can yield long-lasting positive results. This approach is crucial because it is challenging to undo strategic and technological mistakes these days. While working with over 85+ businesses of various sizes in the last 20 years, I discovered a characteristic pattern in the companies that were the best and the rest. I have tried to model this into an explainable and understandable form here as The Sanity Model.Innovation Leadership Disruption The Future of
If you think online shopping has made everything easier, you would be so wrong! When websites start to offer you more and more products to purchase, it has long-term consequences on your digital, physical, and emotional environment. Technology can be a force for good. But we need more people with the right mindset for using it. My TEDx talk calls out this idea of tech-ethics by sharing a personal anecdote and finding parallels between the business models being employed by most e-commerce websites today.Transformation Innovation Leadership Influence The Future of
When the first lock-down was imposed, almost all events were canceled. People thought everything would be back to normal in a few weeks. It was anything but that. As everyone came to senses and accepted that virtual gatherings are here to stay, many of us picked up the pace to get our act together. The initial few months gave us enough practice to be reasonably comfortable with virtual meetings and presentations of all kinds. But the novelty is wearing off. People have developed more discerning eyes and ears.Innovation Leadership Influence The Future of
There is a critical difference between armchair experts and people who have been there done that. Every founder does not have to repeat the same mistake to learn valuable lessons. They can learn from others, only if others are willing to share their mistakes and experiences without adding any spice to their version. People often tell entrepreneurs, especially startups that they need to know their “why”, the purpose of being in the business. But in my experience, they already know it. Instead, the most challenging part for them is almost always — how?Innovation Leadership Influence The Future of Disruption Artificial Intelligence
I lure you with the pretense of free services. Then I capture your personally identifiable data and surveil your behavior. I sell that data to advertisers and make billions in revenue, but I do not pay (fair) tax. I also crawl other's websites and show you snippets of news and other content, so you don't have to go to their website often. But, how dare you ask for fair compensation for your data and content? I am not happy. I think it is unfair. Hello, my name is Google, and I am a victim!Transformation Innovation Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of
In his seminal work “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” Clayton Christensen discussed the three main forms of innovation. Borrowing from that idea, here is the explanation of the first three kinds of innovation and their impact on jobs, capital, and economy.Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption
We see in our daily lives; many things disturb us. Some irate us, frustrate us or make us sad. What do we do with them? Most of the time – we react! It is a natural human tendency to react. However, I think a response has more to offer than mere reaction. Think about the traffic - it is not the traffic that disturbs us. What really annoys us is our inability to handle the disturbance and frustration caused by the traffic. If we know how to keep calm or find a better way out of that traffic, we don't dwell on it much.Innovation Leadership Disruption The Future of
Once an expert thief said to his young son, “Son, you are grown up now. I should start training you early. I want you to become a better thief than I am !” His son nodded in affirmation. Both decided to start the training very next day. The next day – thief says to his son, “Let me first assess your basics. I will give you 20 minutes.” He said, “Your task is to pick my pocket without getting caught. Your time starts...now !”Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence
Generally speaking, it is a project management strategy in which a project team imagines a project failure and works backward to determine what potentially could lead to that failure. This working is then used to handle risks upfront. However, in the risk management context, I am going to use this (pre-mortem) term interchangeably to represent a more sophisticated and engineering-oriented methodology, known as Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, i.e. FMEA.Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of
There are two key characteristics defense forces exhibit, which corporates can learn from – the first is agility by design and second, mission-based approach. These two traits make them resilient and help in handling disruptions effectively. For any defense mission, tasks, resources, and success guarantee are critical, and it is the same for corporate projects too. Each mission begins with a small team that follows three high-level steps. I recently spoke with my army veteran friend to understand more.Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of
Think of an onion - as you peel it, layer by layer, it starts to unpack a lot of punch. Traditional business models center around single-stream processes, which they manage and execute inhouse. It often creates bottlenecks and increases dependencies. But more importantly, it has an adaptability problem with changing customer demands. Artificial Intelligence and other technologies are enabling significant changes in the economy. Now the time is ripe to make transformative changes; hence business as a platform!Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of
There is an exciting and emerging trend being seen in organizations these days. Most of them now have at least three different generations in their employee mix. It is interesting because each of these generations looks at management principles and leadership quite differently. Nowadays, most of the employees do not want to be told what to do. Instead, they want leaders to trust them for being capable of doing the right thing. Most of the management principles are not applicable anymore.Innovation Transformation Leadership
Whether for theatrical or practical reasons, purpose or motive has always been the driving factor of the story. Knowing the Why makes things crystal clear in trying times. It acts as a guiding star when we are in a problem. As far as the business context is concerned, not having an answer to this critical question poses a fundamental problem in almost all the change management initiatives. Additionally, when an organization is trying to revamp or go to the next level of excellence or advancement, not knowing this (why — the purpose) becomes a roadblock. Any suggested change or idea is rejected due to firm beliefs formed by employees over a long period in an organization.Transformation Innovation Disruption Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things The Future of
Machines make mistakes, just like humans do, and they will keep making them in the future too. Businesses must accept this fact and know that machines, much like humans, also need attention, retraining, and a performance improvement plan before they go live again. Do not get carried away and assume that just because we have cool technology, we can use it to solve every problem around us. Emerging technologies are new hammers, let us avoid treating all of the issues as nails and avoid rushing into the emerging future. It is challenging to undo strategic and technological mistakes these days. Sometimes, it is better to deal with humans than machines, sanity is the key!Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption The Future of
What you see right now is not the future of work. But it is undoubtedly a perfect trigger to change several things at once. Adapt to the current working requirements with all the grace, but make no mistake; this is not the future of work. It is just the tip of the iceberg, call it a stimulus if you will. The good part is, no one has seen how the future of work looks; it is entirely a greenfield area. You can bring in transformative changes and become a business of the future, and show others what it is like to be the one.Innovation Transformation The Future of Disruption
We often hear that crisis breeds so much innovation. So, what leads to such innovation? If you can understand that, you can use it to our advantage and drive some beneficial changes in your organization. In my view, three factors come into play. These three factors are creativity, perspective, and the environment. If you want to leverage any crisis as a stepping stone, then understand these factors and do this.Leadership Innovation The Future of
When I was about 8 yr old, my father told me a story — an interesting perspective on perspectives. A businessman was passing by a large farm in his car when he saw a farmer resting under a tree. The businessman got curious, so he stopped and approached the farmer. On approach and pleasantries, he asked, “Mate, what are you doing?”. The farmer responded, “Resting !” Businessman, being what he is, said to the farmer, “Well, instead of wasting your time by resting, you have such a huge farm, why don’t you work hard ?”Transformation Leadership Innovation
Although I spoke about this topic in a few forums several years ago, my recent experience made me revisit it because this (phenomena) keeps happening now and then. I firmly believe that how customers and suppliers perceive each other mostly and directly impacts the results. If we want to create a real value for everyone, we must shed our perceptions and see-through customer lenses to be more productive. Value always implies an explicit trade-off between what you give and what you get. And it applies in almost any context.Never miss the latest insight
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