Raj Shankar's Blog, page 22

Books and Me: David and Goliath

Book Title: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the art of battling giants

Author:Malcolm Gladwell

Somehow this book of Malcolm Gladwell did not keep me as gripped as the earlier ones. That does not mean the book is not good. This is the problem that an author creates for himself or herself: raising the bar / expectations by producing great work. I think the problem is that the book seems predictable very quickly – because it has the usual Gladwell style. It has interesting stories, interesting insights into older stories that we might already know and many new ones dug out from literature. The book also refers enough to scholarly research as much as to examples. Overall an interesting book.

It will help people who feel disadvantaged about how they can work themselves against difficulties. The stories are themselves so beautifully integrated with scholarly research supporting it. I wondered many times how Gladwell finds the right reference from such a large body of academic writing.

Some key observations from the book that one can take away:

We need to change the way we see advantages and disadvantages
More of something does not necessarily mean better (more money, smaller class size, more power and authority, etc)
Disadvantages can also drive people to success (Dyslexia, Trauma victims, underdog groups, etc)
And many such interesting stories

But somehow through the book we find ourselves moving across too many topics and trying to make connections that seem too difficult to make, even though Gladwell helps us. I enjoyed reading the book, but towards the second half of the book, lost interest. I felt that we were trying to make too many stretched connections to make points. It is good to see patterns, but patterns for the sake of patterns seem quite unpleasing even to our minds.

Though Gladwell has the capacity to bring together stories and research and help see connections that are contrarian to what we commonly believe, I think we have seen and heard that enough now. It is time to see some new and different writing from this interesting author. I am still a big fan of Gladwell’s writings and definitely look forward to seeing his next book.

I am also very sure if someone were to study entrepreneurs who have made it big, there will be interesting backgrounds that we will unearth. Would their disadvantages have made them successful entrepreneurs or would it have been their tragic childhood days that brought them unimaginable success? But while exceptions give us amazing stories and inspire us, can be for the majority of us to emulate – requires more thinking!

While all of us involved in entrepreneurship think about this, you can learn a lot about psychology from this book. I am sure it will lead you to interesting academic papers while also providing interesting anecdotes for you to talk about.

Happy Reading!

Secrets to a successful social media strategy

Every start-up today wants to know how to use social media as part of its marketing strategy. But what most miss is that web based social media is not just another channel which seems relatively inexpensive. This misunderstanding leads them to use the same strategies that have been used in other channels and apply it on social media channels. There is a need to understand many more things about how people interact on social media, what kind of conversations go on there, why people connect on such media and what role these conversations can play in enabling our product / service.

Since it is an emerging area there is need for more research and experiments in this space. But as with any experiment it requires courage from the entrepreneur to try out different approaches knowing fully well that failure is an inherent part of any experiment. In this light the below referred article provides a different view to looking at social media marketing strategies.

Moving from digital media strategies to social media strategies on social media platforms is the crux of the message that Professor Misiek Piskorski seems to highlight in his new book titled “A Social Strategy: How we profit from social media”. Here is a short peek into what the research was about and what readers can expect from the book. http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7545.html

Think about it!

Vedanta and Me: Use of Rituals and Routines

Rituals have been one of the most controversial aspects of Indian society. But they are not only spoken of here. Almost every civilisation has had its version of rituals. Today’s hatred towards rituals stems from their misuse rather than their use. Every activity had a purpose and when its purpose was over, it had to be dropped. But when society holds on to rituals beyond its purposeful life, it decays and creates problems. This has happened a lot in Indian culture.

Thousands of rituals are spoken of in the ancient Indian literature (Vedas). But before we read about them randomly and dismiss them as useless or mindless, we should give credit to their creators. We should take effort to understand who created them, why was it created, in what context was it created and what was their intentions in laying them down, etc? Without understanding all of this, dismissing them is like a having sparkling diamonds and throwing them away suggesting that it is, after all a variation of carbon!

Rituals were created to build discipline. This was a step towards making ourselves eligible for higher knowledge. Without this we may hurt ourselves in receiving knowledge prematurely. It is like trying to do a doctoral level program without having gone to college or studied that subject and its existing literature base at all. That is why the academic community insists on going through a literature survey before beginning any research work at the doctoral level.

How is all this relevant to the majority of us?

We must create our own list of rituals with a purpose. If we are writers we can create routines and rituals to ensure our focus remains on our writing. Many artists had their rituals as non negotiable. Here is the review of a book about them: https://rajshankar.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/books-and-me-daily-rituals/ This enabled them see success.

Entrepreneurs have had successful habits and routines. Some never sat at their offices, but spent time meeting customers. Some spend their time building amazing products and ignoring the markets. Some went behind maximising profitability, some behind creating spectacular products and even some behind delightful services. None the less, all of them held on to some non negotiable routines / rituals / habits and stayed consistent with them.

Was this then the reason for their spectacular success and achievements? If so, why not use rituals as a tool in our budding ventures as well? Why not keep rituals to their intended reasons and ensure everyone following them, does it for the spirit behind them, rather than the mechanics. This can result in big achievements for your start-up.

Think about it!

How to reach your start-up’s potential?

Before getting to exploiting your start-up’s potential read the below:

There are many things one needs to do to reach his / her potential. This article suggests six rituals that if done everyday can help one reach it. Are these the right six for you or should you search for others is a personal choice, but the message is: create rituals / routines and follow them.

The only way is to stop for a while, take a short break, rethink about the purpose and why this journey began. Prepare a set of things that you want to achieve that will help you maximise the use of your potential. If you do not do this, you will feel unhappy, exhausted and uninspired after a while. To ensure that you do not meet these challenges very early in your entrepreneurial journey, it is better to find a balanced set of activities to be done everyday. Here is a starting list of 6 things you can do: http://www.fastcompany.com/3003586/6-simple-rituals-reach-your-potential-every-day

I find a lot of young entrepreneurs prefer to spend most of their time alone or with their small team behind closed doors. They rarely exercise, go out and socialise and almost never interact with customers. Why? Because these are not part of the activity list. The only thing that is on the activity list is – handle the latest problem ticket, rest later. This is what many entrepreneurs (seasoned ones) call as ‘fire fighting all the time’

How does one exploit one’s potential if we keep fire fighting all the time?

To get over this challenge and create an improved setting to exploit a start-up’s potential once could start with #2 on that list (from article above), especially if it is done as a group in the morning. What kind of resonance in actions can result from this one act? You will have to experience it to know it.

Now let’s get to the crux of the challenge – how to see your start-up’s potential blossom? While you want to reach your potential, the only way to make your start-up reach its potential is by enabling a lot more of your team members reach theirs as well. If all of this can be aligned towards the start-up goal, you will see your start-up racing ahead in full throttle. Maintaining this alignment amongst the actions across all members of a start-up is inherently the entrepreneur’s key job. For this a simple morning ritual of coming together to list key tasks for the day can help.

Think about it!

10 facts about entrepreneurs that might surprise you

Anything and everything about entrepreneurs always surprise us and that’s what makes studying entrepreneurship so exciting. Do you agree?

But here is a short set of slides based on a report from the Kauffman Foundation that finds some glaring anomalies to widely held beliefs: http://www.inc.com/ss/jeff-haden/10-facts-about-entrepreneurs-that-may-surprise-you

While a few are in line with what we may have seen on the field, some are truly fresh. This is based on a survey of over 500 entrepreneurs. While this may be a scientific finding, it definitely lends a helping hand to understand entrepreneurs better.

Some contrarian facts:

Age does not matter
Education matters
Relationship (especially marriage) helps
Building wealth is as important (if not more) as passion
Working before you start helps

A lot more research is needed in understanding entrepreneurship at large and entrepreneurs in specific. Especially in a country like India where entrepreneurship is touted as an important tool for socio-economic development, more research is essential. This can fuel policy formulation and ecosystem development.

Think about it!

Routines to reach your entrepreneurial potential

In a recent workshop for entrepreneurs at Bangalore, India, I had the pleasure of interacting with over 40 invested founders. They were all energetic and raring to go from the word ‘start’. We spent the day, reducing breaks to the minimum, discussing over lunch, and stretching the day till I had to necessarily leave so as to not miss my flight. We discussed issues around sales and marketing the entire day. While many discussions were around tools, techniques, approaches, etc, one entrepreneur (a lady) came up to me and said, “It looked like you spoke to me when you said, sales and marketing is all about discipline. If you declared the office time as 9am, why are you not in at 9 and how in the world do you expect to question others about being late.” She said it seemed too silly to be saying this, but as the team grows and the start-up is turning into a little business, resetting the culture is really becoming a challenge.

Her biggest action item was to start being in office at 9am everyday, more importantly speaking with her team about what needs to be accomplished that day and ensuring they re-look at it before they leave for the day. She said though they had reviews and goal setting sessions, they were random and people knew we would discuss a lot but never come back to check if we were working on them! This was leading them to catching errors too late and making course corrections after resources were spent.

While it looks so simple, most entrepreneurs and their teams never come together to discuss their to-do lists, their activities, etc. In the name of freedom, most of them end up discussing their plans like water cooler conversations.

Entrepreneurs don’t seem to realise the importance of routines till they are well into the game (a few years). I think that’s too much of a toll to pay for this learning. Apart from the business developing structural, cultural and discipline issues, so many entrepreneurs who have built small businesses have blood pressure, diabetes, and other lifestyle challenges by the time they reach mid thirties. This is not an interesting trend. Why does all this arise?

The answer is simple – a lack of routine.

Starting today ensure you as an entrepreneur establish some basic discipline in your start-up:

People (including you) come in at the appointed time
Every one shares their top 5 activities for the day
A review happens often to know how things went
Course correction happens to the plan based on review inputs
People leave on time (except in extreme / exceptional situations)
Everyone (including you) does some physical exercise
Everyone (including you) sweats it out a little (literally)

Setting a set of tasks to be done, ensuring it is done, and reviewing the effects of the action are critical to every start-up. This does not happen because naturally no one wants a routine. But routine is the key to success.

Think about it!

Books and Me: Where the reason to live is books

For a change this time around I am not reviewing a book under the category “Books and Me” on this blog. I came across this interesting article about books in general and book towns in general and was excited that I spent a lot of time re-reading this short article while also browsing through the photographs multiple times. As a lover of books, a bibliophile, a regular book shop visitor and a voracious reader, I could not help but speak about this and share with all of you.

Have you heard of towns that literally are filled only with books, especially second hand books. These are little towns huddled in remote locations around the world where the residents seemingly earn a living selling second hand books. While the trade is seeing a steady downtown, the towns are providing people, especially book lovers, a chance to spend time browsing thousands of books, pick a few and spend time reading them in the quiet neighbourhood. I can’t even imagine what a lovely vacation that would make for book lovers such as myself. The article and the links that it provides for further reading have even made me, a person who does not take breaks, to wonder about taking a vacation to one of these lovely little towns. What a lovely vacation that will be, being in the middle of millions of books, spending time interacting with thousands of book lovers, while also catching up on the reading in an utopian setting! Have a look at the photographs and also imagine these little towns – what could be their reason to live, except books!

Books are said to be man’s best friend. What would people in these towns say about them? Read more here: http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/booktowns-where-reading-is-the-reason-to-live

Book-towns – where reading is the reason to live or should i say the reason to live itself is books! Think!

Apple buys Beats – why?

Apple has iTunes Radio, but it has not kept pace with services such as Spotify and Pandora. Should Apple have re-built iTunes Radio instead of buying out Beats? This is a question only time can answer, but for now there are a lot of things that can be read from the acquisition.

Apple started its foray into the consumer electronics business with music and it knows that music is an important aspect of their future business as well. Hence music is going to be an important component of Apple’s strategy. Here are two articles discussing the acquisition:

How the deal almost got cancelled? http://www.fastcompany.com/3031194/most-innovative-companies/apple-buys-beats-electronics-for-3-billion

Interview with Wharton Professor Peter Fader: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/apples-beats-buy-desperation-opportunity/

But some interesting insights from the acquisition are:

Apple has generally bought really small start-ups (well before they became large brands)
Apple’s acquisitions have been low key affairs and so it is this time around too
Apple usually builds the best products / services itself, but accepting that someone else has got it right is a rare instance; it is a rarity or a change in strategy to keep up with the changing times!
The hardware part of the Beat’s Business seems like a good fit with Apple’s positioning of its products, as it is unique, stylish and premium positioned
The software part of the business is not the largest in the space, but seems to be in line with the general trend; will the acquisition give it the chance to scale?
More than the valuation paid for the purchase, the act of purchasing a company to strengthen its services seems to be a new trend (I think it started with maps)
Is Apple keeping pace with change – by not attempting to make everything itself in an open innovation world?

Will Apple open itself up as part of its growth strategy? Will Apple’s entry into the music streaming space bolster the trend away from music downloads? All these are interesting for all those who admire and watch the brand called ‘Apple’. But for now, I think what most fans of Apple want is a larger screen iPhone? While we all speculate on what Apple should do next, the best thing about Apple (historically) has been that it leaves everyone wondering: What will Apple do next?

This is my interest, but?

It is not uncommon to hear from ambitious people (which is almost everyone) that they are interested in something or the other. Everyone seems to have an increasing list of interests. But what is the use of interests? Almost always the interests simply create a list of unfinished desires. They always remain in the “to be done” list. The best excuse people give themselves on why their interests have to wait a little longer is – “but i have responsibilities, dues, debts, etc” to be finished now. They are quite certain that once they get done with what is on their hand now, they will do the stuff that interests them the most. Isn’t it an irony?

“This is my interest” BUT I can’t do anything about it now BECAUSE

Have you heard people saying that? I am sure you must have! Have you said it yourself? I am almost sure you will agree in private. Please try to see why this statement occurs again and again in life, till we give up on our interests. Most old people regret that the time to begin their pet projects simply never came. They were sure that they waited to complete only what was on hand to get started, but somehow the things on hand never seemed to finish!

One of the big reasons why people don’t begin their pet projects is the possibility that they could ‘fail’. Because it is their pet projects, they don’t want it to fail at all. Hence they fool themselves into believing that they are preparing as they wait to get started. They want to be very sure that they are starting with everything set! Do you even think such a day will ever arrive?

If the answer is ‘no’, then get started today. Pick one of your pet projects, and give it 30 minutes a day. Work on it with all your heart. Speak about it with all your heart. Build the product, book or service or art with all your heart. Show it to people with all your heart. Don’t worry if you hear criticism or suggestions to stop. Continue, give voice and shape to your interests. They will be the ones that will bring you happiness and fulfilment!

Think about it!

Vedanta and Me: Celebrate, to defeat Jealousy

How in the wildest of imaginations does ‘celebration’ help defeat ‘jealousy’? But in many ways this seems to be the only way to defeat it. Read on and think about it!

In today’s world (as it has always been), people feel happy and excited when something that they want happens. We all celebrate our wins, however small. But when someone else shares his or her victory with you, we don’t seem to show the same enthusiasm for celebration. Why? This is even more pronounced when the person who is sharing this happy news is our competitor!

Why is it that we are able to celebrate our wins more enthusiastically, more gregariously, more grandly, than another’s? It is because there is an amount of selfishness present in all our actions. This selfishness keeps gaining weight within us as we see ourselves lose and especially when we see others (especially peers) win. This creates envy, jealousy. Most of us must have experienced this in some form. In fact as the new batch of students pass out this season (from schools, colleges, etc) almost all of them are being trained by the environment on how to feel bad that something nice (actually better) happened to the other. This over time develops into a habit which we are not even aware of! This sense of selfishness, envy, jealousy becomes a burden for ourselves, which we are not aware, that actually stops us from progressing in life. Amongst the many who are affected by this challenge, many seek to do away with this silly feeling, but truly don’t know how? This leads to the envy and jealousy bothering us too much.

How can we do away with jealousy? I came across a thought which may be of interest. Can we attempt to feel, acknowledge, celebrate the wins of others as much as if it were ours? Can we celebrate the wins of our peers just the way we would if we had won? While it may sound extremely difficult to be done consciously, it will help us genuinely help us get over envy and jealousy. This is a tough habit to break, but once broken, it has the potential to make our lives lighter, happier and peaceful. Over time, just like any other habit, this too becomes a habit. You start celebrating everybody’s wins, victories. This makes more people seek you to share their successes and winning moments. This makes you sought after and you will always have victories around you, be it your’s or other’s.

You will over time lose the feeling of wondering why someone else is winning? The feelings of envy and jealousy will die away as you begin celebrating everybody’s successes just as yours!

Think about it! Try it!