Mukesh Gupta's Blog, page 38

Why Do Startups Fail?

Premise:

There has been enough written about startups and reasons why almost all of them fail. So, why write another post about this? Even though there is no dearth of resources (blogs, videos, books, stories, etc) on reasons why startups fail and how to avoid them, I don’t see any reduction in the failure rates of startups; I don’t see them learning from the mistakes of other failed startups; I don’t see them focus on the right things that can help them avoid failure.

It is crucial that we u...

Best Among What I read This Week – 7th March 2019

Here are some of the posts that i really enjoyed reading this week:

Seth Godin in his inimitable style talks about “Concept Cars” and how they are a tactic by the Automotive industry to make us feel bad about our old model of car and also keep nudging us to continue to accept technology and cars which will not be available in the market for years to come.. Great post! Steve Hunt poses the question – Why Managers Don’t Coach Employees – and How to Fix It and answers it in a logical and concis...

Boredom and Creative Breakthroughs

In this short animation, Dr. Sandi Mann talks about why boredom is an important emotion for us and what role it plays in the creative process. Boredom creates a space where we can daydream and allow our sub-conscious mind to connect unrelated things and these connections lead to new insights and creative ideas.

If we really want to experience creative breakthroughs, avoiding boredom is not an option.

Enjoy the video!

 

I have written earlier about this as well. You can read that post here.

 ...

Conquering Fear

Miobe Fear

Once upon a time, there lived a boy who was extremely shy and fearful of the world around him, that his family and friends called him “Miobe” – the frightened one. All his friends made fun of him and his fearful nature.

Miobe hated it when his friends made fun of him. So, one fine day, he decided that he will have to conquer fear, so that his friends would stop making fund o him. That night when everyone was fast asleep, he packed his bag and set off into the world to understand fe...

Ten Rules for Building a Good Company

Today, I stumbled upon a book – “Tree-Ring Management” by Hiroshi Tsukakoshi. Hiroshi san is the Chairman of a kanten manufacturer far from the bustle of Tokyo , amid the natural beauty of Nagano prefecture in Japan.

In the book, he argues that the primary purpose of a business is to make its employees happy. Their management philosophy also indicates that slow, controlled growth is better than rapid growth and in fact fast growth is the enemy. Their philosophy is so unique that there is an H...

Mary Meeker’s 2018 internet trends report | Code 2018

Loved this video where Mary Meeker shares the internet trends that she shared in May. Though this is a bit dated (delivered in May 2018) but still highly relevant if you are planning to do anything on the internet. 

I would recommend that you watch this and internalise the trends. You might have to watch it more than once, as she goes at an unbelievable pace and covers a lot of ground in 30 mins. 

Mary is an American VC and a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer...

Lessons from The Story of a Wise Man and the Boys who Loved To Drum

I would like to tell you a short story. There was once an old wise man who after retiring from his work decided to buy a house in his old village and moved there to live his life in a peaceful setting. All was well until it wasn’t.

Once the school started, there were a few boys who used to walk past his home on their way to school. They would drum on the metal garbage bins that were near the window of the wise man’s bedroom. He would find this noise to be too disturbing and wanted the boys t...

An Unconventional Approach to Manage Your Projects

Almost everyone project manager that I meet wants to find out a way to do two things:

Deliver their projects on-budget and on-time Be innovative in their approach while doing so

Yet, we know that most projects are neither on-budget nor on-time. The bigger and more critical the project, the more likely that it will over-run budgets and get delayed. So, why is it that most large projects fail? Is there anything that we can do to address this statistic?

My belief is that most projects fail (ove...

Designing for Wellbeing in the Workplace

We spend more and more time in our offices than in any other single space. So, it makes perfect sense to build our workspaces with little nudges all along the design of the physical space so that they help us go back home a little more happier and healthier than we came in the morning. 

That I believe would be key in creating an organisation which has healthy, creative, engaged and highly productive employees. Of course, just getting the physical space right doesn’t mean that all other aspect...

How Conflicts can Super-charge Our business with Liz Kislik

Who is on the show:

In this episode we host Liz Kislik, For 30 years as a management consultant, executive coach, and facilitator, Liz has focused on advancing business results for her clients. She develops higher performing workforces for leading organizations, from the Fortune 500 and national non-profits to family-run businesses.

Why is she on the show:

Over the years Liz has coached and mentored employees from the C-suite to the contact center — vice presidents, human resource profession...