Mukesh Gupta's Blog, page 47

Is Free Public Transportation the Answer for Germany to Meet Pollution Norms of EU?

Premise:

DW Akademie recently reported that Germany would like to experiment with making public transportation free in 5 of its cities to explore if this can help it meet the pollution norms of European Union. The question is if this is the approach that will produce the results that it is expecting to achieve. This in addition to the policy to ban all petrol vehicles by 2030.

Wicked problems:

This is a classic example of what I call a wicked problem. This problem is so multi-faceted with so...

PBTO S2E4: Rethinking Vertical Movement Inside a Building

Who is on the show: In this episode we host architect and product designer Elena Larriba. She works at the intersection between art, science and design. Her curiosity leads her to investigate new concepts, technologies and techniques which she blends together in novel experiments merging engineering, design and craft. Why is she on the show: She is the designer of a vertical movement product called Vycle, which is a hybrid version of a cycle and an elevator and can be used for vertical movem...

Staying relevant in A Fast Changing World

The 40 – 40 Chasm?

Last week, I was attending a conference for senior marketers in Bangalore. One of the things that stuck with me from that conference was something that host Jessie Paul mentioned – the 40 – 40 chasm. She explained that if you are above 40 in age and earned 40Lakhs INR, you are supposed to be an endangered species in a corporate environment. She went on to talk about how most of us at this age have stopped learning and growing as individuals. What surprised me, even more, wa...

Mime Artists & A City’s Transformation

I came across a story that could potentially be a Hollywood blockbuster. This is the story of a mayor who transformed an entire city, an unruly one into one that learnt to follow rules. He did this by breaking all the rules about how a politician should look like or behave like. And the entire transformation of the city started by getting “Mime” artists performing on the street.

Problem: To understand the extent of the ingenuity, lets first try to comprehend the problem that was being tackled...

PBTO S2E3: The Importance of “Imaginativefulness” in the Creative Process

Who is on the show:

In this episode, we host Jeffrey Baumgartner. He is an entrepreneur, artist, teacher, author and an innovation consultant and not  your typical Innovation consultant.

He is the author of the books, “The Way of the Innovation Master” & “The Insane Journey”

He is also the creator of a new & effective creative thinking methodology called “Anti-Conventional Thinking” as an alternative to traditional brainstorming methods.

He also runs the Report 103, which is one of the longes...

Book Review – Three Box Solution

Name of the book: The Three Box Solution: A Simple Framework for                    leading  innovation
Author of the book: Vijay Govindarajan
Publisher: HBR Press
Overall Rating: 4/5
Implementability of ideas: 4/5

This is a book about how to lead innovation in an organisation. The framework that Vijay suggests is simple to learn and keep in mind. As he rightly says in his book, easy to remember doesn’t mean easy to implement. Leading innovation isn’t easy either. However, the simplicity of t...

Become a Referrals Ninja

It is a well-known fact that one of the best ways to generate new leads for a business is by asking for referrals. However, not all referrals are created equal.

Here are some tips to get the best possible referrals and get so good at it that you can become a referral ninja:

Whom to ask for referrals:

It is a good idea to ask for a referral only from a good customer. The definition of a good customer according to me is the following:

 A customer who sees a lot of value from buying/using your...

Hard Truths about Being a Leader

Everyone I meet in the corporate world wants to become a leader, irrespective of what their psychological disposition is. disproportionately high CEO salaries don’t help. Everyone wants to earn more and the fastest way to earn more is to get into the management cadre in an MNC. What people don’t realise is that becoming a leader or in the management cadre is not for everyone. Like any other job, it requires a very clearly defined skillset and mindset.

Here is a list of things that you nee...

PBTO S2E2: Jill Konrath – More Sales in Less Time

Who is on the show:

In this episode, we host Jill Konrath. As a business-to-business sales expert, Jill’s ideas and insights are ubiquitous in multiple forums, both on and offline.

Jill’s newsletters are read by 125,000+ sellers worldwide. Her popular blog has been syndicated on numerous business and sales websites.

Why is she on the show:

She was recently named one of the most influential people on sales by LinkedIn, among many other recognitions.

What did i learn in this episode:

As sales p...

Entrepreneurship – Creating Opportunities Where None Exists

It was April of 1976. It was one of those evenings when Gary Dahl, an advertising professional was having beer with his friends. His friends were going on and on complaining about their pets. In jest, he remarked that he had no complains about his pet. When probed about which pet, he said, that he had a pet rock.

This got a good laugh among his friends and that was that. Just like at time there is a tune or some thought that is stuck in our heads, this entire idea of having a pet rock was stu...