As I approached 2019, I had multiple open questions about my work at the 3rd company I had co-founded. At the same time, my 7-year-old nephew was diagnosed with cancer, and in the middle of this, an opportunity in healthcare came calling that changed 2019 for me and that would forever have an impact on my future work. Below, I share 3 things that shaped…
Disruption is hard to define ahead. The transistor, online search, Walmart, IKEA are all series of accidental innovations. Any experienced entrepreneur knows most ideas and technologies end up different from what they begin with. Therefore reduce the effort to define disruptive ideas ahead. Start with a Plan A and iterate to A Plan that works. Safi Bahcall has written a brilliant book in Loonshots I…
On a flight from Detroit to Los Angeles this summer and sitting next to me is an 88-year old man who is also blind. I couldn’t stop thinking about what on earth he was doing on a plane alone. He was eager to chat and we talked about a wide range of topics from geography to why Delta airline keeps purchasing old jets. I asked…
There are many jobs we get a chance to do in the different roles we play in life. If you can identify your role, identify the “jobs to be done”, and constantly evolve them, you will find success in most of your relationships. I am lucky enough to work in a field where clarity of “jobs to be done” is essential for the survival of…
Take a look at the Index of Human Development below. Isn’t it fascinating to see how we can evolve if we choose to? Just over a century ago, South Korea and Nigeria measured 0.02 in the summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development (See above). The difference between these 2 countries and Finland was almost insignificant too. Finland went to work,…
If I don’t get a chance, then the next guy shouldn’t get a chance. Or If I don’t get a chance, then we shouldn’t offer any other person a chance. When I see people take such positions, they remind me of zero sum games. If you live with a scarcity mentality, your only way to get to riches is to move as many people as…
That’s why should you worry when your company is doing well – revenue is good – but deep down, you know something is not working. People are not happy, processes are out of place, no one really understands their roles or what they are doing. Over the last months, I have had countless conversations like this: “We know something is not working but we are…
The only way to know what to do and how to do is to try. Even people with experience had to first try. If you don’t try something that doesn’t work, you won’t be able to try something else that works. One of my colleagues said the other day that “one client knows what to do” and “the other client doesn’t know what to do”….
Why do we measure growth when innovating? Growth is one of the fundamental needs of humans. It is why companies put more resources into sustaining ideas rather than invest in radically new ones. It is also why governments trade investments in climate change or spending on dangerous diseases for economic activities that lead to immediate GDP growth. Our obsession with growth is why even when…
The first step to receiving help from others – either an organization or an individual – in solving a problem is to be honest about the problem and be open-minded. Get rid of the guard, share, and create an environment for them to ask the right questions. Then make the judgment.