Don’t be Kupamanduka When someone just joins your organisation, get their first impression of their experience within a few days of joining. Then, after you run them through the standard tour and the paces, and get another view within a month or two. See if there is a significant drop in the ‘illusion’. And if…
Are you certain? Or do you think? We live in times that are almost entirely about confidence. The underlying stuff is often of little importance. A bold claim has great impact. The ability to pause to consider two equally strong but opposing possibilities, not as much. Maybe that is also why many of our management…
Airline Seats and Behaviour Do you think those extremely uncomfortable airline seats have anything to do with our behaviour when we are flying? Remember the last flight you took. Unless you were traveling business or first class, you can’t forget the tiny seats. And the armrests, that always seem to have gotten closer from the…
Need Ideas? Dress Down Despite the Mumbai heat, I don’t miss an opportunity to wear a suit. Especially to a first-time work meeting. However, things are different if the agenda of a meeting is problem solving or ideating. Then, I don’t just prefer, but also strongly recommend a casual dress code. Why? Think about the…
Why Design Thinking is Here to Stay A close friend recently shared this article titled ‘Why Design Thinking will fail’, written in 2013 by Jeffrey Tjendra. Jeffrey is a designer entrepreneur and strategist. Among some of us friends, there was were points of disagreement on the article. Jeffrey does seem to have a good understanding…
Venture Capital Elevator Pitches I left my job at a venture capital (VC) firm in 2010. After freelancing for a bit I then worked with a high-technology company in the robotics space. I then started my own strategy consulting practice, which over the years has matured into an interesting blend of design thinking, management strategy…
The Entrepreneur in a Venture Capital World Imagine a food connoisseur has a vision of opening a restaurant. Selling a carefully crafted list of delicacies, whose preparation has taken years to refine. This aficionado has thought of everything. The cutlery that would highlight the preparations, what the entrance to the restaurant would be like, the…
What’s Your Profession? Did You Bring More Soldiers? In 1970s, according to the TV series Mindhunter at least, the FBI was filled with accountants & lawyers instead of more relevant experts in areas that mattered. That is, in place of behavioral analysts. That seems to have been the case with the Indian Venture Capital industry…
Rate Wisely Imagine the simple process of rating a book you’ve just read. Let’s say it is a non-fiction. Perhaps a business or even a self-help kind of book. The normal tendency would be that if it has even an average amount of useful stuff, you’d give it a good rating. Especially if it contained…
The Illusion of Ratings and Feedback Life in present times has become an increasingly rapid process of experiences and feedback. Businesses are always asking us to rate the services or experiences they offer. And often, they feel inclined to “reward” us for it. While no one’s complaining about the free stuff or great discounts, are…