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THE POINT IS...


More than the problem, our inability to handle that problem disturbs us!

Showing articles in Transformationclick to show all.


The Three Things Every Leader Must Watch out for in 2024published Jan 15, 2024

Transformation Leadership Influence The Future of 

It is one thing to seek out trends and in-vogue things. But when it comes to limited budgets, resources, and especially time, sanity is the key. Only a few days into the new year, and people have already started sending out predictions for 2024. You are highly likely to be bombarded with yet another Gartner hype cycle infographics, top ten technology predictions, and what have you. I want to highlight three things that every person in a leadership capacity must watch out for during this year.

Reading time: 3 min, read now...

Position Well for 2024published Dec 20, 2023

Innovation Transformation Leadership Influence 

In a time when there is too much flux around new technologies, new businesses, and new of everything, things surely get overwhelming. And to help with that overwhelm, we need a uniquely different perspective. A perspective that may not help in solving the problem but will help handle it more confidently.

Reading time: 5 min, read now...

The Hidden Issue in Storytellingpublished Feb 02, 2023

Innovation Transformation Communication Leadership Influence 

Many of the bosses I've seen in my career wanted decisions first, a summary second, and details later (if they could spare more time). While some others wanted a summary first, details later, and decisions afterwards, which mostly they had made already. In no situations, they were interested in someone telling them a (customer) story or anything similar. And this is where the advice on storytelling starts to fail in real life. Because we miss a key and almost a hidden (in plain sight) issue in storytelling.

Reading time: 2 min, read now...

Good Team Managers Don't Miss Thispublished Nov 13, 2022

Transformation Leadership Influence 

But as it happens with most new team managers, Jenny was trying everything she had read and seen thus far. It looked like she took a shotgun approach to show some runs on the board. At times Jenny was micro-managing, sometimes delegating, and other times biting more than she could chew. She was probably doing more harm than good in a desperate attempt to prove she deserved it. A few weeks into that role, Jenny called me the other day to discuss her challenges. She seemed to understand the urgency to get things sorted as soon as possible.

Reading time: 4 min, read now...

Failure is Misunderstoodpublished Mar 14, 2022

Innovation Transformation Leadership 

Do you know the most dangerous word standing between you getting smarter and better is "routine?" It has this uncanny, strange ability to make you irrelevant. But, then, why do we like it so much? What stops us from breaking the routine and finding new ways, better ways to do things?

Reading time: 2 min, read now...

Is It a Bug or a Feature?published Feb 21, 2022

Innovation Transformation Leadership Influence The Future of 

My son wanted me to help him choose a drink out of many at the counter one day. And while I did it that day, it made me think - Why does it have to be that way? How did we get to a point where we always think we want to choose from what is available? Why cannot it be something else that isn't there? Part of the problem lies in how we teach and whether we do more multiple-choice questions or more fill in blanks.

Reading time: 3 min, read now...

To Foster Creativity and Innovation...published Feb 21, 2022

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of 

It was the month of March in chilly Melbourne. My son had recently turned one. He was a new walker. The only problem was he didn't like wearing shoes. Being a responsible father, I needed to figure something out. How could I let him walk and learn without hurting himself? But, I also knew him better than anyone else and was fully aware of the risks that barefoot walking would pose for him. I had a plan to swiftly help him if anything happened when walking in chilly weather on cold footpaths.

Reading time: 1 min, read now...

The "I Have an Idea..." Mythpublished Feb 14, 2022

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption 

Tell me, how many times have you heard someone saying, "I have an idea..." And most of the time, what they say after that becomes "blah, blah" for us. So in our heads, we keep shrugging off the idea of whatever they are talking about. I come across at least one person a day who has got an idea of something or about something. But here is the main question... What is so mythical about it?

Reading time: 2 min, read now...

Another Side of The Innovation Coinpublished Feb 10, 2022

Innovation Transformation The Future of 

In defence, not everyone is a commanding officer. In orchestra, not everyone is a conductor. In an organisation, not everyone can be an innovator. Too much of anything is bad; for business and for anything else as such. Innovation is not an exception. Obviously, you cannot keep innovating the same product or process repeatedly. Not for the extended period. Therefore, we need to talk about the other side of the innovation coin.

Reading time: 5 min, read now...

The Main Reason Why Creative People Can Predict the Futurepublished Jan 16, 2022

Innovation Transformation Leadership Influence The Future of Disruption Artificial Intelligence 

In the 17th century, electricity was a matter of curiosity amongst several scientists. One of them was Galvani, who did some experiments in 1780. For example, he showed that the legs of a dead frog can twitch when he applied electric current to it. His nephew Aldini, in 1803, took a step further and used human corpses to show that it also happens with human bodies. Soon the news spread and a writer Mary Shelly published a novel in 1818. The main character in that novel was Dr Victor Frankenstein. He stitches several body parts and, using electricity, brings his creation to life. In 1931 the movie "Frankenstein" was produced based on the same story, which Earl Bakken saw during his young age. That inspired him to create the world's first battery-powered pacemaker in 1957. This is one of the many examples of sci-fi turning into reality.

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From Idea to Reality: An Unusual Journeypublished Jan 10, 2022

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption 

Have an idea that you want to implement? Hold on and read this article before you proceed any further. Your idea may be good but there are several other things you need to consider and do before you can ensure its proper implementation. Innovation is one of the most used and abused terms these days. But what exactly it means can be quite nebulous. When we talk about innovation, it can mean different things to different people.

Reading time: 6 min, read now...

3 Best Ways to Thrive in 2022published Jan 01, 2022

Transformation Leadership Influence The Future of Disruption 

Every year it happens. During the last few days of December, people talk about their reflections. They talk about what happened and how their year has been. Then in the new year, they start talking about to-do lists, reading lists, new year resolutions. Social media posts and messaging platforms get flooded with me-too fads such as being authentic, taking care of oneself, living life 'in the moment,' and so on. But then a few weeks go by. Then comes February, when things start to wane. People go back to the routine. I feel there is a better way to manage all this. So let's talk about the three best ways to thrive this year.

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Ideas Are Worth Nothing is a Mythpublished Dec 19, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership 

Bringing ideas to life and making them a reality has been a large part of my work and my business for a very long time—nearly 20 years and counting. So when I hear someone say that ideas are worth nothing, I call it out. So, if you have believed that ideas are worth nothing, then today, I want to give you five reasons to reconsider your opinion. Coming up with a creative idea on demand usually involves a process or a plan. And to undermine that is like saying that ideas at Apple are worthless because their products are actually created by other people in China. “Ideas are worth nothing” is a phrase that sounds wise, but it is not. Ideas are worth nothing is a lie, don’t fall for it.

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The 5 Laws of Stupiditypublished Dec 04, 2021

Innovation Transformation The Future of Artificial Intelligence 

Last week, while crossing the road, I saw a car that was incorrectly parked. Naturally, the first reaction was, “What an idiot!” This person has not only put their vehicle at risk of getting nicked, but they also put pedestrians at risk. Apparently, having a number plate with KING written on it didn’t help much. But then I started to think, “Should I be calling this person an idiot or stupid? And what is the difference between an idiot and a stupid?” So, I searched on the internet and I did find something about it. But I also found something else.

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3 Things To Make Hybrid-Work Workpublished Nov 24, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption 

Hybrid work! Everyone is talking about it. But how do you really make it work for you? Whether you are a team manager, a team member, or a senior leader, you know that there have been challenges in the work as we knew it. Hybrid makes them even more challenging, or maybe not! So, if you have been wondering how to make hybrid-work work for you, then this one is just for you.

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The Cow That Couldn't Moo!published Nov 18, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption 

Did you ever follow the GPS only to find yourself in the middle of nowhere? Or, without question, followed the advice of an expert - maybe a doctor, financial adviser, or someone similar only to learn later that your instincts and your thoughts were correct? So, why and how do these kinds of things really happen? I think, primarily, the issue is that our complex, data flooded, information flooded world has made us more reliant on experts, protocols, and technology. So much so that we have stopped thinking for ourselves. It's like we have outsourced our thinking to a troubling degree to gadgets and social media. We are slowly and steadily abandoning our autonomy. It irks me. How do you feel? We need a new approach for integrating them more effectively. We need to learn better ways to harness their capabilities without undermining our ability to think for ourselves. And it does take more than just critical thinking.

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Companies Don’t Innovate; People Dopublished Nov 15, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of 

The sourcing and development of innovative ideas are essential to a businesses’ long-term success. Therefore, hiring managers need to keep innovation in mind when reviewing candidates. Candidates possessing innovative qualities and experience contribute to a successful company. They directly impact the work culture and many business practices. However, hiring for innovation is different from all other hiring criteria, processes, and decisions. This article will talk about at least two dozen characteristics of employees who are best suited for innovation.

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The Laptop Shutdown...Again!published Oct 22, 2021

Innovation Transformation The Future of Disruption 

That peaceful Sunday morning, I was reading a book when my son came rushing. I could sense a hint of worry in his voice as he said, "Dadda...The laptop shut down again!" I knew about the troubles this laptop was giving for the past several days. So it wasn't breaking news to me. We went inside to check it. Finally, it dawned on me as to why we are repeatedly facing that peculiar problem. I also thought that it might be a good idea to teach my son another useful life skill. So I tasked him to fix it, and this is what happened next.

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What's Better Than Having A Digital Strategy?published Oct 12, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of 

It is one of those questions I get asked occasionally, and in my view, there are bigger and better things than just having a digital strategy. Worrying about your digital strategy is like worrying about a small cog in a large wheel. And, yet, this term has been beaten to death. Several consultants and vendors use this term as a gimmick. Because after all, it helps them to sell their services. But, what does it mean to you? How much digital strategy is enough? And what can you do about it? What is better than digital strategy? I will get there in a bit. But first, let us understand, "What is strategy?" Because we often hear this word, HR strategy, digital strategy, technology strategy, etc. So, what is strategy?

Reading time: 9 min, read now...

When I Lost My Luggage in Chinapublished Sep 02, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership Disruption 

I was in my hotel room when I took off my shirt to wash. And then I realized. I don’t have another one to wear. The shirt I took off was already soaking in water. And I was standing bare in the middle of the room. It was 6 in the evening, -20 degrees Celcius and snowing outside, and I was in Shenyang, China. I was about to go out to get something for dinner. I missed my lunch that day. I was starving. So, while staring at my thin black jacket on the couch, I had a choice to make. To sleep without dinner or go out in that thin black jacket for food while risking myself with hypothermia. Earlier that day, I lost all my luggage. And this is the story of what happened next.

Reading time: 4 min, read now...

Business As A Platform to Enable Innovationpublished Sep 01, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of 

When engineering and electronics giant Siemens wanted to launch hearing aids for kids, they faced an interesting challenge. Leadership was contemplating, "How do you market hearing aids to kids?" Despite being a necessity, how do you make them attractive? How do you make them look cool and not weird? Now for all their experience and technical expertise, these questions were far out of their comfort zone. Their history, their strategy, their culture had never encountered a challenge of marketing technology to kids. The first question they asked was, "Which of our full-time employees can take this assignment?" Unfortunately, the answer turned out to be, "No one."

Reading time: 4 min, read now...

Start Before You Feel Readypublished Aug 13, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership Disruption 

How often does it happen? We have an idea. We get curious. We find more about it. And then nothing happens! Fear of failure and perfectionism are the most common reasons people don’t take action. We fantasize about the outcomes, but we never really do anything beyond that. So how do we really overcome them? Let me show you my approach to get past these roadblocks and take action.

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Importance of Special Purpose Teams in Innovationpublished Aug 01, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of 

There are some good strategies adopted by the defense forces that can be useful in the corporate sector. Dig deeper and try to make connections. You will see that corporates can learn from two key characteristics that defense forces exhibit. Agility and mission-based approach are two things, for instance, that can be of great help to the companies. Read on to find out how these can help

Reading time: 4 min, read now...

High-speed Innovation with Distributed Leadershippublished Jul 01, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of 

If you look carefully at the current organizational mix, you will see an exciting emerging trend. Most companies now have at least three different generations in their employee mix. It is interesting because each of these generations looks at management principles and leadership quite differently. So, the question is, with such a wide mix of talent, ideologies, thinking, and operating styles, how do you ensure high-speed innovation? I have rarely seen an employee that wants to be told what to do. Instead, most of them want leaders to trust them for being capable of doing the right thing. And, from that perspective, most of the management principles from the past are not applicable anymore. When we think of a progressive organization and innovation, these factors need to be accounted for.

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Want to Innovate? Stop Focusing on Customer Problemspublished Jun 10, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of 

Okay...let us start with the basic and yet core question. "What is a problem?" Sounds trivial, but it is more than a trick question. A quick Google search might tell you that definition of a problem is, "A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome." So, let us take an example to dig down further. Let us talk about Jimmy, our customer. Jimmy is an art lover and recently purchased artwork in an auction last week. Now he wants to install it on the wall of his living room. But Jimmy does not have all the necessary tools to do that. He does not have a hammer, nails, or drill-machine, etc. In this scenario, Jimmy wanting to install an artwork in his living room is not a problem.

Reading time: 5 min, read now...

It is Time We Stopped Being the Mediumpublished May 18, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption 

Extrapolating your existing strategy is like trying to find another bottle. And you just saw, finding another bottle does not solve the problem. It only extends the time. You are only buying a few extra minutes. On a normal timescale, it may be a few extra years that you will be buying. But the problem, that's not going away. Suppose we put one hypothetical strain of bacteria in an empty bottle at 1100 hrs. Bacteria grow by dividing themselves, thus doubling at a finite rate. Let's assume that they double every minute. Then we observe that the bottle is 100% full at 1200 hrs. Now, with this information, I have two questions for you.

Reading time: 9 min, read now...

Change The Game with Transformative Innovationpublished Apr 10, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership Disruption 

You can also transform and change the game, but only if you think two steps ahead of disruptors. If you want to do that, you must shift your focus from customers’ problems to customers’ intents. When you respond to those intents in the best way you can, you will stay ahead of the curve! However, most organizations are not designed for the third type of innovation, i.e., disruptive innovation. So, when they attempt doing that, they look like a dad dancing at a teenager’s party.

Reading time: 8 min, read now...

Nothing Happens For Decades, Then…published Mar 10, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of 

This month marks the first anniversary of one such week of the last year. The disruption was certainly unwarranted (the word says it all) and unplanned. However, it highlighted several flaws in our ecosystem at several levels. It highlighted how our ways of doing work have many pressure points. How, several things that we do daily could fall apart by just changing its medium, e.g., meeting virtually instead of in-person. And why we must be agile, resilient, and well prepared at all times. Nonetheless, it already happened! So, what happens now? What comes after disruption?

Reading time: 6 min, read now...

My Manifesto for 2021published Jan 04, 2021

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption 

Last year I predicted that this decade is going to be a significant one for humanity as I see much disruption planted on the way. Oh boy, was I wrong? Nothing happens for decades, and decades happen in a week. This would an apt definition of what happened last year. But make no mistake, it is far from over yet. And that is why, if you are making any resolutions or manifestos for this year, please factor in these possibilities. Second and third-order effects usually follow any chaos, disturbance, or disruption. And most often, the third-order effects are more prominent and intense. In fact, in engineering parlance, they are known as third harmonics.

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Why a Better Camera Might Not Make You a Better Presenterpublished Dec 07, 2020

Innovation Transformation Influence The Future of 

When I was a little kid, just about the same time of the year, my family and I went to the local Dussehra festival. It was a fun experience with all different carousels, merry-go-rounds, slides, and many other things. There was this musical instrument seller who had all different kinds of flutes and trumpets. He was playing the flute to attract the audience. Indeed, he had great talent to create that kind of mesmerizing music. I was so fascinated by that; I requested my father to buy one flute for me. Giving in to my nagging, he bought one. I was very excited to play with it and show off my friends that day as we headed back home. After freshening up, I picked up the flute and started playing.

Reading time: 5 min, read now...

Why You Must Stop Focusing on Customer Problemspublished Dec 01, 2020

Innovation Transformation Leadership The Future of Disruption 

You will often hear when someone is talking about disruptive innovation, "Uber didn't kill the taxi business; limited access and fare control did!" And when you hear this, the typical response comes in one of the two ways - the first says, take the help of incremental innovation and try to fix those problems. In contrast, the other response is to adapt to the disruptive innovation playbook. But, I argue, both are not sustainable, not enough!

Reading time: 5 min, read now...

The 13 Principles to Help You Maintain Sanity in Businesspublished Nov 20, 2020

Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of 

Businesses often get carried away by the smart technology at the disposal and assume that we can use it to solve every problem around us. Emerging technologies are new hammers, avoid treating all the issues as nails. You must avoid rushing into the emerging future. Instead, deliberate efforts, coupled with thoughtful steps, can yield long-lasting positive results. This approach is crucial because it is challenging to undo strategic and technological mistakes these days. While working with over 85+ businesses of various sizes in the last 20 years, I discovered a characteristic pattern in the companies that were the best and the rest. I have tried to model this into an explainable and understandable form here as The Sanity Model.

Reading time: 6 min, read now...

On Gritpublished Oct 11, 2020

Transformation Leadership Influence The Future of 

After almost a year and a half of me failing miserably, I overcame that challenge. I reappeared for exams working twice as hard. There was not an ounce of a doubt in my mind about my success. I did not even think about it. After exams, within two months, the results were out. I passed in that failed subject and scored high enough to be one of the university's top three students. In the same year, I ended up publishing four technical papers and winning a project competition. How did that happen?

Reading time: 5 min, read now...

Innovation in Virtual Presentationspublished Sep 30, 2020

Transformation Innovation Leadership Influence The Future of 

When the first lock-down was imposed, almost all events were canceled. People thought everything would be back to normal in a few weeks. It was anything but that. As everyone came to senses and accepted that virtual gatherings are here to stay, many of us picked up the pace to get our act together. The initial few months gave us enough practice to be reasonably comfortable with virtual meetings and presentations of all kinds. But the novelty is wearing off. People have developed more discerning eyes and ears.

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A Lesson Worth $11 Millionpublished Aug 30, 2020

Transformation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things 

In early 2018, an Australian telecommunications company bit the bullet and rolled out an AI program for its incident management process. The telco expected to save more than 25% of the operational costs from this implementation. Unfortunately, the plan backfired. Eventually, the endowment effect kicked in, and the company had no plans to go back and fix the problem from its roots. Instead, it kept pushing through and wasting an enormous amount of money, allegedly circa $11 million in operational costs. The crucial question remains — who eventually paid for this?

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On Adaptability published Aug 28, 2020

Transformation Leadership Influence Disruption The Future of 

Once Dr. Albert Bartlett made a profound statement, "The greatest shortcoming of humanity is our inability to understand the exponential function." The logic is simple and irrefutable. Exponential growth cannot proceed indefinitely within a finite system, whether on earth or in an economy. To explain, Bartlett gives an interesting example.

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Three Types of Innovations in Businesspublished Aug 24, 2020

Transformation Innovation Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of 

In his seminal work “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” Clayton Christensen discussed the three main forms of innovation. Borrowing from that idea, here is the explanation of the first three kinds of innovation and their impact on jobs, capital, and economy.

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Because You Have The Power!published Aug 23, 2020

Transformation Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of 

Technology is like an amplifier, and it mirrors our ethical stance. The only difference is that it is highly scalable and fast, which makes it more powerful as well as dangerous. Many organizations now understand that with high ethical capacity, they can have a competitive advantage in the API economy. At an organizational level, having ethical mechanisms and governance makes more sense. Here is the transcript of my speech at API Days New York 2020.

Reading time: 5 min, read now...

The Reaction is Instinctive, the Response is Intelligent!published Aug 12, 2020

Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption 

We see in our daily lives; many things disturb us. Some irate us, frustrate us or make us sad. What do we do with them? Most of the time – we react! It is a natural human tendency to react. However, I think a response has more to offer than mere reaction. Think about the traffic - it is not the traffic that disturbs us. What really annoys us is our inability to handle the disturbance and frustration caused by the traffic. If we know how to keep calm or find a better way out of that traffic, we don't dwell on it much.

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How to Put AI Ethics Into Practice?published Aug 03, 2020

Transformation Leadership Influence The Future of Artificial Intelligence 

Guidelines do not address the root causes of issues that are results of AI; they merely provide "do's and don'ts" at a very high level. Because of such a high-level view, they are enjoyable to listen to and debate about but are nowhere near practical to implement. But, let us first understand what the problem is. Why are people concerned about AI? Once we understand key issues, we can find out probable root causes and then see what really needs fixing - all by using first-principle methods. Do you really want to make AI better and the force for good? Then you must read this

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A Systematic Approach to Risk Mitigationpublished Jul 29, 2020

Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence 

Generally speaking, it is a project management strategy in which a project team imagines a project failure and works backward to determine what potentially could lead to that failure. This working is then used to handle risks upfront. However, in the risk management context, I am going to use this (pre-mortem) term interchangeably to represent a more sophisticated and engineering-oriented methodology, known as Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, i.e. FMEA.

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The Story Behind YOU 3.0published Jul 05, 2020

Transformation Leadership Influence Disruption The Future of 

It was my fourth phone call with Amit that month. The previous hour-long calls, while managing our work and different time zones, hadn’t brought down the interest in the subject. Instead, the feeling of being on the verge of something important persisted. The broad question that got us thinking was how careers are affected in uncertain times. The world is changing fast. Employers’ expectations from employees as well as employees’ expectations from employers are changing significantly. Moreover, the classical assumption that merely doing a good job can advance your career is getting beaten to extinction.

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The Perception Game Has Begun, Are You Ready?published Jun 19, 2020

Transformation Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of 

My friend, Greg, and I attended an event in Tesla showroom last year. For about 30 minutes, we checked out Tesla’s car thoroughly. And we realized that Tesla’s market valuation and brand perception is way higher than all the others, despite the difference in the cars they manufacture. Recently, Tesla’s stock price touched $1000 per unit, so, the question resurfaced in my mind: Why is it like this?

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Leading the Transformation Through Disruptionpublished Jun 18, 2020

Transformation Leadership Disruption The Future of 

Transformation – some call it digital transformation while some treat it as a business transformation. Nonetheless, transformation is a significant undertaking. Now the challenge is this; we are in the middle of a crisis, a significant disruption, and this makes things even more difficult for everyone. So, the critical question is, how do you lead transformation through the disruption? I will attempt to address this question in this article. Moreover, even if it was not for the disruption, the advice will still be valid.

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On Perceptionpublished Jun 08, 2020

Transformation Leadership Influence The Future of 

If you do not like how people perceive you or what others think about you, you must take charge of your perception of reality. Remember that you are in control of your story, always! It might seem a bit counterintuitive at the outset, as I keep insisting that you must pay attention to what others think of you. The way this world is changing, economies are transforming, and options to live a good life are evolving, I think you need to start giving some attention to others’ perception about you.

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Special Purpose Teams in the Future of Workpublished Jun 05, 2020

Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of 

There are two key characteristics defense forces exhibit, which corporates can learn from – the first is agility by design and second, mission-based approach. These two traits make them resilient and help in handling disruptions effectively. For any defense mission, tasks, resources, and success guarantee are critical, and it is the same for corporate projects too. Each mission begins with a small team that follows three high-level steps. I recently spoke with my army veteran friend to understand more.

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Business As Platform for the Future of Workpublished Jun 01, 2020

Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of 

Think of an onion - as you peel it, layer by layer, it starts to unpack a lot of punch. Traditional business models center around single-stream processes, which they manage and execute inhouse. It often creates bottlenecks and increases dependencies. But more importantly, it has an adaptability problem with changing customer demands. Artificial Intelligence and other technologies are enabling significant changes in the economy. Now the time is ripe to make transformative changes; hence business as a platform!

Reading time: 3 min, read now...

Distributed Leadership for the Future of Workpublished Jun 01, 2020

Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption Artificial Intelligence The Future of 

There is an exciting and emerging trend being seen in organizations these days. Most of them now have at least three different generations in their employee mix. It is interesting because each of these generations looks at management principles and leadership quite differently. Nowadays, most of the employees do not want to be told what to do. Instead, they want leaders to trust them for being capable of doing the right thing. Most of the management principles are not applicable anymore.

Reading time: 3 min, read now...

The Key to a Great Story is Not Who, What, or When, but Why!published Jun 01, 2020

Innovation Transformation Leadership 

Whether for theatrical or practical reasons, purpose or motive has always been the driving factor of the story. Knowing the Why makes things crystal clear in trying times. It acts as a guiding star when we are in a problem. As far as the business context is concerned, not having an answer to this critical question poses a fundamental problem in almost all the change management initiatives. Additionally, when an organization is trying to revamp or go to the next level of excellence or advancement, not knowing this (why — the purpose) becomes a roadblock. Any suggested change or idea is rejected due to firm beliefs formed by employees over a long period in an organization.

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Be the Best Version of You — YOU 3.0!published May 30, 2020

Transformation Leadership The Future of 

As the world is changing faster than ever, economies are being dressed and redressed every week; a personal upgrade has become a necessity. I think the timing is ripe now for rolling up your sleeves and taking charge of your life; you might be due for an upgrade! Then why wait? Disrupt yourself and break out of stagnation as soon as possible. Upgrade yourself and be the best version of you, be You 3.0!

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When Working With Emerging Technologies...published May 24, 2020

Transformation Innovation Disruption Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things The Future of 

Machines make mistakes, just like humans do, and they will keep making them in the future too. Businesses must accept this fact and know that machines, much like humans, also need attention, retraining, and a performance improvement plan before they go live again. Do not get carried away and assume that just because we have cool technology, we can use it to solve every problem around us. Emerging technologies are new hammers, let us avoid treating all of the issues as nails and avoid rushing into the emerging future. It is challenging to undo strategic and technological mistakes these days. Sometimes, it is better to deal with humans than machines, sanity is the key!

Reading time: 5 min, read now...

What You Are Seeing Is Not the Future of Workpublished May 09, 2020

Transformation Innovation Leadership Disruption The Future of 

What you see right now is not the future of work. But it is undoubtedly a perfect trigger to change several things at once. Adapt to the current working requirements with all the grace, but make no mistake; this is not the future of work. It is just the tip of the iceberg, call it a stimulus if you will. The good part is, no one has seen how the future of work looks; it is entirely a greenfield area. You can bring in transformative changes and become a business of the future, and show others what it is like to be the one.

Reading time: 6 min, read now...

Innovation in the Time of Crisispublished May 09, 2020

Innovation Transformation The Future of Disruption 

We often hear that crisis breeds so much innovation. So, what leads to such innovation? If you can understand that, you can use it to our advantage and drive some beneficial changes in your organization. In my view, three factors come into play. These three factors are creativity, perspective, and the environment. If you want to leverage any crisis as a stepping stone, then understand these factors and do this.

Reading time: 2 min, read now...

On Resiliencepublished Apr 08, 2020

Transformation Leadership Disruption The Future of 

“State administration has suspended 13 out of 75 colleges from the admission process,” told my friend as I was walking toward the interview venue. I was there for my university selection and admission process, and with utter shock, I nearly shouted, “What the…!” The news only came at the very last moment. So, you can imagine what I would have gone through when nearly 20% of the options were off the table. It affected the entire admissions process, and I lost my choice to study Computer Science Engineering. Whether it is uni-admission problems, Covid-19, recession, or any other crisis, none of them stays for long! But you must make sure that your response is coming from your better self.

Reading time: 3 min, read now...

After Covid-19published Mar 22, 2020

Transformation Leadership Disruption The Future of 

Indeed, the virus has caught everyone with pants down, and I don't think any sane company or individual will forget the lesson. However, don't be mistaken to believe that this is an unprecedented change. This change was due anyway in the next three to five years. The virus merely accelerated it. Had none of this would have happened, this was supposed to be the future anyway. Anyway, now it's here, and a better response to the situation is to adapt. A few years from now, what do we want to tell our children, colleagues, friends, and families? Do we want to regret it as we look back, or do we want to take pride in our actions?

Reading time: 3 min, read now...

What Are You Delivering, Value or Fluff?published Mar 12, 2020

Transformation Leadership Innovation 

Although I spoke about this topic in a few forums several years ago, my recent experience made me revisit it because this (phenomena) keeps happening now and then. I firmly believe that how customers and suppliers perceive each other mostly and directly impacts the results. If we want to create a real value for everyone, we must shed our perceptions and see-through customer lenses to be more productive. Value always implies an explicit trade-off between what you give and what you get. And it applies in almost any context.

Reading time: 2 min, read now...

Why Simplicity Will Be the Key to Emerging Futurepublished Mar 12, 2020

Transformation Leadership The Future of 

A lot of times, when I quickly describe something, people ignore me. Some say that over-simplification could be the issue. And for several others, it appears that I am missing something or keeping some information out. Maybe yes! I am distilling that information because it may not be relevant or less relevant. Or perhaps it was there for diverting you from thinking clearly, so I am omitting it. Maybe that information was nothing but a distraction. Or could it be that I am genuinely trying to convey the message instead of blocking it from being understood?

Reading time: 4 min, read now...

Will You Kill One to Save Many, Or…published Mar 12, 2020

Transformation Leadership Artificial Intelligence 

I am sure, each one of us in a decision-making role would have faced this at least once. When it comes to a decision that would affect a larger group of people — things are neither easy nor straightforward. If you have to make a quick decision, what is your obvious, frequent choice? Would you go for the popular one or the right one? We face this kind of dilemma every day of our life, almost everywhere — in office, community, politics, and so on. Unfortunately, in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority (no pun intended !). It does not matter how foolish & ignorant the majority are or how farsighted & knowledgeable the minority are.

Reading time: 2 min, read now...

When I Missed the Train Stationpublished Mar 12, 2020

Transformation Leadership The Future of 

This happened several months ago — I was going home after a day-long work in the city and boarded the train from City Town Hall. Then, as usual, I got involved with my smartphone, until my wife called to check my arrival time. I looked up to see the nearby station/area to give her an estimate. That’s when I realized I missed my station already and I was five stations ahead. The first thing I did — acknowledged that I was heading in the wrong direction. Next, I quickly estimated how to correct the course, i.e. get down to the next station and catch another train to my destination. And then...

Reading time: 1 min, read now...

The 7 Commandments of Good Decision Makingpublished Mar 12, 2020

Transformation Leadership The Future of 

Decision making is not only a science but also an art that must be practised and improvised continuously. These seven commandments are just the beginning of it. Good decision making comes from complete clarity and rightful confidence. For this, one must step back from the current work portfolio and look at the bigger picture regularly. The number one barrier that is holding most people back from achieving their business’ (or even their own) full potential is their inability to make decisions.

Reading time: 2 min, read now...

Before Your Emerging Technology Journey Beginspublished Feb 09, 2020

Transformation Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things 

Emerging technology projects can come in different sizes and flavors. Some are only IoT deployments, some are only AI implementations, and some could be a combination of both. When you want to do any of this, you must take control of planning and architecture early on. If you shy away from asking the right questions at the outset, you may end up with subpar solutions that have poor yield, or you may waste your investment all together by doing something that doesn’t affect your key metrics.

Reading time: 8 min, read now...

A Man Who Sold Delicious Hotdogspublished Dec 31, 2019

Transformation Leadership Disruption The Future of 

There was once a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes, so read no newspapers. Moreover, of course, he didn't watch television. However, he sold delicious hot dogs. He put up signs on the highway telling everyone how good they were, he stood on the side of the road and cried out to all that past, "Buy a hot dog, they are the best in town." So people bought his hot dogs, and he increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of all the extra business. He finally got his son to come and help him out with his business.

Reading time: 4 min, read now...


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