Hemang Shah | Innovation | Strategy | Startups
Thoughts on Innovation, Sports, and Life
Hemang I love how the San Antonio Spurs play the game of basketball in a beautiful manner. Their brand is being unselfish. No matter which superstar they have on the roster, each one does the right thing.
The way they play the game teaches us a lot to us too. We can implement some of these observations for all our projects. Especially for innovation projects, this approach can work wonders.
Ever wondered “Why didn’t I think of that idea?” If so, look within and ask how satisfied you were with solutions in that space.
Growing up in Mumbai, I didn’t have a strong need for a food delivery app, grocery or taxi apps. The suburbs were developed, things were within walking distance, and transport was cheap/reliable.
My family members are in the textile business. Until recently, most used carbon copy (remember that blue ink paper?) solutions for invoices. While the world was cc’ing millions in emails, these folks were happy with the smudgy, original cc.
Unless a real pain is experienced things will stay in status quo. Necessity does bring out inventions. However, you have to separate that from an artificial necessity, which can probably create interesting solutions that may not be fully adopted by the market. What separates real from artificial necessity? IMO, the answer is a meaningful pain.
It might be prudent to ask what your satisfaction index is in different areas of your life. Extend that thought to organizations, to countries, and you will find products or services that have made a real difference. The state of satisfaction can mask problems and will lead to a prolonged status quo i.e. living with the good enough. Until someone shakes you up…
Sometimes instinct can be harmful. As unnatural as it may be, there are times when its better that you don’t act right away.
During brainstorming, the problem solver’s tendency is to start solving the first idea that caught their eye. It might be better to wait, allow some “bad” ideas and let the game changer emerge.
Using a sports analogy, Innovation is sometimes a game of base hits (baseball) or singles (cricket); incremental advancements that result in a win. Get the process right, keep at it, and the results will follow.
We are teaching our son adjectives and how they can be used to best describe nouns. The word “cool” when associated with “work” has varied perspectives. It’s amazing how teaching kids can make one think about simple words in a new light.
Many a time, especially during brainstorming discussions, I try getting the team to pause; to deliberately reflect on the impact our solution will have on the world. We, technology enablers, are truly blessed to solve problems faced by many. From the inside it might seem like the usual but from the outside it would be super awesome. Many of my startup friends seem to miss this pause-and-reflect trick once they get caught up in the grind.
Try pausing every now and then, most definitely at home. Your work does have a meaningful impact on the society. That is my definition of cool.
A few days ago, I posed a simple question to a room full of professionals. "How many of you worked on a final year project?" Nearly every hand was up. My follow-up question was at the start of this post. Nearly everyone had a small laugh on their faces; all confirmed my experience that most college projects end up in reports that a handful of people read. A tiny, tiny, percentage of those do end up getting implemented in the real world or influencing a new path in academia. This has to change! We need a higher conversion of projects to peer-reviewed journal publications or converting those projects into products. That's how valuable IP is generated. That's how we transform to a knowledge economy. If you are mentoring students, formally or as a friend, help their projects achieve a better outcome.
The decision making power in most SMEs is held by a few people. How should you approach pitching your innovation project at such enterprises?
We’ll cover what you need to know about your perception by the decision makers. When you approach them will they give you a fully attentive experience? For someone who’s never been taken seriously, then it’s an even more surmountable challenge.
How you can partner with a mentor who can help you shine.
Every decision maker functions a bit differently. Some are more imaginative whereas some tend to be quite numerical in their approach. How can you tailor your pitch towards their inclinations?
If you’re thinking about such a project, know that it can be very fulfilling and rewarding.
In today’s world, it’s more important than ever to be genuine. We all have various online profiles, whether it be on social media or podcasts. So it’s easy to think that one can just create a nice, glossy impression of themselves, and the world will believe it. But you know what the funny thing is, eventually people figure out who you are, even in the online world.
We tend to communicate what we feel the most about. We have understood this concept of reputation building, that it takes years and years to build one and then seconds to lose it away. Why does it go away? it’s usually because people have discovered what the truth is. So the best approach is to just be authentic.
A great example of authenticity in sports and life is Virat Kohli, the India cricket captain. He oozes authenticity with all his actions backing up his words. His intent is clear and all the players and opponents believe in his passion.
How do you get started? If you’re a person who has fun while at work, let people know. Let them know that you’re the person who will play hard and work harder. It takes time. It doesn’t have to be perfect. And that’s the beauty of it. If you’re communicating your imperfections, you are being authentic
Let’s dive into what made M S Dhoni, a former India criket captain and a player par excellence.
We’ll look at what made him fit in with a group of stalwarts. As a newcomer from a small town, he gelled excellently with India’s greats.
In his rise, he saw a lot of leagues and different teams. How did he go about ensuring he belonged there? We’ll discuss that too.
There’s also how he dealt with failure. We can learn from his approach to derive a process that works for us. Selecting a process and a plan of action are serious business. We’ll discuss how to choose one that makes us successful.
In this episode, we look at how Kobe Bryant trained and understand a bit about his psyche. Kobe was a master at pushing himself to the limit. He had a dedicated team of world class experts.
Let’s hear some nuggets of how his trainers were pushed to ensure Kobe’s excellence. We’ll talk about what Kobe did right after getting drafted in the NBA.
There’s much for us to learn and adopt. How we practice, how we build products, and work on ourselves.