To Be on the Safe Side

More creative ideas and innovations have been killed by these six words than by anything else. There have been enough studies that have shown that as humans, we are more loss averse than we are open to gains. So, if we truly want creativity to thrive in our organizations, we need to find a way to circumvent this strong human tendency. Some ideas on how to accomplish this are: Set Clear expectation when defining the problem statement about what you wish to accomplish. If you are looking at coming up with a breakthrough idea, make it clear that it is […]

We Cannot be Allergic to Failure and Still be Innovative – @windspike

http://traffic.libsyn.com/pushingbeyondtheobvious/15_PBTO15__We_Cannot_be_Allergic_to_Failure_and_Still_be_Innovative_-_windspike.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Email | RSSWho is on the show today: In today’s episode, we have Aaron Anderson. He is currently, Director of Strategic Organizational Initiatives at San Francisco State University, College of Business. Why is he on the show Aaron has been a consistent contributor to the Managament Innovation Exchange and won a MIX Prize for an experiment that he has been running in how he works.  His entry titled: “Working in Plain View: Using a Wiki & Social Media to broadcast as you work” won the prize in the “Digital Freedom Challenge”. He has been working in plain […]

Your Imagination is Real

Being Creative is a Choice

One of the constant things that I hear from a lot of people in business is that it is hard to find creative people, who can think out of the box and come up with good solutions to tough problems. I think being creative is a choice. Each one of us is potentially as creative as anyone else that you can think of, however, most of us do not make the choice to be creative. We tell ourselves that we are not the creative type (what we mean is that I am afraid of criticism). Anyone who is capable of […]

What Could FlipKart Do Post its Billion Dollar Day Experience

FlipKart’s big billion day was one of the watershed moments in the eCommerce industry in India as they garnered up more than 100 million dollars in sale in 10 hours. You can find the official statement from one of the founders: However, there has been a lot of criticism that they have faced around every aspect of the sale and had to eventually apologize to all their registered customers. There is a lot of learning for all online retailers in India.  The most critical learning in my opinion is that the Indian consumer is still highly price conscious and demanding […]

The Art of Leading Change

Hindu scriptures talk about three basic components that all matter is made up of: Sattva – A bias towards Knowledge Rajas – A bias towards action Tamas – A bias towards inertia These are the same components that are required in leading change initiatives. Knowledge: It is critical that the leaders of the change initiative know the reasons for the change that they want to bring in. They should have answers to questions like Why is the change necessary? Why now? What will successful transition look like What is in it for everyone who is involved? What needs to change […]