PBTO S2E6: The Art of Standing Out & Reinventing Ourselves

Opening music credits goes to my son Yuvan Gupta. Who is on the show: In this episode, we host Dorie Clark. She is a marketing strategy consultant, professional speaker, and frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review. Recognized as a “branding expert” by the Associated Press, Fortune, and Inc. magazine, she is the author of Entrepreneurial You (Harvard Business Review Press,), Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine and one of the Top 10 Business Books of the Year by Forbes. Her books have been translated into Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French, Polish, Korean, and Thai. Why is she on the show: I have been reading her blog and following her work for […]

To succeed, Optimise the one variable that matters

Premise: One of the things that almost everyone of us does is to optimize. We optimise our time, our money and at times even our relationships. We want maximum efficiency in almost everything that we do. In organisations, we compensate sales guys on sales made, product managers on product development, marketing folks on leads generated, manufacturing folks on operational efficiency. Everywhere we look, we can find efforts to maximise efficiency in that part. This, in general, is our attempt to gain local optima. We try to reach optimal performance in that specific domain with no regards to the effect it […]

Lessons from Apple and the Swiss Watch makers

Premise: I read this post that shared the fact that in the previous quarter, Apple sold more watches than all Swiss watch makers put together. I personally think that this is a pivot point in the watch industry and there is a lot that other entrenched players can learn from how the Swiss watch makers missed the plot.  Why is this important: Typically, the Swiss watch makers are considered to be the best watch makers with brands like TagHeuer, Rolex, Breitling, etc coming out from there. It took decades of innovations and millions of dollars in advertising for the Swiss […]

Best Among What I Read this Week

1. A Cult of Creation : In this post, Sam Yen shares his thinking on the importance of creativity in the innovation process and also how can enterprises scale creativity in their organisations. He shares the importance of finding the right problem to solve in the innovation process. I totally agree with him on the importance of finding the right problem to solve, before even attempting to solve any problem. 2. If you are determined to help, you can always find a way : In this video, Mr. Bean (yes, THE Mr. Bean) decides to help a roadside musician and […]

PBTO S2E5: Personal Knowledge Mastery with Harold Jarche

Opening music credits goes to Riju Mukhopadhyay & Pavan Cherukumilli Who is on the show: In this episode, we host Harold Jarche. He is focused on providing actionable insights for workplace transformation. He works with individuals, organizations, and public policy influencers to develop practical ways to adapt to the technological, demographic, and societal changes facing us today. Why is he on the show: I have been reading his blog for almost a couple of years and have learned a lot. He helped me change my approach to internalising important information that I come across through a framework that he has developed. What did I learn […]