Ideas, Innovation

Boredom and Creative Breakthroughs

In this short animation, Dr. Sandi Mann talks about why boredom is an important emotion for us and what role it plays in the creative process. Boredom creates a space where we can daydream and allow our sub-conscious mind to connect unrelated things and these connections lead to new insights and creative ideas. If we really want to experience creative breakthroughs, avoiding boredom is not an option. Enjoy the video!   I have written earlier about this as well. You can read that post here.  

Ancient Wisdom, Entrepreneurship

Conquering Fear

Once upon a time, there lived a boy who was extremely shy and fearful of the world around him, that his family and friends called him “Miobe” – the frightened one. All his friends made fun of him and his fearful nature. Miobe hated it when his friends made fun of him. So, one fine day, he decided that he will have to conquer fear, so that his friends would stop making fund o him. That night when everyone was fast asleep, he packed his bag and set off into the world to understand fear and to conquer it. That […]

Entrepreneurship, Ideas, Leadership

Ten Rules for Building a Good Company

Today, I stumbled upon a book – “Tree-Ring Management” by Hiroshi Tsukakoshi. Hiroshi san is the Chairman of a kanten manufacturer far from the bustle of Tokyo , amid the natural beauty of Nagano prefecture in Japan. In the book, he argues that the primary purpose of a business is to make its employees happy. Their management philosophy also indicates that slow, controlled growth is better than rapid growth and in fact fast growth is the enemy. Their philosophy is so unique that there is an HBR case study for on this management model.  I did write about a model […]

Entrepreneurship, Recommendation

Mary Meeker’s 2018 internet trends report | Code 2018

Loved this video where Mary Meeker shares the internet trends that she shared in May. Though this is a bit dated (delivered in May 2018) but still highly relevant if you are planning to do anything on the internet.  I would recommend that you watch this and internalise the trends. You might have to watch it more than once, as she goes at an unbelievable pace and covers a lot of ground in 30 mins.  Mary is an American VC and a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.   She focuses on Internet and new technologies.  Enjoy the video.

Ancient Wisdom, Entrepreneurship, Ideas

Lessons from The Story of a Wise Man and the Boys who Loved To Drum

I would like to tell you a short story. There was once an old wise man who after retiring from his work decided to buy a house in his old village and moved there to live his life in a peaceful setting. All was well until it wasn’t. Once the school started, there were a few boys who used to walk past his home on their way to school. They would drum on the metal garbage bins that were near the window of the wise man’s bedroom. He would find this noise to be too disturbing and wanted the boys […]