How do you innovate “Innovation” ..

A couple of days ago, I submitted my entry for the HBR/McKinsey M-Prize Challenge run by Management Exchange. This challenge is about “Innovating Innovation” and will be judged by some of the greatest thinkers in innovation. You can find below my submission for the challenge. If you like my thoughts, request you to vote for my submission here. SUMMARY Its not the lack of ideas that stops organizations from being innovative, but the way resources are allocated & employees rewarded that is the key. We need to change the way we set and manage KPI’s, the way we allocate funds (quarterly budgeting […]

Changing the face of retail distribution of oil in India

I was in Mumbai today and was going back from the airport to my hotel in a cab. The cab driver stopped at a fuel outlet to fill-up his tank. It took us about 15-20 mins to get the tank filled up and start our journey back to the hotel. While waiting, I asked him if we could not fuel up at some other outlet rather than wait in the que at this outlet. He responded that the next petrol outlet was about 5-6 kms away and was not enroute to the hotel. He also said that wherever you go, […]

You are fired Mr. MP!

In the past, conducting an assembly election was a mammothtask, a logistical nightmare. So, it was a practical solution to hold electionsevery 5 years.  This provided a level of stability to the government to take along term view on all important policy decisions without having to worry aboutthe short term impact these decisions could have on the government. However, I think it is time for us to sit back and re-lookat the past and see if this model still works for us or should we re-look atthe term of office for these elected representatives. Some questions that areworth asking are: […]

A Mobile App to check your eye-sight

Just read about a mobile phone app for smart phones, that the MIT media lab researchers have developed which when coupled with a small plastic device, can be used by anyone to determine their eyeglass prescription. In the video below, Ramesh Raskar, explains the concept of the device + app combination and how it can diagnose your eyeglass prescription. This was unveiled in July last year and is still in prototype. If successful, this could just be the beginning of a solution to one of the world’s biggest challenge – making healthcare available for the vast majority of the world’s […]

Celebrating failure

Today, I read a blog by Seth Godin on How to fail. In this blog, he talks about how to fail better. He also mentions that not trying new things due to fear of failure is also not a good option. He also goes on and provides some random ideas that will help you fail better, more often and with an inevitably positive upside. With more and more organizations looking to innovate more often and much faster, it is not enough to know how to fail. It is important to encourage employees to take on the risk of failure. The […]