June 24, 2018

Routines to an organization are like habits to an individual. These are mostly subconscious, largely time-saving, and highly sticky. It is often said that it is easier to learn a new habit than to break an existing one. In a similar vein, organizations have the inertia of their habits or routines.his item about? What makes it interesting? Write a catchy description to grab your audience's attention...

June 10, 2018

In this edition, we explore Google's experiments with smart cities, new insights on learning, the nature of human consciousness, ten practices of Design Thinking, a few cases of Reverse Innovation from India, importance of creating a Problem Bank for innovation, paradoxes of a marwari businessman, the evolution of Ikea, relation between age and entrepreneurial success, and how to raise a genius. 

May 01, 2018

Welcome back to Inflexion Point, the monthly on the ideas and practices from the sphere of Innovation, Creativity, and Strategy.

In this edition, the present to you research backed and practically relevant insights on how leaders shape an innovation culture, the way NASA is reinventing itself, application of blockchain in one of the largest humanitarian missions, why our ancestors had beaten Neanderthals, the 2018 World Changing Ideas, how ideas are like Lego blocks, the impact of drinking on creativity, and why Sweden leads the world of startups.

Do read at leisure and share with other enthusiasts.

April 24, 2018

In my numerous consulting engagements and workshops on innovation and creativity, whenever I pose this question to my management audience- what is more important, quality or quantity of ideas, they invariable vote for quality of ideas. Surprisingly, no body seem to even challenge the assumptions, and for many it seems like a trick question. I think this singular focus on quality of ideas, whether it be an ideation session or about execution alternatives does more harm than good to innovation. But before I advocate for quantity over quality, let's try spending some time understanding the roots of these biases.

April 23, 2018

Since, a leader must ensure that the culture endures her tenure; she must pull the right levers in the right amount - the levers of people, process, and incentives. Between the people, processes, and incentives, the most robust means, and yet highly overlooked attribute, is the incentives, or the rationale.

August 22, 2017

Amidst all the news and views around corporate governance and succession planning at one of India's favorite startups, one mustn't forget the good Vishal Sikka did to Infosys and to the larger Indian business ecosystem. When assessing an individual or even a situation, it is important to dissociate the good from the not-so-good, and look at things in perspective.

May 07, 2017

Doesn’t it surprise you that while most managers think of productivity being managed, quality being perfected, and human resources being tamed by adopting time-honed management principles, creativity and innovation, somehow, refuses to fall in the bracket? Why should creativity and innovation be given such a high position in the hierarchy, to an extent that it should be reserved for a select few? Shouldn’t creativity and innovation be for all? I believe so. 

March 30, 2017

Now, this might sound like a sinful advice to the aspiring entrepreneurs. At a time when innovation, at least the word, is been used, overused, misused, and even abused; dismissing innovation for imitation might sound crazy. But before you write me off, just hear out my argument.

August 29, 2016

Let us look at how creativity is defined. The same source defines creativity as an ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form. Did you realise the difference? The key operative in creativity is ‘new’, which is not necessarily the case with intelligence. The question that begs an urgent explanation and pondering over is- are we over-reliant on intelligence at the cost of creativity?

July 18, 2016

Are there some traits or skills of creative people that stand apart? Not only that the answer is yes, but more importantly, one could systematically hone such skills. Similar to the manner in which we all are born with the ability to swim but few exercise the skill, the same applies to creativity. We are all born with the ability to 'create', but fewer develop and hone the skill, and others to their own peril.