Forget who you are

Post written by Anshul Gupta. Follow me on twitter.

It’s opposite of “Remember who you are”. It’s very easy to get trapped into the whole idea of personality and image in the society. And once we get into this self imagined world, it’s very difficult to get out of this. It would be like slaughtering your possible future image. The only solution to the situation is to forget who you are…

Come back…be a little alive…the world for which you tend to make opinions is alive too…the problems you talk about are real, and these problems are very easy to imagine but really hard to experience…

It’s very easy to be distracted by the day light, and the moments of self glory…it’s exciting to be in that state of mind for quite some time, but after a day or two, you have to realize all that mattered once is of no significance now…

So, forget who you are… Think about the days when you were born! There is a lot to make worth remembering…there is a lot to make worth forgetting…

read: Hypocrites: What we are !

Power of Passion…

Post written by Anshul Gupta. Follow me on twitter.

Bipolar disorder is a kind of mental disorder, in when a person’s mood swings between two extreme positions: Highly positive state to highly negative one…

But this disorder seems to be, one of the most common traits of Entrepreneurs around the world.

During boom time of their mood,

these entrepreneurs tend to take more risks and leadership initiatives. They become highly motivated and their ambitions are on the top of the world...

Entrepreneurs don't really care about what other people think of them. "They really don't care as much, they're just happy to go ahead and do what they're doing." Think of Bill Gates or Dhirubhai Ambani for that matter…they never cared about what other people thought of them…otherwise we would not have been discussing about these two here!

But during the depression state they tend to hide and become less open to the society around them…

Some of the most creative minds in the world have bipolar disorder including the media tycoon Ted Turner…

It’s the power of passion, these people tend to utilize. Passion can do anything depending upon the way its energy is focused…

Read: I’m a Little Bipolar—and It Helps My Business

"Bipolar disorder": Why are they calling it the "CEO's disease"?

The Psychology Of Success

read: Ability to D.

Power-less Point!!!

Post written by Anshul Gupta. Follow me on twitter.

1987, the year when era of power point presentations started….

2010, the year when this one of the most used product of Microsoft is slowly killing the era of knowledge building…

Today, just about anything from board meetings to term end presentations in a college…from international conferences to military briefings by US army to its representatives…involves this short and sweet (so called) representation of information…

But…don’t you think that the bullets in those similar looking, googled, and 20 minutes spoken bullets in the slides are actually damaging more then benefiting us!

Well…the idea seems to create a buzz in the user community now a day…

But, it’s not always the fault of power points…rather the way it is used! Many a time people create the power points so confusing and frustrating that it becomes impossible to understand anything which of any use to the audience and often becomes the sole cause of misinformation, leading to bad decision making…

Despite all these drawbacks (the way it is used!), power point has been one of the most powerful representation tools available today. Besides saving time, PPTs can explain very complex kind of information using simple graphs, pictures or cartoons…

Must read: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint:

Also a very nice post on “SMALL WARS JOURNAL” shows beautifully, the role of power points in Iraq war!!!

The Steve Jobs Simplicity Test for PowerPoint Presentations

Read a very nice e-book on how tomake better power point by Seth Godin.

Hypocrites: What we are !

Post written by Anshul Gupta. Follow me on twitter.

We, by God's grace and a tendency of deriding others tend to use the terms like: Greed, opportunists etc. .. But don't we (Indians) want to be great/greedy like Americans?

Well...a hypocrite would say...we want a balanced life, in which both sides of balances are filled by greed !!!

We all were, are and will be same as Americans are today....

Don't we exploit our weaker trading partners like: Nepal and shri Lanka...

Yes...we can!!!

We all are greedy...we all are lier...we all are actors, waiting for a stage to perform...!!!

Think of times 200-300 years back, when British were not here in India...Our Raja-Maharaja made quit a good history to satisfy our hypocritical needs...!!! They all were greedy...

Come back,....today...see our politicians, mandir ke pandits, a student in exam hall, policewalas,...& finally ourselves!!! we can find them in plenty....

[apparently its not THAT BAD] :-)

read: Consumed by Pseudo-Reality by Santosh Desai

Also read: YOUR spending is bad, but mine is good

Watchable Talks...1

Post written by Anshul Gupta. Follow me on twitter.

below are the links of some of the extraordinary watchable talks:

1. "All Marketers are Liars" - Seth Godin speaks at Google

2. Tom Peters on the Attributes of Leaders

3. C.K. Prahalad: "Doing Well by Doing Good"

4. Competitiveness of nations: Michel E. Poter

5. Do Schools kill Creativity? : Sir Ken Robin

These are some of the thousands of my favorite videos based on ideas and creativity....

What an !dea: Complete Bullshit!!!

Post written by Anshul Gupta. Follow me on twitter.

Below is the Home page of a website (MUST SEE>>>Click to see with visual effects!)

… Non-surprisingly rated worst website of the year!

This shows that, there is no limit of bullshitting of human creativity…

It’s a microcosm of what’s wrong in nonprofit marketing…SEEMS TO ME: “NON-INTERESTED in making profit MARKETING” instead!!!

And those fleshy torches…MY GOD!!! Where did they get them???

After seeing the home page…all those torches, I could not stop myself from laughing like ANYTHING!

:-)

Hard Hitting Reality

Reality –a word…which is very different when felt, but very exciting and frequently used when just spoken…

We tend to see the world…not the way it is in reality, but the way we want to see it…

Facts: Bertrand Russell once told; "facts are facts, whether you believe or not! But our believes…are what our mind tells us to believe…"

And it is the hard hitting fact/reality, that world around us has never been perfect…Because, we can’t define perfection. A car made by Ford was once a perfect car, but today it might be garbage in terms of being perfect.

Reality is very hard to get into our mind…but when it strikes really hard…you start believing the facts!

What was intended by the creator of this world can never be explained/told by human…But meeting our ends by justifying every possible means (Our believes again play a big role in that process of justification!), was surely not one of things he would have ever wanted us to believe in…

For C. K. with Love…

The genesis of this blog and ideas inside my mind started when I started listening to the C. K. Prahalad… Today this great man…my mentor…passed away...

What remains is the fire of ideas inside my mind…

C. K. Prahalad: People argue that he was one of the most influential business gurus of the last few decades…

But believe me…he was more than that.

He brought the idea of Core-competence into this world…

And before he left us …he made his dream of eradicating poverty through co-creating capitalism, i.e. brining the attention of the world to “THE FORTUNE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID".

He has authored several path-breaking books.

Today thousands of companies around the world is following that path:

-HLL, TATA, Microsoft, P&G, HP, Reliance and the list never ends…

And this is not the end of it...

Soon…this world will realize the true potential of his dreams… when more than 5 billion poor will no longer be poor anymore...

For C. K. Prahalad and his vision of making this world and society more responsible....with LOVE....

Ability to D.

“Nobody cares more about your money than you do. It took me a long time to realize this, but nobody — not your accountant, your lawyer, your broker, your insurance salesman, your banker — nobody cares about your money the way you do. Everyone else will give you advice, but it’s advice that generally benefits *them* in some way, especially if they work on commission. YOU have to take charge and do your own research.”

--JD Roth

Author of the book: Your Money: The Missing Manual

What we need?

…We need an ability to make our decision ourselves. [Ability to D.]

This world is full of advisor and consultants…And there are more people who would like to give advice than really helping you out!

We should stop being string-puppet …

We should take charge of our lives.

Herd mentality won’t help you but to keep you in the herd!!!

There are plenty of things that we are capable of doing man... But we have an inherent tendency to wait for someone to start first. What we gain by this is the losing the possibility of a loss, but what we lose: we lose the adventure of trying things first, we lose first movers advantage and we lose the ability to visualize the things from our own point of view thereby ability to innovate and lead!

We trade our intangible benefits for tangible benefits (read:So much intangible)

We are short sighted moron! and we (not all of us!) are afraid like a mouse when it comes to taking the first step. Did we have a second thought when we trying to learn walking? or eating? No. So why can't we even learn from our own childhood? We are now mature adults, having lost an ability to decide!

Read a very nice post on it: Slow Wealth

Read: Ability to Q.

Ability to Q.

What this world desperately needs?

Happiness?

Nope…

Prosperity?

Nope…

Resources?

Nope…!

It needs an ability to question…

An ability to ask;”what if” and “Why” kind of questions…

What if, this world has the ability to ask “what if” kind of question?

…Then, this world would no longer be in a state of status quo…

…Then, we will embrace change…innovation…creativity…sharing…happiness…prosperity…resources…wisdom…

It does not mean that, we don’t have that ability at all, but using that ability at the moment of need is a different bat game (what if it is called “different bat game” instead of “different ball game”!)

Asking questions is something that we want to do, what we don't have is the Ability to question.

Generally, when we are in a group, or in a conference, we don't ask "why" many a time because our cultural barriers don't allow us to do so.

• "What other would think of me if I ask a foolish question?
• "What would the speaker think of my if I ask a tough question which can deride him?"
• "I usually ask a lot of questions, and that can make my image of DCPv(desperate class participant!).."

These are some of the issues which can't be overcome by the listener or enquirer alone. Many a time the speaker needs to create a friendly kind of atmosphere where people are invited to ask the "why" kind of questions.

But there is one thing can't be denied anyways: "Leaders do not worry about all the above listed things...they simply ask, WHY". Are you the part of this elite group?

Go round asking a lot of dam fool questions and taking chances, only through curiosity can we discover opportunities, and only by gambling can we take advantage of them.

Read a very insightful post: Lead Like A Child

and What if innovation was the norm?

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Read following interesting posts:

• 4 ways to get the most desired thing: Attention!
• Solving Problems using Pictures
• ! Teacher
• Ability to D
• Power-less Point!!!
• Every One of Us is Creative!

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Every One of Us is Creative!

You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eye. It is the swing of your gait, the grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of your will and your energy to execute your ideas. Enthusiasts are fighters. They have fortitude. !ey have staying qualities. Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress. With it, there is accomplishment. Without it, there are only alibis.

-Henry Ford

This is a data driven world… where, if something is a fact, then there should be data (hard!) behind that fact to make it a fact in fact!

And there are measures to measure these facts…

Like all other valuable human activities, Creativity is also constrained by these measures…which tend to judge the gravity if the fact behind a creative idea.

So to say…if someone is more creative, then we simply mean that, according to our parameters of measurement, this person fulfills more facts' requirements for being creative…And nothing else.

But what about those, whose creativity fall outside the radius of these, parameters of measuring creativity of humankind?

Remember…Many scientists, innovator, and businesspeople have been considered lunatics, before this world understood their creativity…These people redefined the parameters of being creative…

Creativity is within us…since the day we came into this world…

This world, which is full of instruments of measurements…(Read: Most Jobs are Creative if You are Creative)

For example:

Jugaad…

This is common word in India (you know what it means!)…but the world has slowly accepted the creativity hidden inside of it!...And Of course, everyone has it.

Business Opportunities at THE BOP #2

We are well aware of the infectious disease like spread and scaling of educational institutions around the country (Read: Proliferation of Engineers). Every year thousands of students are entering into newly stabilized or capacity enlarged institutions.

Well it presents at least two big opportunities for doing business. At the first look they all would seem crazy, but believe me they can be (and are already happening) viable business opportunities (BO) today:

These increased numbers of students are in dire need of good food and hostel facility in and around the city, specially near the college and coaching hubs of the city.

BO_ 1. Create a quality (and of course profit) oriented business, But remember consistent monitoring of quality being served is the key to sustainable success. The most important part is that, one doesn’t need huge cash to start a Tiffin/Hostel business. For hostel business, simply take a flate/apartment on rent from the owner and rent it at premium to these edu-lovers…

BO_2. This second BO is dedicated to those students, who made a hard time trying to crack GAT/MAT/CAT/GMAT/JET/GRE…and God knows what many examzzzzz.

Plz if you guys and gals have already invested (Remember: “You never waste something in business, you just Invest!!; specially if you want to remain in that business …!!!”) two+ years in these sort of preparation stuff… Think Htke….

Use your ability to mug (or understand, if I don’t try to be mean..!!), these concepts, by starting your own business; Teaching ! Ya, its that simple. Not really, teaching in itself it hard stuff, but remember: “Time can make anything soft…”.

So go on…these thousands of money packed students are waiting for you with your next business opportunity in every city….you name the city…they are there…. But where r U?

Business Opportunities at THE BOP #1

What is the difference between a developed country and developing country:- Information availability/ Access to information.

It’s true for individuals too…

Access to information is the biggest stumbling block in front of progress of a person/family/nation.

How can this simple fact offer us in terms of business opportunity at BOP?

A farmer in a village is being exploited by the moneylenders or mandiwallas sort of people because he/she does have the information; about: current lending rates, crop prices, right quality of seeds, benefits of providing education to his/her children etc…

These people in a developing country like India are being exploited every day, at every corner by these middlemen.

Where is the opportunity?

Well…the opportunity is: “ElIMINATE THE MIDDLEMEN”. It has profitable implications for both, Companies as well as the poor.

Examples?

Yes, many…

ITC e-choupal : Proving crop related information and trading in agro-produce.

HLL: Sakti Amma and other initiatives.

Drishtee: An rural entrepreneurship programme; providing information in health, agriculture etc.

And many others…

Provoking Action

Those of you who have done their MBA kind of education would be in agreement with the fact that, what we learn in B- or C-schools doesn’t apply to the realities of the Business world.

Well…are we arguing that those Profs who have earned rigorous learning by working in businesses are teaching something else in these B-schools?

Not exactly…

The simulated situation which we find in a B-school's case study is after all is a simulation. And what we discuss in that simulated environment may not be what has happened in the reality!

And after all, there is a big difference between a thought provoking learning and an action provoking learning…

A thought provoking learning would guide our thoughts towards, “How things should be done”. But an action provoking learning would guide our actions towards, “What things should be done”.

There is plenty of wisdom floating around on, how things should be done, but rare are to find words on what things to be done…

Should I do this or that, should I just think or focus on doing something too…!!!