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A class apart

Innovation is a relentless pursuit for every successful organization, cutting across geographies and industries. And many are driving disruptions by promoting intrepreneur teams too. Doug Hall argues this is a flawed approach, benefitting only a select few. Innovation needs to operate in a broader realm—one that encompasses all and promises a level playing field.

Enforced downtime

A study by the Society of Human Resource Management shows that 17 percent of the organizations in the US allow sabbaticals. This trend is catching up in India too as many US- and UK-based multinationals operating in India have started offering such programmes to employees.*

Soaked knowledge

If approached as an exercise in listening and learning, powerful conversations with clients and customers can offer long-term lessons. A challenging client may seem like an obstacle but can also turn out to be someone who will motivate you to do quality work, by giving eye-opening ideas and concepts. A radical new way of engaging with clients and customers, the SPONGE process focuses on listening as a means to gain diverse, insightful perspectives.

Embrace the highs and lows

Gary Vaynerchuk, a bestselling author, quotes, “The skill sets it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, a successful marketer, or a relevant celebrity is a different skill set than you needed ten years ago, even though that was the skill set that mattered for decades.” In this age of rapid digitization, network marketers are required to keep up with technology, more so, social media. Building the right relationships or networking is critical as the connections created largely determine the opportunities available. Jennifer Turnage and Megan Sumrell, authors of Honey, You Got This! Technology Made Easy for Network Marketers make known the trending concept of network marketing and how working smarter and not harder is made possible with technology.

From firms to ecosystems

In a VUCA world, where value is created and destroyed in surprising ways in every industry, many organizations respond by investing in new technologies only to keep up with the competition. Ralph Welborn, co-author of Topple—The End of the Firm-Based Strategy and Rise of New Models for Explosive Growth argues that what has made businesses effective today will not work tomorrow. He proposes that individuals (or organizations) need to answer the ‘new strategic question’ and understand its implications on what they do, how they do it, and with whom they do it so they can identify and capture new sources of value.

Discovering value

“Commercialising innovative ideas is a constant run. It requires immense efforts, as you attempt to move forward and make progress on your way while facing one hurdle after the other…entrepreneurs and innovators are trained to run fast…running fast may be useless if you are not running in the right direction.” Entrepreneurs have to focus on valuable market opportunities but encounter failure when wrong choices are made due to flawed evaluation. Sharon Tal, co-author with Marc Gruber of Where to Play, tells us how one can choose and prepare to act on an opportunity, using a tool such as the ‘market opportunity navigator’, staying focused and agile.