Innovation Flow

The real tragedy occurs each time a creative mind turns away from a challenge because enough experts tell them it’s unsolvable - Vinod Khosla, Black Swans of Energy Transformation http://www.khoslaventures.com/wp-content/uploads/Black_Swan_8_28_11.pdf #Vinod Khosla has written an insightful essay on the Black Swans of energy transformation where he emphaises the importance of placing our bets on the less probable, high risk technologies that if they succeed can lead to a breakthrough improvement. Khosla makes an important point about why we should not get discouraged by what experts say if we want to make any progress with our innovation idea. "The number of times prominent experts have claimed that there is no possible innovation left in a market, an area or even all of science, is hard to count. In 1900 Lord Kelvin, having just retired as president of the Royal Society, was reported to have said, "There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. Al...

René Laennec - How he invented the Stethoscope ! In 1816, shyness led Laennec to invent the stethoscope. He was examining a young woman complaining of heart problems. At that time, doctors generally listened to patients' heartbeats by resting an ear against the patient's chest, but the conservative Laennec thought this improper under the circumstances, especially as she was overweight. He rolled a piece of paper into a tube and pressed it to her chest, allowing him to hear the sounds of her heart. Some believe he was inspired by the flute, which he used to play. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Laennec http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/02/16/who-was-rene-laennec-story-of-the-stethoscope-inventor/

Make in India  Key Points from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at the inauguration of the event in Mumbai PM Modi gave an inspiring speech at the inauguration of Make in India event in Mumbai and shared his vision - here are some key point from his speech : 65 per cent of the population of India is under the age of 35. This youthful energy is our greatest strength. We want the share of manufacturing in our GDP to go up to 25 per cent in the near future. India is blessed with three Ds. These are: Democracy, Demography and Demand. To this, we have added the fourth D that is Deregulation. Today’s India is this four dimensional India. In a competitive world improving managerial and technological capacity is essential for survival and growth. From space shuttles to pollution control; from health to education; from agriculture to services; our young entrepreneurs and start-ups are showing us newer and faster ways for enterprise and delivery. My Government is c...

Logical Vs Creative Thinking To think innovatively, we need to strike a balance between logical thinking and creative thinking. Creative thinking, most often starts with an illogical thought. Einstein's thought experiments (Gedanken) started with a seemingly absurd question what will we see if we travel as fast as light. Crazy questions that typically start with "what if" lead to interesting and innovative thoughts. But we cannot make much progress with our crazy question if our logical mind is active. The logical mind will kill the creative thinking very quickly. The job of the logical mind is to ensure that we think logiocally and it actively distracts us from all illogical thinking. Now, how do we escape the constant vigil of our logical mind and start our journey of innovating ? The Precious moment for Creative Thinking There is a moment when we can do this most easily - when we are tired and sleepy. Kekule got his breakthrough idea of a cycling st...

I have been in the game of leading innovation for nearly a decade now. I have been trying to understand how to choose the right innovation to pursue at the right time and take it to the right market. If I make a mistake on any one of the three, all my effort goes down the drain. To succeed in this complex role, I derive inspiration from the Hamsa bird. The unique traits of this bird is described in the most ancient Indian texts - the Vedas and the Upanishads. I will tell you more about Hamsa after we discuss the three challenges that I faced. I am always on the look out for people with new ideas - I need to be good at identifying the most promising innovators (across functions and geographies). I avoid the classic mistake of trying to identify the most promising ideas. I find that all ideas are equally weak to begin with - the promise of the idea grows in strength only during the incubation Phase. I would not dare to judge an idea before it gets a chance to be incubated. Wh...

Yoga is balance - Yoga is all about achieving a state of balance. Balance is commonly understood in the context of two opposing forces. A Yogi establishes himself in a state of balance both internally and externally. The complex world of opposing forces does not disturb his equilibrium.  Yoga means union -- the union of body with consciousness and consciousness with the soul. Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one's actions (B.K.S. Iyengar, Yoga Guru). Innovation is a balancing act Idea Conceptialization  - Innovation is all about balancing. Many innovators have the uncanny ability to balance two opposite views in their mind during idea conceptualization. The Wright brothers, when they were conceptualizing their design for an aeroplane, used to alternately argue for and against an idea (read The Wright Way - Seven problem solving skills from the Wright brothers). Sustainin...