"Working out of the box"

"Working out of the box" by Ms.Aparna Piramal Raje's book intersects between  the business & design. It dwells deeper on workplace, office design and connects with leadership styles of 40 CEOs. A quick tour of 40 corner offices is one of the compelling reasons to read this book. 

You may find these below excerpts very insightful.

Mr.G.V.Sanjay Reddy, M.D. of infrastructure conglomerate- his soundproof office overlooking the airfield serves as a metaphor for his ability to stay calm amidst turbulence. Indeed this is truly composed.

An imperfectly constructed slanted walls in Mr.Vikram Limaye's - CEO of IDFC Ltd., office underline the problem of building world-class infrastructure in India.

Ms.Lynda Gratton- CEO of Hot Spots Movement situated in one of Europe's most beautiful buildings. Her insights on the future of work - is that Organisations must stop confusing hours worked with output, and must understand that people must not be chained to a desk to be productive.

Mr.Park Won-Soon, the Mayor of Seoul, an anti-corruption activist. Each item in his office  has a story. The hand written Post-it notes, kitchen garden & bookshelves in between slanted cabinets - representing social gaps.

Mr.Kishore Biyani, Chairman of Future Group - his office has a wall of portraits of select world leaders. The last panel in the collage is a mirror, where anyone can see themselves- suggesting that anyone can aspire to be a world leader.

Google's office desks are height-adjustable, enabling occupants to stand and work. The workplace is a direct expression of the company's belief that in order to achieve extraordinary results. 

Workplace & culture are key variables to enhance the productivity of employees. 

Dream with Your Eyes Open: An Entrepreneurial Journey

Dream With Your Eyes Open by  Ronnie Screwvala is an inspirational and incisive book. He has shared his insights from his 25 years of work experience. 

I found this following section on business leadership is a must read. The most valuable skill is knowing to spot the opportunities and avoiding failures.  Identifying “Trucks” and “Trends"- Ability to spot a potential trouble is critical to save time, energy and grief, lest this truck will run over. He says organisations can thrive by having a honest and frank interaction on “trucks” and “trends”. Biggest problems getting in the way of these candid conversations is one word: "presentation".  Invariably we present what people higher on the organizational chart want to hear. 

He shares his many key learning's during his new content production at UTV. Author and his team’s resilience story to obtain a censor certificate for "Rang De Basanti". It is motivating to read as to how his team embarked to create 260 episodes each year in 1994- a television series Shanti. Launch of new kids channel- Hungama TV. They disrupted this space by using content from Japan. Doraemon and Shin-Chan.  Despite pressure, legal and otherwise he & his team were undaunted while producing "No One Killed Jessica" 

'When you’re driven by your peers, you are not being disruptive". After reading this statement- now i keep reminding this to myself on a regular basis. Few instances in this book, made me realize the significance of breaking away from classic conditioning thinking.

Ronnie Screwvala has quoted instances about his failed ventures and his lessons learnt from them. While producing "Chance pe dance" he says it was like a "loaded truck" coming towards them. But they did not take decision and paid the price for it.

Trucks, Trends, Focus, Choices and Empathy are his guiding principles for his future endeavours. Going beyond self-importance and know-it-all-attitude will aid in decision making. This is empathy. These sections are loaded with wisdom.

His view point on business plans - Plan B, is very straight. He says real conviction and focus, not Plan B allow one to stay the course and navigate do-or-die scenarios.

This book contains a section of FAQ’s.  These 17 questions and answers are exceptional and direct. For instance, his perspective on brand building is very simple and intuitive. He says most people believe brand-building and marketing are one and the same. They’re not. Credibility, sustained excellence builds a brand. My take of this book - it will certainly ignite the readers.

Arise, Awake - Rashmi Bansal

Rupesh Shah a youth from Siliguri who struggles to pass 12^th standard board exam, aspires to be an intern at IIT. He is keen to get an experience in the technical aspects of Linux Operating system and explores options to get into IITB. He searches for professor’s number on the Internet and makes cold calls. After several attempts and constant follow up for couple of months– he gets an internship for just 3 months. The story goes on. After 9 years – Rupesh’s idea is adapted in 350 schools and his company achieved sales of Rs.3.6Crs .

It’s yet another awesome book from Ms.Rashmi Bansal.  You will be motivated by reading the experiences of these businesspersons venturing at a such young age. Similar to Rupesh’s story, common traits among these stories– “never give up attitude”.  These following four moved me.

Both Shashank  N D & Abhinav Lal grappled promoting their service concept to doctors during the period 2008 to 2011. There were many moments that pushed them to rethink their career options. But they never gave up.  Sequoia capital funded them in 2011.  Now, we all know about Practo Technologies.

Aruj Garg a student of National Law School, Bangalore decides to venture in fast food business.  Since it’s a totally unrelated to Law his idea acceptability was very low and he may have faced a volley of questions. His conviction in his business was very high. Today, I understand bhukkad has two branches serving over 150 customers daily.   

A young girl from Solapur Ms.Apurva Joshi hunts for a job at Pune. She lands at a forensic accounting start-up firm. “A risky and unchartered profession” – she goes on to become a forensic expert and her firm – Fraudexpress compiles a database of politically exposed parties, first of its kind in the country. To my mind it’s the need of the hour for our country. An example: out of the box thinking.   

Eshwar Vikas & Sudeep Sabat budding engineers set out to create an automatic dosa machine.  After 3 years of arduous work they succeed in producing world’s first tabletop dosa printer. Eshwar draws inspiration from movie Dark Knight – Batman falls into a well and keeps trying to escape using a rope. But he falls, again and again. And the rope saves him. I feel this story is apt to explain about these youngsters.

Its very impressive that these young entrepreneurs have picked up the nuances of Sale & Marketing very early. For instance Practo Technologies team during their sales call focussed on creating a wow experience in first 5 minutes. This helped them to clinch the deals faster from doctors.

Prakash Mundhra, Sacred Moments product & brand name - The Shubh Labh ‘Puja Kit’  & ‘Blessingz’. These are captivating.  Prakash chose the names so aptly – this will attract positive attention due to the perceived value among target customers.

Bhukkad positioning is so distinct. We make food that's fast, natural, exciting, awesome to taste and easy on the pocket. This book is a must read for parents as it gives insights about pursuing entrepreneurship at an early age. I presume that most of the colleges may have encouraged their students to read this.

My Previous posts on Ms.Rashmi Bansal's books: 

connect the dots

I have a dream

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

Marshall Goldsmith’s credentials compelled me to read this book.  He is one of the select few consultants who have been asked to work with more than 80 CEOs in the world’s top corporations. He is one of the 50 great thinkers and business leaders who have impacted the field of management.  He is a pioneer in the use of customized 360-degree feedback as a leadership development tool. What Got You Here Won't Get You There is a New York Times best-seller, Wall Street Journal #1 Business Book.

Off late, I have been reading articles on how to get to the corner office and the key qualities one needs to possess to thrive in the corporate world. After reading this, I realize that interpersonal behavior can get us there than technical skills. Author has quoted innumerable relevant case studies and examples to explain this attribute.

I could relate to one of his examples of a financial consultant in New York firm who manages HNI clients is highly skilled and takes seven-figure salary but is not aware about the impact of his behavior on his prospects and customers. The story goes on that he could not on-board a very high profile prospect. He thought he had all the answers, but the prospective client saw it as ‘self aggrandizement’. One gets deluded to success and resists changing. Author cites’ the Ad by Unum – An Insurance company – you probably feel like the bear. We’d like to suggest you’re the salmon. An apt example.

Author’s role as a coach is to help one to identify a personal habit that is annoying their co-workers and help them to eliminate and take it further. His questioning skills to get clients into coaching ‘mode’ are amazing.  This one is very relevant to sales professionals – salespeople who think their pushy and belligerent sales tactics with customers are the reason they close more deals than their peers. Author asks, how do nicer colleagues sell anything at all? Could it be you are selling a great product or making more sales calls?

The unique content in this book is ‘what to stop’. Peter Drucker says ‘we don’t spend enough time teaching leaders to stop. Leaders need to learn what to stop. Author says Instead of the usual ‘To Do’ list, start compiling ‘To Stop’ list.  Author has listed 20 common faulty behaviors at work place as ‘to stop’ list. After reading this, I believe that seeking feedback and good listening skills are crucial variables to get a leader to the next level.  

Yesterday, I was reading an article about McDonalds and reasons for the CEO’s exit. I found a high correlation with the key takeaways in this book and Mr.Donald Thompson’s (now Ex CEO) story. Quoting from Forbes the ousted CEO thought ‘In his eyes, McDonald’s was still mighty, and could overcome the global movement to healthier food and ingredient knowledge by running some new marketing or adding items to the dollar menu. These questions crossed my mind, Was he deluded by his past success? or did he ever have a ‘To Stop’ list?