I conducted a full day session on Design Thinking at FT 8012 (will be called as FinTech 8012 here on), Chennai for ‘Good to Great’ group of JITO with Dr. Ashok Korwar, Dr. Anbu Rathinavel, Kalpana Korwar and Manju Jain.

Few observations during the session:

• There were more than 50 keen learners who travelled here from different places like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Nasik, Hubli, Udaipur, etc.
• All the participants completed their homeworks before attending the course. The participants were CEOs of many large companies. Frankly speaking – we were not expecting it.
• All the participants were divided into four different groups; they shared their stories and vulnerabilities very bodly. Again very good start of ‘Good to Great’ programme.
• These participants are going to Silicon Valley for next leg of the programme – 10x growth using Design Thinking. I personally like the curiosity of the group. They were very active until the course finished at 6:00 p.m.

Very satisfying day of learning together.

Snapshots from the session

1. Joy – Sadness
2. Trust – Disgust
   
3. Fear – Anger
4. Surprise – Anticipation

Expressions
1. Love – Joy + Trust
2. Optimism – Anticipation + Joy
3. Submission – Trust + Fear
4. Aggressiveness – Anticipation + Anger
5. Awe – Fear + Surprise
6. Disapproval – Sad + Surprise
7. Contempt – Anger + Disgust
8. Remorse – Disgust + Sad

– From Robert Plutchik’s ‘Wheel of Emotions’

The ‘Wheel of Emotions’

‘If they are not ready for a 10 to 20 year journey, they should not become entrepreneurs.’
‘They should not get lured by the money they may make in a short period; money may be there today and it may disappear tomorrow.’

I was the son of a government employee, with no background in entrepreneurship but I had the entrepreneurial spirit even as a school student.

Soon after graduating from the Delhi College of Engineering, I chose to walk the entrepreneurial route with two of my friends. In 1993, I started Polaris Software Lab with just Rs 10,000. By the time I had sold 53% of its share to the US-based company Virtusa last year, it had become a Rs 2,100 crore (Rs 21 billion) company.

Now, my attention is focused on Intellect Design Arena Ltd., a products development lab, and on being a mentor and angel investor to young entrepreneurs. I also launched Start up Nukkad, where young entrepreneurs can meet and share ideas.

I an interview with Rediff.com‘s Shobha Warrier, I have explained why Narendra Modi’s Start Up initiative needs a bit fine-tuning.

From government jobs to entrepreneurships

When I was young, we were so subservient to government jobs; the only dream every person had — and this happened after 1947 — was to get a government job.

Rural India, however, has always been self-sustaining. Every person living in rural India was an entrepreneur. Where were the government jobs there?

I would say the human mind is an entrepreneur’s mind, always trying to create something new. (more…)

We use three words synonymously: Self-image, Self-belief and Self-confidence; but they have their unique meaning.

#1. Self-belief – Provides the decision matrix for good or bad.