Overthrowing the incubation regime November 24, 2009
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Business, Entrepreneurship, Everything 2.0, Heart Capital©, Incubation, Innovation, Mentoring, Thought leadership, heart capital.Tags: Business and Economy, business incubation, entrepreneurism, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship 2.0, fish, funding, Government, Incubation, India, India 2.0, Innovation 101, Leadership, Mentoring, support, Thought leadership, United States, Venture capital
1 comment so far
From an earlier post Business Incubation 101 that forms the preamble of my incubation idea. Thanks for all the offers of support – shows me that the idea resonates with many.
1. First bring the academia out of the safety of the cocoons we’ve woven around them. Have them check out what the world looks like. Today’s world. Today’s India.
2. Next, focus towards incubating ‘people’. They should be the real focus. Find real mentors. People that have been in the entrepreneurial world even if they have failed. They are the best teachers. Not professors of colleges. Don’t talk about incubating business. Leave that to the Western world.
3. Next, teach people to fish. No point in teaching fishing in your living room aquarium. At least walk them out to a brook. Pick up all the university incubation centres and physically put them off campus. That’s where the world exists. Not in the time warped government funded institutes.
Entrepreneur-ism is not socialistic. And capitalism doesn’t necessarily mean greedy or mercenary - especially in the context of India’s ethos. Make entrepreneurship an attractive lifestyle and stop being condescending irrespective of the preamble of our constitution. That goes for all those holier-than-thou bankers and VC’s.
Calling all India-preneurs November 24, 2009
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Business, Entrepreneurship, Heart Capital©, Incubation, Leadership Innovation, Mentoring, Thought leadership, heart capital.Tags: Entrepreneurship, Incubation, India, India 2.0, Leadership, Mentoring, support, Thought leadership, Venture capital
5 comments
If there’s something India needs it is theez. Indiapreneurs!
I think we’ve waited long enough. I was at an event organised by the students of NIT Trichy early September and was pleasantly surprised to see how clued in this generation is. The problem is that our academia is still stuck in a time-warp. These kids need active mentoring and incubation support from professionals who have been there, done that. We need to move incubation facilities out of educational campuses and transplant them firmly into the ‘real’ world of business. A few friends and I are working on providing space and infrastructure as well as functional support (HR, Admin, IT etc.) and plan to pilot this in Delhi, Coimbatore and Hyderabad, starting 2010.
Ideas, suggestions, support and comments please.
Paulo Coelho’s Counterpoint to my take on Climate change August 10, 2009
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Business, Innovation, Nature, Perception, Sustainability.Tags: activism, climate change, environment, Global Warming, Mother Earth, Nature, Opposing Views, Paulo Coelho, Sustainable retreat, Thought leadership, Western Thought
1 comment so far
Image via Wikipedia
Over the weekend, my wife was reading my last blog post [Climate Change Bollywood Ishtyle] and, at the same time, Paulo Coelho’s – The Winner Stands Alone. I suspect she may have been hoping against hope that his literary talent will rub off on me through her! And guess what, she suddenly found herself reading about his take on climate change. Synchronicity? Disbelievingly I listened as she read out the following lines that, Coelho – through one of the central characters [Hamid] – professes. His take is quite the antithesis [counterpoint] of my view. It cannot be too good for my ego to even consider such a course but there’s something in there that’s worth a closer look. I have reproduced the lines here …
- Paulo Coelho’s blog
Whenever he [Hamid] reads articles in newspapers or magazines written by politicians using Global Warming or the destruction of the environment as a platform for their electoral campaigns, he thinks:
‘How can we be so arrogant? The planet is, was and always will be stronger than us. We can’t destroy it; if we overstep the mark, the planet will simply erase us from its surface and carry on existing. Why don’t they start talking about not letting the planet destroy us?
‘Because “saving the planet” gives a sense of power, action and nobility. Whereas ” not letting the planet destroy us“ might lead to feelings of despair and impotence, and to a realisation of just how very limited our capabilities are.’
I know this sounds crazy guys, but I can’t help agreeing with him. Sorry Mr. Ego, you’ll have to eat humble pie this time!!
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=03add918-c198-40d0-b885-4016194c80ed)
Climate Change Bollywood ishtyle August 7, 2009
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Culture, Design, Everything 2.0, Globalisation, Innovation, Leadership Innovation, Nature, Politics, Sustainability, climate change, kleptocracy.Tags: An Inconvenient Truth, Brand India, Capitalism, climate change, demise of capitalism, Ethics, Greed, India, India and China, Kyoto Protocol, Materialism, Sustainable retreat, Thought leadership, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United States, Western Thought
4 comments
Image via Wikipedia
Let’s use the standard Hindi movie formula of circa 1980 to script our earth’s climate story. Enter Superstar US. The virtuous, street smart, Robin Hood inspired protagonist of our story, replete with his coterie of jazz dancers. And then there’s the poor guy, India. Always trying to emulate the “hero” and competing with him for the “herione’s” attention in college settings. Let’s throw in some masala – subplots, love triangles and the very popular song and dance sequences – with the extras doing their own thing while they dance in the third row.
Quick Gun Murugan
Now compare this with whatever we’ve been seeing in the Climate Change discussions. See the script accurately playing itself out? (Nobody seems to want to ask mother Earth for her point of view). Call it clairvoyance or just plain sensitivity, some of us have been seeing it coming since the mid nineties. Even we couldn’t have guessed the speed of deterioration, although fully knowing the bounty hunter tendencies of the US, we should have been able to. Easily. Shame on us!
Some simple facts from Prem Shankar Jha’s Tehelka article, An Earth On Edge.
1. Till as recently as five years ago, abrupt climate change was on the unthinkable fringe of possibilities predicted by climate scientists. In March 2009, 2,500 scientists from 80 countries assembled at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen. The congress concluded that the findings of the IPCC were out of date. The evidence collected since its fourth report was compiled showed that global warming was ceasing to be human-induced and was becoming self-reinforcing. (more…)
Innovation 101 – “Enjoy life while you can” May 6, 2009
Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Innovation, Innovation 101, Leadership Innovation, Perception, Sustainability, Sustainable Innovation, Wisdom of the leaders.Tags: activism, climate change, environment, Gaia, Innovation 101, James Lovelock, Thought leadership, wisdom
1 comment so far
James Lovelock doesn’t think we will need innovation 10 years on. Not because the business world will find a new jazzword to hang their marketing spiels on but ’scarily’ because planet earth wouldn’t exist. According to Lovelock, by the end of the century, 80% of the world’s population will disappear and half of Britain will be under water. And to prove his point, the octagenarian is buying a ticket to outer space.
James Lovelock - Gaia Theory
Climate science maverick James Lovelock believes catastrophe is inevitable, carbon offsetting is a joke and ethical living a scam.’Therefore’, he says, ’Enjoy life while you can’ via ‘Enjoy life while you can’ | Environment | The Guardian.
This is one scary take on climate change and sustainable development. (more…)
