The power of daydreaming and free time

"Nearly every major decision of my business career was, to some degree, the result of daydreaming. ... To be sure, in every case I had to collect a lot of data, do detailed analysis, and make a data-based argument to convince superiors, colleagues and business partners. But all that came later. In the beginning, there was the daydream", says Dov Frohman in a chapter on ‘Daydreaming’ in his book Leadership the Hard Way: Why Leadership Can't Be Taught—and How You Can Learn It Anyway. (April 2008, Jossey-Bass)

By daydreaming, he means loose, unstructured thinking with no particular goal in mind. He thinks daydreaming is a distinctive mode of cognition especially well suited to the complex, 'fuzzy' problems that characterize a more turbulent business environment. “Daydreaming is an effective way of coping with complexity. When a problem has a high degree of complexity, the level of detail can be overwhelming. The more one focuses on the details, the more one risks being lost in them.... Every child knows how to daydream. But many, perhaps most, lose the capacity as they grow up. ..."

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Seven things that surprise new CEOs

Here’s a treat for all Professor Michael Porter fans. Porter’s new book On Competition is just out (Oct 2008 Harvard Press). This book is a collection of Porter’s most influential articles from HBR, and new work on health care, philanthropy, social responsibility and leadership. The portion on advice for new CEOs, co-authored by HBS faculty Jay W. Lorsch and Nitin Nohria, who look at common surprises faced by new CEOs. Porter’s most influential article (1979) How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy launched a business management revolution among academics and practitioners.

The article warns new CEOs to be acutely aware of the environment and people, and suggests ways of avoiding common pitfalls. He says that most new chief executives are taken aback by unfamiliar new roles, time and information limitations and altered professional relationships.

The seven surprises are:
Surprise One: You Can't Run the Company
Surprise Two: Giving Orders is Very Costly
Surprise Three: It Is Hard To Know What Is Really
Surprise Four: You Are Always Sending A Message
Surprise Five: You Are Not The Boss
Surprise Six: Pleasing Shareholders Is Not The
Surprise Seven: You Are Still Only Human

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Downturn cowboys

An economic slowdown, more so a recession, really tests the mettle of a company, the tenacity of its leaders and the confidence of every executive. Surprisingly, a majority of the leaders and executives seem to panic at the first sign of slowdown. In the name of cost rationalization, they even sell off parts of businesses and let good people go.

Why does this happen when evidence and research by credible agencies have shown that leaders and managers who use the slump to position their companies for superior performance emerge as winners ?

Mehrdad Baghai, Sven Smit and Patrick Viguerie in their article in McKinsey Quarterly (August 2008) titled ‘M&A strategies in a down market’

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Ready to start the fire?

Control and usage of fire as a source of energy marked the turning point in human cultural evolution. It began a movement where man impacted the environment rather than letting the environment impact him. In ancient communities, FireStarters were revered individuals responsible for starting the fire and ensuring that the fire was sustained, thereby benefiting the entire tribe.

This basic premise is what the FireStarter movement is all about. Just as fire in many ways helped create the Industrial Revolution, the purpose of the FireStarter movement is to create an Innovation Revolution across teams, businesses, industries, countries, the world and consequently on humanity.

Erehwon Innovation Consulting recently launched the Erehwon FireStarter open workshops in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai with a clear intent of taking innovation to Individuals across locations and across industries launching the innovation revolution.

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