Sujavna 3:7

0620 pm / Sunday 17 February 2013 / Mumbai

Ponzi schemes at one extreme , complex but legal financial products from investment and wealth management specialist organisations at the other extreme, and a host of mazes that facilitate money movements (both legal and illegal) in between...... are there lessons in creativity and innovation that financial markets and business-government intermediation offer for those of us who want to master the art of lateral thinking, creativity and innovation?

Well, this is one thought that has been on my mind over the past few days as more and more revelations are being published about how a leading Anglo-Italian defence equipment manufacturer has worked its way to successfully bid as a supplier to Indian government and defence agencies; even as other media reports continued to present the story of how a leading Indian business house continues to be recalcitrant about its obligations on returning illegal money that it collected from unwary depositors and used it to float illegal market-schemes.

Business schools and students of business management may best benefit by candidly debating these stories and distilling what was ethically and legally wrong versus what tools were intellectually and academically effective and efficient!

Hope you are having a great weekend. Signing off here.

Sujavna 3:6

11:55 am / Sunday 10 February 2013 / Mumbai

Why are business managers and public administrators not actively seeking to learn from the way masterchefs and jazz musicians innovatively create and deliver “top-of-the-chart” products for their customers and that too by excelling in getting their teams to work in tandem? How do these “creatives” pull off such excellence? One would assume that the idiosyncratic nature of their core strengths would prevent any normal teamwork!

Which strengthens the case that there is a stereotyping – that “creatives” are not usually adept at organisational excellence and “organised businesses” have organisational excellence ingrained in their DNAs - that has worked to the detriment of the latter. Perhaps it is time that organisations, especially businesses and governments, innovate in terms of getting more “creatives” to join their core leadership teams.

What do you say?

Sujavna 3:5

05:00pm / Saturday 02 February 2013 / Mumbai

Surprise! I post this a day in advance, since I am travelling tomorrow and am keen not to miss out.

How does one cater to the increasing demand for court time in an environment where litigation is the preferred approach to settling disputes, and where the infrastructure for civil and criminal justice systems is crumbling due to paucity of human and investigative resources? To me, the situation is one that opens immense possibilities for innovations – from virtual arbitration portals to outsourcing of investigations and case file preparations to systemic changes in the way contracts are drafted and registered, and much more.

Another chance to use thinkertoys? Let me checkout.

Signing off.....