The Hindu Business Line : Make something out of nothing

OUT of every hundred ideas, only one can be considered a good one. Out of every hundred good ideas, only one is worthy of pursuit, of building a new company or division around. Of those hundred start-ups, perhaps only one will be considered successful. This is the frightening scenario that Kevin O'Connor paints in "The Map of Innovation". He helped create DoubleClick, and in the intro he talks of two important lessons: One, ideas are cheap. "Once you have come up with one, you need to do something with it." Two, if you really are going to do anything with your ideas, you need a process. You need a way to find the best idea you can; then, more important, you need the most efficient way to bring that idea to market by developing the best strategy, raising the money, and hiring the right people." Getting people to work hard is not the big issue, writes Kevin. "It's getting them to think big enough." More about `creating something out of nothing':

My thoughts on money are pretty simple: raise three times more than you think you could ever possibly need, and do it at a time when you don't need it. Hiring people is another area where innovators tend to make things more difficult than they need to be. The key is to hire smart "athletes".

To find out whether what you have is a need or a want, ask yourself this: Will the idea make the consumer or business money? Will it save them money? Will it make them more efficient? Will it make them more competitive? If the answer to all those questions is no, then what you are dealing with is likely a want. But if your idea meets a basic need, and there is an existing technology already in place, then you're on to something big.

Entrepreneurs fall in love with their ideas. And they should. They are devoting their lives to them. But it is naïve to expect everyone else on the planet to share your enthusiasm. They aren't going to care.

As a father, I came to realise that not everyone wanted to see all the baby pictures I had taken. People have their own projects and agendas (and kids). That's why you need to tell them what you have in a sentence. This single sentence is what you say to your employees, customers, suppliers, investors, and everyone you meet at a party. It is why you are.

A lot of people confuse skills with intelligence. They think that because someone is a decent Unix programmer, she would be a better hire for a programming job using Unix than, say, an excellent Windows programmer. Unix programming is a skill, excellence is a trait. Skills are easy to learn, and traits are impossible to obtain. Ideally, you want to hire a person who is very smart and possesses the skills you need. If you are forced to choose between skills and smarts, IQ always wins. Because a smart person can learn anything.

Founders often have great visions. Unfortunately, they often have more than one and don't communicate any of them well. You need to have a single vision, and you need to communicate that vision over and over and over again. One-on-one. In small groups and companywide. You have to keep repeating the message until everyone is clear on what it is.

Think of an idea... to lay your hands on the book.

For the asking

WHETHER you're a seasoned manager or a rookie, you've probably realised that managing isn't as easy as just telling other people what to do, then sitting back to watch it get done. That is a tautology from the back cover of "The Manager's Question and Answer Book" by Florence M. Stone. It has all of 190 important questions, with "practical answers to make you a better manager". A sampler:

How can I manage the e-mail I receive? It's very easy to get caught up in your e-mail, checking almost every few minutes to see if you have another e-mail message. But that is a terrible waste of time. Better to check your e-mail only twice a day, more often only if you receive time-sensitive information. Separate attachments from e-mail, and electronically file them.

A well-written job description has six components: Job title, statement of objectives, major responsibilities, job requirements, preferred criteria, and relationship with others.

How do I best use Web ads to recruit people? The secret to a well-written online ad is the use of `key words' - that is, words based on those factors critical to the job being offered. Here are three other rules, courtesy of Peter D. Weddle: Use intriguing headings; summarise the job in the first five lines; identify pay range within the first five lines.

The four stages of cross-functional teams are: Forming, storming, norming and performing. Some management gurus say there is even a fifth stage, mourning.

On an average, online recruitment costs 5 per cent of the price of placing a help-wanted ad in a major newspaper. There is the guarantee of a heavy and immediate response, but there may be many from those browsing the Web site during office downtime, not serious jobseekers. The resumes in response to an ad may bury you and the HR in replies, but few may meet the requirements you listed in your job posting.

A ready reference for FAQs that managers come across.

Conflicting ends

EVEN as the world is two years ahead of 9-11 and Bush is still smoking out Osama, there is a new book from John Gray titled Al Qaeda and What it means to be Modern that states that the terrorist group was a product of modernity and globalisation, and that it will not be the last group to use the products of the modern world in its own monstrous way. A sampler:

The modern myth is that science enables humanity to take charge of its destiny; but `humanity' is itself a myth, a dusty remnant of religious faith. In truth there are only humans, using the growing knowledge given them by science to pursue their conflicting ends.

India is cited by western commentators for its success in developing new industries, such as those involved in software production.

The success is real enough, but it has come from ignoring western ideas. Except in one or two regions, India never embraced Marxism; and it has stubbornly resisted the more recent neo-liberal cult.

As a result of its relative immunity to western ideologies, India avoided the catastrophes that befell China during the Maoist period and Russia in the neo-liberal Nineties; but it has been forced to adopt some aspects of European modernity.

The history of ideas obeys a law of irony.

Ideas have consequences; but rarely those their authors expect or desire, and never only those. Quite often they are the opposite.

History demonstrates a good deal of regularity in human behaviour. It also shows enough variety to make the search for universal laws a vain enterprise.

Yet in recent times the `laws of economics' have been invoked to support the idea that one style of behaviour - the `free market' variety - should be the model for economic life everywhere. Certainly the free market is highly productive.

But that does not mean it is humanly fulfilling.

By enlarging human power, science has generated the illusion that humanity can take charge of its destiny.

Borne along on a flood of invention, the modern world believes it has left the past behind.

Instead, taken up by human beings to serve their needs and illusions, science continues the drift of history.

A little book with weighty thoughts.

Books courtesy: Fountainhead fhbooks@satyam.net.in

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