For enterprise applications, deploying and managing the process of activation and validation can be challenging.
Ant build process helps the teams in achieving this without much hassle.
Usually the build folders are constructed as Staging and Active for reference. These folders in turn link to CodeBaseA (points to staging) and CodeBaseB (points to active)
The new build that is being constructed for release is built and moved to CodeBaseA folder and previous active codebaseB folder remains intact.
Once the new build is copied to codebaseA, the logical link for active application code base is flipped to CodeBaseA and the staging link is flipped to CodeBaseB.
If the new build validation is successful, the flipped links remain in the same manner. If the build validation fails for any reason, the logical links will be flipped again. In this second flip process, CodeBaseB (old functional build) becomes active build and CodeBaseA(new build) becomes staging build.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Amazing way of managing traffic and content delivery
This was one of the Amazing way to manage the internet traffic and content delivery. Installed the infrastructure with Akamai Server (DNS) manages the traffic based on the rules established on the server.
Example: If there is a Phased launch for a product for entire USA, the strategy will be to open the application for some less customer based state. This rule can be configured on Akamai server to process the traffic from that particular state (eg: RI) with a different URL (url for new application). If the traffic is from any other states, they get routed to the old URL (old application).
This helps in containing the launch related issues and to validate the application usage in production environment.
Akamai, also replicates the content on its distributed servers which enhances the request throughput (less response time) for content delivery.
Example: If there is a Phased launch for a product for entire USA, the strategy will be to open the application for some less customer based state. This rule can be configured on Akamai server to process the traffic from that particular state (eg: RI) with a different URL (url for new application). If the traffic is from any other states, they get routed to the old URL (old application).
This helps in containing the launch related issues and to validate the application usage in production environment.
Akamai, also replicates the content on its distributed servers which enhances the request throughput (less response time) for content delivery.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Partnership Capitalism to Drive Performance and Culture
Partnership Capitalism to Drive Performance and Culture
Partnership - In simple terms its a combined workforce to achieve a Purpose/Goal/Objective
Capitalism - Process of growing Wealth among the community which thereby improves the country's economy.
Early days, there used to be one leader (autocratic/authoritative) who has the idea or energy to run a Company/Organization. This leader takes the majority of the profit because he is key for the origin or existence of business.
In today's world, where most of us are Knowledge Worker (Credit to Peter F Drucker) most(ALMOST ALL) of the employees in an Organization work towards the Organizations Success which translates to Dollars. This profit is being divided across the employees as Shares (ESOPs) which are disbursed based on the individual performance towards the success.
Effectively, the Organizations Performance is aligned to People Performance where these both parameters are measured and mapped against Key Performance Indicators that are baselined based on that industry.
This process gives ownership of success and drives the resources to function in challenging environment where they can WIN in the flat world of the Organization.
This process has been improved over time which has created great differential factor in the Organization Performance and Culture.
Partnership - In simple terms its a combined workforce to achieve a Purpose/Goal/Objective
Capitalism - Process of growing Wealth among the community which thereby improves the country's economy.
Early days, there used to be one leader (autocratic/authoritative) who has the idea or energy to run a Company/Organization. This leader takes the majority of the profit because he is key for the origin or existence of business.
In today's world, where most of us are Knowledge Worker (Credit to Peter F Drucker) most(ALMOST ALL) of the employees in an Organization work towards the Organizations Success which translates to Dollars. This profit is being divided across the employees as Shares (ESOPs) which are disbursed based on the individual performance towards the success.
Effectively, the Organizations Performance is aligned to People Performance where these both parameters are measured and mapped against Key Performance Indicators that are baselined based on that industry.
This process gives ownership of success and drives the resources to function in challenging environment where they can WIN in the flat world of the Organization.
This process has been improved over time which has created great differential factor in the Organization Performance and Culture.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Amazing aspect of Wal-Mart
Amazing aspect of Wal-Mart
I have always wondered how a company like Wal-Mart consistently performs GREAT and consistently overtakes its previous baselined SUCCESS.
This Giant doesn't produce a product of its own. But has the power and knowledge to effectively streamline the whole retail process by effectively managing the Resources(People & Systems), Suppliers and The Supply Chain Management.
Its truly AMAZING wonder, how this consistently High Performing Engine manages this epitome of SUCCESS :
Leadership development,Systems Development, Relationship Management, Supplier Management, Logistics, Community Giving (Corporate Social Responsibility), Diversity, Analytics, Systems Integration,Technology Adaptation/Migration, Managing for Performance, Forecasting the Needs (Demand & Supply), a lot of other aspects.
The key differentiator of this Gaint when compared to others is EXECUTION. Its this miraculous way of executing all of the above mentioned parameters in a collaborative approach that yield results.
A True Admiration
By SuRaJ.
I have always wondered how a company like Wal-Mart consistently performs GREAT and consistently overtakes its previous baselined SUCCESS.
This Giant doesn't produce a product of its own. But has the power and knowledge to effectively streamline the whole retail process by effectively managing the Resources(People & Systems), Suppliers and The Supply Chain Management.
Its truly AMAZING wonder, how this consistently High Performing Engine manages this epitome of SUCCESS :
Leadership development,Systems Development, Relationship Management, Supplier Management, Logistics, Community Giving (Corporate Social Responsibility), Diversity, Analytics, Systems Integration,Technology Adaptation/Migration, Managing for Performance, Forecasting the Needs (Demand & Supply), a lot of other aspects.
The key differentiator of this Gaint when compared to others is EXECUTION. Its this miraculous way of executing all of the above mentioned parameters in a collaborative approach that yield results.
A True Admiration
By SuRaJ.
Quantitative Strategy Manager
Quantitative Strategy Manager
This person has knowledge in efficient Quantitative Models and uses them wisely along with the information provided or accessible to him to make decisions that contribute greatly towards the Organization's SUCCESS.
Based on the results arrived by using the above mentioned process, this person is efficient and effective in managing and driving the resources (People & Systems) to meet the Customer and Market Needs.
This Leader sees the areas where the society can have a Positive Impact and drives resources to create that impact which adds Value Proposition to the Organization.
By Raj Pat
This person has knowledge in efficient Quantitative Models and uses them wisely along with the information provided or accessible to him to make decisions that contribute greatly towards the Organization's SUCCESS.
Based on the results arrived by using the above mentioned process, this person is efficient and effective in managing and driving the resources (People & Systems) to meet the Customer and Market Needs.
This Leader sees the areas where the society can have a Positive Impact and drives resources to create that impact which adds Value Proposition to the Organization.
By Raj Pat
Key aspect for Performance in Anything
The Key aspect for Performance in anything is Communication.
Let's take any example in our life, all those examples revolve around atleast one medium (speech, written, art, sign) of Communication.
The Art of Communication depends strongly on the motive of the Sender and Receiver. This also depends on the actual intention of delivery and the mindset of the receiver.
When the Sender's information is being interpreted by the Receiver with no error (motive and mindset are same), the probability of occurrence of a Problem/Issue between them is less.
To avoid the severity of the problem, the received information can be paraphrased for better understanding and confirming the same.
There are many ways addressing this communication challenge between individuals.
One of Key Attribute that WILL ALWAYS be a common denominator (differentiation factor) for a person from Level 0 Analyst(Entry Level) to Level n Leader (Chief) of any kind of Organization is COMMUNICATION.
To COMMUNICATE effectively, first one should LISTEN, Understand the Facts, Interpret, Act on that information effectively based on the Situation that Warrants.
By Raj Pat
Let's take any example in our life, all those examples revolve around atleast one medium (speech, written, art, sign) of Communication.
The Art of Communication depends strongly on the motive of the Sender and Receiver. This also depends on the actual intention of delivery and the mindset of the receiver.
When the Sender's information is being interpreted by the Receiver with no error (motive and mindset are same), the probability of occurrence of a Problem/Issue between them is less.
To avoid the severity of the problem, the received information can be paraphrased for better understanding and confirming the same.
There are many ways addressing this communication challenge between individuals.
One of Key Attribute that WILL ALWAYS be a common denominator (differentiation factor) for a person from Level 0 Analyst(Entry Level) to Level n Leader (Chief) of any kind of Organization is COMMUNICATION.
To COMMUNICATE effectively, first one should LISTEN, Understand the Facts, Interpret, Act on that information effectively based on the Situation that Warrants.
By Raj Pat
Strategy + Analytics
Quantitative Strategy
Strategy - This is defining ways or means to achieve an Objective/Goal
One of the key to Strategy is understanding the Objective/Goal along with the big picture of the Organization's need.
This can be improved by measuring the processes/systems that we have currently.
We cannot improve, What we cannot Measure
Analytics - This is the process of gathering Information/Data over time and interpreting the direction of actions that yield results to the business problem. This can also help the Organization in understanding its Products/Services and show the Paths of improvement/Acceleration.
Aligning the Organization Strategy with Analytics forms the Key Logic to create differentiation to the Business. This helps in understanding the open space for the evolution of new Markets for the Organization.
Data can be gathered for the following aspects (the below mentioned list doesn't have any boundaries.... Means the list can be updated as needed)
Analyzing the Organization's emotions
How People Perform/Execute ?
How Systems are Performing ?
What are the throughput measures of People & Systems ?
What is happening with the Customer Service ? Measuring all the directions of the Customer Service realm.
What are the approaches for delivering the Product / Service to the Customer ?
Understanding the Competitors segment ? What alternatives of Product / Services are available to the Customers ? What is the Cost differentiation for them ?
Storing these data/information in a centrally accessible systems which is accessible by the Management and Analyst is crucial. Proven analytical models can be developed using this information, which will drive the effective decision making process.
Effective decision making helps in directing the resources (People & Systems) towards right direction for achieving business results.
By Raj Pat
Strategy - This is defining ways or means to achieve an Objective/Goal
One of the key to Strategy is understanding the Objective/Goal along with the big picture of the Organization's need.
This can be improved by measuring the processes/systems that we have currently.
We cannot improve, What we cannot Measure
Analytics - This is the process of gathering Information/Data over time and interpreting the direction of actions that yield results to the business problem. This can also help the Organization in understanding its Products/Services and show the Paths of improvement/Acceleration.
Aligning the Organization Strategy with Analytics forms the Key Logic to create differentiation to the Business. This helps in understanding the open space for the evolution of new Markets for the Organization.
Data can be gathered for the following aspects (the below mentioned list doesn't have any boundaries.... Means the list can be updated as needed)
Analyzing the Organization's emotions
How People Perform/Execute ?
How Systems are Performing ?
What are the throughput measures of People & Systems ?
What is happening with the Customer Service ? Measuring all the directions of the Customer Service realm.
What are the approaches for delivering the Product / Service to the Customer ?
Understanding the Competitors segment ? What alternatives of Product / Services are available to the Customers ? What is the Cost differentiation for them ?
Storing these data/information in a centrally accessible systems which is accessible by the Management and Analyst is crucial. Proven analytical models can be developed using this information, which will drive the effective decision making process.
Effective decision making helps in directing the resources (People & Systems) towards right direction for achieving business results.
By Raj Pat
Five Key Discovery Skills
The five key discovery skills
- A major new study has highlighted the key skills that innovative and creative entrepreneurs need to develop. According to Hal Gregersen, an INSEAD professor and co-author of a six-year-long study into disruptive innovation involving some 3,500 executives, there are five ‘discovery’ skills you need but, he says, you don’t have to be ‘great in everything.’
Associating
Creative entrepreneurs ‘connect the dots’ to make unexpected connections. They combine pieces of what may seem disparate pieces of information until “surprise - you've got this innovative new idea.” Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, was interested in calligraphy and this eventually led to his company producing user-friendly, graphics-based Macs. “Several years later, when Jobs was trying to figure out the Macintosh screen, and the 'what you see is what you get' (WYSIWG) sort of image, he connected the dots back to what he had learnt in calligraphy to what might be on the screen and it was a key component of making that whole computer work.”
Observing
Some of the most innovative entrepreneurs are “intense observers,” Gregersen says. Take for example Scott Cook, the founder of Intuit: “When we interviewed him, we talked about how he got the initial idea for Quicken software. He watched really carefully in terms of how his wife was very frustrated doing their finances. Manually it was frustrating and irritating. She purchased some software that was equally frustrating and irritating.” It was at that point that Cook thought he might be able to develop a product that could help his wife “solve that problem more effectively.”
After a ‘sneak preview’ of an early Apple computer, Cook got a “rich sense of what it might look like to have a user interface and a mouse and so on, and be able to have things like checks on the screen that looked like what they should be.” And from this observation, Gregersen says, sprang Quicken.
Experimenting
When Jeff Bezos, the founder of internet retailer Amazon, was growing up, he used to spend time on his grandfather's farm in the summer. When machinery broke down on the farm, his grandfather would try to fix it himself, with some help from Jeff. They would “experiment, trying this and that, until it would finally work again.” If the animals on the farm got sick, his grandparents wouldn’t call the vet, but rather experiment and try to fix the problem themselves.
“So Jeff grew up with that kind of attitude and mindset, that if I am confronted with a challenge, I can figure out a solution,” Gregersen says. “That kind of experimentation spilled over into Amazon.” At first, the idea had been to sell books via the internet without inventory. “That was the initial idea. We sometimes forget that it took him seven, eight, nine years of experimentation to build the capacity to have warehouses full of books.” As a consequence of his experimentation, Bezos “built this business model that we now call Amazon today.”
Questioning
Questions are at the core of what we do. We can be observing the world or experimenting, “but if I have no questions in my mind, I'm pretty unlikely to get any observations or insights or ‘ahas’ that I never saw or thought about,” Gregersen says.
“And this kind of questioning attitude and mentality is just rampant in these folks.” Some may be better than others in observing, but when it comes to questioning, “all were powerful.”
“I'll never forget when I sat down with A.G. Lafley (the former CEO of Procter & Gamble) to talk with him about his world of leadership. I had a series of questions related to research about global leadership and I swear he asked me far more questions in that interview than I asked him because he was just simply curious about what was going on in the research.”
Another was Michael Dell. “I had the naivete to ask Michael if he had any favourite questions he likes to ask when he wanders around the world. And he instantly responded with a quizzical look, like ‘That's a dumb question.’ Then he said : “Hal if I had some favourite questions, everybody would know the answers. Instead, when I'm wandering the world, I try to construct a question for every conversation that might generate information that I never had before’. And for most of these innovative entrepreneurs, that's just how they think."
Networking
Typically, when we think of networking, we think of this in terms of jobs, a career or maybe social life. But when it comes to creativity, it takes on a different meaning. “Innovators are intentional about finding diverse people who are just the opposites of who they are, that they talk to, to get ideas that seriously challenge their own,” Gregersen says. Creative and innovative entrepreneurs look for people who are “completely different in terms of perspective” and regularly discuss ideas and options with them “to get divergent viewpoints.” There could be differences in gender, industry, age, country of origin, or even politics. “If I'm on the right, they're on the left, that kind of notion. And those sorts of diverse inputs in terms of conversations enabled them to get new ideas,” he says.
“Now it doesn't come instantly. Sometimes the conversations provide their own insights.” David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways and now CEO of Azul Airlines in Brazil, got the idea for paperless ticketing or e-ticketing, Gregersen says, by talking to one of his employees about the frustration of having to carry around paper tickets in order to give them to passengers flying on their planes. “So that conversation then led to a new idea and a way of doing things differently.”
Disruptive innovation
Another of the co-authors of the study, Clayton Christensen, is an expert in disruptive innovation and this led Gregersen to wonder what the origin was of “those disruptive organisations that changed whole industries.” They then drew up a list of the world’s most innovative companies based in part on BusinessWeek’s ”Most Innovative Company” ranking and began interviewing the CEOs or founders.
They got access to the likes of Dell, asking him and others: "Tell us about what was going on when you got the initial idea that led to this innovative business called Dell computer (or Amazon in the case of Bezos)." They then realised, when looking at the responses to this question, that innovative entrepreneurs are “doing a lot of the same things -- there’s a little bit of variation but a lot of the same things.”
At that stage, they developed a self assessment and 360 degree survey based on the concepts of experimenting and so on, and assessed ‘thousands of executives and entrepreneurs.’ “And what we discovered was that those engaging in these behaviours and this thinking pattern, were actually the ones who delivered breakthrough processes, new products and services, new business lines within companies, corporate entrepreneurship, and new businesses outside of companies—all of which were financially profitable and successful.”
“At the core of this, all these these folks were driven by a fundamental bias against the status quo. They were absolutely uncomfortable with things being the way they are. They wanted to make things change ... They wanted to change the world. And they're going to risk failure in order to make that a reality.”
Corporate decision-making, he says, does “not usually value or support innovative actions.” Yet, some companies do. P&G’s marketers, for example, spend more than 12 hours on average each month just observing customers. “They value the behaviour and they get the innovative results. So one of the surprises for me is that even though these are relatively straightforward things that we could do, most of us have lost the capability to do them.”
Practising and developing the skills
Gregersen says the five discovery skills may seem ‘intuitive’ but when it comes to the actual practice, “doing them is counterintuitive.” That’s because the adult world in which we live “does not value these actions.”
Gregersen’s advice? Start acting like a child again: “Not 100 per cent of the time, that would be absurd. We're adults and we have to run businesses. But 20 per cent, 25 per cent of our time, act like a four-year-old again,” Gregersen told INSEAD Knowledge. “Because all these skills are what four-year-olds do. They ask thousands of questions: ‘Why?’ ‘Why not?’ This and that. They're always asking those questions ... They observe intensely and they'll talk to just about anybody.”
“These are the things that we all did as four-year-olds. We all did this stuff. And if we happened to attend a Montessori-type school like many innovative entrepreneurs did, then we still might be doing this stuff. But most school and corporate systems consistently say: ‘Don't do it, stop doing it’ ... and we lose our innate creative capacity.”
But this ability is not lost forever. “We can get it back and that's where, if I want to become better at questioning, I start asking more questions.”
His suggestion is to get a journal and, if you've got a problem, take a few minutes each day to write down questions about that problem. After a month or so, “your questions will change and it's by changing the question that we change our fundamental understanding about the problem that leads us to a solution that we never thought of before.”
Take notes when observing others. “Step back from (the problem or situation), talk to people: ‘What did you learn? What surprised you? What was interesting?’ If you like to talk to people, talk to somebody different: maybe on another floor, a different building, a different office, another country, but talk to somebody who's 180 degrees different from you. These are things that we can do and they don't take a lot of time to do them.”
“Innovation is a habit,” Gregersen says. “And for these innovative entrepreneurs it's a way of life. It's the fabric of who they are. And for others who aren't that way, they could be: if they choose to act different to think different.”
- A major new study has highlighted the key skills that innovative and creative entrepreneurs need to develop. According to Hal Gregersen, an INSEAD professor and co-author of a six-year-long study into disruptive innovation involving some 3,500 executives, there are five ‘discovery’ skills you need but, he says, you don’t have to be ‘great in everything.’
Associating
Creative entrepreneurs ‘connect the dots’ to make unexpected connections. They combine pieces of what may seem disparate pieces of information until “surprise - you've got this innovative new idea.” Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, was interested in calligraphy and this eventually led to his company producing user-friendly, graphics-based Macs. “Several years later, when Jobs was trying to figure out the Macintosh screen, and the 'what you see is what you get' (WYSIWG) sort of image, he connected the dots back to what he had learnt in calligraphy to what might be on the screen and it was a key component of making that whole computer work.”
Observing
Some of the most innovative entrepreneurs are “intense observers,” Gregersen says. Take for example Scott Cook, the founder of Intuit: “When we interviewed him, we talked about how he got the initial idea for Quicken software. He watched really carefully in terms of how his wife was very frustrated doing their finances. Manually it was frustrating and irritating. She purchased some software that was equally frustrating and irritating.” It was at that point that Cook thought he might be able to develop a product that could help his wife “solve that problem more effectively.”
After a ‘sneak preview’ of an early Apple computer, Cook got a “rich sense of what it might look like to have a user interface and a mouse and so on, and be able to have things like checks on the screen that looked like what they should be.” And from this observation, Gregersen says, sprang Quicken.
Experimenting
When Jeff Bezos, the founder of internet retailer Amazon, was growing up, he used to spend time on his grandfather's farm in the summer. When machinery broke down on the farm, his grandfather would try to fix it himself, with some help from Jeff. They would “experiment, trying this and that, until it would finally work again.” If the animals on the farm got sick, his grandparents wouldn’t call the vet, but rather experiment and try to fix the problem themselves.
“So Jeff grew up with that kind of attitude and mindset, that if I am confronted with a challenge, I can figure out a solution,” Gregersen says. “That kind of experimentation spilled over into Amazon.” At first, the idea had been to sell books via the internet without inventory. “That was the initial idea. We sometimes forget that it took him seven, eight, nine years of experimentation to build the capacity to have warehouses full of books.” As a consequence of his experimentation, Bezos “built this business model that we now call Amazon today.”
Questioning
Questions are at the core of what we do. We can be observing the world or experimenting, “but if I have no questions in my mind, I'm pretty unlikely to get any observations or insights or ‘ahas’ that I never saw or thought about,” Gregersen says.
“And this kind of questioning attitude and mentality is just rampant in these folks.” Some may be better than others in observing, but when it comes to questioning, “all were powerful.”
“I'll never forget when I sat down with A.G. Lafley (the former CEO of Procter & Gamble) to talk with him about his world of leadership. I had a series of questions related to research about global leadership and I swear he asked me far more questions in that interview than I asked him because he was just simply curious about what was going on in the research.”
Another was Michael Dell. “I had the naivete to ask Michael if he had any favourite questions he likes to ask when he wanders around the world. And he instantly responded with a quizzical look, like ‘That's a dumb question.’ Then he said : “Hal if I had some favourite questions, everybody would know the answers. Instead, when I'm wandering the world, I try to construct a question for every conversation that might generate information that I never had before’. And for most of these innovative entrepreneurs, that's just how they think."
Networking
Typically, when we think of networking, we think of this in terms of jobs, a career or maybe social life. But when it comes to creativity, it takes on a different meaning. “Innovators are intentional about finding diverse people who are just the opposites of who they are, that they talk to, to get ideas that seriously challenge their own,” Gregersen says. Creative and innovative entrepreneurs look for people who are “completely different in terms of perspective” and regularly discuss ideas and options with them “to get divergent viewpoints.” There could be differences in gender, industry, age, country of origin, or even politics. “If I'm on the right, they're on the left, that kind of notion. And those sorts of diverse inputs in terms of conversations enabled them to get new ideas,” he says.
“Now it doesn't come instantly. Sometimes the conversations provide their own insights.” David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways and now CEO of Azul Airlines in Brazil, got the idea for paperless ticketing or e-ticketing, Gregersen says, by talking to one of his employees about the frustration of having to carry around paper tickets in order to give them to passengers flying on their planes. “So that conversation then led to a new idea and a way of doing things differently.”
Disruptive innovation
Another of the co-authors of the study, Clayton Christensen, is an expert in disruptive innovation and this led Gregersen to wonder what the origin was of “those disruptive organisations that changed whole industries.” They then drew up a list of the world’s most innovative companies based in part on BusinessWeek’s ”Most Innovative Company” ranking and began interviewing the CEOs or founders.
They got access to the likes of Dell, asking him and others: "Tell us about what was going on when you got the initial idea that led to this innovative business called Dell computer (or Amazon in the case of Bezos)." They then realised, when looking at the responses to this question, that innovative entrepreneurs are “doing a lot of the same things -- there’s a little bit of variation but a lot of the same things.”
At that stage, they developed a self assessment and 360 degree survey based on the concepts of experimenting and so on, and assessed ‘thousands of executives and entrepreneurs.’ “And what we discovered was that those engaging in these behaviours and this thinking pattern, were actually the ones who delivered breakthrough processes, new products and services, new business lines within companies, corporate entrepreneurship, and new businesses outside of companies—all of which were financially profitable and successful.”
“At the core of this, all these these folks were driven by a fundamental bias against the status quo. They were absolutely uncomfortable with things being the way they are. They wanted to make things change ... They wanted to change the world. And they're going to risk failure in order to make that a reality.”
Corporate decision-making, he says, does “not usually value or support innovative actions.” Yet, some companies do. P&G’s marketers, for example, spend more than 12 hours on average each month just observing customers. “They value the behaviour and they get the innovative results. So one of the surprises for me is that even though these are relatively straightforward things that we could do, most of us have lost the capability to do them.”
Practising and developing the skills
Gregersen says the five discovery skills may seem ‘intuitive’ but when it comes to the actual practice, “doing them is counterintuitive.” That’s because the adult world in which we live “does not value these actions.”
Gregersen’s advice? Start acting like a child again: “Not 100 per cent of the time, that would be absurd. We're adults and we have to run businesses. But 20 per cent, 25 per cent of our time, act like a four-year-old again,” Gregersen told INSEAD Knowledge. “Because all these skills are what four-year-olds do. They ask thousands of questions: ‘Why?’ ‘Why not?’ This and that. They're always asking those questions ... They observe intensely and they'll talk to just about anybody.”
“These are the things that we all did as four-year-olds. We all did this stuff. And if we happened to attend a Montessori-type school like many innovative entrepreneurs did, then we still might be doing this stuff. But most school and corporate systems consistently say: ‘Don't do it, stop doing it’ ... and we lose our innate creative capacity.”
But this ability is not lost forever. “We can get it back and that's where, if I want to become better at questioning, I start asking more questions.”
His suggestion is to get a journal and, if you've got a problem, take a few minutes each day to write down questions about that problem. After a month or so, “your questions will change and it's by changing the question that we change our fundamental understanding about the problem that leads us to a solution that we never thought of before.”
Take notes when observing others. “Step back from (the problem or situation), talk to people: ‘What did you learn? What surprised you? What was interesting?’ If you like to talk to people, talk to somebody different: maybe on another floor, a different building, a different office, another country, but talk to somebody who's 180 degrees different from you. These are things that we can do and they don't take a lot of time to do them.”
“Innovation is a habit,” Gregersen says. “And for these innovative entrepreneurs it's a way of life. It's the fabric of who they are. And for others who aren't that way, they could be: if they choose to act different to think different.”
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