Blog Full - Ashok Karania

13 Sep 2013

Subroto Bagchi On Re-Inventing Oneself !

Subroto Bagchi – One of the most wonderful and humble persons you will ever meet ! I had the good fortune of meeting this amazing human being and brilliant mind today.

Subroto is one of the highly popular and engaging authors. His books connect with us due to the sheer honesty and genuineness. I have read all his books and I am his ardent fan. Hence I grabbed the opportunity to meet him today when CII organized the round-table discussion with him. I and few other IT Professionals met him at EDI, Gandhinagar today.

Utpal asked Subroto about the different roles described in his book. Subroto explained the different roles as under:
1. Rainmaker – Every organization needs these people – people who can get business. Every sales person should be a rainmaker.
2. Thought Leader – People who can see ‘Day After Tomorrow’. People who are visionaries and connect dots which do not exist !
3. Ninjas – People who can get flawless execution done without process violation within the time and budget constraints.
4. Coach – People who can train and mentor people.

Every organization needs a good mix of these roles to succeed. Organizations cannot be just Ninjas alone or Rainmaker alone.

He urged everyone of us to get a formal assessment done and understand where we stand. What is our dominant profile. And dominant profile is like our DNA – it cannot be fundamentally changed. Formal assessment will lead us to our growth – sometimes we think we are Leopards though we might be actually a Jackal !

I (Ash) requested Subroto to share how we transformed himself and grew himself in MindTree’s journey from ‘Idea To IPO’. Subroto explained that he thought there were four key pillars:

1. Humility : Humility is very essential. We need to be receptive. Actually, CEO has to be like beggar !
2. Unusual Sources : Seek information and ideas from unusual sources. Cultivate white space time – it is very important. Important ideas do not need to happen in board rooms – they might happen in bath-tubs. And when bathtub ideas happen, do not wait for market validation or excel forecast – trust your intuition !
3. Mental Agility : Practice mental agility. Mind needs to be agile and challenge itself. Sometimes mental agility happens with displacement – change of city etc.
4. Sense of Purpose : The most important factor ! The purpose determines your power in life. The practical examples of Intel, Microsoft and Dalai Lama drove home this point effectively.

Very beautiful insights – worth internalizing in life !

Subroto also explained that entrepreneurs need to create more leaders – leaders who can see the big picture and who can have critical questioning ability. Entrepreneurs fail when they always surround people who think like them and are sycophants.

Subroto recommended the following resources:
1. Book: A Whole New Mind – Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future is a book by Daniel H. Pink
2. Movie Documentary : Infinite Vision
3. Book: Leading with Questions – How Leaders Find the Right Solutions By Knowing What To Ask

Apart from the amazing experience, my reward was to get his personally autographed book ! Happy !!!

12 Sep 2013

Travel Habits Infographic

Google Insights on Travel Habits

24 Aug 2013

Jobs: The Genius Is Missing !

Jobs Movie is a big letdown.

I am an Apple fan. I am a Apple consumer since early 2000s. I have been interested in Steve Jobs, his leadership, his presentation skills, his innovation. I am aware that he was a flawed and an eccentric character. I loved Walter Issacon’s biography. Naturally, I was doubly excited about Jobs movie since its announcement – it married my two interests – Apple and Movies.

Jobs movie captures only some moments of Jobs’ eventful life. The events are also given a passing reference. Jobs life has a perfect screenplay, which is not exploited fully.

Apple produces glamorous products with story and magic around it, Jobs Movie does not !

Steve was a great marketer and a greater businessman. He had a strange ability to spot magic and push people to innovation. He rallied the troops at Apple and made it the most valuable company in the world. This is not captured in the movie.

I found that Woz was made to sound like a comical character – a second rung side-kick. Sculley episode was totally underplayed. The Lisa part was not given equal justice as well. The way Woz was cheated, or stock options denied to early members, making of Macintosh etc could have been effectively exploited. The dialogue between him and his designer at the end sounded very very fake and gospelic. You see that funny episode and other small moments like parking in disability spot.

Many people expecting to see iPhone, iPad and other stories will be highly disappointed. This is outside movie’s frame. So is his cancer episode. For non-tech masses and many emerging countries, the context will be missing.

The movie does not do justice to Jobs. It has many parts of his life but sum is lesser than parts. The movie could have been in the same league as The Social Network to become a business case study for leadership and technology business. It is not !

The genius is missing in the movie.

21 Aug 2013

InfoStretch Opens a Sales and Development Office in UK to Expand Its Operations in Europe

InfoStretch Corporation, a leading provider of mobile application lifecycle services and solutions, including private mobile cloud infrastructure, announced today the opening of its first UK office in Hanover Square, London to continue its global expansion. InfoStretch currently has offices in Santa Clara, CA, Conshohocken, PA, and Ahmedabad and Pune, India. InfoStretch’s newest move to Europe aligns with its strategic vision to support enterprises worldwide and continue innovation with the help of local talent.

InfoStretch – one of the fastest growing mobile solution companies has seen a growing demand for its services and solutions from Europe. This led InfoStretch to choose London as the next logical step in its global expansion. InfoStretch views its presence in London as a key determinant in providing best-in-class solutions for the European market.

”Our customer base has been consistently growing in Europe and our new office right in the heart of London will definitely help to establish stronger roots with existing and new clients,” says Rutesh Shah, President and CEO of InfoStretch. “Staying close to our customers will help us to understand their pain points and unique needs of the market.”

InfoStretch plans to focus on developing state-of-the art mobile solutions and continue innovating new technology IP to support its solutions across key verticals, such as banking, retail, travel and healthcare. With its London office InfoStretch will have development, customer service, and technical service staff available to immediately meet European customer needs. InfoStretch is one of the first companies to establish a private mobile cloud infrastructure for Enterprise customers. With its European expansion it will be ready to serve the global needs of its customers to develop, test and manage mobile applications from European countries.

Fiona Francois, Director of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) for the Western US, hailed InfoStretch’s move to the UK as very timely reflecting London’s role as a global hub for technological innovation. “UKTI provided key support to ease the international business expansion process for InfoStretch,” she said. “This included advice on the UK corporate tax structure, the visa process and immigration facilitation, and in-country employee-recruitment. Moreover, the move has resulted in InfoStretch bringing new innovation, talent, and a number of highly paid jobs to the UK.”

About InfoStretch
InfoStretch is a leading provider of next-gen mobile application lifecycle services ranging from design and development to testing and sustenance. Since 2004, it has been providing expert solutions and services to various enterprises in the mobile ecosystem to help them monetize with cutting edge mobility solutions. InfoStretch offers the most cost effective, secure and scalable models to service clients across various verticals with competitive SLAs, strong enabling technology, and proven best practices.