Innovate or die was the theme of the Innovation workshop by Innovation Evangelist Pavan Soni, at the Hilton Golflinks, Bangalore on the 4th August. Pavan is an Innovation Evangelist by profession and a writer and teacher by passion. With innovation workshops for companies like Allergan, Café Coffee Day, Capgemini, Dell, Ericsson and many more, and with more than 20 articles and papers published in national and international journals, Pavan has been a successful catalyst in fostering innovation techniques to growing companies by his teachings and writings.
The workshop was attended by CEOs and top professionals from several companies and was aimed at the importance of innovation in the success of an organization. While being creative isn’t enough to make a business successful, a mind that cam commercialize this creativity for business use, is what leads to innovation. From brainstorming exercises and activities to puzzles and interactive discussion, every bit of the session had a lesson for the attendees to take home and implement in their business.
Pavan strongly affirms the idea of experimentation. A business which experiments has higher chances of exceeding than one which doesn’t. It is when you spend time with a problem, think about it deeply, that you can come up with effective solutions for it. “Most successful people have slept with their problems,” jokes Pavan.
Here are a few most important takeaways from the 8 hour workshop that every entrepreneur can implement in his business:
Take Half Chances
All successful people in the world have the courage to take chances, take risks and make the most of it. The fear of failure and judgement doesn’t let most of the creative ideas commercialize. Have faith, take half chances because even 1% of possibility can lead to biggest innovations.
Take Hobbies Seriously
It is a less known fact that Einstein was a professional violinist and that Bill Gates loves to play Bridge in leisure. It is when you take your hobbies seriously, spend time for it, when you can open your mind in a relaxed scenario, where you can think freely. When you think freely, without the restrictions of judgement, you can have your Eureka moment.
The Founder Is Best At Arm’s Length
The top most entrepreneurs are successful because they give their organizations two things, a vision and principles. A vision to achieve while adhering to the principles is the key. As far as the objectives are being achieved with adherence to principles, the founder is best suited at an arm’s length from the top management.
Create The Right Climate
Humans are highly influenced by their culture. Human brains are highly accustomed to defined patterns. And a brain that looks for patterns does not think creatively. It is when you break patterns that you can think creatively. Build a climate in your organization which allows free thinking, breaks patterns and allows free expression of creativity; a climate where minds are open, words are loud and ears are receptive.
An entrepreneur is successful when he provides ways for continuous improvisation, looks at customers and non-customers and lets ideas blossom. Innovation is a slow but continuous process.
Survival of the innovative is the mantra.
Pavan has a unique style of igniting minds and creating visions. The workshop was a success and by the time it concluded, it definitely opened minds to new horizons, with ambitions planted in the heads to implement innovation in businesses, because then they knew what he meant when he said, “Innovate Or Die.”
Check out our upcoming events on our events page here.