The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
Albert Einstein
If you haven’t read my thread on excellence, then please do so. Everyone had to start somewhere right. I have often marvelled at geniuses like Johnathan Ive, VP – Industrial Design at Apple, and how they seem to find these bouts of inspiration to create something as iconic as the ipod and casings of the Mac that we have come to love.
Turns out, thanks to Kevin Rose pointing it out, even he has an inspiration that looks wildly familiar.
That man pictured above is Dieter Rams, who was the head of Braun Design.
Does this send you raging? If anything it should open up your eyes to wonder and think we all borrow from each other. No mans an island. Most important. Perhaps that thing called Genius is really observing closely and working hard and not a divine gift bestowed on a few?
Here are Ram’s fundamental principles of design.
Rams’ ten principales to “good design”.
is innovative
makes a product useful
is aesthetic
makes a product understandable
is unobtrusive
is honest
is long-lasting
is thorough down to the last detail
is environmentally friendly
is as little design as possible
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I’m going to talk about a powerful idea I learned from a colleague. The Ideasliver. You take one slice of the pie we call the world. Cut one sliver but cut it very very deep. Take it out and own the sliver. Own the idea. This now becomes your breath and your obsession. You know it’s an obsession only when you indulge yourself in it completely. This means you do away with sleeping, walking, gaming, sex, eating and never feel wanting when you are with this ideasliver of yours.
About 1.5 years back the itch to find my ideasliver started. It has been a long time and I sought desperately to seek counsel to define it. But there was one very important, albeit extremely annoying, piece of advice that I constantly received.
Only you can decide what you want to do with your life. No one can tell you how you want to define yourself. They can acknowledge it or judge it, but can’t decide it for you. You choose. And choose wisely.
Enjoy the journey.
Most people say Life’s in the journey. We shouldn’t worry about the destination. I take the example of a ship. All of us are ships on the sea. If you don’t choose a country to land in you’ll drift in the sea. If we left our journey to the universe and it’s winds, we won’t get anywhere. Winds blow in opposite directions over different points of time. A lot of ships get wrecked. A lot of them drift mindlessly. A lot of them are forced to land. The best journeys are those that you decide the country you want to land in (country = industry, expertise). This will take you to one port (part of a country). You might not like this port or even stay there long enough BUT you must decide the country you wish to sail to. Especially like me, if you are nearing 30, which I consider two fifths of your life. Or your sailing in the ocean if you will.
Jack of all trades, master of some.
But what if like me, you have many interests? Where do you get your ideasliver from? I’ll present to you an idea I had and one that I plan to test for the next 3 months. I believe to gain reasonable expertise in anything you should spend all of your waking/free time for atleast 3 months at tasks to know if you can stick on to it. I decided to split up my interests and skillsets into 2 buckets.
The first bucket I’ll call Personal. In this bucket you put in all your interests and passions. These are things you’ll do if never paid, if only for curiosity.
The second bucket is called Professional. Depending on your age, you have gained some skillsets but you wish to pick up some more that has a market value. This means you cannot be a nudist unless there was a market for it. There is, by the way, a market for almost every thing.
For the next 3 months, I plan to work solely on 2 professional and 2 personal interests and form my ideaslivers around them. I know at some point i’ll want to quit and I’ll note which activity makes me do that. But not without trying. Then I’ll keep what I have lasted with at the end of the three month period and see if I can grow that even more or squash that and pick up 2 more interests. At this rate, I can potentially learn 8 new skillsets over a period of a year. Or spend 3 months finding my ideasliver.
True happiness lies in finding the sweet spot between both of them. Steve jobs has found it, Picasso found it and so did Jimi Hendrix. It’s our turn now.
What are your personal and professional slivers?
About 4 weeks back I was playing basketball. Things went as usual but given my neglect for exercise and my general XXL disposition, I found the next day I developed a bad case of Plantar Fasciitis. This is when heavy weight or exertion on the heel lends to it not being able to handle and buckling. This results in extreme pain when you strike the heel.
Turns out that we got this feet thing all so wrong.
Sir Ken Robinson is one of the best speakers at TED. In 2006 when he had taken the stage he had stated a very important case. Schools as we know are preparing people for the Industrial Revolution. We learn Math, Science and logic oriented subjects on an emphasis basis. This is especially true in a country like India where you have three careers:- Doctor, Engineer or Accountant.
Anything beyond that is preposterous. Musician? Are you kidding me?
What most people don’t realise and I hope our generation does better on that is to train kids by nurturing and recognising their talent. It is not shameful if a doctors son turns out to be a jazz guitarist. It is shameful if he dies unhappy and an educated doctor couldn’t do everything to make his son happy.
In this follow up talk by Sir Ken, he talks about shaping curriculum in schools to fit children and not fit children into the curriculum. He’s humourous as always but is emphasising a very important point.
We are at the turn of a new revolution in Education. One that I highly support and one that you would too after you see this video.
3 days back I signed up for the advanced copy of Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. Who? What?
Tony Hsieh is the CEO of Zappos.com. This is an online shoe company that has set new standards on customer service. They were recently acquired by Amazon.com for 1.2 Billion dollars.
My interest piqued in them when I read about about Tony attending Ted India and giving a speech. I watched the speech intently and took notes. Becoming a CEO someday is part of the plan, but more importantly building a company that has great culture is the goal.
When I walked in today at work, I saw a copy of Delivering Happiness [Amazon Link] on the table. I was astounded. We have celebrity bloggers at work and while the main chief had left I asked around and found out that no one saw it or knew who had gotten it.
Carpe Diem.
I HAD to read it and I spent a day sifting through it. I think the last time I did it this religiously was a game guide to Starcraft. Not even my exams had seen such dedication. Noted here are my thoughts on the book.
The Review.
High average prices. High selling margins.
This was the first lesson Tony learns when he starts to sell newspapers and buttons. Tony’s book is a semi autobiographical account of his life. From the time he’s a toddler he has had interesting experiences to share. A good early part of the book devotes its time to Profits. The middle half is Passion and Profits and the finale is Profits, Passion and Purpose.
College years are next and this part had it going on really well, it reminded me of all the reasonswe bunked college classes when in IIT. He was at Harvard, the equivalent in the States. Here’s a quote on his logic,
“On class days, my 8 am alarm was the most unwelcome sound in the world. I would hit the snooze button repeatedly. I would tell my self I could skip the first class of teh day and get the notes from someone else later. Then an hour later, I would convince myself that since that logic worked so well for the first class I could apply it to the second class, so I missed that class as well. By the time I was getting ready to go to my third class, I reasoned that I missed 2 classes so missing one more wasn’t that big a deal. And finally by the time I was supposed to be headed for my last class, I figured there was no point attending only one class when I skipped all others”.
Oh how I relate to this. The only difference, he had classes three days a week between 9 am and 1 pm.
It’s here that Tony’s life gets really interesting. It’s almost a mirror reflection of mine in the start. Which means I have an exciting future to look forward to. He starts in a deadbeat technical job (hi) and then goes on to web design (hi again) but finds out that he’s not really passionate about it even if the money trickles in.
He mentions an important point that I have been wrestling with, “We didn’t know what we wanted to do. We did however know what we didn’t want to do”. That’s not where the comparison stops. He’s a fan of RedBull! For 10 years!
It almost seems like he’s an Asian alter ego of mine. Sans the size probably. Oh and he plays poker. Score three.
The first half is an entertaining read. The second half talks about setting the company up, going almost broke, being a party playa and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. All fun stuff.
The real meat of the book lies in the third part where he talks about Passion, Purpose and what you want your life to mean and how to “find happiness”. He’s no Dalai Lama in this, but this book has more practical advice than most self help books out there. It is, however, nothing ground breaking if you have seen his talks (or 4 of his talks like I have).
Since this was a read only unedited copy, there’s weird formatting and indentation. There’s a nice chipping in by various employees and co founders on their view of things. This is a format that Sam Walton had made famous where people would talk about him in their own words. Here people talk about the company and it’s values. This book was an easy read and an enjoyable one. If you want to pick up tips on how to go about setting up a company and it’s culture and focusing on the most important thing: People and growth, then grab your copy when it comes out in June.
It will give you a good light hearted introduction into the world of business, culture, entrepreneurship and building up of a billion dollar company. It is however, not a cook book or not one that would have many reads (or dog tags) to understand.
Who should read this book?
Anyone who wants to know about Zappos, Tony and one of the greatest companies to work for.
Who should not read this book?
Anyone who wants to miss out on Zappos, Tony and one of the greatest companies to work for.
I love reading about mastery in any craft. What does it take to become masters at a craft. How do people learn? How do they adapt and what do they learn? Malcolm Gladwell had mentioned, in the overquoted book Outliers, that mastery at a craft takes 10,000 hours. This post looks at 2 ideas. Not needing to become a master. And what does one have to do to become one.
In Korea, Starcraft is a religion. The Deities are those that excel at the game. In no other country would you find such a fanatical devotion to the game. Not many of you reading this would truly appreciate the hardship that it takes to be good at the game.
Most people dismiss this as a childish pursuit. Most people don’t know that those that excel at one point later on become game developers, game commentators and Military strategists for the Korean Government. If you could excel within the constraints provided by the game screen and the limited functions yet continue to push the limits of the game. Sometimes exceeding the game developers insight into the game.
This post is about one such gamer. Who has flown past his prime, but never cured the itch. Kang “NAl_rA” Min was a professional Starcraft player early in the days of his youth. After successful titles he then retired from the game, citing age, to become one of the most insightful game commentators.
But the itch didn’t stop and in a rather dramatic announcement he decided to make a comeback. This was subject to much ridicule among his fellow gamers who told him he couldn’t achieve this and that this was crazy.
That didn’t stop him. He decided that he could qualify for the leagues and set his intention firm. Qualifying for the top leagues (2 in number) is an excruciatingly intense process for most starcraft gamers. You have to play against the best people in a do or die scenario to place yourself in the top 128 or top 64 depending on the tournament. When there are over a lakh gamers applying, this is somewhat alike the IIT Jee Examination entrance.
Much to his chagrin, Nal_rA discovers that things that were second nature – his motor skills and grasp of the maps have now become a thing of the past. The fingers don’t do what that brain commands. How does one go through that struggle? Much to the constant jabs by his friends he goes on to play for 2 days straight. Finds himself a bachelor away from his family and having to cook, clean and do the laundry by himself. Setting up the computer by himself. This is the life of an digital ascetic, one that I find myself often in, where your access is to people like you. Not the herd.
The Korean Television channel decided to record his journey and the fine people at TeamLiquid.net have subtitled the videos for us to watch. I’d highly recommend you watching this for it’s entertainment value and also to understand the mindset of a returning champion gamer.
“I will never win an Oscar and do you know why? First of all, because I’m not Jewish. Secondly, because I make too much money for those old farts in the Academy. Thirdly, and most importantly, because I don’t give a fuck”
- Clint Eastwood
Lessons you say? From one quote? Let me indulge you.
To be successful in certain areas you need to be “part of the group“. The group he calls Jews who praise each other, encourage each other. As Micheal Douglas says in WallStreet, “Buddy if you aren’t in then you are out”.
Most people talking about success or what their perceived version of success and talking the loudest are off the mark. Success lies with 3 people. Fame, Value and Power. If I were to take the music world and spout out three examples I’d probably choose
Fame – Paris Hilton Value – BB King (to the Jazz industry by revolutionising it) Power – JayZ (or U2′s Bono if you’d prefer)
See how they scale? Where would you like to be? Do you dream about doing something but are too afraid to take a step on what those at the fame ladder are saying?
Read the third and most important point in Clint Eastwood’s quote.
You have to have a culture where there’s no bad idea and people aren’t afraid to bring them up. I want the people who work with me to have very, very strong opinions. And I get really mad if I make the first argument against and they’re immediately like, “Oh yeah, maybe you’re right.” That drives me nuts – Daryl Morey.
The problem with most people, on reading that statement, think you should disagree for the sake of arguing. That never works and that can single handedly seclude you from the management. People don’t appreciate those that don’t confirm to their line of thinking in most companies I have worked with.
Besides the industry, and the work and the designations and roles, the single most important thing in any company is the culture. You can earn millions but hate every day of your work. You can earn close to nothing and still make a lot of returns in happiness and fulfillment.
Here are a list of things you should have/get whenever you are seeking out a company/work place.
1. Do they encourage 20 percent time?
Google does this and now it’s almost a norm. You pick a project you don’t get totally paid for. You put in your after work hours but help the company by implementing this idea. I think this is a fantastic thing to do. NOT at a startup however immediately, because you have way too many other things you need done anyway.
Do you get to work on projects you like or projects you are forced to like? I have been through a couple of companies. There is a difference between liking something and made to like something. I strongly believe anyone competent enough in a field will like it or be forced to like it because of the fame and glory his expertise brings in. But truly great people don’t work for fame. They work for the projects they like. That project, that dear one , you so badly want to do and can do a better job than the guy running it now. Why aren’t you approaching your boss for it?
Do they let you become your own brand? Most companies don’t let you become too famous. That means their PR department goes bust. Or you start to attract bigger wallets. But no one thinks that by becoming a big brand by yourself you bring in fame to the company and thus offer better incentive to both you and the company for staying. Need an example? Matt Cutts from Google. Was a search guru and now is pretty much the company spokesman for most things.
In conclusion. Truly great companies and CEOs appreciate the fact that someone has a better idea. After all, most employees in a successful company should be better than you. Why else would you hire them if not to scale and spread the legacy?
Normally, I wouldn’t jump in a book review into the blog. I have decided after a long time the focus of this blog to be gaming, startups and life (everything that falls under curious observation). So permit me to start that new focus of this blog with the Life part.
The Concept of Shiva
I saw the preview of the book at Landmark about 3 weeks back in a small flyer and was immediately captivated by the book cover. This had Shiva with the trishul on the background. To most foreign readers, Shiva or Lord Shiva is considered to be one of the Gods in the Holy Trinity. The Creator, Brahma, The sustainer, Lord Vishnu, and the destroyer, Lord Shiva.
But what if Shiva wasn’t a God. What if this person we revere today as a destroyer of evil was actually a man who rose up to his challenges and acquired the title of Mahadev?
These are the questions that set the tone of Amish’s book, The Immortals of Meluha. I picked the book the moment it was released and spent the next few days reading it. I wasn’t reading it with a religious fervor by any means. I was curious to see how someone would interpret this treatise of thought.
In many lines of thought, Meluha which we know as the Indus valley civilisation is considered to be the original birthplace of these “Super men”. They did things that weren’t done by normal residents. They were thus exalted as Gods. Curiously Shiva here is considerd a cattle herder who actually was at the foothills of the Himalayas, that doesn’t even make him truly Indian but half Tibetan! A blasphemy you would say? There seems to be rich documentation to negate that.
The Immortals of Meluha the book
This book is a treatise on a concept that has not been explored. Amish, the author, is actually an IIM graduate (what’s with all these IIM graduates and writing books?) who takes the concept of Shiva as a Tibetian Tribal man who decides to cross borders to a city called Meluha which is ruled by the descendants of Lord Ram, called the Suryavanshis.
They have their counterpart the Chandravanshis that fight them (kinda like the Devas and Asuras) and Shiva is given their nectar, the Somras. He drinks it and is beheld as the Neelkanth (blue throat). The actual legend is that while the Asuras and Devas were fighting, Lord Rudra (as shiva was then known) drank the poison churned out of the seas and thus his neck turned blue.
But that’s not the case here and that’s all not the case in many of his treatments to the popular characters. Nandi is a close colleague in battle, not the original cow that we know them as, and Dashya, Veerabhadra etc are people who interact with him and remain part of his life, just not in the way we are used to.
There are many other subtle depictions of Lord Ram and other characters and overall its very well written. I wrote to Amish to express one small observation, the script writing is not that sharp. You have words like “Goddamnit”, “bloody hell”, In the name of God what is this nonsense etc, which I guess would be great for an Indian audience but after you just finish a Steven Erikson novel you find it falling a little flat.
But I wouldn’t want to tarnish your read on the book. Here’s the first chapter, indulge yourself. And watch the video following it. Well done Amish, I look forward to the next book. And I am very happy someones taking the Indian folklore to fiction and doing it well.
