1/ One idea I would push hard among the industrial ecosystem is "Please invest in R and D, please create room for engineers and inventors to imagine and refine ideas, nurture R and D projects with patience, perseverance and endurance".
I will explain this in some depth.
I will explain this in some depth.
2/ First my definition of R and D is far different from "what wins a Nobel prize". In the rural India context, figuring out how to make a humble nail clipper is an R and D project.
In the Zoho context, refining our meeting software is an involved R and D project (still on it!).
In the Zoho context, refining our meeting software is an involved R and D project (still on it!).
3/ All too often, we dismiss projects such as figuring out how to make a nail clipper as unworthy or unsexy. Yet it is precisely these projects that teach us the most and pave the way for figuring out (eventually) how to make robots. It is the crucial first step on the ladder.
4/ In East Asia, starting with Japan, they have patiently climbed that ladder of nail clipper to robot. That has been my inspiration for Zoho. We started out with very humble software and one VC asked "Why are you so unambitious?". I remembered Honda in Japan.
5/ Patience is not a virtue I was endowed with as a kid - my mother would not call me patient. I learned patience and endurance consciously by studying the Japanese approach. I knew it would take decades and I prepared mentally myself and our early engineers for it.
6/ The way I cultivate patience is by getting myself into "zero state" or "zen state" again and again - moving to the village, and trying to figure out organic farming and nail clippers and compilers (new to me personally!) and accepting and embracing with humility my zero state.
7/ R and D projects need that patience. They need patience even more than they need money. Throwing around lots of money won't make it go faster and may even destroy the project.
R and D needs perseverance in the face of setbacks. Finally it needs endurance to stay the course.
R and D needs perseverance in the face of setbacks. Finally it needs endurance to stay the course.
8/ We cannot apply traditional project management techniques that emphasize predictability and certainty ("trains run on time") to R and D projects. Accepting that is very hard for most people in business reared on predictable outcomes.
We need to be "think different"!
We need to be "think different"!
9/ Giving up on prestige (I am obsessed now about nail clippers!) is vital. Traditional corporate hierarchies work poorly for R and D.
I work closely with engineers to this day and I don't hesitate to display my ignorance. I say "I don't know, teach me how this works" often.
I work closely with engineers to this day and I don't hesitate to display my ignorance. I say "I don't know, teach me how this works" often.
10/ Finally, we must believe we can figure something out. I make our engineers believe we can build world class meeting software and they have my full support as they about the daily struggle.
That belief creation is the essential leadership role. It is spiritual in nature. 🙏
That belief creation is the essential leadership role. It is spiritual in nature. 🙏
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