Organic Performance

Trying is associated with earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something. At the same time, Trying is also associated with putting on a garment in order to see whether it fits and looks nice. Wise men say we wear our attitude. Since dreams define our attitude, it might be true that we wear our dreams! So, like a garment can we live on, and change our dreams? Why not?

There are multiple instances, situations, influencers and events in life making us change our dreams – some seamlessly, some painfully – leaving a scar or two and some by design! It might be as simple as meeting a celebrity of your dream, real encounter with a childhood hero, meeting a mentor, death or birth in the family, economic situation…. But, not all of these necessarily take us where we want to be…in our journey of life. So, how to know and follow the sign of – need for change or better – build own signboards of change and install them in our path of life?

I had this question to some great dreamer doers in the history, I could meet. But, always repeat this whenever I meet those who are creating history. – Tell me why/when you change your dream and try another one?

In this quest for last two decades +, there is one clear trend emerging –

Why/When I Change my dream"?

• When they lose original value in my heart – 79%

• When I encounter continuous speed bumps and detours – 8%

• When I realize it is not easy, but worth it some other time – 7%

• When I am made to wait, wait, wait, for one more thing to get confidence – 6%

Dreamer Doers Try and Change dreams when they lose original value in their hearts!

Some of these folks put it as – Being True to Yourself makes you a dreamer doer, in the crowd!! Easier said than done for many of us. But, worth a try – if not already done!

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In the game of life, where neither do we know the complete picture nor the number of pieces that make the picture complete, the necessity is to continuously be on the quest to find the pieces of the puzzle and keep the picture progressively enhanced. But the key is to ensure that at every stage, we have a meaningful short picture. This gives confidence and reinforces faith in the direction of the quest.

It may sound a bit odd in generic sense. Let’s take an example to see if we can derive any sense of out this monologue.

You are given to lead a new initiative for the company – finding and nurturing new ideas that essentially should lead to a disruptive positioning in the market place. Searching and providing meaning to unknown – unknown is the way of life for researchers and scientists in their life. But, in a commercial establishment, this is generally treated as a risky territory to live. Primarily, since you can not attach a timeline for your new idea turning to be truly big via so called business results – a measure commonly used as the baseline for performance – $$!

While innovating to find blue oceans and more so with a drive towards sustainability, establishing clear understanding of feasibility and the associated value/impact on business front becomes the most important aspect.

The big ideas generally fall under one of the category of a combination of Known-Known : The comfort zone : mostly associated with process/business model innovation – even a copy cat approach from another industry.

Known – Unknown: You have seen it work in a different situation but current relevance is unknown. Exploring further on relevance is the best possible alternative to bring this down to the comfort zone.

Unknown-Known : You know what innovation will add value but unsure of how it is feasible in the current context of business. Experimentation is the best possible way forward to bring this to a comfort zone.

Unknown-Unknown: The real hard nut is where lies the biggest discomfort zone in business innovation. The trick is what to establish first – value or feasibility? Mostly, value scores above feasibility – premise being if it’s of value, it’s worth pursuing! End of the day, one has to crack this hard nut and move it to the comfort zone – slowly/progressively! Either you take the exploration route or the Experimentation path, earlier the idea reaches the comfort zone, the better!

So, when on a quest of new business strategy/ new product/strategy, it is good to have a map created based on this typical 2X2 Value X Feasibility matrix and play accordingly to bring thoughts/ideas into comfort zone to show value! – A good progressive elaboration approach coupled with timely involvement of key stakeholders will help in enjoying the cruise!