Ketan T BhattPrincipal Partner
www.alkemist.co.inMobile: +91 98 79 107928
Alkemist HR Enablers LLP
Clarifications
For every successful entrepreneur, there are 9 not-so-
successful or unsuccessful entrepreneurs
Unsuccessful does not mean absolute failure
Not covering technological or functional or regulatory
challenges, as entrepreneurs ought to be good at
dealing with them.
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Enterprise(12-20 Quarters)
Firm (20-40 Quarters)
Organization(41-140 Quarters)
Institution(> 140 quarters)
“Learning Organizations” that have seen at least 3 generations of leaders
Ethical FoundationEthical Foundation
The JourneyThe Journey
Micro / Local
Medium / National
Small / Regional
Large / Global
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Stages of challenges
Childhood – Crawling to walking to running
Adulthood – Fitness to marathon to rejuvenation
Lifetime – Embedded in life cycle of an enterprise
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Childhood Challenge 1 – Vision – Evolution & Devolution
History … every successful enterprise has had a VISION – Clarity of
direction
It is all about flying into future on a one-way flight
Vision = Legacy Articulated or Obituary that shall never be used
Ownership of vision – individualism to collectivism
This is a distinguishing feature between a business-like effort & an
enterprising effort
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Make Snapdeal into India’s number one B2C
marketplace… Philosophically, I would want Snapdeal to have the
most admired alumni in the country… The only reason as to why we’ve
made substantial progress over the last two and half years is because of
our people
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Childhood Challenge 2 – Team-building
Team is as good as the leader and members - People with right
/ congruent / complimentary - attitude, ability, and energy
Wear the hat that fits the skull (or face faster burnout)
Recognize, face, tackle interpersonal issues promptly (especially
among the Leadership Team members)
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Adulthood Challenge 1 – Systems & Processes - Discipline
Well defined skeleton, arteries, and veins
Synchronization – घडी के तीन क ांटे !!!!
All about a near-perfect interplay of processes
Codification / documentation / encryption of proprietary / process /
product / service knowledge for retention & reference
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Adulthood Challenge 2 – Perseverance & Perseverance
Assumptions / guestimates could go awry & unanticipated issues
could crop up
Government would tinker with regulations, making the game
tougher or more competitive and even at times unplayable (briefly)
Markets / customers are not Santa Clause
Anand Satyan of DeliverWithMe
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Lifetime Challenge 1 – Build & strengthen unique culture
Trust among cofounders
Innovation, engagement, and creativity, even at the cost of
mistakes
Treat team members & customers are ‘co-conspirators’
Instill ethics & an uncompromising attitude
CEO also means Chief Ethics or Engagement Officer
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Lifetime Challenge 2 – Stay Relevant by Divine Discontent *
Attitude to learning, unlearning, relearning
Each achievement leads to a search for the next big challenge
(external or internal)
Crossing knowledge frontiers becomes an embedded habit
‘Divine Discontent’ is a term from “World-class teams” published in McKinsey Quarterly article 1992, by David Kirk
Who is anentrepreneur?
So if you have the entrepreneurial zeal, then
1) Hold fast to your dreams, for if dreams die…life is a
broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
2) Must read – “Built to Last: Successful Habits of
Visionary Companies” (Jerry I. Porras & James C.
Collins) – Published October, 1994
3) Download ‘YourStory’ app
Thanks
