Book Review: Jugaad 3.0

Jugaad 3.0 gives an eye-opening overview and insightful guidance on how to enable intrapreneurship, leveraging new ways for collaboration and enabling creativity that leads to meaningful and sustainable innovation. It’s a book on how to get a corporation running based on innovation which comes not from outside but within.

The shelf life of well-established companies keeps shrinking as new entrants replace old ones in rapid succession. Even brands that seemed invincible only a few years ago are in danger of being disrupted by fast-moving startups. In this unprecedented environment, how can any business stay ahead of the market? Companies can no longer assume innovation will ‘just happen’ – it must be seeded, grown and successfully harvested. They must disrupt themselves.

In Jugaad 3.0, innovation expert and bestselling author Simone Bhan Ahuja guides readers through the DIY (Disrupt-It-Yourself) system that will sustain innovation and retain DIYers, the employees or intrapreneurs – most committed to solving the problems of the future, even if it means moving far beyond ‘business as usual’. Using DIY approach, organizations can build their ability to innovate and create an approach for growth that harnesses the creativity and knowledge of employees at every level.

 

The book convincingly makes the case for the mobilization of ‘Intrapreneur’: the change agents that reside within the organizations. Intrapreneurs are entrepreneurs, technically, who give shape to their plans from within the walls of an organization. Simone proposes 8 key principles that can lend strongly to frugal ingenuity within organizations. These principles combined from the backbone of the book are Keep it Frugal, make it permissionless, Let Customers Lead, make it Fluid, maximize return on Intelligence, Create the Commons, engage passion and purpose, and add discipline to disruption. In one of the chapters, Simone analogizes Intrapreneurship with Avengers-style ensemble cast. She envisages an ecosystem where individuals with complementary skills could join forces from far corners of the organizations to crack big goals.

As the title suggests, there are three factors working here that have to be put together – fast, fluid and frugal. When we talk of Jugaad being ‘fast’, it is actually asking for the impossible in most companies where the hierarchy has to be sidestepped and the bureaucratic processes dodged. The second factor spoken of is being ‘frugal’, which is an easier hurdle as when there is a limited cost involved, it is easier to accept from above. The third clue provided is that the exercise must be ‘fluid’, which is interesting. This actually involves people from across the organization coming together and not being restricted to just one set of employees in, say, the product innovation department.

In a clear, concise style with expert advice and real-world examples, this book provides a new lens to help companies become faster and more fluid offers easy options to tailor the system to each company’s unique circumstances, and presents strategic lessons that open up the full spectrum of innovation and make it sustainable.

Book Review: Detox your Ego

Detox your Ego takes you on a journey of self-discovery, a process that enables you to master your own ego in order to increase your health, happiness, and purpose. Psychologist Steven Sylvester inspiring, and ground-breaking approach focuses on a brand-new approach to winning. He shares for the very first time the seven steps to be freer, happier and more successful in your life.

Steven is a former professional cricketer who is now a leading Chartered Psychologist providing a new approach to human performance. He helps a range of individuals and teams in professional sport, business, and life by shifting their motivation in life from an ego-based orientation built on the fear of win/lose, to a freedom-based orientation built on mastery of a skill/task, and craft and so on. When our motivation is ego-based our ability to perform at our peak is limited because the ego is fear-based and defensive but also significantly increases the likelihood that we will be selfish in the pursuit of our goals and leaving our self-esteem at the mercy of our win/lose achievements.

Although this approach is counter-intuitive, it is based on empirical research and Steven’s own work with many world-class athletes – enabling them to perform without the limitations of fear. He calls this the world champion contradiction! It is not just for elite athletes, the principles can be applied by all, as living ego-based lives is an automatic default for the vast majority of people when it comes to performance and life.

 

To lead without ego is to move from a selfish, self-centered approach to life which is all about winning and comparisons with others, to a selfless mastery and team or community-based motivation.

The first step is to look at one’s self and establish what our motivation is: winning or mastery? This noticing and self-awareness is a form of applied and natural mindfulness, an open, curious, noticing of what our hidden and automatic motivations are. Steven enables us to examine our ego through a model with three components, inner ego, outer ego, and transformational ego. The inner ego is hidden from others, the outer ego is what we reveal to others – and the goal is to reach the transformational ego which works selflessly for mastery, team, and community.

There are a number of other steps which build on this central foundation – and which enable us to examine the gravitational pull of our ego, both in terms of motivations, behaviors, and actions.

How we respond or react to our mistakes is the next step that reveals the deep roots of ego-driven selfishness within us. The ego is fear-based and triggers our natural defenses, making change difficult and inhibiting performance and the exercise of skills. Our deepest unconscious fears that control much of how we react are that we believe we are not good enough and that others will reject us – especially if we do not perform as others would want.

Each step enables a progressive revelation about the ego. The next question that triggers revelation is, ‘Do you take time finding out what you avoid?’ Avoiding reality and truth is something that an ego-based orientation moves us towards. When we are mastery-focused we are able to face our mistakes, difficulties, limitations with open curiosity and in an undefended way. There are other key steps that build on the foundational ones. Our emotions give us important clues to our ego: can we smile at our mistakes, have fun, perform with joy?

One of the key problems in sport, but also many other areas of life is achieving consistency in performance. The mastery orientation is the answer to that as well. In order to achieve consistency, we also need to be able to remember to apply the principles and sustain the levels of self-examination and self-awareness necessary for transformation at the moment.

The final steps include asking the questions, ‘do you give to others?’, and ‘what is your purpose?’ These help us find that selfless place within that transforms the lives of others. I am going to work through this book and these principles. I believe I will discover the joy of selfless teamwork and mastery of the skills God calls us to exercise on His behalf.