Imperfection: the strategy for strategists

In a world and times of rapid changes around, professionally and personally, seeking certainty can often lead to indeterminate opportunities and results. It is wiser to take sure-footed smaller yet confident baby steps, to pave the way through uncertainty.

The world today feels chaotic, with economic and other disruptions, and consequently imperfection sounds like a bad thing, but it pertains more specifically to accepting the ambiguity of not having perfect knowledge before making strategic moves. Companies and nonprofits can make a series of small moves that help them build knowledge of the uncertain world they are operating in, and slowly add capabilities, assets, and other forms of advantage so they can essentially bootstrap themselves into strategic positions, rather than making the wrong type of bold leaps or being frozen in stasis.

In a world where things are changing very quickly and fundamentally, the elementary approaches learned in business education can yield either incomplete or misleading results. The kind of uncertainty that we face today really is twofold. One is the type we see in the media, which is economic uncertainties and external shocks, while more importantly and basal kind of uncertainty are the rapid technological changes. Artificial intelligence, automation, programmable biology, and other disruptions are blurring industry boundaries and what it means to be a competitor in a particular domain.

In the world of big data, AI/ML, and other disruptive technologies, the strategy formulations and implementations need to be in real-time, more dynamic, guided by audacious questions at the top level, but at the same time also actualized by the people working at the forefront.

Being an Entrepreneur in India

Being an entrepreneur myself — Apart from handling work pressure, it also entails handling social pressure to keep progressing or making steadfast growth, which is not expected from you when you are in a job, seems as if it is a punishment by your peers and society for having the courage and taking the leap to build something on your own from ground up. When you seek jobs and employment – you are employed or jobless, but for entrepreneurs – you are either a winner or a loser. Believe you me, constantly winning is not a joke - you lose money, you lose fame, you lose clients and markets, and you even lose your family and friends.

Someone who got fired, could be sitting at home and search for another job for a while and could get through by mentioning work experience. For entrepreneurs, who may not have made big in their venture, are deemed not so successful in their professional life and if they try to get a job in the aftermath, they have to explain why there is “a gap” in the resume, which is more difficult done than said. You may even end up facing more rejections than a fresher, whilst it should be the other way round as now you have expedited skill growth, more enterprising and job ready.

Moreover, once you have been an entrepreneur, although you are more street-smart, does not give you a magic wand and make you a wizard and get things done in the blink of an eye. People assume you are influential, powerful, and rich (the tip of the iceberg is acknowledged, but not the ice beneath the surface standing for the effort to be there). Being an entrepreneur doesn't make one rich it turns them poor until break even. An employee feeds his family every month, an entrepreneur feeds his family and numerous other families who work for him. The entrepreneur has to make sure the salaries of employees get dispatched on time, even when the business is running at a loss. This is despite him not taking a single penny when the business is not working well.

An entrepreneur at all times has to pretend and fake themselves to remain confident and optimistic during all times. When employees fall sick - they depend on the company, when clients fall sick – they may delay payouts, but the company has to take care of all payables, while receivables are stagnant, which are a real nightmare for an entrepreneur.

Let us say, you have a problem in life — personally, socially, or professionally. 6 out of 10 people will help you financially, 3 out of 10 people will give you advice on how to solve your problem, one person will guide you, help you, create a path for you to sort out your problem —  that person most certainly be an entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur deals with 100s of problems in their career - day and night, so they have this ability to solve practical problems. There is a huge difference between saying “what is right” and “what will practically work out”. That is where an entrepreneur steps in and are unique and different from others.

For some reason, our films have portrayed corporates as villains. Our society strongly believes they are evil, but because of these men at the helm, lakhs of people stay sustained. People seek jobs in private companies, political parties run their rallies and functions with corporate donations, even a small-scale neighbourhood function needs sponsorship, yet entrepreneurs are "evil".

The dark side of being an entrepreneur is — being an entrepreneur in a society that does not respect them but needs them and is quite happy to keep milking them.