From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I believe that culture isn't a continuous act. We talk about strategizing. We don't just talk about our strategy. I believe that we also need to review our culture, maybe not as much as our strategy, but at key points of a company changing. It is essential to also look at how we are working together.
It's differences in tastes and preferences, resources and technology together with ways of thinking (manifesting in managerial and design differences) which are the reasons countries benefit when they trade with each other in goods, services, finance and labour.
The 'Silicon Valley' mindset is one where you race ahead and build technology, and if people adopt it and use it, you scale. Success in this mindset is measured in terms of numbers of users, revenue and valuation. How do these measures illustrate social good though?
I always tell people to not risk their own money, and to get venture funding. You should fail fast and spend as little money as possible to get your ideas validated.
There are no people called entrepreneurs but people perform entrepreneurial functions at different times. Edison performed great entrepreneurial acts. But he was also fierce opponent of innovation when it threatened his business interests.
After Amaranth, I think to a significant extent, the business side became more important and of greater focus for institutional investors than the investment side.
India's 'un-bankable' millions are not only better re-payers than their 'banked' counterparts in the west, but their demand for credit is outstripping supply by a great degree.
When we perform, it feels humiliating, exhausting, demoralising, exclusionary to do. When we mask, conform, and hide aspects of who we are, it actually hurts and damages us in the end. The adapted self willingly, happily chooses to adapt, to adjust our behaviour to meet our needs and the needs of others.
One of the things which is a really distinguishing factor about our markets in contrast to the OTC derivative market is that we're completely open, competitive and transparent with a very high degree of participation, a very high turnover, and a high degree of pre and post trade price transparency. That refers back to that old phrase of 'liquidity begets liquidity'.
You have to re-earn your customer's business every single day – it's not just about listening to them, but anticipating what they don't realise they need, and staying ahead of them.
Delegation is about giving the right people in your organisation the ability to excel at what they do, and in turn- to help you (as a company leader) to achieve the objectives of your enterprise.
I hope that the totality of what I've done, or that which Freada and I have done together, really gives people a sense of hope and possibility, in a practical way, that business can be a constructive force in the world and genuinely help make the world a better place for everyone.