Lots of people have given me well meaning advice on how to make Asthra big. But I think the fundamental question that I always ask myself is what do we “WANT” to do.

Big and large enterprises are funny. I'm not sure I'd want Asthra to be like that - with a focus on scaling, making more money and thus creating the 'ABILITY' to do what they want. My only grouse with such is that once we have the ability, we are still not sure of what we want. What’s the point in having a car, a plane or any other vehicle if we are not sure where we want to go. But if we know where we want to go, we'll probably get there even by foot. Of course a vehicle would take us there faster. (I’ll blog about the so called concept of TIME later) 

I'd like Asthra to be at the helm of innovation. The question that I'd like to ask everyday is 'what have we innovated today'. Innovation is a subtle things. When a kid figures out how to tie his laces without anyone telling him, they are innovating. When we discover a new way of cooking a dish, we innovate - so what if the rest of the world already knows this. Innovation is more a process than a result. The result is either a patent or a product - an IP of someone. But the process of innovation is what really gets me the kicks. So when my son and me figure out a new way to solve the puzzle, we have a grin the whole day long. So how do I gather a set of people around me that innovate and who love it. 

I've realized that a lot of people don’t necessarily like to innovate. People are comfortable when things are defined. One of the reasons that a large company becomes monolithic is that it likes things defined. I'm sure all of us have a comfort zone when we know that our salary is going to be credited every month. We can use that as a base and strike out to other avenues (maybe catch a holiday in Europe once we have saved enough). If the basics itself is un-defined, it makes our thought process very complicated. I read a nice article once that said that a person is only capable of working with 5 variable at a time (some of us work with 1 and some with maybe 10 - but its limited). So we are just looking to make everything else constant and focus on the few variables that we can think of. A person in love has one variable less - a person who cheats on his spouse has one variable more - to think of in life. 

Sports persons are tuned to handle more variables. A gust of wind, a pebble on the ground, a head-butt - any of these can defy a person from making that all important penalty kick for their country. So how do sports persons approach their game - I think that’s the lesson that companies need to learn. Zidane's innovative goal score in the free kick (where he got it to bounce off the top of the post) is a reminder. But doesn't sports have static variables. IT DOES - RULES OF THE GAME. What every sport has - is a rule book. And so given that, we have closed the doors to variables there, we can focus on innovating where we can. What the corporate world does not have is RULES. We can hire from our competitors, we can lower costs, we can produce more, we can badger people, we can scare people who lack our information. In the absence of rules, the corporate world prefers to keep things static, scalable and predictable.

So I think the key to innovation is to introduce rules of the game. I need to think up the rules of the game at Asthra – and this future-proofing would be the key to continuing innovation at Asthra.

OK... Live Spaces seems to have mucked up my blog. My whole page is very unusable. Or is it the setup at this clients' place I'm at that's doing this to me.

My blog (as the rest of my life) is going through a re-boot phase. Aug 15th 2006 is the day I re-boot and re-think my whole life. I didn't plan it this way, it's just happening. A quick look at life so far - and what I want it to be later. 

So far, life has been very kind to me. I think that I have done quite well in the rat race without really feeling the heat too much. I think I've managed to stray down a path that not too many ppl were interested in and so I was pretty much left alone - I was never a threat to anyone and was always an easy going nice guy to hang out with. And when ever the going started getting tough, I got out of the way!

More importantly (to me) Asthra has started off nicely. Some tough moments and some lucky moments later I think that Asthra is in a stage where we want to take on bigger things. I don’t think I'm qualified to do bigger things, but I'd like Asthra to be more than just me. So I want it to take on lofty ambitions and I hope that someone more qualified will come along and make it happen. I'll do what I usually do best - dream and let things get there (mostly with least interference from me) 

Thinking back – the one poem that inspires me is the one by Rudyard kipling. And as I re-boot my life, I’d like to start the fresh one with the verses from that poem.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

In what I'm hoping is the final change, spaces has moved to spaces.live.com. This looks neat and is in theme with the Windows Live initiative. If only I can figure out how to post to spaces via e-mial to a SPECIFIC category, I think this can become quite comortable.