Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed

Pushing Beyond the Obvious is a podcast dedicated to help entrepreneurs succeed in a hyper-competitive & ever-changing business environment. We will invite practitioners and thought leaders to share their experience, strategies and secrets about their success, that can entrepreneurs can apply in their day-to-day life. Join us on a journey of discovering new insights every week.

PBTO: Goldratts Rules of Flow - Delivering Projects on-time on-budget and on-spec and driving up profitability 02/26/2024

PBTO: Goldratts Rules of Flow - Delivering Projects on-time on-budget and on-spec and driving up profitability This is the recording of a live conversation I had with Dr. Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag to explore how the principles from the Theory of Constraints can be applied to multi-project environments (Digital transformation efforts) to deliver projects on time, on budget and on spec. She shared insights from her latest book (now available in Worldwide) Goldratt’s Rules of Flow to help us understand how to increase the velocity and throughputs of project deliveries within our organisation. We covered the following topics in the conversation: Introducing the work of Dr. Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag Do 70% of projects really fail to achieve their goals? Why? And how can we address it? The importance of triage in a multi-project environment instead of focusing on improving productivity Whose job is it to identify the constraints in a multi-project environment? Why is flow important in the Theory of Constraints? And what are the fundamental rules of flow? The importance of Full Kit. How do organisations make the shift from their current operating model to the ToC model? My learnings from the book - Goldratt's Rules of Flow When you want to go farther, focus. The psychological cost of the wrong assumptions that run multi-project environment What is a Full kit? How to deal with an external customer and run projects the ToC way. Does this work for projects with no clear end date? You can watch the session delivered by Rami Goldratt @ #TheoryOfConstraints #ToC #CriticalChain #ProjectManagement #ontime #onbudget #onspec #DigitalTransformation #EliyahuGoldratt #Goldratt You can connect with her via LinkedIn @ You can find Dr Efrat's book: Goldratts Rules of Flow @ You can find Dr. Goldratt's book: The Goal @ My website: Connect with me: My books: - Thrive: Your startup Mentor: Being Happy: https://amzn.to/3QsE4xO /episode/index/show/pushingbeyondtheobvious/id/30107558

PBTO: Stepping into a World of Exponential Possibility with Sophie Krantz 02/13/2024

PBTO: Asking the Right Questions and Questioning the right things with Dr. Alan Barnard 02/06/2024

PBTO: Asking the Right Questions and Questioning the right things with Dr. Alan Barnard In this conversation with , we explore how the principles of the Theory of Constraints (originally created by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt) can be used to not only drive significant business results but also to help us make high stake decisions as leaders. In this freewheeling conversation, we explore Dr Barnard's story about how he met with Dr. Goldratt and his famous motto. We explore who is a true expert He shares how he got into an argument with Dr. Goldratt and how he then formed a life long connection with Dr. Goldratt. He shares his most important lessons from all his interaction with Dr. Goldratt What is a Life Goal? The definition of a Life goal is a "Dream taken seriously - Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt I will not sacrifice my goal for anyone and I will not sacrifice anyone for my goal Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt He also introduces the concept of Theory of Constraint then, shares what is a constraint and the different kinds of constraints that we might face in any given system (Market/demand (external), Capacity (internal), Supply (external), Cash (Internal), Management Attention (internal) and probably the most crucial in any business. He also shares two ways to improve a constraint and therefore significantly improve your impact. He shares the importance of "Flow" or "Throughput" in any given system and how "Flow" is two-dimensional. He also shared the importance of understanding and increasing flow (time and velocity). He also shares different Ways to improve any given system. He also shares the story of how Tata Steel UK went from 1 Million Pound loss per day to 1 Million pound profit per day using Theory of constraints We constantly see good people make bad decisions. He explains why this happens and how to avoid them. He talks about what he calls as the agency equation. We then move into the realm of individuals and he shares how to identify what constrains our belief systems? Really? The power of questions - Really or unless. He also shares insights about how our minds work? He talks about the importance of learning prompt engineering to engage not just chatGPT but ourselves as well. He also shares insight on how to ask good questions as a leader and the 2 steps to make a breakthrough in any field. He also shares insight on how to measure people's performance and its impact on the business. Dr. Goldratt had started a movement called "Viable Vision". He shares more information about this viable vision and how can one go about achieving the same in their business. We then understand his own learning process and the key people he learns from - Herbert Simon and Nassim Nicholas Taleb. What is so obvious to him that all of us miss? We don't usually learn from experience but from Experiments Dr. Alan Barnard In Summary: We need to remember the 4F's - Flow, Focus, Finish and Fast Feedback to become influential and impactful leaders. More information about the resources we mentioned in the conversation: 1. Goldratt Research Labs: 2. Dr. Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag: 3. My interview with Dr. Efrat: Books discussed in the video: Goldratt's Rules of Flow by Dr. Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag: The Goal by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt: Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Blackswan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Apps mentioned by Dr. Alan Barnard: Dr. Alan Barnard's podcast - /episode/index/show/pushingbeyondtheobvious/id/29819553

PBTO: The Art of Leading in an Ever Changing World with Damien Cummings 01/22/2024

PBTO: Learning How to Communicate to Inform, Inspire and Connect People with Col Fink 01/21/2024

PBTO: Learning How to Communicate to Inform, Inspire and Connect People with Col Fink In this interesting conversation, Speaker, Author and Advisor (and Public speaking coach) shares his perspective on the importance of clear and effective communication for leaders. He also shares insights on how to get good at communication and specifically when speaking to an audience (internal or external). He shares how leaders can learn to communicate to inform, inspire and connect. He also talks about how good communication can provide leaders the leverage they need in order to scale both - effectiveness and efficiency. If you are a leader and want to work on your communication, this is a conversation worth listening to. Here are some things that we cover in this conversation: Most Common mistakes people make when trying to communicate Questions to ask ourselves before planning our speech (People, Problem, Purpose, Plan, Prescription) The cost of not having prepared our speech How is communicating different when the goal is to Inform, Inspire or Connect people The importance and the skill of telling stories using the concept of Pink Sheets developed by How to get good presenting in front of a camera? How can leaders find leverage to increase their impact and influence How does Col learn and continue to stay current One piece of advice that had a profound impact on him What is so obvious to Col but people miss all the time and that frustrates him You can find more information about Col at https://www.ColFink.com. You can connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/colfink. Books discussed in the video: - Speakership: https://amzn.to/3Q9xo6q - Tribes of learning: https://www.colfink.com/store/p/tribe-of-learning - Kevin Kelly on Pushing Beyond the Obvious: http://rmukeshgupta.com/2017/06/29/pbto56-the-inevitable-technological-forces-that-will-shape-our-future-with-kevin-kelly/ /episode/index/show/pushingbeyondtheobvious/id/29580103

PBTO - The Art of Leadership with Pankaj Rusia 01/15/2024

PBTO: Mindsets to Become a High Performing Leader 11/01/2023

What sort of Leader do you want to be with Lisa O'Neil 10/26/2023

What sort of Leader do you want to be with Lisa O'Neil This the first episode of the current season of my podcast - Pushing Beyond the Obvious and I am super happy and excited to kick off the season with none other than . She is a self described energy and human expert. In this wide ranging conversation about energy and leadership, she shared a lot of great insights on leadership. Here are some of my takeaways from the conversation: She shared insights about the importance of knowing ourselves. If we do not know what kind of a leader we want to be, how would our team know. In order for our teams to perform at their best, they need to know exactly what we expect from them. So the first thing that we need to do as a leader is to become aware of what exactly do we want, who exactly we are and how exactly should our team engage with us. She also shared the importance of letting our team know how we roll as a leader. That way they know how to get the best out of us. High performing teams don't just need team members performing at their peak but their leaders performing at their peak as well. And this aspect of leadership is not discussed or shared enough. She shares a 4 step model to help us get more self aware - Notice, Nourish, Navigate and Nurture. In all, she shares the importance of pondering, pondering about ourselves and what we want. She also challenged the leaders listening with these three quests: Spend a week only asking questions of your team. List down all the people in your team and rate them from whom you really like to the one you least like. Answer the question - why is this so? Write down three personal things you know about everyone on your team. If you can't up with them, take them off for a cup of coffee or tea and talk to them to get to know them. In conclusion, this season could not have started at a better note than this conversation. I have lined up a lot more conversations with both thought leaders and practicing leaders for the show and am excited about how things will go from here. I hope you ride along with me on this journey. PS: If you want to want Lisa as you listen to this conversation, you can do so below: https://youtu.be/Y6adjSNMUeI Resources that were mentioned in the episode: - Thought Leaders Business School - - My post on the 25 Women - - More info about Matt Church - Books mentioned by Lisa: - 100 questions for self awareness by Lisa O'Neill - - Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsh- - You can Heal your life by Louisa Hay - - Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz - - The Net and the Butterfly by Olivia Fox Cabane - You can find more information about Lisa and her work - You can connect with her on LInkedIn - Connect with me: My books: - Your startup Mentor: - Thrive: - Being Happy: /episode/index/show/pushingbeyondtheobvious/id/28427627

All about Performance Management with Stacey Barr - The Performance Measure Specialist 04/27/2022

Radical Product Thinking with Radhika Dutt 09/29/2021

How Conflicts can super-charge your business with Liz Kislik 11/15/2018

Building Influence "Monday to Monday" with Stacey Hanke 11/12/2018

A Talk Based on my book Thrive @ SAP Asia 11/07/2018

PBTO S3E1: Imagination – Our Greatest Strength and our Greatest Weakness 10/08/2018

PBTO S2E10: Things that Matter to being Successful with Anne Sugar 09/07/2018

PBTO S2E9: Friend of a Friend: Understanding the Hidden Networks That Can Transform Your Life And Your Career 04/30/2018

PBTO S2E8: Empathy - The Super power of a Successful FBI Hostage Negotiator or an Entrepreneur 03/22/2018

PBTO S2E7: Fusion - How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World’s Greatest Companies with Denise Lee Yohn 03/12/2018

PBTO S2E6: Standing out and Becoming the Best Entrepreneur You can Be 03/04/2018

S2E5: Personal Knowledge Mastery with Harold Jarche 02/23/2018

PBTO S2E4: Rethinking Vertical Movement Inside a Building 02/16/2018

S2E3: The Importance of Imaginativefulness in the Creative Process 02/02/2018

PBTO S2E2: Jill Konrath - More Sales in Less Time 01/19/2018

PBTO Season 2: EP01: Future of Work with Andy Tryba 01/09/2018

PBTO58: Hunch - Where Insights and Foresights Meet With Bernadette Jiwa 07/10/2017

PBTO58: Hunch - Where Insights and Foresights Meet With Bernadette Jiwa Who is on the show: In this episode, we host Bernadette Jiwa. She is a best selling author of multiple books and writes one of the most popular marketing and branding blogs - . Smart Company named as the . as one of the marketing blogs he reads. Why is she on the show: She just released her most recent book - . The book talks about how we can turn our everyday insights into the next big thing. What do we talk about: In this episode, we talk about how this particular book came about. She shares her insight about how entrepreneurs - small and large are getting deluded in the barrage of data and using it as a crutch to not decide and work on their hunches. She shares some very interesting stories about how (all of 12 years old) helped save his cows from Lions and in the process invented the "". She also shares the story of how one doctor () leveraged the popularity and the sense of community in a barber shop - to change the lives of thousands of black men by converging healthcare and haircare. She defines Hunch as below: Hunch = Insights + Foresights Simple yet elegant way to define something extremely complicated, I must say. She also talks about the fact that in order to get these hunches, we need to look at the intersection of three things. Hunches are formed at the intersection of Curiosity, Imagination and Empathy. There are opportunities all around us if only we stop and notice them. She shares her way of getting these inspiring stories from the everyday walk of life. She says that these stories are all around us, if only we can stop and look for them, if we find them, slow down and think about them. We also discuss how important boredom is and how crucial having distraction free time for us to think about stuff that we have learnt and allow it to sink in and come up with our own perspective and a lot more. She shares how Sara Blakely founded Spanx with 5000 USD and she takes the long route to work, so that she can get some quite reflection time for herself almost everyday. This is a short episode but one filled with a lot of insights and learnings. How can you connect with her: I strongly recommend that you buy her book - . The book is packed with a lot of such stories and also has a lot of prompts that can nudge us to practice all the three things that she talks about (curiosity, imagination and empathy) that are important for coming up with our own hunches. Also, subscribe to her . She blogs every single day. Her blogs are an oasis in the middle of a barrage of blogs that dont speak to you. They are short but insightful. They speak to us in a way not many blogs do. You can also follow her on twitter . PS: You can watch the TED Talks by & . /episode/index/show/pushingbeyondtheobvious/id/5522370

PBTO57: Liminal Thinking - Creating change by understanding, shaping, and reframing beliefs with Dave Gray 07/06/2017

PBTO57: Liminal Thinking - Creating change by understanding, shaping, and reframing beliefs with Dave Gray Who is on the show: In this episode, we host Dave Gray. He is the founder of and author of multiple books including . Why is he on the show: He is a visual artist and uses agile, iterative techniques like , , and to get people engaged and involved in co-creating clear, unique and executable business strategies. His latest book - , talks about a core practice for connected leaders in a complex world. What do we talk about: In a free-wheeling conversation, we speak about How did he come about writing his book "Game-storming" with Sunni Brown and James Macanufo and his experience of writing the book Empathy Map and he shares a story about a session where he used the map and how it impacts people Why is it so difficult for people to empathise with others? How did his book "Connected Company" come about and what it was all about (Digital Transformation), which led to the question about how to make the transformation? How this led him to his latest book - "Liminal Thinking" The entire conversation around belief and how critical it is for internal transformation What are some of the most simple of things that if done can have significant impact on our lives? The ability to sit back and observe oneself as a third person is a meta ability that can help us bring about significant changes in our own lives. How could one go about developing this ability? Is there a connection between being in the moment and visual thinking? Something that was surprising and interesting while researching for the book - "Liminal thinking". Who does he considers the most inspiring person and why? What is it that you see in the world that blows his mind? What is the biggest limitation of humanity? Why? What does his creative process looks like? What are his routines that support his creativity? What gives him joy or how does he rejuvenate himself? Where does he get creative ideas from ? What is his learning habits? How does he continue to evolve and grow as a person? Book Recommendation: What he thinks is obvious but people miss all the time (The answer will definitely surprise you). What is one thing he wants you to do as soon as you finish listening to this conversation? Liminal thinking talks about learning and . These nine practices of liminal thinking can be summarised as three simple precepts: Get in touch with your ignorance. Seek understanding. Do something different. Here is a where Dave explains the Pyramid of Beliefs from his book and you can find a summary of his book . How can you connect with him: You can follow him on twitter and his website is . /episode/index/show/pushingbeyondtheobvious/id/5512345

PBTO56: The Inevitable - Technological Forces that will Shape Our Future 06/29/2017

PBTO56: The Inevitable - Technological Forces that will Shape Our Future Who is on the show today: Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He co-founded Wired in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor for its first seven years. His new book for Viking/Penguin is called , which is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. He is also founding editor and co-publisher of the popular website, which has been reviewing tools daily since 2003. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a journal of unorthodox technical news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers’ Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985. His books include the best-selling , the classic book on decentralized emergent systems, , a graphic novel about robots and angels, , an oversize catalog of the best of , and his summary theory of technology in (2010). Why is he on the show: In his latest book "", he talks about 12 trends that will shape the way our society will evolve. This is already a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. What do we talk about: In this free-wheeling conversation, we talk about: His interest and curating non-fiction films. He has a curated list of some of the wonderful documentaries on his site . The 12 trends that are directions that technology is going to move towards, that seem to be inevitable. He lists them as verbs (Becoming, Cognifying, Flowing, Screening, Accessing, Sharing, Filtering, Remixing, Interacting, Tracking, Questioning , Beginning) [bctt tweet=""Trends are inevitable, the form and function is not"" username="rmukeshgupta"] Technology vs Societal view points of view to look at the future.. How Technology has its own agenda.. Have these trends have been behaving since the time the book was written.. How Moore's law would have served you really well if you believed in it.. Artificial intelligence and how this is going to play out.. How can entrepreneurs make use of these trends and place themselves at the fore-runners when these trends play out and become mainstream How can we stay relevant in the future where these trends are becoming mainstream? What do these technologies and trends mean for us as a society and culture? How do we prepare for the future that is coming? Access vs ownership Products vs services Tangible vs intangible and how this coupled with the trends that we are talking about provides a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to profit from. What are some of the most important skills that we need to learn in order to stay relevant: To learn how to learn (Meta skill or the super skill). Figure out how we learn best or our own kind of learning. Learn how to ask questions. Techno-literacy and critical thinking How he learns and stays up-to-date with what he sees happening around him? What he thinks is obvious but no one sees it yet (A very surprising answer).. Documentary he recommends - . You can watch the documentary below: How can you connect with him: You can find his blog You can subscribe to his weekly newsletter . /episode/index/show/pushingbeyondtheobvious/id/5491993

PBTO55: Unleashing Human Performance with Jason Forrest 06/02/2017

PBTO54: The Fuzzy and the Techie 05/30/2017

PBTO53: Deep work: How to do work that Matters with Cal Newport 05/11/2017

Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed

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