Scale-up with PK‪!‬ PK Narayanan

Shaping organisation culture is considered one of the most important things a Business Owner does - consciously or
otherwise.

Organisation culture is invisible, yet felt by all - every moment. It takes time to set-in. Once set, normally outlives the leader who has been instrumental in creating it; Often playing an empowering role in theorganisation reaching its goals.

The good news is that as Business Owners we have the possibility to create a healthy, constructive organisation culture!

3 things to keep in mind while shaping an empowering organisation culture are:

1.  Leadership is about inspiring high performance; It’s also about making people feel safe and secure. For eg: adversity is something usual to businesses. A leader remaining composed while facing the storm puts those being led also at ease - where one doesn’t feel threatened or panicky - leading to creation of a safe and secure workplace culture.

2.  Often feedback is given to people in an accrued, cumulative way. It’s given, rather the need is felt, only when something significant happens, or is done or not done. Alternatively one could encourage a culture of offering feedback more often, in small doses, for the so called 'lesser significant things' as well; for, those little things add up to becoming a significant thing. Such a culture also prepares everyone to start giving and accepting feedback and feed-forward.

3.  As a leader, one is visible - always. Actions, and inactions are seen, felt and discussed by people. This means the Leader needs to model the culture that they want to create. For eg: being on-time for meetings oneself consistently, before insisting and telling the team members to do so.

An organisation culture created and curated consciously goes a long way in achieving the purposes of the organisation.

My name is PK Narayanan

Wishing you the best, Thank you.

#ceo #scaleup #leadership #business















































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The best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing - said Theodore Roosevelt.

 

It’s the actions that change the world - not the ideas, not the thoughts. Not even decisions.

 

People become who they are, because of what they do.

 

It’s interesting that, though many may have similar ideas, thoughts, and many may decide to do chosen things, only those who act upon them move.

 

There exists a gap between the thoughts and actions, the decisions and the doing. And it’s pertinent.

 

The question therefore is - Am I actioning enough on the things that I decide to do, things that I want to do, things that I need to do, to reach where I want to reach?

 

My name is PK Narayanan

Wishing you the best, Thank you.

#ceo #scaleup #leadership #business



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Creating and Keeping Business Fitness is a Key Enabler for Scaling-up. This would mean creating and maintaining People Fitness, Functional Fitness, Market Fitness and avoiding Fat in the belly!



People Fitness happens when we have the Right People in Right Roles. Businesses need to manage the current and emerging role requirements pro-actively, nurturing, developing and acquiring talent in a conscious way.



Functional fitness is making sure that each function in the Business are fit-enough to meet and fulfil Scaling-up
objectives. For example, the Marketing function is fit enough in terms of its capabilities, processes, and resources to execute the promotional strategies; The Operations function is fit-enough in terms of its competencies, technologies and processes to manage the volume, quality, costs, defects and so on.



Market fitness is ensuring a proper Product - Market fit for our Products or Services on an ongoing basis.



Often, alongside the Scaling-up - which leads to processing increased volumes across the business - also arises a tendency to accumulate fat, in the form of redundancies, inefficiencies, wastage, and duplication; usually in all wrong places. It’s important that the business keeps a constant vigil to avoid them, and maintain agility, efficiency and effectiveness in all its business operations.



Business Fitness leads to Excellence in Execution.



Creating and keeping ‘Business Fitness’ is thus a key enabler in a scaling-up process.



Is my business fit enough?

My name is PK Narayanan, wishing you the best! Thank you

 #ceo #leadership #scaleup


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A lot is said about dealing with Failures. We have also heard 'failure is the stepping stone to success'. Is it so?

Amazon's Jeff Bezos points out that failures are broadly of two kinds - therefore to be dealt with differently.

1. Experimental failure - 'When we are developing a new product or service or experimenting in some way, and it doesn't work, that's okay - that's the kind of failure you should be happy with', Bezos says. 'These are the big, bold bets that move the needle'.

With the learning, it could become the stepping stone for success.

2. Operational failure - 'We've built hundreds of fulfilment centers at Amazon over the years, and we know how to do that. If we build a new fulfilment center and it's a disaster, that's just bad execution. That's not good failure,' Bezos explains.

If we fail in something that we already know or should know how to do, that's not something to celebrate.

In that sense, failure is not quite a stepping stone to success all the time.

Distinguishing the kind of failure may provide us with the insights as to how to deal with them.

My name is PK Narayanan, wishing you the best! Thank you.

#ceo #scaleup #business #leadership


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Leaders face criticism. 

Overcoming criticism is one thing, overcoming the fear of criticism is another.

Often, it’s the fear of criticism that kills creativity, innovation, and new initiatives. It’s important therefore to deal with the fear of criticism, in a timely manner.

How do I deal with the fear of criticism?

Aristotle once said, ‘There is only one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing, say nothing and be nothing’.

One way of looking at it, is that anything worth doing attracts admiration and criticism. It’s therefore a question of whether I want to be judged or ignored?

Another approach is to see that our hunger for success out-weighs the fear of criticism.

A third approach could be to separate the person from the action - considering criticism as an opportunity to learn and
improve what we do.

As a Leader, how am I dealing with the fear of criticism?

My name is PK Narayanan, wishing you the best! Thank you


#ceo #leadership #scaleup


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Scaling up is a dream for many entrepreneurs - Yet, research shows only 4% businesses scale-up successfully.

Every business has two sides - 'what's inside' and 'what others see'.

When we move 'what others see' into 'what Prospects see', magic happens; it paves the way for Scaling-up!

That’s about positioning - choosing 'where to play'.

When you set up your business to appeal to everyone, it ends up appealing to no one, says Laurel Staples.

That's true.

We need to set up our business in a way that appeals to our Prospects – what our Prospects see.

Choosing 'where to play'  -  in terms of market segment, geography, price point, ticket size…

That's in a way choosing our play arena  -  narrowing down the market we intend to serve, ie. the population of Prospects, so that we become relevant, we serve better, and we serve more of them. That’s scaling up!

When 'Prospects' start seeing us, the 'pull' also happens in due course, alongside the push.

Scaling-up is a possibility for every business  -  and choosing 'where to play' is an important part of that process.

My name is PK Narayanan, wishing you the best! Thank you

#ceo #leadership #scaleup


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