Quarter 11 - Week 5.5

I never thought I'd see another week 5.5 again, brings back such memories! So if you happen to visit the past, you'd know that due to a mixup, some of our classes were delayed by a week. This week was supposed to be the return of balance to our peaceful world. So anyway, we had only one subject with back-to-back sessions, and it was definitely a session worth coming in on a Sunday for.

Reinvention through Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial Learning

We had three cases for the day, and a heck of a load of readings. However, we focused on just one of them, the prof's own journey as an entrepreneur. I remember the feelings and thoughts that I had while reading the case, it never occurred to me that entrepreneurship could have so many potholes along the road. Yes, I knew of problems due to capabilities, bad timing in markets, inability to raise funds, and all that... but it never occurred to me that well known people could be problems themselves. The prof showed us one side of the industry, one only spoken of in Bollywood movies where there's a hero against a bunch of villians... the only difference being that here, in real life, heroes can lose.

He pointed out a few areas where he made mistakes, and mentioned what all should have been done differently. He also gave us a live example of what happens when you connect too emotionally with your business or idea. He argued that being entrepreneurs, we should have the strength to call it quits when things appear to smell bad. Sticking onto it just because of your emotions is akin to riding a tiger, the longer you're on it, the harder it is to get off. At one point turning back is no longer an option, and you just hope for the minutest of probabilities of goodness to come through.

In its own way, it reminded me of STDM from last quarter. The concept of throwing good money after bad, and the concept of Prospect Theory (When you're looking at things in the losses frame, you tend to take a larger risk than you would have otherwise). The prof then talks about how low things got, and he mentioned what it took for him to get back on his feet and stop feeling the after effects from the misery of the fall. He's not the first prof to claim this, and there have been other profs who try to stress this across to us in as non-fanatical a way as they can... there is a higher force at work. Irrespective of the faith from which you come, our prof stresses that at the end of the day, they all say the same thing. He mentions how important it will be for you to constantly keep an ear out for a sign from the understated, the subconscious, the 'spirit' or 'elements', call it what you will.

At the end of the class, it's not like the athiests suddenly got converted to believers... but I'll definitely say that those who believe had one more encouraging voice that helped settle their muddy waters just that little bit more. The prof mentions that the whole of the second half of their course is going to try and cover resilience, in the face of obstacles, which he thinks is going to be very valuable to those who want to take the unbeaten road. I, for one, look forward to it.