Hot, Flat, and Crowded

I have just started reading this new book by Thomas Friedman ...an eye opening account of current global environmental crisis. Friedman explains how global warming, rapidly growing populations, and the astonishing expansion of the world's middle class through globalization has produced a planet that is 'hot, flat,and crowded'. In just a few years it will be too late to fix things-unless there is a worldwide effort to replace our wasteful, inefficient energy practices with a strategy for clean energy.

He calls for Code Green . The world is getting crowded and hot. More people tapping computers and on the road means more competition for resources, more emissions. It's all "intensifying the extinction of plants and animals, and strengthening of petro-dictatorship." 

Please note that there were just 1 billion people on this planet in the year 1850. The population has gone up by 6.5 times ( to current 6.5 billion) in the year 2008. No other species has seen this kind of growth in numbers. This number is likely to go up further to 9 billion by 2050. This raises the most important question:

What is Tuangou?

The power of groups, the clout that crowds can exercise to get what they want, is nothing new. What is new, however, is the dizzying ease with which like minded, action-ready citizens and consumers can now go online and connect, group and ultimately exert influence on a global scale.

Welcome to the world of 'CROWDShopping'.

Tuangou.es is a collective buying website in Spain. Tuangou essentially means (in Chinese of course!) 'tuan' -group and 'gou' - buy. Tuan gou ( teambuying in chinese) emerged from china in online chat-rooms,and graduated to more organised websites. Popular Chinese sites that are enabling crowds to first group online and then plan for real world shopmobbing are TeamBuy, Taobao and Liba.

Don't Wait Too Long to Become an Entrepreneur

There was a good post recently on Harvard Discussion forums. Noam Wasserman initiated a conversation on 'when is the perfect time to become an entrepreneur' . He talks about the challenges faced by people transitioning from being big-company employees to becoming entrepreneurs.

His advise : Waiting for the "perfect time" to make the jump is usually futile, for there's no moment that's truly perfect. So even if you're early in your corporate career, when a winning new-business idea comes along and sparks an entrepreneurial passion in you, carpe diem.

I think the best or right time is when you see a right opportunity...time doesn't matters . I was reading a report on "India business houses -Family Fortunes" by a leading equity brokerage firm. Of course the names were obvious-Tata, Birla, Premzi, Mittal, Ambani , Aggarwal(Vedanta), Goenka(RPG), Singh(DLF) etc . The common points across all success stories were :

(a) Ability to identify opportunity well ahead of others;

(b) Effectively using leverage (OPM);

(c) Appetite for risk;

(d) Perseverance -not giving up in the face of difficulties ; Passion.

McKnight Principles

William L. McKnight, who served as 3M chairman of the board from 1949 to 1966, encouraged 3M management to "delegate responsibility and encourage men and women to exercise their initiative."

His management theories are the guiding principles for 3M. His basic rule of management was laid out in 1948:

"As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. This requires considerable tolerance. Those men and women, to whom we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to want to do their jobs in their own way."Mistakes will be made.

The Future of Internet Search

Today on the Official Google Blog, Marisa Meyer posted an in-depth look at what the future of Internet searches holds. She shares many interesting thoughts.. She asks a lot of important and interesting questions on the direction of search and how searches will be performed in the coming years.

The most interesting ones she touches on are the "location" and "social" values that can be attached to search.

To search for ‘pizza’ or ‘water hole’, location plays a key role. So if Google knows where you are –it will help deliver relevant results.The social aspect is also worth noting. How do we cull the collective information of our friends -- or simply those around us -- to find the information we need.

Here are some of her thoughts:

Search needs to be more mobile -- it should be available and easy to use in cell phones and in cars and on handheld, wearable devices that we don't even have yet……..