Building a knowledge centric company

Why knowledge?

All individuals and organizations need and seek power to achieve their goals. The 3 M’s i.e. Muscle, Money and Mind are the sources of all power. Muscle represents raw power that one possesses by virtue of size or violence (actual or threatened). Money can easily buy muscle power and hence is considered a better source of power than the muscle. But mind can create, accumulate and judiciously use both muscle and money to get things done. Unlike the other two the mind does not get depleted with usage.  Knowledge is the key component of mind and as Benjamin Franklin said “Knowledge is Power”. The same concept is found in the Bhagavad Gita.  Shree Krishna says “Nahi Gyaanena Sadrusham Pavitram”. Hence Ideas family should always use Knowledge, the inexhaustible and best source of power to achieve its goals.

How to use knowledge?

ISAC as a company already has a considerable amount of knowledge power through individual members. We hope this will get enhanced through both individual and organic growth. We need to use knowledge to be innovative in everything we do. Knowledge can be ‘industry best practices’, ‘technical know-how’ or ‘market information’. All these are inputs to our innovation process and not the end products of innovation itself. We need to put our minds to work, to ideate and to create new best practices, products and marketing strategies. ISAC’s work atmosphere should encourage ideation and an unhindered thought process. This is what the first part of our company’s motto “ Nurturing Thoughts” represents.

What will Ideas achieve from knowledge?

We can be innovative in everything we do - from creating a friendly leave policy for members, to finding solutions to customer’s problems. This will create something new, something unique and Ideas will have thus created value for all its stakeholders i.e. Clients, Members and Shareholders. This is what the second part of our motto “Delivering Value” stands for.

How to make Ideas a knowledge centric organization?

Creation of knowledge centric organization is a challenging task, but not impossible. Let us all give a thought to what is knowledge management? Is it another document that one has to fill? Is it another cumbersome procedure? Or is it a jargon? No, definitely not. Knowledge Management at Ideas is an effort to generate wealth from its intellectual or knowledge based assets. All the staff members of Ideas must consider themselves to be knowledge assets; because, anything valued without physical dimensions that is embedded in people or derived from processes, systems and the culture associated within the organization is termed as a knowledge asset.  The key drivers of knowledge management initiatives are to get the knowledge based assets i.e. the people to acquire knowledge, use the knowledge, learn and improve (innovate) and finally contribute & disseminate knowledge. If this processes is accomplished with all stakeholders (internal and external) involved with Ideas i.e. , we can create wealth through knowledge and transition ourselves into a knowledge centric organization.

 In short, we should invoke knowledge as the source of power to innovate and create value to all stakeholders.

 “Nurturing Thoughts, Delivering Value.”

Sudhir Patavardhan, Founder and VP Technology, ISACGlobal

Business Ethics

This article was written for the first issue of "ISACtimes".

Hello everyone. Welcome to the first issue of “Isactimes”, our new monthly news letter that will keep everyone up-to-date on the happenings in Ideas. This is the fore-word.

Several years ago I came across a book whose title was so catchy that I bought the book without even looking between the covers. The book was tittled “There is no such thing as ‘Business’ Ethics” by John Maxwell. I was a different person then and instinctively felt that the author would be arguing for the principle that ‘everything is fair in business’ in these times of cutthroat competition. Maximum profit should the only goal of any business. The means did not matter as long as one did not do anything stupid enough to get caught in a legal tangle. Well, I was surprised to find myself wrong. What John Maxwell means is that there is one universal principle that applies to everything in life –personal or professional. There is no need to make several rules. That golden rule according the author is “treat others like how you want yourself to be treated”. There is isn’t separate entity as business ethics.

All of us take several decisions everyday that directly or indirectly affect the way we as a company do business. The decisions can be as complex as figuring out who is assigned to a particular project, to something as simple as how punctual one needs to be for client meetings. I believe all business decisions can be based on that golden rule as long as we are aware of ALL the stakeholders (affected parties) and then apply the rule.

Take for example the decision on who works in what project. Stakeholders here are the the customer, employee and Ideas as a company. A customer centric approach would be to use the best performing resource of our company. A member centric approach would be to assign the resource to the project of her expertise or where she has the most to gain or learn. Company centric approach would be to strike the best financial deal. The RIGHT decision is one where you strike the right balance between the customer, member and company interests. That would mean ensuring that your best employee is not punished for his efficiency with more work, the client company that trusted you is not standed with an inexperienced team and neither Ideas nor you are shortchanged financially. 

 Taking decisions in the best interest of all stakeholders, i.e. clients, members and vendors is the best way to retain customers, motivate members and maximize profits.

Sudhir Patavardhan, Founder and VP Technology, ISACGlobal

Leadership

Most people aspire to be great leaders. At their work people usually get leadership oppurtunities because of good performance as individuals. Performing well at an individual capacity doesn't neccessarily translate into good leadership. Leadership involves performing well as a team, delivering the goods as a team. The development of an individual performer into a good leader involves a not so intuitive change. This change is actually a movement, a movement in ones thinking and actions, a movement from identifying oneself as an individual to identifying oneself as a part of a larger unit, a movement from managing oneself to orchestrating a bunch of individuals.
I have recognized two roads that need to be traversed for this movement. First road that needs to be traversed goes from control towards empowerment. This involves making sure your team members have the right tools and techniques to perform and not trying to just control their time or what resources they use. This involves concentrating on unleashing the potential power of each team member and not concentrating on imposing ones own views.
The second road is towards integration from specialization. A good leader should be able to integrate the output of many team members rather than produce a particular delvirable unit.
Interestingly, both the roads can be travelled in either direction, I.e. If one chooses to excel as an individual performer, she can move towards controlling/managing the resources one consumes and also concentrate on specialising in a particular domain.
More interestingly, it is the same movement an organization needs to undergo to move from a good firm to a great company. The authors of the book "how to be competitive in a flat world" discuss this movement for organizations in detail.

Sudhir Patavardhan, Founder and VP Technology, ISACGlobal