This is from one of the articles in HBR:
"One of the course's textbooks, Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath, taught them six attributes that help ideas stick in people's minds: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories."
Well.. at least I got one right! :-)
Tuesday 9 June 2009
Monday 8 June 2009
Key to a great idea
I have been thinking about this for some time -
A great idea does not require great level of intellect to be understood.
In fact an idea becomes great only if it is comprehensible by the weakest of human intellect. Only then it find support from every quarter.
Therefore, simplicity is the key to greatness.
Cases in point:
1. Ahimsa by Mahatma Gandhi
2. Communism by Karl Marx
4. All major world religions
A great idea does not require great level of intellect to be understood.
In fact an idea becomes great only if it is comprehensible by the weakest of human intellect. Only then it find support from every quarter.
Therefore, simplicity is the key to greatness.
Cases in point:
1. Ahimsa by Mahatma Gandhi
2. Communism by Karl Marx
4. All major world religions
Monday 1 June 2009
It's all black
Not many people may know this but the one astonishing fact that catches a newcomer in Mumbai by surprise is the exorbitant real estate prices. Well, there are other things such as the terrifying sight of a train-shaped sea of humanity that runs up and down the center of the city, the almost incredible tendency of people to stand in a queue even if there were only two people forming it, the presence of representatives of a mind-boggling number of provinces and states of India, and several others which form the entire incredulous experience of an outsider in Mumbai.
But no other issue is more pertinent and more important than the question of finding a roof over one’s head in this vast city. The answer to this one question is so damn difficult that it really stretches not just the purse strings of an individual but also his capacity to live.
I was of course wondering why prices in Mumbai are so ridiculously high and my ever wise younger brother provided a reasonably good explanation for it. There is a concept called parallel GDP – an economic system thriving on the money that is unaccounted in the Government’s books. This is called the Black Money. Indians have over the years become experts in evading taxes, accumulating black money, and somehow managing to hold on it and pass it to their future generations.
Mumbai real estate prices, I am told and I now strongly believe, is the product of the real estate mafia manipulations and black money. With the mafia indiscriminately raising real estate prices, it becomes impossible for honest salaried people to afford a house. However, for people with stashes of black money, it is a good investment since real estate prices only seem to be shooting up. As more black money is thrown into the real estate sector, the higher the prices go up making the latter more unaffordable for the honest salaried kind.
It is not uncommon to find people owning two or more houses in Mumbai. It is not surprising that most such owners are those who are more likely to possess black money. It is unimaginable that a government employee is able to afford a 80-lakhs-house in Mumbai. There are those who own two. I have parents who have worked in the PSU and I know how damn-near-impossible that is.
As long as this black money phenomenon exists, it would only be a dream for an honest salaried person to own a house in Mumbai.
But no other issue is more pertinent and more important than the question of finding a roof over one’s head in this vast city. The answer to this one question is so damn difficult that it really stretches not just the purse strings of an individual but also his capacity to live.
I was of course wondering why prices in Mumbai are so ridiculously high and my ever wise younger brother provided a reasonably good explanation for it. There is a concept called parallel GDP – an economic system thriving on the money that is unaccounted in the Government’s books. This is called the Black Money. Indians have over the years become experts in evading taxes, accumulating black money, and somehow managing to hold on it and pass it to their future generations.
Mumbai real estate prices, I am told and I now strongly believe, is the product of the real estate mafia manipulations and black money. With the mafia indiscriminately raising real estate prices, it becomes impossible for honest salaried people to afford a house. However, for people with stashes of black money, it is a good investment since real estate prices only seem to be shooting up. As more black money is thrown into the real estate sector, the higher the prices go up making the latter more unaffordable for the honest salaried kind.
It is not uncommon to find people owning two or more houses in Mumbai. It is not surprising that most such owners are those who are more likely to possess black money. It is unimaginable that a government employee is able to afford a 80-lakhs-house in Mumbai. There are those who own two. I have parents who have worked in the PSU and I know how damn-near-impossible that is.
As long as this black money phenomenon exists, it would only be a dream for an honest salaried person to own a house in Mumbai.
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