All Institutions seek to influence the behavior of people. Nasscom Product Council and iSPIRT today, are associations, which as Institutions are seeking to influence the consumption and production behavior of Software and Technology offerings in India. Our nation is in a dire need of grass-root level, production of value-added goods/services/experiences and its consumption. As articulated previously in Gandhigiri to the Software Entrepreneur, the industry and market developments further command that we dig deep and bring our Nation back on track to be known as Incredible India.
Can iSPIRT influence the mindset of an entire nation towards Products via Education and Information? What initiatives are responsive to the needs and aspirations of a budding young India? Are we in unchartered waters?
No, we are not in unchartered waters. For the past 24 years, one man showed how he can influence the behavior of a Nation. Every time he went out to perform his duty, the nation watched. But alas, all good things come to an end. If there is one silver-lining with Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar’s retirement, it is that now, we can all focus on doing our jobs.
However, can we work with the same level of passion, intensity and commitment as the master-blaster? There is a lot we have seen about the Internal motivations and abilities of this man who mesmerized the nation and we all just indulge in the religion of cricket, when he is playing. But how many of us realize, how BCCI the Institution behind Cricket in India, has had an equally important role to play.
What role has BCCI played in influencing the behavior of the Cricketing Nation? Are they not the ones that control the entire apparatus to influence? Are they not the Institution that responsibly influences cricket lovers, and have they not effectively done it in a sustainable way? The answer is an emphatic YES, and its anybody’s guess. What are the lessons we can learn from BCCI?
Lessons from BCCI – Creation of the GOD of Cricket
Let us look at some basic things which BCCI does brilliantly.
- Crowd Sourcing and Talent Recognition: Players from all over the country are crowd sourced, and are carefully curated and recognized for talent.
- Incubation and Mentoring: Provide Academies where the talent, can then get nurtured to a product-offering and help them attain international standards.
- Organize Marketplaces: Enable opportunities for the product-offering to be show-cased – Whether it is the One Day matches, IPL, Champions League or other matches. Each Match Venue is an Offline “marketplace”, and each match streamed is a Virtual Marketplace, either on Television or on the Internet.
- Create Winning Products and Sustain them: Whether it is Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, Dhoni, Kholi, make sure there is a steady supply of “heroes”
- Maintain a Monopoly: Kill Competition (this strategy however is questionable and debatable).
So, what can we learn from BCCI? Do we focus on the Structures, the Processes and the methods that they have employed to institutionalize the religion of Cricket? No. Focus on people. The key takeaway is, Sachin was once a consumer of Cricket, just like all of us. He was later transformed into a Product by the exogenous support of an Institution, and of course with his endogenous hunger, hard-work and determination.
We now understand how both the internal motivations of Sachin, and the external support of BCCI captured the imagination of nation. We now know how a game meant for amusement, became a religion universally adopted by the length and breadth of the country. We now understand how Sachin became the GOD of Cricket.
From a Cricket Pitch to a Startup Pitch
How do we go from a Cricket Pitch to a Startup Pitch? How do we become a Product Nation from a Cricketing nation? How do we find the GOD of Products? Do we not have enough Entrepreneurs who are as hungry, as dedicated and as hardworking as Sachin? In fact in our field, we have both Men and Women who can become the God of Products. Can an Institution like iSPIRT not influence the same level of commitment and passion towards building and selling products, like BCCI did for Cricket. Yes it can!
There is nothing new in the idea of influencing a Nation. But there is certainly something new in what we know about, how best to do it. Lots of research and studies, especially in behavioral economics and behavioral science show that approaches based on Education and Information do not actually work as well as intended. Education is a two-way street, only 50% of the work is done by the Provider. The other half, which is the art of Internalizing the Information and Education, and putting it into everyday practice, is still at the behest of the Consumer, which is where mostly the approach of Information and Education fails. How do we nudge people to complete their end of the bargain? How do you enable India’s transformation into a Product Nation. Has our own BCCI not shown a better way?
Undoubtedly it has. But first, as Entrepreneurs, each of us need to have a burning desire to become the God of Products. Each of us need to take our imperfect skills/ideas to the field everyday and test them out. Each of us need to play with our local teams, our local communities to build a grass-root movement towards becoming a product nation. Each of us need to learn the spirit of team-play and the benefits of camaraderie. Each of us need to get Involved. When we all do, we will recognize that the external support from Institutions are available to Influence us.
How do we go and get Involved?
- Crowd Sourcing and Talent Recognition: Today we have enough startup pitch sessions, hackathon competitions. Take your skills and ideas there, participate and get recognized.
- Incubators and Mentors: Just like cricket summer camps and bootcamps, there are camps conducted by many bodies. Product Nation itself is running a boot camp in December. Have you registered yet?
There are some systemic gaps, which I am sure Institutions will quickly enable. Infrastructural Interventions are much easier than Motivational Interventions.
- Organization of Marketplaces: Whether we choose the IPL format, Champions League format or the One-day format, we need marketplaces.
- Creating the GOD of Products: We need to build and sustain our heroes, who draw, inspire and influence ordinary people to become GOD of products.
Conclusion
The true products of a Product Nation are not the Routers, Switches, ERPs, Office Softwares or Productivity Softwares. The true products are the people who believe that we can create a Product Nation. True products are those you perform on a Startup Pitch, with the same intensity that Sachin played on a Cricket Pitch.
Inform me and I might forget, educate me and I might remember, Involve me and I will transform, is the mantra. The Cricketing Nation found its GOD of cricket in Sachin Tendulkar. Can a Product Nation find its GOD of products, like Steve Jobs? If you get Involved, its only a matter of time!
