Why we Search for Job Security. Why Not Risk Taking

By Dr. Irfan Hyder

Why are we so afraid of taking risks?
Why our primary focus is on jobs that provide security?
Why people go after a pensionable, secure, career job?
Why people think that becoming a government "servant" is their ultimate goal?
Why "sarkar ki naukri" has so much premium?

An analysis of these questions takes us to the time of the early 19th century and after the 1857 war of independence when the British Raj eliminated the land entitlements of the aristocracy. The landed aristocracy of subcontinent especially the Muslims found themselves literally penniless as they lost their entitlements, and their regular earnings from their land holdings disappeared. They found themselves with no marketable skills or knowledge. Their Persian language skills became worthless overnight as the official business started getting transacted in English (recall the famous saying "Farsi seekho, tael baicho").

The Fruits of Business Education

By Yasir Mirza

A few weeks ago I had dinner with two very good friends who are finishing their final semester at Szabist Business School. I couldn't wait to hear about the ideas being thrown around and the businesses being built by their classmates. At the end of our dinner I was not impressed. Disappointed in fact.

I listened and they explained that 90% of their classmates came to business school to go right back into Job market. From the day first when born we use to feed him/her that prepare yourself for Job. And Job is the last hope so where is the creativity and innovation. These prestigious business schools teach us how to become a good Job hunter and prepare us how to find a Job and how to switch a Job. COOL

“Don’t use graduate school, or any other course of study, as a form of life avoidance. Pursue the course only if there’s a good reason.” ~Chris Guillebeau

The Constitutent of an Entrerpeneurial Eco-System

A culture where experiments are encouraged, mistakes are not discouraged as long as students learn and don't repeat them, fear of failure is replaced by courage to take risks is necessary to provide a conducive environment to students to start their own venture. This cultural transformation should be the ultimate responsibility of any Center of Entrepreneurial Development at any university, which intends to encourage its students toward becoming entrepreneurs. Following are some of tips which would help develop such a culture. 

1. Teachers to acquire the role of consultants, guiding students during each step of the process of establishing a business, they shouldn't penalize mistakes, rather reward and encourage if mistakes bring new learning. Students shouldn't have fear of losing marks in case they aren't able to successfully start a venture. Marking should be based on the dedication of student practically to execute the instructions given by teacher/consultant, not on the outcome. An environment of mutual trust and respect has to be established between the faculty and students, but this doesn't mean leniency. The teacher should pose themselves as learners and actively engage in the learning process, encourage students to teach them from their experience, instead of bossing everyone around.

2. Students are made to initiate his first venture with their pocket money or any angel investor (which he should find himself) in his first semester (the idea is to set his context for all the learning which is to come)...

3. All courses to be project based, and at least three courses (3 crdt hr each) in which a student would do nothing but make an attempt to start up a business. 

4. If CED has money to invest, then no investment to be given till final year, or at least once they have been successfully operated for six months

5. A space to be dedicated to establish a market where students would open up their shops and sell, university canteen, tuck shop, photocopy to be operated by students, not as employees but as entrepreneurs, etc

6. A more informal and less structured interaction with teachers/consultants, teachers to give more time outside the class, lots of meeting places to be provided for this

7. Teachers to start-up their own enterprise, and with students as partners.

8. A lab to simulate business start up (don't know how to make it, but inspiration taken from John Hunter's World Peace Game presented at TED)

9. A social entrepreneurship course which would help enable students to experience the satisfaction of creating an employment for a poor fellow...

10. etc.

Your Career is for Your Life

By Admin (Unedited, pardon for any grammatical mistakes)

So (a) is your life is for your career, or (b) your career is for your life? When I ask this 99% respond that its 'b'... the remaining 1% are confused about the question. So when your career is for your life, just like you eat to stay alive, and don't stay alive to eat, then the next question which eventually comes is 'What your life is for then?'

This is the question which I ask in response to the question put in front of me by some student "Sir may BBA karon ke BE, ya BS main transfer karalon?" etc... they ask me about the next step they want to take, and when I ask them what is your ultimate destination toward which your this step (your degree) will take you, they are clueless, looking left & right...

My dear brothers and sisters, you first need to plan your life and what you ultimately want to achieve, i.e. something so worthy that after spending your entire live journeying toward that destination, you say that it was all worth it, and you don't feel an atom of regret for wasting even a single moment while travelling toward this destination, goal, target, vision, or what ever you may want to call it.

How do you know what that be? This is a lengthy time consuming process, therefore the earlier it starts the quicker you will be able to figure out what that ultimate goal of your life would be... some students are so oblivious that they say 'Sir abhi to zindagi pari he sochne ke liye, guzerne do jesi guzar rahi hai'... they don't realize while making this assertion, that while drifting away on the currents of time, they would eventually waste the most precious moments of their lives they would ever get, i.e. their golden age from 17 to 27 (+ - 1 year)..

This should bring more questions in your mind, but instead of anticipating them and trying to answer them in advance, I would prefer you students to put them forward, and then I will try to answer them...

thats all for now....

Steve Blank's Business Model Canvas

Please click here to download the Business Model Canvas template, its a simple tool to visualize and test your business plan model. Its divided into 9 parts, each of describes an aspect of your business model.

How to use: In the start you will fill in each of these sections with what you have imagined about each of 9 aspects of your business model. This will of course be hypothetical if you are doing it for the first time. After this, Blank suggests, you would use standard business research techniques like interviews and surveys with your stakeholders relevant with each aspect of the model. For example, your assumed value proposition, you need to interview your prospective customers or clients whether what they think about it etc. Blanks suggests that it takes around 8 iterations to finalize your model, as after each revision, you are suppose to recheck your assumptions again... watch this video to learn how it is done.

For further details please visit following two websites

a) http://leancanvas.com/
b) http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas 

What It Really Means to Be an Entrepreneur

by Scott Steinberg at Huffington Post Blog

Many people like to romanticize entrepreneurship. As experienced business owners know though, the day-to-day reality of running any enterprise is hardly the stuff of which reality TV is made. More often than not, the average workweek is either an all-out sprint, emotional rollercoaster ride or heart-wrenching exercise in problem-solving and persistence -- sometimes all of the above. But therein lies the almost mystical appeal that continues to captivate millions, as reflected in countless rags-to-riches tales of scrappy underdogs chasing the American Dream, and the funhouse mirror of popular shows such as Shark Tank and The Apprentice.

Don't let Donald Trump or Richard Branson fool you, however: Few become self-made billionaires, and charting a haphazard course through the constantly-shifting commercial environment is a task that's nothing short of Sisyphean. Still, creating a company from scratch, then plotting a strategic road map to success come hell or high water, can be one of life's most uplifting and rewarding endeavors. Be forewarned, though, if you do decide to take the plunge -- a wise man once equated the process of incubating and stewarding startups to playing football. You'll fight tooth and nail to gain precious ground by the inch, only to then be brutally mauled and ridiculed by armchair quarterbacks when you're forced to cede hard-won advancements just seconds later. Resourcefulness and heart are what separate the winners from losers in this grudge match, though: Success is often simply a function of how many times you're willing to pick yourself up, brush off the dirt and get back in the game. Some days you gain yards, others lose them. Ultimately, all that matters is keeping the ball moving down field in the aggregate.