BY MOHNISH SHARMA
CEO, Desta Global
I am not a cook, but give me a fridge filled with whimsical ingredients and I can put together something interesting. This philosophy transcends the kitchen to the way I manage the work environment as well.
When I joined Desta last year, I had a small team wondering how we were going to take our business model online. We were about to undertake the mammoth task of trying to create a marketplace for agri inputs, i.e., seeds, fertilizers, etc. Soon, it all started coming together – we joined hands with the best in technology, domain knowledge, marketing, tax & legal advisors and an incredible team.
There was incredible chaos and while I thrive in it, I am adept at managing madness and reducing risk. Like every life changing experience, this year has taught me more than I could imagine. Here are my two cents:
I am not lazy. I just delegate well.
When you reach a certain point, you know what you want and how you want it. It’s a great thing at a vision level but it is important to remember that your team has expertise in their respective fields and know their domains well; it is why you hired them in the first place. Also, as one individual it can be practically impossible to complete all the projects and you end up being the biggest bottleneck in the organization. I learnt early on, that when you delegate the right tasks to the right people, they can surprise and delight you. But it doesn’t end there. Give them the right resources and a safe environment to grow organically for themse+lves and produce the best results for the organization.
Yes, and…
You will notice that your team will not always be at the same wavelength as you most of the time, and if a person’s ideas are shot down more than once, the probability of receiving more thoughts from the same person reduces considerably. This is apart from the fact that he/she will lose motivation in the work. What I learnt is that every idea can be evolved into a practical one, you simply have to ask the right questions and think harder. It is a win-all approach since you will not lose out on a potentially amazing idea simply because an employee feels he/she isn’t heard. Next time you hear a thought from a team member, simply say. .. ‘Yes, and…’ and wait for the magic to happen.
Never.Stop.Learning.
I devour books and binge watch online courses. While formal education has its place, once you have completed it, it’s over. But the world doesn’t stop evolving; Millennials are consuming and generating content from multiple screens across Pinterest, Snapchat, Vine. Your company may not need to be on every medium but a working knowledge of every part of the business environment is essential. You never know when your business needs an overhaul and the same mediums that you may have dismissed as fads then become the core to your organization.
Get bored easily.
So you launched a great product/service, it has increased your GMV, valuations and now you are seeing a steady growth. Will this last forever? It can’t; the world is changing at an unprecedented pace. If you need to stay in the game, you have to innovate and ask yourself ‘What next?’. Steve Jobs didn’t just create an operating system and settled, he made the Mac computers, iPods, iPads, iPhones and somewhere in the middle also created and sold Pixar to Disney, amongst 100 other things he did. Why stop at one product or one company? Build an ecosystem!
Feedback: mohnish@destaglobal.com
