Shreyas Bakshi

Innovation mindset is often described through familiar qualities – curiosity, exploration, experimentation, openness to challenge. But in real innovation journeys, the question is rarely whether these qualities are present. It is about how each situation is interpreted as it unfolds. While the familiar qualities continue to hold value, much of one’s thinking remains deeply personal. It is shaped by how one has learned to interpret situations over time – and often reveals itself subconsciously in the moment, quietly influencing how the innovation journey is navigated. In such moments, innovation becomes less about applying predefined mindsets, and more about recognising the thinking at play – and what may need to shift. How often do we pause to notice how our thinking shapes our innovation journeys? Across diverse innovation contexts, I have seen meaningful progress begin here. The MijS Discipline of Innovation incorporates this aspect – recognising and working with und...

AI may not be the ultimate “truth”—but it is certainly shaping how we arrive at it. This is a reflection on my experiments with AI in creating content—text and related visuals. These were done with the intent of understanding what actually works. My background to set the context to this article I am a person of few words – drawing an analogy from the world of poetry, I am a fan of Ghazals (short, precise couplets) vs Ballads (long-form narratives). Also, I prefer to work without too many constraints on me – tending more towards the creative side rather than more regimented. In view of this, with the advent of social media, people sharing more were getting noticed. So, I had to express myself more – clearly and consistently. And, to put some of my content on marketplace platforms, I had to put my content in far more regimented way than I am used to. Hence, I needed help and before the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), I was seeking help from content professionals. ...

  In the world of relentless pursuit of success, a mantra often recited is "Failure is not an option" . This is invariably true in ‘business-as-usual’ context where the processes are established, and failures are unpardonable. But, in the context of ‘business-un-usual’ – in other words, innovation, another mantra is more relevant i.e. “Failures are the stepping stones to success” . There are enough examples to illustrate this. The most common one being “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work” by Thomas Edison. Often, failures teach us a lot more than success and need to be made a part of the learning process in the context of evolving an innovative solution. However, failures, even in the context of innovation, can be daunting to deal with unless these are supported by well-designed practices and principles e.g. Aligning the understanding of ‘failure’ All the relevant stakeholders need to have a common understanding of ‘failu...