The document outlines 9 essential practices for businesses: 1) Choose to design experiences for users or deliver expected products/services. 2) Build socially relevant or money-spinning solutions. 3) Do not fall in love with innovations and let them distract from vision. 4) Find an unbiased mentor for accountability. 5) A business must be profitable and collaborative. 6) Transition startups to systems and processes for scale. 7) A leader's attitude determines scaling decisions. 8) Maintain a portfolio mix of realism, optimism, and risk. 9) Ecosystem coexistence enables growth over competition.

1. THESE 9 ESSENTIAL PRACTICES CAN TRIGGER YOUR
REMARKABLE BUSINESS JOURNEY
THE CHRONICLE OF A MENTOR
BY MAHESH SHESHADRI
WWW.MAHESHSHESHADRI.COM

2. WWW.MAHESHSHESHADRI.COM
IT'S A CHOICE YOU MAKE...
To Design Experiences & Create Value for your Users with Your Solutions
Or
To Deliver Products/Services that meet expectations
To be disruptive no matter what you do, for who you do & how you do
Or
To be delivering the best among your competition.
To build & Create Solutions that are socially relevant to the world
Or
To build Products/Services that are money-spinners
THE CHRONICLE OF A MENTOR
AND THIS CHOICE WILL DEFINE...YOUR EXECUTION CULTURE...
YOUR INTENT & VALUES THAT DRIVE YOUR PEOPLE EVERYDAY...
YOUR BRAND CREDIBILITY AND RECALL IN THE ECOSYSTEM.

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Do not fall in love with an innovation in your product/service portfolio.
The deeper you love your innovation, the more difficult it will get to let it go when
you need to make a pivot or strategic change to your portfolio.
You must believe that "Innovation is part of our culture" and when it is so
intrinsically cultural you will always design and create more innovations... Bigger,
Better and Closer to your Intent that will sustain you in the long run.
So Never! Never allow an innovation or a single product/service distract you
completely from your original intent, your vision, and your mission - which define
your Business and its existence.
THE INSPIRATION AND PASSION AT THE WORKPLACE MUST BE
DRIVEN BY YOUR INTENT, VISION, AND MISSION,
NOT A PRODUCT OR SERVICE
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FIND A MENTOR AND CRITIC,
AS A LEADER DON'T SHY AWAY FROM
BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR YOUR OWN INTENT
Very often Entrepreneurs of Startups and Business Owners tend to run
their businesses based on their Business Leadership Capabilities and
Perspectives... This approach has its share of successes & failures.
A Mentor or a Critic - who ideally doesn't have any stake in your Business -
can unbiasedly influence your successes to be bigger and can mitigate your
failures so that your Business journey is consistent with sustained growth.
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RUN A "BUSINESS" REFLECTIVE OF ITS TRUEST DEFINITION:
IT HAS TO BE PROFITABLE AND COLLABORATIVE
ACCOUNTABILITIES MUST DRIVE EXECUTION
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Stop calling it a "Business" and call it something more suitable, if:
1. It is not profitable YoY
Irrespective of the cash-richness, A Business that doesn't score on the Top line and
Bottom line reflects poor Business health. This leads to negative vibes in your
internal & external environment affecting your Employer Brand, Employee
Engagement and Your credibility in the Business Ecosystem.
2. The Business is driven by a Leader and not the Collaborative Accountabilities
It is an indication of the failure of the Leadership in Succession Planning, Leadership
Development & Driving Alignment. The everyday whirlwind of tasks is preempting
key success factors like Strategy Execution, Collaboration with Accountability,
Organization Performance Management & Business Ecosystem Development.

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THE TRANSITION OF YOUR STARTUP TO A PROFITABLE BUSINESS
AND TOWARDS OPERATING AS A SYSTEMIC ORGANIZATION MUST
NOT WAIT FOR A FLAG OR MILESTONE! THIS PROCRASTINATION
WILL DISTRACT YOUR PURSUIT OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE.
In realism, People will transition & People will join you in your journey.
Design Systems & Processes - quantified with Simple Lean Metrics -
to enable Systemic Execution of your Business.
If you are aspiring for your Startup to evolve into a Profitable Business and
into an Organization of Sustained Growth, Implement appropriate
Systems & Processes to complement your Culture.
Being chaotic and still getting things done works until a certain scale and to
a certain level of performance... Getting systemic will put you
in a different orbit and sustain the dynamics.
THE CHRONICLE OF A MENTOR

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IT'S YOUR LEADERSHIP ATTITUDE THAT DETERMINES
THE DECISION "TO SCALE OR NOT TO SCALE" AND
"TO THINK BIG & OPERATE AT A BIGGER SCALE"
Over 90 percent of Businesses operate with less than 10 employees...
But sometimes, it becomes essential for a Business to scale
to realize it's true Business Value...
The decision "To Scale or not to Scale" is driven more by the attitude of the
Leader to dream bigger, visualize bigger and operate at a bigger scale...
Funding, Organization Capabilities are secondary.
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CREATE YOUR PORTFOLIO OF SOLUTIONS WITH
THE RIGHT MIX OF REALISM, OPTIMISM AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Do not put all your eggs in one basket!...
As your portfolio evolves in the form of Products/Services...
Maintain realism to ensure sustenance with 80% to 90% cash flow from
your performing and time-tested portfolio..
the remaining 10% to 20% can be targeted with your new
product/service innovations to gain traction, evolve and get
integrated in course of time as part of the key portfolio.
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THE EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUR MARKET SEGMENTATION WILL
DETERMINE YOUR INNOVATION AGILITY AND SUSTAINED GROWTH
Do not operate without a Clear Market Segmentation!
You can either use the 80:20 or 70:30 mix
for sustenance to opportunity
The greater pie should ensure sustenance of your revenue model
with clear product/service-market fit.
The lesser pie can be your opportunity/risk ... It could be a new or untapped
Market with undiscovered risks/opportunities mapped with a new/variant
product/service... Or It could be a tricky market where you aren't sure
of some of the Marketing Ps - like Pricing or Promotion formula -
but you still want to play the game based on your Business Gut.
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FOCUS ON BUILDING AN ECOSYSTEM BY COEXISTING,
RATHER THAN COMPETING, WITH VITAL STRATEGIC ALLIES
Organic growth is important and it bears the fruits of your
performing assets... However Inorganic growth is vital for
the strategic and radical growth of the business.
Be on the look out to Merge or Acquire Businesses for better synergy.
It's the most effective way to scale radically and increase your reach
in the local and the global scope of your business.
Create a Business Ecosystem of coexisting entities rather than
competing with possible strategic allies that could lead to
value and opportunity erosion with time.
THE CHRONICLE OF A MENTOR

11. THANK YOU!
THE CHRONICLE OF A MENTOR
BY MAHESH SHESHADRI
WWW.MAHESHSHESHADRI.COM
Mahesh Sheshadri is a Business Execution Evangelist and Mentor.
He collaborates with Business Leaders to empower them in their
pursuit of Business Execution Excellence.