How to Make a Dent in the Universe

How To Make A Dent In The Universe
Davender Gupta CD, MS, MBA
Industrial Technology Advisor – National Research Council of Canada
Lecturer in Entrepreneurship – ESG-UQAM
Social Business Creation – HEC Montréal – July 30 2021
©2021 Davender Gupta. All rights reserved. 1
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2
You have the power to
change your situation…
AND THE WORLD!
©2021 Davender Gupta. All rights reserved.
What Steve Jobs meant…
You CAN change the status quo…
…when you’re willing to take big risks
…with full commitment
…and a focus on making a difference

What is Innovation
3
New idea,
process, service,
offer
Makes an
impact that
people value

The Heart Of
Business
… is creating a relationship
of trust between myself
and my customer by
exchanging something of
value towards a
win-win result

Business is…
A system that:
• Creates Value
• Delivers Value
• Captures Value
5
MY
Ideas
Passions
Talents
Dreams
Skills
Resources
NO MEANS
ADDED
VALUE
Needs
Desires
Passions
Dreams
OF OTHERS
NO DEMAND NO ENERGY

What is “value”?
• Utility = how well your offer solves a problem or satisfies a desire
• Impact = how your offer changes the life of the user
• Worth = how much someone is willing to trade for (invest in)your
offer
• Social Value = how your offer impacts beyond the user:
stakeholders, broader community, environment

Where do ideas come from?
7
Personal experience
Experience
“What if?” “What’s next?”
Extrapolation
Observing other people’s situation
Empathy
Imagination, inspiration
Excitement

What is your idea?
• Vision of what you want to do
• The "void" (need) you want to fill
• Are you problem-driven or
solution-driven? (there are
benefits/drawbacks of each
approach)
• What is the WOW in your idea?
8

It’s all about the
IMPACT
Most ideas are too small to support a big impact
9

How to make a bigger impact?
Understand the
PROBLEM SPACE
Understand the
SOLUTION SPACE

Define the Problem Space
• Avoid starting with a solution
• Are you trying to “boil the ocean”?
• Why has « no one else » responded to the problem?

What are your
KEY
ASSUMPTIONS
about the
problem?
Why
Who
W
hat
W
hen
HoW

What makes
you want to
solve this
problem?
Purpose Passion
People Profit

Purpose
What is the impact
you are creating?
What is the change in
people’s lives because
what you do?
How is the world a
better place because of
what you do?
If you were not being paid
any money to do this,
would you still be doing it?
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www.slido.com #411941

Why do you want
to do this?
• What are your personal values
and priorities
• How does this idea fit with your
personal life mission
• How do you define "success" for
yourself?
• How does this idea fit with your
personal philosophy and values?
• Why are YOU the right person to
make this happen?
15

Passion
The creative
tension
between the
future you want
to create and
the present
moment
16

Finding the WOW
• Does it matter?
• find the emotion
• Does it go to the core issues?
• find the transformation
• What will you learn?
• Whatever the outcome,
if you learn, you win
• Is it prototypable?
• fast evolution cycle
• sell, build, deliver
• Does it unleash PASSION? 17

People
Stakeholders:
Anyone or
anything
touched by your
idea, whether
or not any
money
is exchanged
18

Stakeholders
Level 3: Impacted, Environment
Level 2: Deciders, Influencers
Level 1: Users, customers

The Commons
Common Wealth
The assets (tangible
and intangible)
we share
Common Right
The agreements
(legal, custom,
practice, culture)
we share
Infrastructure Trust

Profit
The win-win
result, tangible
and intangible,
that enables both
parties to live
their full
potential.
21

Tangible and
Intangible
must balance
• Tangible Profit:
Money, goods, trade,
GDP
• Intangible Profit:
Health, happiness,
well-being, security

What makes
you want to
solve this
problem?
Purpose Passion
People Profit

Explore the Solution Space
Process
Outputs
Inputs
Inputs = resources available
Outputs = requirements of the solution
Process = ability to execute

The Power of
Constraints
What are the ASSUMPTIONS behind your solution
CONSTRAINTS CAUSE CREATIVITY
Without constraints, we default to what’s easiest
Constraints motivate to see beyond

If constraints are too tight…
Process
Outputs
Inputs

Beware of Bias, our natural tendency to…
On information that confirms our assumptions and beliefs
Focus
Evidence that contradicts our beliefs
Ignore or
diminish
Then find evidence to support it
Make a
decision

Challenge
your
assumptions
Experimentation:
Lean Methodology
Design Thinking
MVP – Minimal
Viable Product
What is the
ONE essential
element that
generates the
maximum of
your impact?

Innovation
30
Be inspired by:
Discovery Constraints The Four P’s
Responding to change in a creative
way – looking beyond the obvious
Technology Process Market Value

31
Discovering the insight
Discover
What we know
About what we
know (fact)
About what we
don’t know
(hypothesis)
What we don’t
know
About what we
know
(intuition)
About what we
don’t know
(insight)

Big Hairy Audacious Idea (Hedgehog Principle)
What you are
deeply
passionate about
What you
can be
the best
in the world at
What drives
your
economic
engine
BHAG
Mission, Vision, Values
Maximize Potential Game-Changing Results
“The fox knows many things, but the
hedgehog knows one big thing.”
- Isaiah Berlin

Your Idea Is Just
The Starting Point
An idea is like a block of smooth
marble, beautiful to the sight and
to the touch. However, the
purpose of a block of smooth
marble is to be broken. Your job is
to chisel away the stuff that's not
relevant in order to reveal the true
genius within.
- Michaelangelo

Find a need that beats your drum.
Create a plan, then make a dent.
Trust that your rewards will come.
And credit them as heaven sent.
- Peter Drucker
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Davender Gupta, MS, MBA
linkedin.com/in/coachdavender
slideshare.net/coachdavender
davender@davender.com
+1-514-448-1894

How to Make a Dent in the Universe

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