For the uninitiated Bhishma is one of the long standing characters from the famous Indian epic of Mahabharata. He was the elder statesman who owed his allegiance to the throne of the kingdom of Hastinapur. Irrespective of the virtues or vices of the one who ascended the throne, he bound himself to fight by the throne.
Icchha Mrytu powers COO – Bhisma
For the sake of simplicity let us appoint Dhritarasthra as the CEO of Hastinapur, Duryodhan his son as the next in line and for all practical purposes, Bhishma as the COO – a very aligned one too. One very powerful blessing he had was that of “Ichha mrytyu”
“Ichha” meaning choice, “mrytyu” meaning death. He could choose his time of death.
Healthy & Agile
This meant that he needed to ensure he was, physically, mentally and spiritually on top of his health – which I assume he did – to shoulder responsibilities that the CXO role demanded. This obviously gave him the vision to see things others missed, forewarn his CEO and remain agile.
Ichha Karya : Powers, Creates, Transmits value.
All of us in corporate life now seem to be blessed with “Ichha karya” Ichha meaning choice, karya meaning work. One has more options to choose i.e grow-up the hierarchy, step out to start-up, not join India Inc and be an entrepreneur from day 0. Not that these choices did not exist earlier. Technology has catalysed and thrown up interesting options like:
1 Any one from anywhere in the world can create products / services and sell wherever one wishes to ( regulations withstanding )
2 Goods in transit can be tracked, optimising time to produce and time to market
3 Decision makers can beam in to approve, travel times can be
These options are powering creation, transmission and movement of things that Customers value at a pace faster than ever.
Value distills across the globe
- In the last 10 years, 700 million devices of iPhone and its 8 evolving versions are being used to track health, monitor kids, control the air conditioner at home while we’re at work.
- Uber over the last 6 years is providing more than 1 million rides per day and is valued at over $50 billion, without owning a vehicle.
- Closer home Sikkim has turned itself into the first and fully organic state in the country, and North-east is proposed to become the organic export hub of the country.
- Akin to the green revolution of the 60s or Amul India’s Milk Revolution, the next gen of “economic revolutions” is going to be fuelled by the clusters smart cites that are getting created in India.
Ichha Karya & the Gig Economy
Last week PWC launched an online market place, matching freelances with internal projects. They call this market place “Talent Exchange”. A market place of this type will allow each of us to exercise “ Ichha karya” in this case to choose a choice of work
Just imagine, the number of folks who can work or continue working in various formats:-
- post retirement
- youth who want to work on project basis
- DINKs who wish to earn and travel the world.
- Women who are on a break can continue to put their knowledge and skills to work.
There are market places and there are opportunities to invoke your creative powers to create a new market place. Entrepreneurism will give rise to more blue oceans and age truly becomes just a number when the world seeks you out for value you bring in.
Its time!
@mittispeaks | @WorkAppsInc |