THE WILDCARD OUTLIER

THE WILD CARD OUTLIER

I was a win away. It was almost there.

The last men standing were Daksha and I. Partners and competitors, in a way.

This was the second year of college and the first technical paper presentation competition.

I think this was under the IEEE umbrella. Entries were asked for and the finalists were selected.

Daksha and I were in the final. Each prepared quite well for the presentation. Those were the days of the Overhead Projectors. Slides had to be prepared and we had worked hard on it.

There were three contestants in the final and the two of us were ahead by a mile. I was happy with my presentation. Daksha did a good job as well. The professors went into a huddle and then Prof Muthukumaran announced to the attendees, all sitting in the Communications lab, that there will be one more competitor.

In breezed this guy. He had neither the slides nor any presentation. He went on to use the board to take a session on the formation of the internet, DARPA and the future. He wowed the audience with the science fiction mumbo jumbo he threw at us. We were all in awe and he walked away with the first prize, leaving Daksha and me with the wooden spoon.

The winner did not linger on long. It was more like he came, he spoke, he conquered. And he vanished. He wasn’t much of a socialiser then; a start change from who he is now.

He was “WILD CARD Venkat”!

When I relook at that particular episode, I can see that he breezed in as an outlier - someone not expected to participate but who came in like a Dhoni to blitz away.

Something like this happens in our life, business and career as well. We need to be prepared for such wild card events, to whatever extent we can!

The Outlier Marketer recommends:

"Loon Shots" by Safi Bahcall"

Review:

How do you build a team? How do you give them license to go crazy? What do you have to look for as a leader? Are you process driven? Are you called system driven or outcome driven? How do you get into micro and macro engagement? It all has to do with how you build your team, how do you build that innovation culture and how do you aim for the sky with some loony ideas.

As experienced entrepreneurs know, so many ideas and technologies now recognized as transformative began with practically no resemblance to the final product they grew into, nurtured by champions who never imagined their ultimate market. So use disruptive innovation to analyse history, nurture loon shots to test beliefs. For all you crazies out there, I would definitely recommend this book.

Rating:

Clarity of thought - 4 | Writing Style - 4 | Connect - 4 | Author Credibility - 4 | Uniqueness of Topic - 5 | Outcome - 4 | Title of the Book - 5 | Research - 5 | Book Cover - 5 | Author Website/ Resources - 4

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