Argument Vs. Opinion: How do You Negotiate?

The thing to know before negotiating is: its not about winning; its about compromise. This is no secret. The thing about a successful negotiation is that everybody comes out of it feeling like a winner. That is the secret. If even one party feels like a loser, it is not a successful negotiation- because if you feel like a loser, you don't buy into the followup action and you don't trust the other party - ever! That's how we are.
How do you negotiate?
Do you distinguish between an argument and an opinion? Keep personality, judgement and value systems out of it? Approximating Samuel Johnson - opinion is like an arrow shot from a bow; as strong as the man who draws it. "Argument is like an arrow from a cross-bow, which has equal force though shot by a child.... You cannot help paying regard to their arguments, if they are good." Conduct negotiation with arguments, not opinions. Arguments stand on their own (like proofs in geometry) and open doors for learning for all parties and in taking the discussion forward. Opinions are shutouts implying judgement, a value, around which there can be no acceptable compromise, thus forcing the other party to get further entrenched into their starting position. To help yourself do this in real time, enter a negotiation with the idea that you will learn at least one new thing. Identify assumptions and preconceived notions (consultants call it frames of reference) if you can before getting into a negotiation.
Fortunately, on the way to acquiring a win-win mindset, there is immediate help in the form of value neutral language. Yes, watch your words. Is a value judgement inherent in the word? Get rid of it. One person's irritant is another's joy. A rose bush in a wheat-field is a weed but a wheat-stalk in a rose garden is also a weed. Pollution implies bad stuff but emission is value neutral (emission can be good or bad, e.g. breathing is a good emission).
And lastly, when a negotiation fails, it is generally a failure of process - since nobody goes into a negotiation unless desirous of a solution (the other type is called posturing :-) or just to lose. So when things do fail, let it go; don't let it stop you from going back to the table.
Relationships allow you to work things out, even becoming stronger in the process. A negotiation is the first investment in building a relationship.

Media for Social Change Initiatives - $25,000; Deadline Jan 20

Ashoka’s Changemakers is sponsoring an initiative that focuses on using media to change the world. It is a tremendous opportunity to showcase your idea and could be the seed funding needed to start 2010 off right.

The opportunity is open for anyone and everyone.

Last year, aside from the two $25,000 winners, so many of the finalists who got to make their pitch found investors and made invaluable connections.

It’s simple to participate: the WeMedia PitchIt! Challenge website has all the details an entrant would need. They can access the entry form by clicking the “enter an idea” light bulb. They’ll need a free Changemakers account and it takes less than a minute to get one. The deadline is really quickly approaching on January 20th, 2010. It’s a chance not to be missed! Only 8 days left to apply.

Social Entrepreneurship Challenge Competition

BASES Social E-Challenge: The Social Entrepreneurship Challenge is a business plan competition for entrepreneurial ventures that effect social change. Participants range from For-profit businesses with a strong sense of social responsibility to Nonprofits with sustainable revenue-generation models. These companies all have a positive impact on our society and the environment. The Social E-Challenge provides participants with $50,000 in total final round prizes, as well as the resources and training to launch their startups: mixers, workshops, mentorship, and individual feedback from renowned judges.

Past winners include Kiva.org, D.Light Design, re:motion designs, and Samasource.

Info session: Wednesday, January 13th, 7:00-9:00pm, Stanford Paul Brest Hall, Munger Residence, Snacks and Drinks Provided. RSVP http://baseschallengeskickoff.eventbrite.com/

Not Money, Not Markets, Its a Mindset: Game Changing Technology

2010- start of a new decade and amidst all the hype about the decade that was (best, worst, etc.) a newsitem that caught my eye wasTata's launch of a water filter (Swach- means clean in Hindi) for rural poor (less than Rs. 1,000 or $21.50) which needs no electricity or running water. "It took over a decade of research but it is opening up a complete new market said Tata Chemicals' boss R. Mukundan".

What's a decade? Nothing - when you think about the global problem that is healthcare and the billions spent on treating poverty associated diseases that affect 5 billion people - a decade of research seems really worthwhile. Renewable Eenergy and healthcare are supposed to be the new growth areas for business, yet how many corporations are getting into the space with innovation in mind?

Tata is getting into the lower cost housing market (I hope with innovation) and has already reset expectations for fuel efficiency and renewable energy use with the Nano car. So, I expect their filter will also generate financial as well as social benefit and be good for the environment. It took about 44 scientists at Tata Research Development and Design Centre, a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Service and has the potential to save billions in wasted spend while helping billions of people.

So why is it that technology for the next billion customer seems to be such a stretch for the world? We cite lack of capital (where's the ROI?) or markets (how can the poor pay?) and put off climate change concerns.

But maybe the new decade starting with 2010 will be a decade when profit, people and planet - all will matter in playing the game. The fact that large corporations are getting into it is significant - they have capital as well as the marketing to reach large numbers of consumers.

After reading about the filter I also read about the cheapest refrigerator ($69) - the portable, top-opening unit weighs only 7.8kg, uses high-end insulation to stay cool for hours without power and consumes half the energy used by regular refrigerators - from the Indian conglomerate Godrej & Boyce. And then there is Vihaan Networks Ltd (VNL), the Indian telecom company whose solar powered base station can be built for one-tenth the cost of a regular one, is profitable at just $2 of revenue per user per month and will go to market in India, Africa and Southeast Asia. VNL is one among 26 global firms selected by the World Economic Forum as "Technology Pioneers 2010" -- the most innovative start-ups from around the world that will have a critical impact on the future of business and society.

So, I start the decade full of hope. If we can imagine it we can do it- Innovation is a mindset that changes the game - markets will follow - even developed markets.

The HP Phenomenon: Why does HP Matter?

Monday, Dec 7, 2009 I (and a few hundred others) went to the Computer History Museum's book discussion event "Chuck House in Conversation with KQED's Dave Iverson- The HP Phenomenon: Innovation and Business" not so much to learn but to participate in the "feel good" aura that HP themed events seem to create. And I was not disappointed. Along with meeting several fellow HP'ers I enjoyed reliving HP stories. But the last Iverson question, "why does HP matter?" really got me thinking. As people know, I am a "dust to dust, ashes to ashes" kind of a person so why do I care that the HP story be told? Why do several hundred, maybe several thousands care?
After a great deal of thought, I know now why I care. And maybe why every leader should care. The answer as simple in concept as it is complex to execute and it is:
HP brought out the very best in everybody (employees, customers) - for innovation, for just being a better person, a better citizen. Because this is not easy to explain, we call it the HP way (respect for individual etc.) but it is more than that. There was an institutional element to the HP way - management walked the talk. Thus as a entry level software engineer, I stayed in the same hotel as my division GM when I travelled for work and on more than one occasion travelled coach with him on flights. The week I joined HP (after almost 4 interviews and one year) we went on "work 5 day and get paid for 4" work day schedule (this is in the book) to avoid layoffs - not in our division which was doing fine but another part of the company. We did it happily. So did management. As Chuck said, decisions were bottom up - it was our policy - we knew that good times follow bad times and so on - nothing special. Equally important was the HP way impact on community - wherever HP operated. I remember once (pre-Euro days) travelling in Europe, crossing a country border, when 2 members in our party were missing official documents. The gun toting border guards, when they found we were HP employees let us pass - as if that is documentation enough of our honesty. Another time, a new employee in my group, got an apartment rental without references because "Oh, you work at HP - you must be a good person".
HP is a leader in innovation. HP is successful. We were successful. We could be good people and we would be successful.
Good = Success. That is the HP way and HP was living proof of it.
In these turbulent times, when we make compromises with our principles every day, The HP story, that if you do your best you (and the world) will be a better place, matters.
It is the All American story.

Microfinance 2.0: People + Technology investment

The fact that microfinance has been a successful business model for poverty alleviation is undisputed (operational quibbles notwithstanding). The reason is that Grameen bank turned conventional wisdom on its head and made the unbankable (people with no collateral) into safe banking bets. Once they proved that the model was financially sustainable - the world followed suit. Now we are even looking at IPO's for microfinance institutions like SKS and others. So what is next? If microfinance 1.0 was about betting on the innate entrepreneurship of people microfinance 2.0 will be about betting on technology (providing scale by lowering cost) for changing the world. A partnership with social entrepreneurs can pave the way because they typically look for sustainability and are technology savvy. Unfortunately, social capital is still hard to come by especially for social entrepreneurs involved in changing the rural economy through innovations in renewable energy (like solar for lighting) or education (e-content for education) or healthcare. Government institutions involved with rural development should especially take note as they can provide the scale and sustainability. The Jaipur foot is a good example of medical technology that got a boost from a government partnership. Right now when India is so visible in the climate change debate, by investing in companies bringing solar to rural - off grid areas - would strategic. Companies like SELCO, D.Light, Duron energy are good investments for microfinance or NABARD (Govt. banks). It has long been held that research is expensive and emerging economies need only be markets. This is no longer the case when technologies of the developed world do not scale to meet the needs of the emerging economies.

Revitalizing the Rural Economy- NREGS?

I am looking forward to my session ‘Revitalizing the Rural Economy’. The moderator for this session is Biswajit Sen. The session is scheduled for October 28, 2009 from 1600 to 1715 hrs at the Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi. The session brief is as follows:
“Various initiatives have been made to revitalize the rural economy and mainstream them into the promising economic growth. One of such example is the flagship large scale government program – NREGS. This programme is mandated to strengthen and boost the rural economy through ensuring minimum employability in the rural areas. Besides NREGS, NABARD, the lead bank especially targeting agriculture in India, has been leading various interventions to strengthen the rural economy, primarily the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund that has been instituted to boost the rural infrastructure. These different initiatives have been successful with their own set of challenges. This session envisages deliberating on the challenges of these initiatives and hence drawing on the learnings for future strategies.”
If you have ideas on the subject – its a good time to speak out – I am still formulating my final thoughts and recommendations

NRN VC Fund: Help those doing good work

A headline in my TOI (Times of India Friday Oct 23- I'm getting addicted to acronyms like all Indians) has made my day - yes its the one about Murthy (of Infosys fame) setting up a $36 million VC fund saying "entrepreneurship is the only cure for poverty and job creation". In India, family businesses still rule. If its not the M&M saga its headlines like "Prez's son leads the baba log charge" (about Pres. Patil's son winning assembly seat- politics is business) or how 5th generation Kapoor is set to be the next bollywood star (entertainment). So a move like this by one of the most respected people in India signals change. But it is the fine print that excites me. Murthy has said he will invest in the fields of basic health care, education and nutrition signalling that long term investment is also a priority. Additionally his reason for setting up the fund is: "there are people doing good work in India." He wants to support them and help them grow rather than start yet another effort himself and reinvent the wheel.
Good move Mr. Murthy - I am a fan of Good Capital.

Dancing in the Rain

Life is choice. Do I sit out the storm or learn to dance in the rain? Safe or Sorry? Bored or alive? It all depends on how you frame it. What if the storm lasts longer than the span of my life? What choice do I have? None. Life is not a choice. I must learn to dance. This is the technology and social impact conundrum. The digital divide is in your face 24 -7 in full color- on news channels and print and falsely interpreted as a choice of waiting technology to sort itself out. Get over it. There is no choice. Get engaged or get irrelevant. Use technology to lower cost, invent new paradigms, create new teaching models or just fun. Social entrepreneurs who want to use technology are tormented with the spectre of trying to find a solution (you can't eat technology) without understanding the problem - "if we wanted to eradicate poverty we would first have to understand the "reasons" behind poverty. otherwise what would happen is that the factors that had kept the rickshaw puller poor in the first place would operate over time to once again reduce him to poverty". Framed like this, it presents a false choice. We can't predict time- how long the storm will last. We understand poverty as we get engaged and try to dance. We will learn but we may not ride out the storm. Si there a choice? I got the comment in connection to my recent posts about microfinance and education. What do you think?

Mobile Phones for Literacy? Launch of Kontax

Mobile phones are the revolution in emerging economies. In the past year 128m new mobile subscriptions were signed up in India, 89m in China and 96m across Africa. Mobile Marvels, a special report on telecommunications from The Economist, is compelling in its detail about how handsets are helping even the poorest of the poor - through sustainable and scalable business models. Today. For the future the interesting possibility is mobile broadband Internet decoupled from the computer. What if educational content could be delivered over the phone, or a device held in the palm (like iPhone,) not the ear? Mobile affordability means, in parallel, we need research on how to use mobile phones for education. At Digital Vision program we had several projects exploring education using mobile phones. One of them just went live. Steve Vosloo (DVF 2007) of Shuttleworth Foundation writes:
Just wanted to let you know about the launch of the world's first m-novel written in English and isiXhosa (an indigenous South African language). It's a teen mystery story set in Cape Town about four graffiti writing friends. Read the press release for more info at http://tinyurl.com/kontax-pr2 Or read the first chapter of the story at http://kontax.mobi/ (on your PC or from your WAP-enabled phone). Every day for 21 days there'll be a new chapter. Enjoy. I think m-novels have the potential to be big in Africa and want to explore this space (from a practical and research perspective).
Literacy is directly coupled to creativity, innovation and hope. And education is a big market at the right price point. We already see innovation even in the computer space (there's a $10 computer just announced) and netbooks are overtaking computers in the emerging economies. Projects like Kontax are a beacon of hope.