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Category: culture

Who has the authority?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Anjani runs a growing small business with 5 employees and recently one of her employees received a better job offer from a competitor. Authority question : Is it Anjani, the employee who received the offer, the other 4 employees, or the competitor?

Arjoo decides to run for local elections. Authority question : Is it Arjoo, her voters, the media, her election team, or the election regulators?

Arun’s company is funded by investors and he has quarterly growth targets to meet. Authority question : Is it Arun, the investors, the company’s employees, or the company’s customers?

Atul runs a successful restaurant. Authority question : Is it Atul, his chefs, his staff, customers, food authorities, or restaurant association?

Amita has a strong social media following. Authority question : Is it Amita, her social media followers, the social media platform, investors of the social media platform, the regulators, or her internet provider?

Do you have a Company Alumni Network?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Companies go through all sorts of changes in their journey.

One of the biggest and costly changes is personnel change.

When experienced employees leave the company for better opportunities, it can take some time to fill the vacancy or get someone ready internally to take that position.

The most untapped and available opportunity that companies have not considered or used is keeping in touch with the employee(s) who is about to leave or have left the company in good terms.

How about creating your Company’s Alumni Network?

The Company’s Alumni Network would consist of anyone who has left the company on good terms and wants to stay in touch with the company and its developments. Most employees have good and healthy professional relationships while working at a company and want to see their team and company succeed even if they decide to pursue other opportunities.

Similar to a college’s alumni network, the company’s alumni network will keep the previous employees engaged and updated on the company’s progress. The company can create a newsletter that is regularly circulated with the alumni network.

Imagine the short and long term benefits of a Company Alumni Network : building goodwill with previous employees, generate possible referrals for employees and new businesses, possibly bring back experienced employees who want to rejoin and much more!

That happy place

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

There was a place called NotTooFarAway.

In NotTooFarAway, lived two groups of people.

One group lived in the city and the other group lived on the beach.

A group from a nearby place called, CuriousEyes looked at the above two groups and wondered:

Are the beach group more happy than the city group?

If the city group make more money than the beach group, who is more happy?

If the beach group visit and enjoy the city more than the city group who are too busy to enjoy the city, which group is happier?

If the city group who have the luxury to visit the beach at any time, would that make them happy?

If the beach group make more than the average salary in their region, are they happy?

If the city group make more than the average salary in their region, are they happy?

If the beach group enjoy their environment more than the city group, who is happier?

If both the beach group and the city group have the same income level, who is happy?

If neither of the group compared themselves to the other group, would that make both of them happy?

Greatness through Giving

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We can achieve greatness by focusing our energy on helping and supporting others.

When we focus on helping others through what we can give, we put good energy into the universe.

To achieve our goals, we collaborate with people because greatness is not a sole journey or destination.

The more energy you commit into inspiring and helping others, the more you will receive in return.

How are you inspiring and helping others today?

1,000 business cards

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We were new to entrepreneurship.

My friend was starting to sell custom made jewelry.

He reached out to me to help him with business development work.

One of the first purchases we made was to put an order of 1000 business cards, each.

Well we ended up using probably 50 a piece in the next few months.

Sometimes we can get caught up doing all the fancy activities that seem important at first but not doing much to increase sales or build a business!

The island without sandals

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

There was an island called Without Sandals.

A budding salesperson from a nearby Town A visited the island and saw that no one at this island was wearing sandals. The salesperson went back to the town and concluded that there are no opportunities to sell any sandals because no one would wear them.

Another budding salesperson from a nearby Town B visits the island and makes the same initial observation that no one in the island was wearing sandals. The salesperson goes back to town and concludes that there is an abundance of opportunity to sell sandals in this island because everyone can wear them.

Coffee Convoz

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

There are many amazing coffeeshops located throughout Nepal. From the Himalayan Java outlets (15+) and Redmud Coffee (6+) that have opened up around the Kathmandu valley, there is a growing number of new coffeeshops that have now blossomed in Nepal.

Coffee Convoz, an Instagram page is visiting coffeeshops in Nepal and US and creating posts from their cafe visits.

Although tea culture is still omnipresent in Nepal, coffee culture has picked up a lot of steam in the last several years. These new coffeeshops offer very good coffee, food, and a lot of care has been given to its overall ambience as well. Coffeeshops won’t replace tea shops anytime soon nor completely. However, we will see a few more coffee franchises such as Himalayan Java and Redmud Coffee opening up outlets throughout Nepal and abroad. In fact, Himalayan Java already has opened outlets abroad in Toronto (Canada), Nebraska (US), Minnesota (US), and Seattle (US).

The future of Nepali coffee looks promising domestically and internationally.

Beyond the Comfort Zone

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

In our comfort zones, we tend to feel at ease, almost no anxiety, stress free, and safe.

In the boundaries of our comfort zones, we tend to feel some or a lot of anxiety, stress, and get defensive.

Do we all have comfort zones? If so, do we stay in those zones or go beyond them?

Of course, we all have our comfort zones in different areas of our lives and activities that we do. As humans, we operate from a place where we make decisions from what we know, feel comfortable doing, and go about our personal and professional lives.

However, if those same comfort zones are limiting our own growth or from allowing us to reach our full potential, wouldn’t we want to go beyond them?

Imagine you have been selected as a member of your varsity basketball team. Your basketball coach sees a lot of potential in you and provides regular feedback. There are parts of your game that are already good and you capitalize on them. Then there are other parts of your game that you are not mostly aware of but your coach sees where and how you can improve on them. After each varsity practice, the coach comes up to you and gives you constructive feedback on your improvement areas. You listen to the coach but you are not REALLY LISTENING to your coach. You have a feeling that you are already good in certain areas and that’s the part the coach should praise you on. Yet here you are listening to the coach just talking about where you can be in the future and keeps going on and on the improvement areas, not so much your strength areas. After a few of these feedback sessions, you finally get the urge to just tell the coach that you are doing everything you can and get defensive because you don’t feel appreciated or valued by the coach. You have excuses and don’t take any responsibility or ownership.

Now what can happen next?

As a player, you can reframe the conversation with the coach as a way to see that the feedback is for your own growth and if you have want to reach the next level, you should do the activities the coach recommends you to do. Or you can stay defensive and feel entitled to think that you have already reached your potential and the coach doesn’t see that? Or just quit the varsity basketball team?

Comfort zones are there and will continue to be an integral part of each of us. Yet, if you want to live out your AUTHENTIC GREATNESS, how often will you push yourself out of your comfort?

A recommended read related to this topic “How to Leave Your Comfort Zone and Enter Your ‘Growth Zone“

Getting through the data noise

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

An authentic brand story will help your company get through the data noise.

How much data noise is really out there?

Domo’s Data Never Sleeps 10.0 presents some numbers.

Some notes from Domo:

Over the last ten years, digital engagement through social media, streaming content, online purchasing, peer-to-peer payments and other activities has increased hundreds and even thousands of percentage points.

As of April 2022, the internet reaches 63% of the world’s population, representing roughly 5 billion. 

According to Statista, the total amount of data predicted to be created, captured, copied and consumed globally in 2022 is 97 zettabytes, a number projected to grow to 181 zettabytes by 2025.

There will be more data generated in the coming days, months, and years. How will your startup or corporation get through the data noise? Will your company keep spending more money on ads, social media marketing , PR and others? Or will you invest in a long term strategy such as identifying your authentic brand story and leveraging it?

Will you have the audacity to wave ’em off?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks waved off his teammates to take the game winning shot in Toronto against the Toronto Raptors on February 14, 2012.

Why is this a big deal?

It’s a big deal because we witnessed an Asian man in the NBA have the confidence to say that I’ve got this and led his team to victory. We need to see more visible Asian role models in sports, media, colleges/universities and workplaces have the confidence to lead just like Jeremy did that night on February 14. These individuals have put in the work, earned it and now it’s time to take credit for it. It’s been long overdue.

I could think of few questions to start empowering the current and next generation of Asians to have the audacity to wave ’em off (said in positive sense) when the time comes.

Are we encouraging children to speak with confidence at home and at school?

What’s the mindset that the parents and culture are creating for their children?

Who are the kids’ current role models and why?

Are the children and youth able/given the opportunity to see more individuals that look like them in sports/media/colleges/universities and workplaces?

Are parents and mentors having meaningful conversations and discussions around documentaries such as 38 at the Garden?

I’d love to hear other thoughts and suggestions on how to empower the current and next generation of Asians.

Inspired to write this blog after reading Dave Lu’s The Audacity to Wave ‘Em Off and watching the documentary 38 at the Garden. 

Transitioning from an employee to an employer

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Entrepreneurship can be a beautiful journey.

Many individuals enter the workforce and work for several years before striking out on their own. Some individuals go straight into entrepreneurship before working for anyone else. There are several questions/scenarios that an aspiring entrepreneur(s) considers when deciding to stay in the current job (if working) to going completely in on their business opportunity/venture.

Few of the questions that can come up during this transition phase are:

Is this the right time to quit the job and focus completely on the business opportunity/venture?

Do I really need to quit my job to work on this business opportunity? Can I do both at the same time if I prioritized my time better?

What is the minimum monthly revenue I should be earning from my business before leaving my job to do the venture full-time?

How will I manage my daily/monthly/yearly expenses before the business really takes off?

When will I realistically get my first customer?

At what point will I actually make more money from doing entrepreneurship than when I was working for someone else?

There’s no exact science or art in when the best time is to launch a business. People launch businesses at all different times/seasons/economic cycles etc. Companies have started in recessions, economic growth cycles, pre-Covid era, during Covid era, post-Covid era. Here are some numbers around Small-Business Statistics. Note that 4.3 million new business applications were filed in 2020.

more authentic, less perfect

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

There’s been an idea or belief that has been with me for a while. It’s that for some reason, life has to be “perfect.” It could have started in childhood, school or just the culture I grew up in.

Not being able to achieve “perfection”, it created anxiety or stress for no reason. I could not define what a “perfect” life is or why I needed to live that way anyway.

Now I’m focusing towards living a more authentic life than a perfect one.

Is success really “self-made”?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We often see the below headline in the media (blogs, magazines, articles etc.) to describe an individual or founders’ success.

They were self-made billionaires. They were self-made entrepreneurs.

Then the rest of the media coverage goes something like this…

Person A’s company is now worth a billion dollars. Having started in her garage four years ago, Person A has disrupted the industry and won every industry award.

Person B had a dream to change the industry and with another co-founder, they developed a MVP over a weekend. Now their work has become an industry standard and they are pioneers in helping to move the industry forward.

Using the word “self-made” to describe individuals running successful organizations does not provide the full picture. We have fallen so much in love with the narrative of a solo entrepreneur or visionary who did it all. From having nothing at all to now running one of the biggest so and so company in the world. However, it’s rarely one individual who does everything and becomes successful. There is always a team who is helping to run the company and making sure everything is operating as smoothly as possible. That team could be a handful of individuals or a few hundred or thousand. Yet the credit or the media coverage usually goes to the founder(s) who took the risk, “sacrificed” almost everything, and made an impact.

Maybe it’s about time we find a different word to describe this type of success than calling them “self-made.”

What’s a word that celebrates the individual’s work plus highlights the contribution of the team?

the “perfect” work

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Seth Godin’s blog today was Unbeatable vs Perfect. In it, he states that Google has killed more than 200 projects over the last few decades. They fail all the time. MORE THAN 200 PROJECTS!!!

Over the years, I knew Google discontinued a few products/services here and there but did not expect more than 200. Often we see a company, professional, or industry expert present an almost “flawless” or “perfect” product/service out in the world. We expect our work to be like theirs or close to it as possible. We forget that we are on our own journey to greatness. There is no need to compare, contrast, or feel deflated. What you can do from the work you see out there is to draw inspiration, motivation and keep going at your pace. There is “never” a perfect version of something and there is “always” room for improvement.

If Google waited for the “perfect” project/product/service to ship, we won’t be talking about them in 2022. They launched in 1998 and are still relevant to us more than ever before!

Also if I waited for the “perfect” blog to post, this post would be in my Drafts and you won’t be reading it at this moment. Thanks for reading my “not-so-perfect” blog.

You’ll be the co-captain of the varsity team!

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

That’s what my high school basketball coach told me after having joined the team just a few weeks ago. Basketball was still a new sport to me. I had not played much basketball growing up but fell in love with the sport instantly.

My coach knew my grades and wanted to set an example to the other teammates that academic excellence was equally important as your on court basketball excellence. She saw the potential in me and made me the co-captain of the team. She made our star varsity player the other co-caption of the team. In practice, I was paired with the best basketball player we had on the team and he taught me better techniques in dribbling, shooting free throws, and taking jump shots. During our lunch break, I would tutor our best basketball player in math. My coach had orchestrated a genius plan to harness our individual strengths and use that to help members of the team. Since I was new to the game of basketball, she encouraged me to pick up handball to improve my hand to eye coordination. She was always looking out for me and I thank her so much!

After my high school varsity team experience, I played intramural basketball in college, pick up games, and even annual basketball tournaments. The basketball court is where I belong. In a way, playing basketball is a language for me that enables me to connect with individuals from all walks of life, from various corners of the world, and feel a sense of belonging. My high school basketball coach helped me find a place where I felt a sense of belonging.

What will your Ted Talk be about?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Imagine receiving an invitation to give a Ted Talk. What will your Ted Talk be about?

Each of us have unique experiences in the world and these experiences shape our perspectives, thoughts, and behaviors. Each of us has an authentic story and it deserves to be heard. There are many platforms out there to share your story and Ted is one of them.

In your Ted Talk, what will you focus on? what stories will you share? what experiences have shaped who you are today? If you had only 15 minutes stage time, how will you use that time effectively? What is your gift to the world?

The creative narrative

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

“She is so creative.”

“He is really creative.”

“That’s the creative team.”

Creativity is hard to define. Each one of us is creative – that creativity can be seen at our homes, workplaces, the hobbies we have, the activities we do, and it can be anywhere and everywhere.

What type of environment helps in facilitating creativity could be a more interesting question to ask. In my experience, the initial moments of feedback given to an individual who is exploring her or his creativity is critical. In those initial moments, the words and behavior (feedback/response) absorbed by the individual will shape how he or she sees creativity and the world around them. These earlier experiences can form a narrative and a fixed or growth mindset can be set towards creativity which can have a profound effect in the individual’s ensuing years. Creativity is a muscle and it gets better through exercises and engagements.

All of us are creative in our own unique ways. Change the narrative, change the outcome!

Your Authentic Greatness

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Each individual has internal superpowers. These superpowers are unique and developed through our personal experiences, environment, and evolution. Storytelling is one of our authentic superpowers.

Each individual can define “success” in their own terms and go towards reaching their authentic greatness.

If each of us realize and tap into our internal superpowers, live our authentic greatness, then collectively we will create a better and evolved world.

Then what else do you see, Arjuna?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

“What do you see?” I see the eye of the bird.

“Do you see the tree?” No.

“Do you see the branch?” No.

“Do you see the bird?” No.

“Then what else do you see, Arjuna?” Nothing, I see only the round black eye of the bird.

Excerpt from The Mahabharata – A conversation between Arjuna and Dronacharya

Your company’s “Chief Question-Asker”

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

“The most important thing business leaders must do today is to be the “chief question-asker” for their organization” says Dev Patnaik of Jump Associates.

Patnaik says that “the first thing most leaders need to realize is, they’re really bad at asking questions. The business executives rose up through the corporate ranks because “they were good at giving answers. But it means they’ve had little experience at formulating questions.” Without the company leadership setting the tone and culture to the rest of the organization that asking questions are important and critical to the business growth, it’s no surprise that the employees are not asking any or enough questions. If the employees who understand the company’s products/services are not asking any or enough questions to the customers/end users for feedback, or asking questions to explore new products/services in the market, the company will become stagnant and the competition will take over.

Adam Bryant, The New York Times Corner Office Column writer says that “the best leaders understand that asking open, exploratory questions can help them figure out what’s coming and where new opportunities lie, so that they can lead their company in new directions.” Leaders have to show vulnerability and humility to ask questions which is more important than upholding the persona of the leader who must “be all-knowing, decisive, and in possession of infallible gut instincts, all of which leaves little room for questioning.”

Are you the company’s “Chief Question-Asker”?

Quotes are from “A More Beautiful Question” by Warren Berger

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