“Efficiency” and “Effectiveness” are the two common words/terms which are used in daily work life. If you observe they are interchangeable in a speech and it still make sense. But they are not exactly the same.

I once heard a speech and the orator explained the difference between these two terms in a very simple and interesting way. He said that efficiency is “doing the work right” and effectiveness is “doing the right work“.

Isn’t that very simple? They look almost the same and it’s just the interchange 2 words, but there is a big difference…

Everyone has to be efficient. There is no option for other than everyone to do their work right. Effectiveness is an action by a leader. It is important for a leader to be effective.

Let me illustrate with an example. Let’s consider sports as in the game of soccer, all the 10 players have to be efficient but the captain has to be effective. The captain should decide who should play and in which position should each player play. The captain should plan the strategies by being aware of the strengths of their own team and the weakness of the opponents.

The point to be noted here is that both efficiency and effectiveness are indispensable and none of them can be compromised. They are inseparable like the two sides of the same coin.

The EFFECTIVENESS of an individual can be judged by how EFFICIENTLY they manage the resources that are available to them.

Leaders, go ahead and Efficiently check your Effectiveness!

They say that “the grass always looks greener on the other side.” This may be an old phrase, but when we apply it to entrepreneurship, it assumes a newer and a more relevant meaning.

Whenever we look at a garden we are in awe of its beauty and greenery. It is a human trait for people to admire and appreciate beautiful things. If we analyze, we will realize that every garden is man-made, unlike forests and deserts, which are God given.

When you see beautiful things, you get beautiful thoughts and your action is based on that. You also have choice, in this case it could be

1. To become a part of the beautiful garden which you see.
2. To transform the brown patch of your land into a beautiful garden which others admire and want to be in.
3. To look for a brown patch of land those belongs to others and help transform that into a beautiful garden.

‘Not to do anything about it’ is the other choice; which I am not focusing on.

What’s your choice?

Company is like a garden with full of life, it is man-made. It’s an experience of its kind to be a part of a wonderful creation itself. Creating something new is the very essence of entrepreneurship. Choice #2 or #3 is the choice of an Entrepreneur and choice #1 is the choice of a follower.

“Entrepreneurs are trendsetters, not followers“ – Naveen Lakkur

Create a great garden and it needs to be green. The color green signifies prosperity…

A saying ‘learn to walk before running’ is very well known and it is very obvious that ‘learn to stand firm before walking’. That’s the maturity process to RUN and it’s important to ‘learn running fast before flying’.

Let me apply my startup experience with the above analogy for running a business.

When we analyze and look back at the growth of big corporations and successful companies, we can see that they grew up in stages.

Every start-up is like a new-born baby. It passes through different stages before it becomes a behemoth. Startup goes through 5 stages to be successful, which I would like to call as the “Business Maturity Model”. The 5 stages are:

# Initiate - This stage lays the foundation, when the company is getting a feel of the market and finding its feet in the corporate arena with an idea and a purpose.

# Build - Here, the company is looking at building the set of competencies for which it would like to be known for.

# Sustain - The Company seeks to continuously prove itself on the defined domains and accomplish more. Attaining a level, to live on its own.

# Grow - After the entity is known for something and it has made a name, it can further consolidate its position by becoming one of the top companies in the market in that space.

# Expand - Once a company has grown, it can expand atleast in 2 ways. Firstly, it can grow in the newer pastures vertically by expanding to newer spaces. Secondly, it can grow horizontally by covering more ground with higher market share in the complementing space. There is no looking back here as the startup no longer is considered as one and it has taken off!!

Often many of these stages may be slow and painful but in the long run it is worth the effort because the ultimate result is so fulfilling.

“Success is tempting, but there is no shortcut to it!” – Naveen Lakkur

‘The Depth’ as the third dimension adds more life into the flat world with two dimensions. Let’s go little deep and see how this concept is applicable to entrepreneurship.

Ambition is the third dimension which adds depth to the other dimensions The Intelligence and The Emotion. Some of the qualities of these dimensions can be illustrated as:

Intelligence – manifestation of his/her talent to become an entrepreneur. Intelligence attributes to hard skills, the qualities include:

# Innovation

# Skills

# Techniques

# Usage of Tools

# Knowledge Acquisition and Application

Emotion- This attributes to the soft skills of an entrepreneur. The qualities include:

# Love

# Relationship Building and Management

# Caring

# Positive Approach and Strong mental attitude

# Respect

# Passion

# Ethics

Ambition- It embodies the very spirit of entrepreneurship. Ambition adds depth to Intelligence and Emotions. The qualities include:

# Thinking Big

# Setting Own Expectations High

# Building Fame

# To Solve Problems

# Creating Wealth for self and all stake holders.

# Growing People and their Careers

Continue your journey to go deeper…