The third worry I talked about that evening was being blind-sided about the future. While it is true that one cannot really predict the future, it is also important to be able to anticipate the future. What I mean is that one has to build mental maps and models about tomorrows world so that one can instantiate the vision one has about the future.
I read a lot. I also read widely. Over the past five years, this reading (and concomitant thinking and writing) has helped build a framework to look at developments across various technologies and their impact. Out of this has emerged my view on the future which I have converted into bets into what we are doing in Netcore and other companies I have helped co-found or invested in (more on this in tomorrows Tech Talk).
As I result, I think of myself as the eyes and ears for these companies. It is almost my fiduciary duty to be able to place into context new developments that take place and sense how opportunities can be created from whats happening. The discipline of daily blogging helps in doing the reading and thinking. It takes time to build the mental models for tomorrows world, but I do believe that Ive managed to do this well over the past few years. The challenge now it to keep these updated as time goes in.
That is why I invest an hour a day in reading and writing. If I let this go for a few days, then Ill break what is a good habit built over the past few years. It is easy to break a habit but very difficult to build one. This daily time investment is perhaps what I think has been the best thing I have done over the past few years. I did not realise the value when I started. Now, I do.
It is this reading that has helped shape my vision of tomorrows world and which I am now seeking to build out. My worry in this is that we get blind-sided by either technologies or their derivative in the form of applications and services that we did not think about. I am not seeking to build companies which we can create and sell rather I want each of the companies to be the harbingers and platform of the new world that is being created. Whether we think of this as Internet 2.0 or Mobile 2.0, for many in the emerging markets it will be Opportunities 1.0.
These were the worries I spoke about that evening. A few months from now, there may be a different set of worries. Thats the only constant in the life of a CEO!
Tomorrow: Emergic Ecosystem
TECH TALK Vision and Worries+T
