what do you want to be when you grow up
I was always asked this question of my
parents and I’m sure many of you guys
asking your children the same question
it’s a good question
it makes the child think about the
general areas that interest him or her
in their life which is a great starting
point but if we really want our children
to grow up and change the world I think
that it is the absolute wrong question
to ask the question we should be asking
it’s really tense what do you want the
verb to be when you grow up if you see
the first question interesting enough as
it is it portrays the picture of the
world as this daunting big rigid entity
do you want to be when you grow up in
this world which is unchanging the world
is so big and rigid with boundaries that
you have to find your place in it you
have to be something in a structure that
already works but this question is
interesting it makes the child believe
that the world is actually work in
progress and if you think about it in
reality that it actually is working
progress the world’s not done though our
ancestors made it the way it is today
we’re gonna make it the way it is
tomorrow in every single one of us has
every right to change the way it works
to identify things that we think are
wrong and fix it takes me to to Steve
Jobs famous famous
one of my all-time favorite quotes but
he says everything this world was built
by people that were no smarter than us
they were like us yeah that’s it and we
can change it we can influence it
and we can build our own things that
other people can use and therefore
changed a lot and this thought process
of what do you want the world to be when
you grow up is a good starting point
it can plant a seed in a child screen so
that our child can think about taking
liberties to identify things around this
world possibly changing but can we
really train our kids to be innovative
or is innovation something that comes in
as an innate quality many people think
that you’re either innovative or not I
completely disagree there may be people
that are totally naturally be creative
and come up with good ideas but I think
that innovation can completely be
trained just like the way we train our
kids to be great at math or science we
can train our kids to be great at being
innovators so I came to the valley about
20 years ago as an entrepreneur or if I
wanted to be an entrepreneur the the gym
I tracked around Stanford the infectious
Silicon Valley entrepreneur country kind
of got to me I said I have to be on here
Sunday over the last 15 years I am as
fortunate it has to start three
companies to them that acquire touch
Shadwick zero failures so five and I
hope it stays that way I’m now starting
with both company called a deep factor
do this entire journey of
entrepreneurship I realized that I had
to be an idea map I had to come up with
ideas because that was my job
I mean I had to come up with a new
company so I have to come up with ideas
to to little that move that country so I
came with a framework that was unique
every book that that keeps the idea of
flow kind of coming and I hope that this
framework works for you is what I start
with gene the dream look you know it’s
essentially three stages gene document
jean is and always on crosses it’s not
something that happens when you’re
sleeping that’s a different gene this is
when you are constantly looking at the
world and trying to figure out what is
wrong with the way you’re experiencing
life and the more diverse set of
experiences that you can get the more
dreams that you could have more things
that you can find that are incorrect
with the way things operate today every
problem becomes an opportunity so it’s
just saying this sucks when you
encounter problem you say oh that’s
something that I can fix or that’s
something that could be fixed by
somebody it can be food this brings in
an element of street smartness which is
sir that’s never taught in school we
become we get all our book smarts from
our school but street smarts of
identifying problems that happen in our
day to day life experiences it’s
something that I think we have to
consider especially the high schoolers
in here as children or in this part of
our life now once you get all these
dreams and ideas but you identify kind
of things that are wrong it is well
today what do you do next you document
it’s not complicated
I use a Google spreadsheet to document
all my ideas but make sure that when
you’re documenting these ideas you
always document it in relation to the
problem that you find your install so
instead of saying these are my thing I
guess what I do is I maintain an excel
sheet or a Google spreadsheet with four
columns first column says this is this
is something that’s wrong with the world
the second column says this is the ideal
way to solve that problem
the third cone says here are the current
ways in which people solve that problem
current solutions the market and the
fourth column says what do I have to do
to make the curve solution 10x better so
that’s my framework and I’m guessing
that’s a simple enough framework that
you know the high schoolers in here that
want to be entrepreneurs
and start using and go back and refresh
and review these this Google spreadsheet
from time to time to make sure that you
can you can refine your ideas as you get
wiser than you know you get you have
more experiences now once you document
it there would come a time when you
realize that you’re so passionate about
something ideas that it’s time to go to
the next step and that’s when you move
to the validate stage which is instead
of is it just you guys thinking that the
idea is fantastic or because the rest of
the world also thinks the same way so
that stage you find subject matter
experts you talk to them from time to
time so my philosophy has been that I
meet with to see new people every month
and I gather their feedback I would eek
out
you know I have I give them some of my
ideas they talk to me that’s not their
ideas and in that process I either come
up with new ideas or validate some of
the thoughts they already have and it’s
a great thing that I encourage you guys
to do especially you know find subject
matter experts in areas that excite you
this process also enables you to self
check your passion levels sometimes you
realize that you’re not doing as I say
about an idea as you thought you were
and this stage we start but sometimes it
also reveals an interesting thing and
this is where I think you have to watch
out the trait of being able to call your
baby ugly and it’s really important you
may be super passionate about an idea
but if there’s a bunch of subject matter
experts telling you that that ideas
either confluence solving or asserting
in salt before then you probably want to
pay attention so poke your baby ugly
that’s also another thing good school
never teaches you but it’s
now let’s say you’ve got a bunch of
ideas and you’re super excited about a
handful of them you’ve dreamt about it
documented it you’ve validated it with
everybody and you feel like this is the
next best thing since sliced bread you
want to go ahead and do it
how are you go ahead do it you graduate
to the next stage it becomes a real
initiative possibly even if your company
now you’re entering an obstacle course
make sure that you’re ready to face up
sales you know all the theoretical
aspects of dreaming and talking and
validate against one thing doing it and
there’s another thing and that’s that’s
extremely important this is yet another
thing that is not taught in school which
is how do you overcome obstacles and how
do you live your life when you are faced
with a bunch of obstacles
I think the winners are determined by
people that by the abilities not only
face obstacles but actually trying what
obstacles are thrown at you and that is
another thing that I highly encourage
the high school isn’t clear to fire pay
attention to early on in their life so
be early on you do it the more time you
have you like to do I firstly had my
share of obstacles as the first one was
integration they came to the body like I
said on a visa didn’t happen train car
so I was told by lawyers that I could
not incorporate a company sorry so I had
to actually pass and wait for a couple
more years until a couple of American
citizen co-founders came up with another
obstacles actually financially
every person that is built or worked for
a start-up goes to this you take pay
cuts and one of the things that I
remember dear he has a fond memory now
that you know life has been great but at
that time it was it was a it was a
serious problem because we didn’t have
the money to do anything was that we had
we just bought a fixer-upper in Santa
Clara my wife and honey and we had just
the right amount of money to buy
cabinets from Ikea and we had a bunch of
friends you know thankfully they helped
us set up the cabinets but we we now
have the mind like the counter
the top that goes on top of it so we
actually had to wait for six months to
get a kitchen countertop and lived her
life with just the cabinets with no
honey so it was not a fond memories but
at that time it was painful financial
issues so back to training your kids to
be innovative why do all this why go
through the pain and the process of
training your kids to embrace innovation
it’s because innovation brings our
passion and passion brings out joy and
no amount of money can ever give you joy
professional satisfaction can bring you
wouldn’t it be fantastic if you wake up
every day especially every Monday
morning feeling super excited about
having to go to work we as parents take
our kids to so many classes we teach
them pieces of knowledge we make them
great at math we make them great at
piano sports etc these are pieces of
knowledge that we can teach you but if
you can truly teach them how to find
their passion which brings out a
professional enjoy that will last them
for life
wouldn’t that be super fantastic I think
that will trump any specific piece of
knowledge of Incan so to all the high
schoolers in here make this your hashtag
go create your world and enjoy every
step of the way
and to all the parents in here let’s
make sure that innovation becomes a
fundamental essential element of the
fabric of our children’s life and it all
starts with that one question that we
started this conversation with let’s
stop asking our kids what do you want to
be when you grow up let’s start asking
our kids what do you want the world to be
I was always asked this question of my
parents and I’m sure many of you guys
asking your children the same question
it’s a good question
it makes the child think about the
general areas that interest him or her
in their life which is a great starting
point but if we really want our children
to grow up and change the world I think
that it is the absolute wrong question
to ask the question we should be asking
it’s really tense what do you want the
verb to be when you grow up if you see
the first question interesting enough as
it is it portrays the picture of the
world as this daunting big rigid entity
do you want to be when you grow up in
this world which is unchanging the world
is so big and rigid with boundaries that
you have to find your place in it you
have to be something in a structure that
already works but this question is
interesting it makes the child believe
that the world is actually work in
progress and if you think about it in
reality that it actually is working
progress the world’s not done though our
ancestors made it the way it is today
we’re gonna make it the way it is
tomorrow in every single one of us has
every right to change the way it works
to identify things that we think are
wrong and fix it takes me to to Steve
Jobs famous famous
one of my all-time favorite quotes but
he says everything this world was built
by people that were no smarter than us
they were like us yeah that’s it and we
can change it we can influence it
and we can build our own things that
other people can use and therefore
changed a lot and this thought process
of what do you want the world to be when
you grow up is a good starting point
it can plant a seed in a child screen so
that our child can think about taking
liberties to identify things around this
world possibly changing but can we
really train our kids to be innovative
or is innovation something that comes in
as an innate quality many people think
that you’re either innovative or not I
completely disagree there may be people
that are totally naturally be creative
and come up with good ideas but I think
that innovation can completely be
trained just like the way we train our
kids to be great at math or science we
can train our kids to be great at being
innovators so I came to the valley about
20 years ago as an entrepreneur or if I
wanted to be an entrepreneur the the gym
I tracked around Stanford the infectious
Silicon Valley entrepreneur country kind
of got to me I said I have to be on here
Sunday over the last 15 years I am as
fortunate it has to start three
companies to them that acquire touch
Shadwick zero failures so five and I
hope it stays that way I’m now starting
with both company called a deep factor
do this entire journey of
entrepreneurship I realized that I had
to be an idea map I had to come up with
ideas because that was my job
I mean I had to come up with a new
company so I have to come up with ideas
to to little that move that country so I
came with a framework that was unique
every book that that keeps the idea of
flow kind of coming and I hope that this
framework works for you is what I start
with gene the dream look you know it’s
essentially three stages gene document
jean is and always on crosses it’s not
something that happens when you’re
sleeping that’s a different gene this is
when you are constantly looking at the
world and trying to figure out what is
wrong with the way you’re experiencing
life and the more diverse set of
experiences that you can get the more
dreams that you could have more things
that you can find that are incorrect
with the way things operate today every
problem becomes an opportunity so it’s
just saying this sucks when you
encounter problem you say oh that’s
something that I can fix or that’s
something that could be fixed by
somebody it can be food this brings in
an element of street smartness which is
sir that’s never taught in school we
become we get all our book smarts from
our school but street smarts of
identifying problems that happen in our
day to day life experiences it’s
something that I think we have to
consider especially the high schoolers
in here as children or in this part of
our life now once you get all these
dreams and ideas but you identify kind
of things that are wrong it is well
today what do you do next you document
it’s not complicated
I use a Google spreadsheet to document
all my ideas but make sure that when
you’re documenting these ideas you
always document it in relation to the
problem that you find your install so
instead of saying these are my thing I
guess what I do is I maintain an excel
sheet or a Google spreadsheet with four
columns first column says this is this
is something that’s wrong with the world
the second column says this is the ideal
way to solve that problem
the third cone says here are the current
ways in which people solve that problem
current solutions the market and the
fourth column says what do I have to do
to make the curve solution 10x better so
that’s my framework and I’m guessing
that’s a simple enough framework that
you know the high schoolers in here that
want to be entrepreneurs
and start using and go back and refresh
and review these this Google spreadsheet
from time to time to make sure that you
can you can refine your ideas as you get
wiser than you know you get you have
more experiences now once you document
it there would come a time when you
realize that you’re so passionate about
something ideas that it’s time to go to
the next step and that’s when you move
to the validate stage which is instead
of is it just you guys thinking that the
idea is fantastic or because the rest of
the world also thinks the same way so
that stage you find subject matter
experts you talk to them from time to
time so my philosophy has been that I
meet with to see new people every month
and I gather their feedback I would eek
out
you know I have I give them some of my
ideas they talk to me that’s not their
ideas and in that process I either come
up with new ideas or validate some of
the thoughts they already have and it’s
a great thing that I encourage you guys
to do especially you know find subject
matter experts in areas that excite you
this process also enables you to self
check your passion levels sometimes you
realize that you’re not doing as I say
about an idea as you thought you were
and this stage we start but sometimes it
also reveals an interesting thing and
this is where I think you have to watch
out the trait of being able to call your
baby ugly and it’s really important you
may be super passionate about an idea
but if there’s a bunch of subject matter
experts telling you that that ideas
either confluence solving or asserting
in salt before then you probably want to
pay attention so poke your baby ugly
that’s also another thing good school
never teaches you but it’s
now let’s say you’ve got a bunch of
ideas and you’re super excited about a
handful of them you’ve dreamt about it
documented it you’ve validated it with
everybody and you feel like this is the
next best thing since sliced bread you
want to go ahead and do it
how are you go ahead do it you graduate
to the next stage it becomes a real
initiative possibly even if your company
now you’re entering an obstacle course
make sure that you’re ready to face up
sales you know all the theoretical
aspects of dreaming and talking and
validate against one thing doing it and
there’s another thing and that’s that’s
extremely important this is yet another
thing that is not taught in school which
is how do you overcome obstacles and how
do you live your life when you are faced
with a bunch of obstacles
I think the winners are determined by
people that by the abilities not only
face obstacles but actually trying what
obstacles are thrown at you and that is
another thing that I highly encourage
the high school isn’t clear to fire pay
attention to early on in their life so
be early on you do it the more time you
have you like to do I firstly had my
share of obstacles as the first one was
integration they came to the body like I
said on a visa didn’t happen train car
so I was told by lawyers that I could
not incorporate a company sorry so I had
to actually pass and wait for a couple
more years until a couple of American
citizen co-founders came up with another
obstacles actually financially
every person that is built or worked for
a start-up goes to this you take pay
cuts and one of the things that I
remember dear he has a fond memory now
that you know life has been great but at
that time it was it was a it was a
serious problem because we didn’t have
the money to do anything was that we had
we just bought a fixer-upper in Santa
Clara my wife and honey and we had just
the right amount of money to buy
cabinets from Ikea and we had a bunch of
friends you know thankfully they helped
us set up the cabinets but we we now
have the mind like the counter
the top that goes on top of it so we
actually had to wait for six months to
get a kitchen countertop and lived her
life with just the cabinets with no
honey so it was not a fond memories but
at that time it was painful financial
issues so back to training your kids to
be innovative why do all this why go
through the pain and the process of
training your kids to embrace innovation
it’s because innovation brings our
passion and passion brings out joy and
no amount of money can ever give you joy
professional satisfaction can bring you
wouldn’t it be fantastic if you wake up
every day especially every Monday
morning feeling super excited about
having to go to work we as parents take
our kids to so many classes we teach
them pieces of knowledge we make them
great at math we make them great at
piano sports etc these are pieces of
knowledge that we can teach you but if
you can truly teach them how to find
their passion which brings out a
professional enjoy that will last them
for life
wouldn’t that be super fantastic I think
that will trump any specific piece of
knowledge of Incan so to all the high
schoolers in here make this your hashtag
go create your world and enjoy every
step of the way
and to all the parents in here let’s
make sure that innovation becomes a
fundamental essential element of the
fabric of our children’s life and it all
starts with that one question that we
started this conversation with let’s
stop asking our kids what do you want to
be when you grow up let’s start asking
our kids what do you want the world to be
Please follow and like us: