of the first few jobs I ever had as an
analyst in London the whole process of
being called and told over the phone
that I no longer had a job left me with
fear and shame I’ve always been a rather
positive person but in spite of that I
wasn’t quite able to see how I could
find something good coming out of this
situation fortunately for me though I
had a decent settlement and I had a few
months to actually look for a new job
and when I was looking for this new job
I decided to spend the extra money
studying a little bit about theatre and
radio so I signed up for course after
course and one fine day I realized that
what I really wanted to do was not be an
analyst but I wanted to be a radio
presenter so I packed my bags and I’ve
moved back to India and I started
working for a radio station I loved my
job it was incredible
I was working long hours because I was
just so grateful to have a job I moved
from one radio station to another and
then I moved to the primetime show on
that radio station and one fine day they
decided that they were going to change
the language in which they broadcast now
I didn’t speak that language and here’s
my first question what do you call a
radio presenter who works for a radio
station and can’t speak the language in
which they broadcast unemployed so I
ended up moving to Dubai I got a job
here working for a radio station and
that’s when the whole social media
revolution sort of started radio
stations were changing it was about not
just audio it was about being visual
but we needed people to click
photographs of presenters and at events
and make videos but there was no one to
do it
we didn’t have the infrastructure so
someone asked me if I could sit why not
and I started learning a little a bit
here and a little bit there about social
media and the digital world and
eventually I actually got given the
opportunity to lead our entire digital
business when I was 24 I didn’t know
that in that inconvenience was an
opportunity right through my career I
was fortunate enough to have certain
decisions made for me and in that I was
able to capture that opportunity but it
made me think when we see somebody who’s
struggling or going through a tough time
or a major inconvenience as human beings
were trained to tell them don’t worry
there’s something good that’ll come out
of this don’t worry there is an
opportunity somewhere there but my
problem was how do you find that
opportunity so I decided let me work on
something called the inconvenience
framework because when you look around
you realize that we actually live on a
rather inconvenient planet everything
you see around you like the sun shining
during the day is an inconvenience at
night it gets cold it rains it snows the
place where we grow food is far away
from the place where we eat it
everything about our planet is
inconvenient but at some point in time
someone looked at that inconvenience and
decided to do something about it when
you think about how man when he was
living in caves must have realized it’s
so inconvenient to always have to stay
next to a hill or a mountain and in a
small cave wouldn’t it be great if we
could solve that inconvenience and build
a hut so you could stay far away from
the in-laws at some point in time
someone rectified an inconvenience when
the first man actually invented the
wheel he wouldn’t have gone to his
friend and said behold the wheel I have
no idea what to do with it the reality
is that wheel was meant to solve an
inconvenience it went on to be part of
the wheelbarrow and then found became
the most important part of our ground
transportation today so I decided how
about we work on a framework that can
help us discover and find opportunities
inside inconveniences so you’re in an
inconvenient situation the problem is
you don’t know it’s an inconvenience
because knowing it changes everything
your attitude changes and you know that
there’s something you can do to solve
this problem so the first step in the
inconvenience framework is to identify
frustration the thing is frustration is
connected with an inconvenience and the
great thing about frustration is it’s
the easiest thing to identify on earth
frustration has another sound which is
ah and the great thing about frustration
is your friends your family members and
yourself vocalize complaints the moment
you hear someone complaining you should
know that that is an inconvenience to
move to the second step
of the inconvenience framework you need
to have a little fit for a moment I want
you to believe with me that when there
is an inconvenience there is an
opportunity you have to just believe it
for just a moment and then when you do
that you look at the situation that
you’re in you step back and then you
have to ask a different question when
someone sees this they usually ask the
question is the glass half full or is
the glass half empty when you step back
and reframe the inconvenience you ask a
different question the question is what
do you see because when I ask you the
question what do you see you have the
freedom to tell me that you see a glass
it doesn’t matter if it has water or not
if it does I can drink it if it doesn’t
I can fill it I can use it myself I can
share it with other people but when you
step back and you reframe the
inconvenience you don’t see half-empty
or half-full glasses you see a reusable
glass so once you reframe the
inconvenience you’re able to spot an
opportunity and when you spot the
opportunity you need to ask the question
how can I solve this inconvenience how
can I make this better how can I
challenge the status quo what can I do
so that I never ever have to face this
problem again and once you do have the
audacity to go out and do it go out and
solve it
think about our world it’s almost like a
giant wall built of
Ricks when you have the audacity to
solve inconveniences you realize that
the people around you have also solved
the inconveniences in their lives
everything that you see around you with
someone finding a solution to an
inconvenience much like a brick wall
where a giant brick wall is still made
of individual bricks our world
that’s an inconvenient planet is made
into a convenient place because someone
solve one inconvenience and another one
and another one and another one and what
you see now is this giant wall have the
audacity to do it and then in the
inconvenience framework you come to what
I would think is the most interesting
and exciting part which is ask the
question how can I share my solution
with other people and if you want to
start a business if you want to be an
entrepreneur ask the question will
others be willing to pay for my solution
because if they are you have an
opportunity there you are an innovator
who can become an entrepreneur and who
can make people’s lives better isn’t
that what all businesses do think about
it what is the store call that’s at the
end of your street called a convenience
store because it’s meant to make your
life more convenient
that’s what innovation is all about but
if you want to take this to a whole new
level and you don’t just want to be an
innovator and inventor and entrepreneur
but you want to be a visionary
I’d suggest you do one more thing don’t
just look at the inconveniences of today
look at the inconveniences of tomorrow
of five years down the line of
the next generation and then have the
courage to solve those inconveniences
because by doing that you are truly
visionary you don’t just solve the
problems of today but you solve the
problems of tomorrow
you don’t just solve your own problems
but you solve the problems of your
friends your community your nation and
your generation so go out there and find an inconvenience thank you