Month: January 2018

Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun!

It’s been a year – since I first started blogging – admittedly, my first post wasn’t all that inspiring

Indeed – I was sharing my thoughts on Tumblr and decided to switch to a wordpress site. I think this gave me more control of my content and the ability to share more easily through the various social media outlets i’m active on.

Then there was a plug for me at the Sales Innovation Expo…

That’s right – I was on stage talking…

That was an awesome event – there was even a video made of the event, which featured me! – (you can skip to 1:50… to hear me)

Ok… you want a short video of me actually talking… during my talk? – here’s a 1 minute highlight! – and Yes! – I talk about Pizza!!

And all of that… just in the month of January of 2017!

Have to admit – it’s been great sharing my thoughts and opinions on my blog – and also appreciate the guests I’ve had on sharing their thoughts.

But are people reading it, Bal?

Yes! – I know, crazy right?! – But the stats show me, that over the past 12 months, I’ve had on average 450 people per month read my blogs! – Massive Thank You to those who’ve subscribed and take time out to read.

So when I initially started – I thought, let’s give it a go! I’ll try it for a year, and see how it goes. If no-one reads it…. I’ll leave it.

However, if people do read it and there’s interest then I’ll keep going and building on it… and looks like… there’s a few folk out there who do read it… therefore, i’ll keep on going!

As promised – more interesting content around the latest technology… more innovative ideas being shared and the usual Bal’s Friday Thought.

So, if you’re sat there thinking… I’ve got an idea… but not sure if it’ll work or if I should give it a go…. I say, do it! – Give it a go! – try it for a short period of time… see what the data says and then make a decision… a pivot, if you invest more time and effort or if you park it and try something else.

I did just that. And my pivot point is telling me… to carry on 🙂

So you may have recently read via my twitter account, that for some time… I’ve been talking about Bal’s Kitchen.

What is Bal’s Kitchen?

Great question! – it’s a Kitchen, that’s ran by Bal! – (That’s me, by the way).

What’s unique about this?

Well…. quite a few things.

a) As I’ve travelled around the world, I always like to try the local cuisine, be it the shark in Bangkok, Thailand or the deep fried chicken in Atlanta, US… I must try what the locals eat. Makes me appreciate my local Fish and Chips (with mushy Peas) back home.

b) Cultures – every culture is different and fascinates me. From my Indian heritage, where we eat food with our hands… to the Chinese chopsticks, to the traditional knife and fork… for my fish and chips (with mushy Peas and mint sauce).

c) People! – Remember my 3P? – People, Process and Purpose. I feel, especially in an eatery… people, either those cooking, in charge or just waiting on you… are extremely important. I’ve experienced some rude folk… friendly folk… best of all, at Mary Mac’s Tea Room in Atlanta, where you have a friendly lady come over, asks how you are… how your day was… and gives you a little back rub!

Yep, that’s Adam, myself and Jo Carter – Goodwill Ambassador at Mary Mac’s, Atlanta. (side note – you must check out Adam’s photo’s on Insta – @adamparkmanphoto)

So there’s a few things that will make Bal’s Kitchen unique… and yes – a Goodwill Ambassador is on the list!

So, can I really do it? – well… that’s the big question.

Is it really possible? – as the saying goes… Anything is Possible.

I needed some additional motivation to really get it going… and boy did I get it recently.

Now, if you’ve heard about the Shed at Dulwich – that was my little kick that I needed! – if you haven’t heard about it… keep on reading!

So, i’m not going to explain the whole story about the Shed at Dulwich, but i’m going to let you watch the video clip below – be warned, it’s about 18minutes long.. but it’s the best 18 minutes you’ll spend if you need some motivation… or a ‘kick up the backside’ to get going!

There’s one key lesson out of all of this… you can sit there and say, I wouldn’t be able to do it, I can’t do it… I’ll never be a a success… I can never get to number 1… blah…blah…blah… BUT! – if you really want something, you can achieve it.

Now the moral of the story is… how a shed in Dulwich.. went from ranking 18 thousand something on Trip Advisor to being Number 1.

Wasn’t done the right way (and we’ll discuss the ethics another day)… but the key learning is… Literally, Anything is Possible.

Enjoy..

When it comes to football, most of you will know, that i’m a Nottingham Forest supporter.

Now… yesterday, was an FA Cup match. Nottingham Forest (who are currently mid-table in the Championship with a caretaker manager in charge and a string of no-wins in recent form) Vs Arsenal (long term manager who’s won several trophies with the club, sat 6th in the English Premier League).

So, what was the score Bal?

Yep – that’s right… Nottingham Forest 4 – Arsenal 2.

We beat them! – Against all the odds and expectations… we beat them!

Now, there’s various reasons why we beat them… but i’m going to focus on a few, and how businesses can learn from these…

1. Talent Development.

Out of the team, there were 6 players who have come through the academy at Nottingham Forest. That means, the football club have invested in training and developing these young players.

Business Lesson – Invest in your Talent. As Richard Branson always says, your employees, the people working for you, are your biggest asset – Train them well. 

2. Young Players

Seven of the players in the team were under the age of 23… Ben Bereton (18), Jordan Smith (23), Kieran Dowell (20). Joe Worrall (20), to name a few. The average age of the team was younger than the average age of the Arsenal team – yet the manager of Arsenal wanted to field a group of ‘young’ players.

Business Lesson – Bring some young folk into the business, they’ll have fresh and new ideas. Look at various startups (such as Facebook & Snapchat) and their CEO ages… and then there’s the Forbes 30 Under 30. 

3. Goals and Action Plan

The aim of the game was to win. To go out, enjoy and win. How do you win? – well, by scoring more goals! – Eric Lichaj got 2 (of which the second was a wonderful goal), then there were two penalities, from which Ben aged 18 scored and Kieran scored.

Business Lesson – Have some clear and concise goals, with an Action Plan. What do you want to achieve, by when and how. Sounds simple, right? – yet many organisations have goals, though they’re complicated, too many words, unachievable… or not communicated correctly. 

Just to expand on the latter – there was a motivation for Eric to be scoring those goals – his wife promised, if he scores a hat-trick (3 goals in a game), he can have a dog!

Don’t believe me? – watch this…

So, a few simple lessons… from the footballing world… to the business world… train your employees well, bring in some young folk and have clear goals & objectives.

There were obviously other factors, such as being well organized, more passion… and a huge desire to win. We’ll talk about those in another post…

Many of you, who follow me on Twitter (@balbansal) will know, I recently shared, that I’ve been invited to talk at Oxford University.

For me, this is a big deal! – Let’s just take a moment – Oxford. University. What an institution. What a place. What history.

So, you may be wondering – what am going to talk about?

Well.. i’m going to be sharing my thoughts about AI. Without going into too much detail here – because that would a) give away what’s in my presentation and b) it’s not fair on the folk who have paid and are attending… I will be talking about AI now… and AI in the future.

There’s been a rapid rise in AI… and it’s only going to get stronger… bigger and more clever!

For those, unfamiliar with the term – AI is Artificial Intelligence.

What is AI?….

“Artificial intelligence (AI) makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks.

Most AI examples that you hear about today – from chess-playing computers to self-driving cars – rely heavily on deep learning and natural language processing.

Using these technologies, computers can be trained to accomplish specific tasks by processing large amounts of data and recognizing patterns in the data.”

Or as I would say, – it’s the development of computer systems which are able to perform tasks, normally requiring human intelligence.

Now, there was a great story in the news recently – about how the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK could potentially save £300m! by using AI.

Currently cardiologists in hospitals can tell from the timing of the heartbeat in scans if there is a problem. Now even, the best of humans or in this case, Doctors, can get it incorrect – and statistics show, this could be up to 1 in 5 cases.

After the scan, patients are either sent home and have a heart attack or they undergo an unnecessary operation (I know what you’re thinking… what a waste of money… because it’s unnecessary!)

But what has happened is, an artificial intelligence system has been developed at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford which diagnoses heart scans much more accurately. It can pick up details in the scans that doctors can’t see!

It’s suggested there are around 60,000 heart scans carried out a year, out of which 12,000 are mis-diagnosed. Reports suggest, using AI… the NHS could save around £300m a year.

And this is why, I wanted to share this story on my blog. 1 – we’re eliminating/reducing errors and 2 – Saving money!… and all this is because of Artificial Intelligence.

And back to my original point – there’s some great work being done by men and women wearing white coats. They are, on a daily basis saving peoples life’s… but what if,… what if computers could help. What if, the knowledge (intelligence) they have…  was used by computer systems to perform certain tasks… which resulted in saving money… and saving, more life’s…

You’re probably wondering… how much would all this cost?

If the current trials that are taking place are shown to be a success (early indicators show, that it is performing as expected)… it would be free to NHS hospitals.

First and foremost, I would like to wish you all a very, Happy New Year!

I really do hope, that 2018 brings you a wealth of joy and happiness.

I’ve made plans for 2018 – broken them down into months… and will be doing more with my blog. Firstly, videos! – I know… been talking about them for a while, but I have one prepared- about electric cars… and will be sharing it very soon.

I’ll continue to share my frustrations that I notice and see with processes, people and organisations.

I’ll also continue to share my insights into the latest technology trends, and how they’ll impact everyone and everything! – Let’s be honest, if you’re not ready and prepared…. you will be left behind. That’s for both, businesses, customers and personal (at home).

I’ll continue to collaborate – share input from my friends, that will help you look, understand and think about a number of topics in a different light. It’s all about diversity – and understanding.

Most importantly… Think Lean and Get Digital.