Perhaps you’re frustrated with someone, annoyed by a situation or just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Let’s face it, even the best of us have days when we just don’t feel great–and that’s okay.

I call them high-pressure days.  They happen to all of us–there is a reason that stress is associated with high blood pressure and that the expression “blood boiling” came to exist.  

Those factories that you see on the sides of highways (you know–the ones that look like a forest of pipes and valves) face the same problem.  Admittedly, you are not a factory (in fact you’re probably more complex than that) but where you find the same problem, the solution is often not far off.  ’Pipe forests’ have engineers who monitor gauges and pressure constantly–and when needed, they take proactive steps to let off some steam.

But where are your pressure gaugers?  How will you notice in advance that something is building up?  When you recognize stress, do you have the power to help it go away?

Self reflection helps, but often pressure is due to some external circumstance, and ultimately only an external solution can remedy things quickly.

This is where friends come in.

A wise Pakistani once told me, “A good friend does not just respond to his brother’s needs; a true friend will do everything possible to anticipate.  By the time your friend realizes at the dinner table that they would like another piece of Naan bread, you should be holding it out for them.”

You don’t need to wait for those around you to reach a boiling point to be a support beam.  Instead, pay attention to cues about what someone is nervous about or what might be on their mind and check the pressure gauges.

The best kind of friend passes you the naan bread or takes care of the steam well before you realized that you needed it.

~ Bryan

Bavidra Mohan, another Fellow in my cohort, took the lead in highlighting the importance Acumen and its investees place on human centered design principles.  In particular, Bavidra’s role at D.Light (incidentally the full name is D.Light Design) was to gather feedback from the end customer in rural India and take those lessons all the way back up the supply chain to D.Light’s manufacturing plant in Shenzhen, China.

While Bavidra was speaking, it occurred to me that design is not only a popular trend (we actually held the event in a design company’s space) but that it has now become an essential component of how anything is developed, from internal processes, to advertisements, to product messages.  While it may not be the first thing you think of when you consider diligencing a BOP business, it is true that Acumen is fundamentally in the business of investing in products and services that are designed in a way that meets the mass market (think BOP) consumers’ true needs.

However, Acumen Fund and Jacqueline Novogratz in particular, have built a reputation for making liberal use of a more universal tenet of good design: listening.

At the end of the day, human centered design is effectively a structured format for listening–not hearing, not asking, but for truly searching and reaching a deeper level of understanding.

While this talent is quite applicable to the design sector, listening unlocks doors all around.

Listening is a leader’s locksmith. Whether you are coordinating a large organization or pioneering a new unproven sector, listening is the key to designing effectively for success.

Last year while I was in Pakistan, Jacqueline came to visit (the investments, not me).  Having seen how other senior leaders have behaved in similar situations in my career, I was very impressed that Jacqueline spent little time in the meeting room.

Her role, as she saw it, was to go out to the end-customers and just listen.  We were in a room full of proud men who were part of a community built as a result of Acumen’s investment in Saiban.  Jacqueline questioned, poked and prodded until people opened up and told her not just what they thought she wanted to hear, but also what wasn’t working.

In a way, Jacqueline was doing the same thing for Acumen’s investment committee that Bavidra was doing for D.Light’s supply chain: Immersive loops.

Immerse yourself in listening, gather feedback, and design whatever it is (your product, your message, your thoughts) for your end-stakeholder, whoever that may be.

Much of what we talk about here at Rising Pyramid is the large scale change that is happening at the BoP with respect to sustainable and user-centric innovation.  The challenge to reduce / eliminate / eradicate poverty is one of the largest hurdles that we all face, but every little bit that helps to move the “needle” of impact is something that should be celebrated.

Although poverty reduction and more sustainable living should be viewed as issues that are massively intertwined with geo-political and industrial complications, they cannot be solved all at once, and must be addressed (from a business or entrepreneurial standpoint) in piecemeal.

What is always exciting to me is to see innovation happening where you would least expect it – from large multinational corporations that in the past have rarely served as the beacon of sustainable behavior.  Nestlé recently announced their plans to commit to a global non deforestation target by 2020.  While this might not seem like innovation in some of the other senses we’re used to, the model for working with your suppliers and bringing a non-profit in the loop might prove to be just that: a role model for others.

Even though companies like Nestlé have massive war chests and some of the brightest minds working for them, working with smaller more specialized organizations sends a message that they are taking this goal seriously.  This opens up the process to more outside minds who deal with this goal on a regular basis, and removes the risk of internal politics dominating the work.

FedEx, on the other hand, has reported that they are nearer to their goal of a fleet-wide fuel efficiency growth target of 20% by 2020.  With one of the largest distribution networks (and thus the largest carbon emitters) in the world, a 20% reduction is definitely a step in the right direction.  Yet putting all of their eggs in electric / hybrid vehicle technology is a bet they are not willing to take – yet.  It will take a combination of lighter materials, more fuel efficient engines as well as a deeper foray into the electric / hybrid market.

While financial motivators might be the largest catalyst behind these efforts, they should be recognized due to their unique approaches to the solution.  Involve others, spread the research around, and set targets to which you can manage.  I hope to hear about more successful campaigns just like these in the future.

- Chris

Pencils of Promise is an NGO focused on building schools in developing countries.  Though the organization is only a little over three years old, they already have 50 schools up & operating, with 30 more on the way.

According to their annual report, in 2011 Pencils of Promise operated off of $1.2M in contributions, plus in 2010 they received $1.1M.   These are no small sums, especially when you consider that they only received more than $100K from two donors.  This was a grassroots effort.

I’m sure you’ve guessed what their secret is: social media connections.  Adam Braun, the founder of Pencils of Promise, is quite lucky: he has a strong personal connection with Justin Bieber’s manager, but that doesn’t mean other social enterprises can’t learn from the example.

Justin Bieber has teamed up with Pencils of Promise to support their School 4 All campaign, among others.  For the most part, Bieber’s influence on twitter (his Klout score is a perfect 100) meant that one tweet of his had the power to translate into lots of support for Pencils of Promise.  Even if all that people do is visit the Pencils of Promise website or  watch their youtube video, the traction and popularity makes Pencils of Promise that much more alluring to prospective donors.

Pencils of Promise knows very well that vanity metrics (such as total page views) can have an impressive impact on donors, as they highlight quite well in their annual report.  In 2011, they achieved: 700,000+ website visits, 640,000 youtube video views, and 400 average daily Twitter mentions.  They boast that #Schools4All became a trending topic in 10 minutes and celebrate their biggest supporter  with the ‘top pop tweeter’ award.

Personally, I’m quite bad at updating twitter, but the value is incredible.  Look for opportunities to take better advantage of social media to grow your brand.

-          Bryan

This timely piece of news comes shortly after the government moved one step closer to signing a bill centralizing the authority of microfinance regulation. The passage of the Micro Finance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill would have provided SKS the upper hand in situations like the state government crackdown in late 2010.

This leaves SKS in an opportunistic position going forward: Sure you’re down, but you’re not out. Things are looking up, and though they might be rough for a little while longer, you can expect SKS to continue growing again soon. Two key questions present themselves, in my mind:

What is the mindset leading up to expansion?
With SKS huddling close to (their new) home in Mumbai, how do they restructure themselves, turn around a profit, and get in position to grow their business? They’ve already slashed operational costs through layoffs and office closings, but what needs to change from a strategic level? Are they focused on improving the efficiency of current operations?

Lots of questions here, but the point remains: the current model hasn’t worked, and even though there will (hopefully) be some centralization around microfinance authority, the government is still not your friend in business.

What are the lessons learned from expansion?
SKS faced difficulty when dealing with the different states’ restrictions, and appeared to have expanded beyond their reach. While granted their struggles in the past year were by no means unrelated to the governmental actions in AP, but that notwithstanding, it is clear that there needs to be a rethinking of the growth strategy. Can technology help, moving forward? Is slower expansion the expectation?

With horrifying stories of agents tracking down borrowers, there is no doubt that SKS cannot afford another PR misstep if they hope to move past their current state. Their lending and collection practices must change and adapt to each unique locale.

Once the beacon of Microfinance as a budding industry, SKS has since been humbled by the people and the government of India. How will they respond? How will they improve to ensure this doesn’t happen again?

- Chris

In sports, people often talk about the importance of matchups.  Size matchups, skill matchups, grit matchups.

In fact, any given sports team has a variety of strengths and weaknesses that together form the quality of the team.  Even though wins and losses are tracked to rank order teams, the fact of the matter is that the ‘best’ team is really just the team who matches up well against other teams more often than most.

The ‘best’ team can still easily lose to the worst performing team if the matchup works against them, which speaks to the power of matchups.

Oddly enough, the concept is rarely used outside the context of sports, even though it applies quite well to all relationships.

For instance, how do you build a great team at your company? Exclusively recruiting only the best of the best is actually not a good strategy.  Any hiring manager worth their salary will be able to tell you that it is better to draw from a pool of highly qualified candidates, but to focus on assembling the right team.

But we are still talking about teams, let’s look deeper–to your personal relationships.

With your best friends you’ll find that your tastes, preferences, inclinations and propensities match up in such a way that you complement each other’s weaknesses and  bolster each other’s shared strengths.

Naturally, there’s no magic formula for finding the right friend–sadly, I can’t help you there.  Relationships develop on their own and in unexpected ways, but taking the time to reflect on how you matchup with others can unlock insights that will improve your friendship.

What is your best friend’s biggest character flaw? Is that an area of strength for you? Be conscious of when your friend’s flaw is coming to the forefront…can you support them in that moment rather than react viscerally?

What is their biggest strength?  How do you help others express and build on their natural skills?   Is there a chance for you to showcase a particular skill of someone else’s?

Don’t always try to be the best yourself–see how you matchup in all of your relationships, from friends to work to love & leverage that knowledge to create balance and support.

You and your friends form a team afterall.

~ Bryan

If you watch kids, most of them will get bored and lose interest if something is too challenging.  Pets do the same.   While it may be easy to tell a child ‘don’t give up!’ or ‘try again’, it’s not so simple when it comes to adults.

Are you the type of person who loses interest when the challenge grows, or does the uphill battle energize you?

The secret to developing everlasting motivation is the experience of joy that you feel when you overcome a challenge.   Unfortunately, we’ve learned with time that we are less likely to experience that joy in the areas where we are weak.

At first, developing your strengths is a good thing, but in the end life is about balance.

Social entrepreneurs should take note.  Organizations are even worse than individuals when it comes to overplaying their strengths and letting their weaknesses go on exposed.  It feels natural to take care of what you’re good at, but it is a dangerous road.

Social enterprise sits at the merger of the capitalist, for-profit world and the mission-driven, non-profit world.  Since the industry is so young, almost everyone involved has a background that is either weak in for-profit experience or weak in mission driven experience.  Organizations should evaluate whether the talent pool and strengths of their staff members are balanced, or skewed.

Every new hire should bring your enterprise closer to balance.

The only way you can do this is if you honestly reflect on and consider where you have gaps.  Once you’ve identified your gaps, either build the skills in-house, or bring them in through other means.

You’re always going to be weak at something.  Just keep getting better.

- Bryan

“Always Be Closing”
- Glengarry Glen Ross

In the iconic movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin famously preaches this line which has become the inspiration for many businessfolk. It speaks more about the mental state you must be in as a salesperson than anything. Of course you know you want to close the deal, but you must be leveraging that thinking in your actions and conversations. It’s more than knowing – its acting on it.

Entrepreneurs – social or otherwise – know this phrase cold. Yet, there’s another similar phrase that entrepreneurs live by:

“Always Be Learning”

As entrepreneurs, we enter the field with more questions than answers. We’re resourceful and will work our network to find nuggets of advice or suggestions, but at the end of the day, so much of your time is spent learning. Whether you’re deliberately researching a topic, or going about a conversation with someone – you should Always Be Learning.

Inspiration or innovation does not reach the typical person between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM during the 1 hour you scheduled to research. It happens when you allow your mind to open up expose it to various trains of thought.

So what does that mean on a daily basis? Take notice of the smaller things in life that you might just mindlessly automate. Why did you just complete that action in the way you did? Was there something about your thought process that is particularly interesting? How can you apply that to the constant brainstorm you have going in inside of your head?

With the increasing scope of availability for online courses, and the proliferation of blogs, tutorials, and walkthroughs on the internet – the fact remains true: you can learn anything. Building your internal set of capabilities is not just a critical component of being a good employee – it provides you with an added dimension by which to solve your problem.

- Chris

With the RBI taking a hardline approach on their stance, methods of improving MFI profitability have begun to take an interesting turn.

While most efforts to date have been focused on increasing the revenue side of the profitability equation for MFIs in India, the lack of progress from a policy level is forcing the hands of MFIs to act in other ways. There have been recent calls for compensation levels to be checked, but more importantly, to reduce operational costs within MFIs.

In the absence of political and institutional support, MFIs must begin to look inward for areas to trim fat. While I do not believe this is the only action that must be taken to improve the financial outlook of these organizations, I do think it is one that has a major upside in terms of innovation and technology.

Operational costs need not only be addressed through compensation adjustments, however beneficial that may feel.

For example, some MFIs in Lagos, Nigeria are combating fraud with new Point of Sale terminals designed to prevent loan officers from (mistakenly) entering in incorrect information into the logs. This product is aimed at not only reducing operational costs spent on combatting fraud, but also providing the sense of security among potential borrowers that might do its part to attract more business.

The adoption of mobile money is another application of technology that has benefits on both sides of the table. By reducing transaction overhead costs, mobile money has the potential to save MFIs on a consistent basis. Yet, mobile money provides another benefit that could help generate revenue through the convenience factor – something that borrowers value.

Technological innovation can and should be applied at the Bottom of the Pyramid, and microfinance is not exempt. How can technology continue to enhance the solutions provided at the BoP? There seems to be an interesting market here.

Examine the various aspects of your life and our world: believe it or not you are constantly driven and motivated by  uncertainty.

If you enjoy sports, do you prefer to know the score before you watch or no?  If you like literature, do you prefer to know the plot before you read the book?  My guess is no.  Suspense is what makes things intriguing.

Life itself is made that much more precious because there is nothing certain about when it begins or when it will end.
Yet, we shy away from uncertainty; we are constantly looking to add more stability to our lives.

When you’re young, anything is possible and you can go anywhere.  As you go through life, possibilities end and doors close–it’s a natural process.  With time we make commitments and decisions–and life becomes more certain.

The tragedy is not that doors close, but that we often forget to look for new ones to open.  We grow comfortable with the status quo and stop pushing ourselves to try new things.

It is easy to be complacent, to avoid failure and to stick with what you know, but thats when you stop learning and growing.  Sure, with uncertainty comes pain and disappointment, but these must exist so that we might experience joy and triumph to the extent that we do.

Be comfortable with the unknown; it’s much more exciting.

- Bryan