Dr. Bala Ramadurai | Professor, Executive Coach & Consultant in Innovation, Design Thinking, Intrapreneurship & Technology Forecasting

My Books

I have written a few books on various topics.

My Podcasts

I have recorded a few podcasts on topics that I am very happy to talk about.

Welcome to the Books and Stuff Podcast Series. Krishna likes to read books, but Bala doesn’t. Bala likes to write, but Krishna doesn’t. They both love to talk! So, Bala and Krishna decided to talk about what Krishna reads. And thus the idea of recording their chatter was born. The two friends will discuss books they love. This series of podcasts is for busy people. People who’d love to learn about a book without having to read one. And maybe the podcast will inspire them to get their hands on a book that interests them.
These are the podcasts of the Podcast Enterprise. Parvathi Ramkumar and Bala Ramadurai discuss their favourite TV show of all times: Star Trek: The Original Series. They dissect the episodes in terms of story structure, character profiles and various other interesting tidbits. Live long and prosper!

Design Thinking

The learners get under the skin of the user/customer and solve problems for them. The approach is based on an age old theory (more than 2000 years old) postulated by Lord Buddha. The learners learn thinking tools from the design world, the TRIZ/ARIZ world, Indian arts, metaphors and the patent database. Finally, they utilize some tools from six thinking hats and Mr. David Snowden. They learn the course interactively through silence, videos, stories, inane jokes and interesting assignments.

Creativity and Innovation

This workshop module uses the ARIZ/TRIZ thinking methodology (You could say that this course is an offspring of the design thinking course). The learners bring in problems that they have been working on and I guide them to use ARIZ/TRIZ in detail. The learner brings in problems that they have already understood and are fairly certain about the problem to solve using the concepts in the course.

Technology Forecasting

If design thinking is for the NOW, technology forecasting is design thinking for the future. The learner uses a methodology called FORMAT - http://handbook.format-project.eu, a result of a European Union funded (~$3 million) project. The learner hones their skill to think of a future timeframe of more than 10 years. They will consider the potential of the current technology, but also the alternatives and how strong or weak is their technology of interest in comparison to the alternatives. Imagination, intuition, analytics and data crunching go hand in hand in this course. The predictions from the forecasting exercise are not as important as the questions of forecast posed (first stage of the FORMAT methodology).

Executive Coaching

“How does one execute a large innovation project within my company? Do I get personally involved or delegate? Am I listening or telling? I am doing my best, what more can I do?” If these are questions that keep coming to your head (and you happen to be the head of a company or department), you have reached the right place. One on one coaching can work wonders in clearing out the fog around some of the issues you may be facing in your workplace.

Intrapreneurship - A workout

Intrapreneurship is a conundrum of sorts, since it is making an entrepreneur out of an employee taking the risks of an entrepreneur with the friendly resources of a company. How did Mindtree achieve this in 2008-9? I introduce the participants to the company profile. I excite them with the remarkable history of a very different kind of company. How and why did they launch 550? Why is 550 a very different sort of program? How did the program bring out innovation and the creative entrepreneurial spirit of the company? The learners assume the role of innovation managers of companies of their choice to design and present an intrapreneurship program.

Client Speak

I have worked with many clients and I always like to hear that they come out from the collaboration happy and satisfied. Have a look at what the clients said about my work.

Your TRIZ class was engaging in the way you connected with us. It helped broaden the way we approached problems.

Nari Narendrnath

Director, MTS, AppliedMaterials
In addition to knowledge and experience in design thinking, problem solving, and technology forecasting, Dr. Bala’s teaching approach was a shift from traditional pedagogy to perfect blend of giving conceptual background, hands on experience, and team learning. This suits as a learning approach for andragogy (adult learning).

Tenzin Rabgay

MBA (I&E), SIBM, Pune
We reached out to Bala pretty much last minute to help us facilitate a one day innovation workshop with one of our teams. Bala, made sure he first introduced the team to the nuances of ideation and innovation, introducing them to a framework that the team can follow holistically developing an Idea into a presentable prototype. During the facilitation of the workshop, he brought in the required energy and systematically guiding the teams to arrive at a presentable form that we could share with our stakeholders. The team thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and left rejuvenated to take up their ideas and develop them further, giving us an edge with our customers. Thank you Bala.

Vishal Bhalerao

Principal Consultant, ThoughtWorks
The students simply loved your session and so did I. They were asking me to look at how we could have some more sessions in the course from you :). They also mentioned that it was like they had just experienced the tip of the iceberg.

Supriya Chouthoy

Professor, Marketing, ICFAI Business School
My sincere thanks to Bala sir and his team for providing a very enriching learning experience for Design thinking course. Through out the journey it was very smooth and comfortable, spaced out with scope for recapturing and practice. The approach was very humble and effective in such a way that learner like me ( at the age of 50) also can take it with confident. The way in which the exam was conducted, in such a pandemic situation, was also very safe and smooth. I am glad to be one of the toppers, having got 94%, and for which I am grateful to Bala sir and his lively team! This course has given me the confidence to do many more courses and continue my learning experience.

Ms. Jayanthi Ramesh

Author and Freelance Trainer, Cambridge International

Updates (News and Blog)

I write occasionally about a few things that are dear to me - writing about life, teaching tools and techniques, and learning about technology. I plan to write more about health and writing in general as well. Stay tuned. Please do subscribe to my blog if you like what you read.

Podcast Enterprise: S1E26 Errand of Mercy

on 2023-09-13

Space, the final frontier. These are the podcasts of the Podcast Enterprise. Its only mission: to explore story structures, to analyze our favorite characters and plotlines, to boldly talk what everyone has seen before

We will analyze all episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series or TOS for short using the following guiding structure:

Synopsis or summary of the episode
Story structure
Character analysis
Our likes and dislikes

The synopsis: The Enterprise has received communication from Star Fleet Command, and they’re asked to divert their route to Organia, which is a Class M planet and the only Class M planet in this area.

And it’s also disputed area. Why it is disputed is because the Klingon Empire is expected to attack Organia and Star Fleet Command and the Federation, they have been trying to negotiate with the Klingons, but that is broken down. And now Star Fleet Command is afraid that there will be a surprise attack on Organia and based on what information the Federation has, it seems that Organia is a very backward and primitive planet, and they need to be protected from a potential Klingon attack. Captain Kirk gives certain orders to Sulu and he puts him in charge of the Enterprise. He beams down to Organia with Spock as second in command.

They beam down there and that’s when they find that Organia is a bit of a strange place. It looks primitive. There are some purple goats and there are some people shepherding them. And there’s this castle in the distance and what? Purple or green goats, I forget.

Anyhow, colorful goats. So basically what happens is none of the Oregonians seem to be surprised that Captain Kirk and Spock have beamed down in their midst. Logically they should be surprised because they are a primitive race, but they’re not surprised. Captain Kirk and Spock, they’re greeted by Ayelborne, who was supposed to be part of the Council of Elders.

It seems that Organia does not have any sort of ruling council, but they do have a Council of Elders. So basically what happens is Kirk feels like banging his head against the wall because the Oregonians will not listen to him regarding the Klingon attack. They’ll do absolutely nothing. They keep smiling, they do nothing.

They try to comfort Kirk and tell him that nothing is going to happen and everybody’s safe and nobody is going to attack Organia. And what eventually what happens is the Klingons do attack, they appear, and you find this rather fascinating Commander Kor, who barges into the Council of Elder’s room. He is quite impressed with Kirk, I think, because he tries to make him a liaison. And Kirk here is pretending to be an Organian and not a very convincing one. And basically Kirk is still trying to save the Organians from the Klingons. He’s trying to outwit the Clingons. The Organians don’t want to be saved. The Klingons are getting irritated with Kirk’s interference, especially after he blows up a munitions depot and the Klingons finally capture Kirk, put him in a certain cell and then Ayelborne for some reason, or somehow he manages to get Kirk out of there.

He just sashays into that cell and gets Kirk and Spock out, and that’s when they realized that something is not right with the Organians. See, they are not what they seem. They seem to be a little different. And finally, when the conflict really comes to a boiling point, and war is being threatened and Kor is a threatening Kirk and Earth and the Federation.

And Kirk is threatening Kor right back and talking about order and justice and again, trying to convince the Organians. It is revealed that the Organians are not going to allow any of them to fight. This is because they’re actually incorporeal beings of pure thought that are millions of years ahead of both humans and Klingons, and they’re not going to allow anybody to fight.

Their powers are too great. They can appear and disappear in many places at once. And finally, they force both the humans and the Klingons to make peace before telling them to leave the planet.

That brings us to the end of this episode. Thank you for listening to the Podcast Enterprise. Please do share your reviews with us and please share this podcast with any of your writing friends or trekkies. Live long and prosper!

Stay tuned in for our next episode! Enjoy!

Podcast Enterprise: S1E25 The devil in the dark

on 2023-08-30

Space, the final frontier. These are the podcasts of the Podcast Enterprise. Its only mission: to explore story structures, to analyze our favorite characters and plotlines, to boldly talk what everyone has seen before

We will analyze all episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series or TOS for short using the following guiding structure:

Synopsis or summary of the episode
Story structure
Character analysis
Our likes and dislikes

The synopsis: On the planet Janus VI, a mining colony, the miners have deployed a security detail to the underground caves.

And everybody’s afraid because apparently there’s something that comes out of those tunnels. It creates more tunnels, it comes out and it kills miners. And 50 people have been killed already. So when the teaser ends, you find that one more person has been killed and nobody knows what is doing the killing.

And they’re also expecting the Enterprise here. So by the time the Enterprise arrives, so many people have died. And Captain Kirk, Spock and McCoy, they beam down to this mining colony. It’s underground. And The head of this colony, Chief Vanderberg, he is really worried about this.

It seems that whatever this creature is, it burns him to a crisp and there’s very little left of the body after the creature is done with them and nobody knows what it is. And after Spock talks to him a little bit, it seems that this creature started attacking them after they opened the tunnel to the lower levels. So there’s some sort of connection there. And Spock also notices that there are these silicon nodules that the miners have been collecting. Chief Vanderberg says that they are useless, trinket type things, there’s no value to them.

So that’s all very peculiar. Eventually what happens is that the creature attacks again, and even Kirk closes some security officer to this creature, and it seems that it has a pattern to its killing. And McCoy also discovers that this whatever this monster is, it’s not exactly setting the it’s victims on fire.

It’s using some sort of corrosive acid, and this acid is so strong that it’s able to bring down walls and the creature soon realize is quite intelligent. It manages to attack or it manages to break its way into the nuclear reactor and it takes a pump from there so that the reactor is going to go super critical.

Everything is a huge mess. Kirk has to find a way to attack this creature, surround it, kill it, and free the miners because they’re also mining something very important, which we will talk about. And then as things do, Kirk comes face to face with the creature, and it’s very surprising because the creature is not what they thought it was.

It’s a silicon life form for one. It calls itself Horta secondly, and it seems to want something. And there is where you see Spock using the mind meld with an alien creature. He finds that it’s a she. She’s trying to defend her nest and her eggs. Those silicon nodules that the miners kept finding and destroying were actually her eggs.

So she was trying to defend her territory and eventually what happens is, they find a way to work together with Horta so the miners can mine for the Pergium or what the element that they’re looking for. And this Horta will help them. They’ll live in mutual coexistence and that’s how it ends.

That brings us to the end of this episode. Thank you for listening to the Podcast Enterprise. Please do share your reviews with us and please share this podcast with any of your writing friends or trekkies. Live long and prosper!

Stay tuned in for our next episode! Enjoy!

Podcast Enterprise: S1E22 Space Seed

on 2023-07-19

Space, the final frontier. These are the podcasts of the Podcast Enterprise. Its only mission: to explore story structures, to analyze our favorite characters and plotlines, to boldly talk what everyone has seen before

We will analyze all episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series or TOS for short using the following guiding structure:

Synopsis or summary of the episode
Story structure
Character analysis
Our likes and dislikes

The synopsis:

When this episode opens, you find that the USS Enterprise has encountered a derelict spacecraft. It’s very, very old. It’s centuries old, and it’s apparently sending out signals in Morse code, which makes the captain and everyone else very curious because nobody uses Morse code these days.

The spacecraft is of a strange design, and Spock identifies as DY100, which is probably built in the 1990s. So, of course, everyone must investigate this derelict ship. So the captain and a small group of people, they teleport to this spaceship and they, they find a lot of people apparently in deep freeze.

They don’t have a heartbeat, but they’re alive and there is some system keeping them in place and alive. And from the looks of it, it seems that these people have been genetically augmented. And this is confirmed by one of the historians in that landing party one Lieutenant Marla McGivers.

And Dr. Mc McCoy also confirms that once the systems start taking off, that these people are coming back to life, especially the leader who’s a huge hulking man who’s with an impressive personality. And long story short, this man is stronger than everybody else. He’s more intelligent than everybody else.

He’s taken back to the Enterprise and there they find that this individual, he’s much smarter than he appears. He is very manipulative.

The historian, McGivers, finds herself drawn to his magnetism and his name is very curious. His name is Khan Noonien Singh, and apparently he’s from Northern India. Apparently I have not heard anyone with that name anyhow, so he is supposed to be a Sikh from Punjab. He is powerful. He was apparently also a dictator of a large part of Earth before he was exiled, along with a lot of other genetically augmented humans.

He’s also relic of the Eugenics War of the 1990s apparently. And now here what happens is Kirk doesn’t know what to do with this guy. He’s scheming to take over the Enterprise. Lieutenant McGivers helps him try and take over the Enterprise. The other sleepers in that derelict ship are also awakened.

What Khan Noonien SIngh exactly wants is made clear over the course of the story. He wants to establish a new world order or new universal order. What happens eventually is he gets into a fight with Captain Kirk and Kirk being the ingenuous captain that he is, manages to defeat him. However, after all this is over, Kirk does not want to have him destroyed or killed or imprisoned or anything like that.

So he takes a decision to have him dropped off at a certain planet called Seti Alpha five. So that he can rebuild his life with the intelligence and the genetic augmentation that he’s gone through. And Marla McGivers decides to go with him.

That brings us to the end of this episode. Thank you for listening to the Podcast Enterprise. Please do share your reviews with us and please share this podcast with any of your writing friends or trekkies. Live long and prosper!

Stay tuned in for our next episode! Enjoy!

Books n Stuff Podcast: S2 Episode 04 - Sci-fi Authors with Sumit Shetty, Pune Writers Group

on 2023-07-05

Welcome to the Books n Stuff Podcast.

A very simple question to you. Just take a piece of paper and pen or a your mobile device. Think of any authors or creators that come to your mind when I say the phrase science fiction.

Just the top 3, 4, 5 names maybe.

How many Indian science fiction writers popped up in your list? If you are anything like me, my best guess is you probably have none in your list.

But Sumit Shetty from the Pune Writers Group can rattle off a dozen names from the top of his head. In my chat with him for the Books n Stuff podcast, he didn’t stop with Indian Sci-fi authors, but also covered Chinese (Chinese origin too!) Sci-fi authors as well. We, Earth people, haven’t colonized Mars yet, or we would have had Sumit rattle off a few Martian Sci-fi authors as well.

Till that happens, check out some of the stories and authors that we discussed about in this exciting podcast episode: