About

Vinay Dabholkar: (vinay@catalign.in)
(Address: 212 Benaka Towers, 16th D Main, 2nd Cross, HAL 2nd Stage, Kodihalli, Bangalore 560008)

I am a catalyst working in three areas: innovation stamina, design thinking, and mindfulness. As a catalyst, I help individuals and teams in their innovation and mindfulness journey. I facilitate (1-2 day) workshops and short (3-6 months) and long-duration (1-3 years) programs that strengthen the idea pipeline and convert it into business outcomes.

Innovation Stamina: For over a decade, I have been helping CXOs in building innovation stamina in their teams/organization (2006-present). It involves strengthening two pipelines: idea pipeline and innovation leadership pipeline. My approach is called ABCD - (A)wareness, (B)right spot repository, (C)hallenge campaign and (D)ashboard. The interventions where I have played a role so far include co-innovation workshops, challenge campaigns, lab programs, innovation reviews, internal technology conferences, etc. I have co-authored a book “8 steps to innovation: from jugaad to excellence" – published in 2013 by HarperCollins. It won first prize in 2014 from the Indian Society for Training and Development (ISTD). My clients for this offering include ADP, Aditya Birla Fashion, Airbus, Hindalco, Mahindra Comviva, Mindtree, Philips, Oracle, Sasken, and Unisys.

Design Thinking: I have been facilitating workshops on design thinking in which 3Es: Experience, Empathy, and Experimentation get emphasized (2011-present). The workshops typically involve empathic interviews, metaphor-based problem discovery, participative problem-solving, rapid prototyping of ideas, field testing, and team presentations. These workshops have been conducted for CXOs, managers, engineers, school teachers, and students. Along with Prof. Ganesh Prabhu, I have been conducting a 2-day open program on design thinking at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (2017-present). My clients for this engagement include Atos, Evry, Karnataka Skill Development Corporation, Kotak Mahindra, Odessa, Sonata, Tech Mahindra, Wells Fargo, Western Digital, Yodlee, (see client list here).

Mindfulness: Since 2015, I have been facilitating workshops on “Mindfulness on the go”. In this workshop, we learn to recognize wasteful thinking and investigate the sources that fuel it. We see it as an investigation that can happen “on the go” – on the bus, while waiting for an elevator, in the grocery store, or even in the middle of an argument. It is not aligned with any teaching or religion or sect. My book "Mindfulness: Connecting with the real you" is published by HarperCollins (Oct 2019).

Teaching: I have been a visiting faculty at IIM Bangalore (2010-present) and IIT Mumbai (2016-present). I have been teaching the course "Strategic Management of Technology & Innovation" to PGPEM and PGP at IIM Bangalore (2019-23). And I have been co-teaching "Managing technological innovation" at Desai-Sethi School of Entrepreneurship at IIT Bombay in 2016-23. I co-taught "From jugaad to systematic innovation" at the Indian School of Development Management in 2021. As a visiting faculty, I also taught at TISS Mumbai (2010-2014). A Massively Online Open Course (MOOC) "Managing Innovation" where I am a co-teacher was launched on edX platform in 2019.

Prior to my consulting career, I worked in Motorola, Austin, and Sasken, Bangalore. I did B.Tech from IIT Bombay and PhD from SUNY Buffalo, both in Computer Science.

I am a regular blogger since 2007 and the blog is available here.

Hobbies: I have been a jogger for over thirty-five years. I enjoy learning and practicing Hindustani classical bansuri (bamboo flute) though I am a perpetual beginner. I like watching movies and plays depicting the journey from confusion to clarity.

My one-page profile is available here and LinkedIn profile is here.