Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Transformation and Leadership: Spend Five Minutes With Faisal Hoque

Serial entrepreneur who has raised millions of dollars for various business ventures shares his 21st century worldview on business.

Curated by Hank Shaw

He started out as a 14-year old entrepreneur in Bangladesh to help pay for college in the U.S. He built his first commercial software product at age 19. Then he became a “serial entrepreneur,” raising millions of dollars for various business ventures.

Meet Faisal Hoque (photo, right) and his unique, 21^st century worldview on business.

He also served as an executive with leading companies like GE, founded BTM Corporation, a progressive management solutions provider, and—in 2008—was named one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Technology” by Ziff-Davis Enterprise.

One more thing. In his spare time, he authored six business books and became a sought-after thought leader who now contributes to leading business publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Fast Company and The Huffington Post.

Real Business recently sat down with Faisal to find out more about his background, business views, and his new book—Everything Connects: How To Transform and Lead in the Age of Creativity, Innovation and Sustainability—due out from McGraw Hill in Spring 2014.

Here are two excerpts from this lively, off-the-cuff interview.

• On the power of simplicity: “Complexity kills, and simplicity wins. It’s a very real thing. I know this from my own failures. Even if you’re producing products that are for a complex solution, you have to force yourself to come up with a simplistic way to create them and connect with the audience. Otherwise, you fail.”
• On his new book, Everything Connects: “It’s an infusion of a lot of these spiritual beliefs about who you are. It’s an infusion of entrepreneurship, infusion of innovation and creativity. But ultimately (the focus is) what is it that you produce that has a chance of making an impact. So that’s what the book is about.”

Watch the complete Q&A with Faisal Hoque, Entrepreneur and Author. And subscribe to Real Business for more thought-provoking coverage on important business topics.