In this 6‑questions‑in‑7‑minutes interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Coonoor (Kanoor) Behal, founder and CEO of Mind Hatch, a consultancy that cultivates innovation through design thinking, organizational improv, and diversity & inclusion. Behal emphasizes the value of humility and "productive failure"—intentionally prototyping and testing ideas to learn early and de‑risk projects. He advises leaders to prioritize investment in employee culture, framing people as the brand’s core asset. Behal recommends fellow values‑driven entrepreneur Meg Murray of Nasty Woman Wines as a podcast guest. He shares a personal anecdote about his first job at Hollywood Video, highlighting his early passion for film. The episode concludes with Behal’s contact information across social platforms and a teaser for his upcoming book, I Quit: The Life‑Affirming Joy of Giving Up, available for preorder.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Hi, I am Kanoor Bahl, and I'm the founder and CEO of Mind Hatch, which is a consultancy that helps clients set the right conditions for innovation and creativity to thrive, including design thinking, organizational improv, innovation facilitation, and diversity and inclusion.
Well, Kanura, it's such a pleasure to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
Yeah, so I work in a couple different industries, and I'd say in my design strategy innovation field, I think there's always a lot of opportunity to laugh, especially because that work requires a lot of humility when you are wrong. So I think we really treasure when our assumptions are proven wrong, and it always brings a smile to our faces.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. I can totally appreciate that too. I mean, you know, it's— and I always like to say that when you're wrong, you learn from that more so than when you're right. Isn't it true?
Yes. And human fallibility is hilarious.
You know, because you've got these—
Amazingly evolved brains, you know, and sometimes they don't work.
So absolutely. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
I would say most companies should turn immediately to the chapter that is titled How to Fail Productively.
I like that. Do you, uh, want to expand a little bit about that?
Sure. Yeah. So I, you know, my line of work, I, you know, guide clients towards what I like to call productive failures, you know. And so, like, just like you said earlier, like, you know, failing is learning so long as you're kind of failing with intention, right? And you're trying things and prototyping things and testing things from the mindset of wanting to learn more. And so I think that is failing productively and is a really good way to de-risk what you're trying to do because you're going to get those learnings long before you might invest millions of dollars and hundreds of people's time in building it.
Mm-hmm. And that's great. And you're minimizing the risk because you've saved all that time and resources. Great, great insight. Question number 4. Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice would you give to other business leaders?
Yeah, I would say care for your employees. I'd say the ROI on investing in your company culture is good. It's really good ROI, right? It's not the first thing that you should be cutting when budgets are tight, you know, because your people are who are making you money, you know. And so that should be like a really, really big part of like your internal investment portfolio, right? Like that should be a real big lever that you want to invest in.
Absolutely. And, you know, your people, everything from getting the work done to interacting with the customers, and it's just your, your brand. The people are your brand. I'm Am I right?
Exactly. It's just like, you know, they are the intervening variable between you and your customers or your clients. You know, like they're the ones who are actually delivering the service or selling the product or making the product. So they, they matter a great deal.
I love that. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Um, I would love to invite a woman named Meg Murray. She's the owner of an amazing brand of wines called Nasty Woman Wines. I have a few bottles just waiting to be cracked open in my kitchen right now. I love her brand, I love what she stands for. Great example of someone who lives their values through themselves and also their company.
And I gotta say, I love that name as well. That's— there's classic branding. So I appreciate the referral. I'll reach out to her. And our final question, question number 6: please tell me about your first job.
My first job, I was 16, maybe 17, and it was at Hollywood Video. So yeah, definitely a video store. I had the little vest with the cummerbund as my uniform. And I loved it because I was and am like a movie and TV buff. And like the whole reason I got the job there, you know, in addition to wanting to earn money, was that I lived in a really small town in Ohio and none of the good indie films were ever released in theaters there. So the only way I could get them was to like get them on video, but I was such a nerd, I wanted it early. So I got to get advanced screener VHS copies of all these movies that I wanted to see 'cause I worked there.
Well, that's, and it's a great way, you know, Benny, to work in that store. So it's a great story. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you for being on the show. How could people find you?
Yeah, thanks for asking. Well, they can find Mindtouch on the web, of course, on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And you can also find me on LinkedIn personally, please connect with me. Please also connect with me on Instagram myself, @kanoorabahal. And you can find out about my upcoming book, which is titled I Quit: The Life-Affirming Joy of Giving Up. That Instagram handle is @iqitbook. And that book will be published and released into the wild at the very end of April. But it's available for preorder now at iqitbook.com.
Perfect. And I like that, that branding and the title of the book as well.
Thanks.
Well, this is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
