The Leader

“With the greatest leader above them,

People barely know one exists. Next comes

One whom they love and praise. Next

comes one whom they fear. Next comes

one whom they despise and defy. 

When a leader trusts no one,

No one trusts him.

 The great leader speaks little. He never speaks carelessly. 

He works without self-interest and leaves no trace. When all is finished the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.”

(The 17th verse of the Tao)

- Quoted from Magical phrase article of Anand Rangaswamy, CEO Latin America cluster, Godrej consumer products Ltd

Simple

The best thing about Michelle Thaller, Assistant Director for science communication at NASA is her passion for Astronomy and her ability to communicate complex things, simply. 

We see many a times, things made complex, first & foremost, how do we make simple things simple..

https://youtu.be/veQtF3_2tOE

In spite of

Marshall Goldsmith's popular words "in spite of" is very relevant for both Individuals and Organisations. We are successful because of .......... inspite of ......... Sometimes "the inspite of" parameters for established market leaders are shocking, since their current success is more of a factor of what they have done in the past and we all know what the future holds then..

Combo Offers

Combo offers are great since it gives opportunity to increase the diffusion of new products and provides great value for saturated products. Few things that need to be kept in mind are

1. Product compatability: How well the combo products are connected to each other for a given consumer, Do we give a coffee or a cool drinks combo with a burger, both can give better results but not the best.

2. Values: Are the values of the combo products complements or condradicts each other, is the unique selling point of one product is in line with the other one or not. If it's not in line, do we change the combo or change the values.

Diffusion of innnovation

This is a theory of 1960's which is still very relevant today. It's  surprising, lot of organisations are using the conventional methods of gaining the first 16% market share without understanding the fact that the rate of adoption on some segments will decide the future of their existence in that product category. 

The questions that need to be asked are..

What is the importance of this segment for my existence in that product?

How long it's going to take us to reach 16% market share with the current way of doing the business and what are the lost opportunities?

How quickly can I reach there and what are the unconventional ways & means? 

What are the ways to upgrade all our existing customers to this segment and what is the cost in short term  & opportunities in long term?

Can I create a niche and become a leader in that sub segment, is that sustainable?

Reset

Unlearn, Resetting to zero, easy words, how hard is to do that one, but not so tough when you are forced to do that.. Moving as an immigrant, your life is reset to zero, your education, experience is reset to zero, I mean literally zero. Then you really learn to unlearn because that becomes the necessity. Unlearn the way you look for a job, because you get rejected everywhere, Unlearn the way you value the money, even a 1$ food item for your kid becomes costly, Unlearn the way you travel, you cannot afford a car! Unlearn the way you live, accommodate yourself in a small condo, Unlearn the way you look, removed the moustache for the first time, Unlearn the way you think, because it doesn't work anymore, because your assumptions are wrong in this environment.

Wow! One small change can help us to unlearn and start afresh, such an unlearning would have taken a life time. So wish to unlearn or reset, don't do "what if" simulations, move on to a place or take up a project where all your assumptions can go wrong. You fail multiple times and then you will start afresh and learn the new ways of moving forward!!

Adaptability

The best TED talk on Adaptability..

What if simulations - adaptability score based on simulation of various scenarios
Unlearn, Resetting to zero - New projects, new ventures on very limited resources
More exploration and less exploitation - taking risks, getting into unknown..

Explorers

The other side always looks green, may not be true, but that's a great thought, that's how we explored this world, exploring this universe.

Moon, Mars, not so green? We aspire to make it green!

Diagnosis

Every company has this problem, it's so prevalent in old companies with high share and established brands. They are not aware of their health deterioration till it becomes so severe and there is a free fall. And it's so deep in companies where the brand loyalty is very high, they keep harvesting for years, they are not aware that everything looks fine, in spite of serious cracks in their organisation.

And by the time they realise, it's too late and there is a free fall and panicking leads to further free fall. That's why preemptive transformation is vital for every organisation, they need to look beyond revenue growth, market share growth, profitability and scan for the changes in the environment. I phone or even Apple would not have been there now if they have not looked beyond I pod which was at it's peak when I phone was launched.

It looks so obvious but many organisations have not understood this because they are too preoccupied in their short term challenges only to understand later that those are the symptoms of a larger issue. And the leaders strive hard to address those short term challenges rather than addressing the larger issue..

And, it all boils down to the fact that the leaders doesn't have sufficient knowledge to diagnose the  problem and organisations need to take the external help of consultants time & again to check their health and diagnose the problem correctly well in advance..

I can share two companies which went through this, one is an automobile company, where the applications changed and hence the products, but the company never rolled out the required new products for the new applications.The brand loyalty was so high that it kept losing very minimal market share with no loss in profitability inspite of not getting into new applications and when it realised, it was too late.

And there is a sanitaryware company which enjoyed very high market share, failed to notice its problems, because the competitors were into trouble for various reasons and it continued to enjoy good market share in spite of conservative outlook and policies.   And there is a free fall, the moment the competition fixed their issues..

Perceptions

We don't see things, off course we perceive things, our five senses gives only the input information and our brain perceives things. And we don't perceive reality, rather the perceptions are formed basis one's assumption. A normal mountain could be very different for different individuals based on their own assumptions and those assumptions define how we see/feel/hear/smell/taste things. Assumptions are formed over a period of time and any major change in those assumptions can completely change the way we perceive the reality. How do assumptions change? see new things, think afresh, do something new everyday, read variety of things, listen to things that change the way you think. Astronomy is one subject which changes the way you look at things, there are many more Twitter news and YouTube channels which gives fresh new ideas / news on daily basis, those things questions our assumptions and changes the way we perceive things. As a leading neuro scientist Beau Lotto puts it, the next innovation is not technology, it's seeing / perceiving!

Brand

Brand is a promise to the customer on it's value proposition as perceived by the customer and success of a brand lies in creating that awareness and delivering on the promise forever.

For a new brand, value proposition is communicated by the company and as the brand gets established, it's important to keep checking the value proposition expectation from it's major customers.

For example, if a customer is using Dove soap because it prevents all skin problems, then it's the value proposition as perceived by the customer. It could be an exception but if majority of the customers perceive the same, then the company should know about it and ensure the value proposition is taken care in the product both in terms of chemical composition and brand communication. If the perceived value proposition is it's premium outlook, then we need to ensure it's there in composition, communication, pricing and the distribution.

The most difficult thing in a brand is creating it, the awareness part of it, how do we make this so simple!!

Creation

Human evolution is 4.1 billions years old, the day the first life appeared on earth. If every cell has memory of all our fore father's, though we lose 30000 cells every minute, it must be true that we have the memory of the entire evolution, from amoeba to fish to monkey.. wait, we are remnants of star dust, off course, every atom in our body, so if we look deep inside, may we could see the evolution of star dust to single cell animal to humans, the answer for all the questions of creation, all deep within ourselves, somewhere deep in the memory of every cell or the atom, in some form of language which only our body/ mind can understand. So as Sadguru says, we should just separate ourselves from the body/ mind and look at ourselves from a distance, like we saw earth few miles above the ground to visually confirm it's spherical shape, may be we can get all the answers of creation..

Resign

Just resign from what you do, may be for a week, wow! It's heaven, you see, feel, love things which you haven't sensed for a long time, you do things which haven't done so far and you feel life which you haven't lived all the while..

Yes, I have resigned and I haven't relaxed, I am doing hell a lot of things, but the ones which I love the most; read few books, listened to my body, reduced intake of food, walked more than 10 kms a day, did some creative work on adhoc basis, took care of my kids & spouse, atended a family function, joining a yoga course for four long days and lot more to go..

My God, we missed all this for a very long time, what for, just to make money, just to prove ourselves, just to grow up in our career. But is it worth missing all this.. I am not saying, all of us should resign, but do that for a week, completely, without any baggage and live that life for a week, then may be you can do things much better, may be make more money and grow better in your career!!!

Bane & Boon of AI based Apps

YouTube, it can beat all the TV Channels put together, these days I don't choose the program, it lists and plays on its own, it knows my interests and it's beautiful.. I am relieved of the pain of choosing and I am delighted with the list of contents.

That's the boon and the bane is , I get what I love / like, if I like Messi, I get more of Messi, I doubt existence of God, I get more of the same.. And I get contents that I believe and it gets reinforced multifold, now I strongly believe Messi is the world's greatest player and I doubt the existence of God, deeper than what it was earlier..

And the boon is, You tube knows me better, knows my interests, my likes/dislikes, my intelligence level and today, if anyone wants to pick certain kind of individuals at a global level, YouTube can list it down in a minute.. If a recruiter look for certain characteristic individuals at a global level, they can shortlist very easily.. world is changing for better and I love this..

Being a Rebel

How does it like to be one! You fight for the injustice knowing that you will fall prey, but it is that selfless act, sometimes could be an egoistic act, that small act of defiance by few, could uphold Justice, had been the starting point of many revolutions when it echoed the popular sentiments and has changed this world for better. The sacrifices of those few need to be honored and the younger generation should be encouraged to fight against those injustice rather than showing apathy towards the social concerns.

And Rebellion is not just fighting against an authoritarian regime, but that first act of defiance against the injustice, that voice against the wrongdoings, is the right thing towards a better future..

An insecure leader

Read somewhere, that a leader is paid 50% for protecting his team and another 50% for what he delivers. A leader who is so insecure, will never be able to do this, instead he will put the entire blame on his team and shortly, he will be on his way out..

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

We need daily results, monthly target achievements, monthly market share growth at any cost, that's the expectation today in most of the organization, True, in Long term all are dead, but too much of short sightedness is killing the Indian Industry and employees standard of working..

Enlightenment

I was trying to comprehend the meaning of Enlightenment, understood that this cannot be described in words to a person who has never gone through the process of Enlightenment.

Enlightenment is not taught today, it's what we learn from the process of self realisation and this is superior to all other forms of learnings.

The talent that one gets is phenomenal, have you seen Sadguru's speech on "consciousness" in Harvard Medical school, where did he learn all this. If this form of talent is superior, shouldn't it be taught, learned by everyone for the well being of this society. Should one go to Harvard business school to do a PhD or go to Himalayas to get enlightenment, wouldn't the later be able to give better business solutions. Why should it be learned only from monks/Guru's and why only in Himalayas, shouldn't it be part of the formal education.. Till then let's go to Himalayas, at least once in a life time, as early as you can..

Google Guide

It's not just a map and a guide, it's changing the way we buy products, the way it is delivered and most importantly the product itself. Everything that exists in the world are rated by everyone across this world and this is not just a guide for the buyer, but it's improving the whole standard of the product & services itself.

The biggest curse for improvement is the monopoly of existing players and the customer tendency for risk aversion by choosing the known, existing products.. Google guide breaks this open and gives customers the confidence to take risk on new products & services which in turn forces the existing players to constantly improve themselves.

And this is across every single player who exists in the world and this is making the world for better in a big way, very quickly than ever before..

Worst of the times are the best of the times

Really, remember the worst things that happened in your life, it was the period just before the best of the times.. we get struck in status quo and make big attempts to come out of the shell only when we go through the worst of the times.. And those are the times that brings us down to the ground, teaches the reality, value of relationship and the value of money, it also builds our stamina & perseverance..

Those are times that we have nothing to lose, time to take the next big risk. Feel it, go through the pain, get disappointed, frustrated and that should make you run far away from where you are, to a new place on Earth, where you live your dream, live your life. Remember the worst of the times are the moments of big opportunities!

Panicking

Panicking complicates the issue further and leads to serious problems. This organisation was losing market share and it was sharp in some months, so they brought in a new head, market share dropped further, and in turn he changed the team, process etc, still market share was dropping, he put enormous pressure in the system, given lot of credit, still market share dropped, worse it lead to huge bad debts. And now guess, they ll look for a new head,  sure the market share will drop further. All this happened within a year time in an automobile industry where the lead time to make visible impact is minimum two years..

Looks stupid, that's what panicking does. The organization was cashing in on the strong brand loyalty for a very long time and there was no major drop in it's market share for years inspite of bureaucracy, gaps in products & processes. It took long time to bring in the right products and come out of the bureaucracy and by that time, its too late and there was a free fall.

When there is a free fall, first understand that its not a result of what you did today but yesteryears. Accept that the damage will be far worse than what it is today and provision for the same. Have a long term plan for making visible impact and in short term, measure the lead indicators and not the results. And for godsake don't panic and try short term results, that puts the entire organisation into jeopardy..

Memory of the cell

Brain memory is a minuscle part of our memory. The biggest memory is the cell memory, which stores all the learnings of our forefathers. Have you ever consciously digested your food, pumped your heart blood, performed the kidney or lungs function. No, it just happens on it's own, not only on humans but on animals, plants, even on new born species. So what drives the functioning of the body parts if the brain doesn't order the functioning of the body consciously.

I had the aha moment one day when I was driving down to my office . I took a right turn instead of going straight to my office because I was taking right for the last three days on my way to badminton court. When you are preoccupied and in the absence of intervention, the body performs what is stored. But then the body was intervened continuously to do certain things and was conditioned. In other words, in the evolution of species somewhere in the past, the blood was pumped, oxygen was inhaled, food was digested more consciously and over a period of time, that process is  ingrained in all our cells and has become automatic.

And this is true for all the heroics that we try to do, to come out of the orbit of what our forefathers did, needs lot of energy. A son of a farmer becoming a scientist or a son of a teacher becoming an entrepreneur, need to overcome the cell memory and need to do action beyond his comfort zone.

So let's be aware of the fact that we are limited by the memory of the cell and push ourselves to break free into the limitless possibilities..

Effectiveness

In India, Private organisation employees work for more than 60 hours a week contrary to Western counterparts who work for around 40 hours a week. But still, there is no significant improvement in the organization performance vis a vis the western world.

The additional 20 hours a week of about 50 crores Indians is not yielding desired results and worse the 60 hours of work is not as good as 40 hrs of work of Western counterparts. There could be only two issues, either they are not effectively working during those 60 hrs or not working on the effective things.. I strongly feel that the later is the issue, we are not working on things that is required and very often do the wrong things.

But then why are we doing all wrong things, is that part the problem of our thinking, is that the problem of our education, is that the problem of society and the way we are brought up.. It's a combination of all this, we need the education system to move from rote learning to creative learning, that changes the way we think and the way we behave in the society and it will reflect on the way we work and deliver. it's time that we change the way we learn & think, else we are doomed..

Messi - The perfectionist

You get mesmerized, dumbfounded, awed, stunned, humbled by the act of his perfection, that's Messi.

How do one get to this level of perfection, I don't know, that's something we need to understand and need to be taught. It's not just about football but about limitless possibilities of human capabilities and need to be emulated in every field..