Anna Hazare : The Last of the Gandhians

Gandhi has never ceased to impress me.  As Albert Einstein once said of Gandhi “ Generations to come will scarcely believe that a man of flesh, like Gandhi, ever walked this planet”. Stories of a colonial power finding itself under moral pressure because of an old man going  on a self-inflicted fast, almost seemed to be a fairly tale. May be it was a different age. May be it was a different setting.

To see the story of Gandhi come alive, in front of my eyes it absolutely incredible.

We have seen lot of publicity hungry politicians go on a 48 hour fast (presumably after stuffing themselves with enough supplies to last for 48 hours) or go an a relay fast (so what really in a relay fast ? Don’t all of us do “relay fast” between 2 meals!).   These guys will put a tent right in middle of a crowded street and squat there for a couple of days….till they  find a some pretext to give up the fast. Besides some cheap publicity, they only end of inconveniencing the public.

However going on a fast-unto-death is a completely different story.  When a widely respected public figure takes this kind of stance, there is no going back. It is a zero-one game. You just cant go back. Either you home victorious or you don’t go back home at all. It takes a great deal of guts,  a lot of inner strength and an equally strong sense of purpose to take this kind of extreme step.

Anna’s movement has captured the nations imagination, most of all the youth. There is now a role model to look up to. His solitary action will strengthen the moral fabric of the society and the country will reap its benefits. Like the RTI Act, made public servants more accountable, similary the appointment of LokPal will  certainly bring some teeth to the anti-corruption laws… and create fear in the mind of the corrupt.

There is now renewed belief that good finally triumphs over evil.  That even in modern day Kaliyug, Ravana will still get trounced at the hands of Rama.  Like Lord Krishna said in the Mahabharata : Each time there is Adharma, I shall be born to bring back Dharma to its right place.

Gandhism still survives…… and it still delivers !

My Cricket World Cup Memories

The cricket World Cup victory last week, bought  back a lot of old memories.

My earliest memory of the world cup is about the 1979 World Cup.  If my memory serves me right Venkatraghvan, the acclaimed spinner, was the captain of the Indian team. Matches then used to be of 75 overs each and would be played over one and half days. India, as expected, did not go very far in that World Cup and Sunil Gavaskar earned the dubious distinction of scoring  a measly 20-30 runs off 150 odd balls.  He played the match almost like playing a test match…but then you cant really blame the man. One-dayers were an unknown commodity in those days.

Next memory is about the 1983 World Cup. Each match that India won, was a victory worth savoring.  Kapil Dev scored 175 not out in match where India was 5 for 23 at one point of time.  And the way Kapil Dev was stroking the ball ,  it was as if he could the ball as big as a football. Incidentally this brilliant match does not have any TV footage since BBC was on strike on the day this match was played. I also remember the final match very vividly. As one of after another West India batsman fell, there was a sense of utter disbelief and almost bewilderment. I remember seeing Clive Lloyds face, completely shocked. Next morning TOI headlines read “India Dethrone West Indies”.  A decade old supremacy of the West Indies came to an end.   Those were the days, when there was little to be proud about being an Indian.  The Indian rupee was constantly being devalued. India has still not arrived on the software scene. And Indian products were shoddy and third class. In such a situation, the World Cup victory was one straw that we all clung too desperately, to redeem our pride as a nation.

After 1983, World Cup Cricket somewhere lost  way. The original sponsor Prudential (the cup used to be called Prudential Cup) backed out. Then Reliance stepped in for one of the World Cup …and the matches moved out of England and started happening in India and then Australia and then South Africa. I also remember the 2003 World Cup when India tamely lost to the Australians in the finals.

India is a lot more confident, as a nation now.  Winning accolades no longer comes as a surprise.  And there are fields where we have demonstrated exellence on the global stage. Hence however exciting this victory might have been, it will soon become a memory…as we move on to seek more heights to conquer. The iconic image of a grinning Kapil Dev holding the Cup, while Englishmen around him applaud, will continue to be most enduring World Cup memory for me.

Mumbai’s Largest Diwali Party

This year, my 12 year old son decided that we will not be  bursting crackers and would instead donate the money to an orphanage for a charitable cause. His decision was motivated by his concern about air pollution as well child labour being engaged in fireworks factory.It is interesting how the new generation is seriously concerned about social issues and is willing to take a stand on same.

So now we needed to find an NGO where we could do our little bit to bring some cheer and happiness this Diwali.  A friend of ours introduced us to “Mumbai Largest Diwali Party”.

This event was organised on Saturday evening at the Mumbai Race Course Ground. 1500 under-priveleged children, who might have been staying at orphanages or homes for the destitute, were ferried by buses specially arranged for this occassion, to the Race Course grounds. As they walked in they were served a small snack box and a packaged water. Dutifully they sat down in front of the stage and enjoyed at 2 hour fun filled musical evening. Once the entertainment was over, they were served a proper sit down dinner…which was topped off with ice cream from none other than Baskin Robbins! Thereafter they were given an empty school bag which they carried in front of the gift counters. As they passed the gift counters, their bags got stuffed with toothpaste, toothbrush, combs, pencils, crayons, chocolates and what not…by the time the finished doing the gift counter, the bag actually became quite heavy for some of them to even carry it !

These kids from all age groups, right now 5 year olds to perhaps 15 year olds.  More than food and entertainment, I think it was the respect way in which these children were being treated that made them feel so happy and gleeful. As Mother Theresa once said, dignity and respect is far more important than money.  And these kids, otherwise forsaken by society, for absolutely no fault of theirs, were getting a chance to earn their dignity. I am sure that this day would have been one the happiest days in their lives…the memory of which will help them be a little more forgiving towards our society..when they grow up and become citizens of the nation.

For me, just watching these smiling faces and seeing their very enthusiastic “Happy Diwali” greetings as they passed in front the gift counters, gave me goosebums. Is is really possible to create so much joy and happiness, for so little ? We search for happiness in all forms of esacapism…but true happiness is found only when you are able to be of help to someone else.

The event was organised by Nitai Mehta on behalf of the Madhu Mehta Foundation. I am told that this Diwali party is an annual ritual that started like 15 years ago. At that time there would be 200 children participating in the event. Over the years it is grown to become such a big event.  My sincere thanks to the foundation for the wonderful work that they are doing.

 

 

Social Media MegaTrends : A Shrinking World

Everything seems to be shrinking. Besides inflation (which is causing the value of money to shrink), there are two more things that are shrinking very fast: our attention span and our window to the world around us.

First, the shrinking attention span:

• Recently I came across a “research report”. It was called an “Infograph”. In about 15 graphs on a single long HTML page, a research on demographics of Social Media users worldwide and their Social Media behaviour had been conveyed. It took all of 6 “Pg Dn” keystrokes to see the graphs and about 10 minutes to digest the communication. Less than 5 years ago, the same data would have been presented in a 20 page pdf file with lot of words and commentary. Not so anymore. Crisp, to-the-point communication. So crisp that if you are not “into the subject matter”, those colourful graphs would remain just that. With substantially reduced attention spans, who really has the time or patience to ‘read’ a research report! We are now living in a world where research reports have become infographs and paragraphs have become tweets. Finally my 6th standard grammar précis writing classes are becoming useful. Today while writing tweets, the key challenge is how to communicate a complete thought process in 140 characters and also generate a question in order to create back flow of communication (If I remove the characters required for a bitly link and for RT), perhaps you need to finish the communication in 120 characters.

Now the shrinking window (no pun on “MS Windows”!)

• Once upon a time, our window to the world was all that our eyes could see if we turned our head from one side to another. Perhaps our eyes could “see” a radius of about 5 kms (if there was no obstruction).
• Then about 100 years ago, cinema screens were invented. A cinema screen was about 20ft x 20ft. Substantially smaller than our earlier window to the world, yet we could see and experience much more through this screen. • Then 60 years ago, television was invented. The screens become smaller (24” x 12”), but our ability to see increased (now we have multiple channels to choose from).
• Then 30 years back, PC was invented. The screen further shrunk (12” x 5”), but our vision expanded. The WWW allowed to go just about anywhere you desired.
• And now the cell phone. Our screen size is just (2” x 1.5”). It is interesting that our window to the world is continuously shrinking but our vision or ability to see more is actually increasing!

Peepli Live : Buland Bharat ki Buland Tasweer ?

A brother motivates another to commit suicide. A son want to know from his father as to when will the father die…so that the son has a chance to become a thanedar. The wife, while upset about the idea of her husband committing suicide, knows that the money the government will give as compensation for a farmers suicide, will certainly come in handy, post her husbands possible death.

The media loves reality shows and what better a show than a person killing himself ..live. Indian media believes in squeezing out every ounce of juice from a story, much like a sugar cane crushing machine that repeatedly crushing sugar cane to squeeze of its very last drop. Sensational words flashed repeatedly on the screen and supported by a voice, perpetually in an exclamatory mode…that is news for you.

A bureaucracy that is continues to live like it was still the British Raj..and a polity that believes that there is no Raj. Ministers of rival parties, coming together for personal selfish gains. Money banks and vote bank politics are the name of the game. Everyone in a hurry to make money…like there is no tomorrow.

Is this the reality of India ? Is this the “buland” Bharat and its “buland” image? Dont get me wrong. There is a reality of India, where our scientist can make nuclear bombs and send rockets to the space. There is a reality of India, where averagely educated people can now make a decent living thanks to job opportunities created by the software industry and BPOs. There is a reality of India where on the roads of Mumbai, there is BMW that flashes by every 15 minutes and where we have 335 TV channels beaming entertainment and commercials.

But then this is also a reality of India where human beings are so desperate to live that the lives of others seem like a commodity, where media is only looking for sensationalism and where bureaucracy and politicians alike a law unto themselves.

We Entrepreneurs Are A Strange Species

A few days back I read a blog post about a fellow entrepreneur, who was running a similar business to mine,  who had shut shop.  Normally the exit of a competitor should be an occasion to grab more opportunities. However I felt quite sad as I read the blog post.

We entrepreneurs are a strange species !

We get possessed by an idea and then we put in all our energies in trying to make that idea come to life. We lose track of day-and-night. We lose track of the seasons. We have no clue when the sun comes out and when it sets. There are only 2 time zones : time to work and time to sleep….And sleep part  also comes by force, simply because the body fails to cope  up with the energy levels of the mind.

We chase our dreams with all our resources. It does not matter what is the length of the car that one drives and it does not matter what is brand of the watch that one wears. You travel the cheapest airline, live in the most economical hotel and travel by a rick…so that whatever you save, you can put it into chasing your dream.

At times we put our families to great risk and peril. We don’t know when our children grew up and how the wife managed the household finances while we were busy chasing our dreams. We are indeed so lucky to have families who welcome us with open arms when we are back home after putting in 16 hours of labour.

And mind you, money is not always the driving force. Creation of wealth is a by-product. It is all about bringing a dream alive, it is all about changing the world.

And then sometimes, those dreams get shattered ! Entrepreneurs are like soldiers. Possessed by a mission. And when you go to war, you dont care of the consequences. You dont care if you will win or if you will come back in a body bag. All that you care is about giving your best to your cause.

And when those dreams get shattered, it hurts.  It like giving away your child. It really hurts. And I could imagine what the entrepreneur who had to give up his business must have felt. I could feel the pain, having been on that road earlier.

But then I know, he will bounce back. He surely will. He will come back one day and reclaim his lost glory. He will come back a much-learned man, better prepared to handle the ways of this world. He will come back with another dream, dreams that keep you awake at night, dreams that inspire you to risk all that you have, dreams that take you back into the war zone.

After all, we entrepreneurs are a strange species !

Social Media MegaTrends : You Can Run But You Cannot Hide

Internet came to town a decade ago and changed our lives forever. Not only did it change the way we did business but it changed the way we lived life. Email became our primary communication tool and web URL became the primary way to disseminate information. It was OK if you did not have a physical office address, but it was not OK if your business card did not carry a URL.

Web 2.0 is once again re-defining our lives. It promises to be bigger and have a more significant impact on us than Web 1.0. If Web1.0 was driven largely by Internet connectivity and PCs, Web 2.0 will be driven by the mobile telephony and Social Networking Sites.

To give an example of the power of this lethal combination of SNS and mobile phone savour the following examples:

• Imagine you are at a conference, where there are another 100 delegates like yourself. Maybe there are some people you know, but there are a larger number of people you don’t know. You pull out your cell phone, take up a position at a vantage point and take a picture of the audience.  Your cell phone software very quickly connects to servers to leading SNS sites, does image mapping , and in just about no time, the picture reappears on your cell phone, except that this time it has been tagged by names of all the people in the audience with their designations and company names. You click on a name, and that persons profile is right there before you. Now, you know the people that you need to catch up with during the tea break!

Each one of us are now fully “identifiable” at any point of time. It is almost like having a name tag pinned to your T-shirt pocket at all times. Even if one wants to remain anonymous, this combination of a cell phone + SNS sites, ensures that there is no place to hide….not anymore

Let us look at another example of how this cell phone + SNS combination is going to transform our decision making process:

• Imagine I am a tourist who has come to Mumbai from Delhi. Here I am, at the Hanging Garden, enjoying the sight of Chowpatty. Now I wish to proceed for lunch. Once upon a time, I would need to depend on a tourist guide book or the taxiwalla to guide me.  Now, no more!  I flash my cell phone, switch on the camera and hold it against a view of the Chowpatty landscape. I click a button asking for a listing of restaurants. Promptly all restaurants that are in focus in the camera appear tagged on the camera. Now I know that there is Pizza Hut and a Rajdhani and a Copper Chimney in my view. I click on a particular restaurant and I can see the menu card and the price list. I click on yet another button and I can see recommendations.  Best of all, I can specifically see recommendations made by people who are known to me.  Technology needs to connect the restaurant website to the website that carries recommendations to my Facebook page…and I can see exactly which of my friends have made what recommendations for a particular restaurant.  So then who decides where I eat? No longer the tourist guide book and no longer the taxiwalla. It is my friends who are helping me decide where I eat.

Guru Gyan from Harsh Mariwala

TIE Mumbai chapter organised a meeting with Mr Harsh Mariwala, CMD of Marico Limited, earlier this week, This was a small closed group interaction, with the objective of understanding challenges that Marico has experienced during its journey (from being a family managed company to one of India’s leading FMCG companies) and how he overcame those challenges.

Here are some key take-aways from the meeting that I would like to share :

( a) In early stage of the company ( at that time company was already about 50cr, today it is probably close to 2500 cr) he  created a vision document. Ran into quite a few pages. Got the entire top management team of about 40 people involved in creating and discussing the same. Then the management team members took the vision document to their respective teams, explained them and got their inputs. This  was again percolated upwards. Final vision document was crystallised, translated into multiple languages (for convenience of workers, sales force etc) and then circulated.

Take away
* Vision can’t be that of one person. It has to be that of a group
* Even if everyone can’t contribute to the document, keep them present during the meeting, gives them a sense of ownership and participation
* Not everyone may contribute to something, but keeping them in the loop, gives them a sense of ownership. Involvement leads to commitment
* One has to invest substantial time in building a vision..this is then the lighthouse

(b) Based on the vision document, company identified key values. All stakeholders were asked to rate the company on key values. First time around rating was 2.8 out of 4.
Process of getting the company’s key values rated by stakeholders continue

(c) From day one work atmosphere is informal. Open cubicles, glass cabins, no ties. Everyone addresses everyone by first name

(d) Dissent is encouraged..formal processes to allow dissent to be voiced

(e) Job rotation : Current CMO was formally Head of HR; current HR person is a CA by profession. However this should be done only when the organisation has a certain base. Else it could mis fire resulting in disastrous consequences

(f) When HUL launched Nihar and threated Marico’s cash cow brand “Parachute”, Marico created a “war room” atmosphere in the company. Actually created a video with background sound” Parachute, Parachute, tujhko meri kasam, tere kadmon mein Nihar to chadhe jayenge:..played to the tune of “Ae wata, Ae watan, tujhko meri kasam….”. Harsh  showed us the video. It gave me goosebumps seeing the video..great tool to inspire the team. This was just one thing but across board this was the kind of approach that Marico followed…. Finally HUL (who at one time wanted to buy Parachute, sold out NIhar to Marico and exited the coconut oil business)

(g)  Harsh’s learning from Nihar experience : Single minded focus can  overcome brute force.  People down the line are the ones who really win the battle for you

(h) Trust your people. Start with “Trust”. Dont assume, do not mistrust unless you have evidence for the same. When dealing with your team, operate from a position of trust.

(g) When Marico reached 1000 cr, organised a get-together where ex-employees were also called. This did great for the motivation of  the current employees (realised they would always be treated as part  of Marico family, even after they quit the job)

(i) When you take on something, put your best resources in the project and have no “escape” button. When Marico launched ERP, they created a team of their best people,  and put them at a separate location. This teams only job was to work on ERP. Project was completed in record 9 months without any glitches. Most companies would load the ERP work to the current team members and the already stretched HOD becomes the cause of ERP failure

(j) While doing recruitment, first recruit the right search firm. Dont just have any firm throwing resumes at you. Dont work with anybody and everybody.  Your search firm is like your partner.

(k) While interviewing people, recognise that it is not a one way a traffic. You need him and he needs you. Hence go with that kind of mind set. Not with a you-have-come-to-me-for-a-job kind of mindset. If you find a good person, invest in him during the interview process. Sometimes he may come back and join you later. Hence treat every interview seriously.

(l) As an organisation grows, some people are not able to grow the organisation. It is OK to let them go

(m) Innovation is not just in the market place (new product, new packaging). Innovation needs to happen inhouse also. Eg at Marico, employees can self-authorise expenses , dont need anyone’s approval (if it is within some parameters or norms). Random audit is done to be sure process not being abused.

Did I live the life that I wanted to live ?

Did I live the life that I wanted to live ?

Did I visit the places that I wanted to visit?

Did I read  the books that I wanted to read?

Did I see the movies that I wanted to see?

Did I make friends with people  whom I wanted to befriend?

Did I spend some time with whom I wanted to spend some time?

Did I laugh out loud in the company of my dear ones?

Did I sleep long hours when I wanted to sleep?

Did I wander aimlessly when I needed to be with me?

Was every day of my life, my day ?

Or did I want to be like someone else?

Did I want a car like some others car?

Did I want a life like some others life?

Did I want fame like some others fame?

Did I want a name like some others name?

Did I chase dreams that others showed me?

Did I live for myself or did I live for my name?

Did I live my life or did I live someone else’s life ?

From Lalitaji to Salman Khan : Wheel TVC

One of my favourite TV ads when I was  kid was the “Surf” one. Two ladies would be standing in front of a convenience store. One would pick up a cheaper, unbranded detergent (representing the competition) while the  other one (Lalitaji) , wearing a sparkling white saree with a blue border, would pick  Surf.  And then a male voice over (presumably the shopkeeper) would ask Lalitaji as to why she is buying the more expensive detergent.  Lalitaji would answer that Surf washes more and washes brighter and therefore “ Bhaisaheb,  Surf ki kharidari mein hi samajhdari hai”

Those were the days of a single TV channel (you could not switch channels when a commercial came on…..so you simply learned to like them) where faceless, nameless actors peddled products. And TV was still considered an expensive medium, what with the cost of writing a script and producing it, and then getting some babu in Doordarshan to agree to air it (for a fee of, course).

The world has changed since.  Unlimited TV channels, millions of hours of TV content, zillions of commercials…how does an advertiser manage to get the consumers attention? Here is where celebrity endorsements come in.  The first of the celebrity ads I remember was Sunil Gavaskar in a Thumps Ad ….. and then the unforgettable Kapil Dev saying “Palmolive ka to jawaab nahin”.  Celebrity endorsements for brands has now become routine. As a matter of fact considering the numbers of endorsements that the Bachchan family (AB+AB+AB) does, they must be responsible for at least 1/3^rd of this country’s GDP !!

And thus from Lalitaji selling Surf, once upon a time, we now have Salman Khan endorsing Wheel, in one the current television  commercial.  It is indeed very interesting to see that the macho man is actually endorsing a very feminine TG product…but I guess that must have exactly been the ideal.  To get the female eyeballs, you need a male machoism!  The ad itself is very cutely done with very good screen chemistry between Prachi Desai and Salman (maybe they should do a movie together). Also the communication changes the product position from being something utilitarian (how much whiteness, how long-lasting) to becoming something that brings happiness home. Certainly  creates a more emotional bonding between the brand and the consumer. Watch this TV commercial at http://bit.ly/9oXSaH and share your comments with me.

So here is the last word : “ Lalitaji, Salmanbhai ko brand ambassador banana mein hi  samajhdari hai”