A couple of weeks ago, Charu Bahri who writes for a variety of online & Offline magazines called up to get some input on the above subject, based on my experiences.  This has now been posted on The Daily Retail.com

Do go through it & share your experiences, views with me.

I a career spanning a couple of decades one meets lots of people, working with them, for them, interviewing them. Some people expect a lot from them, loyalty, herd mentality etc…. Fortunately whilst being an optimist I am also a pragmatic person who does not keep expectations very high, because that leads to disappointments. But I truly believe……

Every person I am acquainted with knows something better than me. My aim is to listen long enough to find it and use it

Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood.

Very true, in any language!

Some years ago a friend introduced an acquaintance over dinner one evening & the talk then veered to his new concept relating to my experience & we shared some thoughts, with me providing some inputs.

A couple of days later the said acquaintance called up inquiring if I could meet him, his colleagues etc. As a favor to the friend who also called later, I agreed. Spending a good couple of hours answering their questions, it was time to go, when the said gentleman asked when could I do this again. Giving a Non committal answer, I called up my friend later & asked him the following questions:

1) Would the said acquaintance be running this as a business & making money out of the venture?
2) Would the friend be on board & make money out of this venture?
3) With his continuing business, where he would add the new venture, he was not short of money, right?

In which case, there would be a cost of expertise. This put a strain to my relations with the friend though over the years he also realised that I was correct. Because I said ” if you are GOOD at something, never do it for FREE”

As a leader, your word is only as good as your last promise kept …. or broken

This thought has been relevant in the past, but more so in today’s scenario. It does not matter whom you lead, whether you are a parent, teacher, manager, CXO, CEO, politician so on & forth….. this is applicable.

In the employee focused environment of today, where the knowledge perception is extremely high & you hobnob with extremely bright youngsters who know exactly what they want in life, it is extremely important to have a clear communication line constantly open, sharing thoughts, worries with them openly. They are no longer willing to accept just because the leader has said so!

And it is here, it becomes imperative to think your promise before you give it & more importantly once given, follow it thru to ensure it does not break.

Over the years, this principle has brought & caused me grief, though to be honest I have not been able to keep to it every time.

An ace shooter wins a Gold & the government piles on awards of crore plus (not that he does not deserve it, in fact the contrary)

Another ace shooter dies fighting terrorism & the government pays him 5 lakhs.

This is the irony of our democracy!

Nuff said, What about us citizens? How many of us have shown our gratitude for someone who dies so that we can be safe?

If able middle, upper middle class citizens contribute just Re. 1/- for his family think of the amount??

But that is how the world is! One fails to understand why some newspaper; magazine; etc. take this forward…… If each middle, upper middle class Indian contributes:

Re. 1 for Inspector Sharma’s family
Re. 1 for Bihar Flood Relief
Re. 1 for Orissa Flood Relief
Re. 1 for Surendra Nagar Flood Relief
Re. 1 for the Vidharbha Farmers

In total it would cost them Rs. 5/- but think of the total for each beneficiary. These thoughts were shared with me today by two of my close friends.

Whilst still thinking of an appropriate answer - one of them said “The problem is with the Last Mile. How to reach the collected money in a manner that shall benefit the needy & that too on time. Inspector Sharma’s family is easy. Bihar, Orissa & Sunrendranager?”

The recent couple of years have put responsible people in this dilemma? The question that has no answer, which makes people wary of trusting anyone, which in turn leads to less assistance reaching the needy.

But if a group of people decide & work towards this, its not impossible.

I had been meaning to watch the movie “Wednesday” for nothing else but my two favorite actors in them. Just as we were entering the multiplex & discussing about the Delhi blasts & related events, Shashi Kapoor (unfortunately not the actor) a friend sent this thought: Read the rest of this entry »

In Bombay Times September 13th Katrina Kaif the brand ambassador of Nakshatra diamond jewellery says Diamonds are not girl’s best friend anymore.

Way to go lady!!! Read the rest of this entry »

An oft used term by everyone right from the Gyan Guru’s down to the new recruit…..to all the agencies. Some call it Customer Relationship Management; whilst some use it for Customer Retention Management, so on & forth. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of days ago, had an opportunity to visit STAR bazaar that had recently opened close to my residence. Whilst paying, juggling the bags, attending to a phone call, the young lad enthusiastically tried to hard sell the loyalty card/program that they have.

Though I managed to avoid accepting a form also, on returning home,  I finally decided to clean up the entire wallet, money clip, passport organizer of all these so called loyalty cards.

Read the rest of this entry »