These questions are not nuclear science or invented by me, but learnt along the way of my professional journey, read in a variety of books, articles of Management gurus, still relevant in today’s world.

1) What is the new opportunity that we as an organization are not seeing?

2) How might we learn from others - competition & non competition?

3) Can new trends in how people work/communicate open up ways to improve our organization?

4) What is my ‘Best’ today & how do I enable my team to do their ‘Best’ today?

5) If we were starting from scratch, how would we design it?

6) When a meeting is flat & perfunctory - What’s on people’s mind that is unsaid? What’s wrong? What’s going on?

7) What’s the craziest idea that just might work?

What are the most damaging barriers facing us & how do we obliterate them?

9) What do I need to ensure my team understands my driving philosophy & passion?

10) What’s possible today that was not possible last year/month?

11) Is my team focused on doing what matters the most?

I would love comments & additions to the list to make it more comprehensive & encompassing.

Soon after moving, studying, working across the country, we relocated back to Bombay as I remembered it and continue calling it.

Having settled down in our Palace (that could fit into our bath or kitchen back in Calcutta, Baroda) my wife went on finding spree, which being a Bombayite fluent in Marathi posed no problems, not that it gave her problems in Calcutta also.

Finding a dhobi, vegetable vendor (honest, good but important would give her the kind of vegetables she wanted) and finally the milkman. Our requirement was minimal on this front, nuclear family and all that jazz.

Found one at 4 bungalows - Sharma Dairy Farm - tied up & the delivery started. He grew his business, obviously not because of us, though thru references & neighbours did help.

A couple of years down the line, our nuclear family exploded, parents shifted to stay with us, we shifted houses yada, yada….the milk man followed…..

Some 5-7 years ago, one fine day, after the advent of mobiles, got a call from my wife to pickup some extra milk since some unexpected guests had landed. Asked the driver to take the road past the Dairy & park.

For the love of God I could not locate the dairy, but dreading the “kuch kaam ke nahi” tag if I called my wife up; braved the stupid looks people were giving me in my suit avataar marched up to an restaurant & enquired with a young pleasant looking gentleman on the counter.

Prompt came the answer ” You are standing in Sharma Dairy!” Then the man we knew came out, insisting that I have something kyon ki aap kabhi aaye hi nahi; bhabhiji knows & wished us etc. etc. Upon further enquiries, turned that his eldest son had completed his studies & so “thoda sa expansion kar liya”. Promising to visit them sometime again went away.

Over the years, found myself passing by, with a smile on my face whenever I passed the location. The delivery boys changed, older ones started sitting on the counters, became managers at the dairy. My wife also said his younger son was studying.

Today morning, on receiving a notice,

Milk Management Notice

I concluded that his younger son has completed his studies even MBA since I could see PPP implementation (Price, Productivity, Penalty) implementation happening at my old Sharma Dairy Farm….that was surely turning into a conglomerate, maybe a small one but still!

And this generation is bound to give headaches to the New Organized Retailers! They have everything going for them:

• Location
• Operation Capabilities
• Loyal & Trained Staff
• Structured Finance
• Ownership
• Focus to grow

Do let me know in case I have missed out something

Time Management is something most of us claim to either have mastered or are completely useless at. Some signs are, being perpetually running late for meetings, not able to schedule, so on & forth. Over the years passing thru these phases & watching a bunch of friends & colleagues namely R. Sriram; Soeb Fatehi; Sunil Sheth; Hemant Gajjer; Devangshu Datta to name a few have managed to change myself to a greater extent, more importantly becoming adept at managing time most of the days — Read the rest of this entry »

2008 is going to present an Exciting, Challenging & sometimes Frustrating market conditions. In many cases all three situations will be present at once. Such business environment demands the best from Professionals.

To succeed in such exciting times, lets see what skills do a manager needs to refine. The following skills listing are not in any particular sequence of importance. Some of you may find the last one to be of top priority, while for others this may be just the right sequence! I leave it to your judgment.

1: Hiring (& keeping) the best.
As products (& or services) become similar, its the people who will make the difference. Read the rest of this entry »

An article in Corporate Dossier in 2003 by Kumar Mangalam Birla that made sense, particularly when coming from a ‘B’ school person himself.

Lesson 1 : Learning to Work as part of a team
(Take 1 therefore is: Being team spirited is critical to success in professional life)

Lesson 2 : Learning to take care of the Details
(Take 2 : Remember ……..God is in the details)

Lesson 3 : Learning to work across cultures
(Take 3 : Respect different cultures and learn from them)

Lesson 4: Learning to make use of the gift of judgement and intuition
(Take 4 - then - is: Listen to your sixth sense. Also understand the touch and feel factor of the experienced)

Lesson 5 : Using failure as a stepping stone to success
(Take 5 is: There’s no success without failure)

Lesson 6: Learning a New, more holistic definition of success
(Take 6: Let’s define success more holistically)

A more detailed version of the article can be read here