Category Archives: LESSONS IN MANAGEMENT

Why single lane swimming is not good for your career

Organisations are complex entities. They thrive on templates and constrained experimentation. There is a discipline defined by department, position and work responsibilities. Each of them has their own agenda, objectives and SOPs. They are supposed to magically merge for the organisation to attain its goal. You are one of the units there. You have been… Read More »

Are you working enough to KILL yourself?

‘If you don’t have hypertension, kidney problem, sleeping disorder or heart problem, even after working 5 years in advertising, you have not been working hard enough’. Don’t know who said it first, but have heard it repeated many times in the advertising and marketing. industry. Many of us laughed as we shared it with the… Read More »

‘ONE LESS DECISION TO MAKE’ – towards designed customer Intimacy.

Oh, I know. I caught you there with the headline. As a brand / product/ service, you and the customer is not married. On top of that there is no hint of an affair. Intimacy is a desire and dream but then that is where you stand. If I hear you right, you are committed to… Read More »

Have your SOP’s outlived their utility?

Every self-respecting department in a growing organisation has defined standard operating processes (SOP). The problem is simple. Most of the process were created when the organisation was of a different size, operating in a zone with market dynamics that may not be now relevant. However, like religious rituals and family traditions, they remain unchallenged. In… Read More »

A MILLION SMILE celebration- iLEAD – Aid-et-action

I have been fortunate to be associated with AEA – Aid Et Action. I am Director on India Board of this Geneva Based international NGO. It’s Indian Headquarter is at Chennai. The South-Asia region is headed by Ravi Pratap Singh, highly diligent worker and task master. AEA works for ‘Bringing Change Through Education’. They work… Read More »

The Midway Problem of Giving up on Yourself.

Happy New Year. It is the time when you have so many brilliant thoughts. When you are dedicated to change things and be more positive. In some time, these thoughts mellow down and practicality sets in. Like a stretched rubber band, you come back to your original self, as if nothing ever changed. That is… Read More »

10 Books to read from 2016

As 2016 comes to an end, here I am with the round-up of books I recommend reading. (Click at the respective year to read the list of the books I recommended in 2014 and 2015) And right at the top comes the disclaimer. Frankly, I have read most of them, but not all of them.… Read More »

Advertising chasing new scapegoats- Celebrities.

The ASCI code for  ‘Celebrity in Advertising’ is something I fail to understand. As per national  tradition, certain highly influential people, business leaders, religious leaders, politicians, government functionaries, Bureaucrats and people like doctors, authors, activists and educationists have been treated with kid gloves. To me, any such guideline must cut across all segments and not… Read More »