The other queue moved faster at airport checkin
So also was it always at the toll plaza drive in
Whichever was the lane
The other queue caused pain
Till I realised ‘The only journey that matters is the one within’
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Author Archives: J.P Singh
MBA @ Mother’s Business Academy ….. Mother’s Day Special !!
Long before ‘In Search of Excellence’ and ‘What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School’ became bestsellers. Much before I even knew about management education. A ‘Trustworthy’ practitioner of so many management concepts, as I was to realize later, was just flowing through her daily routine with grace.
This Mother’s Day, I reflect on 10 (in no particular order) Justplainandsimple™ observations about my mother …..
1. ‘Work Life Balance’, as an issue, was unheard of with her. My mother is a retired teacher. She would travel 20 km one way in public transport and still manage all household activities including cooking, ironing, keeping the house clean ….. and teaching me and my brother.
2. Transcending Self and with Immense Inner Strength, she is a Level 5 Leader, (builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility & professional will ~ Jim Collins) who would put family needs above her own, humbly and quietly.
3. Coaching and People Development come so naturally to her. So while she used to help me and my brother (she was a maths teacher) with our studies, her teachings in personal and professional development have been of immense help in shaping and grooming us. Not only that, her ‘Home Grown People Development’ Style is equally effective while training domestic help.
4. While it may not be the most appropriate usage of the term, she fully understands our needs and emotions as (internal) customers and offers solutions and customer experiences unmatched anywhere in the world.
5. With a soft heart, she can take ‘Tough Decisions’ for the good of the family, with equal ease.
6. There is never any task where she does not demonstrate evidence of ‘Execution Excellence’. Balanced meals for the family, arriving at her school on time, keeping the house spick and span, making sure all our requirements, be it school uniform, books etc. were fully met, ensuring 100% results of her students ….. everything achieved with clockwork precision, without an ‘Outlook calendar’.
7. She demonstrated Continuous Learning and Evolution. During her working life, alongwith her busy schedule, she completed two M.A. and one M.Com degrees. Where else could I gain such learnings !? As for our studies she taught us the importance of Practice, Practice, Practice …..
8. We were continually encouraged to have a Big Vision. Her faith and continuous encouragement always made me think (as, I guess all mothers do and believe) that I was the Best in The World ….. !!
9. With both parents working, we had a comfortable childhood financially. But still, managing finances and living according to family income was a challenge, especially till about two decades ago, which she managed with great elan.
10. Last, but not the least, she practiced and then preached the Values of Integrity, Ethics, Discipline, Humility, Empathy, Respect for All and above all ….. Faith in God !!
Maa Tujhe Salaam !! Salute You Mother !! Happy Mother’s Day …..
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Profit in Low Income Markets ….. An Oxymoron !?
Let’s ask any entrepreneur the question : Why does your business exist ??
Their answers will get bucketed in only two Justplainandsimple™ reasons and in this order :
1)Creating Value for the customer
2)Creating ROI for the Owner
Only if the customers see value, will more of them buy your products and services (n); more frequently (f) and pay you more (p). The cumulative product of these is Revenue (R) i.e. n X f X p. So, value creation is a necessary condition !!
If the entrepreneur does not make a return on his/her resources (after and inspite of and because of providing Value to the customer), there is no reason for them to be in business. Simply put, there could be other uses they can put their resources to, with better risk weighted returns.
However, one could argue, that there is another case/option of Creating Value without looking for returns. A ‘charity/donation’ framework !? This has different implications, which may not be sustainable too. A lot of ‘not for profit’ organisations get caught in this trap. Let’s use this as an example at one end of the spectrum to demonstrate a point.
The logic works like this. It is a ‘not for profit’ organisation, so profit is not an objective to be sought.
Hence, starting at the top of the P&L, fine tuning and polishing the Value Offering to yield optimal R = n X f X p loses significance. This leads to suboptimal product/service offerings coming from this sector. No wonder so many ‘charity’ organisations have gathered a connotation of sub standard offerings.
Next casualty in line is productivity. Since it is ‘not for profit’, squeezing every expense line for productivity is not key. This takes a very critical role in a ‘for profit’ organization.
Hence what flows down at the base of the P&L, is ‘NO PROFIT’ ….. a self fulfilling prophecy !! From where do resources come for funding the loss or resources for growing the scale or further expansion of scope ?? More donation !! Sustainability is affected.
What is needed to flow out, even in such an example of a ‘not for profit’, is a SURPLUS at the base of the P&L after revenues and expenses have been churned. Whatever purpose that surplus maybe put to. Not for returns to owners, but for building scale, for reaching more beneficiaries, for further investments ….. !?
So whether we call it ‘profit’ or ‘surplus’ the significance is clear. QED.
Reasonable surplus or how much is enough, is a matter for another debate related to human greed and we keep it out of the scope of this discussion for the time being. Needless to say, Profit or surplus is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Therefore we have new concepts of triple bottom line coming up : profit, people and planet.
If profit is a requirement that has to be met, we get answers in the way we define it. Right in the beginning of this article, I indicated the second reason for the existence of businesses to be ‘creating ROI for the owner’.
The entrepreneur is looking for ROI. So relative ROIs from different opportunities are compared and investments made. Defining profit this way, helps us in understanding and resolving this issue creatively.
Profit cannot be made mathematically by increasing prices and cutting expenses. Pricing the product to the market is the key. More customers (n) are not going to pay more (p) or buy more frequently (f) than the value they attach to the offering.
Also, you cannot cost cut your way to glory. There will be expenses, there will be costs. Understanding ‘what adds most value to the customer’, to empathise, allows the business to focus and allocate expenses in areas that are important for value creation and hence to reap benefits of leverage and productivity ….. this is rewarded by the right customers (n) buying at the right frequency (f) at the right price (p) !!
Fundamentally, business is ‘philosophy’, not mathematics.
The answer to ‘Profits in low income markets’ therefore lies in creativity and innovation. To find ways of increasing productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.
Nature teaches us various ways in which a dynamic balance is maintained in ecosystems. An organism (organization) picks up signals from its environment (market reading) and makes structural changes within to respond intelligently and in turn influences the environment. This enables it to learn, co-exist and evolve continuously. The story of evolution is a story of collaboration of species and co-existing/co-evolving symbiotically.
Who influences whom then ? The environment and organism keep the whole ecosystem in a harmonious dynamic balance, playing a continuous dance !! So also should organisations and low income markets ….. a continuous dance of celebrating harmony in an interdependent partnership ….. with flexibility and respecting and honouring integrity and diversity in action !!
This was first published in the Ennovent Blog: Innovations for Sustainability
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I wish I could mentor more women …..
Priyanka stood up and shared how she had gained so much confidence in the past six weeks. She is a young girl studying at Delhi’s Women Technical Institute, which she joined after class XII. About 70 girls had gone through a Selling Skills programme under ‘Light Up A Life’ initiative by Brisc Carr Group Inc., of which I am a member. The programme objective is ‘Helping Underprivileged and Underemployed Youth in India Achieve Sustainable Livelihood’.
I was at the WTI last week, to handover the certificates of completion. As I interacted with them, the girls spoke up one by one ….. what a difference the initiative had made to these young lives !! While they were learning vocational skills at this institute, the six weeks intervention acted like a catalyst that was to transform their personalities and prepare them to lead better personal and professional lives.
“We can face the world with a lot more confidence”. “We learned how to listen to and understand others’ needs”. “We know how to ask open ended probing questions”. “ We will be able to interact with our employers, friends and relatives better”. “We will be able to deal with our family issues more effectively”. They went on enthusiastically.
The display of India’s Women Power in the Republic Day parade today showed possibilities of what can be achieved if almost half of India, that is women, is equally empowered !!
While narrating her transformational story, one of the girls forgot the points she had diligently noted earlier. I took out my own scribbles from my coat pocket and showed her that even I had made notes to refer to for my talk to them later on and that she could also refer to her points. An amazing ease and calm dawned on her immediately. She reached out for her sheet of paper and rattled off all her thoughts.
Later on, while casually chatting with the girls, they said that they were nervous before the event, but our informal interaction made them feel at ease. I shared that before that interaction, even I was a bit tense as to how it will all roll out. With a roll of laughter that followed, I asked myself a Justplainandsimple™ question ….. “Who is helping whom here ?”. I was also gaining a sense of calm and confidence through the interaction with them !!
The way these girls had prepared and gone through the entire course was amazing. It reinforced my belief in the strength, grace and meticulous nature (among many other qualities) of the female gender. And there was so much for me to learn from and improve myself. Warren Buffet had once said that he was so successful because he competed with only half the population. Imagine the power that can be unleashed if India’s women are adequately educated and empowered. They will not only uplift their own families, but the entire society and the nation.
Most talks and meetings that I go for, I have my standard blue, grey, black, brown, white combination of colours to choose my clothes from. That day, I took out a combination of a ‘green’ jacket and sweater and a shirt with green stripes. The whole experience, I realized, was giving me a lot more joy, colour, brightness, confidence and fulfillment than probably for these young girls.
I have always told my daughter that ‘She is The Best’. That she should make herself capable enough to be able earn and lead a comfortable, healthy and happy life on her own. That she should speak up whenever and wherever needed. That Values are important. That the social programming of girls to be submissive is wrong ….. That day, I was able to share the same with so many more young girls
I could feel that my family had expanded ….. from being the boundary of my life it had expanded to include so many bright young souls ….. adding Grace to myself in the process !!
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MS Dhoni : A Viewpoint
(Views expressed in this post are entirely my own)
The picture on the left is after a World Cup Final Win !! Noticeable by his absence, is the captain, MS Dhoni. And this is a pattern that gets repeated so often. He could have stolen the limelight at innumerable occasions that came up for him, if he was an egoist.
But some people say he is an egoist;
And they are honourable men….
He hath brought many laurels to Indian cricket,
Which is definitely at an elevated level now than then …..
Yet, after Dhoni’s recent decision to retire from test cricket, certain sections of media, society and sports criticized him for his ego. And these are ‘honourable men’ !!
With the best of leaders,
When the work is done,
The project completed,
The people all say
“We did it ourselves”
(Tao, 17)
As a student of Leadership, I follow the continuous debate on MS Dhoni with great interest. While theories on Leadership abound, with a personality like Dhoni, the discussion becomes even more intriguing and exciting. A Justplainandsimple™ patented view on leadership is :
Leadership is like an exhaust fan; creating An Energy Flow quietly on the sideTM
This, I also found to be quite an apt description of our Captain Cool’s leadership style.
The recent two test losses (and many previous wins) in Australia have brought in a lot of flak for him. At the same time raised more debates ….. of the type ‘Is Dhoni more successful than Saurav ?’ Can there be a comparison with Gavaskar and Kapil of the 80s ? ….. and so on ….. While some of these may not be valid, as eras and circumstances have changed a lot, others may also be of a speculative nature.
But one thing is certain ….. Dhoni definitely HAS built further on the successes of earlier giants. Also, when he took over as captain the team had really strong players like Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman, Harbhajan et al. And to sustain and build further on existing strengths is surely VERY VERY CREDITABLE !! Over the shoulders of giants …..
A study on successful Indian CEOs, conducted some years back, highlighted key characteristics exhibited by these people in various business situations. It is quite relevant in this discussion due to commonality of Indian mindsets, social contexts, ecosystem etc. ….. and topicality
I bring up the characteristics again at this point in time.
The ones that I want to highlight, are those characteristics that were displayed by business leaders in ‘Improving a Business’ situations. I list these below for comparisons with our hero of the day :
M : Maturity : Emotional Wisdom and Intelligence to respond to others and embody the aspirations of the organization. Captain Cool is calm and composed in both praise and criticism, describing these as being ephemeral. In a country where emotions run extreme, he maintained the same equanimity after World Cup wins and defeats in England and Australia.
S : Transcending Self & Inner Strength : Courageous dedication to the super-ordinate goals; doing what is right and what will make Indian cricket great. We’ve seen him exhibiting ‘edge’ ….. an ability to face reality and to champion tough decisions.
D : Driving Change : Leading the organization to implement and embed sustainable change. Enough evidence in decisions related to strategy and people.
H : High Energy Team Leadership : Inspiring and protecting the team, enabling excellent team performance. His inspiration to the team and ability to lead by example. Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Bhuvneswar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteswar Pujara and Praveen Kumar all flowered under him.
O : Ownership and Empowerment with Accountability : Delegating authority to allow others to act with purpose and accountability. In extremely testing circumstances, Dhoni has come up with brilliant performances himself and has also empowered the team and youngsters with enough confidence and a free hand.
N : Networking & Organisational Awareness : Reaching out to an extensive network for ideas and problem-solving; understanding how things get decided and done in a particular organization. He sure has found his way around very gracefully and effectively.
I : Stakeholder Influence : Using customized strategies to influence specific stakeholders. In his own way, with poise and equanimity, we see his influence creating magic.
A point to keep in mind though, is that leaders are human beings. So if Dhoni does have a bad patch, it is quite normal. Leaders can slip, leaders can make mistakes, leaders have bad days, leaders change their minds, leaders are you and me. Good leaders are ordinary people who want to get better than ordinary results. They are not happy with getting by because they know that the world is constantly changing, evolving and what worked yesterday might not work today.
Leaders are on an adventure with an uncertain future, more so in today’s VUCA world. Leaders are not better than followers, leaders are not gods, gurus or prophets. We shouldn’t put them on a pedestal and worship them, for two reasons ….. (1) they will forget what it’s like in the real world and a leader living in yesterday’s world is a train wreck waiting to happen (2) it stops us, the rest of us, from trusting ourselves and doing the hard work .
In short we all need to be ordinary people who work together to get better than ordinary results ….. like this boy from Ranchi has demonstrated !!
The wise leader knows When enough is enough.
Stretch a bow too far And it will snap.
Sharpen a knife too much And its edge will not last.
Fill your house with gold and jade, A
nd you cannot defend it.
Exalting in your success Invites a certain fall.
When your work is done, it is time to move on.
(Tao, 9)
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