Why Baba Should Stick to Yoga

Corruption is the latest buzz word in INDIA. Everyone; from a school kid to a CEO, a Peon to the Principal, a Veteran Freedom Fighter to a Yogi; is seen chanting the “C” word these days (whether Against or For it is immaterial). Is being corrupt glamorous enough to attract spotlight or is it the “MAYA” of being a politician. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure; everyone wants to be a politician, for good reason or whatever, but everyone wants to hold the reins of power once in their lifetime. There is nothing bad in it, everyone has right to, but as the good old saying goes.. “With great power, comes great Responsibility “. In our country; of-course it means “With great power comes Greater Corruption “.

Hence the moment I saw Baba Ramdev agitating to bring back what belongs to us, I was full of praise for New born Patriotism in India. But soon that gave way to reckless feeds from media and Government. The stage set for reckoning “good Health” was changed to a “Political Play Ground “, the Chants of “OM”, changed to anguished voices over money that “should” be brought back. This led me to think a scenario of a future INDIA in which we have governments run by God People and Yogis. Terrified, I Put Three reasons why Baba should stick Only to Yoga

1. Ending corruption would lead to a dearth of politicians in our Country , leading to a total Governmental ANARCHY ( if I may call it ) .
2. Nation would wake up to sounds of “Bhasans” rather than “Bhajans “.
3. Absence of Yogis would lead to an Unhealthy India, Which; I guess; is not Baba’s Intention.

( The blog is intended in Humorous tone and means to Hurt No one )

Leadership Development: Myth and Process

The field of Leadership Development, with its Charm of High flying Professionalism; Top Notch Salaries; Highly Recommended books; Glamorous seminars and executive coaches, has become a most sought after and Multi Billion Payment Industry . Organization pay huge sum to Leadership Development Consulting to find out answers to ONE question:

"How do WE Develop Leadership"?

Unfortunately, Most of the thought and process that goes within “Leadership Development” is simply misleading and deceptive. Most of the “Leadership Development” processes use Oversimplified Jargons and Over-Complied Activities that render “Leadership” as a pill that can be popped in and develop leadership skills.

Now Why did I used “leadership skills” in BOLD and ITALICS?? Just for a simple reason that leadership is not a “Skill” that can be learnt or imbibed or developed. Leadership is a continuous process through which all of us have to go through; no matter what age or post or profession we are into. It’s time we get real about Leadership and understand that leaders are not “Trained”, they are “Processed and developed”. The “Process and Development” of Leadership can be divided into two Phases "Visioning" and "Seeing Through The Vision" ; followed by a third “Activity”.

Phase One: Visioning

“Vision” is the ONLY process that distinguishes between a Leader and a Leader Want-to-be. Let me give you an example,

‘Thomas Edison lived in an era which is known for revolution in industrial developments, art and politics. Fighting the darkness after twilight was a major problem during that era, but Edison did not set out to build a better candle; he found a whole new way to illuminate the darkness. ‘

That's the kind of process that defines a “vision”. This is a process to “imagine” the big picture. It is not a process improvement that reduces errors, but the new manufacturing process that completely eliminates the step that caused the errors. It is the new product that makes people say "why didn't I think of that", not just a Mobile handset that lets you to change the cover plates daily.

A visioning process should see a problem that needs to be fixed and should be “seen through” with a single minded orientation. This brings us to the second phase of “Leadership Process”, i.e. Seeing Through the vision.

( This Excerpt discusses about First phase of “Leadership Process” and will be posted in Three phase parts. “Leadership Process” is a sub process of “Organization Process Re-Engineering ^TM ” Promoted by ReVeRsE GyAaN ^TM. )

" CORRUPT " to " Uncorrupt "

India has been governed the corrupt way since long, so long that it has become an intrinsic to most of the system operations. Today's generation, being more educated and exposed to various cultures ,is raising soo much of hue and cry now about barring corrupt practics, tackle corruption headon , right to information and so on so forth.... trust me; many tried and lost , not because they didn't had the motivation or will to do so; but just that they used the wrong method. Corruption cannot be eradicated with "satyagrah" , it has to be a more contextual and implementable method to eradicate it.

lemme give you three reasons to use " corruption " to eradicate corruption ...

1. India has been governed by a legal system which was not developed for it, there has been a force fit of environment with the framework. Hence the current legal and administrative systems have flaws which allow loophole for corruption.

2. The system has grown used to " corruption " and has gained stagnation. It moves only when u "grease" the corrupt ingredients in the system.

3. A stand still system is "inefficient" and unproductive. A soft tool of corruption , if applied will " move " the system and improve it's efficiency.

There has to be an understanding that using corruption to make system eficient has to be with the the motive of implementing "regulation" from corruption not the otherwise.

This is an opening dialogue, a thought to feed on and a concept to build upon .

It's All About BUSINESS ,Reasons to Bid for "Aadhaar "

A Leading News Carrier has been posting a news on Business Outsourcing Process units in India having opted out of bidding for Contract for "Aadhaar" , the call center for Unique Identity project For India. With no reasons cited , there has been a delimma about the " Patriotic " business conduct in India. Lemme give them three reasons NOT to opt out from biddin for this project :

1. The scope of project is the Indian Population ( 600 Million by 2014 ), the revenue model ( what ever it may be ) would be enormous

2. Though there is no clarity about no. of calls and profitablity, but Since when did Business became about Predictablity

3. To be associated with a project which is touted to change the " indentity " of india, should be a matter of pride for a business house.

some business have to be outside " Profitablity " concerns.

COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS

Through my involvement and observation of systems of governance, I have realized that any government has following “systems” in place to run smoothly:

1. Governance systems
2. People systems

A fair and smooth running of government requires both the systems to “collaborate” with each other. The governance systems consist of various Laws laid down in our constitution and serve as guide to govern any state :

1. Governance systems provide structure to the people systems
2. People systems implement the structure irrespective of the need or desire for the structure designed

“AS IS” STATUS OF GOVERNANCE IN INDIA

1. Multi party system prevalent in government
2. Weak leadership, dependent on central government decision
3. Non involvement of people in governance of State leading to “weak” People System

PEOPLE SYSTEMS “IN ACTION”:

1. The government systems should include a feedback process to enable involvement and restructuring of system.
2. The feedback mechanism should consist of “direct’ involvement of people of state

PRIYANK'S COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE SYSTEM

1. Inclusion of a feedback mechanism into the “systems” ( which in turn can be achieved by )
2. Direct involvement of people in governing the state,( leading to )
3. Dynamic governance which can be restructured (if required )

HOW TO EVOLVE PEOPLE SYSTEM

1. Nomination of people representatives who would act as “feedback” mechanism for the government systems. These nominations should be over and above the electoral selection
2. Unstable governments and costly mid-term elections can and should be avoided by electing Head Of State by secret and compulsory vote of all MLAs and people representatives.
3. Such an elected Head Of State may be removed only by the same process but with compulsion to name alternate leader in the same motion.

CONCLUSION:

The overall theme is that “Collaborative” Systems ensure dynamic and robust governance. This piece shows a completely alternative way of looking at a solution considering many variables and factors. The most important change recommended is of understanding that the “common man” of a state has to participate in governance of a state. Though some beginnings have been made, some experiments been piloted and worked, let this essay be the beginning of a dialogue and further research and thinking. There are noted gaps in the essay, which will get addressed in the versions released.

How to Build A Brand...

HOW TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL BRAND J

[With references from my Mentor and colleagues]

Brands are something that really play an important part in revenue generation. Building a good brand, hence is most important for any firm .There are seven most important ingredients of BRAND BUILDING

Quality

Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. It is the “core benefits” – the things consumers expect. These must be delivered well, consistently. The branded computer that crashes often, or the oven that often falls apart when wet will never develop brand equity.

Positioning

Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds of consumers. Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market and can be achieved through several means, including brand name, image, service standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in which it is delivered.

Repositioning

Repositioning occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to reflect a change in consumer’s tastes. This is often required when a brand has become tired, perhaps because its original market has matured or has gone into decline.

Communications

Communications play a key role in building a successful brand. Brand positioning is essentially about customer perceptions and SHOULD be well communicated – with the objective to build a clearly defined position in the minds of the target audience.

First-mover advantage

In terms of brand development, by “first-mover” means that it is possible for the first successful brand in a market to create a clear positioning in the minds of target customers before the competition enters the market.

Long-term perspective

Brand building is indeed dependent on need to invest in the brand over the long-term. Building customer awareness, communicating the brand’s message and creating customer loyalty takes time. This means that firms must “invest” in a brand, perhaps at the expense of short-term profitability.

Internal marketing

Finally, Firms should ensure that the brand is marketed “internally” as well as externally. This is particularly important in service businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the type and quality of service that a customer receives.

Save My state ………. Too many Hands, No work for them

Save My state ………. Too many Hands, No work for them

Date : 10^th Feb

Place : Hotel Capitol hill , convention hall

Activity : “Jharkhand Yuva Manch” …. and kinna discussion of future

“Wow” I wondered… why does the strategy for upliftment of society and “empowering” the poor starts from a plush hotel convention room? I mean the best way to “strategize” the strategy would be with the people who are the end beneficiaries of them.

I was there at capitol hill convention, waiting for the “young “leaders of Jharkhand to show up and decide the roadmap for future developments. The meeting started and ended with “vande mataram”, but I could not find any “leader” speaking about solution to chaos in Jharkhand. I could not relate to what was being discuss there, may be coz I was the only “leader” in Jeans and tees while rest in Khadi .

I was not there to join another “political party”, I was there for discussing the roadway ahead,but was disappointed.That night I could not sleep much ….. no, it had nothing to do with the “leader “ in me….. it was load shedding of power…. My place still has 15 hrs of power out of 24 hrs.

“Why don’t you start from the place you live? “ Suggested a friend, “jagruti” should start from home. I took my car and drove to meet a friend of mine. He is BSc. Gold medalist from Ranchi University. Just wanted to know how “Jharkhand” has worked for its natives. The experience was an eye opener; his family had three first class BSc graduates, one Engineer and none with a job. With all that “adivaasi” quota mayhem, how could people who deserve job didn’t get one?

His dad was still hopeful, but pointed out “an empty mind and idle body is nation’s worst nightmare, if you don’t give them job, you make them worst enemies of society “

It did rang bells some where...... I wondered, ‘Jharkhand is rich with resources yet to be explored, then why people here are jobless, why don’t they find a job…or better still get self-employed ?’

Can YOU help me find my answer….. ?

Regards

Priyank Kishor