Check the pulse everywhere
It is never about Having time. It is always about Making time.
What is easy:
Complaining, pretending, blaming, judging, resenting, ignoring, lying, cheating, controlling, bullying.
What is hard:
Inspiring, learning, mentoring, trusting, empowering, building, connecting, growing, helping, influencing.
Hard things need focus and dedication. I keep trying….
Retrospect, Replenish, Rejuvenate
Mid career blues is a worrying factor for many and they start feeling that their careers are not where they would like them to be. As we spend years in the profession ,we set our priorities and goals that condition our mind to shape our thoughts and actions. We become obsessed with them and sometimes fail to notice that there have been deviations in our path that had involuntarily crept in and consequently these deviations moved us away from achieving our goals.
There are individuals who had set out on their career path with certain skills or qualifications. As years passed by, they realise that these skills are not the ones that will continue to be useful to help them grow in their work place. There are enough success stories of individuals who had identified newer opportunities and grabbed them in spite of the fact that these opportunities required totally different set of skills. They acquired those new skills and repositioned them to enjoy rewarding careers. If you observe, some of those people who are successful today in Information Technology, Finance, FinTech, Retail or Asset Management are those who have switched their career from the traditional jobs like manufacturing , banking, government services or infrastructure industry.
As working professionals, we need to RETROSPECT our past and assess where we would reach to realise our goals with our current skills. A strong mind is required at this stage to move away if the present is not conducive and is not going to take us to the future that has huge potential.
REPLENISHMENT is the way of finding out what has been used up in our inventory of skills and if they could be improved to be more useful to meet the demands of industry and to reward us more in the work place. Picking up management lessons from a good school or learning a new software language or engaging a mentor to help unearth our latent talents are a few areas we could look at.
Having armed with a new inventory of skills, let us REJUVENATE our career, injecting it with thoughts that would freshen up our outlook about a renewed future. Pursuing fresh ideas keeps our minds alert and inquisitive to learn new things.
#career
#learning
#management
#jobs
The new year has started on a more cautious note than the past year with people getting infected in huge clusters all over the world. However with the fatalities on a low count it is a solace that the situation is not all that alarming.
The happenings in the last 2 years have put enormous stress and anxiety on people of all ages. Living with the pandemic, which is slowly turning into an epidemic, has taught us the benefits of keeping our mind free of what is going around us – loved ones leaving this world, friends & relatives loosing their jobs, missing good times at the work place etc.
We are fully aware of what mindfulness is all about and we have the basic intrinsic ability to know how it would help us. But only our willingness to work on it to open our minds and to be unresponsive to outside events makes us feel inner peace and tranquility. It is a tough ask but practice makes an act perfect.
Let us get into a few minutes of meditation every day and enjoy its immense contribution to our work-life balance.
#mindfulness
#worklifebalance
Is an efficient sales organisation an effective sales organisation too?
Are they different or the same?
An efficient sales organisation has a set of predefined processes and principles that lead to faster customer acquisition or increased sales revenue. An effective sales organisation is the one that re-aligns or modifies its processes, sales channels, promotions depending on the market conditions, consumer behaviour and life-cycle stage of the product.
An efficient sales organisation is like a well oiled machine that has its own market, customer segments and channels and that sells what has been produced in bulk with a margin that is pre fixed. It is constructed as a’ push marketing ‘ organisation.
An effective sales organisation is like going on a high way but taking alternate routes if the highway is blocked or crowded and finds out new markets to push its produce. It is in-built with market intelligence on pricing, differential margins, competition, product variations and communication. It is constructed as a ‘pull marketing’ organisation.
A start-up would need to start with an effective sales organisation and move towards an efficient sales organization as the product matures and gets into a large market.
#effectivesalesorganisation
#pushmarketing
#pullmarketing
#salesstrategy
How are push and pull marketing strategies deployed and how are they different?
You may read an interesting comparison:
It is always a question for everybody at some point in a professional career.
The answer to each of these questions determines how our career requires to be re-shaped.
For a moment, let us leave aside these questions and ponder over the reasons for the ‘The Great Resignation ‘syndrome that has thrown up a huge challenge for both employees and employers the world over. In US 41% of working people have quit their jobs. In India, nearly 25% in Tech Sector have quit work since last year and millions have lost jobs in both organised and unorganised sectors. They are either jobless or transitioning to new jobs, some going back to their family business or vocation and a very few of them are starting on their own. The scenario, post the pandemic, is posing new challenges in our profession and is making us think of options that are good for our career and family life in the long run. The employers too are grappled with resignations and the vacant positions are getting hard to fill-in,unless the job description makes a few concessions to an aspiring employee.
As per a LinkedIn study, there is a 50% increase Y-o-Y in profile updates, and it is true for every job portal. People are unhappy in their present jobs and quit them for various reasons – burnouts, no recognition, uninspiring work, low pay-check, gender disparity, no employee care, inflexible work hours etc. Gen Z leads ‘The Great Resignation’ pack at 80%, followed by millennials and Gen X.
The pandemic has posed a serious question about the definition of work and is now being re-written to include what is best for a work-life balance and priorities in life. People are switching jobs for flexibility, better employee perks, work location, family needs or for pursuing their favourite field of work. The brave ones oozing self-confidence in their skills and savings, go on their own to create their worlds.
Going back to those three questions, what would we pick?
The first option is riskier but not so if we have saved enough to wither away the possible tough times that we could expect with this option. The second one is for prioritising money over an uninspiring job, bad boss, stagnating career, yet pay- check is regular and mortgages / EMIs are paid on time. The 3rd option also looks to be an interesting choice for it helps to meet family needs with lesser work hours and remote work with just enough pay but more time to pursue a field of work or hobby that we are passionate about, or we could also pick up new skills or pursue an academic course that we have been postponing for a long time.
We are the one to decide what works best for us. There is no single prescription for all.
A struggle always goes on inside me. Am I doing the right thing? Is my action a reflection of what I think and how I change myself toward a cleaner and clearer way of mending my mind? When I say a ‘cleaner or clearer way’, it is about my conscience of doing the right things in a transparent, logical way.
Introspection is always the best tool to see the weak and bright spots in our journey, whether personal or professional. It is a way of doing a course correction of weak spots which is so essential that we re-align ourselves back towards fulfilling our objectives or goals. We can’t afford to wait till the end as enough resources or time may not be available for the last mile push that is much needed to taste success.
I believe success or achievement is always a process, staying clear of cobwebs in our mind and you never get there by only luck or favours. For me, it is a continuous process.
Happy Diwali !
Marketing is all about enhancing both the innate and absolute needs of human population – sensual, egoistic, pompous, lustrous, gobbling, auditory, bodily and mental. Today, AI is helping the marketeers to visualise these needs and also create them with wide variations. The result is that you have a plethora of options that tempt you to empty your wallets.
Our daily personal and work lives are going to be more controlled and tightly scheduled to get the best out of the gadgets that we experience.
We will not be allowed to deviate from the way these products guide / control us but the software developers or product designers are the ones who will re-write how they will have to function or change based on how we perceive our thoughts or needs. There is constant innovation of products from tech giants, hand-held device or electronic appliance manufacturers, auto or machinery makers; and a marketing war is on our hands with artificial intelligence overtaking our natural intelligence. There is no doubt that AI is an evolution of human intelligence and a machine algorithm works on itself to multiply the possibilities of AI in a wider canvass.
With all these developments, we still have the option of moving away as a subject in this marketing blitzkrieg and we could lead a blissful life that resonates more with nature and that quells materialistic expectations to achieve an inner peace.
Are we game for this life today and in the future?
A talent war is on in IT sector today. When one rejects a talent, another picks it up. Sign-on bonus, flexible working, remote working and freelance work models are encouraged to get the right talent.
There are a few trends that shape up the process of hiring talents in IT sector today with technology and human elements largely coming into play.
#employeeengagement #talenthiring
Read an interesting article about this emerging trend in the industry.
-Bhavana Jain, Director & Chief Human Resources Officer at Netcore Cloud.
We are what we are today and we have chiseled us to be in that shape, both internally and externally. Rather we have allowed others to make us chisel into our shape.
Don’t we think it is totally in our control to be what we would like or appear to be.
Working on yourself is tough.
#personaldevelopment
#persona
#selfdevelopment
20 years ago, we lived in a phase of life with all gadgets around us to communicate with others, take pictures, store data,copy documents etc. But 20 years from now it will be fascinating and exciting for us to learn how our life is going to be easier with technology pervading into our daily life determining what and how we should do.
I came across an interesting article by Sandeep Parasrampuria that lists some of the technological wonders that we will learn to accept and move on with our life.
Industry leader | Published on 10 Jun 2021
We’re celebrating our 20th birthday this month, and we’ve invited industry experts, researchers and scientists to write in and paint a vision of the future, 20 years from now. Here’s what Sandeep Parasrampuria, CEO, Fingers had to share about his vision of the future.
Before we look at 2040, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane to 20 years past. Life at the start of the new millennium was completely unalike today and filled with technology that is no longer known to the modern generation. Landlines, Floppy Disks, VCRs, Phone Books, Copiers, Film cameras went from awesome to obsolete real quick.
It is interesting to see where the digital world will be headed by 2040. Digital enhancements and innovations may leave us baffled in 2040, wondering how we lived 20 years ago!
Let’s ponder on how fascinating 2040 could possibly be!
One – Virtual cloud on-the-go. Data and information might be available virtually as air. Everything on the go will take on a literal meaning and the word “connect” in your gadgets will be out! Imagine wherever you are – in elevators, or car, or airplane; data will move seamlessly without a thought.
Two – AI will make you believe the world revolves around your choice! As you talk, discuss, act – all around you will be your discussions and at fingertips or, perhaps a wink! AI will resemble RI (Real Intelligence)
Three – Driverless and automated intelligent cars will move, self-park and may fly too!
Four – People’s job profiles will change. They will need to work less! Most routine work will be covered by robotics.
Five – Typing or working on gadgets my get redundant and will be replaced by voice commands and gesture movements.
Six – Local/Vernacular languages will no longer be barriers to trade and travel. On the go translations of spoken and written language will ensure a global world and smoother travel.
Seven – Green energy will be affordable and freely available. A quieter lifestyle will actually be a reality with vehicles running on clean, renewable power sources.
Eight – Virtual charging surfaces will be ubiquitous, allowing effortless charging of gadgets on table-tops or car dashboards/surfaces.
Nine – Space Tourism will turn from fantasy into a reality! Holidays to Mars, round trip around Venus and perhaps, some may prefer to settle in outer space!
Ten – Medical treatments will be robotics driven for high precision needs.
Eleven – All gadgets will be connected to the cloud. IoT will be way of life.
Twelve – Robots and Cobots – Most of the routine workforce will be replaced by robots partially or, completely giving rise to the term Cobots i.e. Colleagues that are Robots.
Thirteen – Personal banking and professional banking will see massive developments with blockchain technology making it cheaper, faster and secure. Won’t be surprised if physical money and physical banking concepts may vanish or will be limited to specific requirements.
Fourteen – Physical credit cards will be replaced by virtual limits in your wallets.
Fifteen – Computer/Laptop will be thin and practically weightless. Even foldable, like a sheet enabling you activate it any place and anywhere.
Sixteen – Remote business meetings will be conducted virtually as a standard. People may travel just for rejuvenation. Business travels will be limited to physical installations or luxury to spend physical time with partners/colleagues.
Seventeen – Wearable gadgets will be indispensable. They will be miniaturised and may be even inserted in ones’ body. Information and entertainment will revolve around these gadgets.
Eighteen – Wearable gadgets will pre-empt possible body disorders to take required actions in the nick of time.
Nineteen – Theatres will be at every home with at least 60”+ display installed with plethora of content on the cloud. This will be economical entertainment at its best!
Twenty – 3D Printing will be used to construct buildings, structures, and some products within a matter of hours/days which are taking months and years to do presently.
Welcome to 2040 – A New Digital World – more comfortable, connected, and effortless living!
– By Sandeep Parasrampuria, CEO, Fingers
THE PULSE by Sivakumar Gopal