Does strategy need to be short sighted or far sighted?

A leader always has this question to the board of directors and it varies with people, business and external environment.

Many decades back, the purpose of a business was to serve the people with a good product or service encompassing the highly valued ethical business practices and corporate governance. The vision or strategy was for a longer period of time that needed sustenance, resilience and concern for the consuming population and in general, the humanity and nature. Over the decades, as the innovations became rapid, new products and services got developed, consumption by population increased and economies grew larger, a long term strategy had to suffer in execution and sustainability of the business. Agility was the need of a business enterprise and that was slow on adoption due to slow technology adoption and execution methods.

Over the succeeding decades, a business strategy had undergone many changes and today we talk about meeting mostly the expectations of business analysts, investors and share holders. That means how to accelerate the growth of the business and maximise the profits. Obviously this has its own challenge as business leaders tend to achieve this singular objective with a strategy that is short sighted in vision and execution. There is nothing wrong in working towards maximising profits but there are methods and ways to realise it in a short term. In fact the emphasis today by many thought leaders is towards building a strategy for short term due to the demands of security, rising competitions, regulations, geo-politics and technology disruptions.

Business leaders, when adopting a short term strategy, must not look at maximising profits alone and rather focus their own energies and that of their boards towards handling the disruptive trends in macro and micro environments. They must ensure they keep the environment, sustainability of business and corporate governance ( ESG) always in sight respecting social and national and global mandates.

This short term strategy needs to be a transformational one to take on the new challenges and opportunities to drive the Next Generation and to offer immediate term benefits. It may be necessary to set a target date to achieve the objective and then work backwards to develop and execute actions in successive steps. These actions would need to be towards transforming the technologies that are in use in the business, understanding ESG mandates and creating capabilities to deliver these transformational changes. The time frame could be 6-8 years depending on the hierarchical nature and the size of the business that is being driven.

In conclusion, a business must now look at strategy in shorter intervals of time and create ( or seek) capability to execute all those actions that satisfy all the stake holders of business.

Anger Management

When you are angry, you are just a character in someone else’s story. But when you let your anger go, you reclaim your own story and become your own protagonist again.

How often we have seen careers or relationships are ruined due to anger that go uncontrolled. It is the primary reason why some people could not achieve what they had set out for. It clouds our thoughts and we don’t think in a rational manner. Consequently the actions we take in those moments may not be the correct ones.

Everyone gets angry at trivial and justifiable things but we know how anger management plays an important element in shaping us what we are and defining our character in dealing with people.

Psychologist prescribes many anger management techniques as a part of a therapy when it is considered as a mental disorder impacting one’s way of life for a longer period of time. But let us dwell on only occasional mood swings due to anger that are not harmful to us and to others. In our day to day professional and personal lives they may help to balance our relationships with colleagues and relatives.

Meditation is one way of practicing anger management and it requires proper guidance from experts. There are other simple techniques as listed below:

Anger Management Techniques

1.Count to 20 before saying anything.

2.Leave the room for several minutes, or hours, if necessary, before discussing sensitive issues that may provoke your anger.

3.Write out a response to a problem before tackling it orally or in debate.
This will give you time to think about the best approach to a problem rather than responding with random anger.

4.Keeping a diary (journal) and writing about negative emotions to get them out of your system.

5.You may also want to keep a pet, since studies show that petting a dog or cat, for example, helps to reduce blood pressure levels and harmful substances in your system that can damage blood vessels if left unchecked.

6. Talking over situations with a trusted friend and venting to a therapist.

Ref: https://lnkd.in/esiZAe-X

Conviction and Compromise

Conviction ( a strong belief) and compromise don’t go together.

Many great accomplishments were done by people who had convictions in what they had believed in. A small detergent / chemical manufacturer,Dhirubani dreamed and nurtured his business to become a colossal of a company called Reliance Industries that catapulted the surname Ambani to sky high. Friends having the same zeal and goal got together with Rs 10000 loan from one of the wives and established the biggest start-up this country has seen in Infosys. They have grown their businesses with a clear objective of becoming a leader in their industries.

On the other side of the fence, we have seen leaders or founders faltering from their grand vision, getting into debt traps and falling hard from the pedestals. Compromises on business ethics, over ambition, poor customer expectation management and financial irregularities drove high fliers like Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways to fail. Similar fate happened to Onida to disappear after being a top seller in TV business. Nano had an early death in spite of it being an affordable car on crowded Indian roads.

People tend to dilute their efforts to sustain their vision that they had strongly believed in. Such compromises by leaders in organisations or a society leave a deep scar on their persona and their failures turn into case studies in business schools.

Conviction in a cause or belief for the right reasons may get you into trouble at times or be inconvenient to others. Eventually it presents a fruitful outcome. That belief also makes the followers to adapt to a similar path and thus it becomes infectious. Compromise is a short cut to fast track your process to reach a goal or accomplish an objective but the outcome always has flaws that cannot be reversed.

Clarity in conviction gets one to the top and be respected.

#conviction #compromise #leadership

Why do we glorify everything as “the greatest”?

These are the some of “the greatest” that we hear:

Dad,Mom, Parents, Friend, Leader, Boss,Country, Political Party, Actor, Sportsman, Organisation and so on…

Greatest is not a permanent stature to any of them mentioned above as it keeps changing in one’s perception over the years. They have created an impact that has got them that adjective. It is just a recognition and honour one is bestowed with. There are living examples of many eminent persons having that tag as they continue to inspire people around them. There have been many role models in our different phases of life and they don’t stay long as such.

Once we tag someone as ‘the greatest’, he or she always has still some scope to improve and that’s how they stay true to that word for a long time. It is a precarious position to stay contented with that title because as you stay basked in that fame, you fail to stay relevant to what is going on around you. Nobody is ‘the greatest’ for ever because they have been constantly improving in what they think, do and advocate.

It is dangerous for you to get tagged as ‘ the greatest’ because staying there long without continuing to make impactful actions that appeal to your people or community, gets you into complacency that pushes you down the pedestal and the admirers or followers look for someone who is afresh in thoughts and actions.

As a motivating tool, it is good for all of us to strive and work towards to be called ‘the greatest’, but it requires unrelenting hard work and right methods in our actions towards a really true and noble objective. Nobody sets out to be ‘the greatest’ and it is the people around you who labels you ‘ the greatest’ after seeing your actions and accomplishments.

Do you cheer up your friends and siblings?

Cheering up for your friends and siblings is a virtue not everyone possesses. It is a nice feeling to get perked up when your shoulders are down after you fail in an examination or in a competition or in a venture.

Only a few parents spend more time on the children and understand the failures of their wards as much as they appreciate their success. Most of the other parents fail to recognise the potential or talents of their children and help them nurturing them to bloom. Instead they scold the children for not living up to their expectations and getting peeved off when they score poorly feeling low amongst other parents. They put constant pressure on their kids and turn them into timid introverts afraid of even attempting any new initiative.

On the contrary, siblings and friends always stand up for what you have or haven’t done. They recognise that their bosom pals do have talents that have to come out. Doing it in a public forum or amidst other family members are like oxygen and you feel you own them a great deal of gratitude and thanks. Such friends are rare to get in today’s world of fierce competition and they stay close to you by being a part of your highs and lows for many decades.

Moving away, we see appreciations of people and performers dwindling down in public forums or concerts or speeches. Somehow we have picked up this trait from our elders mostly in our younger days and we just nod our heads or are feeble in our claps when someone does well on the dais. We do the same in our communications too in WA or Facebook or Insta. We are not generous in recognising a genuine achiever. We fail to acknowledge such efforts that otherwise lifts up the morale and focus of the achiever to perform better in his or her area of specialisation.

The society needs achievers to progress in every sphere and they need to be encouraged all the time to be an inspiration for many young minds to emulate and boldly tread on a path of success and fame.

Save your money

The twenty’s and thirty’s are the most productive periods in one’s life because what one does in this period determines his/ her success in wealth creation, a continued comfortable life and financial security.

Here are some tips that could be useful:

1. You need mobility but not in a high end car that needs that extra 5-8 lakhs which could be saved in a bond or a good stock.

2. Dining out with family and friends is fun and relaxing but spending huge money every week is a drain on your pocket. Instead use that money to buy mutual funds through SIP or invest in insurance products.

3. Branded clothes, shoes and hand bags look appealing to others’ eyes but what other benefits do they offer? A stitched or a less costly outfit also fits well on you and saves you a lot of money that can buy the most essential need of your family. A huge wardrobe may amplify your life style but frankly do we need all those dresses that are worn very rarely?

4. Costly smart phones or gadgets fulfil your esteem needs but the cost of owning them could help you to upgrade your professional skills or go on a short holiday with your loved ones. A less expensive phone does the same work.

5. Dating is good to know about your future partner, but ensure you are off if it doesn’t work out for both in a few meets. Expensive on the wallet.

6. Ensure your passion doesn’t stretch you on the dollar, unless it turns into a livelihood. Paintings, Intercontinental travels, accumulating real estates, piling up on stocks or owning a summer resort are all for the deep pocket biggies. Not for someone who waits for the pay check every month.

7. Acquiring assets on EMI is enticing but unknowingly you pay more by way of interest that otherwise could have funded other important expenses. First time buys like home, car etc is fine but second time, third time…gets you in debt trap.

8. If both husband and wife work, the double engine makes the life chugging along nicely. Extravagance lures you but during uncertain times ( like Covid times) could badly hit either of you and you need that extra savings to get on track.

9. If you are from a large family of siblings, pressure is enormous if sisters are to be married off in your income. You need all that savings to support when your parents cannot. Family is important than a flashy life style.

10. Friends may be the lifeline for many but underwriting their debts get you in deep mess when they default and you are legally mandated to pay for their loans from your income.

It’s not about tightening our waist belt. Just think about Kitty bank that we were so fond of in our childhood. Let us continue that habit !

Move the needle for a Better Sustainable world

‘Create a Sustainable world’ has been a clarion call for many decades but the big question still remains – are we doing enough for the future generations?

In a 1987 report, Brundtland called out a sustainable development as the one that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. We keep repeating this statement even after 35 years without doing much in this space that will hold the hope for the future.

The concepts of Sustainability and sustainable development are interlinked. UNESCO formulated a distinction between the two concepts as follows: “Sustainability is often thought of as a long-term goal (i.e. a more sustainable world), while sustainable development refers to the many processes and pathways to achieve it.

Today the sustainable development is focused on economic development, social development and environmental protection. All these three have inherently relied on technological development that has its own downside. We have seen how fossil fuels had helped the phenomenal growth of automobile industry to meet industrial, social and personal needs. But we are talking about how they gave rise to pollution and carbon emissions, a clear downside of a technological innovation. Hydrogen fuel and Electric Vehicles are ray of hope but disposing used batteries has not yet become a big worry. Paper was invented and manufactured in billions of tonnes every year only by destroying forests and eco-systems. Fortunately we see a hope of less paper being used these days as we have moved long ago into gadgets like hand phones and computers that helped to store what we see,write and read into virtual storage for us to retrieve later and enjoy. Similarly, energy from atoms was considered a huge technological break-thru until Chernobyl disaster happened. We have put that tragic incident behind to make the atomic plants more safer and also moved away towards producing energy from wind power and solar power in a big way that are not big worries for the environment. So, for every invention or innovation, the world came out with a balancing act that sustained the negative impact with a safe and improved product or method.

Sustainability and technological development are two sides of a coin and we need to keep flipping it as it is big challenge nay impossible to get both on the same side. It is a constant balancing act of innovations and sustainability that keeps environmental degradation in check. It is a huge responsibility for all of us that we make every effort to protect the human race and our environment from extinction. There needs to be more developed and developing countries in every continent and if we fulfill a part of the goals relating to poverty removal, hunger removal, clean water, better health, better education etc we have made a great start.

United Nations General Assembly has actioned on Sustainable Development Goals and has made a universal call to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere.​ There are 17 Goals ( 2015-2030) that are interconnected, apply to all countries, and need to be carried out by all stakeholders – governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations system and others – in a collaborative partnership.​

Sustainable Development Goals: 17 Goals to Transform our World​ | United Nations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development

DYG

There are a few tips an entrepreneur should be aware of:

  • As a CEO or MD, you are the lifeline of the enterprise. But train or hire a person who could fill in your shoes, if you are unable to perform for some medical reasons.
  • Your second line in every function that you are driving needs to know what you are doing and whom you are working with outside the company. The growth milestones cannot remain still and they need to move up in your absence.
  • Your board is the Trust you create on the minds of all stakeholders including investors. Induct a face known well in your industry. He or she is there to reassure your commitment to the outside world.
  • Governance is a key element that builds up the reputation of the company. Adhere to the rules of land and that of the board.
  • Transparency to stake holders gets you all the support when the going gets tough. They must know the milestone misses more than the hits.
  • Remember the team that you are building has reposed faith in your capability and leadership. Take good care of them to build their loyalty with the company. You have already hired them at a pay higher than the market price and hence you must not lose them, as replacement involves time & more money.

Forgot the above, you will DYG – dig your grave – at your own peril.

#entrepreneur #leadership #entrepreneurship

Growth is Fire

What is Growth for an individual?

It has to be multi dimensional, aspirational, purposeful, holistic and is a fire kindler.

Our growth needs to be encompassing every aspect of our life and has to be multi dimensional. Materialistic growth alone doesn’t determine our personality or who we are. It has to be seen in every sphere of our life – our support to the needy, our care and empathy to other family members and friends, our resolve to stand for the right cause, our respect to all types of people, our recognition of efforts from others in every walk of life, our adherence to the rules of the land, our endeavour to deploy right business or work ethics, our willingness to appreciate those doing good work, our devotion to dharma and above all our belief in the supreme power that operates and controls our mind and body.

Growth of an individual is the result of fulfilling the aspirations , which are again have to be for the right causes. One cannot be aspire to be a millionaire by dubious means. A politician interested in serving the society could be a noble thought but he or she should desist from amassing wealth by unethical means and use it to help the needy. That is definitely setting a wrong example. Likewise making use of your friends and well wishers to rise in a business or career and then ditching them is an act that is never considered as growth. Adhering to the rules of the land and the society that we live in, is essential for our growth.

A purposeful growth is inclusive of right path, right methods and right ends. The growth needs to be of help to others. We have many industrialists and businessmen who have grown multi-fold in terms of net worth in our midst and they have created Trusts with their own money to set-up social organisations that run hospitals, schools, charities and promotes talents.

Growth aspiration is like a fire that kindles our mind to think big, act big and achieve big. It has to be constantly lit with our relentless efforts to keep it alive. A dead fire signifies the total absence of desire and effort. Let us turn our entire focus on our holistic growth and that of people who are with us. They also need to grow, otherwise the society will not grow and flourish.

A growth that has deep, strong roots cannot be swept away by any storm or flood. It stands firm even in adversities or calamities.