What the hell !!!.... Ok Fine...

My just completed teenage daughter utters two phrases frequently. Language of teenagers are different and shapes the future of the language.

Coming to these phrases, there is a great learning from these.

In life we are always concerned with one or many things. When any such incidence we encounter personally first utterance is : What the hell !!!

However we are taught by Stephen Covey that there are two area in our life: Circle of Concerns and Circle of Influence. Expanding circle of influence will contracts our circle of concerns. 

When we are in our area of concern , what the hell situation will be frequent.  We have two options then:

1) Expand the area of influence to address the concern
2) Accept the reality that you cant do anything about the situation

In both the scenario our response after what the hell should be - Ok Fine;

1) Ok Fine , let me do something about it 
2) Ok Fine, let me accept that I have to live with it

Lesson is do not remain in what the hell situations and quickly go into Ok Fine mode with any of the two options above.

My daughter when she understands why of what the hell situation usually says OK Fine with 2nd option & occasionally pursues 1st option.

These two phrases are very important & going hand in hand in real life situations.

Whenever we are in what the hell state of mind immediately go into Ok Fine mode to remain calm or become action oriented as the case may be.

Lessons in life comes from anywhere and everywhere. 

NAMO - QUICK Wins please (Humbly)

There is a concept called QUICK Wins. 

There is a concept called Economic Education  

When you are working on a larger good , to keep your supporters and believers glued to you , you have to offer some quick immediate visible benefit / difference. Since larger project takes long time this is very critical to keep the supporters glued to you.  

PM is in economic overhaul mode, visiting various countries which will boost our economy  , making Government work harder etc etc. but for people its useless unless they see some quick benefit and life changing experience.  On the contrary foreign trips and pictures work other way like PM is wasting resources in foreign tours and doesn't care about the people who voted him. Series of QUICK wins initiatives is a MUST. (This is also known as low hanging fruits.)

Secondly we want to get away from freebies culture so voters must know the impact of freebies. Economic education should be the part of Govt's economic agenda.  Working to improve economy without educating people HOW it works is again like a silent Govt. ( You may be speaking all other useless things, that is not a talkative leader unless it offers some insight.)   Communication is critical to get votes, communication is critical to expand voters base, communication is critical to make people know what you are doing , how you are doing and  how will you achieve the goal. 

Govt MUST initiate economic education programme like Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. 

We need Ministry of Citizen Communication (I & B is anyway useless) educating citizen about important issues without spending on photos of political masters. (People know the PM , they want to know how he is working to change their lives for the better.) 

(PS: None of the above works and helps against Arrogance. First prerequisite for a public leader is Humbleness. Saying I am humble means nothing unless you are seen so. Entire present political class is suffering from this. Warren Buffet has recently quoted," ABC of failure for companies - Arrogance, Bureaucracy & Complacent , it is also applicable to all types of organisations.)

The Art of Doing Nothing

Our PM Mr. Narendra Modi is workaholic. He never took vacation during his tenure as CM of Gujarat. He is driving all crazy in Delhi by his super aggressive working style. 

He is getting praised from all over the world. 

This action begets praise culture is making us action oriented 24 X 7.

When we are not doing anything we are considered lazy.  We always want to do something so much so that many of my friends tells me they get bore on Sunday. 

I think in school we all wanted that extra holiday and now when we have grown up we don't know what to do with our holidays and free time.

I think workaholic means running away from the self.  When we always want to engage with doing external things we are infact do not know how to live with the self. 

People don't like their holidays, vacation or free time is infact a problem with our society. Today there is an article in Mint about Great Rajni Kothari a political economist. Author says he believed that no one should pay price for the progress. This is referred as environment ,villages & villagers need not pay price for the progress. I would add even no generation should pay price for the progress.

We should no over work and in the process kill ourselves in the name of progress and development. I think we are doing for future generation is just a myth ; be it economic development or be it independence freedom fight. Every generation do and act for their own benefit. Benefit to next generation is just a by product.  

Point is we all need to PAUSE and reflect the kind of fast life we all are living under the pretext of working for next generation or for an employer or nation building.

Work with commitment YES but don't fool your self by justifying over work. Have  equal enthusiasm for free time activities. Enjoy your free time and doing nothing time. Doing doesn't mean doing for earning only. Inculcate personal hobby and spend time with self and family. Take vacation and expand your perspective.  

We all spend our prime time in working for earning but 2/3rd of all employees are unhappy. Even entrepreneurs become slave to their business and miss expected happiness and perceived freedom.

Bottom line is LOVE your free time, LEARN the art of doing nothing , LIVE with the self. Our first duty is towards the self and at the cost of our happiness we even cant fulfill our SO CALLED duty towards others.   

Next time when you get free time ,  feel privileged and not just KILL free time CHERISH this time because this is time you are actually LIVING for self. Art of doing noting is the real ART. 

Is your company board lopsided? Lacks diversity?

Last week I was discussing CFO of one of the listed companies about their board vacancy and new members on the board. He informed me that they have inducted two chartered accountants (CA). One CA was already there on their board. I wondered how many CAs a company needs on their board? Company board indicates diversity and inattentiveness of the company.  

In most Indian companies we will find CA and lawyers as independent directors. I fail to understand compliance is the only role of the board? Do executive directors not want views from professionals from various fields? 

Marketing, HR, Economists, Architects, and why not writers ad artists, for out of the box views , social media expert, IT professionals , film directors , media & communication professionals, international and local domain experts I mean there are many diverse professionals available who can add perhaps more value that legal and finance professionals. 

But most companies do not want to think differently. Independent directors should play active role in growth and strategy of the company which is much more than compliance and tax planning or linear thinking. there is noting wrong with CA and lawyers on board but excessive of them wont work. 

In light of above today's interview of SBI Chairperson Mrs Bhattacharya is welcome that PSU boards have surfeit of CAs. I think this should be a thinking point for all boards to review critically excessive of anything. Company board need diversity in times we live in. Markets outside is dynamic and need lateral thinking. When war is of talent , limited and lopsided boards will make companies struggle to survive.

(Anti-Disclaimer:  I myself is a CA)   

Essence , very profound ...

Reflect on this, we don't need long essays or papers to realise this : 

“Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand!” 

― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

(This may be lazy blog post but let it be...)

Pause & Reflect.... Before ..... its too late.

Development ... Growth .. Produce More......Sale More....... More awareness , More Advertisement More Sales Push and More Sales Target for companies to survive and succeed......Stressed Employees.... 

Too Many Producers ..... Less Margin..... Stressed Top Management to achieve more ROIs.... 

More Buy.... Over Buy.... Stuffocated Customers ....  Advance Buy with Loan or Cut in Savings .... High Debt and Low Saving....More Stress at Home to Maintain Standard and Manage Debt ... 

Kind of development we are pursuing in this capitalist society is leading us to overall STRESSED society for all. 

This is not we need. We need happiness and what we are pursuing with this route is assumed and temporary happiness but at the end mere stress and stress.  

We need radical thinker & ideas in this mad rush for so called development and developed economy goal. 

PAUSE....Reflect ... What we are upto and what we are achieving with this mad rush. !!! This herd mentality rush all around us wont even allow us to PAUSE and Reflect but we have only one life and now is the time.

Build Trust before .... Convenience

Mega Malls & Stores have MEGA display of goods they are selling : 
- Customer always invariably over buys , many tempted buys 
(Convenience of credit card's payment terms is the culprit)

Online Sales : 
- Very convenient and people over buys 
(Convenience of home/office is the culprit)

Convenience will mostly enable/instigate additional and unwanted buys .... but convenience will always enable buys....

If an enterprise wants to enhance sales , remove all hindrances from customers buy road map. Make it extremely easy and convenient. 

( Remember; TRUST is a pre-requisite , without building TRUST with best ethical sales marketing and adverting , sales, after sales and return policy convenience will not fly. )

First focus on TRUST and stay away by offering all conveniences for customers to act. 

I CAN is Ignorance

I CAN is Ignorance ,  I CAN'T is knowledge !!

Don't agree ? 

Think of your wishes/dreams/actions till now since birth and find out % of wishes/dreams/results fulfilled ?

Think , this is a profound truth !!! Again think !! 

(More on this in my forthcoming book...The Biggest Confusion)

The Shortest Journey - The Book

Last week released my first fiction book "The Shortest Journey" in Gujarati.....

It's available on Amazon at Buy Now !!

English version now on amazon. The Highest Ignorance.

What to WRITE when you don't know what to WRITE ?

In the journey of this blog there were occasions when I wanted to write but couldn't !!!

Not because of lack of time but because of lack of ideas !!

Therefore scare commodity is not time but ideas and ideas matter the most. 

If we have ideas we will find time , if we have ideas we will execute it. Without ideas , time and execution capabilities wont help....

Ideas are seed , everything else follows... Ideas can come anytime ..... keep a note pad (or mobile phone application Keep can be handy) near you as ideas will come and go in friction of seconds.. keep writing them and develop idea bank. it can be for any area... area you are working or want to work...... 

The moment we decide to do something or seeking solution to any problem our mind starts working and soon will start throwing ideas....!!

Keep an idea bank and you will be amazed with the kind of ideas your bank will have sooner. 

Your idea bank will help when you don't know what to write and you want to write !!!! 

What we study in school needs critical Reimagination ....

Fitness & Cleanliness both are not after or before office and weekend activities. We have considered both these priorities as non priorities and results are in front of us:

1) Lifestyle diseases have become epidemic. 

2) Obesity , heart ailment, blood pressure, diabetes , back related diseases are killing our population like never before.

3) PM has to ignite the spirit of nation for cleanliness kind of basic hygiene matters.

4) Filth all around our public places including temples.

We teach History as full scale subject but Civics as part time subject in schools.  

We teach Biology as full scale subject but Physical Fitness as part time & irrelevant subject.

We have no time for Gym and exercise in our 24 X 7 corporate (killer) culture. Financial targets have become so critical that body working to achieve the same has become less relevant. 

We talk about sustainability of environment and we just care less about sustainability of human being.   In a mission to achieve financial fitness for share holders physical fitness of people working to achieve the same has become irrelevant. 

People should work more than 8 hours of duty time as a gesture of loyalty and commitment but no time is given for physical fitness.   

Some elite corporate companies have become aware about health issues of employees but this is just a drop in the ocean.

Fitness & Cleanliness is a state of mind. It can be cultivated if we study it school as a major subject and not as a part time good to have subjects. 

We need to critically review what we teach in our schools considering the new realities around us.

Daily Brand Killers

HDFC Bank and Reliance Insurance  are very big brands. They have invested huge money in their brands.

Unfortunately call center people they engage with are just killing their brands.

I got call during last two days from these two brands' call centers.

One was shameless and does not know how to talk when listeners says NO. He gave me his personal mobile number in his arrogance to complain wherever I wish to.

One was literally begging to me to listen to him when I said NO.

These companies think quality matters only in product and services (there also most fails). They are giving outsourcing contracts to such companies who employ these kinds of people to represent their brands.

In my earlier blog   I had written about out bound call centers as means of mass irritation. However when it becomes means of mass irritation it also becomes means of daily brand killers. 

Ease or Lose !!

When I logout from the facebook.com landing page has an ad of Jabong.com displaying few products incl T Shirt.  Several times I liked the T Shirt design I had clicked on that but no purchase yet by me from Jabong.com

Reason :

When I click after liking the product my landing page on Jabong does not display that product. I scroll down for a minute and then leave. 

That page shows many other shirts and T Shirts but not the one which I liked and clicked on. 

I don't know technical or business issues involved but I am not willing to put extra efforts and time and therefore sale is not happening.  

Customer Effort is playing significant role in customer experience (CX).

Fulfilling customer need with ease and delight is the role of enterprise & ease comes before delight.  

Many transaction opportunities fail only because of ease factor is ignored or not paid attention too. Imagine revenue loss !! 

Jabong must have paid facebook huge money for this ad and yet failed transaction in spite customer likes the product and wants to buy !!!

Have your business processes and corporate communication vetted by CX expert for better Customer Experence - NOW

At last ...

At last there is a realisation in industry that BRAND is about ROMANCING the Customer and not just LOGO and Advertising. The origin of this blog was for this purpose. 

For many years BRAND builders have always ignored Customer Experience while for CUSTOMERs it was always like that. & this was a mismatch. 

Common sense says : how customers are concerned with the brand if they are not experienced? 

But still all creativity is expended in advertising and so called superficial brand building exercise.

Theme of upcoming brand summit by Paul Writer is Lovable Brands; Romancing the Customer. 

Unless brands are touching and making customer experience memorable , its not branding exercise at all. Earlier companies realise this better resources can be allocated. 

It would be apt to mention what Seth Godin has blogged earlier this week: 

" Most important marketing decision the CMO makes...

Is the goal to get people to notice what we make?

or

Are we setting out to make something people choose to talk about?

If you don't know your boss's answer to this, find out. If you do, act accordingly.

Hint: getting people to talk (or care) about your average stuff for average people is a lot more difficult than it ever was before "

My entire blogbook WOW ! & Weird is devoted on this very theme. 

Happy to see our BRAND Builder community is going to discuss on this in this summit. Happy days for CUSTOMERs , AT LAST.

Social Media & Big Data will make us CX crazy !!

Social Media is two way communication. Every experience will be shared - good or bad. therefore Customer Experience (CX) is critical.

Big Data is too many data trying to make sense out of too much information. Its about more customized solution.

Data is available in plenty all around us but making sense out of the data is the real challenge.

I don't know in times to come how much intrusion these companies are going to make in our lives but its certain we are living in interesting time.

More dependent we are becoming on Gadgets more data we are generating , more pattern we are creating about our behaviour and more precise trends enterprise will be able to forecast.

The above data from Gartner is clear that top priority of Big Data is to better CX. This short film A Day in Big Data tells us where are we moving as a business enterprise and as recipient experienced (pampered) customer.

However it would be apt to conclude quote from CK Prahalad " Future will not be an extrapolation of the past. "

We the CAs

We,  THE CAs.

We CAs are a unique tribe. We are pampered during our article ship, before we actually deserve; statutory authorities have given us immense social respect by bestowing some great responsibilities , before we have earned that (degree is minimum qualifier not earned respect), we wear this hat of CA in our day to day social life and act as an auditor of everything including life. Finding fault with everything has become our birth right or we assume it is our life mission.

There are some great CAs, doing fabulous social work and contributing their might positively by becoming part of the solution, baring those , most of CAs can be classified in two categories;

They are either inactive/indifferent in social contribution or fault finders, part of the problem wherever they go and whatever they see.   Audit & tax are not only their bread and butter but their water and air too. They do not have third angle to anything.

CAs are often compared to MBAs and earlier with lawyers. Well, both these tribes are not comparable to us. Compared to number of lawyers seen in politics, CAs is not a match. We don’t take active interest in world around us. Politics is about taking charge & doing something - proactively. It’s about communication, communication at its best.  We lack adequate skills here.

MBAs are obvious different – they are trained in classroom, their trainers come from different walks of life, they have campus culture of networking and team work, they have holistic view of the business, they have great public communication skills in public. – We lose here on competitive skills.

Lest we forget both - lawyers and MBAs have subject knowledge too.  It’s not only about communication skills but its depth of subject plus communication skills and most important their interest in things around them, eagerness to contribute positively sets them distinctly apart from CAs.

It takes all the three attributes shown above for a CAs to become all round socially relevant human being. Hat of CA is a proud hat to wear but forgetting to remove while living life will keep us CAs only and not a complete living human being.  

I live in a housing complex where there are 400+ flats and around 2500 population. It comprises of 4 housing societies and as many as 40 CAs in the complex. Most of them are not willing to join managing committees. If forced to join seldom attend the meeting. Even if they attend the meeting many of them play a destructive role of just opposing everything. Instead of becoming a facilitator of good work and helping those who are working with their help either time or money or contacts, these people play negative role , become road blocks and frustrate those who are working and willing to work.

Out of the total 40 managing committee members from 4 societies & 40 odd CAs, there are hardly any CAs are the part of managing committees. I being in touch with all the 4 societies as a chairman of the common association I get feedback from other managing committee members that these CAs are just playing a role of a compliance officer. They are extremely focused on compliance, minutes, methods and legality & other petty issues irrespective whether it’s stalling the work and killing the spirit of cooperation.

They do not see life beyond that. As a managing committee following the law is important but it’s insignificant area as compared to larger role it has to play in the overall development and maintenance of the society.

This brings to my moot question. Are we just a CA in our personal life? Why CA even though a powerful degree can’t stand competition with MBAs? Why for CEO engineers and MBAs are preferred than CAs?  We all are individual plus CA. However once we get the CA degree we just remain CA and shed our individuality.

I recollect what CA YM Kale after joining Hinduja Group said in one of the conferences “ We CAs think we are most important & indispensable part of the businesses however once you join industry and assume larger role one can realize how insignificant is the role of a CA in the larger overall perspective of the business landscape.”

When the world is sleeping we have to remain awake is our slogan, agreed. However that should not become a barrier for us to assume larger role in life. CAs must assume role of problem solver , facilitator of good work in society around them and get out of the audit hat unless actually auditing. Life is much more than mere auditing and tax!!

The BIGGEST confusion !!

1st chapter of Anupam Kher's book The best thing about you is YOU is titled as - We all are Unhappy.  He concludes the chapter as - Happiness can not come solely come from external sources. First of all we have to discover the concept of Knowing Yourself and being Yourself. 

Being yourself means who?  As a body or as a soul? As long as we consider self as a body his chapter title will remain true. The moment we consider self as a soul we will be on a path to achieve his last line.

Our unhappiness starts with our confusion of self as body or soul !!Our wrong belief about the self is the cause of our unhappiness. 

Know your self is not about knowing your nature and habits or anything about the body but its about knowing your true form as a soul. 

'I' should go with soul and not with body. Who is 'I' is the biggest confusion we live our life with.

Everyone else but Customer

Objective of Banks is to serve customers & for that matter objective of any enterprise. 

Look at the composition of PSU banks boards ;

• 1 Govt Nominee
• 2/3 Share holder Nominee
• 1 RBI Nominee
• 1 Workmen Nominee
• 1 Officer Employee Nominee

Where are the advocate of CUSTOMERS in the board? 

Mostly Bank's customer services are pathetic perhaps this is the reason. Competition is forcing banks to become customer centric  but unless customer service/experience is given core focus and customer champions are given board and CXO level position it wont be sustainable.   

We seriously need customer champions not only in the boards of banks but every company.

When customer experience creation capability is the sustainable competitive advantage business cant become customer centric unless voice of customer reaches the highest decision making forums. 

I am Amazed by ...

Nomenclature of this blog has changed from today. In line with the new name AMAZEMENT I list down my top 10 Amaze-rs. 

People whom I follow to get Amazed: (Order is Alphabetical,  intensity and area are different)

1) Guy Kawasaki 

For his book Enchantment & APE

2) Hillary Clinton 

For what she is and her mission to become US president.    

3) MK Gandhi

For his conviction and determination. 

4) Narendra Modi 

For his passion , vision & action for India's development.

5) Richard Branson 

For his passion for his customers. 

6) Seth Godin 

For his book Linchpin & daily blog posts  making sense of world around us (May be his initials matches with mine !!!)

7) Shrimad Rajchandra

For his clarity of thought about soul and its journey , his religious writings and powerful spiritual treatise in verse Atma Siddhi & Apporva Avasar showing clear road map to Moksha.

8) Steve Jobs 

For his passion for customers , scintillating products , public speaking style. 

9) Swami Vivekanand

For his powerful messages for human beings.

10) Tom Peters 

For his books - Circle of Innovation , Re imagine and  The little big things & various presentations.

11) Tony Hsieh 

For his culture of doing business at Zappos and his present mission of delivering happiness across the globe.

Who are the people amazing you? 

What we do to live = What we do while living ?? NO

There is a big difference between the two statements given in the heading of this post. 

Unfortunately all of us has assumed that what we do to live is the only thing we have to do while living or we can do while living.

Imagine in a lifetime time we spent in earning and time we spent in things we like and love to do.   We spent time in earning or what we do to live is to really live life we want. But somewhere we have forgotten the very purpose of our life or our earnings and we just live as if we are here to work and earn whole life 24 X 7 X 365 X our active years.

Our needs have grown so big that it takes our lifetime to earn for that and then when we become old to treat ourselves. Period. Most of us do not think life beyond job or business ie earning activities. So much so that keep working till death is considered good. Even our most celebrated star Amitabh Bachchan could not escape this race.   

When you have enough for survival (subject to our own thinking how much do we really need, because greed is endless) it it not our obligation to give back our time , energy for the society or even do things we really love which has no economic benefit.

All of us must pause and think about the difference between what we do to live and what we do while living. We need to earn so that we live the life we want to live. But the moment earning becomes endless activities , life becomes worthless. Retiring age of 60 was set by Govt so people retire at 60 but is it necessary to retire only at 60 ?

Entrepreneurs never retire from economic life and die while doing business. We as a society must awaken to realise the difference and should work to promote ,create platforms for non economic activities. Our education institutions should inculcate importance of hobbies and pursuing hobbies. We have assumed purpose of life as keep working for earning forever. Most people have no clue what to do when they are not working for earning.  

Life is not about living after retirement , it is about living daily. Therefore more we reduce our need , less we keep working for money and more time we will have for things we like/love to do. It is here in this space life lived is worth living. 

Knowing about Three Idiot is fine but it is a real challenge to become one in the rat race society all we live in.

Pause NOW. At-least  think.

EASE - Competitive Advantage

They want us to punch various numbers before their very busy cell center executive talk to us. I fail to understand without knowing what customer wants they want their ATM PIN after account number. & then last 4 digit of card number. 

Ask customer layers of authentication only if customer wants to do some secured transactions. Just to speak for common issues , reporting fraudulent transaction on credit card , retorting phishing or bug on their site.  Irrespective of what customer wants to talk to its a long and difficult proposition. 

They have 4 pages of credit card bill but no place for customer care number or emergency action points in case of loss or fraudulent transactions.  Three pages are filled with advertisements which they want to act upon for more usage of card.

Companies these days become too technology and sales driven that they have forgotten very purpose of everything the do - serving customers with ease.

This is the case with most consumer companies. Customers are finding it difficult to deal with them. 

Reaching them after sales , resolving problem with ease and with peace of mind has become extremely difficult. Companies that can achieve this  is going to be a winner.   

India is 134 in ease of doing business in world ranking. We need to rank companies in ease of doing business with. Ease is very critical in offering delightful customer experience. 

Name the company ____________ who qualifies for this status :

We are very easy to deal with.

We just don't know ANYTHING (Off Topic)

1) We learn HISTORY in school in quite detail but CIVIC sense which is critical for our life and society is given step motherly treatment in education. What is more important to know - where and when Panipat battle was fought or how to follow traffic rules and how to keep and maintain hygienic surrounding?

2) We learn biology and sex education in schools but have no clue on preventive heath-care. Our hospitals are over flowing and Gyms are struggling to survive. 

3) We learn how to earn but no clue or teaching in school or college on how to manage what we are taught to earn.  

4) We produce engineers and CAs but they miserably lack communication & social skills. Should technical skills kill or flourish human skills? 

5) We have the highest religions & religious places but very low morale and ethical standards as we are 94th ranking (out of 177) in a list of most corrupt couturiers. 

6) We are still developing country & needs economic development desperately but we rank 134 out of 189 countries in ease of doing business. Even below Bangladesh & Pakistan.  

7) We are known for our cuisine and food but do not know what to eat and how much to eat. Most Indian youth are suffering from cardiovascular diseases due to bad food habit and lifestyle.  

8) We introduced Yoga to the world for stress free and healthy living but we have earned dubious distinction of coronary and diabetes capital of the world. Both stress related diseases. 

9)  "India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only." Mark Twain and yet ignoring this our present generation look & copy Western culture to look and feel modern. 

10) We have great teachings of Mahavira and Krishna (Gita) about Law of Karma but we are one of the the most superstitious countries in the world. 

There is something fundamentally wrong the way we Indians live , choose our priorities, design our education syllabus. There is a clear cut case of re-imaginaton at every level.  

PS: Welcome to ebook based on select post of this blog at www.bloodygoodbook.com/wow-and-weird

Howrah Bridge & Customer Experience

Role of a bridge is to connect between the two ends.  Role of the business enterprise is to fulfill the customers need. 

Yet Howrah Bridge built by the Britishers is beautiful. Its a monument.Its a viewers delight. However it need not be as long as it connects the two ends. Right??

Theme of my new websites www.sunilgandhi.com is Howrah Bridge which symbolizes delight of an experience while fulfilling the basic need.  

There are many bridges in India fulfilling  the basic need but Howrah bridge is considered as one of the finest bridges in the country. Likewise there are many basic need fulfilling business enterprises in every segments for every customer. But if entrepreneurs want become a legend and monumental in what they are doing adding delight flavour in the  basic element is a must. 

Its easy in case of product design but very difficult and hence competitive advantage for service providers. Welcome to my latest website. 

Standard Feedback Form for EVERY enterprise !

Deigning feedback form is an art. These artists are rare.  

Its is not about HOW your company and your people are performing on a defined internal parameters. Customers are not interested in doing people evaluation job of your HR team. Do not limit their thinking by thinking of your feedback form designing team. 

It is all about how your company is achieving fulfillment of customers' need with ease and delight. Your questions should be framed to know all these three aspects and nothing else. 

Three questions with reasons of their answer. Period.

- Was the purpose of doing business with us achieved? 

- Was it easy to deal with us?

- Was the entire experience of dealing with us delightful?

Answer option should be either YES or NO.

This should be the standard feedback form all across the business. Let your customers speak and write more not your enterprise. Give them freedom to evaluate your performance from their perspective and not from your perspective. 

This is applicable to both customers and suppliers. 

Rs. 1 Black Money outside India = Rs. 6 NPA with Indian Banks

We are concerned about Rs.30000 crs black money outside India but what is our concern for six times of that amount lying as banking NPA? 

When Govt wants to draft a law against the criminals they should involve some of the hardcore criminals. Who better than them know the mindset of criminals? But since we cant do that we involve Police because they deal with criminals therefore second best to know their mindset.  

Similarly when RBI wants to deal with mammoth NPA problems they should not only involve branch managers who deals with borrowers but also should involve financial consultants engaged in fund syndication and advise entrepreneurs. 

New RBI guidelines of asset classification before accounts becomes NPA is interesting but these kind of guideline make banking extremely procedural and only compliance centric. Branch people are finding it difficult to address customer service properly and on top of that so many compliance , reporting & auditing is paralyzing the banking operations. 

Rather than spending time in data analysis of borrowers performance bankers remain busy with compliance and reporting. Asset classification etc is fine but RBI must change the way credit is being managed in the banks. 

Some of the pointers for practice need to stop and new practice to start:

-  Excess funding just because security is adequate should stop  

-  Non adherence of adequate promoters contribution must stop

-  Auditors must be made accountable for fudged data certification 

-  Smart mechanism to be in place to get data filed with Income tax directly

-  Relationship banking which is ignoring financial prudence

-  Surprise check of accounting data and factory/office  

-  Credit monitoring independent of credit processing and branches

-  Involving CAs in monitoring who can understand intricacies of accounting & implication of ratios.Branch people with their work pressure cant do proper monitoring. 

-  Making it strongly deterrent for CAs , Advocates and Valuers to certify wrongly

-  Active monitoring mechanism even during pre SMA 0 level. Bankers need to engage talent who can play consultative role with borrowers who lack financial prudence. 

There are four class of defaulters:

1) Willful Defaulters - Borrowing with malafide intentions (Must come down substantially)

2) Ignorant Defaulters - Borrowing without managing capacity , low financial acumen , not able to understand implications (Needs to be provided desired support)

3) Potential Defaulters - Not willful but neither genuine. Risk takers at the cost of bank's money (Must be monitored closely)

4) Genuine Defaulters - Market, policy and external factors makes them defaulter (Needs support for recovery)

Along with rigorous compliance and reporting , proactive engagement and consultative approach will yield better results in the management of PA & NPA both.

Mr. PM ignite human spirit not animal spirit

We very easily forget the very basic thing about our existence. We all are human being and therefore can and should not live like animals. 

Therefore the phrases killer instinct and animal spirit is highly misleading and I would say anti social phrases.  

We need human spirit to be ignited not animal. To those who want animal spirit to spread must watch animal planet channel to know how they live and whether we need that kind of spirit? 

Animal spirit and killer instinct make us kill one another make us forget about human sensitivity towards fellow human being. On top of that technology focus makes us forget human side of every thing. Recently I was reading a paper on 'How to make Healthcare Human Centric?' Entire process and business of treating human being has become inhuman - technology and money focused. 

Delightful Customer Experience and Pathetic Customer Experience - difference is - One is taking care of all senses and emotions of customers and other is inhuman ignoring all these critical human aspect of customers and treating customer just an object to make money. Companies that are winning in this space are engaged in human side of the business. If your company wants to become customer centric first step is to become human centric.  

All these call centers are another example of inhuman aspect of business. It irritates human and caller gets inhuman response in return from the person being called. In most organisations people are running for quarterly targets and in return not only get remuneration but lots of ailments. Excessive greed for speedy growth and higher return is ignoring human side of the story. 

"The most striking contradiction is China where, despite a fourfold multiplication in two decades in real GDP per capita from a low initial level, life satisfaction has not improved."    - Richard A. Easterlin University of Southern California and IZA 

The above observation by the professor clearly states - Happiness is not directly related with growth and development. Ignoring human side of the growth is what China model demonstrates. 

Development - Yes , Growth - Yes but process should not ignore that we all are Human Being first and therefore measurement of happiness is critical while pursuing ANY growth model.

Mr Prime Minister while mandate is for development and growth please keep approach of Being Human at the core. Involve your HRD minister to keep track on Human Happiness Index along with your growth initiatives.