Wednesday, November 12, 2014

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.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

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 !!!! 

Monday, October 6, 2014

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.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

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. 

Thursday, September 18, 2014

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

Friday, September 12, 2014

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.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

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. "

Friday, August 29, 2014

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!!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

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.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

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.