IndianMaze

This article is all about what we know! Insight is to know it fast enough.... This is an article by Dr Moorthy Prof. at IIM Bangalore "Have breakfast "or" be breakfast"! Who sells the largest number of cameras in India? Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones. Reason being cameras bundled with cell phones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cell phone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sonys and Canons are taking note. Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours). Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscri...

I think I am a fairly straight jacketed person. Two experiences that make my ears go red but had to be polite..... A distant cousin of mine was given an opportunity to do a summer job in a sister concern. He completed without even calling me up (not expecting thanks but just a statement that summer job is over). Silence for a year and then all of a sudden call last week to say that he would seek my help in getting an assignment in X industry and in Y place....... Another call from a person I have not met/spoken to for the last 15 years. Unknown number and the first question is if I have recognised the voice? Obviously not! Help for getting a job to a brilliant son of her's with 9 years workex and his current organisation is hell bent on retaining him!!!! Why does he need a change? Why he needs my help when he is brilliant? Such is the social network in India.

Saw Indian Awards at NDTV. The moment to remember "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist"

Over the long weekend, one wandered to watch a few things on Youtube. Must say was a great experience with what can one do. I ended up listening to longing but not listened to music, watch my childhood icons, delve into war history of India, cross border exchanges of freindly and not friendly kinds and last but not the least an interview of Dean Dipak Jain of Kellogg school fame. I am a great fan of Dipak for a multiplicity of reasons. Apart from the usual great mind, great achievement (first non American Dean and all for 10 years), mastery on the subject etc what makes him even greater is his firm feet on the ground. I can go on as I have had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with him on a few occassions but the key purpose is to take on from what he said in an interview with Chicago Business School. Before people trust you, you must trust them. Once you trust them they cannot got haywire. If you are not able to trust then somewhere you are insecure. Micromanagement is one such ...

Over the long new year weekend, we were looking at old family photographs and videos. Apart from hundreds of other things, one thing that stuck me was the curiosity levels of the toddlers and kids. It is a common knowledge that kids ask a lot of questions (ask me, they are teenagers now and questions have not stopped) but what I observed that at a very young age they will continue to ask the same question till the time they understand the same. This led me to a comparison where how many times consumers ask the same question more than once or even complain more than once if at all. This has a new meaning for me as a leader of some sorts as I have a few people reporting to me just as much I report to others. Answers are not enough till the time they are well understood by others. Are consumers different? Makes you healthy means nothing. How has to be well understood. In hindsight we are all wiser. The key is for the foresight! In this context, I read in bried about a brief concept of ...

New year is the time for many thoughts for the year gone by and for the new year. These thoughts come as a jig saw puzzle and with no apparant connectivity now. How many times, we seem to connect the dots in hindsight. What did I gain last year: - joys of TED and you tube - use of twitter - fun of Linkedin - talks with kids on topics alien to me like psychology, cars, helicoptors, 9 types of cats etc - testing my nerves in dealing with people who are just opposite of me - pressure of the environmental conditions (economic, social and real environmental) - reduction in plastic consumption by more than 80% (thanks to persistent forced learning imparted by my son) What to I want to gain in the new year - art of dealing with idiots - exploring new management tools - looking with a new pair of eyes - doing more of PR - making notes of my thoughts more than now - travel to new places - meet more people who are different - try to meet all my past bosses (12 on the last count) - spend at least...

This was a usual mail that I received nth time on the differences between East and West. I am not a great researcher who claims to have done extensive studies on either or both. However, this question keeps coming back especially when we are in business discussions that keeps many completely foxed. I recall an evening with my English boss and South African white senior discussing the frustrations of living/working in India. My boss just could not understand the meaning of completion of work "जल्दी ही " or "soon". He always said that the outcome could be from a few seconds to a few months. So how does one understand the word "soon"? South African senior would give two answers - a white man's answer and a black man's answer. And I, being typical Indian, would agree with all that would frustrate my boss even further. DEEKAY, how could all contrarian thoughts be agreeable by you? Therein lies the difference. Indians are used to living in a multi prong...