Message from MD – February 2017

It is important to stay positive, even in case of economic reforms, because beauty comes from the inside out. Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results. A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success. Live life to the fullest, and focus on the positive.

In Africa, when hunters want to catch a monkey, they use a strategy that understands the monkey’s behavior patterns. The hunter takes a jar with an opening slightly larger than a monkey’s hand. The monkey reaches his hand into the jar, grabs the food, making a fist with his paw. Now, the monkey’s dilemma: the monkey cannot get his hand out of the jar unless he drops the food. The neck of the jar is simply not wide enough. Of course, the monkey could drop the food and easily get his hand out, but it won’t. Despite having at his command the means to escape, it does not — it holds his hand grasping the food until a hunter throws a net over it, capturing it.

Relevance to you,me and many other ones ? Ever held on to something that you should’ve let go? Now Read this carefully.

60 lakh depositors put Rs 7 lakh crore in banks, govt probing all of them

Less than half percent of the population in the country have deposited 70% of the money. They are now being investigated by the Income Tax Department. In a single shot Prime Minister Modi has made a monkey out of all these allegedly illegitimate holders of black money. They should have let go of their currency notes (by not depositing them in the banks) rather than facing the risk of investigation which would now cover all their assets viz real estate, car, gold etc. Further assuming only 6% of the illegitimate wealth was held in currency, we should now expect Rs. 110 lakh crore (6% of Rs. 110 lakh crore is Rs. 7 lakh crore) to be probed simultaneously by the Income Tax Department. The key word here is simultaneously. If Govt of India succeeds in getting even 50% of the taxes from this illegitimate wealth, we would get Rs. 55 lakh crore which would be sufficient to pay off existing liabilities of people of India amounting to Rs. 69 lakh crore as on 31 March 2016.

I think it is a process to be continued for years to clean up the system and to bring in good reforms.

If you have a space as a senior management team member  of a large, established company, you should be able to enjoy the benefits of size, including the ability to learn from a broad, longstanding customer base. With more customers to seek feedback from, your firm should be able to detect changes in the market faster than smaller competitors. And with size comes the resources to deliver what the market wants.

But that may not feel like your reality. Too often, large size becomes a hindrance. Insurgents swarm and thrive by targeting customers that the company consistently underserves. The younger firms seem to excel in speed, experimentation and delivering a steady stream of innovation. Meanwhile, in many large organisations , internal issues constantly steal attention from customers’ needs. Many senior executives spend more time negotiating among departments and internal functions. Innovation gets handled centrally, far from the front line. Customers are neither involved in the process nor, in some cases, even welcome.

As Senior leaders, you can fight back by sponsoring micro battles — discrete, narrowly defined, customer-focused initiatives pursued by small cross-functional teams. Micro battles force everyone to behave like insurgents, focusing only on what’s essential to meet a narrow goal. Micro battles aim to increase sales , deplete a specific competitor’s sales, and put learning how to innovate back to the center of the company’s activities and executive attention. Growth comes not from targets set on high, but from lessons learned directly from customers and the front line.

Friends, The turbulent environment outside office, makes us aware of full dedication and commitment to perform with customer orientation which is the need of the hour. I wish every one a great performing month ahead. Lets together make another great February.