I want to be a Businessman

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“I want to be a Businessman, ma’am. I am pursuing a Management course to understand the basics of business management. Although I am not sure how much the course will actually help me”, said a confident voice from the crowd at a session where I was interacting with first management graduate students.

Intrigued but a little offended by his comment, I politely asked him if he belong to a business family.

“No ma’am, came a prompt reply. My father is employed with a Bank”.

To try and understand the contradiction between his tone and comment, I continued to question his motivation behind joining a management course. I asked him if his father forced him to take up the management studies course and he replied with a resounding ‘Yes’. He unhappily continue to say that his father did not have confidence about his business skills. His father believed he needed to gain knowledge from the course just like he had by studying business management during his working years.

I did not disagree with his fathers opinion so I asked him, ‘Why do you think your education might not help you in your profession?’

“Ma’am the real world is very different from the book world. Except for English and basic mathematics I haven’t used any of the knowledge gained during school or college. Two more years of education seems wasted as I could spend this time perfecting my business plan.”

This young boy’s conviction about his path and his dismay over the delay and derailment of his plans made me question our education system and the way we think about education. I wondered if all we learn truly has real time application and whether success depended on knowledge or passion.

I understood his father’s point of view. Knowledge can prevent you from making mistakes. It can be the difference between success and failure. I am sure that his father learnt this the hard way given his choice to pursue a business management course in the middle of his career. I could also understand where the boy was coming from. He had been studying for years without practically using the knowledge he gained. He wanted to start his career as a businessman. It is unfortunate when diverse thinking causes good intentions to be understood.

After some amount of discussion, I asked him if he knew what business he was interested in getting into. He confidently replied that he wanted to work on a supply chain model where he becomes a one stop solution for all big and small restaurants in the city.

On asking how he would do that, he replied that its all about relationship management. He accurately informed me that he needed to go to the field and start meeting prospects, work on the back end operations – sourcing of material, rate, quantity, storage, logistics, manpower, funds and so much more. He was quite aware of what he wanted to do but was not aware of how to go about it.

The business concept had potential. He also had the theoretical knowledge to succeed based on his research. The only thing he needed was little bit of motivation and support. It was a bit sad that he didn’t have the support he required.

This young boy reminded me that growth stops only when thinking becomes restricted. He had passion but this passion was mistaken for arrogance. His confidence was often criticized by his close ones because he perceived things differed from others. This difference inperception offended people. Even I got a little offended when he shared his reservations about spending a time on learning. What I and many others did not realize is that this young man was driven by passion. This passion drove him to research, study, learn and understand all the elements of business he needed to succeed.

Not every person has such passion. We need to start motivating  people to have passion as it will help us work hard to achieve our dreams. If we manage to inculcate such passion into every individuals large dreams will no longer seem impossible and pointless. Dreams will be achievable even when you have to struggle to source funds.

I hope to be a motivator who will encourage individuals to passionately follow their dream by building a magnetic platform.

Inspiration, dedication and the power of a brand

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Inspiration, dedication and the power of a brand

Life has many lessons to teach  and often these lessons arrive through unexpected sources. Recently, I received a lesson in hard work, dedication and the power of a brand through the most unexpected individual.

This individual was not a high ranking brand manager, he wasn’t even a well educated soul. The lesson was delivered through Kallu.

Kallu is a young boy who has a bun masks stall near my office. He wasn’t fortunate like some if us. He didn’t have parents who loved him and were well off enough to provide him with all he desired. Kallu started working when he was just 12 years old. His job was to attract customers. He had to charm the Didi’s to come visit his uncle’s lassi and masala chaas stall as the small tapir was hidden in a corner. He used to go all out convince them to come drink a cold beverage but despite his efforts and success he still listened to his uncle’s yelling that he was useless and a waste of money. He wasn’t allowed breaks and wasn’t allowed to play.

After three years of dealing with his uncle, he managed to find a job at a hotel. He had to clean up tables and wash dishes. This job was slightly better than the previous but it wasn’t perfect. His coworkers were hostile as he earned larger tips through a combination of a sweet smile, polite behavior and an helpful attitude. The hotel owner like his uncle liked to yell. A broken dish brought on shouts claiming he was useless and a wastage of money. Despite the hostile atmosphere he continued to work until the day he got beaten up by the owner of the hotel over a misunderstanding.

Kallu decided he didn’t want to work for anyone anymore. He and three of his friends decided to start a stalll of their own using the money they had earned in the past five years.

This decision started a new phase in his life.

Kallu no longer had to deal with abusive behavior but he had to give hafta to the policemen for allowing him to put his table in the footpath and keep his furniture – a table and stools safe. He also had to buy everyday raw material and packaging material for making bun masks.

Kallu taught his friends the lessons he had learnt from his past two jobs. He taught the manners he learnt in his hotel job and customer attraction tactics that he learnt from his uncle. Using these tricks, they found a visible location for the stall. They paid a few extra bucks for the location but they refused to make the same mistake as his uncle. People visited their stall because they recognized them. They were also quick to service as Kallu knew that delays caused customers to leave.

The first point he learnt was to be in a place where you are visible it’s only then that people would recognise you and come to you, this he learnt from the mistake made by his uncle. Even if calls for a few buck extra it was worth it. And he would be quick in response which he learnt from his hotel job, where he would see many customers go because of delay.

According to me Kallu is an excellent marketer who knows the basic rules of the game – customer acquisition and customer retention. The pillars of marketing.

Today, these four friends work in shifts, turn by turn. They also plan to expand. They also joined a chain of dabbawalas part time where they are learning the secret of time management.

Meeting Kallu has changed a lot of my own perceptions about life. I learnt that you cannot carry on the same attitude through out life. You have to adapt as you learn. So make sure to observe, adapt and inculcate the lesson life offers.

To me Kallu is a good marketer and someday when I train management grads, I would invite him to share his knowledge on all his learnings. As they say sitting in an AC room working on PowerPoint and excel is notas educational as real life experienc.

Kallu Ki tapir is now the landmark for hundreds and thousands who visit that area.

This is the Power of Brand

This one is for Mom

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This one is for you Mom…

Mummy, I can’t even count the number of times I call you. Your name may be Mrs. Savita Manoj Brijpuria to the world but to me you are my mother. The one who brought me to this world and the one who taught me to deal with this world.

You are the best teacher to me and I have learnt so much from you.

You taught me to be good to the ones who are good to you and be ten times as good to the world who are bad to you as it ensures that they are left with no option but to agree with you.

You taught me to walk the world learning their customs but to never forget my personal values.

I loved the way you fought for me. I appreciate how you attended my school functions to make me smile whether I participated or not. I adored you for loving me even when I failed. I appreciate your belief that I would learn the information I needed to know when the time was right, through school, college or life, and if I never learnt then probably there was no need for me to learn and I could survive without knowing it.

Mom you actually made me achieve so much, with your strength and belief.

I hated Math and still do but your challenge to my Math teacher helped me to actually become a Math Honours so that with pride you could flaunt about it.

I probably am the most fickle minded child of yours but to every rejection or new decision you had a logical reason to give to papa, as he fumed.

I have live my life the way I want because you believed I could so I believed that I could.

You may have not been like other moms. You may have cried when I fell down but you also taught me to be thankful that I could stand back up.

You never wore make up but you never stopped me from trying it on me. You believe in being yourself and that is what I love about you. You have always been the strength of our family and would always be.

I love you for being who you are. You are different and I love you for that. You hated to cook still I never remember a day or a meal you skipped because you did not feel like cooking. The way you supported Papa through all the highs and lows makes me respect you more as a person. From taking charge of his work to us at home, every responsibility that you handle is so perfect with all your lovely imperfections. You learnt driving after your heart attack and everyone looked at your courage with amazement.

I still remember when I was asked who is my role model I could only say ‘My Mother’ not just because you are my mum but because you are a strongest person I know. I want to be like you. I want to have the strength you have.

Mom may you live your dream…I would love to see you doing all you want to in life.

Thank you mom for teaching us to be individuals. Thank you for your little gestures that make me feel so special, so connected to you. I sometimes doubt if I could be such a complete mother to my own kids.

Love you always

 

Where they trust!

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Just imagine a world where you dedicate your time to work and you are respected for your efforts.

Don’t you think this is how it should be? Out of the 24 hours in a day, we spend 55% of our time either working or thinking of work. For most, work is not just a reason a place to earn; it is a place that adds meaning to our life. Unfortunately, not everyone enjoys a good working environment. For many work has becomes a reason for stress.

Like a machine, we work; like a human being, we crib but as routine we follow. We never try to find where the gap lies. The lackluster attitude means that the expectations and deliverables of both employees and management are never met. Issues that could be easily sorted are never resolved and everyone ends up dissatisfied. Instead employees despair that their companies will never value their internal human resources while the companies feel that the employees lack capability. This lack of trust is further weakened as employees and employers live in uncertainty – employees sure that they will be asked to leave while employers wait for trained employees to switch jobs.

Amongst this world of uncertainties there are many companies that live by to make not only customer’s happy but employee’s happy. The unit does not expect anything more from you, just honest amount of hours that you put in and employees does not expect anything more just a care when in a difficult situation. Any unit is a part of the society and apart from profit making giving back to the society and contributors is an important factor, a fact which is often forgotten.

A few days ago, I read in a magazine about an owner of a multimillion company whose driver served him for 35 years passed away. On hearing this news, the owner flew back from his meeting to drive the driver’s coffin to the funeral, saying that he served me all his life and now it was my turn to drive him to his last journey. It was nothing but humanity. The person was with him for 35 years because he was treated as a human. He trusted him. I was touched by this story.

I began looking and reading about other similar instances. There were many. Humanity thrives despite the disparity of wealth and status. There are still companies that give loans to employees trusting that they will be loyal to them. There are still employees give their life for the company thinking that they would be taken care of. When I read of such instances I remember my father, who has always treated his employees like family.

I still remember when I was a child that every Diwali night we would first have pooja, eat sweets and burn crackers with his workers before returning home to have our home pooja. When a worker came home to visit, they were always treated like an honored guest. We would make sure to serve them a hot meal before they could leave.

Today his line of business has changed but the trust has not. His attitude towards his workers has bound them to him, which is why so many years later the same employees still work for him. Trust is like a seed that grows into a green leafy tree with strong stem and roots. Nurture it by treating work as work and employees as human.

Wouldn’t such environment be heavenly?

The curiosity

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We as human being are curious about almost everything in the world – right from our future to life after death. God has given us the most beautiful gift of our minds, which gives us the power to imagine and transform our desires into reality.

They say ‘you are what you think’ and that is true. Many in this world never grow, develop or achieve because they cannot imagine they could be more than what they are. Others use their strongest desires to transform their lives, challenge their situation and become who they want to be.

 

They say ‘happiness is a state of mind’. What makes you happy might not make another person happy.

Millions of people could fight for happiness, never realizing happiness is individual centric. In fact, the criterion for happiness for every individual keeps changing. What made us happy few years back, may not achieve the same result today. As our desires change, so does the path of happiness. We have to follow our curiosity to our core to discover what makes us happy while simultaneously understanding that we do not actually want to understand what happiness means nor do we ever want to challenge our capacity to remain happy once we reach there.

This is how we are made. We have this power to think and we keep messing with the productive side of this virtue. We become our own enemy; we keep following others who we feel are principally strong without realizing that we never looked into our own strengths. We definitely need a Guru who would direct our ways to get answers to those curiosities but we don’t have to follow his path towards getting our answers. We are given this life to have our own experiences.

Be curious but reasonable, this is what I have learnt from life because happiness lies within you only thing we need to do is accept.

Have a happy life guys. Keep your curiosities working for you…..!!!

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