The Airport Expansion Indian Congress (AEIC) 2007, a two-day event that was organized by naseba, held at the Hyatt Regency in Mumbai from November 25, 2007, saw aviation experts from all over India, stressing on the need to upgrade India's airport infrastructure to match international standards. Each of them presented their case-studies on the subject. "India's aviation industry is soaring high and there is a need to put the infrastructure in place," said Andrew Harrison, Chief Operating Officer, Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL), who gave a presentation on 'Shaping the Design for the Future - Vision 2010'.
Development of airports on the basis of Public Private Partnership (PPP) module was also highlighted. "Today, India is the second fastest growing passenger market in the world and there is an urgent need to refurbish airports. Although this poses as a great challenge, it also has the potential to create opportunities at large," stated Gordon Griffiths, Assistant Director (Airport Development - Asia Pacific), International Air Transport Association (IATA), while presenting a case study on 'Opportunities and Challenges of Indian Aviation.'
KN Shrivastava, Joint Secretary General, Ministry of Civil Aviation, spoke on the 'Current State and Future of Indian Airports', while Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir gave an insight on 'Airlines' perspective on Airport Development in India.' The event was attended by officials from the Airport Authority of India; Mumbai International Airport Ltd.; Delhi International Airport Ltd.; Cochin International Airport Ltd.; Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad; Bangalore International Airport Ltd.; Federation of Indian Airlines, SITA, IATA; GoAir; Malaysia Airports Holdings; Ernst And Young; Munich International Airport and Australia-based Aconex.
The event, organised by Monaco-based Naseba, a global business information company, is held in different countries every year and came to India for the first time. Speaking about the event, Prachi Dawar, Airport Excpansion Congress, Event Producer, Naseba, said, "The idea was to have a platform that focuses on knowledge expansion, networking and most importantly, maximising business opportunities. With the immense response that the AEIC received, we are considering making it an annual feature."
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Marketing Communication Primer – What’s The Future? - Series
Marketing Communication – What’s The Future? - Series
Today I am starting this new series on my blog on Marketing communication, What’s the future?
Premise:-
With the B-Schools still teaching 4 Ps of marketing to MBA students while preparing them for businesses, the students face a stark reality when they sit for Interviews. They realize within 2 minutes of interview, that this is not what the companies are looking for.
Wow! “I worked my ass off to learn so much about marketing in my B-School and you are telling me this is not what you are looking for?” – This could be a reality check question running in mind of any B-School passout. Well the cruel answer is “YES”.
Do we blame the education for this mismatch? “No”. Then what do we do?
This series of Marketing Communication primer is going to help all fresh graduates, Marcom professionals, Strategic Marketing Professionals and Hiring Managers to see the difference in various levels of marketing, as well as, what’s the NEXT big things in Marketing to look for.
Causes for aberration:-
The prime reason why people get confused or are not well prepared for what they are looking for in their role in marketing is the lack of understanding about the two levels of Marketing.
Two Broad Levels of Marketing:
1. Strategic Marketing attempts to determine how an organization competes against its competitors in a market place. In particular, it aims at generating a competitive advantage relative to its competitors.
2. Operational Marketing executes marketing functions to attract and keep customers and to maximize the value derived for them, as well as to satisfy the customer with prompt services and meeting the customer expectations. Operational Marketing includes the determination of the marketing mix.
It’s very important for people to understand that Strategic Marketing is a function of a Sr. Marketing Professionals where the person in charge has very well mastered the Operational Marketing.
Demystifying Strategic Marketing:- In simple words it’s the Visioning Strategy linked with the execution planning. This would require the below mentioned functions:
a) Understanding Business Objectives / Goals
-Annual X % increase in revenue of a product line
-Retention and growth of Y accounts in Z geography.
-A % market share for this service / product.
-C no of competitor accounts to be captured etc.
These are some examples of wider business goals that a CEO would have in his mind.
b) Converting these business goals into plans like:- Annual / Bi-Annual / 5 Yearly, is what a senior Marketing Professional (marketing and sales director/VP/SVP) would look at and come up with a strategic plan to support the larger business objectives.
-Identifying milestones in the plan.
-Broad annual metrics to be achieved based on sales data from past or industry averages etc. these are few examples to illustrate.
c) Execution Strategy: - This is is one of the most neglected portion from a strategic perspective. Ram Charan, Author of book, Execution, stresses on this point in his book and calls execution as an essential part of strategy.
Without a clearly defined execution strategy all this is just a Bird’s Eye-view approach to say things. A very clearly defined execution strategy and plan is something which can really make these things happen. The execution strategy might look at various activities which can support the annual plans in the previous step.
-Resources required – Hiring/Training etc
-Commission and incentive buffers / Employee benefits
-Media strategy
-IT Infrastructure
-Strategic Alliances and partnerships etc.
-Tactical challenges and solutions
d) Handover of Plans:- Communicating the plans company wide to ensure effective information dissemination etc. Continuous follow-up etc.
Demystifying Operational Marketing:- In simple words, leveraging various channels / media, to generate demand and achieve organizational objectives.
4 Ps of marketing:
In popular usage, "marketing" is the promotion of products, especially advertising and branding. However, in professional usage the term has a wider meaning which recognizes that marketing is customer centered. Products are often developed to meet the desires of groups of customers or even, in some cases, for specific customers. E. Jerome McCarthy divided marketing into four general sets of activities. His typology has become so universally recognized that his four activity sets, the Four Ps, have passed into the language.
The four Ps are:
-Product: The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants. The scope of a product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and support.
-Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts. The price need not be monetary - it can simply be what is exchanged for the product or services, e.g. time, energy, psychology or attention.
-Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or company.
-Placement or distribution refers to how the product gets to the customer; for example, point of sale placement or retailing. This fourth P has also sometimes been called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or services is sold (e.g. online vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults, families, business people), etc.
I am not going to focus on these 4 Ps of marketing, however, I would keep them in mind as well as showcase the Future of Marketing Communication to all.
Closing Remarks:- In my coming postings: while these 4 Ps might be the basis for operational marketing I will introduce the
-5th P of Marketing.
-4 “A”s of Marketing
-Web and Internet as Business Models of Future marketing
-Newer and Exciting Channels and Media of marketing
-New strategies for Business Development
-Strategic Advances in positioning
And more…Please share your comments to help me improve my postings.
Today I am starting this new series on my blog on Marketing communication, What’s the future?
Premise:-
With the B-Schools still teaching 4 Ps of marketing to MBA students while preparing them for businesses, the students face a stark reality when they sit for Interviews. They realize within 2 minutes of interview, that this is not what the companies are looking for.
Wow! “I worked my ass off to learn so much about marketing in my B-School and you are telling me this is not what you are looking for?” – This could be a reality check question running in mind of any B-School passout. Well the cruel answer is “YES”.
Do we blame the education for this mismatch? “No”. Then what do we do?
This series of Marketing Communication primer is going to help all fresh graduates, Marcom professionals, Strategic Marketing Professionals and Hiring Managers to see the difference in various levels of marketing, as well as, what’s the NEXT big things in Marketing to look for.
Causes for aberration:-
The prime reason why people get confused or are not well prepared for what they are looking for in their role in marketing is the lack of understanding about the two levels of Marketing.
Two Broad Levels of Marketing:
1. Strategic Marketing attempts to determine how an organization competes against its competitors in a market place. In particular, it aims at generating a competitive advantage relative to its competitors.
2. Operational Marketing executes marketing functions to attract and keep customers and to maximize the value derived for them, as well as to satisfy the customer with prompt services and meeting the customer expectations. Operational Marketing includes the determination of the marketing mix.
It’s very important for people to understand that Strategic Marketing is a function of a Sr. Marketing Professionals where the person in charge has very well mastered the Operational Marketing.
Demystifying Strategic Marketing:- In simple words it’s the Visioning Strategy linked with the execution planning. This would require the below mentioned functions:
a) Understanding Business Objectives / Goals
-Annual X % increase in revenue of a product line
-Retention and growth of Y accounts in Z geography.
-A % market share for this service / product.
-C no of competitor accounts to be captured etc.
These are some examples of wider business goals that a CEO would have in his mind.
b) Converting these business goals into plans like:- Annual / Bi-Annual / 5 Yearly, is what a senior Marketing Professional (marketing and sales director/VP/SVP) would look at and come up with a strategic plan to support the larger business objectives.
-Identifying milestones in the plan.
-Broad annual metrics to be achieved based on sales data from past or industry averages etc. these are few examples to illustrate.
c) Execution Strategy: - This is is one of the most neglected portion from a strategic perspective. Ram Charan, Author of book, Execution, stresses on this point in his book and calls execution as an essential part of strategy.
Without a clearly defined execution strategy all this is just a Bird’s Eye-view approach to say things. A very clearly defined execution strategy and plan is something which can really make these things happen. The execution strategy might look at various activities which can support the annual plans in the previous step.
-Resources required – Hiring/Training etc
-Commission and incentive buffers / Employee benefits
-Media strategy
-IT Infrastructure
-Strategic Alliances and partnerships etc.
-Tactical challenges and solutions
d) Handover of Plans:- Communicating the plans company wide to ensure effective information dissemination etc. Continuous follow-up etc.
Demystifying Operational Marketing:- In simple words, leveraging various channels / media, to generate demand and achieve organizational objectives.
4 Ps of marketing:
In popular usage, "marketing" is the promotion of products, especially advertising and branding. However, in professional usage the term has a wider meaning which recognizes that marketing is customer centered. Products are often developed to meet the desires of groups of customers or even, in some cases, for specific customers. E. Jerome McCarthy divided marketing into four general sets of activities. His typology has become so universally recognized that his four activity sets, the Four Ps, have passed into the language.
The four Ps are:
-Product: The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants. The scope of a product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and support.
-Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts. The price need not be monetary - it can simply be what is exchanged for the product or services, e.g. time, energy, psychology or attention.
-Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or company.
-Placement or distribution refers to how the product gets to the customer; for example, point of sale placement or retailing. This fourth P has also sometimes been called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or services is sold (e.g. online vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults, families, business people), etc.
I am not going to focus on these 4 Ps of marketing, however, I would keep them in mind as well as showcase the Future of Marketing Communication to all.
Closing Remarks:- In my coming postings: while these 4 Ps might be the basis for operational marketing I will introduce the
-5th P of Marketing.
-4 “A”s of Marketing
-Web and Internet as Business Models of Future marketing
-Newer and Exciting Channels and Media of marketing
-New strategies for Business Development
-Strategic Advances in positioning
And more…Please share your comments to help me improve my postings.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
What should I do to marry a rich guy?
A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:
Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?
I’m going to be honest of what I’m going to say here. I’m 25 this year. I’m very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I’m greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York . My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I’ve dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden , $250k annual income is not enough.
I’m here humbly to ask a few questions:1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)2) Which age group should I target?3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I’ve met a few girls who doesn’t have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)
Ms. Pretty
Here’s a reply from a Wall Street Financial guy:
Dear Ms. Pretty,
I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyze your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I’m not wasting time here.
From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain. Put the details aside, what you’re trying to do is an exchange of beauty and money: Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there’s a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can’t be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It’s not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.
By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a trading position. If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or leased. Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool.
Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in leasing services, do contact me.
Signed,
J.P. Morgan
Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?
I’m going to be honest of what I’m going to say here. I’m 25 this year. I’m very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I’m greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York . My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I’ve dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden , $250k annual income is not enough.
I’m here humbly to ask a few questions:1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)2) Which age group should I target?3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I’ve met a few girls who doesn’t have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)
Ms. Pretty
Here’s a reply from a Wall Street Financial guy:
Dear Ms. Pretty,
I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyze your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I’m not wasting time here.
From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain. Put the details aside, what you’re trying to do is an exchange of beauty and money: Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there’s a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can’t be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It’s not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.
By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a trading position. If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or leased. Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool.
Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in leasing services, do contact me.
Signed,
J.P. Morgan
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Bangalored – Not Anymore? – Real Estate giving jitters – Companies moving out of Bangalore
Bangalored – Not Anymore? – Real Estate giving jitters – Companies moving out of Bangalore
With the real estate prices skyrocketing in the main business centers within Bangalore city limits, the city is set to see companies moving out of Bangalore.
The term Bangalored meant people in other parts of world loosing their jobs to people in Bangalore. However, Are bangalorians set to see terms like Cochined? Hosured? Mysored? Chandigarhed? Or probably Eastern Europed? Or Czeched?
Premise:
Not just the living cost but the costs have gone up in all respects in Bangalore. Whether it is salaries, cost of living, daily groceries, house rents, office space rents, taxes and expectations…almost everything has gone sky looking.
So if you were a 50 – 150 employee organization running in a busy business centre or a focal business area in Bangalore, you would be paying anywhere between, Rs. 70 – 150 / Sq ft of office space cost. With these things in mind, we are talking about almost a 100% increase in rents since past 3 years. Resulting in increased operating costs and decreased margins. Eventually cuts in company expenditures leading to options like either looking for a cheaper space outside Bangalore or doing employee cut.
Considering most of the companies face a 10-20% attrition rate and they would want to keep the hiring and training costs low, employee layoff is the most risky proposition. So companies are looking out for various ways to cut their op-ex.
Reasons:
If you were thinking organized retail is the best thing which is happening to Bangalore with over 20 shopping centers and retail malls opening within past 3 years, Bangalore is getting modernized and seeking high paced positive growth.
Here is a realty check. Considering the revenue a retail shopping mall / food complex is going to make on a monthly basis would be much higher as compared to any company paying as a rent. The malls, retail chains and similar sorts are ready to shell out almost 200% more than what the regular companies / young entrepreneurs can give as rents. So obviously the land lords would want more moolah and boom, the deals get signed with the highest bidding retailers.
Large office spaces like Whitefield/ITPL/Electronic City are anyways facing issues of long traveling hours for employees, unsatisfied employees, increased travel costs, higher stress levels, increased residential real estate prices putting pressures of increased salaries, higher expectations and more…Companies like Wipro, infosys and many more are even adopting policies like allowing employees to work from home, stay in their home cities and moving their bases to 2nd rung cities already.
Bangalore not an entrepreneurial heaven any more.
Not just retail, companies are these days being pushed to revise the rent agreements signed long back. This again, is giving jitters to companies working for long in same places. The entrepreneurs are seeking it difficult to get a reasonable office space at a cost that they can afford and which is aborting a lot of ventures which could have burgeoned into tomorrow’s infosys’.
What’s Government doing?
After year’s of resistance and so many court cases, Delhi government decided to shut down commercial establishments in residential areas. This lead to shops moving into malls and shopping centres authorized for the same. In turn led to people moving to move out of expensive places in Central Delhi to Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and more. The city saw a rental price correction and more organized businesses.
What is Karnataka government thinking? Are they going to keep allowing commercial shopping centers in residential and office areas? Is their any policy to control this? When are they going to wake up? Is their going to be some regulation on the rentals? Or will the government just bother about who is taking the Seat in Assembly?
Strangely while all this is happening, the CM and rest are busy in their new mid term election games. Pathetic situation of city’s infrastructure doesn’t bother them. It is painful when they cut 33% of my salary as a tax and I do not see infrastructure in front of me. And then I see my money is being wasted for an unwanted state elections.
Closing thoughts:
With the distanced attitude of the government, poor infrastructure, no means to control prices. The “Bangalorians” are all set to see job cuts, jobs moving out of Bangalore, consolidation in salary hikes, surrounding cities taking over, or you never know, Bangalore loosing it’s image as silicon valley to a realty stone valley.
With the real estate prices skyrocketing in the main business centers within Bangalore city limits, the city is set to see companies moving out of Bangalore.
The term Bangalored meant people in other parts of world loosing their jobs to people in Bangalore. However, Are bangalorians set to see terms like Cochined? Hosured? Mysored? Chandigarhed? Or probably Eastern Europed? Or Czeched?
Premise:
Not just the living cost but the costs have gone up in all respects in Bangalore. Whether it is salaries, cost of living, daily groceries, house rents, office space rents, taxes and expectations…almost everything has gone sky looking.
So if you were a 50 – 150 employee organization running in a busy business centre or a focal business area in Bangalore, you would be paying anywhere between, Rs. 70 – 150 / Sq ft of office space cost. With these things in mind, we are talking about almost a 100% increase in rents since past 3 years. Resulting in increased operating costs and decreased margins. Eventually cuts in company expenditures leading to options like either looking for a cheaper space outside Bangalore or doing employee cut.
Considering most of the companies face a 10-20% attrition rate and they would want to keep the hiring and training costs low, employee layoff is the most risky proposition. So companies are looking out for various ways to cut their op-ex.
Reasons:
If you were thinking organized retail is the best thing which is happening to Bangalore with over 20 shopping centers and retail malls opening within past 3 years, Bangalore is getting modernized and seeking high paced positive growth.
Here is a realty check. Considering the revenue a retail shopping mall / food complex is going to make on a monthly basis would be much higher as compared to any company paying as a rent. The malls, retail chains and similar sorts are ready to shell out almost 200% more than what the regular companies / young entrepreneurs can give as rents. So obviously the land lords would want more moolah and boom, the deals get signed with the highest bidding retailers.
Large office spaces like Whitefield/ITPL/Electronic City are anyways facing issues of long traveling hours for employees, unsatisfied employees, increased travel costs, higher stress levels, increased residential real estate prices putting pressures of increased salaries, higher expectations and more…Companies like Wipro, infosys and many more are even adopting policies like allowing employees to work from home, stay in their home cities and moving their bases to 2nd rung cities already.
Bangalore not an entrepreneurial heaven any more.
Not just retail, companies are these days being pushed to revise the rent agreements signed long back. This again, is giving jitters to companies working for long in same places. The entrepreneurs are seeking it difficult to get a reasonable office space at a cost that they can afford and which is aborting a lot of ventures which could have burgeoned into tomorrow’s infosys’.
What’s Government doing?
After year’s of resistance and so many court cases, Delhi government decided to shut down commercial establishments in residential areas. This lead to shops moving into malls and shopping centres authorized for the same. In turn led to people moving to move out of expensive places in Central Delhi to Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and more. The city saw a rental price correction and more organized businesses.
What is Karnataka government thinking? Are they going to keep allowing commercial shopping centers in residential and office areas? Is their any policy to control this? When are they going to wake up? Is their going to be some regulation on the rentals? Or will the government just bother about who is taking the Seat in Assembly?
Strangely while all this is happening, the CM and rest are busy in their new mid term election games. Pathetic situation of city’s infrastructure doesn’t bother them. It is painful when they cut 33% of my salary as a tax and I do not see infrastructure in front of me. And then I see my money is being wasted for an unwanted state elections.
Closing thoughts:
With the distanced attitude of the government, poor infrastructure, no means to control prices. The “Bangalorians” are all set to see job cuts, jobs moving out of Bangalore, consolidation in salary hikes, surrounding cities taking over, or you never know, Bangalore loosing it’s image as silicon valley to a realty stone valley.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Festival of Lights-Joy-Fun- Diwali 2007 Well Enjoyed
This is a little late though, a great Diwali festival celebration in the heart of India, Delhi. Wow what a great fun festivals are in India.
A full entertaining day it was, this diwali. And it's amazing to watch how Delhi celebrates Diwali, it's an episode in itself. With all the markets full of glitter, lights, people eating, shopping and more.... you can see the women folk enjoying to get their hands decorated with some elaborate mehndi designs in local market roadside sitting arrangements.
And yes the day rocked for me coz of many other reasons:
All this and more makes India and Indians to enjoy their lives and lead with those happy hearts. As I get to talk to people all over the world I have realized, indians are by far the happiest lot of people. With their own ways of facing the difficulties and still keeping that smile on face and acually getting satisfied and still craving for more and always ready for that extra mile to make things happen. I am proud being an Indian!
A full entertaining day it was, this diwali. And it's amazing to watch how Delhi celebrates Diwali, it's an episode in itself. With all the markets full of glitter, lights, people eating, shopping and more.... you can see the women folk enjoying to get their hands decorated with some elaborate mehndi designs in local market roadside sitting arrangements.
And yes the day rocked for me coz of many other reasons:Watched Om Shanti Om - SRK and Deepika starrer movie. Full entertainment and fun movie. Enjoyed SRK's performance as always, though he looks a little old now even with his 6-pac abs. And deepika is a pure stunner. She looks amazing and a very fair acting performance for a movie debutant.
And offcourse how can you forget the home decoration and fire crackers and all that lighting...this all lights up your home, surroundings and you feel esctatic.
All this and more makes India and Indians to enjoy their lives and lead with those happy hearts. As I get to talk to people all over the world I have realized, indians are by far the happiest lot of people. With their own ways of facing the difficulties and still keeping that smile on face and acually getting satisfied and still craving for more and always ready for that extra mile to make things happen. I am proud being an Indian!
Loyalty and Employee Attrition Rate
In recent times I have been reading about "Employee Loyalty" and "Employee Attrition Rate". A lot of organizations worldwide face this challenge of employee attrition, where they hire the best and the brightest in the industry. However, after 2-3 years of stay in the company and learning things people think they know everything and they decide to move on.
Well I do not agree to this behaviour, however, reflecting on my previous job hops it's strange that unknowingly I myself have done the same. "Unknowingly" yes, unknowingly...when today I reflect upon my previous 5 years I see having changed 3 companies already. Which essentially means 1.5 yrs on an average is what I stayed with those companies and I didn't realize till now until I think about it...that, I too moved on thinking I know everything. Strange but true. Well then just a month back I was thinking after a review meeting and hearing something very important from my Boss..."I have to think long term and what I was demanding is a very short sighted demand."
I felt a little disheartened and unsatisfied. However, I then went back to home and started talking to my wife about it and she said...hold on....come out of your present thinking and look at it objectively. Yes, I realized, I was unpractical for a moment and unreasonable too and that's when I decided, ok, let me introspect. Well I don't know it all. I need to learn a lot. And this is the right place and is in the right time over here. So let me re-look at the way I am looking at things.
Hey, I just moved out of the feeling of "disloyalty" which was developing in me...and yes it helped me grow as a person.
Question: What is "loyalty" anyways?
Dictionary: The act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action
Answer: Infosys CEO Narayan Murthy once said:” Love Your Job But Never Fall In Love With Your Company, Because You Never Know When It Stops Loving You."
Well, I am not sure in what context he said that, however, an interesting statement from a company's CEO who runs a company of over 60,000 employees.
So does that mean you should be loyal to your work and nothing else?
Well, I feel if I am loyal to my work, I am loyal to the people who assigned me the work. I am loyal to the people who thought I would be the right fit to do that job. I am loyal to the company who decided to hire me to do that job. I am loyal to my family to whom I promised I will earn and give them a good life.
So does that mean I should be loyal to my work and my company and my family always? Well answer is YES. However, I have 2 questions to ask readers...
What about my company being Loyal to me?
Where does this disloyalty actually arise?
Is it a One-Way-Street? That I keep being loyal to my employer and my employer can take a decision to let me go whenever they want to? Isn’t that disloyalty to the employee that you decide to let some one go and don't even bother to inform him about it, if, any corrective action can be taken?
There were days in my country, India, when people use to join one company and retire from the same company in there entire career. Why doesn't it happen again? Well, it's a 2-way street now. Both employers and employees are disloyal to each other OR is it that we don't communicate enough? Is it that, if we have our issues, we do not communicate them well in advance, to find a solution? I am not sure...what are the reasons...but I feel it can be corrected.
As I always say, communication is the KEY to success. If people communicate with each other about their feelings, about their opinions and what they think is right and wrong, these "Disloyal" situations can be avoided.
However, I have another question:
Question:Have we become so impatient and eccentric that we don't have the time and patience to talk and be honest?
Answer: May be yes. We do not have patience to help people. We are bothered about our own growth. We are bothered about "what's in it for me?” So essentially, it's neither the employer being disloyal to the employee, nor the employee being disloyal to the company. It comes down to Individuals. We as individuals are responsible for our actions and our decisions. And if we are taking these decisions based on our attitudes towards looking at things, as self centered people, we are more or less bound to take irrational decisions.
There are so many companies out there, which have survived for over 100 years. Have they had people taking decisions based on there attitudes and self centered behavior, today, those companies would have died, because, the success of companies is due to the people who work there.
So what does this all mean? - Loyalty is nothing but an individual's decision based on his attitude? Yes, I feel so, and if that is the case, I, as a person should spend most of the time on keeping my attitude the best and I can make most of the work done well, and I can be "Loyal" to my work, my company, my family. I need to communicate and help others communicate about any issues. I need to keep the channel open and try to keep my attitude positive and healthy always.
I can always sit and talk about it instead I will take action and work on my attitude and communicate whenever required.
Lastly, a healthy positive communicative attitude from an employer and employee can help solve these attrition / loyalty / disloyalty issues easily. Nobody should wait, instead start acting on this.
Leave a comment and let me know what you think about it.
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