Targeted Marketing - Top 5 ways for Online Marketing

Targeted Marketing:- 5 most popular ways to target online:

· Contextual targeting: Ads are targeted to related content being viewed by consumers; content usually matches the advertiser's business. For example, ICICI Prudential may run its ads in the mutual fund section of a personal finance site or Hyundai Santro would run its ads in the family section of an automotive site.

o Advantages: There's an implied interest in this content and an assumption that a prospect is in market.

o Challenges: Content has a premium value and tends to be cluttered with competitive ads. In addition, advertisers rely on a small window to reach prospects.

· Demographic targeting: Ads are targeted to content that has a high composition of a specific market segment (regardless if there's a contextual fit). Demographic information may include professions, industry, company size, gender, age, and household income. For example, an advertiser who wants to reach baby boomers may advertise on a site like ThirdAge.

o Advantages: Demographic targeting provides an opportunity for advertisers to increase their reach and avoid highly competitive and cluttered contextual placements.

o Challenges: Just because someone fits a market segment, doesn't mean she's in market for a product. Demographic targeting is better suited for branding campaigns.

· Geographic targeting: Ads are targeted to specific geographical areas based on a user's IP address, Zip Code, or the local content he's viewing. An automotive dealer in New Jersey can advertise local lease offers on NJ.com or target consumers via their IP addresses on USAToday.com

o Advantages: Marketers can target consumers with relative, local-interest creative.

o Challenges: This targeting can be hard to manage since technology can be imperfect. In addition, local-interest creative isn't always available.

· Registration targeting: Ads are targeted to consumers based on the information they provided during registration. If ZDNET wants to reach independent software testers, it could exclusively target people who are regular downloaders of softwares registered as such.

o Advantages: It allows marketers to target hard-to-reach segments without wasting impressions.

o Challenges: Registration information can be outdated or inaccurate.

· Behavioral targeting: Ads are targeted to consumers based on previous activity (past content, purchase, or search history). For example, Orbitz can retarget a consumer on Yahoo who just configured a trip but didn't purchase.

o Advantages: It provides an opportunity to create a dialogue with consumers and reach them beyond contextual environments.

o Challenges: If not handled properly, it could have an adverse affect.

Day Occasions

Friendship Day (I call it another Day Occasion) celebrations take place on the first Sunday of August every year. The tradition of dedicating a day in honor of friends began in US in 1935. Gradually the festival gained popularity and today Friendship Day is celebrated in large number of countries including India. On this day people spend time with their friends and express love for them. Exchange of Friendship Day Gifts like flowers, cards and wrist bands is a popular tradition of this occasion.

Though I am not a great follower of all these days, still I don't mind remembering my friends and colleagues on this day. I anyways keep in touch wth them and I believe in the spirit of friendship which should kindle always! However such days give you another opportunity to do so. I feel all the marketeers would feel happy on such "Day Occasions", as they get an opportunity to sell more. Fair enough, sympathy, empathy, emotions and more always are well exploited by marketeers and they would love to take on such occasions.

Anyways, no more story....My celebration Idea:
"Send a SMS or Email to all your friends and let them know that they are special to me. Friends are the relatives I have made by choice! And may be a quick meet-up."

To all my friend's, lets keep in touch!

Behavioral Marketing

New and emerging Idea of “Behavioral Marketing” is gripping the websites and advertisers are getting more keener on it. This basically talks about customization of Ads based on predictions on what you are going to buy next. This is like one-on-one marketing based on individual data. Like: Gender, Location, Demographics, Interests, Past website visits, Recommendations etc.
Like Book Selling Sites recommending the following:
“People who liked this also liked books like these:-
Link 1
Link 2
Link 2”
Now websites are trying to provide Real-time Ads. With the help of certain details like your Location and demographics. They are continuously collecting data about you, while you browse and on real-time change the ads from a generic one to the most relevant ones relevant to your interest.
“Auto Opt In” is the trick most of the sites are using which means you just can’t skip this.
The basic value proposition is “we are going to stop bombarding you with non-relevant ads and give you something which is very relevant to you.”
Well companies are trying to build and implement these algorithms and only some retrun on investment data will prove if this model is working well!

Some Online Citations:

nugg.ad AG - http://blog.nugg.ad/2007-07-25/is-predictive-behavioral-targeting-only-something-for-geeks-nerds-and-freaks/
Yahoo! Expands Behavioral Targeting - http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3520631
Yahoo Adds Behavioral Targeting - http://advertising.yahoo.com/marketing/bt/
Microsoft Demos Behavioral Targeting - http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=38484
Behavioral Maketing - http://www.behavioral.us/2007/06/15/when-does-behavioral-fail/
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_targeting"

Tata Indiacom Offers Samsung Duo Dual Mode Handset in India

Following the Spice Telecom, Tata Indicom with Samsung has announced to launch Samsung Duo, the dual mode handset supporting GSM and CDMA technology.
According to Samsung, users can use two GSM or two CDMA or one of each sim cards in one handset.
The Duo handset is a slider phone having a 2.2-inch hybrid TFT display. Also it features 1.3 megapixel camera with 10X digital zoom and video recording. This phone is a real business phone supporting document files in excel, word and PDF formats.
The phone also offers good amount of entertainment to users through an MP3/AAC+ player supporting video in MPEG4. The phone has 10MB of internal memory and can support up to 1GB of external memory.
Besides, the phone has three input options ABCD’ keyboard or a normal mobile phone keypad and thanks to the handwriting recognition software that it incorporates, you also jot something on it.
Perhaps, the most interesting feature for Indians the Indian calendar it bundles which lists all the festivals, dates and important occasions. Additionally it has a Panchang featuring auspicious/inauspicious times during a day.
Currently the Duo is launched in Mumbai only at the price of Rs. 11,999, excluding the Indicom Sim card.

Was just discussing yesterday night ... Teleportation is the Next Technology change? Which is going to throw out all these mobiles and communication devices....I wish I could be alive to see that day!

Goal Setting!

What will you achieve if you don't know what you want to achieve?

GOAL setting, timeline setting, steps break-up, milestone celebrations, motivation, inching closer to your GOALS. Well all this sounds more or less like a excerpt from a Project Management book at your B-School. No. This is simply the latest thing running in my office where all the employees have put together all their Goals on the wall:

1 yr goal

5 yr goal

10 yr goal

Lifetime Goal.

In the image some 32 Goal sheets are visible which says exactly this. I think its necessary and every company should do this. Get your employees to decide the goals. Set some timelines. Breakup the path to achieve those goals into smaller units. Self Motivate yourself. Keep working and celebrate the milestones. Achieve and Enjoy! Start your journey for the next goal.

The USUAL Scenario outside Forum just next to my Office!

The UN-USUAL Scene in the evening sky over Forum!

Usual is to see long waiting queues of traffic in front of my office. Hosur road and surrounding areas. Well it takes me 5 minutes to walk down to my office. And if i drive by car it takes 15 minutes. Bangalore traffic is becoming pathetic day by day. And no solution seems to be in pipeline.

Unusual was the large number of eagles flying over the Forum and its vicinity last Friday evening. I was working in the office and suddenly my boss Liam called me out and asked me, why do you think these birds are so frantically flying all over the place? Well not just me, we were like 3-4 people and offcourse human nature prompted everyone with his or her own theory! This was a very strange thing which i saw for the first time. I don't particularly know why it happened, however, what sounded a good logic from Zafar was that, it became dark suddenly that night so the birds lost their time tracking mechanism.

Anyways, if you seem to know why it happened....do post in your comments.

Royal treatment on my Birth Day!

Royal treatment on my 25th Birth Day!

I didn't expect the Royal treatment I got this 4th of july on my 25th B'Day. I turned 26. Yes the venue was Leela Palace, Bangalore. The location was Jamavar. Thanks to my wife who had done some pre-booking. I was impressed. We had fun time that night, I njoyed a lot. And i think we ordered food in excess as always. The aloo tikki dilli style was good, i relished it. The rest of the food was also delectable. With the enjoyment in the air, coz of Independence Day of America, there was hustle n bustle. And we could hear some fun party going on there. Overall good music and good ambience.

Cheers again and thanks to my biwi for this ossum treat!

What is naseba?

A lot of people have been asking me recently, what is naseba? Well here is your FAQ answered...

Q) What is naseba?

A) The word naseba comes from a Japanese idiomatic expression: "when there is a will there is a way." naseba can be translated, "if you make it happen." naseba is Business Information (BI).

We are committed to provide BI to the entire online community without them paying any charge for the same. We are a product company and our products are Strategic Business platforms like Congresses, Forums, Conferences or Expos.

Q) Is naseba Event Management Company?

A) NO

We produce, promote and host our own strategic business platforms using a conference, congress, expo or forum format - depending on the market - with the ultimate focus on ‘knowledge expansion’, ‘networking’ but most importantly maximizing ‘deal-making’ opportunities for all our executive clients.

Q) How are you unique from other similar events companies?

A) Let me answer this in bulleted format:

We are into providing you with Business Information for your strategic decision making.

We don’t host someone else’s events.

We host our own Strategic Business Platforms for business information exchange.

We give commitment in our contract, in black and white, the target number of people attending our event.

Pre-scheduled One-to-One business meetings.

A complete delegate directory with contact information & pre-course questionnaire to help you uncover the needs of the prospective client in advance.

Open business meeting to ensure you do not miss out on meeting any delegates you would want to meet.

Table sponsorship opportunities to maximize your visibility.

Limited numbers of suppliers to ensure you are not surrounded by your rivals.

Hope this makes us as a “unique” company!

Q) What products does naseba have?
A) naseba provides 4 streams of international products:

Travel & Tourism Series - 10 strategic congresses focused on maximizing networking and deal-making opportunities for Travel & Tourism professionals.

CXO Strategies - designed exclusively for CXOs by CXOs providing a UNIQUE mix of best practice and knowledge sharing in a problem-solving environment.

Global Expansion Series - a dynamic two-day platform created for busy decision makers to conduct business in their respective infrastructure sectors through prescheduled, one-to-one business meetings interwoven with re-educational sessions and the ultimate networking parties.

Knowledge Expansion - a conference format with a networking approach, focused on dynamic re-education for busy upper-level executives who do not attend vendor-driven conferences.

Q) How old is your company, some company history details?

A) In order to climb to the next level and expand more aggressively - further proving to make things happen - naseba did a reverse takeover of MM Finance, a company listed on the Marché Libre of the Paris Stock exchange - therefore, on October 5th, 2006 naseba proudly went public.
Since inception in 2002, naseba has expanded its portfolio of worldwide executive congress and forums to 60 annual strategic B2B platforms covering 26 different industries.

As a leading global business information company with headquarters in Monaco, naseba has offices strategically located in eight cities around the world and employs over 200 executives from more than 30 nationalities.

We are multicultural, dynamic and focused on making it happen.

Top 100 Blogs

I found this interesting site which gives you the list of Top 100 blogs in India. A very good website for seeing who's blogging in India.

More interesting pages that I found was on this website are:

Top 100 Most Influential blogs.

Top 100 Songs being heard.

Top 100 DVDs being watched.

Do comment and let me know if you come across similar sites.

Product Review: BOSE Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System.

Update 2 - The volume control pod snooze error (Scroll to bottom)
The volume goes off in the middle of play if USB not connected.
Update 1 - How to connect your BOSE Companion 5 Multimedia Speakers to your TV? (Scroll down)
Procedure and images to demonstrate the connection with TV.
Product Review - Good sound comes in Small Packages!

If you are one of those who hold any of the following opinion:

>BOSE is costly.
>BOSE has only Sophisticated Surround Sound Systems.
>BOSE is my dream audio-video system.

Then please read on….

BOSE Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System (BC5MSS) shatters all the myths and brings forward the reality of High Quality audio experience in a small package!

---------------------------------------------------------------
Bottom Line

Bose's Companion 5 speakers are great for those who want more from their DVD audio but lack the space for a true surround-sound setup.
---------------------------------------------------------------
PROS

The subwoofer delivers nice rumble. Speakers widen the stereo image. Great for desktop or home listening. Wired control has volume and mute button.
---------------------------------------------------------------
CONS

"Surround-like" is NOT real surround sound. The satellites are lacking in the mid-high frequencies. Control is wired.
---------------------------------------------------------------

I bought the BC5MSS one month back and tried and tested it in multiple scenarios. Here is what I have to say about the system. BOSE is committed to provide Best Audio Quality and they have 100% delivered on it, interestingly, cost effectively and in a small package!

I am sure most of us would have come across BOSE’s amazing sound quality experience once in a while somewhere. I experienced it for the first time in FORUM Mall’s BOSE showroom. During my first visit there I was sure, this is my Dream Audio system. However, I was not sure when this Dream is going to turn into reality. Yes, price was something which was keeping me back.

Not long, I visited BOSE showroom around mid of June 2007 and I saw this BC5MSS system and saw a little price tag hanging there for Rs. 24,500/-. I was sure this is just going to be the price of the small speaker and nothing else. I was about to overlook, when the gentleman in the showroom approached me and asked me if I would like to see a Demo of the product. I said Ok go on show me what can this Tiny thing do? To my amazement, I was immediately overwhelmed by the systems audio performance! My very next question was, is this sound coming just from the speakers or there is a base unit to it? And, there it was, a pretty Acoustimass module happily sitting down there. My next question, so this set of speakers, stand, cables and this module costs how much in total? “Sir this entire unit including everything costs 24.5K” said the gentleman….yippeee…!! Am I dreaming or what? Well I had almost made-up my mind and thought let me quickly do an online research of the same and talk to one or two near ones. Did that quickly and took my decision to buy this system!

Features worth a mention!

Proprietary TrueSpace® surround digital processing circuitry - Creates an immersive sound environment from just two visible speakers. The system is designed for sitting at the computer; however I have used it with my TV out in my living room and gave that WOW experience.

Digital 5.1 audio playback (Surround Like – Not Surround Sound) Brings music, games, movies and other 5.1-decoded material to life with much of the performance you'd expect from a five-speaker system.

Compact Acoustimass® module – (The heart) delivers clean, deep low frequencies into the room. The module can be hidden almost anywhere in the listening area and allows for small, elegant speakers without sacrificing performance.

Control pod - multi-function pod for volume control, single-touch mute, headphone jack and connection for a second audio source such as an MP3 player.

USB connectivity - to your PC, this means that the Digital signal is being processed by the BOSE’s internal circuitry delivering that Virtual Surround Sound.

Dual inputs – means you can connect your DVD/iPOD/TV-Out/MP3 etc while it’s connected to PC. As well as there is a sound out – to connect to your Head Set / Headphones.

Performance Test – Built to last!

I have tried connecting this to my PC, Laptop, MP3 Player, iPOD, DVD/TV Player.

Results:

PC / Laptop: As promised, delivered the Virtual surround sound experience with USB connectivity you do get a 5.1 channel surround sound experience.

MP3/iPOD: Again as promised, delivered the WOW BOSE effect. Even with a 2.1 channel input, you get a 5.1 channel output experience.

DVD/TV: You can take a serial to phono cable and connect your TV out to the Control Pod “in” the DVD out can go to the TV and experience the Surround Sound experience.
Catch – Doesn’t match up to the actual BOSE surround sound system! I wouldn’t recommend for a complete surround sound experience. However, COST factor overtakes the sound logic sometimes! So your call, at this cost, a BOSE like experience should be really worth it!

How to connect your BOSE Companion 5 Multimedia Speakers to your TV?

I used the serial to phono cable(image below). The white and red end went into the TV out in the image below

Serial to Phono Cable.(Single end into BOSE POD and Double end into TV Audio Out) TV Audio out

Also, you can connect it to your DVD player too. Take a 3 pin to 3 pin connector cable and connect the 3 pins as shown in the image below to the Audio and Video IN of your TV. The other side of the 3 pins should go into the DVD player Audieo - Video OUT. So now your DVD player is connected to your TV and your TV player's output is connected to speakers.

However, to be precise in this case the Audio processing is not directly on the BOSE board, so its not the digital signal being processed, but the analog one. Also when you connect BOSE directly to your laptop/PC, the digital signal is directly sent to the BOSE acoustimas module so the digital signal processing happens on the board and that's why DVD live quality.

If you want to OWN a BOSE system which gives you most of Audio-Video functionality at a very reasonable cost, this would be a Perfect BUY!

Update 2 - The volume control pod snooze error. The volume goes off in the middle of play if USB not connected. I have faced this problem that if I have connected the volume control pod with TV/DVD play, after some time of playing, the volume control pod goes into sleep mode. I am not sure why this happens, however, the solution is, connect your USB connector cable to some USB device or a laptop. In this way, the volume control pod remains active.

This is a strange solution, but then it works. Let me know if it worked for you or not.

Did you think Harry Potter was a children’s Movie? – Think Again!

Movie Review - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Ihe movie's fame has gone beyond just being a children’s movie. Rowling and Yate has made it clear with the 5th part, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, that its not just for the children. It’s a full fledged entertainer which is power packed with the right ‘masala’ for being a complete entertainer for all ages (a little better editing would have propelled it more)! However lacks in fun or the funny element (I expected, a little bit, though). The story, plot, special effects, acting, costumes, make-up, fight scenes, drama, performances, screenplay, emotions, intimacy…am I forgetting anything, I guess pretty much it, the entire curry cooked very well!

I watched this movie, after all the juggle, this Sunday afternoon at REX theatre, Bangalore. Actually this movie made me think, was this for children or adults? Teens may be, but not for kids… for sure!

Well to start with the plot was very well portrayed in the movie, though sometimes it looked like you are watching the abridged version of book. Most of the scenes would quickly remind you of the chapter in the book, but would get over quick, however fairly conveyed the messages and the story. The plot was not revealed till the end, which keeps people glued who haven’t read the book and were watching the movie for the first time.

Another interesting area, which I would like to comment upon would be the special effects. I liked them! They make or break a Harry Potter movie. Very well picturized flying scenes, well sequenced, breathtaking heights, brilliant sound effects, flying witches and amazing flying horses. What more would you want?

Oh well, there was a keen importance given to costumes, I liked Sirius’s cloak, Hermione’s pink striped dress (and the way she wears her Tie), Imelda’s dress and off course Mr. Potter’s Suit! The make-up artists had spent good amount of time to ensure that every scene looked genuine and it did. The fiction brought to reality was looking true. The picturiziation and the screenplay were like the story unraveling scene by scene…like the pages of the book rapidly flipped.

Performances go like this, Harry’s kind of shedding Ron and Hermione (I felt it). Evanna as Luna was brilliant. The best performances, however, were by Helena and Imelda - as Bellatrix and Umbridge, respectively. Helena portrayed Bellatrix perfectly and supremely pulled off Bellatrix’s obsessive (and deranged, creepy) devotion to Voldemort - she was practically licking her Dark Mark! Imelda was a great Umbridge, sinister in her own way - as we all know. However I felt, because of the length of the book, the movie was made fast paced, where lots of performances just got missed like the Grawp, Grimmauld Place, Kreacher, Tonks, Quidditch, Giants, Centaurs etc.

Other interesting things were the drama, emotions and the intimacy! Well-well-well, Mr. Potter’s onscreen kiss, an intimate one, surely not for kids, made the crowds go howling. It was pretty much like any other Hollywood adult flick. Scenes with Harry holding hands, Harry going towards all the women, Hermione’s way of looking at Harry and others, all clearly suggested, NOT for my Kid. Not to forget the blood on the faces of Harry and others after every fight sequence. The order of the phoenix has grown out of being a ‘children’s movie’ to an adult/teen entertainer well.

What I missed though was the funny side of it, which was there in initial parts. Who says teens/adults don’t like fun? Anyways….another thing which I didn’t like was poor editing of the scenes of Ministry of Magic. The long dialogues, the last scenes of the Prophecy, Dumbledore’s and Valdemort’s fight sequence.

In short, a little over than an average watch! Worth watching once, if you are a Harry fan!

Mozilla Addons Rock

Though I write this blog entry using IE browser, I wanted to share some things which I see rocking in Mozilla Firefox.

As advertized by Mozilla, firefox does speed-up your speed of browsing, but what it additionally offers is these Add-Ons which are really cool.

You can visit this URL https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/recommended to find the reccomended Add-Ons by Firefox.

Some of these which I personally like are:

Yoono
While you are surfing, Yoono instantly suggests what others have discovered: websites, people and articles. Create a rich scrapbook of your favorite stuff with the new "Buzz It!" feature, one-click grab and share videos, photos and texts from any web page. Yoono keeps your scrapbook and original Firefox bookmarks synchronized across your computers.

ScribeFire
ScribeFire (previously Performancing for Firefox) is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog.

CoolIris Preview
Cooliris Previews gives you the power to browse and share Web links and rich media faster. Just mouse over any link, and the Cooliris preview window immediately appears to show you the content. To email it, just click.

Another reason why I like this one is that it reminds me of the Song "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls, one of my all time favourite. Lyrics and the music is ossum!

del.icio.us
This extension seamlessly integrates your browser with del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/), the leading social bookmarking service on the Web.

ChatZilla
A clean, easy to use and highly extensible Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client.

LinkedIn Companion

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 10.5 million experienced professionals. LinkedIn helps you be more effective in your daily work and opens doors to opportunities by helping you develop and manage your network of business...

My LinkedIn profile can be easily accessed and update, whenever I need to!


Do share if come across some interesting Firefox Addins. I would love to read your comments. Download firefox and new google toolbar for better browsing experience.

I have joined naseba

I have joined naseba last week. I joined as a Marketing Director for the India and Middle East markets. I am accompanied with my colleague Zafar who brings in his extensive experience in Middle East market. My role would be to work along with Zafar to set-up a marketing department for the company and help generate leads and generate revenue. I am reporting to Liam Findlay, CRM Director, who has envisioned this entire department.

naseba is Business Information.

naseba producec, promotes and hosts strategic business platforms using a conference, congress, expo or forum format - depending on the market - with the ultimate focus on knowledge expansion, networking but most importantly maximizing deal-making opportunities for all our executive clients. naseba is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The word naseba comes from a Japanese idiomatic expression: "when there is a will there is a way."naseba can be translated, "if you make it happen."

As a leading global business information company with headquarters in Monaco, naseba has offices strategically located in eight cities around the world and employs over 200 executives from more than 30 nationalities.

naseba is proud to be working in partnership with many leading press groups and local authorities such as BBC World, CNBC, Financial Times, Time, Al Arabiya, London Convention Bureau, the Principality of Monaco, the Abu Dhabi Government and the City of Prague, just to name a few.

I feel highly motivated with our CEOs statement: "The secret to our success is that we understand that all participants, both sponsors and executive delegates, must have a return on their investment - whether that investment is time or money. Our high rebooking rate of both executive delegates and sponsors is proving that we are delivering this ROI to our clients.” Scott Ragsdale, Chairman and CEO.

Harry Potter Movie Tickets Sold Out in 60 minutes

Harry Potter and the order of phoenix, Movie Tickets Sold Out in 60 minutes!

Yesterday afternoon I visited PVR in Forum Mall, Bangalore, to purchase tickets for the movie long awaited movie Harry Potter and the order of phoenix, at 3 PM. They told me that the booking will start at 5 PM. So I went back and then again reached at 5.45 PM. And to my amazement, there was a long never ending queue. Within 5 minutes the person at the booking counter announced that the tickets for Harry Potter - the order of phoenix are sold out for the entire Saturday and Sunday(21-22 July 2007).

With a long face, I returned to my office and started working. Just thinking that the demand is much more than the Supply. Or may be there are too many Harry Potter fans in bangalore! This is the 2nd week of the movie and still the tickets are not available.

Real estate companies might want to look at this and start more new movie theatres in bangalore!

New Harry Potter Book Leaked Onto Bit Torrent

After OJ’s book, its Rowling’s now. Seems like the latest book in the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, has been leaked onto Bit Torrent. The book was leaked onto Demonoid and quickly spread to other sites in the form of two torrents. Already google search showing over 1,160,000 search volumes . One of the torrents features only 495 pages of the book while the other is complete. However, users who have downloaded the book say that it’s a bad quality scan and half the pages are illegible. You even have to use Photoshop to clean up some of them, should you want to read the book in its entirety.
But with all the hype around Harry Potter, having torrents of a book like this can be dangerous. Mininova has already removed the torrents for the book, a move that the site normally wouldn’t choose. Now that it’s leaked, spoilers are bound to hit the Internet left and right, so be careful where you click. Otherwise, wait until the 21st to get your Potter on.

I would urge all the Harry potter fans just to avoid downloading such leaked books and pay respect to the Author for her hard work!

Changing Language of 21st Century Leader - Accountable Communication

As the 21st century leaders come in the field to lead and empower a team of high performers, they need to develop and inculcate the New Language to motivate and bring more accountability and personal integrity. I am sharing some of the New Language words which are set to change the boards.

Some important day to day examples which can help you excel in day to day conversation. These examples are nothing more than some well thought and well crafted sentences which can guide your way to growth. Initially you might find difficulty to implement these in your day to day dialogue, however with the positive mindset complemented by a conscious effort, you are bound to excel and bring more and more accountability in the system.

> Avoid: “You’re acting ridiculous. How can you expect me to respond to a question that has absolutely no logic to it and doesn’t relate to anything that we’re talking about?”
ü Replace with: “I’m having difficulty understanding how what you’re saying connects to the issue we’re discussing. Would you please elaborate…?”
Ø In short harnessed words are accountable!

> Avoid: “Everyone needs to get on board fast to handle this mess.”
ü Replace with: “I need everyone on board fast. I can’t do this alone. Together we can turn this situation around.”
Ø In this case, You are triggering action and not reaction!

> Avoid: “I’ve made a decision to move ahead with a program that will help us achieve better performance.”
ü Replace with: “I see a possibility for us to be the first group to lead the way in building a high-performance organization. I know we can accomplish this together.”
Ø Inspiring people is the key, not derailing them!

Do share more similar lines, words or sentences that you have seen effective in difficult situations.

Coorg, your relaxing holiday destination!

With ever increasing pressures of work, family chores, daily hustle and mundane routines, u'd need a relaxing and soothing holiday. I recently visisted Coorg and got exactly what I was waiting for quite a long time.

Coorg enjoys the incomparable scenic beauty, lush green valleys, coffee plantations, teak wood forests & majestic mountain ranges. Add to that a strong, brave martial race of Coorgs (Kodavas) that reveres tradition, has a distinct culture and lives life to its fullest.

Coorg is situated on the Western Ghats of Karnataka in South India. For the adventurous at heart, it is an absolute treat. There are trekking, golfing and angling (Mahaseer too!) options available. Religious trips abound on Hindu and Buddhist circuits. Family getaways can be easily arranged. You can also relax your body and mind with special Ayurvedic massages. Coorg is also as trendy and happening as its close neighbour Bangalore.


Some Videos from Coorg trip

Communication!

Say it Right the First Time

There are many different ways to produce high-performance results in organizations. Some companies create an internally competitive environment where the toughest, but not necessarily the most competent, rise to the top. Other organizations build a consensus culture where agreement replaces quality by reducing decisions to the least common denominator. Organizations of the future, however, are choosing a longer term approach to producing results by investing in people. The most prized possession in these companies is the high level of accountability and collaboration among people.

Communication, language in particular, is the vehicle for unleashing the power of people. Words are potent and they can drive or retard the growth of an individual or a company. So they should be cautiously utilized. I am hereby sharing some thoughts and some daily use language, which forms the communication dialogue between people everyday. These language snippets, aptly used with the right timing can do wonders for people at different management levels.

Your Purpose
To inspire positive action in others by communicating accountably at all times!

You need to help other take 100% Accountability. What 100% accountability means is:

>Choosing to be an OWNER of everything you do.
>Accepting responsibility (not blame) for your impact on results and people.
>Focusing on what you can do instead of waiting for other to act.

7 Keys to speak accountably:

Talk straight responsibly – Being appropriately direct, honest, and straightforward raises trust and credibility.
Inspire positive action – Communicating in an up-lifting manner.
Collaborate with others – Working well others gives more speed and flexibility, competitive advantage in market.
Build ownership – Taking accountability for results and their impact on others.
Commit with integrity – Commitments should be made only when they can be fulfilled, else bargain for time.
Hold people accountable – By holding yourself and people accountable for high standards, morale is raised along with performance.
Recover quickly – Perfection is not the wuest; recovering quic kly should be the goal. Admitting mistakes, using breakdowns and problems as learning experiences increase creativity, innovation, and risk taking.

Short Statements that inspire Accountability

Speaking Accountably

“That’s the problem in a nutshell”
ü Add: “Now it’s up to us to turn this around.”

“This is an issue we must address quickly.”
ü Add: “I’m confidant we can do this.”

“We will meet on Friday at 8 a.m. in the conference room.”
ü Add: Let’s use this time to generate new ideas together.”

“I haven’t had the chance to read your report.”
ü Add: “I always appreciate how you look at things.”

“We are facing a number of challenges this next year.”
ü Add: “I’m happy to be on a great team. We’ll need everyone’s thinking and energy.”

“Good Morning.”
ü Add: “It’s always good to see you.”

Here is the document, read it and let’s talk.
ü Add: “I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.”

I am just at the starting point; I would be sharing some more thoughts in coming time. I would highly appreciate your comments and suggestions to improve my posts. I hope this would be helpful in bringing an all-round high performance leadership in your organization.

Contd. Organized Retail in India

I suggested earlier that government regulation is needed....Atleast First step taken by government.. ..however this may not be the best policy adopted...but it is somewhat similar to whats done in other parts of world.

Article in Economic Times, Front page, 18-june-2007, Bangalore edition

Big grocery retailers may come under licence raj
SHOPS SPREAD OVER 10,000 SQ FT, RETAILING FOOD AND GROCERY, TO NEED LOCAL NOD
Mayur Shekhar Jha & Rajat Guha NEW DELHI
THE government is mulling the introduction of a licensing regime to regulate grocery, fruits and vegetable retail in the country. As per the model being considered by policy makers, any shop dealing in retail of food and grocery items such as atta, edible oil, fruits and vegetables, and spread over 10,000 sq ft will mandatorily have to seek licence from the local urban body managing that area. The objective is to check unfettered growth of grocery retail and to protect small kirana stores by restricting the mushrooming of organised retail outlets in a particular catchment area. When implemented, the licensing policy will have a direct impact on all hypermarkets where selling of food and grocery items is proposed. Both Reliance and Bharti plan to operate huge hypermarkets, ranging from 50,000 sq ft to even 1.5 lakh sq ft in certain cases. The retailers will be allowed to operate only in a specified catchment area, thus minimising the scope of competition between them and local kirana shops. For one, in the case of Delhi, the MCD, which is the administering authority in most areas, will be empowered to give these licences. Large mega outlets and hypermarkets will be asked to operate from outside the city. The policy is being worked out by the commerce, urban development and labour ministry. According to sources, the move has come at the back of Left parties’ demand of regularisation of retail. “The Ministry of Urban Development is already finalising zonal plans. The zonal plans for Delhi will be ready by January next year. Subsequently, the same model will be followed in other states. The move is aimed at protecting the interest of local kirana stores from unfair competition thrown up by large corporate retailers,” a senior government official said. Zonal plans divide a city or town into different zones, specifying areas for mixed land use. These plans are then incorporated in the city’s master plan. However, when implemented, the mandatory licensing will not impact the basic food and grocery format of retailers like Reliance and Future Group and the proposed Bharti Retail.

Wipro Infotech launches India’s first eco-friendly desktops

Wipro as a Brand has always stood for Integrity and Good Quality. They are one of first and most concerned organizations in India to take up Corporate Social Responsibilities.

With Wipro launching these eco-friendly PCs, they have proved it yet again that they are socially responsible for making our environent better.
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Wipro Personal Computing would be free of hazardous materials such as brominated flame retardants (BFR), PVCs and heavy metals

Bangalore: Wipro Infotech, the India, Middle-East and Asia-Pacific IT business unit of Wipro Ltd on 14 june launched its eco-friendly range of desktops, claiming it was the first Indian company to do so.
The new range of products named Wipro GreenWare, which include desktops and laptops, is compliant with RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous substances) directive, thereby reducing substantial e-waste.
“At present, eight products -- five desktops and three notebooks -- are 100% RoHS-compliant. By this year- end, we want to ensure that the entire product range of laptops and desktops is RoHS-compliant,” Ashutosh Vaidya, Vice President, Wipro Personal Computing, told reporters here.
Wipro has set up its e-waste management process called Wipro Green Computing which spans across its product lifecycle, from designing and manufacturing to the final disposal.
Wipro Personal Computing would be free of hazardous materials such as brominated flame retardants (BFR), PVCs and heavy metals like lead, cadmium and mercury that have been regularly used in computer manufacture so far.
“We will choose only RoHS components from our vendors,” Vaidya said.
Welcoming Wipro’s initiative, despite no government legislation on the issue, Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner Ramapati Kumar, who was present on the occasion, hoped this would lead the way in phasing out chemicals like BFRs and PVC.
Greenpeace appealed to electronics industry to design products that are free from hazardous substances.
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Green is the way to go, and we have Way to Go!