A contrarian thought
I had a viewpoint to share how everyone is jumping on the e-commerce bandwagon.
Everyone wants to susbtitute the Indian retailer through online deals ; even ABG is gearing up big time for that.
But then in the long run, will it be good for India? Do we want a few websites to susbstitute the source of livelihood for millions of Indian retailers and convert them into courier boys
why dont we have startups which can help Indian retailers spruce up their operations, be it inventory planning/rationalisation or customer engagement or IT systems or shift from unstructured costly financing to structured bank/microfinance
and this is not just CSR, its hard core consulting business
An entrepreneur’s skirmishes on the marketing turf!!
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“Dear Sir/Madam Greetings of the Day!! Trust you are doing
well.
Recruiting the right finance professionals can be one of the
most challenging, yet equally rewarding aspects of the company's human capital
leaders. This realization was the precursor to the launch of cajobportal.com.
Yet, you will appreciate that the entrepreneurial journey is beset with
suo-moto approaching people in the remote hope that 5% of them might have an
unfulfilled need which your product can offer. Hence please pardon me for my
unsolicited mails
I am a student @ IIMA and have a startup – cajobportal.com –
India‟s first recruitment website exclusively for Chartered Accountants “
This is how dozen of clichéd emails originate in my mailbox
and are whipped off the back of gmail.com horses to the stables of those awe
inspiring CFOs and HR Heads.
Hardly 1% of these emails see the light at the end of the
tunnel; the rest die a premature death in the spam folders! And yet, we commit
the heinous crimes of sending them!
Similar is the fate
of those calls to the Board lines
“Hi, I am Anurag from
cajobportal.com. Can you please connect me to Ms. Pallavi Amin in HR?” “Purpose?” comes the
terse reply from the receptionist. After you explain, either she hangs up or
transfers the line to some perpetually ringing number or the HR picks it,
listens to you for 2 minutes and then says “Sorry, I am heading into a meeting.
Can we talk later? Or “Sorry, we currently are not looking for another finance
hiring partner”
The question is WHY? Why this relentless pursuit of chasing
people when they are simply NOT interested?
If you are good, won’
they come automatically?
Isnt it hara kiri‟?
Each denial is literally a slap on the face, an assault on the ego and
downgrading of your esteem!! As an IIMA grad, is that why we came here for?
Jon Buscal‟s quote “Marketing
is a commitment and not merely a campaign” fits in so aptly here.
You remind
yourself that the world existed without you and will continue to exist even
without you.
Life existed even
without an I-Phone or a bottle of Coke or a naukri.com or a zomato.com! And so
would it even without cajobportal.com!
Bitter truth but a realization that gets you going! So it is
up to you and ONLY you to convince the world that it would be a better place if
its citizens adopted what you had on offer.
You pull up your socks and are now willing to face
rejection!
You are ready to market yourself to the world.
Google throws up 1.85 billion results in 0.40 seconds when
you search the term “Marketing”. It is the most glamorous word that can excite
the human imagination.
You wonder what could be that magic marketing mantra that
could make 3000 Indian company sign up for cajobportal.com.
“Non deficere”, the Latin equivalent of “Never Give Up”!
This to my mind is the fundamental tenet of marketing. Once this is in place,
the 4 Ps and the 5Cs simply land in place.
Who knows, you might
end up selling refrigerators to Eskimos.
As a Chartered Accountant before PGPX, for 10 years, I have
spent endless hours on those dull and drab Excel sheets that refused to talk.
In Marketing, the best part that I now relish is that rush of dopamine in your
brain when I talk about cajobportal. com
From focusing on rejections, you now start focusing on those
1% conversions and the Lifetime Value from the relationship that could run into
millions of dollars.
You realise that a marketing pitch is simply an emotionally
charges stimulus, a promise to a customer’s amygdala, that the anticipated
gains are far in excess of what he/she is paying. It is this perpetual drift
between the affect and the cognitive that you need to conquer.
A fulfilled
demand brings smiles and a brand relationship. You might need to slog yourself
to the hilt to fulfil the craziest of requisitions for a Chartered Accountant
is put forth.
If you goof up, your doors to the consumer’s sub conscious
are closed forever. Yet if you do succeed, henceforth you have no competition.
The episodic memory will bring you an impulse purchase next time. You will
become a habit. And that’s the goal
Prof Sahay taught us that marketing, eventually, is all
about moving from the functional to the emotional value. The best of marketers
don’t exist in the consumer’s mind but in his/her heart.
Warm Regards
Sonia Singal & Anurag Singal
Re-engineer yourself brick by brick
My 1 year journey (PGPX @IIMA) has just come to an end and eyes turn misty as I brace myself to hand over the keys of MSH 901 to the facilities office and just move on with life. So what has been the NPV and IRR of this journey, asks the Chartered Accountant in me who had hirtherto been an EV/EBITDA and Free Cash Flow to Equity cruncher to the house of Tatas and Birlas
These red bricks have implanted dreams in the eyes of thousands, both the ones who made it to this place as well as the ones for whom it remained just an unfulfilled dream. To cut the long story short, I realise that my tryst with these red bricks cannot be valued in terms in money. You can't prepare a DCF model for a magical experience
The first thing IIMA does to you is to make you humble. You enter this place with castles in the air, with this inflated sense of ego about your IQ and then realise that this place gives every outlier a run for his/her money. You feel elated that you've answered 19/20 questions in an Economic Quiz correctly , only to find that 6 guys have aced it 20 on 20. You study till 4 AM in your syndicate rooms and on returning back to your dorm , feel crushed when lights are on everywhere. You eventually find our own place under the bell curve and become comfortable in your own skin. And certainly grades aren't everything and infact nothing
You have a Prof who scored a 10/10 in his IIT days ( a record unparalled since 30+ years) + an IIM gold medalist +TAS+ Harvard Business School and then with all the humility in this world teaches you fab concepts of how to lead professional services firms by coming down to your level. A national level transfer pricing lead of a Big 4 actually teaches you Transfer Pricing , a New York high street trader descends onto campus to discuss concepts of Option Trading and an ex SEBI directorate teachs you securities regulations. You find that this unassuming personality who teaches you about the surge of dopamine and serotonin in the brain and coaches you how to prime customers in course of his marketing sessions is actually a walking encyclopaedia - IIT Kanpur+IIM A+University of Texas at Austin+London Business School. You realise that the Professor who is teaching you Economics in such a lucid style actually sits in highly empowered RBI committees and brainstorms on issues that affect millions. Your Infrastucture Sector Professor actually is on the Board of leading infra companies. Your Professor teaching you Corporate Governance actually is on the Board of leading PSUs This list can go on and on. Its really mesmerising.
Coming to people, who meet so many gems in course of the 1 year that these relationships seem priceless. Peers as well as alums. Peers who have had such quite a rich experience . You suddenly realise at an alum reunion that this person heads Axis Bank, the other Saint Gobain and the other Reliance Infra and on and on. You meet a snooty FMCG territory manager for a vertical and start the conversation, telling him that you know his India head as well as South Asia head and the guy kind of gets now grounded and talks eye to eye. This is the power of these red bricks. 60% of Indian CEOs have passed thru these portals. You accept Linkedin requests when you see those red bricks in the photo background
Those stormy classroom discussions on Harvard, Stanford and IIMA cases which make you think and think and think on diverse problems that emerge in course of these historic ups and downs of mega corporates. The perspectives brought in by peers and professors are simply mind blowing. It sometimes does hit the ego - " abey mujhe kyun nahi chamka ye logic" says the subconscious only to surrender to the larger intellectual prowess of the people around
You do "yognidra" and meditate on the banks of the Narmada and at 3 AM in the Gir Forest amindst sounds of lions and leopards as part of one creativity course and compete with the best teams in the world through Capstone Business Simulation game in the other. The spread of the menu is simply remarkable.
You realise its not "ram rajya' and hence all shades of black, white and grey. You learn to handle friends and foes with elan. It makes you certainly much stronger.
You work on your startup- www.cajobportal.com so much that you kind of become synomynous with the buzzword - 'entrepreneur' on campus.
You have a 2 year old daughter who gets neck deep in love with this place and refuses to say Adieu.
There is a lot more to this place which cant be expressed in qualitative and quantitative terms. To me, IIMA is just a silent prayer come true.
Panelist @ National Integrity & Unity: Eloquence Club, IIMA
On the auspicious occasion of our great Iron Man - Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel's 139th birth anniversary, being commemorated as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Unity Day
As part of a 3 member panel, moderated by Aditya, we touched upon the following w.r.t. National Integrity & Unity
Panelists:
Anurag
Singal (PGPX)
Prathamesh
Chaudhari (PGP2)
Ratnendu
Ray (PGP1)
Themes
that were explored during the discussion:
- Given the diversity and heterogeneity of India, is India really united?
- What can we learn from our past about India’s unity and diversity?
- Are politicians dividing the country for their political gains?
- Is reservation one of the root causes for groupism in India?
- What are the safeguards which keep the country united?
- What sort of policy measure and action is necessary for protecting the unity and integrity of India?
Outcome
of discussion
We had a healthy discussion to try and
understand the current social, political and economic scenario prevalent in
India, the factors that led to divide in the society on lines of caste, creed,
religion and economic status
Multiple ways where India was yet to evolve into a nation from the multiple caste, creed, race, religion etc. after Shri Patel had unified the princely states.
Bollywood, cricket, education acting as national unifiers.
Inequality of wealth distribution leading to a divide between India and Bharat and how Maoists leveraged that to their advantage
Reservation policy failing to reach its desired objective. Need for recalibration?
Need to focus on value education in school rather than just material success
The disconnect of North East from the rest of the country
Trying to enlarge the size of the nation's cake rather than focussing on your share
Halloween party at IIM A - "Trick or Treat"
Just have a look at the kids. Super blowing their trumpets if you dare refuse them their gfun. Threating to deafen your ears byoodeis for the evening
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Evolving from the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, modern
Halloween has become less about literal ghosts and ghouls and more about
costumes and candy. The Celts used the day to mark the end of the harvest
season and the beginning of winter, and also believed that this transition
between the seasons was a bridge to the world of the dead. Over the millennia the holiday transitioned
from a somber pagan ritual to a day of merriment, costumes, parades and sweet
treats for children and adults.Evolving from the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, modern
Halloween has become less about literal ghosts and ghouls and more about
costumes and candy. The Celts used the day to mark the end of the harvest
season and the beginning of winter, and also believed that this transition
between the seasons was a bridge to the world of the dead. Over the millennia the holiday transitioned
from a somber pagan ritual to a day of merriment, costumes, parades and sweet
treats for children and adults.
Inspired Leadership through Personal Mastery - DVR Sir
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There are some sessions where you simply lose track of time and move to an altogether different pedestal. These are some sessions which leave behind those technical sessions miles behind. It here that you start introspecting into the purpose of your life and deriving meaning in all the chaos around you.
He has been travelling tirelessly since days. Was on a flight en route to Sharjah even on Diwali. Took 2 days of sessions at Sharjah and then two days at Udaipur and then 261 km by road to Ahmedabad.Its around 10 PM in the night. Look at the energy and vigour in the professor's eyes. He seems to be defying age.
He starts by asking what the sessions so far have done to you. Different people give different replies. For you, its the realisation of the purpose of your life. Its being comfortable in your own skin and accepting the choices you've made in life with equanimity. Its the courage to tell that 24 year old youngster who is super keen on that I-Banking summer placements next week that you've grown beyond those over hyped CTCs. And rather than being defensive, you admitting with a big smile that those crazy M&A deal bonuses have been like the proverbial "sour grapes" for you. But you have no regrets :) Its waking up in the morning and uttering mantras to remember your parents and Guru instead of rushing for those whatsapp messages and emails configured on your cellphones, Its the resolve to consciously waste time during the day and slow down your processes. Its remembering the missionary zeals of the Tata Steel and the L&T workers, the visions of the Aravind Eye Cares etc
DVR Sir takes you through centuries on wisdom through constantly scribbling on the board with his chalk. From Socrates to Buddha to modern day practioners such as the authors of the following books.
1) The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle
2) A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
3) Still Me by
Christopher Reeve
4) Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl
5) Many Masters Many Lives by Brian Weiss
You ought to quiten the mind by shrugging off the irrelevant past and the non existent future, he says and live in Now. Be part of the expanded consciousness and then probably stop getting angry with people around, just like the tongue not smashing the teeth when it occasionally cuts it
To manage the self, you need an analytical mindset, to manage relationships, you need a collaborative mindset, to manage change, you need an action mindset, to manage context, you need a worldly mindset and to manage the self, you need a reflective mindset.
He extols the traits of renuniciation, generosity, virtue/restraint, loving kindness, wisdom, effort, forbearance, truthfullness, resolve and equanimity across the Apanaka, Makhadeva and Mahakapi forms of Buddha.
The multiple paths to happiness broadly classified into three buckets - Freedom, Family & Friends and Analysed Life.
Freedom manifests in money (which beyond a point reaches the plateau in terms of margina utility), health and hobbies
Family & Friends mans being happy with your relations and those 3-4 friends rather than those 5000 FB friends
Analysed life is the feeling that we are not just whiling away our time. That there is a vision and purpose of life leading to passion.
There were multiple reasons why we werent happy.
Seneca 40 BC said that anger comes due to unmet expectations (within and outside our control) while Montague who studied low self esteem says that its always due to
a) physical ( my nose is not so thin, I am not fair complexioned)
b) intellectual ( he is from IIT and me from a local govt college)
c) cultural inadequacy (he is a native Brit)
To bear hardships and the fear of failure, Neitsche said that the only way out was to keep evolving to a higher pedestal of life into a state of self realisation about who you are and why you are the way you are. If you are afraid of water, it could be because in a previous birth, you were a dog who was swamped to death in a river by a group of notorious boys, If you are claustrophobic, it could be because in a previous birth, you father, an Egyptian slave constructing the pyramids for the pharaohs must have put the little girl in you into a cave for rest and then forced to flee with the doors closed and you being suffocated to death. The more you start accepting yourself, the more fruitful life is. the mantra is to look at the ironical situations where a super gorgeous Jiya Khan commits suicide while you live a life punishing yourself for your poor looks.
Sadness is often due to
a) body identification (over-emphasis on I am having fever rather than the body having fever)
b) relative existence- my wife is not as beautiful is his, my car is not as luxurious as his
c) wanting to become rather than being
Pearls of wisdom
Sonam Goyal IMS :)
Its even hard to believe that there existed a time when I
had just scribbled her number onto a diary with exactly this blog title
"Sonam Goyal IMS", never expecting to meet her again in my life. Of
course I used to wait the entire week for those 4 hours on Sunday when I could
watch the gracious lady listen to my tiring tax lectures patiently . But
honestly speaking , these tuition classes are all hale and hearty but students
just move on ..
So managing to stay in touch with her till date has been
nothing short of a miracle.Just couldn't figure out when and how Sonam Goyal
IMS became Sonam Goyal and then Sonam and now Sonam:)
My chat guru, my love guru, my colour guru (be it the color
of my furniture or marketing brochures..she is the final authority)........here
is an angelic personality who has mesmerized me with her aura ; who handles
Bhagwad Gita sessions with equal poise as the dance floor, who can carry 6 pegs
with so much confidence that you wonder the secret, who has re-defined the
meaning of birthdays (normally I set alarms for even annual dates but in Ms
Goyal's case, its a monthly affair), who sports a sari with as much grace as a
hot pant , just like my Reet......who has left behind such incredible memories
that its now difficult to imagine a life without her smileys. In the midst of a
tense conference call in office, I am caught stealing a few happy moments by
texting her on Watsapp "kya bakwaas chal raha hai yaar..puk gaya hum"
and get a :) in return. The tea trader's daughter is so adept at making people
feel invigorated, just like her father's green tea bags !!!
Talented to the core as far as colors are concerned, she has
collected quite a few trophies at Arena (I assume it was a fair competition and
that she didn't bully people with her 74.750685 featherweight), the Virgo
community is so proud of her !!!!
She has a boyfriend Toads who complements her so well that
its a typical "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" :)They hang out at CC
Hangout....suna hai jab woh log saath hote hain toh waqt guzarne ka pata hi
nahi chalta !! I wish them the very best for the future
:)
Not to forget , my heartiest sympathies with Vodafone and
Airtel who keep pestering her with poor quality service...inviting Madame's ire
was nothing short of a disaster for them. The Government of India raided
Vodafone and Airtel's offices on a Sunday evening in retaliation ...and did I
hear " jiska pyaar addictive hota hai..uska gussa bhi utna hi dangerous
hota hai"
Also wish her son..the I-Phone a long life ...abhi baccha
hai..isliye naazuk hai..sardi lag jata hai..isliye caring Mom refused to go to
Nepal with Nanu and Naniji in November....so sweet of her :)
and finally apologies for stealing another photograph of her
from her FB profile for this blog...even if she had charged me a nominal Rs 1
per photograph visit, I would have been bankrupt till now ...but the Swimming
Pool resident doesnt allow money to come into our relationship and so I escape
:)
Sonam, if you like this post, please meet me at Hyatt
Regency tonight for that long cherished treat that you owe to us. The Nalban
grounds are waiting to stand witness to the pious Agni standing witness to your
resolve to live life hand in hand with your partner and so you can please can
bring Toads along. You'll make an awesome twosome.
Warm Regards
Anurag
Eureka Moment %256980&64klllll#26587)
24.12.2011
Kolkata
My first GMCS session of the age 30s [ Calcutta Mansion.18.10.2014 ]
A riot of laughter, truckload of concepts and some management gyaan - Normal Distribution and Bell Curve, Porter's 5 forces, Moral Hazard, BCG Matri, Sustainable Competitive Advantage etc. The batch was awesomely participative and quite tolerant towards my idiosyncrasy . Had a great day !!
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