CASES Public Governance: We The People, Think... "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it." - Abraham Lincoln Leadership 2: Men, Women And Struggles “You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.” - Indira Gandhi Leadership 1: The Mind Of A Woman Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent — Eleanor Roosevelt Advertising: Sense And Non-Sense Mr Salt: What is this, Wonka, some kind of fun house? Willy Wonka: Why, are you having fun? — Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Branding: No Place For Gandhi Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Success & Growth Part 2: Redefining Success Many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are — Malcolm Forbes Success & Growth Part I: Three Men, Three Eras Challenges facing executives are changing; but the solution lies in core values Consumers And Citizens "Before you can listen to your customers, you have to listen to your own people" — Greg Icenhower, director P&G Beyond Habitual Naming Words have meaning and names have power. — Author Unknown Sounds Of Success More and more brand names are rooted in sounds rather than real words Processifying People Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. — Colin Powell To Grow A Giant Oak A leader is a dealer in hope. — Napoleon Bonaparte Telling The Difference By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart. — The Confuscian Analects Up Against A Wall The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and will to carry on. — Walter J. Lippmann Leadership: Nandi Meets Truth Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together. — Jesse Jackson Know Your Strengths There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence... ...transform a yellow spot into the sun — Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) New Boss In The Dock After 10 years, Ram gets a new boss who is different. Boss Abhay, too, is facing change after a long time. Now, even the air smells differently… And their minds play the old tricks, as both battle and resist change… Spy Versus Spy A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. — Henry Ford. Growing Bad Bosses “When a person comes into his chamber and finds the chairs all standing in the middle of the room, he is angry with his servant, and rather than see them …in disorder, takes the trouble himself to set them all in their places with their backs to the wall.” Consumer: A Real Person The problem is that we have failed to distinguish between pure etiquette and... the morality of our small, everyday interactions with other people. — Philosopher Julian Baggini in The Guardian Old War, New Armies In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running, if you stand still, they will swallow you. — William Knudsen (1879-1948 ), Ford Motors, now General Motors Law, Truth And Man Truth resides in every human heart and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of the truth.— Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Ode To A Forgotten Hero Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mould to which all must conform. It is grotesque.— U.G. Krishnamurti My Delight Or Your KRAs? As customer service providers, we touch millions of people each year. Each contact is an opportunity to make each life we touch a little better each day... Servicing The KRAs Employees treated with dignity and respect will provide the same to their customers and co-workers. The National Performance Review’s Best Practices Report on ‘World-Class Courtesy’ It’s All About Me ‘Love,’ says my Lord Rochfaucauld, ‘is commonly succeeded by ambition; but ambition is hardly ever succeeded by love.’- Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) Respect For Privacy Does an organisation own the individuality of a manager to an extent that it can choose to impact his career based on its assumption of his character? At least, that is what Kress India seems to be doing… Dollar Meets The Rupee The Indian manager does not take an active interest in connecting the dots between technology and costs. His body language at discussions is tentative and subdued. Wasn’t Consumer King? A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so. — Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. A Friend And a Foreigner Investments in a software business in India can succeed only if you treat the Indian managers as partners in progress, says Ninja Time For Reflection A sabbatical, which was a solution for anxiety becomes more stressful for Harit. Until he discovers the glimmer of purpose at the end of the dark tunnel… Employee Burn-Out Harit feels a loss of confidence and energy. Predictably, his organisation has not sensed this, but he is being egged on to run the race… The music blogger Suvrat wants to go by his research among music bloggers. CEO Guha stands protected by a chorus of marketers who ask, “and how are you going to validate the blog verdict”? Games Egos Play Arjun Bhaskar was utterly confused. Last evening he had left the media planning meeting in a huff. He had been very upset over Robin Kamat's stance on the bubblegum advertising. Bullied by a Takeover Robin has to work under an abrasive CEO. He can choose between aggressive attack and assertive quietude. Is it the man or is it the situation? Robin feels suppressed... Need for Speed At 25, Varun Gill is running at a mind-boggling pace. To his startled family and friends, he says: “There are many who are running as hard. If I stop to preen my feathers, I give the next man the edge to inch ahead”. For a Few Dollars More Naman watches 22-25-year-olds change four industries in three years, and go from Rs 4,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. This is not a growable skill, he says, but mere opportunity growth. Mountains Then And Now As a trainee, Rudra envied his vice-president and dreamt of becoming one. Today, he is vice-president — hassled, exhausted and dead in mind. “What am I doing with my life,” he wonders. Is HR Straddling Two Stools? Do HR managers abandon their roles as career builders and developers once they are in an organisation, and work more to sustain the company? On The Fence With HR Between shifting visions and restructuring business and a laidback HR department, Akhil’s career is ignored. Where was HR, ask his friends. Soft Lies, Hard Results Raj is bothered that clients think of Solutions as a team of experts; “Have we misrepresented ourselves? Did we lie?” he worries. Powerplay And Ethics Dhruv Jain has been sacked for a business decline that began two years before he joined the company. “We are not being fair to him!” fights Nimai When Drink Takes the Man Agency Paradigm is faced with an ethical dilemma — should it accept a liquor brand and indulge in ‘surreptitious’ advertising? Most managers seem to be on the fence. The Leader's Fifth P Alcove’s success is marred by an unbecoming situation. Its star creative head is accused of indecent behaviour. But the CEO is reluctant to pin him, anxious over losing business. Chinese Walls Have Ears Conflict of interest is inherent in the business model of integrated banks, says Chandan. “Naturally, then, one will seek to manage conflict and not avoid it — and ‘managing’ is verily unethical.” Yudhishtir's Dharmic Dilemma Sumeet wages war. If GGT India was battling MNC onslaught on its turf, wasn’t Sumeet’s own company battling the Indian onslaught in the global market? The Protest of Abhimanyu Bred in an MNC, a frustrated Anando, now working in an FMC, asks: “What ‘Incredible India’? What is India, passion without a mission and vision to match it?” Students Not for Sale Principal Samuel is angry. “If, as a country, you cannot give me law and order and a society that respects the young, I cannot let you put my students to work!” From Functional to Holistic Being a functional expert is not enough, says Jimmy Marfatia. “You need to know how the rupee stretches, produces, loses, adds...” Lost in Translation While translating ambition to achievement, can booming businesses afford to ignore the career needs and self-respect of their employees? Agency on a Small Leash The pace of the world outside Dvi beckons Amish, who feels unrewarded at the ad agency that is doomed to move at snail’s pace. Acts of God and Man A shareholder’s claim to corporate wealth can be tenable only after the fulfilment of corporate social duties. Not without it. Men in all fairness... Akhil is stunned by the fairness cream for men. Have men become conscious of looking good or have categories begun to evolve? And what about Sachin? Sachin's intelligence is completely missed over his disability. Trevitt India's managers are caught between sympathy and fair play. A Man Called Machaan Manjunath Shanmugham (27), an IIM-Lucknow alumnus and employee of Indian Oil Corporation, was killed, allegedly over his drive to prevent adulteration of petrol. Articles Blogs Conversations Placements Events