Anand Arora's Official Blog

Building castles in Air – Learning innovation from our children

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:01:37 +0000

Guys, I am going to tell you a truth today. The art of innovation is learned by a child when he is even too young enough to understand the word ” Innovation”. And I believe he can design and sell an innovation in a better way than Product companies of 21st century can ever imagine. Ask about his MBA degree, well his principles are taught world wide in every MBA college. There are books written on his principles.

You probably are laughing at me right? And yea, you might like to simply close this window and say ” Anand your psyche is going through a couple of changes. Come back later “…Well, OK I agree on that, but do read my explanation and let me know if I am wrong in assuming that.

When I was a child, I was friends with another child who used to build castles in his own garden which accommodated his friends . He used to play with them in his castle and specifically instructed them not to step on the fence as that would distort the design of his imaginary castle. He managed to do everything just by a rope . He and his brother used make curves out of the pipes in such a way that they would get a boundary and seperate compartments created in the final structure. And then they used to imagine at the same time by making up a story on the castle . ” This is the castle that we make we both scientists have created. This is the most promising discovery of mankind. It actually is a Time Machine . People entering in this castle can go back the past and open up doors to the rooms which represented a particular decade. ” And then they both used to time travel and come back when Mommy used to call boys for snacking. Well, no doubt, Sir, these boys were trying to create something in the air. A child’s imagination is fascinating .Isn’t it? And realistically, they were trying to build castles in air. They indeed were successful in doing it. And you would agree there are zillions of children like him who can do that (or even better than that).

To me , they used to follow a step by step guide to create something (that is Innovation).

(1) THINK OF AN IDEA (I will build a castle in my own garden)

(2) IMAGINE A STORY AROUND THE IDEA (Imagination of the child)

(3) PREPARE THE PROTOTYPE OR THE PRODUCT (And that too in low cost by just using ropes)

(4) MARKETING OF YOUR IDEA FOR THE PRODUCT ( Telling Stories , imagining etc.)

(5) BRAND PROMOTION ( Time Machine…..! No one can beat that !)

(6) SELLING THE PRODUCT (Telling your friends the marketing story around the brand and convincing them to join you in your castle)

And , you were doubting on my psyche ?
Imagine now these boys never left this spirit during the due course of their childhood, what do you think they would have done by now?

Well first of all , I guess these guys need no introduction and what they turned out is well known to each of us. These guys are you and me, my friend. And we are where we stand today. So, what happened in the due course of time. Where did that imagination, creativity and that passion for execution go away? Did mommy called us way too early into the reality. Did mommy lured us with the delicious breakfast when we were way too hungry? Did our hunger over ruled our creativity and asked us to enter into the real world before even trying to give a shot for our DREAMS. Of course, our mothers never did that. This MOMMY I am talking about is the whole society who is a disbeliever in everything. Everything which is not normal and is not proceeding with the quasi symbolism of current affairs is something which is not acceptable to them. And we obey our MOMMIES stricly in this case. ( even though they are not our real mothers )
Is there any reason to become way too realistic and ignore simple pleasures of DREAMING . Or rather would you guys like to join me back again for BUILDING CASTLES IN AIR ?

This is XYZ- I would like to talk to you regarding my ABCD offer.

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:19:21 +0000

” I dont want to talk to you. Please dnt call here. “. ” Can you call me later”, ” Ok, your offer is ok but I dont find it attractive”, ” Why would I need ABCD. Who are you to decide whether I need this or not”. – Usual replies to the questions of most of the service providers and customer care // support. The reason for such replies – ” Indeed , most of these replies are because of one and only one reason – THE OFFER IS NOT AT ALL LUCRATIVE TO THE CUSTOMER”. It may appear awesome deal to the service provider and he might wonder why are people not buying it, but there are numerous reasons of people reacting like that to such querries.
Well, as a customer , I believe the mantra for these companies to win over us is simple – ” Give us the best deal and continue to serve us better politely and without any miss”. The usual frustration arises while dealing with customer support or 24 X 7 online number to dial in. I have found rare companies having their real 24 X 7 customer support. Most of the companies close their office at 7 PM and mention 24 X 7 customer support. If, one of the guys goes to loo and your call is not attended, the usual reply in next conversation is ” It was a technical fault”…- Really where ?
Well, recently I purchased a deal from a travel booking site on 3 flights and I was not provided any ticket nor any receipt , upon contacting their 24 X 7 number at 7 PM in the evening, again 8 PM in the evening and tried 4 times again till 10 PM, the reply was in form of a SONG, something like ” ____ is the best” ” Sabse badhiya , sabse achcha kaun ______ aur kaun?”. Seriously I felt like punching this singer on the face. Of course with this frustration.
This is not unusual. Majority of us clients are frustrated by this situation with service providers and that is the reason why we don’t want to experiment again with any of these bull shit service. Of course why not, when it comes to selling their services, you can expect calls from them even at the night time, always available and once you buy the deal, off they go.
Very usual with services like travel packages, credit cards, loans, etc. Once again, these kind of models are not at all sustainable. The top priority of a service provider should always be to continue providing services to their existing clients , treat them like kings and welcome new members. The focus of course is opposite, the priority for them is to get more and more customers, but they forget in the race of converting more leads that their existing ones are selling themselves off and you might not be able to charge them the next installment. What a big losers ! I call, this mindset of customer support as ” The Begger’s attitude “. Ofcourse, why not call thes guys Beggers. After all they beg and beg till you give them the alm and then they move on to the next guy for more alms . What is in you get then after giving them your money . ” Jeetey Raho. Bhagwaan tumhara Bhala karein- May God Bless you”. Ofcourse, when service providers are like you- It is God only who can bless us then .
Simple learning for these companies. Make a rule. – A simple rule. Always treat your customers like your family, I am not saying imagine that they are your family. I am saying , they become your family in real. Your brothers, your sisters and you have to think about their welfare just like you think about your family. Every client loves this TOUCH of customer support. If you are selling a deal worth 4000 at 8000, tell your customers, brother i will make 4000 from this deal and everyone else makes more than what I will make. If you are able to find out a better deal than mine, I am personally ready to switch over to that service provider also. If you really think that 8000 is too high, let me take your extremely valuable feedback and discuss if negotiation is possible. Or let me explain you why I am charging this extra and what is the value addition that only I can do in this. – Make your arguments really really logical and worthy. Its not an easy job. Most of the 24 X 7 call center do this highly valuable and worthy job with ” A BEGGER’s ATTITUDE” but the clear winner is the one who spots out his family right from the crowd, and talk to them, wins their heart and lives with them HAPPILY FOREVER.

The unsolved problem

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:14:02 +0000

Yes indeed, no point in looking at such pictures right? These artefacts are forms of art in auction by richies in their lobbies, these pictures are also in demand in western countries by brats who feel proud while hanging a poor guy’s pic in their drawing room or lobby showing their guests that they have a different taste. Not talking much about them, I dont see a BEAUTY in this picture. What I see is MISERY clearly reflecting in eyes of numerous of people like this , HOPE clearly in their eyes over small things – A hope that they will have something to eat and water to drink today evening, a hope today doesn’t rains as they dont have a shelter to protect themselves, a hope that some one will be kind enough to provide them a discarded cloth or a piece of rejected bread to them.

But, why should they feel bad, I think they should be thankful to Indian Government which clearly mentions of the extraordinary performance in reducing poverty by the reforms of Indian Government.. Not ready to believe it..>Why dont you look at this graph below :

The data clearly indicates that there has been a significant reduction in poverty since 1973 by the reforms that have been build by Indian Government. Now notice this fact (Wikipedia adapted info) : According to World Bank, almost one third of people living below poverty line are in India. Almost 42 % of Indians are living below International Poverty line of 1.42 $ per day whereas according to Planning commision, the number is 27.5 % as our standards is around Rs 14.6 ro Rs 21 per day for the same. Well, I am not the best judge to say whether the number is valid in context of India or not, but certainly the numbers need to align somewhere with the World bank data. Or ,if not, look at this fact ” A 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) found that 77% of Indians, or 836 million people, lived on less than 20 rupees per day ($ 0.50 nominal), with most working in “informal labour sector with no job or social security, living in abject poverty.” I mean why is there a difference? What should we conclude ?

Finally, whatever Government does in terms of reforms to alleviate poverty from our country, we need to make sure we don’t let these faces down. Everyone amongst us is responsible for it. You can blame that why are these actions not scaled down to the ground levels to benefit a poor guy of India, but you will have to admit, that in between the implementations, somewhere somehow, indirectly, you and I have a role to play. If there is a reservation for SC/ST quota, it is not provided to the needy SC/ST’s but rather it is been occupied by so called SC/ST’s in general having an income bracket even more than the general quota. Then what is the benefit here? The reform that was meant for uplifting low income groups subsequently in society in order to eradicate poverty by upbringing the socio-economic status of needy, the same has been exploited by us- the ones who can pay off extra bucks to get that seat…True. isn’t it?

We are the ones who gave birth to corruption by paying off these Babu’s for every small work we want to get done. But, would a poor guy afford to do so. Result : Babu’s will spent working only for us as they get paid by us and ignore the welfare of the ones’ who are poor and can’t pay them off ! So, its we who have punched directly on this face of India- face of poverty – face of this poor guy you looked at in the beginning. I mean why we do this? Just because, we are impatient and are ready to by-pass rules and use faulty measure to get our work done. Why not stop all this- go by rules – give these Babu’s a lesson that we are not gonna pay you off anything and raise your voice appropriately if things are not done.

The man with no hair, one cloth , one spectacle, one LATHI spend his entire life for this cause and yet we are still not able to understand what he was fighting for- Was he fighting for freedom, raising SC/ST’s. Was he? I believe GANDHIJI fought for one thing above all – EQUALITY AMONGST CITIZENS which boils down to NO DISCRIMINATION be it amongst SC/ST’s or even amongts Rich and Poor. This country is for you all- You all got to save this. If you see , any poor guy around you, asking for something, just be ready to admit that your brothers unfortunately dont have something which fortunately you have. You might be worth and justified not talking to him and of course worth not giving him any extra bucks . But, it wont be worth IGNORING HIM.

Industrial approach for optimization of resources

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:20:57 +0000

Tell me in India, which organization doesn’t have pressure in terms of work these days? I mean start with IT, retail, BPO, telecon, chemicals, FMCG- every sector has companies which are caught by the immediate requirement of “Consumer and Customer Needs”. Every company has targets to reach and each employee is loaded with a loads of work that needs to be finished off by 7 PM (Indian standard time for leaving offices). That definitely suggests these companies should be looking for recruitment 24 X 7- well not true always. There are organization thriving on the idea of cheap workforce and stressing them too much in their workload to meet their end objectives. Indeed these are the organizations where an entire work force is stressed and can only survive in the market but not grow. Because , however fast you are in providing services, whatever is the magnitude of service you provide , there is a point where you will stop if you don’t innovate . That wont happen if your employees are stressed and dis satisfied and so there you go, sooner to diminish in the market.

Well, I have been wondering on the best Industrial Approach for optimization of resources and I present what I call the 7 golden rules to manage your workforce :

(1) Prepare them before assigning any project or activity. – Always take their opinion before you assign the job. Take their feedback and let them know why they are considered for the same and provide necessary training.

(2) Encourage them regularly through meetings , seek their feedback on what is going right and what needs to be improved.

(3) Realize early when they feel over burdened and be ready and willing to shed off some work load from them. You may not like it at first stance but it definitely would pay you back in the long run when you would see the quality in his/her performance.

(4) Free them often . Do provide them a free and leisure time for thinking, creativity and personal development within their job so that workplace is not at all burden for them and they feel like at home. Let it be like Wednesday , the mid of the week not far from starting not far from weekend;) let them think today and be free. (of course do a bit of minimum job for the day)

(5) Empower your resources. Let them feel confident that they can also take decisions for their company. Of course the level of decision making may vary at different positions but don’t involve too much of red-tapism in the organization.

(6) Create a happy hour in a day – Just go to their seat , tell them a joke. Tell them what you did to the neighbours dog when he pooped in at your yard. Make sure , there is one hour which is a Happy Hour at work per 8 hours. Come on , you can compromise an hour to achieve something worth more than that..I would say this would be a great investment but invest it right.

(7) Trust them . >Seriously guys, trust your employees. You have recruited them, spend so much time with them, they are just like family to you – then why dont trust them during any appraisal, promotion interview , corporate meetings etc. In the end, this would build effective relation with your subordinates.

So, guys above formula – the 7 signs of a happy workspace is called PERFECT ( Notice the first letter of every point). You may feel it differently but I am sure , this is what I am going to believe in, as my career advances.

So, do you still have a PERFECT relationship with your employees ?

What an idea sirji !

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:53:50 +0000

I was really fascinated by Idea’s advertisement in TV portraying Abhishek Bachhan in ” What an Idea Sirji” theme. I am a firm believer that today our country really needs similar kind of ideas to be executed and worked out well. Idea advertisement- Abhishek Bachchan
Giving you an example of how ideas can bring change into society, I go by the example of Gandhiji, one person who totally changed the way you should react towards “Independence Struggle”, a new concept given by him- “Satyagrah through non-violence”. “We will not fight back, we have our voices, our pens who fight for us. We don’t intend to hurt anyone as we appreciate and understand how it pains when we resort to violence.”, The same non violence movement ignited fires in mind of millions of Indian and was one of the important reasons India is independent today. Hats off to him and also ” What an idea , Sirji”. You can see Gandhi-ism totally in the bollywood movie ” Lage Raho Munnabhai” and how the film depicts one can really bring change in society by standing to their true believes and not deviating from the path of truth, which is clean and less painful from inside and provides you strength to stand for it.
I have an idea for you – ” Just believe in yourself and do that one thing you have been planning to do since long. Make sure you believe it will bring a change in our society and help our country glow bright like a Shining Sun”. Will you stand for it?

Why do you think environment will become friendly?

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 06:38:33 +0000

Simple question : What is the best way to reduce the current ecology problems and create a better world for our children.
Simple Answer : Just assume that you are the only one living in this earth and every action you do against environment, be it throwing cans in open, using plastic bags more often in your purchase, throwing the dust in rivers, wasting water , consuming too much of electricity, destroying natural resources in one way or another, are the only cause that your children will become unhappy. These are the only actions that are ruining our environment and are against the Cleaner Planet ambitions of our society. Please donot at all assume and crib on to why do people are doing this and that damage to our environment when you can’t restrain yourself from one of them. Your assumption of “Its only a mm percentage damage that I do is fairly unresponsible and unjustifiable on your behalf. ” . We are all similar clones produced by HIM and our thinking is almost alike in most of the ways. If, you say NO to all these activities, you will notice this change in your society. It just escalates like anything. Everyone amongst us is a true follower of every other person who does different things in different ways. Everyone amongst us has a tendency to stand out of crowd and it just takes one effort to evoke it .
So, why not take a pledge and action on your behalf to SAVE OUR EARTH today and have this beautiful planet intact and reserved for your children to enjoy. After all, this is the least you can do to save them.
PROTECT EARTH, PROTECT MANKIND.

What do you want to be?

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:51:33 +0000

Never in your college days you have a clarity of what lies ahead in your career. You are most bothered regarding the opportunities you foresee as a part of campus placements, an up gradation in your academic profile( PG, Ph.D), Entrepreneurship etc. But how many of us see ourselves as a professional in our area of expertise and a machine for producing the designs/tools/hardware/software we are skilled to produce. Have we thought about what are we capable of and where can we reach through our capabilities? Have we done our capability assessment? Have we ever mapped a road map for our career according to our capability assessment and point out areas of improvement and set a GOAL in our careers? And are we really passionate and dreamy about that? |Why are we always trapped in what others are doing and what is set by society to follow. After all, following the mistakes of billion others wont satisfy us? Then where to begin and where to set ahead. I am not talking about stopping whatever you are doing and do something really flashy and new in your life. My point is that do we really understand what we are doing in our careers and can we do better than this? This question has been in my mind since ages and thankfully now I find myself on a road to find an answer to it and implement in my career (Atleast I really believe so).
My challenge is to all those who have dreams in their eyes and who are capable to do marvels in their career. Our nation’s destiny depends on us and we as proud Indians should not undermine our potential and be trapped in the social career circle of lives. There is an awareness in this topic recently. Much of us have seen the movie 3- Idiots in which Mr. Rathod follows an ideology in his life, which sets an example for youth to follow. Its not always about instant money, high rewards, big degrees, promotions that career is all about. Its about the contribution that you give to society and build an economy which depends on you, the career is about. If you know you are right on track, just ignore the message. Abdul Kalam has rightly pointed out the potential of Indian youth in his book ” The Ignited Minds “, an inspiring reading for every young Indian indeed. He says why are we afraid of doing things differently. Is it because we are scared of standing in a desert without company and feel that we may run out of food,water,supplies we have? Is it because we are much afraid of failures and less tempted by the success? This is something to be thought of my friends. I just thought to share this feeling through this instant blog today and ease out my thoughts with you .
And while you are at thinking about it, go have a snack and a juice, it cools off your head easily .
Have a good day indeed.

Consumerism – First thing to worry about

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:27:58 +0000

Everything in market is targetted for a set of consumers. Some products already have their owner consumer and struggling to get more neighbours whereas some try to enter as a new babies designed cute enough to lure the parents which are gonna pick them. Everything is driven by consumers in today’s world. If I am asked to design a hypothetical machine that is awesome and too highly gadgeted with loads of features but has no functionality that is directly related to consumer needs or even interest, I am not going to do that. There is no point to do a job for no money after all these days. Who’s gonna pay my rental then?

You see loads of companies pushing their products in the market in different sectors , Technology, FMCG, Transportation, Real Estate, Textiles, Furniture, Foods, Medicine, Hospitals, Entertainment and what else. Everything has a tag which is best suited for a buyer. I saw a mobile phone ad yesterday with tonnes of new features like camera, 3G, Video recording and all. I tell it to myself, I dont need it. But then , I am curious enough to find out reasons that drive consumer perception for this piece. Of course that guy would have tonne of things to do. He might be travelling a lot and would prefer a device which connects him all the time with good connectivity. And its a jumbo pack if you get a camera in that device. So, why not buy it?

I had an idea yesterday to design a FART DETECTING MACHINE which would smell out the fart and would detect the butt from where it is coming from and then you can easily make fun and laught at that guy and insult him publicly. What an idea , I thought. But, then a series of questions :

Who would buy this product? ( OR shall i say “Why would any one buy this?” )
Would my R&D be able to design this? What are the constraints to design this product?
Would government allow me to launch this in market? ( I mean I dont want it to be censored in the end)
How much I am gonna spend to put this product in the market? Would I be able to get a good payback and beautiful returns on it sale?
What would be my brand promotion strategy, Name of the product, advertisement, promotion areas , placing etc? ( 4 Ps )

In the end there is no point in creating something when you dont have all these answers.

But even if you have the answer to the first question about consumerism, you are in GAME. Rest all is what you are already professional in , your experience with consumers and educational qualification would easily answer these last questions. So, if all is go on go situation and consumer would like it, when can we expect the FART DETECTING MACHINE ? ( YEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeKs)