Sunny Side Up

I occasionally get a fleeting glance on the goings on at Big Boss, thanks to my wife who keeps a constant vigil on the programme. While there's constant bitching about the inmates, within and outside, I strongly feel it's extremely tough for the participants - emotionaly and physically to continue to be their own self. Imagine yourself showing your sunny side up always. Well, the thought makes my facial muscles twitch. Am trying to figure out how the participants manage to act for the camera and then be their own self towards their peers. Well, this seems to be an ideal platform for getting trained in developing "dual personality."

Greatness!!!

Am not one of those who proactively network a lot. May be because I listen intently,talk softly or my subdued nature - people just try to strike a conversation with me. Frankly, I love it - love to listen, assimilate their stories, knowledge, learnings. Well, that's what happened during my return trip from Kochi to Bangalore. Mr.A.R.K.Menon, a 70 year old industrialist, started conversing with me - the way he grew up, what he imbibed from his father, his first trip to London by ship and how he conjured up the guts to inform his father about his business venture. 70 or so years of wisdom - poured into me. I really felt very fortunate to have met this amazing personality. And, when he extended his chauffer driven Safari to drop me to my office, when we landed, I started thinking, what a wonderful 3 hours which would have been a sheer waste had I not met him. What triggered the conversation, why did we bump into each other, why on earth would he offer to drop me? Some quetions are best left unanswered.

Only the paranoid survive

I had written on this topic sometime back. But, everytime I see paranoia around me, am tempted to key in again. Let me describe a typical paranoid person or one that pretend to be so. Unsrupulous is one word that I shall immediately associate with such a person. Add to this lumps of document that is piled on his/her desk, scurrying up and down the boss's cabin, always seraching for something are other constants that exemplifies a paranoid person.

The last laugh

Tom's going after search, Dick's trying to catch up with him, equipped with the necessary stamina boosters and Harry's observing the game with a smirk bright on his face - Yeah Guys, Go On....Hmm.Harry's an established security expert.

The world's definitely shrinking with increasing emphasis on "search." With Google going on a war-footing to extend search as personalized as it can be and MS pursuing in the same lines, privacy, security, confidentiality etc becomes a thing of the past. There will certainly be an increasing number of M&A's in the near future which could transform the business landscape - Search+storage+security. Wonder, who'll have the last laugh.

Tactics to gain prominence

Third party endorsement seem to be a vehicle used by many to gain prominence. While, subject matter experts have been astutely leveraging the power of ink to get favourable and impactful positioning by writing thought-provoking pieces, some not-so-wise are seen misusing this. The recent past have seen many, sensitising subjects and individuals, irrelevant and sometimes trash to their advantage. While there was mud-slinging at an actress for her remarks on pre-marital sex, an advocate in Madurai has moved the High Court there for remanding leading actresses from bollywood who according to him posed in a provocative manner in some unknown magazine. Am sure the actresses wouldn't have had the faintest of ideas about the snap, leave alone the summons. It beats me how a court of law can move public figures just on account of vague statements issued by even vague personalities. A look at any of the foreign glossies on news-stands will expose hollywood actors. Does it mean that anyone can issue a summons on them as well? This is certainly a clear motivation on the advocate's part to gain prominence. He seem to know the PR tactics pretty well.

Coffee, you and me

I was pondering over ideas to sell coffee and its variants. Secondary searches and interactions with acquaintances revealed some interesting insights. While one part of the country devoured tea, the other supported the coffee movement. Even more intriguing was the fact that an increasing number of players in the coffee ecosystem were trying to consolidate, fortify, entrench their presence in the coffee-friendly part. Why not target the undersold customers in India? Well, the investment required to convert this potential market is significantly high. Add to this is the "flashy" lifestyle enjoyed by the potential customers here. What if they are flashy? Hmm...they don't consume the product sold in the market,viz., the coffee powder. They prefer to luxuriate in a trendy parlour, spend major portion of their salary sipping iced coffee. Here, money brings in lethargy. So, the marketing pundits trying to make in-roads into undersold markets prefer to channelize their investment to the oversold market. NOw, wait a minute. What if we sell premium labels to this lethargic, undersold customers. Ably supported by an intelligent communication strategy, anything flashy can be sold to these customers. Lemme try.

Aggressive or Submissive

The last few evenings were hectic, observing people from diverse backgrounds, understanding their manners. And, to some extend, I was right. People down south are submissive, tolerant and yes, loyal. The chaps from up north are notoriously aggressive, and flashy. What's intriguing, however is the fact that most South Indians, whom I know were born submissive transformed into aggressive bullies after their stint up North. Even more intriguing is the fact that most of these chaps "pretend" to be what they are, ie, they deliberately carry dual personality. Why? Well, it's a positioning that will fetch favourable results on the professional front. With corporates harping on EQ than IQ, these chaps have an edge. Be it marketing, contact centers, consulting, they'll hold an edge over South Indians. What am I coming to? POsitioning in life is as important as positioning of brands in the market. Your salary could largely depend on that.

Personal PR

PR is an ever expanding field. The scope of it is self-determined. We've been involved in corporate PR, technology PR, product PR, sportsPR, personality driven PR etc. Quite alaming then that many of us have failed to create any hype for ourself - be it in our profession or personal life. Can we adopt the same strategy we extend to, for instance the CEO of a company. My feeling is that we can. POsitioning one appropriately at the workplace, amongst friends, leveraging our core strength to generate maximum mileage etc are all components of PR. We often come across peers cribbing about various things - unsatisfied job, work load, unscrupulous friends etc. Why? Is it to convey something about themselves or others. More on this later after a quick analysis.