Budding Managers - April 2014
Getting out of B-school and into entrepreneurship is great. Although it is a terrific idea to go flying on one’s own, the route to entrepreneurship is different and needs not just a great idea and business plan, but also some early policy making skills and, wrapping the mind tightly around those policies. For a start-up there’s nothing like a great idea and a well-laid business plan but the run can get dangerous on mul-tiple counts if one does not understand or commit to the basics.
The top blunders start-ups make are:
Wrong co-founder
Picking a co-founder is first in the list of ‘make no mistake about it’. The founder partner of choice has to share your vision, go, commitment and bring to the table complementary skills. The ‘purpose’ of the business and alignment of values need to be ‘shared vision’ for all partners concerned. The best co-founder is one that invests financially, physicallyand mentally in the idea. Founder partners need to be able to inspire each other even if so in competitive spirit. Picking a wrong partner can be fatal to busi-ness. Ignoring misaligned goals is the other fatality. Address issues and align on goals at the earliest.
Same is the thing with allowing minority stake-holders into your business. When times are tight, it would be tempting to invite people to own small por-tions of your business in return for the funding. But this could prove to be a big mistake in the long run.
off your back will mean hours of meetings, legal fees, paperwork and general haranguing that will not be worth what they originally brought in to the business.
While co-founders are great fillers for personal weak-spots, going it alone is preferable if you do not have people who share your vision. Have a pack of mentors whom you can turn to when in trouble if you are deciding to go it alone.
Disregarding formality
Whether between partners or, the business and its customers, every arrangement and agreement needsto be formalised. Drawing up a legal framework / agreement is the best way forward. It is a safety net in case things go wrong. Drawing up a formal agree-ment might look anything from frivolous and gran-diose when you have just one client to start with or only one trusted partner in business, but that is the only way to ensure that everything is fair and square to all parties concerned. It is the also the only way to ensure that you will get paid by the customer once the job is done. Issues of trust, honesty, commitment, deliverables and working terms can never be tackled without a written document.
Misplaced personal stake
Every business owner should have a personal stake in the business. It fires ambition, keeps the mind
active and puts the person on track primarily out of fear of losing one’s life’s investment. Personal stake is not commitment or take-home alone. No matter how many investors you have in your business, hav-ing a personal stake adds to your responsibility. That said, one should never invest all of one’s life’s sav-ings in to a business. The interests of your home and family need to be protected and has to be the first and foremost priority.
Ignoring Systems and Processes
No matter how small the start, devise systems and processes that are be followed. As the compa-ny grows, you will find that work moves smoothly because of the controls you put in place initially. You can always tweak the controls once the basics are in place. Operating without a defined protocol or process will allow mistakes to creep in to your way of working and make way for habits to form which can become very difficult to change when situation demands. It can also lead to missing deadlines and loss of revenue. If paperwork has to be filled in before work can start, so be it. If signatures need to be pro-cured before kicking off, so be it. Never compromise on the ground rules. Never ignore your process. Youmay pay a heavy price otherwise in the long run in-cluding loss of the account/revenue stream.
Incorrect market identification
Businesses exist for a reason – the market. Because businesses are the result of ideas people are passion-ate about, there is a possibility that one’s passion may not be market reality. An in depth understanding of the market and customer profiling is mandatory for any business. Investing in market study will be the best investment a start-up can do prior to starting up. Also important is understanding competition, how they are placed and what/whom they cater to.
Adapting: Start-ups usually being small have the advantage of adaptability in the face of oppor-tunity which established large firms don’t and can’t. Timing is everything, especially for a start-up. Be ready to bounce when there is an opportunity. Others will take time to play catch up. By then you could get to wherever you had planned to be.
Customer-centricity: Another key to success is staying in touch with the customer. In their excite-ment about the product/service, start-ups lose sight of the customer. Hustle everything you can from the customer time and again to deliver improvised products, services or promises.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
After all the hard work you put into estab-lishing a name for yourself at work, comes the office party. Those two words can scare the living daylights out a fresher. Working a party is a project by itself. But it is not that scary also. Corporate houses throw parties at many levels. There are team outings, team lunches, office anniver-sary parties... So if you get invited to one, make sure you do just the right things once again because you will never be free of being watched.
Office parties are a great way to mingle with a whole lot of people you don’t interact with on a dai-ly basis. It is also an opportunity to showcase your talents, be it singing or dancing (these are mainstream of any party atmosphere). Another thing about an office party is that you can chit chat with your boss and other heads about things other than work. All you need is a little help prepping and you are ready to hit the floor running.
For starters, lose the stiffness. Go easy on your- self. Find out from office veterans what happens at these parties, who all go, how everyone dresses, do they bring a partner along or not, what kind of events are planned for this year, etc. Also figure where the party is going to be held (this is important because you have to get to the location on time), its timing (don’t end up too early looking like an over-eager cuckoo or too late like an uninterested granny who ambles in when everyone else is about to go home), theme, etc. Gather an understanding of the party culture of your organisation beforehand. Further still, do not get too carried away by the glamour of it all. You still need to have some checks in place.
To go or not to go
Office parties are fun and are the company’s way of appreciating the employees’ contributions to its good market performance by treating their employ-ees to a day or evening of unwinding and fun. That means, an invitation to the party signifies that your presence is considered important - just like at work. Going to a party will cement your reputation as a team player. Staying away from the office party will make you a loner in the eyes of others and choos-ing not to go is not a great idea. Go to the party by all means, stick around for a while and leave early should you want to.
Dressing up
Dress according to the gravity of the party. Is it a day at the beach side or a cocktail night in a five-star hotel? Will there be dancing or surfing? If it is an out-door casual party, bring out your summer best – the linens shirts and blouses, the loose trousers, sailor’s shorts, floral prints, scarves and hats. Just because the invite says casual, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to watch what you are revealing – be it hemlines or necklines. Keep extra clothing in the trunk of your car if the party is by the waters. Go easy on the make-up as well. If the party is a formal one, then you need to pay a little more attention to what you should be wear-ing. You are not hitting the disco, so pay attention to the length of your dress. That said, embellishments and glitter are welcome. So are pleated trousers and blouses, tuxedos, bow-ties and evening jackets. Top up with smudge-free make-up, a manageable yet styl-ish hair-do and good footwear.
prints, religious slogans, discriminatory messages on clothes, etc. No matter how known at work for be-ing off-beat you are, that would completely be in bad taste. Be sure to dress elegantly especially if you have the company’s clients also invited to the event.
Socialising
Socialising is the purpose of the party. Conscious-ly step out of your safety group at least for a while. Touch base with people from other divisions or de-partments. Introduce yourself and mingle with higher ups like CEOs or VPs as well. Build a rapport, build a relationship. Stay away from discussions on religion, faith and politics. If you notice that the conversation is headed that way, steer it into something else that is interesting. If you are uncomfortable with the conver-sation, excuse yourself and step away. Just because it is a party doesn’t mean you can let go of your guard and speak as you please. It is not the place for unre-strained chatter or confessions, blame games or for giving speeches. The general etiquette stays in place, the respect for colleagues stays in place. Parties also make for bad places for gossip. Parties place you in real danger of being overheard and the same could be held against you when you walk in to work the next day. Be charming and nice. Do not take advan-tage of anyone and do not let anyone do the same to you. Do not outshine people who need their spotlight. Let them celebrate and revel in themselves. Which leads us to the next thing – flirting. Strictly no flirt-ing, no suggestive talking, no A-rated jokes, no foul language.
Bringing a partner
Check and confirm in advance if you are allowed to bring a partner. Office parties are not the place for a first date so ensure that you bring someone you al-ready know and are confident that they can handle themselves very well. Once in, don’t stick around your partner all evening. Introduce them to your col-leagues and once they hit it off, get moving. Mingle with your other colleagues at least for a while. Choose your plus one wisely – you don’t want everyone else seeing him/her hog all the food or drink up all that the bar could put up.
Drinking
Office parties are not drinking contests. Do not get pulled into one either. Drink only as much as you can handle. Understand that the tongue wags more under the influence of alcohol. You certainly don’t want to be remembered as the person who spoke the unspeak-able or blew chunks across the floor. Treat it as a busi-ness event and enjoy a drink or two.
Dancing
Bring out your fun part, show off your moves. Get dancing with a group. It is a great way to spend time at a party. But leave out big time gyrations to their iconic makers themselves. They are not meant for this floor. You don’t want to be caught doing something stupid and become the next viral video online. Ditto for singing. This is one place and crowd you may want to leave the offensive lyrics outside the door for. Also include the rule, no dancing on the table. It is considered as very disrespectful and out-of-line.
Transportation
No heroics there as well. There should strictly be no driving after drinking. No one is going to be im-pressed by your drunk-driving skills. There will be transportation organised by the company. Accept the offer and get dropped home.
Now that you have a fair idea of what you may and may not do, pep up when the invitation lands in your mail box. Party? Say,‘bring it on’.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
You are not going to believe this but smelling great is an art. It’s pretty much like dressing up great. Many have a PhD in it, leading their peers to hold them in silent admiration, with a tinge of jealousy perhaps. Thing is, no matter how many high-end beauty products and varied perfume com-binations one owns, it can never compensate for the understanding of what to use, how to use and when to use in addition to the understanding of one’s body type and working environment. So whether you are working a party or being cubicle prince, do not hesi-tate to lap up a few tips on picking the right notes and flaunting them appropriately unless you want to look like someone who didn’t get the memo.
First things first
Smelling great is not just about wearing the right dose of the right perfume. It is about personal hygiene first. Never underrate the value of brushing your teeth and getting a shower. Do not ignore feet hygiene ei-ther.
Now on to products that make you smell great, how to pick them, wear them and stay smelling fresh and great through the day.
Deodorants: A definite must-have in everyone’s closet. Deos save you from nasty underarm odours. Pick something pleasant and long lasting and some-thing that goes with your personality. Note that fra-grances sort of define your personality – just like the clothes you pick. There are a variety of fragrances available, from fresh lemon to sea scents, spicy notes and, flowery or fruity notes. Pick whatever interests you.
Use deodorants in mild doses for, no matter how much you pour into your armpits at one shot, it’s not going to last forever. Their degree of effective-ness degrade with time and bacterial build will restart anyway. The better thing to do is wear just enough deodorant and carry some in your bag so that you can use a little half way through your day if neces-sary. Also remember, deos are for the skin, not your clothes. If you smelling bad, get a shower first and change your clothes.
Antiperspirants: If you perspire a lot, ditch the deodorant and grab some antiperspirant. Antiperspi-rants act by blocking the glands that produce sweat. Antiperspirants may also need multiple applications through the day depending on how active a person you are. However, it would be a good idea to get medical advice if you have hyperhidrosis and are a mess by the end of the day.
Perfumes: Perfumes have traced a long and valu-able history with mankind through various cultures and civilisations. It is a man’s (and woman’s) best friend. No, diamonds lost that status to perfumes a long time ago.
Fragrances are perfume oils in a solvent, mostly alcohol. The percentage of perfume oil to solvent de-fines the strength of the perfume. All perfumes have three notes – a top note, a heart or middle note and a base note. If you notice closely, fragrances will devel-op in three stages after one wears a perfume. The top notes are the initial lighter smells from the fragrance like citrus and light florals. They hold for about 8 – 15 minutes. The heart or middle order notes develop after the top note clears, usually kicking in about 30 minutes after being sprayed on. Example: Strong florals. Base notes are what anchors the fragrance to the skin. They develop after the middle order scents have subsided and are noticeable when the fragrance has been on the skin for a longer duration. Example: Smoky, leathery and spicy notes. Some fragrances release notes in multiple stages through the day. You need to wear it through a day to understand them.
If you have to give up one between deodorant and after-shave, drop the after shave. It won’t hurt.
Pick scented nail polishes if you need more jazz. They emit fragrance through the day.
Hair perfume sprays contain alcohol. Use as little as possible. Spray from about 3 – 7 inches from hair.
Mouthwashes with alcohol dry mouth and reduce saliva secretion complicating/increasing issues of badbreath. Pick non alcohol based mouth washes.
To choose perfumes, try many or as many as you can. Figure out what notes you love. Also keep in mind the places you intend to wear that fragrance to. You don’t want to wear something ultra-loud to office, so pick milder tones of the same scent if you like it so much. Pick a minimum of two different per-fumes – one for the day and the other for an evening out with colleagues. Try and keep your notes for the day lighter than those of the one for your evenings. Citrus, light florals, mild woody/light spicy notes are perfect for day. Balance it out with heavier woody, leathery or spicy notes in the evenings.
How to wear a cologne
Perfumes have to be worn on your pulse points which are areas of the body where more heat is gen-erated – inner wrists, behind ear lobes, inner elbows, in the cleavage, base of neck and behind knees. Always put on fragrance before putting on clothes and jewellery. Perfumes can cause great damage to those two and leave you with a heartburn for being careless. You may spray, dab or swipe on (if solid) perfume. Perfume makers also advise that you spray the fragrance in the air and walk through it. Although this is a great and near perfect way to let the fragrance envelope you, you might end up wasting a lot of the expensive stuff this way. Whatever you do, never ever rub fragrance into the skin.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
Ever since the terms Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ) were coined, and came into corporate usage, it has created a large amount of excitement. Large corporations have par-ticularly benefitted from their subscription to the EI theory both in good and bad times, but more specifically during the downturn since their mental investment in the EI theory early on had gotten them better employees who helped tide over the downturn by being better workers and emotion managers. Those people led teams that were ‘EI enriched’ or ‘trained in EI’ and worked superbly helping the corporations stay afloat. Members of these enriched teams cultivated a healthy habit of competing as well as helping the others grow as well.
The concept of Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ) had everyone’s imagination fired up pushing them to measure their Emotional Intelligence / Emotional Intelligence Quotient. The earlier big outing was to examine one’s Intelligence Quotient(IQ). What caused EQ to trump IQ? Researchers found that Intelligence Quotient (IQ) did not sufficiently account for com-plete cognitive ability of a human being. It could not answer adequately why and how people behaved in a particular manner in a given situation and what emotional qualities and hold over emotions predestined one to guaranteed better performance and eventual success. This was the space the Emotional Intelligence theory could amply satiate. Some researchers still dismiss EQ as insufficiently proven since they do not find scientific correlations to what the theory claims. Researchers are also divided on the idea that EI is an inborn characteristic.
The terms emotion and intelligence have specific, scientific meanings attached to them. By spelling out what these two terms identify with, researchers have proved the possible ways they can be brought together and used together. Emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger and fear refer to feelings that sig-nal information about relationships. Intelligence refers to the capacity to carry out abstract reasoning, recognize patterns and, compare and contrast. Thus Emotional Intelligence in general is defined as the ability to identify, use, understand and manage emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, com-municate effectively, empathize with others, overcome chal-lenges, and defuse conflict. The impact of EI in a person’s life is a measure of how he reacts to different situations and the way he interacts with people. There are no set standards in EI but the tests designed to measure EQ take into account among others, the person’s attitude to life, problem solving ability, calmness when faced with issues, interactions with people, team management skills, ability to inspire others, ability to diffuse conflict and work without arousing conflict.
A person is said to have high emotional intelligence if he displays the ability to recognise his own emotional state and the emotional states of others, and engage with people in a way that draws them to him.
There are five main elements of emotional intelligence:
(a) Self-awareness (b) Self-regulation (c) Motivation (d) Em-pathy and (e) Social skills (Credit: Daniel Goleman, the American psychologist who helped popularise EI)
"Emotional intelligence is the key to determining if you’re rewarding to deal with."
Self-awareness: A skill wherein emotionally in-telligent leaders have been observed to demonstrate their ability to understand and identify the emotion they are feeling and the reason behind the emotion (different from their assumption of the problem that caused the emotion). They have a natural ability to keep their emotions balanced. They do not stereotype people, speak without thinking, lose control or make emotional decisions.
Self-regulation: It is ability to respond to chal-lenges calmly, to not allow surprises to mentally jolt them, to adhere to their values even under pressure and demonstrate accountability. It is also the knack to make careful, informed decisions.
Motivation: They have ability to motivate self and others, transmit hope and moral upliftment to the people they engage with.
Empathy: They are offensive and make a positive effort to see the other person’s perspective. Endear-ing/ inoffensive body language they make a positive effect on the other person. They are also encouraging and positive which help them receive the same from others.
Social skills: People with high EI enjoy great social presence and recognition. They are excellent communicators. Their conflict resolution skills range from mammoth to legendary.
Marks of people with high EQ
They are curious about people and make excellent conversationalists.
They are self-aware.
They are good listeners and know how to pay attention to the job at hand without getting distracted.
They can say no.
They can meet deadlines calmly.
They are motivated and inspire the same in others.
HOW TO DEMONSTRATE
EI IN A JOB INTERVIEW
Questions based on EI are mostly to measure a person’s ability to handle well in today’s highly stressed work environments, to work in a team without clashing, inspiring the team, and be morally sound.
While a high IQ and a demonstrated ability to han-dle a function well are vital, more and more organisa-tions are assigning equal weightage to their prospec-tive employee’s EQ. Therefore, every job interview is interspersed with people-skills and self-analytical questions that probe deep into the psyche of the inter-viewee and helps the interviewer get a better picture of what or whom they expect to be dealing with once they become part of the organisation.
The interviewee’s responses to how they will deal with sloppy co-workers, bad behaviour, people who do not meet deadlines, etc. are given careful as-sessment. Hirers seek collaborators and people who display a good degree of self-awareness, conviction about one’s work and ex-team and, maturity. It takes maturity and courage to accept one’s mistakes or short comings especially in front of an interview pan-el.These are some of the pointers for hirers about the intangible benefits of hiring the person who is seated in front of them.
Even in issues related to promotion, organisations have confessed to promoting the higher EI person when the contest was between two or more individu-als of similar IQ or work efficiency.
Ten EQ brush-up techniques
Practice the best of emotional intelligence at every instance so that it gets ingrained into your system.
Refer technique no. 1.
Distinguish and do not confuse thoughts with feelings.
Assume responsibility for your words and action.
Practise self-control.
Direct anger into constructive work.
Be empathetic and realistic.
Respect others.
Listen.
Communicate appropriately.
We all have different personalities, different wants and needs, and different ways of showing our emo-tions. Navigating through this all takes tact and clev-erness. The emotionally intelligent can identify their feelings, work on their emotions positively and, influ-ence thoughts and emotions in others. Emotional In-telligence is the key to building trust, creating a sense of identity and efficacy, preventing and resolving conflicts (of self and others), cooperating, and par-ticipating productively in a group. An early start to developing a higher EI is the key to success in today’s corporate world.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
Some do not even know about the existence of such a day. Their day goes on just like any other day – with chores, children, family and menial jobs if any. That said, this is not an article to explore pains women undergo and sacrifices they make. Rath-er it is an insight into what there is for women the day after curtains are drawn on ‘a day that celebrates womanhood’ in all its forms. What happens with the next sunrise? And the day after that?
To what do we attribute the celebrations of the day? To what achievements should the day subscribe? To what breakthroughs in the lives of women? To what change in perception of women by the soci-ety they live in? These are the questions one should seek answers to if only to understand what real freedom to women is.
International Women’s Day takes multiple celebratory forms. It is remembering the many fights women from different parts of the world have had to put up to salvage their rights that takes precedence
over everything else and rightly so. It is remember-ing and honouring those women who stood up for their rights, for their ideas, ideals and due privileges, mainly political and human rights. We have come a long way since 1857, New York (women working at textile mills and clothing factories united to protest inhumane working conditions and low pay), but rea-son to worry is that the fundamental mental make-up and attitude towards women have not changed in all these years irrespective of the strides civilisations and their women have made in astronomy, medical sci-ence, technology or sports.
Women have broken ranks, working on par with men, sometimes reaching positions of top leader-ship where they have led and continue to lead men as CEOs, Directors, even Chief Ministers and Prime Minister. But that is just a handful. They are just the few women who followed their hearts despite all the public criticism, slander and discouragement. Why the slander? Why the partiality? If a son may be en-couraged to pursue whatever is of interest to him, shouldn’t the parent encourage his daughter to do the same? Why put controls in front of her before she can even start dreaming? ‘Welfare’ and ‘safety’ of the girl probably stand as the most two overused and abused terms that work against the progress of the girl child.
The difficult but essential questions that need tackling urgently are:
- Why are there lesser women in leadership roles?
- What prevents their ascent?
- Why don’t young women have the same ac-cess to employment and participation in decision-making as young men?
- How does it become possible to trivialise their contributions at work and home and, take away what is duly their right and share of limelight?
- Does she enjoy equal freedom to think, act, speak and trade ideas and be taken seriously by the menfolk around the conference table?
- Are people ready to accept the intellectual value a woman brings to the table, not just her beau-tiful presence, lingering perfume, new hair-do and skirt?
- Why even after all the advancements in civil-isation, is she looked upon as an object of enjoyment?
"Women have broken ranks, working on par with men, sometimes reaching positions of top leadership"
The simple response to most questions is that ‘Women are shirkers. They are there just for the money, not a career’. Actually, the same can be said of 90% of male employees. Face it, there will be strivers and shirkers in male and female employee groups. There are enough examples globally of high-performing lady managers who now hold leadership roles in multinational companies. Those who have worked with these ladies know that saying women work to earn only is plain baloney.
To bring up a common sexist example, there are many in both sexes in every organisation that refer to a woman as ‘that female’ but no woman refers to a co-worker as ‘that male’ even in passing. To refer to any woman so is not just rude, it is a character flaw. It shows your upbringing. As adults and people who are educated and hold decent job profiles, there is a code of conduct to adhere to.
Except for the core biological differences, men and women are the same. They are wired to be able do the same things that is physically and mentally possible. Women may look physically less built than men but they make up for it with their grit. It is train-ing and knowledge that makes an exceptional hunter not muscle power.
Coming to celebrations of women’s day at college and corporate level, there are specific treats designed for the ladies who are requested to dress up and enjoy themselves that day. At most corporate houses, cabins and bays are decorated, treats and flowers are hand-ed out, games exclusively for women are conducted while the men quietly look on and cheer them. While the corporate concept is to appreciate the women who touch their lives, the whole point is lost if a woman is not put on par with her male colleague, delegated the same responsibilities, be heard out, appreciated or admonished in the same vein. If a woman wants equality, so be it. Let her work for it just as a man should. No more, no less. Men and women need to absorb this fact very clearly without which equality will remain a word restricted to the dictionary and fiery speeches.
There is nothing to celebrate about being a wom-an on Women’s Day if every woman does not make it a personal choice to rise above herself and her male compatriots every single day. There is nothing to celebrate if she does not stand up for herself and
"Women may look physically less built than men but they make up for it with their grit"
lets people dictate to her what she is better off do-ing. Allowing life to be dictated by the convenience and fancy of others calling it societal norm is foolish. Never forget: society is us. Predators and slanderers exist. So does a woman’s will power. It is certainly disheartening to be continuously given a pass and be told that she ‘cannot’ all the way from babyhood till date, but primarily only the woman can help herself. Because over the centuries woman have been dealt a raw deal one way or the other (despite all the legal fights, legislations and reforms) and an entire civilisa-tion’s DNA has the belief ingrained deep into it that it is okay for a woman to aspire for and achieve only so much of anything, she is going to have to go the extra mile even today. Because one section of wom-en (and men) don’t give a damn about improvement of women in the society, the handful of women that want to make a difference to their own lives and that of their gender are finding their work made unneces-sarily tougher. National and international laws can be used to secure and protect women’s rights but unless it is made illegal to hold a woman like a secondary human being mentally, nothing is going to change.
In closing, a woman’s fight is with herself: to shed her inhibitions, to have the guts to shut out pessimists, to make war against indifference, to have a mind of her own and a voice that she should choose to listen to. She needs to spearhead the movement for herself, by herself. She needs to be the change she wants to see. The strength of this determined approach to real freedom will shake the world and its nay-sayers at their very base. That will be the day for celebrating women’s day.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
Networking is the art of building profes-sional relationships. As with all people oriented games, some are good at it, some not so. But whether you have the knack for networking or not, it is a game that anyone seeking employment and career advancement should sure get into. Networking could be a vital link to finding you connections that you can use, sometimes all through life. It is somewhat true that extroverts have it easy in networking. For oth-ers, it’s like first day of school – nervous, clammy, confused.
Networking is brokering a relationship between you and the other person. It is a lot like sales; the dif-ference being that you are not there to sell yourself. All you do is just grab enough attention to be roam-ing the insides of the other person’s brain for some time till you can get what you want out of them by not really making an awkward sales pitch for your requirement. To establish a relationship by network-ing is to break the ice with yourself for something truly rewarding. Not every point of contact translates to something beneficial and here’s why.
You didn’t have anything of value to give them –conversation-wise or offering-wise.
You are not the person they were looking for.
You bored them.
you were tiring.
you are just one among the many desperate peo-ple trying to network with them.
How to hunt better and establish a good rapport
Arrive early:Get to the gathering early. There will be fewer people and the environment will be less in-timidating if you are a newbie. People will also be more relaxed and receptive. Best time to work your magic.
Offer something they do not have: Even the most powerful guy in the room may not have something. You need to find that missing link in their chain of power and see if that is what you can offer. It could be a painting or a stamp they have been hunting for or an appropriate person to fill in a position.
Show genuine interest: This is difficult because on the face of it for, networking could look selfish. For the uninitiated, the game of networking is played to build rapport with people whom you are interested in and not to fulfil the sole aim of finding a job or career advancement or a new client.
Nurture your existing network:
Never ignore your existing network. It will help you stay out of boredom in a large gathering. It is possible that someone in your group knows an out-sider that you are keen on meeting. Use the opportu-nity and get yourself introduced. Also apply the same concept to help two people you know connect. They will remember you better.
Volunteer: Networking is boring because there is nothing much else to do the entire time. For a fairly large part of time, you will find yourself loitering the corners of the room, looking for the right someone to connect with. If you foresee this possibility happen-ing to you, offer to be a volunteer at the event and help the people who are putting the event together. That is a greater way to connect with all those who will walk in to the event. You get a head-start with each and every participant if you volunteer at the reg-istration desk. Now that you know who does what, you can pick and choose. Helping organise chairs and tables, prepare the stage for the speakers also puts you in touch with a lot of people. If any of the speak-ers are talking about something you are interested in, that is a great conversation starter. Also, chat up the organisers and understand what they do. You might be building a lifetime's relationship there as well.
Get noticed, be remembered:
Stay in your interests’ line of sight. Make sure there is something about you that can catch their eye. It could be a differently designed visiting card, a su-perb voice, a topic that is of interest to them. These are only a few of many things that could make you stand apart in a crowd. If you have worked in their line already, you not only have an interesting topic to get started on, you are also leaving an impression that you are someone of their ilk. Looking powerful is another key. Power draws people to you. Use it to your advantage. Successful people catch the eye of other successful people.
Dust out your online contacts: If someone has been on your friends list in any professional/social network, start with them. It is easier to build a rapport with them because you already have kind of a dis-tant relationship with them. They will introduce you to their contacts once they are comfortable with you. That is half the work done without making much of an effort!
Choose quality over quantity: Networking is not a marathon of building a rapport with as many people as you can. It is about building a quality net-work not quantity/number of people in your network. Also don’t leave networking to chance. There will be plenty of poachers but don’t brush anyone aside as irrelevant.
Tips for the introvert to get started on ‘networking’
You might be a lot of things – a savvy business-person, creative thinker, inventor of something totally new and valuable or a hard worker, but your entire talent will go to waste if you do not break-free and chat up. Opportunities could be lost because you did not wake up to the call of networking. Here are a few things that can actually work for the introvert.
Consider networking as another job.
Tackle it like you will a challenge.
Set yourself a goal and exit timing.
Leave once you have established that goal.
Wager with a friend on who will establish the most number of contacts. Whoever strikes it richer wins the day.
The day after
Exchanging hellos, handshakes, nods, contact de-tails and goodbyes do not establish contacts. What does is what you do the day or the next after the meet-ing. Networking is like dating. Follow up within 48 hours with a text or email (a phone call is a lot more intrusive, it is better used if really necessary). Stick to the topic. Crisply say what you have to offer. If you really want to build a networking relationship, contact them with some information that will be of interest to them. It need not necessarily be about work alone. It could be about their hobbies, something they have been looking for a while, a book, an old record, whatever.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
Organisations usher in change for a variety of reasons includ-ing but not limited to change in market, competition, econom-ic changes, change in business perspective, making people redundant, closures, mergers, acquisitions, organisational failures, global opportunities, etc. But change is not limited to physical changes that ensue the event but is more related to dealing with apprehension from various quarters of the organisation’s human resourc-es. Employees come in at the core of change. With them comes the difficulty of imparting the reason to change, making them understand the need to change, measures to implement and follow for change, etc. If people do not understand the need to change, they will fight it. Human beings are creatures of habit; it takes them time to form habits, patterns and routines and perhaps more time to change established assump-tions and conditioned thinking patterns.
Change management entails thoughtful planning and sensitive implementation, and above all, on pri-ority, involvement of the people who will be affected by the change. Change whether good or bad will be met with resistance. It is human nature; the fight or flight syndrome will check in, there will be more fight than flight because it concerns their career security and payslip at the end of the month.
Change management has at least three different aspects, including: adapting to change, controlling change, and effecting change. A proactive approach to dealing with change is at the core of all three as-pects.For change to be effected smoothly it needs to be in consultation with people it will affect. While the decision to change could be of top management, early conditioning and concurrence of every employ-ee to the imminent will make the transition smoother for everyone. Forced change will give rise to prob-lems. For things to work effectively and normally post change, the components of change (i.e. replace-ments for existing methods and concepts) need to be realistic, achievable and measurable. Every effort to change, personal or organisational, needs to answer/subscribe to the following:
What is intended to be achieved with this change and why?
How will it be known that the change has been achieved?
Who is affected by this change, and how will they react to it?
How much of this change can we achieve ourselves, and what parts of the change do we need help with?
Effecting organisational change
For an organization, change management means defining and implementing procedures and/or tech-nologies to deal with changes in the business environ-ment and the means to profit from changing opportu-nities. Important to effecting the change successfully are having a grasp on and taking corrective action on conflicting functional objectives or approaches, dif-ferent toolsets and standards and, different reporting relationships that are the most likely first outcomes of change.
What may look like a straight set of resolutions could get complex if the management gets too com-placent. An early grasp on vision, protocols and pro-cess flow is paramount. Once the flow of processes are established it comes to communicating the same effectively to the layers underneath.
Effecting personal change
Percolating the idea and ideals of change to the layers beneath are the real challenge for organisations that vote for ‘change’. While it is near impossible to gain concurrence to the idea from everyone across the floor, making them understand the importance of the decisions made is vital to effect any change at all. News good or bad needs to be shared in a planned way. Breaking bad news properly is important. How the management stands up and breaks the bad news is a test of its integrity. Breaking bad news will not
"They think change will help the organisation and top management make better and faster money"
tarnish its image but running away from the respon-sibility to do so certainly will and is therefore best not left to underlings to cope with or communicate to the rungs below them. It is solely the organisation head’s responsibility to do so.
The responsibility to change
The responsibility of the employee is to give their best to whatever they have been brought in for, not to manage themselves in the event of change. That is the responsibility of the management. It is a bigger mistake to expect employees to manage themselves in the event of a change than to have not involved them in the process.
Helping cope with change
Managers need to spend personal one on one time with their underlings to help facilitate change. Impersonal memos or e-mails are not the way to communicate during such times. How a person reacts to the con-cept of change is dependent on his/her age, position at work, health, maturity, stability, experience, per-sonality, motivation, etc. Therefore there is no single method to deal with people. Managers need to un-derstand the person they are talking to, improvise the content based on their acceptance levels and deliver the requirement in a way that can be understood if not fully accepted.
People types and how to deal with them
People are divided into four temperament or hu-mour types. Personality assessment expert, David Keirsey interprets personalities of four temperaments thus: artisan, rationalist, guardian and idealist.
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ARTISAN
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RATIONALIST
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GUARDIAN
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IDEALIST
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This matrix summarises the type of people Change Managers will have to deal with. Everyone’s sense of right or wrong and possible or impossible are dif-ferent. Communication to each of these categories of people need to be devised and modified on the spot on a one-on-one basis.
Change management is a four step sequence. It involves:
Realisation – knowing, understanding and ac-cepting that change is needed.
Investigation - developing clarity about what, why and how change can happen.
Substitution – replacing the old with the new -creating conscious change.
Embedding - reinforcing the change at uncon-scious competence level - transformational change.
Why most ‘change’ attempts end in failure
Imposing new skills and change on people doesn’t work because of management’s assumption that peo-ple’s personal aims, wishes and needs are completely aligned with those of the organization, or that there is no need for such alignment, it is assumed that people want, and can assimilate into their lives, the type of development or change that the organization deems appropriate for them, given all their other priorities.
This results in the ‘no can do’ syn-drome.
The ‘no can do’ syndrome: to ask why people can-not see the need to change is like trying to measure water in the sea. There is no getting around it. People are not idiots. People don’t see it because they don’t want to see it – irrespective of whether there is oppor-tunity or risk. They will reject inconvenience of any kind at the first opportunity.
Top reasons why change attempts fail
- People do not like being forced out of their com-fort zones.
- People put themselves and their priorities first in which case, change will appear to them as a mere in-convenience.
- They think change will help the organisation and top management make better and faster money and for whose benefit they will have to undergo all the transition, putting in more effort.
- They don’t see a future for themselves in the changed scenario
Where ‘no can do’ complicates
People will never align with bad/misplaced-ambitions. They will see through agen-das that reek of executive greed, exploita-tion, environmental damage, inequality, betrayal and false promises. They will either bla-tantly express their disagreement, or nod and smile but do nothing about ‘changing’ which is worse. Recovery path: Re-assess and re-align your organi-zation’s aims, beliefs, integrity - all of it - with your employees. Clearly state the need for change. Pro-vide proof and examples wherever possible. Chart the plan forward and share it with them. Most em-ployees disagree because they don’t know where that leaves them. Involve them. Allow them to contribute. But gaining their confidence a second time will take more effort, patience, time and money since there is no guarantee they will hear you out after the first out-ing debacle but it is worth trying.
People cannot just drop everything and ‘change’, or learn new skills, just because the organisation says so. Even if they do want to change and learn new skills, they have a whole range of issues that demand immediate dealing with ranging from per-sonal to professional. Plus, there is no guaran-tee on how they will be compensated for adapting– money-wise, position-wise or work load wise. Recovery path: See the problem from their end. Spec-ify clearly what is in it for them. That is the only thing they are going to be interested in.
Presenting crisis as a cause to push change. To say that there is no time to re-assess and re-align the goals of the organisation with that of its people is irresponsible.
Harvard Business School professor, thought lead-er and author on organizational change management [Leading Change (1995) and The Heart of Change (2002)], John P Kotter’s work is a beacon for change managers. His eight step model can be summarized thus:
Set the right vision
Assemble the right guiding team who have the right emotional commitment and the right mix of skills.
Spread the urgency to change incrementally – help people make real, achievable objectives.
Communicate clearly.
Empower people – open avenues for idea exchange, remove obstacles, use feedback, recognise achieve-ments and breakthroughs.
Set short-term goals.
Persist on the new model. Encourage process and protocol.
Make change stick. Weave change into the culture. Reinforce its value and gains.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
Park Global School of Business Excellence is a B-School in a league of its own. Ranked 28th among India’s best B-Schools, Park Global conducts AICTE approved PGDM and optional MBA programmes at both its Chennai and Coimbatore campuses. The school differentiates itself through an excellent combination of programme offering, infra-structure and outstanding faculty, alongside MoUs with University of Missouri, St. Louis and Florida In-ternational University for Higher Studies.
The rigorous programmes at PGSBE offer spe-cialisations in Operations, Human Resources, In-ternational Business, Systems, Marketing, Finance, Communication and Health Care Management. In the unique PGDM programme, students are trained to be all-rounders through special classes and train-ing modules including those on soft skills of cross cultural management, international negotiations and management of global workforce with additional in-puts through national and international seminars, pe-riodical industry visits, workshops, guest lectures by industry icons, conventions,Rotaract Club activities, sports events, etc. To make the students business-world-ready, the school has also instituted special sessions in foreign language study (Spanish, German or Japanese), Business English Certification by Ox-ford University, London and Six Sigma Green Belt Programme.
Dual degree option - PGDM + MBA
While the Park Global PGDM programme is all encompassing, the school also allows those interest-ed to pursue a dual degree – PGDM+MBA. Students can specialise in multiple fields by opting for a dual degree. The dual degree also gives students a solid footing and better career kick-off and career advance-ment. In addition to helping further their interests in different fields at the same time, the dual degree puts them at the advantage of grabbing more attention with job interview panels in the midst of many job-seekers and seize better positions throughout their career.
VISION
Creating and delivering a dynamic-global-con- temporary curriculum and development of the best academic delivery system.
Faculty
The institute boasts of an excellent team of well-qualified foreign and Indian faculty drawn from the industry some of whom are IIT and IIM alumni. Con-tinuous mentoring by permanent faculty and extend-ed knowledge/skill transfer by visiting faculty from across the globe and famous business houses famil-iarise students with practices and knowledge needs at different levels across different countries. They give students a heads-up on challenges they are likely to encounter in their careers as business leaders.
Industry Exposure
Students of Park Global have it the best when it comes to industry exposure. Industry exposure is at the core of the programme and students are put in constant touch with various industries through a combination of industry visits, talks by industry/busi-ness leaders, guest lectures by various business heads and continual internships through the two years of the programme. A large number of permanent faculty having a corporate background adds real time indus-try exposure to every learning session at the school.
Placements
While every facet of PGSBE programmes are de-vised to make the student industry-ready, the school also offers placements and internships at some of the best organisations. A Corporate Relations Centre has been established to provide assistance to all students be it to obtained internships or employment. The Cor-porate Relations Centre helps students strike the best deals in the corporate world by effecting appropriate internship assistance according to their areas of in-terest which allows them the freedom to explore an organisation’s suitability in their career aspirations. Park Global has signed an MoU with Mafoi, a lead-ing HR service provider for individual counselling, training, mock interviews and resume building.This has helped students bag the best jobs in the market in multinational companies like Deloitte, Royal Bank of Scotland, Naukri.com, Samsung, Baja Capital,
India Bulls, Temenos, City Union Bank, Videocon Industries, Tata Croma, Irosys Technologies, Photon Infotech, Asian Paints, J P Morgan & Co, Zanta, Eve-ronn, Edserve, Amazon.com, RR Donnelly, ICICI Bank, etc.
The centre organises and helps students participate in on-campus and off-campus recruitment drives. It also sets up regular Management Development Pro-grammes (MDPs).
MISSION
Providing all necessary facilities and systems for a truly international management education.
PGSBE culture
The PGSBE culture not only helps its students hone their technical and business skills but fosters the values of responsibility, accountability, respect and civil conduct. The school values participation in-class and out-of-class activities on the same scale and equal weightage is given to acquisition of additional skills throughout the length of the programme. This allows students to concentrate and explore all-round development and not just academic progress. Park Global is an ‘involved school’ meaning, it gets per-sonal in depth with each and every student. It sees the business leaders they are meant to become and provide personality development programmes and skill development programmes to give students an early grounding in corporate culture. Extracurricular activities like debates, quizzing, presentations, skits, sports are immensely encouraged.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
It was a perfect celebration of the spirit of entre-preneurship. India Business Journal’s recently concluded IBJ Business Excellence Awards 2013 brought the cream of Tamil Nadu’s entre-preneurs to the fore.
The focus of the glittering awards ceremony was the nine awardees, representing various segments of industry. They were manufacturers, such as Sony Fireworks, Sun Fireworks Industries and Sripa-thi Paper and Boards. They also represented a wide range of service sectors, like United India Insurance Company, Indian Overseas Bank, online commod-ity trader Great Ventures, entertain- REWARDING ENTREPRENEURSHIP The recently concluded IBJ Business Excellence Awards 2013 shines the spot-light on Tamil Nadu’s successful entrepreneurs. ment infrastructure provider Abirami Mega Mall, educa-tion provider Cornerstone School of International Studies and building plan automation solutions pro-vider Vinzas Solutions India. And above all, they are entrepreneurs who have proven their mettle through prudent management, high performance and innova-tive initiatives.
Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah graced the event as chief guest and presented the awards. Delivering his address after giving away the awards, Mr Rosaiah noted how Tamil Nadu’s stress on the right ecosystem was able to nurture a large number of successful en-trepreneurs. He added how the State’s excellent infra-structure and proactive, industry-friendly policies of the government had transformed Tamil Nadu into the country’s robust manufacturing hub.
S P Jain, the managing director of Mumbai-based Pride Hotel and chairman of the IBJ Awards Jury Committee, pointed out how the IBJ Awards were different from rest of awards.
As the sun set and the lights came on in the glitter-ing hall, the awardees were radiating entrepreneurial energy.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
Maslow believed that individuals pos-sess a set of motivation systems un-related to rewards or unconscious desires. Maslow’s theory accounts for 5 human needs – physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation. Hierar-chy of needs vary from person to person according to their newest status achieved and stage of life cycle. Some place a need to be loved and accepted above say, esteem. Some will put safety and security over the need for love and respect.
This understanding that different people have dif-ferent ‘mix n match’ of needs in Maslow’s ‘need pyr-amid’ is crucial to understanding people at work and the why, what, when and how of their needs, wants and behaviour. This understanding of hierarchy of needs can explain what self-actualisation is to an in-dividual at a personal level. It can tell us how self-actualisation can beat the glass ceiling and its ogres and help him/her rise and be at their best.
What stops people from shattering the glass ceil-ing? What stops them from progressing personally and professionally? Is the glass ceiling the only gauge to measure one’s capability and accessibility to the top rungs of the corporate ladder?
Glass ceilings are real. They do exist. The term is used mostly in reference to women who are being hindered from entering the higher echelons of man-agement by making the ascent unnecessarily difficult for them or, by not putting them on par with their male counterparts or, by attaching clichéd stigmas to the working capability of a woman.
Glass ceilings are both personal and made by peo-ple whom the individual has no control over like, the society’s thinking, politics and business. To a raring-to-go woman flapping about at the heights of her ca-reer, crashing into the glass ceiling can dampen ev-erything she had worked for and stood for all along. It damages her spirit. The case gets worse for working mothers who are trying to break into the big league after their return from recent motherhood. Seeking to become ideal wives and mothers, they walk the tight rope of family obligations and career responsibilities and yet manage to rise to lofty heights before they find themselves pounding at the glass ceiling. They find themselves stagnating at the fourth higher need – ‘esteem’ because ‘glass ceiling’ suddenly becomes not just a physical impossibility but a mental block as well. The fifth and top-most need, self-actualisa-tion is not given enough thought. The mistake is that people put ‘shattering the glass ceil-ing’ as equal to ‘self-actualisation’. That is where things start going wrong. That self-actualisation is a bigger paradigm is forgotten. It is the real deal. To live progressively and satisfactorily is possible only through stretching oneself out, by maximising one’s potential, in short, achieving self-actualisa-tion. None of these is a promise the other side of the glass ceil-ing can hold though.
The most commonly identified obstacles to wom-en’s advancement at work include (a) stereotypes and preconceptions about women’s abilities and suitabil-ity for bigger roles, (b) management’s aversion to taking risks with women in areas of responsibility, (c) counter-productive behaviour of male colleagues and, (d) exclusion from the informal network of com-munications which is still considered male bastion.
Women are also perceived to be not as committed as men to their careers, not tough enough, not want-ing to do different shifts or pull extra hours, not ag-gressive enough, too emotional, lagging in technical and decision-making skills, have relocation issues, etc. This prejudiced view comes from the very man-agement who has seen women do all of the above and more just to be seen on par with the menfolk around the conference table. If observed, these issues in real-ity are not gender specific anymore. It is as common for men to be equally a prey to any or all of these con-cerns and yet, misconceptions are misconceptions. They stick. Irony is, sometimes, these obstacles are created by successful women, as well as men, who had once shattered the glass ceiling themselves.
Careful observation may also place the spot light on how people create their own glass ceilings with ingrown negative concepts of the self and narrow per-ceptions of one’s abilities. People find it easier to wal-low within their limits, falling into their own traps, accepting what the smaller bones that are thrown their way, tolerating denials.
When an individual doesn’t believe in herself and her abilities, her expectations of herself diminish, the quality of thinking process and its output diminishes. To not aim for self-actualisation is to let the voice of others and obstacles placed by others to tell her only how far she can go. What needs to be thought about is that none what she had achieved was meant to be. How far she had come is because of who she was and what she had done.
"That self-actualisation is a bigger paradigm is forgotten. It is the real deal."
So how to get over this blanket mind-set? How do people get on to the other side? The answer is simple. By concentrating on self-actualisation. The fight against the glass ceiling is just a waste of time. To self-actualise is to dissolve the glass ceiling. People who want to create obstacles will continue to invent newer ways to stop someone they don’t want from shoot-ing through the glass ceiling. They will try tough-ened glass, mirrors, and even Kevlar protection over the glass ceiling if necessary. Mind is a potent organ against whom glass ceilings don’t stand much of a chance. By defining what they want out of their lives, by working on their inner and outer images, ordinary men and women can reach the altitudes they plan to reach. Whereas the term ‘glass ceiling’ is obstructive, ‘self-actualisation’ opens the doors to possibilities. One’s idea of self-actualisation could be anything – to become a manager or CEO, to start a business two years from now, to be hailed on every magazine’s cover as man/woman of the year...anything. The idea of self-actualisation is to rise above oneself. Creat-ing an air of assertiveness, exuding passion for work, building on technical skills, communication skills, negotiation skills, conflict resolution and social skills, career planning, keeping an open channel of commu-nication and, being outgoing yet professional are the key to rising above self-inflicted barriers.
Self-actualisation does what pounding against the obstructions doesn’t – it gets you ‘more than what you bargained for’ compared to the latter’s ‘what you see is what you get’. To self-actualise is to undergo a 3600 transformation, inside out, to turn desire into reality, to become everything one is capable of be-coming. It allows the man/woman to explore unchar-tered territories of oneself and stop at nothing before achieving what he/she set out for. As Maslow said, “What a man can be, he must be.”
Traits of self-actualised people
How to identity those who have achieved the ulti-mate for themselves? "Never give up your morals. Be honest and take responsibility for your actions" What makes them stand apart?What makes them magnetic to others? They exude a different aura, a different set of capabilities through the practise of some common yet vital tactics that are basic in everyone but only recognised by the special few who choose to rise above themselves some of which are: Self-actualized people have realistic per-ceptions of themselves, others and the world around them. They excel at problem-centering, solving prob-lems outside of themselves, resolving or negating conflict. They are driven by a great sense of personal responsibility and ethics. Self-actualized people are spontaneous, both in their internal thoughts and out-ward behaviour. They can conform to rules and social obligations when necessary and be completely uncon-ventional when the situation calls. These people are social but value highly their independence and priva-cy.
How to find your true self or how to self-actualise
The first thing in the process is to bring out the other you – the more reasonable, the more spirited, the more intelligent you. Self-actualising needs a dis-ciplined approach and conditioning of the mind. Start by experiencing things fully and selflessly. Emerge from your own inhibitions and concentrate on the ex-perience and stay absorbed in it. Never narrow your options to choosing between safety and risk. Choose whatever will let you grow. Allow what you feel and not what you think to guide you; express what you feel. Never give up your morals. Be honest and take responsibility for your actions. Give your work the best of you, every time, no matter how small the task. Your work should speak volumes about your intellect and skill. Let go of false notions, get a grasp of what your potential is and what you are not. Address what you like and don’t like, figure out what is good or bad for you, what is acceptable to you and not acceptable to you. Do not attempt to defend yourself and in the process shut down vital links to opening up and find-ing yourself.
It’s time to forget the glass ceiling.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
Karnataka woos firms to Aero-space Park
The Karnataka government has said that a num-ber of aviation companies have evinced inter-est in setting up and expanding their manufac-turing capacity at the Aerospace Park located near Bangalore. Karnataka was the first State MISCEL-LANEOUS in the country to announce an aviation policy last year. The 1,000-acre park is already a host to some 50-plus companies and has potential to lo-cate many more. The Aerospace Park, which has a 252-acre special economic zone, provides the right infrastructure for manufacturing and other support services. The State government is developing four more similar parks of about 1000 acres each.
Narayana Health buys Jubilant’s 2 hospitals
Jubilant First Trust Healthcare (JFTH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Jubilant Life Sciences, has sold its hospital business to Narayana Health. JFTH op-erates two hospitals in West Bengal - Kalpataru in Barasat and Rabindranath Thakur in Berhampore.
The business has been transferred on a going con-cern basis as a slump sale, which will enable Jubilant Life Sciences to focus on its core businesses in phar-maceutical and life sciences. The acquisition, whose value has not been disclosed, will also enable Nara-yana Health to expand its reach in the eastern part of the country.
EPFO can now become member of bourse
Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the retirement fund body, can now enlist as a member of any recognised stock exchange. The development follows a notification issued recently by the Finance Ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs, amend-ing the Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Amend-ment) Rule, 2010, to enable EPFO to become a stock market member. The notification paves the way for investment of the EPFO’s over Rs 5,00,000-crore corpus in equity markets in future. The move is line with the Finance Ministry’s long-standing proposal that the huge retirement corpus be invested in the stock market to get higher returns.
Commodity bourses to remain shut on Saturdays
The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has ex-tended trade timings in a few internationally-linked agricultural commodities up to 11.30 pm. The com-modity market regulator has also directed exchanges to discontinue trading in agriculture commodities on Saturdays. The commodities put on extended trade timing from April 1 include soya oil, soya meal, crude palm oil, refined palmolein, cotton, kapas (raw cotton) and sugar, among others. Currently, commod-ity futures market trades between 10 am and 5 pm on weekdays and 10 am and 2 pm on Saturdays.
Last September, exchanges discontinued trading in nonagricultural commodities on Saturdays on the FMC’s direction.
Reforms can lift 58 cr people above poverty line
India can bring 58 crore people above the pov-erty line, a measure of income deprivation, by 2022 if it implements inclusive reforms, notes McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). The business and econom-ic research arm of consultancy major McKinsey & Company has also noted that India’s human develop-ment indicators show that deprivation extends well beyond 22 per cent of Indians who live below the of-ficial poverty line.
Inclusive reforms can stimulate investment, job creation and farm production as well as dramatically improve the delivery of basic services, MGI notes in a recent report.
Soon, track green nod for projects online
The Central government is planning to put in place by July a digitised platform to allow investors to apply for environmental clearances and track their progress online.
The Project Monitoring Group (PMG), consti-tuted by the Prime Minister’s Office for facilitating clearances of large infrastructure projects, is leading the digitisation drive that will allow investors to track in real time the movement of their applications and documents. Digitisation of clearance processes will ensure fast tracking of approvals in a transparent and accountable manner. It will also facilitate various stakeholders at the ground level to resolve many is-sues speedily.
India can quadruple Africa rev-enue: McKinsey
India can look to quadruple its revenues from Af-rica to $160 billion by 2025 by increasing its presence in sectors such as IT services, agriculture, infrastruc-ture, pharmaceutical and consumer goods, according to a recent McKinsey report. The report adds that In-dia can aspire to capture almost 7 per cent of the IT services market, 5 per cent of the FMCG segment, 10 per cent of the power sector and 2 to 5 per cent of the agricultural and allied services in Africa.
The report notes that Indian industry needs to con-tinually engage with governments and businesses in the continent proactively.
AMW Motors eyes new overseas markets
Commercial vehicle-maker AMW Motors is exploring newer markets of South-East Asia and East Africa as a part of strengthening its global foothold. The company currently exports ve-hicles to SAARC (South Asian Association for Re-gional Cooperation) nations, like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bangladesh, and have started exploring markets in South-East Asia, specifically In-donesia. AMW has also undertaken product promo-tion campaigns in Tanzania and has received its first orders from Kenya and other markets in East Africa.
The Mumbai-based company currently retails tip-pers, heavy-duty trucks, long-haul tractors and spe-cial trucks across various tonnages.
McLeod Russel enters green tea business
McLeod Russel India, the world’s largest black tea producer, is making an entry into green tea through acquisition of a tea processing factory in Vietnam.
The BM Khaitan Group company recently in-formed the stock exchanges that Phu Ben Tea Com-pany, a step-down subsidiary of McLeod Russel in Vietnam, had signed an agreement to buy a green tea processing factory in Vietnam for Rs 5 crore. The fac-tory has an annual production capacity of 6 lakh kg.
Daimler to roll out buses from Chennai plant
Daimler India Commercial Vehicles will start manufacturing buses from its facility near Chennai by the second quarter of 2015. The company recently laid the foundation stone for the Rs 425-crore factory, adjacent to its truckmanufacturing plant in Oragad-am, an industrial suburb of Chennai. Daimler India, a subsidiary of Daimler of Germany, is consolidating its entire truck and bus manufacturing operations in the country with this plant. The factory with a capac-ity of about 1,500 buses a year will make Mercedes-Benz rear-engine luxury buses and Bharat Benz front engine buses for the volume market.
Ranbaxy recalls 64,000 bottles of generic Lipitor
Ranbaxy Laboratories has recalled more than 64,000 bottles of its generic version of Lipitor, a cho-lesterollowering drug, in the United States of Ameri-ca. The Gurgaon, Haryana-based drug-maker recalled tablets of atorvastatin calcium after a US pharmacist found a 20-mg tablet in a sealed bottle marked for 10-mg tablets.
Ranbaxy confirmed the recall of select batches of the drug, but said that it had not received any prod-uct complaints. The recall is the latest in a series of problems to hit Ranbaxy, which has been barred from exporting drugs into the US made at its Indian plants.
GSK Pharmaceuticals’ open offer oversold
The UK-based GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Group’s open offer to increase its stake in GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, its Indian subsidiary, ended on a strong note recently with the offer getting oversub-scribed. The oversubscription will help the parent company increase its holding to 75 per cent from the existing 50.67 per cent. The offer saw tendering of over 2.3 crore shares by public shareholders as against an offer for 2.06 crore shares.
The key to the offer’s success was the attractive price of Rs 3,100 a share, offering a good exit option for existing investors.
BASF opens global R&D centre in Navi Mumbai
BASF Chemicals India, a wholly owned subsid-iary of Germany-based BASF, recently opened a global research and development centre at its plant in Navi Mumbai with an investment of about Rs 17 crore. The new research centre will help the com-pany work with a wide range of scientific talent in India and take it closer to the goal of innovating from Asia-Pacific for Asia-Pacific and the world. By 2020, BASF Chemicals is planning to do 50 per cent of its research in Europe and split the rest between America and Asia.
Tilaknagar buys IFB Agro’s liquor business
Tilaknagar Industries, a manufacturer of Mansion House brandy, has acquired the Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) business of Kolkata-based IFB Agro for an undisclosed amount. Keen to consolidate its position in the country’s 30-crore case IMFL market, Tilaknagar will add all of IFB Agro’s IMFL brands, including Volga vodka and Blue Lagoongin, to its portfolio. According to the terms of the agreement, the trademarks of all IMFL brands of IFB Agro will be transferred to Tilaknagar.
US bans imports from Sun Phar-ma’s plant
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has received an import alert from the US Food and Drug Ad-ministration (USFDA) on its cephalosporin fa-cility located in Karkhadi, Gujarat.
While an import alert virtually bans all products from the plant, the company has said that the contri-bution from this plant to its consolidated revenues is “negligible”. The alert was issued by the USFDA as a follow-up to the last inspection of the facility, during which some noncompliance of current Good Manu-facturing Practice regulations was identified.
The development is the latest in a string of USF-DAinitiated action against Indiabased drug compa-nies.
Mercedes rolls out first made-in-India S-500
Mercedes-Benz India has rolled out the first, lo-callybuilt S-500 from its Chakan plant near Pune a little earlier than originally planned. The petrol car that has a V8 engine is priced at Rs 1.36 crore (ex-showroom, Mumbai) against Rs 1.57 crore for the completely built unit (CBU) version. The package in-cludes a 21- module, multi-lingual chauffeur-training programme for drivers. The locally built S-500 is a five-seater, while the CBU one launched in early Jan-uary is a four-seater.
It has 35 to 40 per cent local content, including the body work, engines, axles and transmission.
Polaris Financial hives off product business
Polaris Financial Technology has announced a demerger of its product business into an independent entity. The new company will be known as Intellect Design Arena (Intellect) and comprise four business-es - global universal banking, risk and treasury man-agement, global transaction banking and insurance.
No penalty
The RBI has asked banks not to levy penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance in ordinary savings bank accounts and instead limit the services. In a move to o safeguard customer interest, it has also asked banks to limit the liability of customers in elec-tronic banking transactions in cases where banks are not able to prove customer negligence.
Groupon India – Magzterdeal to offer digital magazines
Groupon India and New York-based Magzter have inked a deal to promote digital magazines for Indian readers. Online shoppers will be able to choose their subscriptions from different magazine titles including Women, Men, Health, Lifestyle and Travel, among others at 50 percent discount.
Buzziest: Micromax
The brand’s CMO Shubodip Pal announced that Micromax had become the first Indian hardware brand to go global. The brand has penetrated a tough international market like Russia with its Canvas se-ries. Signing Hugh Jackman was perhaps one of its boldest and most favourable moves.
Big Move
Samsonite international has promoted its top ex-ecutive, Ramesh Tainwala as global COO. Tainwala was earlier executive director and president, Asia Pa-cific and Middle East. He has been at Samsonite since 1995. In the new role, he will handle day-to-day glob-al operations of the US-based company and continue to be directly involved in Samsonite’s businesses in China, Philippines and Australia.
Brazil rocks, Cannes celebrates
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Cre-ativity announced that this year’s Festival will in-corporate a programme dedicated to showcasing, understanding and celebrating Brazilian creativity. According to a Cannes report, Brazil stands tall as the second most creative country in the world and São Paulo - the most creative city in the world. The coun-try’s haul of lions stood at 114. Brazil also reportedly has the highest-ranked creative director, art director and copywriter.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE
Fresh MBA entrepreneurs are trending. The concept of fresh b-school graduates getting on the entrepreneurial bandwagon is driven by 7 things – a growing economy, growth of technology, b-schools offering specialised programmes in entrepreneurship, curious would-be-patrons, a good market, a great idea and, a personal go.
A worldwide survey of B-school alumni by Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which conducts the GMAT exam,involving over 6,000 graduate management programmes worldwide threw up new data that supports this. The survey covered about 21,000 alumni (batches 1959 to 2013) representing 132 institutions from 29 countries. The fi ndings point to a steadily growing preference for self-employment among fresh graduates with 45% of alumni from 2010-2013 choosing entrepreneurship compared to just 7% of those who graduated before 1990.
Unlike their predecessors who were very guarded, valued financial stability over following their dreams and,waited to reach senior management positions before considering getting into business, young graduates are taking the plunge far more easily. The earlier talent pool are notably anywhere from 5 to 20 years behind the current stock in considering and soaking up the chance at being their own bosses. The shift in trend is tremendous and noteworthy.What is a constant however across the board is that, entrepreneurs had picked consulting and product/service as areas of consideration for business ventures.
So what seem to work in a freshman’s favour?
A lesser regulated economy, more open markets, availability of seed funding and angel investors, ease of expansion due to shrinking geographical barriers, potential for growth both at home and/or diverse markets, availability and ability of technology to glue together and speed up other business factors have become a magnet drawing the young and the savvy to start up on their own.
So what qualifies one to be an entrepreneur? What makes that person different from the rest in her class? And how does her choice make a difference to her life and those that are engaged with her directly or indirectly?
Entrepreneurship is difficult. For all their knowledge and skill, entrepreneurs live in perpetual fear of what the next morning will bring. But that very same fear and uncertainty are also what drive the entrepreneur and inspire him on a daily basis. Without that basic challenge, an entrepreneur can become bored and it will start showing on the business. Entrepreneurs are wired a little differently. It is more than ‘working for oneself’ or ‘living one’s dream’, it is their disruptive mind, the ability to create ideas, turn them into cash and cause creative and progressive disruption in the market and mind-set of the audience.
There is one thing entrepreneurs agree on regardless of when they joined the brotherhood – they never regret taking the plunge even if their ventures had gone cold after a few years. Turns out, a vast majority (91%) are satisfi ed with their experience of being an entrepreneur.Speaking of current percentages, b-school alumni currently self-employed in the Asia/Pacific region account for 7%. Latin America makes for the world’s highest number of entrepreneurs out of b-school at 8%.
Let’s take a deeper look at the special organism called an entrepreneur. There are four personality traits every entrepreneur owns. Think of it as multiple personalities that reside within an individual. The four dimensions are:
The Dreamer: The least understood of the four dimensions, the dreamers is the visionary. The Dreamer cooks up fabulous ideas and dreams that they wish to convert into reality. His dreams have a purpose. The Dreamer is a weaver, weaving ideas and imagination, visualising the world that will work on their dreams.
The Thinker: The Thinker is the Dreamer’s most important companion. While the Dreamer is about “what”, the Thinker is about the methodical “how.” The thinker completes the Dreamer’s idea/vision. He is the one with all the questions that can turn the dream into a business plan.
The Storyteller: The storyteller is the personality that surfaces when the entrepreneur wants to convey/ sell his vision to others. This personality is capable of invoking interest and excitement in the listener by making a very interesting and engaging pitch of his idea.
The Leader: The last of the four, the leader is the personality that assumes responsibility to actualize the dream. He brings together the Dreamer, the Thinker and the Storyteller. Execution of the idea is his forte. He is analytical, scheming and the most practical of the four personalities. The leader sees every angle and takes into account even the smallest of elements of the dream and converts it into the big picture. The leader is a man of action and is ever ready to roll up his sleeves and get the work done.
The four personalities need to work in tandem at all times to makes things happen in a business. Every personality needs to inspire the rest. It doesn’t work if even one of them is on a holiday. So here’s what every entrepreneur needs to check – are all the personalities awake and working? Are they all delivering their one hundred percent? Do they stir the others into action?
These questions need answering because, the answers to these make a successful entrepreneur. Only when the four personalities are at their best at all times can an entrepreneur rise to the occasion. Businesses meet troughs and crests constantly. Only a synchronised personality fed by all the four above can put the entrepreneur together every time.The qualities these dimensions feed into the ‘actual’ person include a slew of both creative and analytical which rally around to define a great and successful entrepreneur.
Thus propelled by his internal ‘personalities’, the live-wire entrepreneur is ready to hit the floor running. Entrepreneurs are marked by high intuition quotient which help them to help themselves at most crossroads like identifying market need, adding more value to the need through creativity and innovating to stay on top. They also draw their strengths from within and inspire themselves continuously, inspiring others to excel as well. A good businessman is a composite being who is aware of his weaknesses and compensates by finding someone who can complement him. While most businessmen trust their instinct and follow their intuitions and love, worship and believe in their idea, they never underestimate the value of good market research. They also know instinctively when the game is going to get over and can plan their exit accordingly. If they are very good, they can plot the closing chapters of the game by developing products that will snuff out competition.
Another external essential for any entrepreneur is to find a mentor or team of mentors whom they can turn to in times of need. The mentor may be someone who is placed on the company’s payroll or, someone who has a personal interest in the entrepreneur’s well-being and believes in his ideas. Entrepreneurs also need to plan ahead as to how they plan to settle into business. Entrepreneurs may either take the dive alone or find a partner who thinks like them and is excited by the same idea or shares a common goal. While both options are equally viable, extra care needs to be taken when choosing a business partner, the core rules of which are:
The lesser the number of partners, the better – three is ideal, two is better. The partners need to complement each other’s skills and restore faith in each other and the business.
Partners need to be honest with each other.
The investor may be a partner, or rather not because
one doesn’t want ‘whose money it is’ dragged into every conversation.
"A good business plan, establishment of process and protocols, appropriate market and product/service selection, a mentor and an interested investor are the key to business success."
Have very clear rules with the investors and partners.
How the world stands divided on the concept of fresh graduates foraying into business
Here’s what they have to say:
THE LEFT EYE
“The idea and the spirit that an entrepreneur brings to the table are the priority. Everything else can be learnt on the way. A good business plan, establishment of process and protocols, appropriate market and product/service selection, a mentor and an interested investor are the key to business success. Fortunately even for a new b-school graduate, these are the basics (making a business plan, process and protocol planning, market selection, product research and selection) that are part of their programme.
THE RIGHT EYE
“Going into business takes maturity and a great deal of planning both of which come with the experience of working on similar lines in other organisations. A fresh b-school graduate can never have the foresight, connections, business know-how and planning skills that a trained and experienced mind who has put even a few years into another organisation will have. There is no substitute for experience. Being employed for some time with other organisations also mean ‘free learning grounds’ in addition to financial backup if the business does not go as planned. If one is smart enough, he can seek engagements in different departments of the organisation through his career journey and exit once he has a gained an overall understanding of the different aspects of being in a business. Most also find their business partners and mentors through the course of their employment.”
Small things, big impact
A good entrepreneur
- never leaves things undone.
- acquiresmarket knowledge and keeps himself updated.
- knows that if he is not in, he’s out.
- will avoid fi shing in the same pond as everyone else. He knows there are greater seas to be explored.
- also knows how to secure or reinvest the money he makes.
- gets a mentor or team of mentors whom he can turn to for advice or to confess.
- gets people who can do the job better and faster.
- knows nothing can sell a bad product.
- Acknowledges his mistakes and learns from them.
- is independent, confi dent and self-reliant.
- is driven and dedicated.
- is absolutely in love with the business; he wakes up thinking of it and goes to bed thinking of it.
- doesn’t know the meaning of ‘Monday blues’.
- takes to business like a fi sh to water.
- is capable of adapting.
- is persistent.
- is inclusive: stays personally in touch with his customers, employees and vendors which gives him command, control and the ability to step in at the fi rst sign of things going bad.
- is a great communicator and, a better listener.
- knows when to be tight-fi sted, which by the way, is most of the time.
- networks effectively.
To be an entrepreneur is to be special. It means that one has had the guts to drop everything else and follow his dream. He need not necessarily be an expert in his area of passion. He may or may not have had years of experience. All that matters is what he does with what he is and what he has –the uniqueness of his idea and his eccentricity. If the eccentricity can be backed up with passion, judgement, a want and readiness to sweat for it, nothing can be beyond reach.
BUDDING MANAGERS
APRIL 2014 ISSUE