There is NO Right Answer

One of the biggest insights I have had in life was from my accounting professor, Mr. Broadbent, in my MBA course. He always used to say - "there is no right answer". As an impish student at that time, I barely grasped the depth of what he was saying. But now with graying hairs outnumbering the black & having sired a child in these tumultuous times, I am slowly understanding the portent of this seemingly innocuous statement.

While I am no Guru, I do believe that the existence of a climate which allows people to have differing thoughts only helps in creating an equitable society. It isn't a surprise that one of the primary rights enshrined in most constitutions in the free world is the freedom of speech & expression. It is extremely important in my eyes to be liberal in attitude & thought. It helps embrace newer thoughts & possibilities while preventing the onset of dogma & fanaticism.

A liberal mind is the building block of innovation & new thought. Do you think it would have been possible for the reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Savitribai Phule, Baba Amte, & their ilk to break the shackles of conventional thinking without a liberal mindset? True that in todays world there are certain vexing questions that have seemingly no clear solutions - viz. The Kashmir issue, The Hindu Muslim divide, The Jews vs. the Palestinians, Right to Abortion, Mercy killing / euthanasia etc.. Committed people on both sides of the debate weigh in with their passionate arguments. But it's when people shut themselves up to even consider any counter view is when fault lines harden.

You may well ask on which side of the spectrum do I stand on most of the issues. Honestly speaking - I & am sure you too, are often confused to be able to answer that. No we aren't ambivalent I'm sure. It's just that such complex issues aren't just plain white or black - it's in different shades of grey. And the only way I draw peace in such scenarios is falling back on what my wise old accounting professor said - "Ayan, its alright to draw different inferences. All answers lead to the universal truth & there is NO (one) right answer"

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Just as an aside, coming to think of it Mr. Broadbent never practised what he preached while we students took his missive to heart.

How can I say that with surety you wonder?

If there is NO Right answer, as he claimed, then how come I got a big zero on his test?? Total scam I tell you!

Our Heroes are Molesters

Akshay Kumar forcibly kisses Sonakshi in HOLIDAY 

I have always been a strong believer in perceptions being the trigger for everything related to decision making or for that matter in any thought formulation. What we perceive based on our understanding of the surrounding environment often dictates our actions. And perceptions can be highly amusing or surprising depending on which side you are.

I bring this up because of this harmless post by a school friend of mine in our WhatsApp group. The post was in reference to an article in a newspaper 'The Hindustan Times', where the journalist had mentioned why she thought Bollywood Heroes promoted molestation. Being an incurable romantic who had grown up watching the staple fare dished out by Bollywood such an accusation was bound to pique my interest. How was it possible that our venerated heroes who flared their nostrils at the slightest provocation to their ma's & behens & threatened to turn cannibal & drink the hapless dogs' blood (kutte main tera khoon pi jaunga!)  would themselves turn out to be rabid perps?

To the credit of the journalist, she did make a strong case for the same & believe me you really need to view it from her angle to even start comprehending the unthinkable. Using instances from several latest films such as Kick - Salman pulling (upwards) at the skirt of the heroine with his teeth & the heroine showing displeasure or Holiday - Akshay Kumar continuously following Sonakshi & placing a kiss on her lips while she apparently was bristling with anger. Also remember Dharam paaji with Dhanno while he teaches her to shoot - his hands move ever so deftly on her. Being a family hindi film, the film makers probably couldn’t show him make an attempt at the bases, but the intent was very clear & so was the apparent discomfort on Basanti's face.

 She (the journo) also referred to the Shahid Kapoor, Illeana starrer - Phata poster nikla hero (or some such), where he sings 'Khali peeli khali peeli bhaunk ne ka nahi, tera peecha karun to tokneka nai, Hai tujhpe right mera…'. The lyrics basically reinforces that while the heroes are willing to fly the extra mile to beat up the bad guys insulting / molesting women, a similar kind of behavior by them is ok, infact reinforcing the right of the guy on the girl who he is besotted on.

Kyun bhai?

Todays highly charged environment, with the media reporting every infringement & apparent molestation, means that our prism through which we view the world is also changing. Now even a (supposedly) harmless wooing exercise can be construed as the evil machinations of a salivating road side romeo. Several romantic tomes throughout the ages are rife with the suitor wooing the disinterested damsel, and all of us, including those not as mushily romantic, have enjoyed the dalliance & the visual imagery that it evoked. Now all of that now is suddenly a manual on male brutishness.

As a father of a daughter, I perceive, especially after reading the article, that the films might be justifying impropriety under the garb of playfullness, flirting & wooing - I mean when does it stop being harmless fun & get converted to harassment? Do note here that in all the cases mentioned above, the heroine invariably falls for the charms of the guy inspite of being forcibly kissed, having their skirt pulled up in front of others & being groped - thereby reinforcing the stereotype that when Girls say NO, they actually mean Yes.

As an erstwhile lover (I am no Cassanova, but I ain't Shrek either) who has wooed, sought & gained the attention of comely ladies (well some of us common folk have to work extra hard at it), I am confused if all my time spent sending poems to my lady love(s), standing waiting outside their college & home for hours for a glimpse & showing my face to them (in marketing terms its called brand recall), writing love letters in blood (or the cheaper substitute - tomato ketchup),  or holding their soft hands on the pretext of reading their future would be now construed as sexual harassment.  I believe that today it may be so & I totally blame perception for it.

So let me take this opportunity to thank god that I was born so many years ago when unrequited love was seen as such & honest longing, wooing & courtship wasn’t tainted with the perception of impropriety. Some benefits of being on the wrong side of 35 wot say??  

What the face!

Tell me what you think of when you hear these brands...

Amul, Parle - G biscuit, Manchester United FC, Ferrari & F1 racing, Kingfisher Beer & Airlines, Infosys, Virgin Airlines

Let me share what comes to my mind

Amul - Butter & the Utterly Butterly Delicious Girl & the quirky cartoons

Parle - G Biscuit - the chubby kid on the yellow packing

Manchester United FC - Wayne Rooney, Sir Alex Fergusson & Beckham

Ferrari & F1 racing - Michael Schumaker, Ayrton Senna

Kingfisher Beer & Airlines - Beer, Beautiful fit airhostesses & Vijay Mallya

Infosys - Narayan Murthy

Virgin Airlines - Virgins ;-p  & Richard Branson

I am sure that you too would have similar recollections / associations with these brands. The common thread running amongst all is the association of faces with each of these brands. Brands or products by its very nature are often inanimate objects that provide services or complete a need for us. But the association of faces /  individuals, who in our eyes embody the brand, make the brand more believable & more personal.

As humans we exhibit a need for community, a feel of being one amongst cohorts. Intelligent brands hence maximise the activity to make themselves seem human to the consuming populace. Celebrity marketing is something that you may realise is a classic example of this. While celebrity marketing - Ranbir promoting Pepsi for example, is generally used to create greater brand recall, break advertising clutter - it also puts a human face to the product, complete with normal aspirations & positivity - something that we can identify with.

The concept of organisations & branding as a science is generally assumed to have originated from the West where purchase decisions are supposed to be based on evaluation & rational decision making based on parameters. However in the East - decision making & influencing has always been about people. The networks of family, school, college, work,  the relationships that we build in our day to day life - with the neighbourhood kirana wala (shop keeper) for that matter, influences our decision making (& purchases) greatly .

The rise of the Social Network both in the West & here stresses the importance of people to people bonding. A no brainer then that people connect to people; not just to bright concepts or snazzy marketing ideas. So if you are someone with a killer idea / product, when marketing don’t forget to look human.

Based on ideas espoused in an article by Madhukar Sabnavis (VP Ogilvy & Mather-India) in Business Standard; pg 13, 1st Aug 14

Is Money Everything?

...... What a silly thing to ask.

As most of us already know, money is everything. It makes our lives a lot easier. That fancy diamond ring that you (or your wife / girlfriend / boyfriend) craved for, the luxurious trip to Cancun, or for us lesser mortals the 2 kg onions that we purchase at Rs 100 a kilo (- downright ridiculous I say), the money earned makes our lives a little comfortable.

But then once  basic needs (& then a little more) are met, we start considering intangible feelings such as work satisfaction. And as if such hard to meet expectations & complex emotions weren't enough for us to handle, as leaders / mentors, we have to also take care of such crucifying mindbenders when our reportees & team members ask us the same question.

And then suddenly we are thrown in the roller coaster ride of pitching (believable) psycho analysis babble & depending on whether we still want them on the team try to convince them, confuse them or just tell them to explore the vibrant opportunities available to them - outside the company (of course)!

Now while all these wily moves are a standard fare to most of us wisened veterans, the fact is that we know that it really isn't money that eventually drives motivated individuals & team members - Its actually the pride in what we do, in what we create & the knowledge that what we are doing makes a difference in the overall scheme of things. It’s the feeling that we matter & are, in our minds (subconsciously perhaps), indispensible, that drives us to be engaged & do better. Even if its something so manual as filing documents or fixing your nuts - on the car.

It isn't quite different to the passion some of us exhibit in our hobbies. Something akin to the high my numismatist (coin collector) friend gets by watching 2000 year old naked ladies on old worn out coins or the stamp licking stamp collector friend of mine.

But here is a twist. Nicholas Epley, John T Keller Professor of Behavioural Sciences at Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, says that People don’t always work hard for things that make them happy, & you cant always tell how a person really feels by watching what they do. When we look at colleagues, team members, reportees or for that matter even family members our perceptions often influence our inference of that they really feel & want from us & their life / job. Epley says that the right way is to just go flat out & ask them. And since most humans get stymied when asked a direct question, to know what they look forward to / want in the job, we ask them for example what part of their day brings the most satisfaction for them & also what part the least satisfaction. As a leader if you want to increase the probability that your team member enjoys  their work, try increasing & decreasing the relevant activities.

The tendency to overestimate the importance of extrinsic motivators like money & to underestimate the importance of intrinsic motivators like doing something meaningful or worthwhile seems to be a rather reliable bias among employers & leaders like us. That’s a trap that we rather beware.

(Note: Yeah ok -so I used double meaning entendres to get the point across - & yes I admit it isn't only naked ladies on old coins that gets my numismatist friend turned on! My apologies Dev for generalising ;-)

Also please note that the quality of my friends doesn’t necessarily attest to the weirdness of my behaviour)

Reference: Book review (Mindwise: How we understand what others think believe, feel & want by Nicholas Epley, Penguin books) article printed in the Strategist, Business Standard, Monday 21July 2014. Also Interview of Epley by Ankita Rai

Key words: Motivation, Pride, Self worth, Work satisfaction, Leadership, Mentor, What employees want

The Storyteller

THE STORYTELLER

The True measure of a marketing idea is if it makes customers care about what the brand stands for. The age of TiVo & shortened attention spans makes it imperative that the marketing idea (in fact any idea), is embedded in the collective psyche of the recipients. For that, the idea needs to not just persuade but engender feelings of care & empathy, making the idea ones own

If you were to think about it you would realise that marketing communication is actually just story telling. How relevant & soul touching your story is often translates into how effective & successful your marketing idea will be. And in todays 'social & interactive' world, the interactive nature of story telling is what would differentiate a good idea from a really wow one.

So exactly why is the participative ( I call it social & interactive) story telling such an effective way to influence behaviour?  Neuro- scientific evidence points towards three compelling reasons rooted in how the brain makes brand decisions.

1. Stories actually change our brain, shaping the way we think, feel & behave. Remember how you felt & behaved differently after watching a Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan (action)film as a child?
2. Its all about correct mapping - Brand stories do this by strengthening the connections in the brain between the network of neurons representing a brand & the network of neurons  representing a particular need. The richer the connections between these two networks, the more the brain is biased towards the particular brand (or idea / or product)
3. Many more synaptic connections are created when we ourselves participate in creating a brands story, greatly boosting our chances of remembering the brand (or idea/product) when it matters the most

So the strategy of any good marketing idea is to create an excellent story around it that binds it with an issue / thought that people care about (feel for /empathise with it) & tell it in the most participative way possible.

Now the moot personal question is - Will this work on the Boss when I ask for a raise next month?  :-)

Derived from the article 'The Big Ideas Great Leap Forward' by Leo Burnetts Rajeev Sharma (National Brand Planning Head Leo Burnett India) as appeared in Brand Equity (ET Jun25, 2014, pg3)