Multi Currency Exchange

 We have created a world where we recognise only one currency - money.

But in the course of my work with Esha and now The Children's Post, I have become acutely aware that just as the Sun is not the only star in the world, money is not the only currency of human exchange.

Here are two others, but they are two among many.

Social Capital: "I owe you one." - Very familiar, and very pertinent. We have all experienced this. We do things for other people, and if we are in the right social construct and if they remember, we exchange in this social currency.

Strokes/Love: This is, according to my experience, the second most universal currency in the world. This is why people volunteer. This is why we make time to meet friends. This is why we smile at strangers. This is why children at home miss school and adults miss office.

If you observe your interactions more closely, you will find that beneath the surface, there are many currencies being exchanged in human interactions. Each of them is important.

But we have created a single currency narrative. The direct result of that is that we have started to measure our own progress in life on that single axis - the location of the house, the size of the car.

What are some currencies that you have observed in human interactions?

The power of words

As a child, I noticed that my grandfather always addressed my grandmother as "Bhaagwaane" (O Lucky one). My grandmother, when she was angry, would scold us with "Tera Beda Tare" (May your boat find its destination).

One day, I asked my aunt why grandma scolds like that. She said, "Even in anger, we must not wish ill for another person. So instead of saying Beda Gark (May your boat capsize), she says Beda Tare."

Many years later, on a particularly tough project, I found myself getting frustrated often. One day, out of the blue, I suddenly decided, "Next time there is a moment of frustration, I will say, 'God Bless You'."

That's it. Just a change in the words we use.

Within a week, the moments of frustration were fewer, and within a month, we also managed to bring the project back on track.

We never know when our childhood will come and inspire our future. Can you think of one such time in your life?

Brevity is the soul of wit, not of wisdom.

Context:

I am currently reading 2 books: One has just the Suktis (moral at the end of the story) from Panchatantra, and the other has the stories, followed by the Sukti.

Reading the Suktis book leaves one perplexed and wondering if Vishnu Gupta was very focused on the acquisition and management of wealth.

For instance:
The employer who remembers that his primary goal is to keep his employees provided for, and one who gives their salary on time, will find that they are largely tolerant of his whims. But the employer who forgets to pay his employees will find that they are very disagreeable indeed.

Read as a sukti, it left one puzzled. But in the book of stories, one read about a lion who befriends a bull and is convinced that vegetarianism is the way of the future. This leads to starvation of the jackals who depend on the lion for their food.

After this context, the lesson made perfect sense.

Has this ever happened to you, that brevity points, but context explains?

Contrarian Decisions and their results

 #1

When Topgain was started, Sanjiv Menezes and I decided that we will not do what traditional strategic advisory does. There is a huge trust deficit in Advisory and we will try to plug that. We will treat our client organisations as our own and do whatever it takes, with ownership. There won't be a sales team and a delivery team. The person who meets you across the table and says, "Let's do this" , will be the one who works on doing it.

Why was this a contrarian decision?
This is not how Advisory works. There always is a sales team and delivery team. This model strongly limits our ability to scale because every single Advisor working with us will need to reorient their mental model too.

What was the outcome?
Three years and counting, our client relationships are strong, long-lasting, and above all else, when we sit down at the end of the day, we feel a sense of professional satisfaction.

On respecting our employment

 If you have noticed, before opening the store, a shopkeeper bends down and touches the floor of the shop. A performer touches the last step of the stage before getting on the stage. An auto driver starts the day by doing a small agarbatti or pooja in the auto.

Ever wondered why that is?
The shopkeeper, performer, and auto driver get their livelihood (rozi-roti) from the shop, stage, and auto respectively. Every morning, before they start work, they are thanking the means of their livelihood for providing for their families, and praying to it to bless them with a good performance.

There are some things that don't take a lot of time and effort, but cause a massive shift in our consciousness. The practice of thanking our livelihood before starting our work day is, I think, one such.

#lessonslearnt #BusinessPracticesFromIndia

Creating a startup orgn

 Creating a startup organisation is like building a house - the costs are going to escalate and it is going to take longer than you thought. #startup #lessonslearnt #mondaymorning

On Requirement Gathering

 If you are a system design consultant, this piece is for you.

There is a children's poem that explains how the battle was lost for want of a horse shoe nail.

Take a printout of the poem and tape it just above your screen.
Remember that poem when you are doing requirement gathering. It is ALWAYS the small things.
****
When do you do the transaction - how long after you have done it in the real world? Why do you think that is the optimal time?

What do you look for when deciding your sales pitch? What are the elements you need at once place, together?

When do you think its ok to share your password with a colleague? For which apps will you never do it?

What will you do if your orgn KRA requires you to fill daily updates, but you are in a field area with no signal?
***
After 15 years, I have found that the level, industry, or technology does not matter. When a project is delayed or faces user resistance, very often, it is because we did not ask the human questions.

We did not understand the fine print of their lives.

Is Gig economy the future?

 I have been thinking about the work preferences of our talent.

Most people now agree that a second gig while being in a full time employment should be perfectly fine. It is their talent and their time. Covid has also taught us that employees don't need to be in office to be productive.

So, should we move to a model where people get paid for outcome, and there is no restriction on being employed at multiple workplaces at the same time?

What will this do to the non-competes and Non disclosures that most organisations need? We will meet the individual's need to have multiple sources of income, and the organisation's need to get work done at less money.

But is it the right model ? What are your thoughts?

As a leader / people professional, how do you think industry should respond to this need in the talent pool?

Blog Special: You will be surprised to know that it was very rare for professionals to take up full time employment in traditional India. Even now, our cleaning ladies are their own bosses. It was the same in ancient India. The only permanent position we know is Munim ji. Other than that, everything was done with independence between the professional and the employer. Letter writers, teachers, sweepers..from the knowledge workers to the sanitation workers.. everyone! 

Today's lesson from the Panchatantra

The friendship of the dishonest is like the shadow in the first half of the day - It appears to be long and deep at the start, but slowly fades until it is no more.
Friendship among the honest is like the shadow in the latter half of the day - it starts small and slowly grows until it is taller than them both.

It is the same with business partnerships. 

About The Social Dilemma

 2 of the world's largest companies have a business model based on - advertisement.

We are very loud when it comes to vocalising our concern for privacy, but will we pay for the benefits we get from the tech behemoths?

As The Social Dilemma outlines very accurately - this business model needs to change. But it cannot change without enough willing customers.

How do you think this business model can change, to retain the good, and lose the evil?

Promotion Design Secrets that Mediums wont share with you

 Today, Flipkart reported that 53% of their Big Billion sales came from Tier 3 and 4 cities of India. So, what does it take to reach that last mile, which has the money, but nowhere to spend it?

 

Kaithal, Joshimath, Parowal, Nagothane, Una, Ulwe, Udupi,  Nanded, Dhanau, Kudal, Vardha, Solapur, Solan, Vishakhapatnam, Boregaon, Kolhapur, Ubarni, Nadurbar, Hinjilicut, Keonjhar, Sangnai, Madhopur, Bhimavaram, Ajmer, Avinashi, Arakkonam, Barnala, Jaitaran, Kair village, Madhopur, Salav, Guwahati, Palani, Patiala, Vadodara, Ukkunagaram, Surat,  Gangtok, Jaipur… these are just some of the places from where we get contributions and emails.

 

The journey of The Children’s Post has been truly phenomenal during the pandemic.

We have been able to establish connect with the last mile of India’s children. We now reach about 20 lakh children in Tier 2,3, and 4 cities of India.

Not surprisingly, The Children’s Post has emerged as a great medium for advertisers to reach parents and children in Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities of India.

 

In this post, I am going to share 6 secrets that we, as a medium have learnt.

 

1. Whether it is Sunfeast biscuits or Whitehat Jr., a consumer needs to have at least 5-6 interactions with a brand before they even recognise the brand.

Learning: 4 half page ads work better than 2 full page ads. Your brand may make a splash one day, but public memory is short and needs to be frequently jogged.

 

2. Cutting the clutter is a part of gathering the audience. The first part of gathering the audience is the right target group. One of the greatest mistakes advertisers make (and we made) is not doing the second part – removing the clutter. They get very besotted by the numbers mediums show them. For The Children’s Post, the TG is parents of children 8 and above. But once we get to that vast number, the next step is to find parents who want to give their children a newspaper. THAT is the tricky part.

 

As a product, we have advertised on digital media (Google and FB ads), and facebook groups. With no success. Our Facebook group has just 2700 members, but most advertisers who have promoted there have got enquiries and sign ups.

Learning: It is not just about the numbers. Removing the clutter from the numbers is as important. 2700 engaged and interested parents are better than 270000 members who fit the general SEC profile.

 

3. ONE interesting visual is enough.

One of the best ads we ran had just one image – but that image was very unique and it dominated the ad. That eye-catching image was enough to bring the reader to the ad. The rest of the ad was just plain text. We learnt a lot from that campaign. The ad did very well. The advertiser also got optimal returns because the size of the ads was reduced, and frequency increased. Think Amul girl or Parle G baby.

 

4. An exclusive offer ALWAYS works

Even if it is a simple 10% discount, every single advertiser who has used an offer “For The Children’s Post Readers Only” has got a good response. One of our best ads offered a lovely discount to our readers, for just one weekend. That exclusive offer, call to action, and a deadline by which to get the offer, ensured that people actually acted on the ad. Yes, they did have a lovely product -audience fit too.

 

5. Giving comes before getting

It is the oldest tip in the book, and it is always true. Take your ad space, but use it to give the reader something that helps them. This tip is especially useful for ed techs. They forget the importance of user education in customer acquisition. The TCP website is one of the few places where we give our advertisers an opportunity to create user education articles with their branding. The beauty of this placement is that it boosts the brand’s SEO for all time to come. If you teach Vedic Maths through games, create a few puzzles in your ad OR write an article on the website about Vedic Maths and how to get started.

 

6. Be sincere

Our early advertisers were teachers who moved to online classes. Their ads were simple and sincere. We found that in a world full of clutter, this sincerity and directness of communication really made the ads stand out. Every single one of them got enquiries and signups. 

Note: This post is appearing parallely on our TCP Blog and our website. 

 

On Foundational Skills

When my son was born, I wanted him to have real-life skills. The more I saw his school books, the more despondent I became.

I feel that when they had to design curriculum for Indian children, the Brits went to a section of the library called "The Most Useless Things To Know" and put that in our curriculum. After independence, some of the things were remedied and some were made worse. But after 1990, India, and indeed, the world, changed at a rapid pace. Skills that children used to pick up with their peers automatically, became scarce because peer interactions changed. Many of our grandparents learnt swimming in the village pond on their own.

So, after leaving work, I sat down and created this list of life skills that a child should have, but is missing from the curriculum and the environment.

It is not the list that is important. It is the idea that we, as parents and educators, need to equip children with a toolkit for life, not a degree. Increasingly, research points out that young adults are failing at adulting. We don't blame the parents. But we should. Drowning in their screens, living in nuclear families, how much parenting is our generation doing? It is either helicopter parenting, or absentee parenting.

It is said that no matter what a parent does, it is wrong. That is true, to some degree. But when so many young adults are failing to create and sustain relationships, when business models are made out of seemingly everyday things like studying, dating, friendships, then really, can we leave parents out of the responsibility zone?

On the Facebook group of The Children's Post, I shared a post asking for learning resources for Observation skills. There were some helpful ideas, but mostly, many parents asked for the list. And, its not the list that is important. I am hesitant about sharing that list because this checkbox style of parenting really irks me. This list was made for my child. It may not be relevant in another place, to another child. And therefore, I feel, that every child's need for life skills is very different. Some children come equipped with some things automatically. Some children are naturally gregarious. My son is shy and introverted. Some communication things are important for him. Some others, not so much.

So well, thats my dilemma. It helps to talk to oneself sometimes. :)