A complete dish, not an ingredient
Butter chicken is a complete dish, butter is just an ingredient. There’s so much more that goes into the recipe.
In life, we often end up identifying ourselves as a gender, a professional, a spouse, a parent, a child, a friend, a citizen.
We all are much more than that. A blend of all these and more. A complete dish, not an ingredient.
It’s important to remember that you have the freedom to decide the recipe. To choose the blends and proportions that best define the dish named ‘you’.
Someone will do it
Someone will overpay for that purchase, give into the peer pressure, make excuses, decide to be rude, or deliver substandard work.
Someone will take the ownership, challenge the status quo, bring new ideas to life, and will not give in to all the negativity.
The underlying question in both the scenarios is, “Would that be you?”
One more coffee shop
If there are already 10 coffee shops on a street, what’s the point of you opening another one?
What new are you going to offer?
A better blend of coffee? Bigger muffins? A better location with more footfall? What about a more boutique cafe with some books to read?
It’s hard to be able to differentiate in a commoditised business segment. Unless you are a big player in your space(say Starbucks in this instance).
If you can avoid entering a commodity business, that’s great. If not, a good approach can be to blend the commodity as part of an experience your audience will cherish.
Lowering the price is rarely the right decision. Someone will always be ready to do it cheaper than you.
Conditional apologies
“We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
“If my comments struck anyone as offensive, I am sorry, as that certainly wasn’t my intention.”
“I’m sorry I said that, but I have too much going on.”
Conditional apologies are pointless. They seek to avoid responsibility, make excuses, or downplay what was done.
Owing your screw-ups requires some courage. But it’s the only way to repair damage and rebuild trust.
You can either sweep the entire thing under the carpet. Or, you can acknowledge the wrongdoing and make a sincere effort to fix it.
The audience doesn’t really care
Imagine being seated in a theatre, waiting for your favourite play to start.
Ten minutes into the play, the lead character has an audio issue, and you can’t hear her properly.
She doesn’t realise the issue and continues to perform as normal. It takes the sound team about 5 minutes to get the normal audio back.
Maybe it was a signal issue. Or, maybe the team didn’t do a thorough sound check. What if the sound equipment failed at the last moment?
Does it matter to you what caused the issue?
The audience doesn’t really care.
They don’t care about your issues. Or, how great your product is. Or, how much funding you got from the investors. Or, how many followers you have on social media.
The aim is to put up a show that meets the needs of the audience you wish to serve. One that doesn’t just meet their expectations, but exceeds them. That’s all that matters.
It generally helps to start the process with a question, “What’s in it for them?”.
You’ll be disappointed
Sooner or later, you’ll ask for something or observe something or expect something, and won’t like what you get.
You’ll be disappointed. Everything will feel like a complete waste of time and resources.
Likewise, you too will disappoint someone, someday. A colleague. A client. A close friend. Or a family member.
Disappointment is part of the expectation-promise game. Higher expectations and more promises, also mean more disappointment.
The alternative is to hide, to not engage and to not bring your ideas to life.
Not a difficult choice after all.
The desire to achieve
The innate urge to achieve something can be attributed to two key drivers.
The first driver is to get external validation. Others around you admire ‘that thing’, and make every effort to get it. The achievement feels even more delightful when you are one of the handful who’ve been successful.
The other driver originates from a deeper desire to have something. Not because of any external reason but because ‘you’ really want it. For a specific purpose. For yourself, for someone close to you, or for a cause you believe in.
The second category of achievements are less common. But the journey and outcome are much more satisfactory.
It depends
Is it ok for you to swear at work?
What is the single most important measure of success?
Will working from home be the new normal going forward?
Should you be starting a business?
A simple and apt response to such generic questions is, ‘it depends.’ It depends on the realities around you. Your culture, limitations, circumstances, priorities and the level of self-awareness.
The actual answers differ from person to person, and from one moment to another.
It’s not a zero-sum game
There are two ways you can go about “being the best in the game.”
You can either spend all your time and energy focusing on improving your game. Learning and working towards getting better day by day.
Or, you can go around trying to bring everyone else down.
Your success, happiness, and satisfaction don’t come at someone else’s expense. It’s not a zero-sum game.
There’s plenty for all those who know what they want and are ready to put in the effort.
Reading vs. Watching
Reading and Watching – the two primary modes we use to consume information and communicate.
The two modes differ in more than one way.
Reading is an active process as it requires you to use more of your cognitive senses.
It’s possible for different readers to interpret the same content differently. Be it a professional email, or a character of a novel. The context, social factors and personal biases help shape these interpretations.
Watching, on the other hand, is a passive process as it feeds you a pre-defined narrative without any active need for interpretation. The human brain likes to visualise things and videos are visualisations ready to be consumed.
Both the mediums have their own place in the world of communication.
The selection between the two should be a conscious choice. Both for the content creator and the consumer.
Failure stories
Most startups fail. About 90%. 75%, if you are venture-backed.
Close to 70% of organisational change initiatives fail to deliver the results.
Approximately 92% of people who set up New year goals don’t end up achieving them.
Yet, we are only surrounded by stories of the elite minority. The ones who’ve managed to make it.
Success stories are misleading. They create a false perception of a very specific road-map to success. Especially when there is no prequel and sequel to the success story.
The failure stories, on the other hand, can be deeply insightful. What worked? And what didn’t? How long was it before you decided to give up on your idea? What if you went on for a bit longer? What stopped you from doing that? What did you do next?
Each story is unique and offers a lesson to learn. They collectively emphasise that ‘it’s ok to fail.’
The world needs more failure stories. Heaps of them.
Comparisons
We all do it or have done it at some point in our lives.
School grades. Job titles. Salaries. House. Social media followers. The number of categories of comparison are infinite.
In fact, these comparisons are the biggest source of insecurity and unhappiness.
The entire exercise, however, is both flawed and worthless.
Flawed as it’s never a like for like comparison. You rarely take into account the difference in personalities, origins and circumstances. Neither do you ever know the other person’s behind the scene reality.
Worthless because it doesn’t lead to anywhere. Nothing changes.
Plus, in the moment of making that comparison, you unknowingly end up setting limits for yourself.
The only comparison that truly matters is the one with yourself. Your current version vs. your past version.
Are you satisfied with what you’ve achieved over the past years? Are you happier today than you were yesterday? And are you a better human being now than you were some time ago?
Such a comparison is constructive, gives you actionable insights and doesn’t limit your potential to achieve things that others haven’t.
No matter how you feel…
Good, bad, or anywhere in between.
Whether you like it or not.
You still need to show up.
As a leader. As a performer. As an employee. As a spouse. As a parent. As yourself.
It’s easy to show up when everything is hunky-dory.
But being there when you feel like hiding, or running away, that requires some courage. However, these are exactly the moments that define you.
They show your character and commitment towards something bigger than yourself. Something more meaningful.
So irrespective of how you may be feeling today, try showing up. Not just for yourself, but for those around you.
For the right people and the right cause. With the right intent.
It shows you care.
We’ve seen that movie before
It’s the same storyline, same screenplay, and almost the same ending. Just the characters differ.
We all start university with the hope of using education to fulfil our dreams.
The time at the university is financed through big loans or our parents’ savings. After all, we consider education as an important investment.
You know exactly how much debt you’ll have the minute you graduate. Depending on your cultural backgrounds and/or family circumstances, it may even be compounded by the debt your parents carry.
The pressure of social expectations, and paying back the debt, manifests in people taking on jobs as consultants, bankers and other well-regarded positions. The ones that provide the best financial return on your degree.
The plan is to be there for a few years, pay back the loans, get in a good financial condition, and then chase your dreams.
By doing so, you successfully manage to pay back the student loan and get in a comfortable financial position.
But the story doesn’t end here.
Then comes the mortgage, and the new car, and other expensive purchases. You successfully manage to expand your lifestyle to match the salary you bring in.
Now you find yourself stuck and struggle to find a way out. Meanwhile, the decision to chase your dream keeps getting deferred till it’s eventually lost.
It’s sad but that’s how life plays out for a considerable number of people.
Remember, you can be one more character playing in the same old movie. Or, you can change the script completely. The choice is yours.
Data, insights and information
‘Data’ is becoming a popular trend. Everyone is talking about it. Big Data. Data science. Data-driven marketing. Data based decision making.
Over the years, both the amount of data and the access to it, have gone up significantly.
That doesn’t necessarily mean we are more informed.
Plain data, especially when there is lots of it, is all noise and hard to comprehend. It needs to be converted into meaningful insights, which requires one to have domain expertise and an understanding of the context in which data is collected and used.
The insights then need to be brought together in form of a narrative. A narrative that’s easy to understand and syncs with your audience. Only at this point, your data becomes information. Something one can act on.
It’s important to understand that data is just one part of the information ecosystem. In order to fully leverage the power of data, you need the right combination of context, domain expertise, and storytelling skills.
There’s a lot of pressure
To conform. Meet expectations. Get successful. Look good. Take the right decisions. And to be happy all the time.
It’s a long journey and the pressure is unending.
With every new start, comes in the pressure to prove yourself. Be it a new job, a new relationship or a new initiative.
This is followed by the pressure for validation. By your colleagues, manager, family and society.
And finally, once you are there and everyone looks up to you, there’s pressure to just be there. To maintain and defend your position.
While dealing with the pressure, it’s important to acknowledge that it’s self-induced.
What you choose to do with the pressure is your choice. If it isn’t helping you achieve what you want, don’t embrace it. Once you ignore it, it goes away.
Types of online content
There are essentially two types. Ones that cause interruption and the ones that result in engagement.
The first type is a one-way conversation focused on persuasion. A deluge of ads, sales and promotional materials. Across a number of platforms.
The other type aims to provide value to the audience by addressing their interests and/ or pain points.
As a consumer, it isn’t particularly difficult to choose between the two.
If you are a marketer, you have a choice. To interrupt or to engage.
This isn’t ‘the new normal’
People are calling this time as ‘the new normal.’
But in reality, this is going to be a very small percentage of our lives.
Several months, a year or maybe a bit more. But it will end at some point.
‘Normal’ by nature is temporary. What’s normal today, may not be normal tomorrow.
What we have is ‘a new normal.’ For now.
And after this, there will be another normal. And then another.
The resource conundrum
Access to resources is fundamental to getting things done.
Putting food on the table. Getting a job. Building an organisation. Raising a family. If you don’t have the right resources, it’s hard to get what you want.
But once you have the resources, the challenge is to prevent misuse and waste.
Too many people in an organisation rarely mean high productivity. And, the chances of you overpaying for something is much more when you have big savings, compared to when you don’t have any.
There is nothing like an ‘unlimited resource.’ Be it time, money, skills, network or people. You may not realise the limitations, but they almost always exist.
So that leads to two important questions.
How are you going to survive when you don’t have the resources you need?
And, if you are lucky enough to have the right resources, what are you going to do with them?
Who is it for?
A fancy office overlooking the river. Is it for you to be more productive or is it a way for you to show-off to your clients?
Do you want your kids to take a specific course because it prepares them for the future? Or, because that gives you social validation?
The expensive gift you bought for your partner. Is it really for them or, for you to feel good about gifting it?
Being truthful about ‘who is it for’ can make decision making easier.
It helps us understand the why behind our actions. And change them if we don’t like the answer.
The way we think about money
Let’s talk about money. We all have a specific way to think about it.
Some simply enjoy spending it while others like to save it for hard times. Some cherish the power it brings while others love the freedom it offers.
A number of factors help shape our thoughts about money. How much we earn. What stage of life we are in. Where we live. The practices our parents followed. And the way our friends spend it.
Everyone is chasing more money. But we all have a different relationship with it. In order for the chase to be more meaningful, it always helps to ask the question, “what does money mean for me?”
Negative comments
Whether you are a public figure or not, you’re going to have to deal with people’s opinion of your work.
Opinions from colleagues, managers, customers, family members and even strangers on social media.
While getting positive feedback is a big motivator, negative comments can be immensely discouraging.
In dealing with the negative comments, it’s helpful to ask two important questions.
How well does the other person know you? It’s important to realise whether they really understand who you are and what you do.
And, does their opinion really matter? Feedback from a potential customer of your product is worth attending to, as compared to the one from someone who simply read one of your social media posts.
Irrespective of the answers to the above questions, you should never let someone else’s opinion make you feel sad and demotivated.
Just because everyone is doing it
Peer pressure and the fear of missing out is real. In children and adults. Students and professionals. Women and men.
Just because everyone around you is going to a famous university, or getting married, or going on a vacation, or is big on alcohol, it doesn’t mean you need to do it as well.
Do it if you believe in it. And want to do it. At a time that’s right for you.
After all, it’ll be you who’ll have to live with it, not ‘everyone.’
Two reasons for doing something
One reason to do something is that you get paid to do it.
The other reason is a bit more subjective. To do something because you believe it’s important and worth doing.
The first reason often takes precedence while selecting the work one does as it offers instant and quantifiable returns.
The second type, however, is the one that makes you happy and satisfied. The one that offers a promise of positive change. Over a period of time.
You may not like it
But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Be it personal problems or professional challenges. Religious extremism or climate change. Gender bias or mental health issues. Fake news or systemic racism.
They all exist. And, they aren’t going away overnight.
The first step to solve a problem is accepting that you have one.
Once you’ve done that, you can make a plan to deal with it.
To neglect it. Learn to live with it. Or, do your bit to make things better.
Good or famous?
Be it the gadgets you buy. The school/ university you attend. The company you decide to work for. People you hire. Or the role models you choose to follow.
It’s easy to be confused into believing that if it’s famous, it must be good.
But that’s rarely the case.
There is little data to show that a university with the highest amount of patents (or huge sports facilities) is good at doing its primary job of preparing students for the future. And not sure if that company with a ‘famous’ founder is a good place to work for.
Being good at something requires one to meet a set of performance criteria. Being famous, not so much.
Choose wisely.
Stand out or fit in?
You can either stand out or fit in. Those are pretty much your only two options.
If you decide to go with the former, you open yourself to being judged. Or being called a fool. Or being the guy who doesn’t have a clue.
But you also have a chance to achieve something unique. To earn the trust of those around you and carve out a niche for yourself.
The second option is much easier. You are just like everyone else. No one would criticise you.
But you run the risk of being easily ignored. After all, there is nothing unique about you.
It’s not that difficult to figure out how to fit in. You’ll find plenty of people around you, who can advise you on that front.
However, there is no mantra to stand out. You’ll have to figure it out yourself.
The maintenance analogy
A brand new car is much smoother to drive as compared to the one that’s 10 years old and has done a hundred thousand kilometres.
But again, not all old cars are the same.
The ones that have been looked after well, were serviced at regular intervals and had the right maintenance done at the right time, generally are in a much better condition.
The same principle applies to humans as well.
As youngsters, we are full of energy. We set ourselves ambitious goals and hope to work tirelessly to achieve them.
With age, we take on more and more responsibilities, get exhausted and gradually slow down.
However, the ones that are aware enough to look after themselves, take regular breaks and play it at their pace, generally stay active for a longer time.
Integration is a powerful concept
Integration is a powerful concept. Not just in mathematics but in business, culture, society and life in general.
Companies that are able to build products that seamlessly integrate with each other, end up creating highly valuable ecosystems. Apple, Google, and Alibaba do a great job at this.
People with the ability to integrate into a new culture, find it easy to thrive in a new organisation (or a new country).
How well our work, family, friends and lifestyle integrate together, defines the quality of life we live.
Integration isn’t always an easy task. It requires you to work on creating strong links between the components while appreciating their individuality at the same time.
But if done properly, they almost always create ecosystems that are much more significant and meaningful than the individual components.
Low interest rates
The interest rates are at a historic low.
The governments and reserve banks across the world want to increase consumer spending.
There’s never been a better time to get a mortgage (or any other loan), they say.
Sure, access to cheap money can be a great incentive to borrow. But should you?
Before you decide to go ahead, it would be worth addressing three fundamental questions.
Do you really need it?
What are you going to do with it?
And most importantly, how are you going to pay it back?
On making a decision
“How do I know what’s the right thing to do?”
“Will it work?”
“What if it doesn’t?”
The truth is you are never going to know the outcome. At least not at the time of making a decision.
The only way to find out if the decision is going to work is by making one. If it works out, great. Analyse what worked and why. Then double down on it. If it doesn’t, simply adjust.
There is nothing like a perfect decision. The idea is to choose the best option based on information that’s available today. Move forward. And improvise on the way.
Just this once…
I’ll do a long day at work and not care about the family waiting at the dinner table.
Or, go over the speed limit to overtake the vehicle in front.
Or, would go over my budget limitations.
Or, would accept that ‘unacceptable’ behaviour at the workplace.
Just this once.
In the short run, it’s easy to abandon what we believe in. We assume that it is a one-off exception and next time we face a similar situation, we’ll react in a different way.
But that’s rarely the case. In the moment of making such an exception, we’ve already made a decision on what’s truly important.
Organisations end up with bullies and predators as it’s easier to keep them, especially if they are top performers.
What makes it a principle is that you do it now, even though it’s hard.
PS: I made a ‘just this once’ exception in August to skip updating this blog for a day and it has taken me more than 2 months to get back to it.
Two types of businesses
There are businesses that cater to the ‘wants’ of the people and the ones that cater to the ‘needs.’
The ones that successfully cater to the ‘wants’, end up achieving significant growth and returning decent profits.
However, the businesses that manage to address the needs of their customers, are the ones that drive a change.
In a rare occasion when a business uncovers a need that even the customer is unaware of, the change is transformational and long-lasting.
No one asked for it
No one asked for the first car to be built.
No one asked for smartphones to be created.
No one asked for a new social media platform.
No one asked for on-demand entertainment channels.
And now a majority of world population uses these creations in one form or the other.
People don’t necessarily know what they want till they actually get it.
The greatest discoveries begin with a theory based on observing the world around you. Understanding the apparent and hidden needs of those around you. And then asking, “how can I make things better?”
The golden rule is biased
“Treat others as you would like others to treat you.”
Or “Don’t treat others in ways you wouldn’t like to be treated.”
The golden rule is an important moral and philosophical principle. Although formulated with a noble intention of treating others well, it has a major inherent bias.
By relating the treatment of others with how you want to be treated, it somewhat emphasises that your way is the ‘normal’ way of doing things.
And that’s where the problem starts. In business negotiations, personal relationships, projects and our day-to-day dealings. We engage with others on our terms assuming that it’s the norm for everyone else.
Suppose you are an extrovert person married to an introvert partner. And you have planned a birthday party him/ her with loud music and lots of people. How would that go for him/ her?
As a salesperson, you are more likely to offer your client a discount in a business deal (even if the other party didn’t ask for it) if you personally seek discount in items you buy.
The assumption that others would like to be treated the same way as you, is not necessarily true.
How about treating people the way ‘they would like to be treated?’
The business of trust
When you go to see your doctor, you trust the treatment he/she gives you is the best for you.
While signing a commercial deal, you trust the other side will hold on to their side of the deal.
In personal relationships, you trust the other person will be honest and understanding.
You trust that your bank will keep the money in your savings account safe.
Be it a family, a profession, an organisation, or a company (small or large). We are all in the same business. The business of ‘trust.’
Trust is hard to define, but we do know when it’s lost. When that happens, we disengage.
But when trust is intact, we are heavily invested in the relationship – emotionally, financially or both.
The key elements of trust are reliability, competency and transparency.
The dynamics of trust are delicate. It takes a long time to gain trust. And much longer to regain it (if at all it ever happens).
And then what?
Let’s say you made it to the top university. Or, got that dream job. Or, moved to the country of your choice. Or, bought a big house and a luxury car.
Then what?
We spend a significant amount of time working towards a set of milestones. Dreaming, strategising and putting all our efforts towards those predefined goals.
But the thought of “what will happen once we reach the milestones” rarely crosses the mind.
The milestones are just moments in time on the bigger timeline of life. They symbolise the beginning or end of a phase.
Focusing on a phase rather than a milestone can help us understand why we want to achieve what we want to achieve.
The uncertain certainties
Truth and dare
No, this isn’t about the famous party game ‘truth or dare.’
The game in real life is a bit different and a lot more challenging.
You don’t get to choose between the two options. It’s truth ‘and’ dare.
Do you have the courage to tell yourself the truth? The truth about your failures, weaknesses, needs and inaction. The urge to conform, complain and blame. The times when you were wrong and the times when you didn’t accept the reality.
And then would you dare to act? To challenge the status quo, take a stand, not follow the crowd, do something meaningful, follow your gut and be open to being vulnerable.
The most interesting part of the game is that you just need a single player. You.
Belonging
Belonging is a primal instinct.
As humans, we are not alone. We belong.
To our families. Circle of friends. An organisation. A neighbourhood. Our culture and country. Religious groups. Or even the weekly sports club.
By belonging to a group, we feel as if we are a part of something bigger and more important than ourselves.
The desire to belong to a group can lead to changes in behaviours, beliefs, and attitudes as people strive to conform to the standards and norms of the group.
This sense of belonging can be extremely powerful when it comes to marketing.
Companies that successfully manage to nourish communities give their users a reason to come together and connect. A reason bigger than the products and the brand.
Sooner or later
Needs and wants
We all have needs. Monetary, emotional, social or otherwise.
But we rarely express them freely.
Wants are easy to talk about, as they represent desires. The aspiration of getting our way and the feeling of control.
Needs, on the other hand, imply survival. The very minimum required of us to take action.
The open exposure of our needs makes us feel vulnerable, hence we often hide our needs behind our wants.
“I want to be rich and famous” represents our need to be liked socially, need to prove ourselves and gain status, and the need to attain a certain level of financial comfort.
“We want you to offer your best price” A common phrase used in negotiation often implies the need to feel respected and valued.
“I don’t want to talk to you” can often represent the need to be listened to or the need to satisfy one’s ego.
Once you can discover the needs of the other person, you can connect with them at a much deeper and meaningful level. You also have a lot more control over the outcome of the discussion.
It’s all gonna be okay
Would it?
It depends. If you mean, “Everything is going to be exactly the way you want it to be.” Or “Just the way it was before.” Then the answer is no.
But if you mean, “Everything will be the way it’s going to be and you’d be able to handle it.” Then the answer is yes.
You get to control whether it’s gonna be all okay or not.
We don’t talk about it
We don’t talk about our failures.
We don’t talk about the incapable leaders.
We don’t about the systemic racism that exists in our country.
We don’t talk about how we could improve things around us.
We don’t talk about the countless opportunities we let go.
We don’t talk about the pain and what hurts.
We don’t talk to our family and friends.
We don’t talk about the things that we don’t talk about.
And, that’s sad.
Narratives
A funny story from ‘Two Popes”. A church follower goes to the spiritual director and asks if it’s permitted to smoke while praying.
The spiritual director replies, “No, of course not!”
Another follower asks the same thing but slightly differently. “Is it permitted to pray while smoking?” You can guess the answer.
It’s all about the way you tell it.
Narrative is an account of events (real or fictitious) conveyed in a meaningful form. The narrator, however, makes the choice of events to relate and in what order to relate them in order to shape the perception of the receiver.
A narrative is a paradox as it seeks to convey the truth by hiding it. The storyteller arranges the events in such a way that information is revealed gradually, getting you to focus on exactly the things the narrator wants you to focus on.
Narratives exist all around us. From politics to religion. Advancement of science to social movements. And from the company’s marketing initiatives to its legal compliance.
A well planned and executed narrative has the power to influence and alter the belief of its audience.
Self talk
Negative thoughts are hungry for external validation.
A single agreement with your internal criticism is enough to drop you into infinite loops of negativity.
The reverse, however, is rarely true. No amount of external validation can quieten down the levels of self-criticism.
The antidote for negative thoughts then isn’t external approval but positive and truthful self-talk. Heaps of it.
Not some unreal, over-optimistic outlook of the world. But a balanced view that acknowledges the reality and values different perspectives, possibilities and hope.
Taking Ownership
No doubt it’s difficult.
You know what’s easy?
Blaming others. Making excuses. Accepting the status quo. Building a herd mentality. And letting your life run on auto-pilot.
But none of that drives any change.
Ownership requires you to confront your weaknesses, own your failures and accept the reality. And that’s what makes it hard.
However, it gives you, the power. The power to take action. The power to make improvements. The power to move on. And most important, the power to take control!
But you are too expensive
“We really like your offering, but it’s too expensive.”
Too expensive compared to what?
‘Expensive’ is a relative term. When someone flags a product or service as ‘expensive’ they are likely to be drawing any of the four comparisons.
First, the comparison of the price of the offering to the perception of the value it delivers. This is often the most important comparison of all. If the buyer has a low perception of value for your offering, they’ll always find the price to be too much. “It’s a lot of $ for just X, Y and Z.”
Second, is the comparison with similar offerings in the market. Do they deliver the same value at a lower price? How much research has the buyer done? What’s special about you that others don’t or can’t offer?
The third is the comparison to their own budget. Yes, Tesla is a great car, unlike anything else in the market. But it doesn’t fit in everyone’s budget.
Fourth is the comparison to do nothing. They can pay a monthly subscription for your accounting software, or they can continue using Excel to record expenses at no extra cost.
Knowing which of the above comparisons is making the buyer consider you ‘expensive’, can help you achieve a positive outcome.
Anything that offers significant value and is close enough to the budget is rarely expensive. The trick is to ask the right questions.
Opinions
They are free, in abundance, and everyone has got one!
From politics to religion. Gender inequality to race discrimination. Career decisions to lifestyle choices. Mental health to climate change.
Opinions by nature have a degree of subjectivity and uncertainty linked to them.
When someone says “In my opinion”, they are presenting their views on the topic.
That’s all an opinion is – someone’s viewpoint. Informed or uninformed!
Opinions can broadly be classified into two types. The ones that reflect your personal taste or preferences, and the ones that reflect your views on matters that concern other people (or wider society).
You can’t really argue the first kind of opinion. It would silly to insist that you are wrong to think winters are better than summers or tea is better than coffee.
However, the second kind, the one that affects the community, is subject to discussion and acceptance by others. Who will often have their own opinion on the topic.
But surely everyone is ‘entitled’ to their opinion?
It depends. If you mean that everyone is free to think and say anything, then yes. No one can stop you from saying “5G technology is the cause of the Coronavirus pandemic”, or “There is no gender pay gap”, no matter how much data suggests otherwise.
But if ‘entitled to an opinion’ means ‘entitled to have your views respected or seriously considered’ then the answer is a big no.
Not all opinions are equally valuable. For your views to be respected and accepted, it’s important to base them on facts and present it in a way that syncs with your audience.
After you
We live in a peer-to-peer connection economy where anyone can take the first step.
Anyone can reach out. Anyone can drive the change. Anyone can start a business. Anyone can build an audience. Anyone can select someone else.
But if you keep waiting for anyone, it’s unlikely to happen.
It begins with you.
You can only escape the reality for so long
The global financial crisis of 2008. The biggest financial institutions and rating agencies knew all about it.
The education system has been long broken. The current crisis just exposed its vulnerabilities.
The companies with faulty business models will have to soon renovate or they’d struggle to survive the current scenario.
None of these problems appeared overnight. They existed much before the public could see it.
You can only hide or escape reality for so long.
Problems and issues exist everywhere. In politics, administration, institutions, jobs and in everyone’s personal life.
You can either have your head in the sand, not accept the reality and let it all take care of itself.
Or accept the problem and make a plan to address it.
Which one will you choose?
Headless Chicken Syndrome
Imagine losing a bid to the competitor and conversation after that. We lost that job. Another one! We are losing market share. Maybe we should reduce our price? Maybe not, we are a premium product….
Or consider this. You are working on multiple projects and some of them are running behind. You are attending meetings after meetings. Checking email and voicemail the entire day. The to-do list keeps growing longer and longer. And you are exhausted!
Does any of this sound familiar?
They are all symptoms of “Headless Chicken Syndrome”. It represents a state of busyness, doing multiple things at a time, but in a disorganised or uncontrolled manner, or in a state of panic, without any direction.
The treatment requires understanding the priorities, setting the right goals and executing a plan that aligns with both priorities and goals.
Wholly not partly
“She is a highly successful leader but her style is too aggressive.”
“He is a great sales guy but rarely follows the script.”
“I am happy to have a partner who is loving and caring but he/she is too emotional and doesn’t take practical decisions.”
People are hard to understand. With every individual having a unique and complex amalgamation of traits and behaviours.
In our interactions with other people, we tend to appreciate the qualities that match our needs and beliefs, while rejecting the ones that don’t.
However, the truth about people is that you can’t customise them as per your needs. They come as a complete package.
Whether or not you accept the package is your choice. But either way, it has to be in whole not in part.
Empathy is difficult
If only I believed in everything you believe.
And knew the exact same things you know.
And came from the same cultural background as you.
And had the same life experiences as you did.
I’d be doing things exactly the way you do it.
But the truth is I don’t.
Genuine empathy requires emotional depth and imagination to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the other person. That’s difficult but is almost always worth it.
The ‘average’ reality
If the average ratings of the two products are 4.5 and 3.9, is the product with a 4.5 rating a better product for you?
If the average household income of a country went up in a specific year, does that mean every citizen made more money that year?
If the average mathematics score of a class is 70, did every student get the same score?
Averages summarise a large amount of data in a single point. But they often hide important information.
The truth about average is that majority of data points don’t sit there. Sometimes none of them meets the average value.
Averages are good at hiding the spread of data and give no indication of the extremes. They create a central line dividing everything into ‘above’ and ‘below average.’
While considering averages, it’s important to look at more detailed information and context behind it.
Simplicity
As a 5-year-old, I said to my father that we should buy a car.
He questioned back, “Where will we get the money from?”
To which I replied with full confidence, “We’ll just sell our house and live in the car. Mummy, you and I. Simple!”
18 years later, a professional psychometric consultant asked me to explain thermodynamics in a simple language that a 5-year-old could understand. I struggled!
Simplicity is of two types. The first type arises out of pure ignorance. Like the suggestion of permanently living in a car.
People simplify (sometimes oversimplify) things all the time. Creating stereotypes, following rigid religious beliefs, or blindly following a lifestyle. Mostly out of ignorance and lack of perspective.
The other type of simplicity is more deep and profound. It requires you to be curious. To be able to work through all the complexities of the process and incorporate them into a final outcome, that’s simple enough.
Examples of this type can be observed in selective luxury products, home decors, technology products, carefully chosen lifestyles and personal relationships.
Of the two, the second version of simplicity is much harder to achieve. But that’s the one that makes all the difference.
Data translators
Businesses around the globe are investing heavily in analytics, AI and big data initiatives.
The search for talent, however, has been focused primarily on data scientists.
There is no doubt that data scientists are critical to building models and extracting insights out of vast amounts of data.
However, a role that is equally if not more important is that of a “data translator.” A role that interprets data science into actions that drive change or solve a problem.
Data translators are even more critical in traditional sectors like manufacturing, mining and agriculture, where leaders generally come from non-tech backgrounds.
A good data translator brings in a combination of domain expertise, technological know-how and deeper business understanding. They should be able to translate data into stories and meaningful actions.
Two types of authority
There are two types of authorities, each of them corresponds to a different type of leadership.
The most common one is the authority that arises from one’s position or title. Leaders of different countries. Government bureaucrats. Police officers and maybe even your reporting manager.
In this form, the authority resides in the office or position, not the leader. It generally has a fixed tenure and is answerable to a higher office of authority.
The other form of authority is based on the leader’s personal qualities and charisma. The leader’s power comes from the massive trust and faith people put in him/her.
History has some clear examples of such leaders. Consider Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela.
This form of authority is purely driven by vision laid by the leader and his/her ability to see it through.
Business leaders generally enjoy the authority of their office but have a choice of winning people’s trust and leading with a purpose.
Let’s put words in your mouth
In 2018, Google launched a new feature ‘Smart Compose’ which uses machine learning to make suggestions for completing your sentences when drafting an email.
LinkedIn introduced a feature ‘smart replies’ (so did Google) in 2017, which provides reply recommendations for your conversations.
The technology companies attribute ‘saving time’ as the sole reason behind the introduction of such features.
The limitation in composing messages is not a physical one. It’s not as if the keyboard is not being able to keep up with our thought process.
What the companies are saying here is, “You can’t think of the right words fast enough. So we are going to put them in your mouth for you.”
Technology is great for enhancing efficiency but communication requires a lot more than that. It requires you to be humane, understand the other person and express yourself truly.
From a position of leverage
How does Google get businesses to compete with others for their bids on search keywords?
What makes a certain supplier more valuable to a company than others?
Why are companies more open to salary negotiations when the employee is about to quit?
In all these situations, one party enjoys a clear position of leverage over the other(s).
To gain leverage, you either need to be irreplaceable, deliver more value than the other side or should have the ability to walk away.
The party that has the most to lose from a ‘no deal’ outcome always has less leverage than the party that has nothing to lose.
The big picture
Suppose you’re stuck in a big traffic jam on your way to an important meeting. You consider taking an alternate route but don’t know if that’s going to be any better.
A navigation device or app can help you find the fastest route. But how does it know the fastest route and you don’t?
We wouldn’t go into technical details of how navigation systems work but here is a simple explanation to consider.
Based on the location data (and speed) of different vehicles, it calculates the fastest route. The navigation system can see the bigger picture you can’t.
In life, we’re too much focused on things at a micro level that we often fail to see the big picture.
Money and status vs. personal satisfaction. Going with general trend vs forming our own opinions. The daily office politics vs. the overall career direction. How about not seeing your career in isolation and thinking about life more holistically?
Leaders whose main role is to look at the big picture for the company, often fall into the trap of micro-level thinking. Focusing on short term profits rather than building something that lasts. Or, being too much aligned to the interests of shareholders rather than the entire set of stakeholders.
There is no doubt that one needs an understanding of things at the micro level but every now and then it’s worth looking at the big picture.
The design matters
Be it your new home, your favourite mobile apps, the gadgets you use, the clothes you wear, the car you like, or even the life you choose to live. Design matters.
More often than not, simple and clean designs are the ones that are most appealing.
Simple and elegant designs require a much deeper understanding of the system than one normally thinks. A deeper understanding of not only the product you are designing but also of its users.
Vision and goals
The two are different. Very different. A big goal is not the same as a vision.
“Being a millionaire” is a goal. The idea of “space tourism and building a city on Mars” is a vision.
“Ensuring your kid gets admitted to the top university” is a goal. “Having a family where everyone stands by each other” is a vision.
Vision is the destination one visualises and wants to achieve, the path to which is often unclear. As you take each step, the next step becomes clear as long as you stay focused on your vision.
A vision is limitless and purposeful. It is aligned with your deepest values and priorities.
Goals, on the other hand, are specific targets and are more realistic. Something more tangible.
Although it’s common for people to have a set of goals in life, vision gets a lot less focus. That’s true both in the professional and personal context.
Goals without a vision can make you directionless. It’s like driving on a highway at 100 km/h for hours without knowing the destination. Which direction should you drive in?
Once you have visualised the destination, setting individual goals to achieve it can be deeply satisfying.
Mutiple versions
Software versioning is used to categorise the unique states of computer software as it gets developed and released. Android made its public debut in 2008 with version 1.0 with the latest one being version 10.
Engineering projects use ‘version control’ to keep a record of different versions of the same document. The initial draft, the one that was approved, the one that was changed to add more details, and so on.
The first generation ‘Toyota Corolla’ was introduced to the market in 1966, with the latest twelfth generation released in 2018. Each generation has different models that offer slightly different value than the others.
Versions exist all around us. Just not in products and projects, but in our day to day life.
Different versions of a story. Different takes on history. Distinct strategies at work. Separate definitions of success. And various ways to live life.
Unlike products, versions in real life aren’t always progressive. However, they offer something very unique. They offer variety and the ability to create a version of your own.
Busy-ness vs. Business
While ‘busy-ness’ sounds cool, ‘business’ means producing things of actual value. The two are often unrelated.
People are throwing around the ‘busy’ word way too much. It feels good to be busy because it boosts your ego.
Busy-ness is easy to measure. “I worked a 17 hour day yesterday.” But what did you achieve in that time?
What if you had a totally unbusy day and spent it making real decisions that matter? The ones that will help you produce something worthwhile or make meaningful progress.
Being able to talk their language
Nelson Mandela was a revolutionary leader with exceptional ability to connect with people.
He once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
When you speak to someone in their language, you send a message that you care enough to know about the other person. And that you are not much different than them. That creates an instant connection.
I’ve been part of intense negotiations, where a simple greeting in the local language has helped drive a more amicable outcome.
Political leaders and bureaucrats communicate in different languages all the time, to be able to connect to their foreign counterparts.
The concept also holds true in a non-linguistic sense.
Engineers talk a different language than the marketers. A CFO of a company has different priorities than the person-in-charge of products. Developers and Designers see the same product differently. A good salesperson knows how to modify his pitch for different customers. And parents often talk to kids in their language.
Being able to talk someone else’s language is hard and complex. It requires a conscious effort to see the world from the other person’s viewpoint.
But it also creates a common bond. A bond that makes your interaction more meaningful and worthwhile.
You’ll never have it all figured out
And that’s okay!
People are scared to commit to something or move to the next phase.
Be it relationships, careers, or starting something new. They are waiting for the moment when they have figured it out.
As if there’s going to be an ‘aha-moment’ when they’ll have all the clarity.
The truth is that you’ll never have it all figured out.
Consider this. 10 years ago, did you know you’ll be doing what you’re doing today?
The alternative is to figure out as you go. Commit to something. Something you believe in and take action. Face the challenges along the way. And, grab the opportunities with both hands as they present themselves.
Try writing it down
Writing can be a powerful tool. Not only in a professional setting but also in a personal space.
Making an investment decision? Try writing down the expected gains and risks, the knowns and unknowns, and the level of financial commitment required.
Choosing between two complex options? Try jotting down the pros and cons of the two. Which of those factors matter to you most?
Writing helps you gain clarity. It allows you to free up your mind, gives wings to your imagination and empowers you to tell your story.
Writing symbolises commitment. According to neuroscience, if you have written goals, you have more chances to accomplishing them.
It also makes you accountable. When in doubt, try writing all of it down.
After a while
The thing you are so worried about today, would you even care about it tomorrow?
In a week’s time? Next month? Next year? A couple of years from now?
Thinking differently – what is it that you can do today, that will still matter after a while?
An action, a decision, a habit, something that’s important to you, something meaningful.
Do stats lie?
The weather forecast for the weekend said there is a 90% chance of rain. But it didn’t rain at all.
Does that mean the forecast was wrong?
Not really. All forecast meant was that the odds of it raining are 9 in 10.
Statistics can easily mislead. In the above example, it’s both easy and common to overlook that there were odds of 1 in 10 (a 10% probability) that it may not rain at all.
The government announced the current unemployment in Australia is 7.1 %. The definition of unemployed requires someone to be “actively seeking a job” and doesn’t take into account people on social welfare. Is the unemployment rate truly 7.1% then?
While the actual numbers don’t lie, they can in fact be used to mislead. Sometimes purposefully, sometimes not.
The organisations across the globe are hyper-focused on gathering and analysing massive amounts of data. What’s often missing is the contextualisation of data.
Do you understand those trends correctly? Do they actually represent the true business behaviour? What is your underlying assumption or bias when looking at that data?
Remember the data and statistics are only as good as the person interpreting it.
But who made these rules?
In the game of backyard cricket, the kid who owns the bat gets to bat first.
As a child you know it’s not a real cricketing rule. It’s an “I own a bat, so I get preference” rule.
As we grow older, we encounter a number of social practices we consider as ‘rules.’
Dressing up a certain way. Behaving (or not behaving) a specific way in a social setting. Choosing some educational institutes because they are premium. Making typical career choices because that’s the norm. Following selected religious practices and so on.
The only difference (compared to childhood) being, we accept them as “real rules.” We don’t question them at all.
Rules are a means to execute authority. They involve a controlling party who makes up the rules for the other party to follow. To behave a certain way, often for the benefit of the controlling party.
The only rules that apply to your life are the ones you decide or agree to. When encountering different rules in life, it always helps to ask the question, “who made these rules?”
What does your ‘box’ look like?
“Think outside the box.” A popular, corporate catch-phrase that is somehow supposed to instantly turn on your creativity.
But what box are we talking about? How does it look? What boundaries are you supposed to look past?
We live with constraints all the time, and instinctively explore alternatives within a confined space. Constraints of assumptions, beliefs, systems, status and resources, often define the boundaries of our ‘box.’
Your audience and problem statement define boundaries for your product. Your depth of knowledge in a domain influences your decision making. And, your social beliefs shape your thoughts on issues like racism and gender equality.
Once you understand the parameters of the box – how big is it, what’s inside it and what the boundaries are, it’s easy to look inside the box. Then move the boundaries a little bit, and then a bit more.
Uncertain isn’t always risky
Uncertainty implies a range of possible outcomes.
Outcomes with different options, choices, solutions, opportunities, innovations and maybe, just maybe risk.
Just because something is uncertain, it doesn’t mean it’s ‘risky.’ It just means that you don’t know about it in advance.
It’s the fear of the unknown that makes us relate uncertainty to risk. It makes us believe that anything that we don’t know, can’t quantify and can’t control, is a threat.
Consider moving to a new city or a country for your job or studies. There are a lot of unknowns. But it isn’t really a risky move.
Or, low confidence weather forecasts. They have high levels of uncertainty, that doesn’t necessarily translate to risk.
Once we understand the difference between uncertainty and risk, it’s easier to address them separately.
One who pays the money gets to control the game
If your parents are paying for your higher education, they have a say in which university you go to.
When an investor puts money in your startup, they seek percentage ownership in your firm.
When you take a mortgage, the bank owns a large percentage of your home. Education loans control your lifestyle and career choices.
The client who pays the bill decides the way the project is done.
One who pays the money gets to control the game.
It’s generally true except in case of government taxes where the common man hardly has any control.
It’s the reason companies align themselves to the interests of their highest-paying customers and the governments get to decide the way distribute social benefits (and for how long).
The Race / Ethnic debate
‘Race’ is an important social topic, and a complex one.
White vs black, the West vs the East, European vs non-European. Discrimination against Indigenous Australians, Asians, people of colour. Privileged vs the underprivileged.
Racial discrimination is real and runs deep within our society. Every single society. It’s based on the desire to control and maintain power.
The fact we actually have debates around it simply defies the gravity of the topic. The goal is not to win (or defend) an argument but to understand.
It doesn’t matter how many ‘inclusive policies’ we build within our organisations, or how many chit-chats we have around diversity, or how many social media posts we share around justice.
We need to accept the truth that racial discrimination is a problem, not for a few but for all of us.
What we need is an honest discussion. How did we get here, and how can we get better, together.
We need to really open up and have those conversations, even when they are are difficult and uncomfortable.
Why exclusivity works
Imagine searching for flights and seeing ‘only 3 seats available at this fare.’
Or consider the coveted clubs that have ‘invitation only’ memberships.
Even applying for schools or universities that have big waiting lists.
People like things that are exclusive. They want what they can’t have. They want what others desire.
Having access to something exclusive is a symbol of status. It provides people with a way to signal to the world that they are one of the selected few.
Quality is subjective
How do you know if a product (or service) is a ‘quality’ product (or service)?
A simple definition can be, ‘meeting the spec’ or ‘conforming to the requirements.’
But then who gets to decide those ‘specs’?
Are German cars better quality than Japanese cars or vice versa?
Does YouTube have higher quality content than TitkTok or the other way round?
How do you know if you got quality service from your consultant, doctor or a car mechanic?
Quality is subjective and is influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions.
If you are offering a product or service, you have two options. You can provide an offering with a ‘good enough quality’ that meets the requirements of an average customer. Or generate a ‘high quality’ offering based on your internal standards, and take it to the customers who would value it.
Managing risks
Driving a car is risky. It’s riskier than travelling on a plane!
But you still drive on a regular basis.
You can reduce the driving risks by always being fully attentive. No texting and driving. No drunk driving. Taking regular breaks on a long drive.
Risk is a fundamental component of life. Be it investment decisions, career choices, relationship preferences, travelling plans, lifestyle choices. Risk is always there.
It exists in every decision you take or decide not to take.
The mere existence of risk can’t be the sole criteria of taking (or not taking) a decision.
Risks can be managed. The more you are aware of a ‘potential risk’, the more planning you can do to mitigate it.
Risk management professionals see ‘risk’ as a combination of likelihood and consequence. Basically, asking two questions. How likely is the risk to occur? And, if it was to occur, what would be its consequences. The answers to these two questions help provide a risk rating.
A similar concept can be applied to real-life decision making.
Doing the exercise to better understand the risk, understanding its rating and then comparing it with your risk appetite to make the final decision.
Fear and regret
Fear and regret have two things in common.
First, they both are based on events that don’t exist in the present time.
Second, they both arise out of your desire to control. Wanting to either see a certain future or to change the past.
There is another way to look at the feelings of fear and regret.
Fear shows aspiration and hope. You are afraid of skydiving or starting a company, only if you aspire to do so.
Regret, on the other hand, relates to advancement and improvement. It shows you have learnt something and know better now, as compared to the past.
In either case, all you can do is to control the efforts in the present.
No one has a roadmap
New Zealand shut the entire economy down with a small number of active Covid cases while Sweden took the strategy of building ‘herd immunity.’
Uber fired their workforce on a 3-minute Zoom call while Airbnb’s leadership team made a real effort to be transparent and empathetic when handling the layoffs.
It’s challenging times for the world economy and no one has a roadmap to recovery.
The decisions leaders take in such times, are a reflection of what they truly believe in.
The world will be a different place once all this is over. However, like all other times, people will be at the core of the recovery cycle and they’ll always remember how you treated them.
On estimating
Be it GDP growth, sales forecasts, project costs, resources required or time needed to achieve an outcome.
We estimate all the time and yet, rarely get it right.
It’s common to overestimate the returns while underestimating the efforts needed. Sales forecasts are often optimistic and projects take longer than expected to complete.
An estimate is based on a set of known and unknown factors. While the known factors can be measured and evaluated, the unknown factors are more of guesswork.
It is critical to question the unknown factors or assumptions in order to achieve higher accuracy levels in estimates.
Finite and infinite loops
Loops are common in the world of programming. They are commands that run until a certain set of conditions are met.
Do a specific action while a given condition is true.
Or, for a given set of conditions, take specified actions.
Finite loops end after a number of iterations while infinite loops are endless.
Life is full of finite and infinite loops.
For age between 6 and 18 months, learn walking.
For age between 3 and 18 years, attend school.
Do a job, till you are financially stable.
Stay happy, all your life.
However, unlike programming, the conditions of the real-life loops are hardly predefined.
It is possible to enter a loop (phase of life) for an infinite term, even though you initially thought it’s for a fixed term.
It’s equally likely to move out of a phase quickly while the initial plan was to stay there for the long term.
The conscious decision to stay in or exit a real-life loop is always an important one.
Stop stealing attention
Follow us on Facebook. Mention @ us on twitter. Watch our webinar. Listen to this podcast. Read our blog. Here is an email with ‘exclusive offers for you.’ The fight for seeking attention is real.
The internet has made it easy to spam hundreds of thousands of people at literally no cost.
Imagine this. You started watching a video on Youtube and there comes a 5-minute advertisement you have no interest in. You look for the ‘Skip Ad’ option but it’s not there.
Or you find an interesting article online but the moment you click it, there comes a popup asking for your personal details.
How does that make you feel?
Stealing attention doesn’t build trust. Try earning it instead. Once you earn your audience’s attention, they trust you and look forward to hearing from you.
Two ways to market
You can either market to the people or with them.
The first option involves a lot of spamming and spending money to push advertisements at every other platform.
The alternative is to build a community of believers, who believe in your offering and would happily tell others about it.
Community creates loyalty, promotes innovation, provides authenticity, and even costs less. It takes time to build communities but it’s always worth it.
It’s always worth the effort
Communication Gap
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
Communication gap is a common problem. Between employers and employees. Consultants and clients. Brand and its customers. Even between members of the family.
The solution isn’t to increase the frequency of communication or bring in more productivity apps.
Real communication requires a meaningful connection between the two parties.
It’s interactive and seeks feedback.
It’s less about what you have to say and more about understanding others’ perspective. And then delivering your message in a way that resonates with the receiver.
Where do you draw the line?
Is it ok to consume animal products? Milk? Eggs? Fish? Meat? Insects? Snakes? Wildlife animals?
Alcohol is a social norm in parties. Is it ok to have it once a month? Every week? Every day? What’s the daily limit?
You have an important meeting with a client who is running late. Is it ok to wait for an extra 5 minutes? 15 mins? 1 hour? 3 hours?
Is it ok to occasionally do a long day at work and spend less time with family? A couple of days in a year? Every month? Every single day?
Where do you draw the line?
The answer is different for different people.
Boundaries are important. They set up limits of acceptable behaviour. Setting and maintaining healthy boundaries lets you define the environment around you. One that creates comfort and allows you to work towards your goals.
Choice overload
Consider logging onto your music streaming app, spending time to look for something new and choosing an old favourite in the end.
Or, visiting an online store to buy a specific item, looking at a number of other available options and leaving without buying.
Or, going to a supermarket to get a product you don’t buy often and getting confused with all the available options.
The paradox of choice is real. While having a choice is empowering, having too many choices can make it difficult to take the decision. That’s true for both small and big decisions in life.
Companies often use marketing or product features to address this phenomenon and make it easier for users to make a decision. Typical SAAS offering with 3 pricing options. Recommended videos on YouTube or Netflix. Discounted items on the front aisle at the Supermarkets.
If you are on the choosing side, taking time to research options and having decision criteria can often help.
The herd mentality
If you are in a queue at a local train station in Mumbai, you don’t have much control over your entry into the train. The flow of the crowd takes you along.
For the majority of people, life is no different. The journey is much longer, there are more stations, the destinations get a lot fancier, but you still follow the crowd.
From schools to higher degrees, to conventional career and lifestyles choices. You do it because that’s how everyone does it.
It’s not that there aren’t other options available, it’s just that it feels safer to be with the crowd. “They all can’t be wrong at the same time.”
Being unconventional is a conscious choice. It comes with uncertainties and vulnerabilities. You are fully accountable for every decision you take. That’s what makes it a less chosen path.
But a selective few who do choose to stand apart from the crowd, tend to explore new territories and change the world in their own way. And along the path reap the rewards of satisfaction, happiness, fame and even money.
Messenger matters
“The car needs servicing.” You are more likely to get the car serviced if the advice came from your regular mechanic instead of a friend who borrowed the car for a day.
Leaders often rely on advice from a close group of advisors.
Brands pay big money to ‘influencers’ or ‘brand ambassadors’ to promote products and services to their followers.
Messenger matters. To the same degree as the message. Often more.
The right messenger has a combination of status, experience, network of followers and knows the best language to communicate in.
Lowest price guarantee
‘Sort by price’ is a prominent way of making a purchase.
Buying stuff on Amazon. Making flight bookings online. Hiring freelancers on a crowd-sourcing platform. Even offline tenders for contracts.
Freelancers and businesses often compete by taking a ‘cheapest price’ strategy. Dropping prices to avoid being undercut by a competitor and losing a sale.
The race to the bottom however, is fierce and ongoing, with a possibility that you may actually win!
The alternative is to offer something unique, valuable, reliable, trusted. Something that is worth paying for.
Creativity competes with productivity
Creativity competes with productivity for attention. All the time.
Productivity is easy to measure against a predefined set of KPIs. Number of parcels dispatched. Number of sales calls taken. Amount of cost savings achieved. Gross margin per employee.
Creativity on the other hand is hard to quantify. You can’t measure the number of ideas generated during the day.
Productivity requires you take a systematic approach. To follow a process and keep practicing till you master it.
Creativity on the other demands freedom to experiment and try new things without a clock of deadline ticking all the time. It requires the ability to see things differently.
There is no question about the value that creative people bring to the table. But in the world obsessed with the effective and efficient use of time, when every app is asking you to fill up your calendar with activities to track and measure progress, sometimes the concept of ‘chasing an idea’ just gets lost.
“That’s how we’ve always done it”
“That’s how we’ve always done it.” or even better “That’s not how we do things around here.”
Two commonly used phrases that indicate a big reluctance to change. In companies, educational organisations, career choices, politics, ethnic traditions and religious beliefs.
In the busy day-to-day world, relying on a tried and tested approach is often the natural course of action. The change is even harder to justify when the current way is working just fine. “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”
In taking a ‘no change’ approach, we easily overlook the fact that the world we currently live in hasn’t always been this way.
Just 20 years ago, there was no easy access to information, iPhone wasn’t launched, there was no Facebook, Netflix didn’t exist in the form we know it now and the best way for majority of the world to stay connected was through hand written letters.
Things change, and they can change pretty quickly. Doing things ‘the way you’ve always done it’ may just not be sufficient anymore.
Stability vs. Stagnation
Stability represents a state of consistency, permanence and certainty. It offers a point of leverage, a position of comfort, trust and security. A stable foundation fosters an environment of further growth and development.
Stagnation on the other hand is a state of zero progress or meaningful motion. It halts growth, and creates unrest, insecurity and helplessness.
There is a very fine line between stability and stagnation. We often confuse one with the other. Generally, stability is the precursor to stagnation. Stability offers a great foundation for growth but the comfort it provides can result in complacency gradually leading to the state of stagnation.
What appears stable today, may seem stagnant tomorrow. When in doubt, its always good to ask the question. Does that job offer stability or a path to stagnation? Are we in a phase of economic stability or stagnation?
Bigger isn’t always better
Double digit growth. Higher revenue. More users. More followers on social media. Bigger brand. More employees. Larger professional network. We live in a ‘bigger is better’ world.
However ‘being big’ isn’t always the most viable option. Growth generally takes the focus away, reduces agility and makes the entire experience less meaningful.
The bigger the organisations get, higher is the level of bureaucracy and lower is it’s ability to change. It may mean bigger revenue but not necessarily higher profits.
The larger your professional or social media network is, the less meaningful conversations you are likely to have.
Staying small allows you to be selective with your projects and customers and allows you to build a close meaningful network. It also gives you the freedom to control the pace of the game.
That’s difficult
Building meaningful relationships. Making an unconventional career choice. Having that conversation with your manager. Eating healthy. Taking control of your finances. Avoiding peer pressure. Choosing the right partner. Understanding others’ view point.
These are all difficult things. But really important at the same time. The stuff that’s difficult and hard, often matters the most.
Valuations are misleading
WeWork valued at $47 billion last year is now worth $2.9 billion.
Yahoo once valued at over $100 billion during peak times sold their core business to Verizon at $4.8 billion a couple of years ago.
In United States alone, the 2008 financial crisis wiped out nearly $8 trillion in value between 2007 and 2009.
Valuations are misleading. They are simply an estimate. More accurate in some cases than others. More often than not they are focused around the interests of a handful of shareholders and don’t always represent the true health of the business (or the asset).
Valuations create a bubble not only for the ‘highly valued’ groups but also for the market and the common person. “Everyone is getting their startup funded by investors, so should we.” Or “Just because everyone’s house is going up in price, may be I should buy it too.” The focus on fundamentals of building a business (or savings) takes a back seat.
It is important to remember that valuations rely on investor’s perceived value of the asset. They are at best an estimate, relevant for a moment in time.
Confirmation bias
“People don’t seek information, they seek confirmation.”
It is a human tendency to look for and interpret information in a way that reinforces or confirms what you already believe.
Imagine you have tried to reach out to a friend, left a number of messages but still haven’t heard back. In a situation like this it is easy to conclude that your friend is avoiding you. The problem is that you soon start believing its true.
Sales people often fall victim to this bias when they ask prospects questions in search of specific answers. “Would you like to increase productivity of your operations by 10%?” Of course they do but that doesn’t mean they need your solution or are ready to make a decision.
Journalists looking for specific stories would generally avoid any contrary evidence. Researchers aiming to prove a hypothesis are likely to design an experiment for specific outcomes.
We all have our own world views and deep inside we all want them to be right. That is what stops us from looking out for objective facts.
False metrics
It doesn’t matter how long you spent at the gym. If the aim is to loose weight, you are better off measuring the calories burnt. The data will be even more meaningful if you also track the calories consumed.
You are busy because you are working long hours in office but how much of that time is actually productive?
You may be making a decent salary but if the goal is to build up savings, you need to really track the expenses.
We measure false metrics all the time. Mainly because they are easy to measure and make us feel good.
Marketing teams often fall into this trap. Measuring number of Facebook ‘Likes’, business cards collected at conferences and amount of leads passed onto the sales team. What about quality of leads and contribution to the actual bottom line?
When deciding upon the metrics, it is important to first define a ‘goal’ and then setup metrics around it. Metrics that align with the goal. Metrics that really matter.
Jack of some trades, master of one
“Jack of all trades, master of none” is a manufactured phrase.
It is often used to look down upon a generalist (‘Jack of all trades’) when comparing them to a specialist (‘master of one’). It also creates a deception that one can either be ‘Jack of all trades’ or a ‘master of one’. However, in real world there is a strong argument for both to coexist.
As ‘master of one’ you bring in special expertise and high levels of productivity to the table. Something that people value and would happily pay for. It gives you the freedom and confidence to carve your own path ahead.
Being ‘Jack’ provides you with diversity, versatility and flexibility. It allows you to look at things from different angles and helps inspire creativity.
Being a specialist with general knowledge of relevant fields can make you stand out from the crowd. Perhaps it’s worth trying to be “Jack of some trades, master of one.”
The risk doesn’t leave the system
The world currently faces a huge risk of economic slowdown. Governments across the world have announced stimulus worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The stimulus packages are funded by banks and investors, including big pension funds, hence transferring an element of financial risk back to the common people (who contribute to such funds).
The risk doesn’t leave the system, it just gets transferred from one party to the other.
Being underestimated is a gift
Being underestimated can be disheartening. It can make you question your own beliefs and capabilities. But that’s only if you care about other people’s opinion of you.
Being underestimated is actually a great gift.
People underestimate based on their perception of others. Sometimes to feel superior and often out of pure ignorance.
When you are underestimated, you are away from all the attention. There is no expectation to perform, no pressure to meet timelines or do things a certain way. It gives you a starting point from which people never thought you could come from, and that can be a massive advantage.
The trick is to stay focused, keep putting the work and ‘make it happen.’
I don’t know
But I can figure it out.
We all encounter scenarios that we’ve not faced before. Some more frequently than others. At work, with clients, in personal relationships. In form of opportunities, challenges and responsibilities. Situations that we don’t know anything about.
Knowing what you don’t know can be a powerful asset.
The toughest step in the entire process is saying “I don’t know.” Too often we fall into the delusion of thinking we know a lot more than we really do, commonly known as ‘illusory superiority’. It leads to stubborn beliefs and stagnation in growth. Once you admit you don’t know something, you are immediately aware of the area that you need more information in. The next step is an obvious one. Finding the right resources that can help you deal with the situation.
Not worrying
We’ve all had moments when things didn’t go as planned. It causes uncertainty which can lead to worry and sometimes stress.
One of the question that has helped me over years is, “Can I do anything about it?”. If the answer is yes, then that’s great. Let’s do something about it and execute the plan.
And if the answer is no, well there is nothing I can do to control the situation anyway.
In either of the conditions, there is no point worrying or getting stressed.
The problematic nature of competition
Competition is often considered a driving force behind innovation and professional success.
The problem with competition is you don’t control the journey. The competition decides it for you. For businesses, higher competition equates to lower profit margins.
When you compete with someone, the focus is on beating your competitors, rather than on doing something that’s important or valuable.
By shifting the focus on doing work that is important and valuable, you define an entirely different category. Category of one. A category that you have full control on. Category where the only competition that matters is the one with yourself. Where the focus is on self improvement by asking questions that really matter. Are you a better version of yourself today than yesterday? Are you delivering enough value to the ones that you seek to serve?
KPIs are counterproductive
On June 11, 2016, Steven Weinstein broke an internal record at Zappos when he had a customer service call that lasted 10 hours and 43 minutes. On April 4, 2017, he was dethroned by Stephanie Van Hasselt with a new record of 10 hours and 51 minutes.
Imagine if the Zappos customer service team had a KPI for number of daily calls!
KPIs are counterproductive. Try building a culture instead.
KPIs promote wrong behaviour. They create mini silos within the organisation and reward people based on how well their silo has done. Culture on the other hand creates a common bond within the organisation. Overarching principles that the entire organisation lives by. Be it sales, marketing, delivery, customer support or finance. Be it, leaders or new graduates. Everyone is working toward the same goals.
Build a safety net
People are risk averse. They are too afraid to take the leap, even though they so badly want to.
That’s understandable. Moving out of comfort zone can be scary.
That’s where building yourself a safety net can be handy. A safety net that supports you financially and mentally when things don’t go as per plan. May be a unique skill set, a side hustle, considerable savings in your bank account or support structure in the form of family and friends.
It takes time and patience to build one but a safety net allows you to take that leap and jump high with confidence. It allows you to play the game for a longer period. You know whatever future brings in, you’ll still be ok.
No, not for everyone
Making stuff for ‘everyone’ is a bad idea.
Products or services that are for everyone, are easy to make and are plentiful. They are generic and not memorable.
The problem with offering a generic product or service is that you are reduced to a number.
The alternative is to offer something specific to a targeted group of customers, something that may be no one else offers. This makes you unique, memorable and allows you to make a difference.
The aim is not to serve everyone but a meaningful few.
Advice
There is a lot of it available.
Both free and paid. Wanted and unwanted. By qualified and unqualified people.
While taking advice it is important to consider two things. First, advice is simply an excerpt of the autobiography of the person offering it. It may be perfectly relevant to their circumstances and experience but that doesn’t mean it will hold true for you. The background, circumstances and perspectives are different for different people.
Secondly, the person giving advice rarely faces the same consequences. Be it your financial planner, doctor or even family members. Their exposure to risk or reward is not the same as yours.
There is nothing like a ‘universally relevant advice’.
The case for slowing down
Driving on motorway, the focus is majorly on getting through the traffic as fast as possible. To drive past and overtake the cars that aren’t going fast enough. However, one rarely gets to realise the landmarks or explore different pathways. If a crash was to occur, it is likely to be severe.
On the other hand if you are out on a scenic drive, you go slow, appreciate the surroundings and take a pit stop to explore local specialties.
In life, we all are too focused on speed, mainly because that’s how everyone around us does it. In doing so, we drive through some of most beautiful and important phases in a rush. May be, just may be its worth considering to slow down and appreciate the journey. To go at our own pace, explore new paths and even take few pit stops.
Consequence effect
If your flight is in 1 hour and you still haven’t left home, it is likely that you’ll miss that flight.
If you took a big loan to support your higher education, you’d need to be in that job even if you don’t want to.
The choices we make, have consequences. Your present is a result of steps taken in past and the decisions you take today (or don’t) will have an impact on the future. Remember that the choice is yours, it always has been.
Don’t seek the middle ground
Start from common ground instead.
Middle ground is a compromise. It occurs when parties trade off demands, foregoing some to keep others. It only addresses the symptoms of the conflict, not its causes. It doesn’t account for imbalance of power between two negotiating parties. In situations of extreme conflicts, middle ground only hides tensions till they boil over again.
Common ground on the other hand focuses on a set of things different parties share. When parties acknowledge the aspiration, stories and fears of the other side they better understand the causes behind the conflict. When parties see they are pursuing the same interests and needs, it is easier to develop solutions to resolve the conflict.
Shutdowns are important
Shutdowns are an integral part of industrial operations. Scheduled events where the entire process plant is taken offline for an extended period to perform specific maintenance tasks.
Shutdowns are expensive, both in terms of lost production while the plant is offline and in terms of the the resources required to execute the project. But they are both necessary and important. Planned shutdowns or as the oil industry calls it, ‘turnarounds’ help prepare operations for the future. Higher production, reduced risks and improved reliability levels.
The current pandemic has put the world economy in a shutdown mode. Health services are under tremendous pressure, unemployment rates are at its highest level and countries are piling up big debts.
This is also the time to take planned measures in preparation for the changes ahead. Strengthening healthcare, supporting industries, reinventing businesses and upskilling workforce. Once all this is over, world will be a completely different place and the steps we take now will decide how we cope up with it.
Technology enables innovation
Technology enables innovation but it doesn’t makes us more innovative.
Everyone is talking about digital transformation. The latest pandemic has made the discussions even more relevant than before.
For a solo or small business person, technology has enabled them to automate tasks that otherwise would require a number of employees and considerable amount of capital. For larger corporations, it has helped improve efficiency levels many folds.
However, it is important to remember that technology is just a tool. How and where we use it is completely up to us.
It can make us efficient, productive and more accountable. It can help us achieve those big ideas. But it doesn’t make us think for ourselves.
There’s a lot of noise out there
Tens of Facebook ads a day. Hundreds of spam emails. Biased media channels. Office politics. Peer pressure to go on fancy vacations, buy a house and be successful. Number of gurus offering overnight success formulas. There is a lot of noise out there.
We live in a chaotic world. The internet makes it even worse with almost every person with a smartphone being part of the mayhem. Amongst all the noise, we often fail to listen to true signals that really matter.
95% of things around us don’t really matter. The trick is to filter out the noise and focus on what’s really important. The significant 5%.
Stories
We tell them all the time.
Stories are part of our daily lives, in anecdotes we tell our friends, meetings we have at workplace, books we read and movies we watch. Even the explanation we give ourselves to buy (or not to buy) that expensive item, has a story behind it.
Marketers tell stories about their products and services while politicians about their competitors. Business leaders tell stories to their employees and shareholders, laying out their vision.
Your story tells your perspective, your world view. If that world view resonates with the audience, you have a connection. They have a transformative power to engage, influence, and inspire people.
Don’t be afraid to tell your story. The very act of sharing our story changes the world and the people around us.
Perceived value
A Louis Vuitton bag is likely to cost 10 times a high end bag at your regular retailer.
Does it have 10 times better quality? May be it looks 10 times better?
The answers to the above questions aren’t really important to the buyer as buying luxury products provides a sense of ‘elite status’.
People don’t buy products based on their actual value. They buy because the product price matches the perceived value they have for the product.
Companies spend huge amount of money to influence that perception. The concept of perceived value is the reason Apple sells its products at a price premium and buyers are happy to pay more for exotic products.
You always have a choice
Italian or Indian for dinner?
Would you prefer spending the evening watching Netflix or going outside for a run?
Should you stay around in a job that pays well or move out to start something you have always wanted to?
Doesn’t matter what the situation is, good or bad. Be it work, relationships, lifestyle or goals. You always have a choice.
“I don’t have a choice” generally means the current option is the easiest one and “I don’t care enough about other options.”
To be able to make a choice is empowering. You know you are in control.
Branding isn’t trendy anymore
Michelin brothers launched a tyre company in France in 1989, when cars were still a novelty. They decided that a ratings guide for hotels and restaurants would encourage the limited number of drivers to visit these places and use up their tyres. This in turn would increase the consumption of tyres in the market. As a result, ‘Michelin Guide’ was launched in the year 1900.
The company has been publishing the Michelin Guide over a century now and a single “Michelin Star” can make or break fine dining establishments around the world.
In the early 1950’s Hugh Beaver, Managing Director of the Guinness Brewery, attended a shooting sports event where he and his hosts argued about the fastest game bird in Europe, and failed to come to an agreement.
He came up with a Guinness promotion based on the idea of settling arguments people have during regular conversations at pubs. He invited two fact-finding researchers to compile a book of facts and figures. This marked the origin of the famous ‘Guinness Book of Records’ (now ‘Guinness world records’).
What Michelin and Guinness did with Michelin Guide and Guinness Book of Records was to create something much more valuable than car tyres and bottle of beer. Something much more indispensable. Something that delivered value to their customers. Something that’s long lasting.
The initiatives have been great brand building tools for these companies and have helped create an image of a premium high quality brand over time.
In a world of likes and shares, companies are focused on getting quick sales more now than ever. Show the customer a few more ads or give them a discount and get them to buy the product!
Marketing is not about advertising or pushing promotional material. It is about building a brand by delivering value. A brand that lasts longer than you, a brand that customer enjoys associating with.
Rules of the game have changed
For the first time in the history of the Academy Awards, movies that debut on a streaming service without a theatrical run will be eligible for Oscar nominations.
I recently got an email from a leading hotel group mentioning that their rooms are available for “Working from Hotel” during daytime.
The current pandemic has changed the way we go about conducting our business. Companies around the world are questioning the need to have large corporate offices and getting comfortable with their employees working from home. Sports authorities are discussing having events without any stadium audiences for a while, and educational institutes are moving towards online courses.
The rules of the game have changed! While for a short period in some cases, more permanently for others.
When the rules change, it’s a completely different game altogether. A game that no one has played before, there are no experienced players. A game that offers unique set of opportunities to the ones who are daring enough to think outside the box and take on the challenge.
Lack of time or lack of priorities?
“If only I wasn’t so busy, I would do xyz.” But if xyz is important to you, why not do that instead?
“I don’t have time” often means “this is not a priority”. If we care enough about something, we often always have time for it.
We all get 24 hours for the day and how we choose to utilise them is our decision. However there is too much noise around us which overshadows the priorities we have in mind.
Next time you think you’d pursue that hobby, or talk more often to friends and family, or spend time upskilling, if you had more time. Take a pause! Question yourself, where does this sit in your priority list.
Once you have the priorities sorted, you have all the time in the world to do what’s important to you.
Perspectives
When I was a child, my grandfather would often say, “There is nothing right or wrong in this world, your thinking makes it so.”
To a 10 year old that sounded really absurd, especially when I was being taught to conduct in a certain way at school as well as at home. The right way!
Over time as I’ve had the opportunity to meet people across cultures and nations, I have realised there is no right or wrong way. Practices that are considered ‘normal’ in one section of the society, are a complete unknown to other sections or sometimes even a big taboo. In either case, they seem right to the community of people who practice it. In fact, in majority of the cases, that’s the ‘only’ way they know.
Perspective is the way we see the world, its our reality. Our perspectives are shaped by the surroundings around us, our origin, our culture and the practices we’ve followed for so many years. They are complex, they are unique and they change with time.