The myth of perfect set-up (Reposted from : magisterspeaks.blogspot.com)

I reached well in time.

Something inside me said, it was going to be embarrassing. It was not what I set out for. But well, however cheesy it may sound I do take note of certain dialogs from bollywood movies and one which got me over this was from a relatively new flick on life of a salesman and his ambition to go beyond the sculpted way.”Every man has two qualities in him. One which take him up and the other which brings him down and the quality which ultimately wins, the man would live his life accordingly.

It was one of that moment where I thought of walking away without testing the metal of my enthusiasm and passion for what I wanted to. Simply, because the setting was not what I thought would be.

There are two problems the way B-school graduates are taught in one of the best B-schools in this country.

Firstly, the only businesses and only problems which we are taught to get into and deal with are the ones which are BIG.

Second point, majorly emerges from the first. Since we are taught to deal with big, we are habituated towards a particular setting where we have to exercise our so call managerial charm.

I am no exception to have fallen for these two myths of B-school learning experience. What leads to this, is a story I must take separately, but for now I try to flounder across my way out of this twin illusionistic way of b-school erudition towards a tatty building with no sign of welcome which we are conjured about and a bare minimum audience who frankly, does not care where you are from and what you plan to do. Quite a letdown, you see!

Well, I was very liberal about the audience strength in last paragraph. Actually, there was no one to listen to me there when I reached.

I called up my friend who set this up for me and he was kind enough to suggest that I was free to leave if I wanted to. All the brain-cells engaged in forging out plans of making my first workshop on personality development a grand success changed their course in trying to convince me on how this is a recipe for disaster and how quickly I must find my way out of the historic building.

Something stopped me from being a puppet to these few cells which might have already started celebrating when I started my bike with an idea of pulling up my stakes there.

So all of this for nothing? And who said it was going to be easy? It is all about experiences and nothing is going to be as fruitful as an on-field experience of being jeered upon field than being clapped on by friends about a brilliant idea discussed in classroom.

I will deal with it - was the last time I spoke to myself before the workshop started.

I spoke with the in-charge of this workshop and his optimism came as a positive surprise to me about the expected attendance. Encouragingly, a group of young kids came right up to the building, wished me (!) and went inside the room just to discuss how this will turn out.

In less than 30 minutes the room was full with audience. Well, it was a small room and e had the total audience of around 30 but it was good enough for me to start.

I wanted to have a 2 hour session for these kids but they never stopped surprising me with their energy levels, enthusiasm and creativity which was exemplary while we did exercises and group activities.

1 student left the group, I later found her in deep discussion with another guy(behind a tree!) and the discussion did look too serious to be avoided for a workshop. 5 new students joined who were called upon by their friends during the session. What I realized at the end of the session was that the session had run for three and a half hours, without a single break. Nobody went out for water or washroom.

There was sense of curiosity on their faces. They were jubilant and hungry for more. I learned multiple lessons that day. About me, about how important was what I was trying to do, What is the state of these kids lost in ‘India shining’ stories, and most importantly – I was so wrong about the set-up theory!

We will never have the perfect setting to do good work. We will have to own the setting and do good work.

My first workshop on personality development was an experience to cherish, which I will preserve as long as my grey cells allow me to.

Cheers

One step at a time... (Re-posted from - magisterspeaks.blogspot.in)

The writing is on the wall!

Whether we choose to accept it or not, the reality remains to its existence. The statement can be applied to a variety of situations and almost every time you do that, you can’t help but notice a brutal ignorance of people about the transformation of the very milieu they breath in.

An unfortunate success which I met with on my aforesaid conviction was with the state of higher education, as it unfolded before my bewildered eyes.

Having a reasonable understanding of how the higher education system in this part of the country works, I wasmerely disappointed than shocked on the grim situation.

An engineering college which is pushing itself rock-hard in order to have as less unfilled seats as possible. Atleast, not more than the seats which were lost last year. In this case, just like airlines and multiplexes, a seat lost once cannot be recovered ever again. Another one struggling  to get enough students to  run the show.

Just as you feel inception of an empathetic feeling for these institutes, another contrasting thought trickles down your brain. Isn’t it what they deserve?

The answer to this question is both, omnipresent and veiled (depending upon who just read that line!)

There are multiple reasons for the sorry state of alot engineering as well as management colleges in this country. Some people blame it on the regulatory slack for their over liberal rules in granting permission to these colleges during the last decade which has created more supply than demand in the market.

While there is another set who bestows a more pragmatic view on the situation. They opine that the imbalance of demand and supply will always be there in some or the other way. What is required, however, by the institutes is to remain competitive all the times in order to ensure that the correction does not lead to their debacle when the obliteration of this mushrooming sector takes place.

I try hard to take side but like almost every time, fail to do so. It is easier not to fall in the trap of having a stern opinion in this case due to very logical arguments made by the two groups.

What is more disheartening is not the state in which such  institutes are, but the sheer ignorance or denial they tend to indulge in, more often than not due to a conscious effort rather than a sincere mistake.

Encouragingly (surprisingly) however there are many endorsers to the idea of quality education in the same circuit(more surprisingly) who express such wishful desire and accept a need of a turn-around of a sort which will not only shift gears for the industry but for such ailing institute(extremely surprisingly, they don’t think their institute is one them!)

Denial is the first cousin of problem and interestingly, most of these institutes which have been dwelling the problem within, starts challenging it with its cousin as a tool. Not the ideal counter-attack!

Time has come when before finding reasons for the problem, solutions for problems (for others, coz we don’t have problems, right?) and then blaming someone for the problem, we – accept that there is a problem.

Time has come to take - one step at a time.

Indian Retail : Myth or Reality (Re-posted from my previous blog in 2011)

You go to your cousin’s place in a metro city or an urban town and he tells you, “Let me take you to a nice place, it has newly opened and attracts amazing crowd”. What do you guess this place to be at the first thought? Of course, the new shopping mall – claiming itself to be the biggest in the locality or the city or the state and may be in the whole country!

The reason why I started with this incident is because it’s quite easy to believe it. The reason why you believe it is, it is possible to have a big new mall to open anywhere in an urban town now.

And what lies beneath this belief is the fact that we are cognizant of the retail revolution happening right here right now. We are aware that with every passing day, the retail industry is growing BUT what is imperative to mention here is, it’s not the surging retail industry which is the talk of the town now. It’s the organized retail industry which holds the matinee show timings. The world, the retailers, the consumers and not to forget, the real estate honchos, are not excited about the retail revolution as a whole, but the organized retail revolution.

            Now, having seen how the retail revolution buzz has put up on our brains, lets unearth the real question behind this revolution to see where does it lead us to. The sector contributes 12 % of the GDP and is estimated to show 20% annual growth rate by the end of the decade as against the current growth rate of 8.5%. Total retail sales in India will grow from US$ 395.96 billion in 2011 to US$ 785.12 billion by 2015, according to the Business Monitor International (BMI) India Retail Report for the second-quarter of 2011. The Indian organized retail industry has a three-year compounded annual growth rate of 46.64 % and caters around 8% of the total employment. This data essentially means that there is a big market which is still waiting to be tapped in the organized retail sector. A CRISIL report says that the Indian retail market is the most fragmented in the world and that only 2% of the entire retailing business is in the organized sector. This suggests that the potential for growth is immense. There are about 300 new malls, 1500 supermarkets and 325 departmental stores currently being built in the cities across India. According to the Global Retail Development Index, India is positioned as the foremost destination for Retail investment and business development but 90% of the total retail chain outlets and shopping malls are only in the Tier-I and Tier-II cities. The organized retail real estate stock will grow from the existing 41 million sq ft to 95 million sq ft even when the current space is around 3sq ft per person as against 19 sq ft per person in US. It’s a bizarre combination of contrasts to such an extent that it can confuse us as to whether there is actually a revolution happening or it’s a made up! The truth is, whichever way you are thinking, you are right. It’s actually a blend of both.

                                    The Indian retail industry is actually revolutionizing. Its revolutionizing because the consumption power of Indians is growing. Its revolutionizing because consumer awareness and the living standards are rising. Its revolutionizing because a big segment of consumer is youth between 20-35 of age who spends on the choices and choose the way he want to spend. But, at the same time, it’s still budding because the organized retail is still less than 10%, because the organized retail is still far away from the 300 million population of middle class, because the organized retail is still in Tier-I and Tier-II cities, because the organized retail is still far away from real India. And no industry can revolutionize unless it has touched the real India, the actual middle class which earn 90,000 to 2.4 lac INR per annum, who still relies upon the local Kirana stores, who still does not enter the AC malls and extra luminous shelves stores.

And till that middle class accepts the organized retail, this revolution is not a revolution in full throttle, it’s still budding. Retail in India is a revolution in making but not a revolution as yet!!