Life Changing Books in Hindi – A Reality Check

There is an explosion of Life Changing Books. Books-stores and exhibitions appear like spring time, flowers everywhere! What about the fragrance? Are many people changing due to ‘aroma’ arising out of those books; or the flowers are fake, devoid of any fragrance? Finally, the moot question- “Has Publishing changed any?”

A few years back, I decided to use of my free time to create future opportunities. I translated a chapter from a book on Time Management and offered to publishers that I could arrange rights for the Hindi translation. Back came an offer from a publisher to translate a book on Time Management. The project ran some two months I got my name printed in black ink on editorial page. Since then I have done some 5 projects and currently doing my sixth.

Recently the agent sent me parts of unfinished books which were abandoned by translators. I asked to see the language only to understand what treatment I should plan. To my horror, the language of earlier translator was totally alienating. Probably translator was not satisfied doing that work. The bigger horror is they used that horrible (part) translation and have printed those books. My only consolation apart from a small income is that my name isn’t there on the editorial page as translator.

Recently, I did four in-house training workshops for salespeople.  I found participants wanting in many areas. I found no one was reading any books. My suggestion was taken by client and they asked me to select some 20/25 books for an internal library. I went to a book store to browse and was in for a bigger shock. Most of the available titles weren’t able to connect. The type of Hindi language used has become a barrier between the content and the reader. I am not surprised that people don’t read those books. Consequently I had trouble choosing 20 titles.

My focus then shifted to last 4/5 encounters with agent and publishers of Life Changing Books in Hindi. I found that original books in English Language have sold hundreds of thousand copies, sometime a million copies. And the Hindi version fails to reach even a modest five figure number in copies sold. The talk with publishers reveals the smelling rat. They don’t believe their efforts will yield Change in Lives of Readers. They seem to be short sighted. Their own management styles resemble that of business owners in License Raj Era. Translators and content providers are ‘workers’ in their factories and they believe whatever small number they produce this way will be ultimately pushed into some library by touts at their disposal.

Don’t you see another type of NON PERFORMING ASSETS being endlessly built by a few ignorant yet powerful forces in Publishing?

What’s the remedy?

Please express here, what you think is one good remedy in this instance.

Father I’ve Sinned

A few years back, while attending Platinum Jubilee (75 years type) of Rupa & Co. at New Delhi, I was privy to startling pieces of Information. First being one from Mark Tully, who disclosed his handicap about writing a book! He asserted, because he was habituated writing 250 word dispatches, his hands would stop typing once he reached that limit and went on to suggest perhaps his mind would not oblige his fingers to move.

Second and third disclosures are attributable to M. J. Akbar; who informed an already enlightened audience about Gutenberg, father of modern printing, a jeweler who went on to invent a ‘moving type printing machine’ died a pauper. His intentions were to print Bible, which he did and print some 180 Bibles, but in that era, there were no takers of such a ‘product’, if you will. This resulted to what in modern terms we refer as ‘bankruptcy’. While listening to this sorry tale, I couldn’t help wondering what a great time Guttenberg’s descendants – modern day printers – are having as they apply their clutches and squeeze all and sundry to extract their pound of flesh; but that’s another story.

This story is actually about the next startling disclosure by M. J. Akbar, and hence the title, “Father I’ve Sinned”. According to Akbar, for time memorial, concept of “Papal Indulgence” is being practiced, wherein one may obtain reduction of punishment for his / her sins. He went on to suggest, it is possible to obtain a pardon with the help of Pope by paying The Church an amount of some significance. Those who are knowledgeable and wiser would know the details of such an “arrangement”, if you will.

Some modern philanthropists have used their entrepreneurial hat to take such a practice to next level. And they come up with their own Brand of Social Work, wherein they “Indulge” very privately and perhaps more deeply to serve a number of causes, sometimes more focused than other such denominations. Yet, their motivations echo same “confessional” tone of “Father I’ve Sinned”. Some times their actions, which were considered ‘sins’ under some previous era are now dubbed as “Innovative” or “Path Breaking” or “Entrepreneurial” or whatever else. If you are wondering, “What’s my point?” -  I have none. It’s you who will be making a point from it; for yourself.

A few months back, a startup’s valuation was reduced by 50%; and a billion dollar worth of wealth disappeared. Yet, there was no assertion, no one said- “Father I’ve Sinned!” A company declares drop in net profits again some wealth is likely to disappear. If you try to “trace” who actually lost money, you can go in circles and yet may not be able to pin point a “looser”. Try this- If a company lost some profit, surely their customers would have gained. Now this hypothetical company has to keep the shareholders in good humor, so they will ‘have’ to come up with dividends. It is a well known fact that many such companies are borrowing from banks to make dividend payments. Then what about the Banks? They restructure loans to prevent default or assist defaulting companies and as a result have “Non Performing Assets” in their Books. And when the Government notices too many of those NPAs, they recapitalize the Banks. And as to the Government, they are squaring all such transactions as their ‘investments’ for development of a sound economic environment.

And there is no one to confess, “Father I’ve Sinned!” 

SWITCH TO FAST TRACK

Economic climate in 2015 and onward will challenge MSMEs in more ways than one. Employers have a choice that will make things not only easier but durable for them. What such a choice can be? Develop leadership with in the firm; at the lowest level. Such leaderships at work place will become your competitive edge and help you switch to fast track early.

Most people want to know, what will in involve? How can I choose a leader among the pack? How to enlist him for development, with in the working hours? Can something go wrong?

Such thoughts are perfectly justified. First of all, it is not about making an announcement of Internal Leadership Program. Before making any move, please study your delegation style. On what basis you have been delegating work of supervising or overseeing a chunk of work. Have you been choosing some one for whom you have developed fondness, or some one who is very affectionate, or someone you fancy?

I know of an organization which is now suffering due to a senior salesperson. How? Some two decades ago when the owner once gave him a personal errand which owner's wife had requested. She might have suggested to make use of a person who has to be out in the market. Owner requested this person to do the needful and report to his wife. When the owner asked, "This is my personal work, will you be able to do it?" The salesperson replied, "Sir, I am your Hanuman, you can rest assured." [According to holy Ramayana, Hunuman was Lord Ram's Man Friday and more.] That person is still in the same frame of mind and the world around him has changed a lot. This method of delegation is not a productive one, though it may be a satisfactory one for some bosses. So, how to chose people who have potential to become a leader with passage of time?

First of all focus on persons who have the ability to tutor. Pay special attention to those who have been spreading rumours and unproductive ideas that are against the firms objective. Basically short-list those who are better communicators and their ability to tutor will help them become better 'coach' some time in future.

Next thing to focus upon is their consistency at work place and their ability to independently handle an assigned task. If you spot any weakness in their working, get involved and make it an area of development for the person.


Now some tactics of taking this process to next level.

Year 2015 has unfolded new strategies of Government of India to make our $ 2 Trillion economy into a $ 20 Trillion economy. You are aware that such a transformation wouldn't be possible unless each and every participant in the economy, read your work force, increased its own out put on daily basis.

In quest of leaders, you have focused on (1) Good communicators, as they would easily develop coaching skills; (2) persons you have found to be consistent at work place, in terms of presence and quality of their out put.

Your next stop would be to short-list them further on the basis of their authenticity. Here is a way to check it through your observations.

Check them out for any pretentious behaviour. See if they tend to pretend, what they may not be. Eliminate pretentious persons from your short list.

Next see if they are able to 'do what they say'. Meaning their deeds and expressed thoughts display closeness.

Finally, observe the choices they are making. Look for a person who is making value based choices, whenever an occasion arises.

Now make such person sensitive towards customer satisfaction, internal and external customers.

When it comes to Customers, almost everyone believe himself to be an expert. Such a feeling stems from two main causes: (1) Everyone is a customer too. (2) One's own perception, habitual way of thinking does not let a person see other points of view easily. David Ogilvy had furthered this point. He said, "Consumer isn't a moron, she is your wife". Though in Indian context many would like believe, "Consumer is not a moron, she is your Mother-in law. Those who understood the message gained very much and are known to have kept it hidden.

And based of these and a few other other reasons, everyone is comfortable with his views on relationships with customers, until crisis arrives. Now, end of the month is an occasion when most of such beliefs are put to test and the reality dawns. This is the month we face the consequences of our assumptions and actions based on those. Most people then depend on their 'locker-room' buddies for advice and view points and reinforce their beliefs. Only a select few are able to take those analytical moments forward into positive actions as freely available advice usually shoots down the ideas of travelling previously uncharted paths.

Finally, at any given time hundreds of ideas are available for consideration, and what may be good for one, may not be good for others. That is where external consultants are useful. They are able to provide both, an apperture in the ceiling as well as an outsiders view, which are essential to take your organization forward in your growth journey - your fast track.

And here is the last, yet no the least important point. Recently, one guy named Hassan called me. His concluding remark was, "Nice to talk to you after one year!" I was stunned. I know time flies, but I thought he had called just before the Christmas last.

And this idea flashed-

TIME FLIES, LET'S CATCH SOME MORE REVENUE IN AVAILABLE TIME!

You will agree that it is every business's dream. Every businessman, CEO, Executive Vice President - and whatever you like to call them - are looking for more revenue in lesser time. And the slice of cake is getting smaller. The available space to operate is shrinking. Therefore to switch to fast track, performance is the key; particularly, performance of your salespeople. Encourage them to improve their capabilities so that their improved performance would take your revenues to next level.

HOW THEY WON CUSTOMERS 2

This is a true story as told by Dilip Upmanyu about his Edible Oil Days!


It was way back in 2004 when one fine morning his boss told him, “Pack your bags and park yourself at Gwalior, where you will start work from tomorrow”. Your objective is to establish our brand in Gwalior. The brand as they say was then in dole drums at Gwalior. His company’s brand is a heavy premium brand. Curiously no distributor was interested in dealing in their brand. And worst, no one was able to explain the reasons for such an utter failure of a well known premium segment brand.


Dilip was quickly able to find a party and appoint them as a distributor for his brand. His real difficulties were to surface when he started launching his product in Bazar (market). In his first month at Gwalior, he did not get any response from the market. Each passing day, he became more depressed. The boss was constantly bugging him for the business. The distributor who had invested money as a result of Dilip’s pitching started feeling nervous for having made a mistake of his life time.


In such circumstances it was natural that that they frequently sat together to discuss the market scene.  They discovered that there were many brands of packed cooking oil that were engaged in malpractices. Dilip’s company packed one Litre of oil at standard temperature so their pack weighed 910 grams, where as many unscrupulous re-packers packed only 750 grams to 840 grams of cooking oil in 1 Liter pack. These brands kept their MRP around Dilip’s brand and sold their pack at Rs.36/- to 40/- to the Retailers. Retailers were then selling that pack to consumers at Rs.48/-, the price charged by Dilip’s brand. But his company sold the 1 Litre pack at Rs.46/- to be sold at Rs.48/- to consumers. This unethical arrangement between unscrupulous re-packers, traders and Retailers had completely blocked the entry of Dilip’s brand in Gwalior market. Almost similar difficulties were being faced in marketing of 15 Litre packing.


One day over a meal, Dilip and Distributor were discussing their woes and same questions kept coming up before them, “What to do? How can we break this unethical nexus of re-packers and Retailers? Where to make a beginning?” Distributor casually commented, “Sab brand bik rahe hein, sirf apna wala nahi bik raha hai. Marriage season ane wala hai. Tumne mujhe marwa diya!” (All brands are getting sold, only our's isn't selling. The merriage season is around the corner. You got me into this fix.)


Dilip suddenly had a flash, a few months back he had helped a close friend in his sister’s wedding. Being from FMCG background, friend had requested Dilip to make purchases for Halwai (Contract Cook) who was hired to make food for guests. The Halwai arrived and came armed with a list of groceries to be bought. When Dilip saw his brand of oil didn’t figure in the list, he asked his friend if he could change the oil brand. Suddenly, his friend’s mother, who was passing by & overheard the conversation, interrupted and told Dilip not to make any changes, and he should buy exactly what their Halwai had prescribed.


After this flash, a new idea emerged in Dilip’s mind. Why not approach all the Halwais (Contract Cooks) who are in catering business at Gwalior, Datia and Dabra? The Distributor did not know how to locate these people. What happened next was even more surprising. Dilip suddenly quipped, “If you do not know how to locate them, it means they were never approached by any one. May be here lies a solution for us.” Dilip then went from one marriage venue to the other until he was able to locate a very low profile and elderly President of Halwai Sangh. With his help he obtained a list of members and went on to meet each of them and personally invite them for a gathering of Halwais.


Halwais (Contract Cooks) of Gwalior were in for a new experience. Being from hospitality trade while they understood the process invitation and the rest, yet they were pleasantly surprised that some one had taken pains to invite ‘a poor me’ to an organized gathering and be a recipient of some one else’s hospitality. During the gathering the guest Halwais were shown their lunch being cooked in the Dilip’s brand cooking oil. There was live demonstration of all good qualities like no surfing, no odors, no fumes etc. Then came the clincher- Dilip said in his address, “Any one who buys a pair of shoes, walks a few steps in the new shoe to see how it feels. But we take the matter of cooking oil very lightly and casually say, “Give any oil!”. We conveniently forget that cooking oil is closely connected with our health. He then went on to establish importance of a product trial and invited them to carry back a no obligation 1 Litre pack for their personal trial at home. A very few of them, not all of them, did carry a trial pack later on their way out. A scheme was also announced for those Halwais who cared to prescribe Dilip’s brand. On the whole, the gathering was a great success. Halwais were very happy that they were recognized as responsible people with important task of preparing and serving food that would delight the guests wherever they went to work.


In that marriage season many Shopkeepers were surprised by buyers asking 15 Litre packing of Dilip’s brand of cooking oil. The embarrassed shop keepers were now telling the customers that, it just got over and will be available in an hour or two. There was a mad scramble to find who the distributor is, and finally orders were flowing to distributor like never before. It is often said, “One good thing will lead you to another!” And it happened in Dilip’s case and happened soon enough.


The success of 15 Litre pack though brought relief to both Dilip and Distributor yet their smile was miles away. They were still facing the blockade created by unethical re-packers. The break came in the shape of famous Gwalior Trade Fair. That year a local Television Channel had undertaken to telecast a few evening hours of Trade Fair live. When they came to Dilip’s stall and asked him, “What is your message to the public of Gwalior?” A hypnotized Dilip found himself speaking to the camera in some what this way, “Every pack of honestly packed cooking oil weighs 910 grams. So when you buy your next 1 Litre pack of cooking oil, just ask the shop keeper to weigh it for you and if it is less in weight, demand from him a pack that weighs 910 grams!”  The honest appeal and sincerity of message hit the consumers. Next day the shop keepers across Gwalior were in short supply of 1 Litre pack that weighed 910 grams. And Dilip’s distributor had an ample supply waiting to be dispatched. Rest as they say was history. Gwalior soon became a huge consumption point for Dilip’s brand of cooking oil- a town with zero sales was consuming 180 metric tonnes per month when Dilip was called back later from that territory.

How They Won Customers

This is a true story. It is about- “Shailendra Saraf and his job as a Biscuit Salesman!”

Many years ago, Shailendra Saraf was a biscuit salesman in Bombay. At his heart, he is still a salesman, and he will continue to remain so. He has several reasons to be a proud salesman, though he never allowed pride to come between him and his job. The company Shailendra worked for was neither number one nor number two in biscuit trade. Back then we did not know it was FMCG. The term ‘Brand’ wasn't in our horizon either. I do not remember being familiar with these in those days. Today even school children know- “Which one is the leading Brand in what category.”  Just like Shailendra, we also liked to believe that he worked for a company which was number three in the trade.


His territory was between Bandra and Andheri. Vile Parle, a station between Bandra and Andheri is home to the number one biscuit Brand. Yes, you got it right, “Parle G”. If you ever travelled by a local train in that section, you could smell the rich aroma of Parle G biscuits when the train halted at Vile Parle station. It is well known that ‘Olfaction’, the sense of smell, has an over riding influence in shaping consumer behaviour. And this accidental and occasional encounter people had with aroma at Vile Parle was deeply engraved in their minds. Consumers would rather have a brand they had already smelt than to try some thing entirely unknown.


Against such odds Shailendra did his work. His customers were mainly grocery store owners. He was required to visit at least 50 customers before calling it a day. Each morning he would submit his report and orders received on the previous working day. Before leaving for the field he would obtain, from his boss, special instructions for the day, which among other things included a stereotyped quipping “TARGET!” and the look (on boss’s face) that went with it. Though he fulfilled his target each month but had this nagging feeling that next month he may fail.


One late afternoon when he was doing the Khar-Danda beat, he walked into a store that was empty of customers and the owner had a painful expression on the face. He struck a conversation with the shopkeeper and came to know that poor-rich soul has been standing since six o'clock in the morning and was cursing himself for being in such a vocation. Shailendra did his best to pacify the guy before he walked out without asking for an order. He also carried with him the guilt of not doing his duty, ‘asking for the order.’


He kept on debating in his mind, if he had done the right thing. As a result of this the whole episode remained fresh in his mind till late that evening. It was at the bed time he had this flash, “If this guy is at work at 6 am so will be other shopkeepers. Why don’t I try to meet these people when they are fresh in the morning?” Next day he got up at 5 am and was in field by 6 am. He could finish all his calls by 10 am and reached office half an hour too late. Boss was angry, but Shailendra had two day’s reports and orders with him. The orders looked good. If the boss suspected some thing, he kept his suspicion to himself and decided to do back checking himself. In a few weeks time Shailendra’s order book seemed comfortable and he was now more confident about keeping his job even for the next few months.


Future had more exciting things in store for Shailendra and he didn't have any idea about those. One day the same Khar-Dandha shop keeper wanted to talk to him in confidence. By now the shopkeeper had figured out that Shailendra has changed his routine as a result of the conversation they previously had. He told Shailendra, “I know you are working so hard and proper, but your boss has some other plans for you. He has been back checking you and is going around the beat like a mad man. He wants to frame you up into some thing. Tell me if you have been fulfilling your target or not.” Then without waiting for an answer, he went on to say, “I have made a plan to silence your boss for ever. Can you meet me this Friday night for a few drinks? Of course it’s on me.”


That Friday night Shailendra was in for a bigger surprise. This shopkeeper had a friend who was a supplier for the out going ships from the Bombay Port. Each Friday he would order supplies required for next week’s sea faring vessels. Shopkeeper's friend gave him his card and asked him to meet next Friday. From the shopkeeper’s friend, next Friday, Shailendra received an order far in excess of his monthly target. Shailendra was asked to come back again next Friday, and this routine went on for several years even after Shailendra left that company.

"HARI SADU!" H For Hitler, A For Arrogant.......

Hari Sadu Ad hasn't been seen for a long time now. I wouldn't know the reason, yet there are memories attached to it and reading this article penned earlier triggers fresh thoughts. Here are some of those-

"HARI SADU!" H for Hitler, A for Arrogant, R for Rascal and I for Idiot; during a TV commercial, this is the way an executive is shown telling the correct spelling of his boss's name over a telephone call. Three exposures to this ad set me thinking, "Who is Hari Sadu?" "What if he's there in me?" And "What if he's there in the other managers?" And my fears weren't unfounded! Each one of us may have behaved like Hitler or as an arrogant person, or as a Rascal or Idiot some times in life. Yet, "Is this how we want others to think about us?"

As I was entertaining these thoughts, I came across the copy of "Made in America", by Sam Walton. By the way there are four Waltons, presumably descendent of Sam Walton. Each of these enjoy net worth ranging from $32 billion to S 34 billion;. If you were to add those up it becomes a formidable net worth in excess of $ 130 billion. Such is the legacy of the man called Sam Walton, who after taking retirement from US Army created this miracle empire Walmart and wrote this fabulous tale of his exploits. The following are the excerpts from the first few pages:

Quote

Hello, friends, I'm Sam Walton, founder and Chairman of Walmart Stores. By now I hope you've shopped in one of our stores or may be bought some stock in our company. If you have, you probably already know how proud I am of what is simply the miracle that all these Walmart associates of mine have accomplished in the thirty years since we opened our first Walmart here in north-west Arkansas, which Wal-Mart and I still call home. As hard as it is to believe sometimes, we've grown from that one little store into what is now the largest retailing outfit in the world. And we've really had a heck of a time along the way.

I realize we have been through something amazing here at Walmart, something special that we ought to share more of with all the folks who have been so loyal to our stores and to our company. That's one thing we never did much of while we were building Walmart, talk about ourselves or do a whole lot of bragging outside the Walmart family - except when we had to convince some banker or some Wall Street financier that we intended to amount to something someday, that we were worth taking a chance on. When folks have asked me, "How did Walmart do it?" I've usually been flip about answering them. "Friend, we just got after it and stayed after it, " I'd say. 

The Walmart story is unique: Nothing quite like it has been done before. So may be by telling it the way it really happened, we can help some other folks down the line take these same principles and apply them to their dreams and make them come true.

Life has been great to me, probably better than any man has a right to expect. At home I've been blessed with a wife and a family who've stuck together and loved each other and indulged my lifelong obsession with minding the store. At work my business life has been spent in lock step with an incredible group of Walmart associates who have put up with all my aggravation and bullheadedness and pulled together to make what once appeared truly impossible now seem expected and routine.

So first I want to dedicate this book to Helen Robson Walton and the four fine kids she raised - with some help along the way from the old man - our sons Rob, John, and Jim and our daughter Alice. Then I want to dedicate it to all my partners - and I wish I could recognize everyone of you individually, but we've talked over the years and you know how I feel about you - and to all 400, 000 of my associates- partners who've made this wild, wild Walmart ride so much fun and so special. Much of this book is really your story.

Unquote

I reflected, "In stead of saying such things at the fag end of my business career, why not I say it today; when it matters most." I have decided that when the office opens after the week end, people would see a sign out side: "This company is great because Virendra starts the day for us much before 8 am. This company is great because Sanjay does those small little things that we can use our office without a hitch through out the year. "

I can already feel a wave of joy building inside me. 

YOUR FIRM IS A GURUKUL TOO!

Competition is forcing firms into learning mode like never before; and the Society outside the organization is 'manufacturing challenges' for the firms like never before. Every firm needs to become a 'learning organism', and not just an outfit with posters or orchestrated situations wherein posters or poster-boys depicting /doing jargon munching about "Change", "Learning organization", and "How to be a customer centric" etc. The list seems endless while hours are limited. "How to compress the new agenda in to an already 'punishing' schedule called 'work day'" is the moot question.


The legendary Raja Bhartrihari of Ujjaini who wrote an epic on 'Policy' states- "No mark is left by the drop of water that fell on the red hot iron (implying 'Tawa'- an iron sheet used for cooking bread in India), same drop on the lotus leaf takes the form of a pearl and when it falls in the 'mother pearl' it gets converted into a real pearl. Thus, generally people develop different traits (read 'attitude'); bad average or excellent; due to the company they keep."


Though Bhartrihari lived in another era, yet his observations are true in the times like NOW. You may have noticed, people join a firm. They learn the work. Through the work they acquire higher learning and wisdom. Some times they like to share the wisdom with those who made it possible for them. Therefore a firm is like a "Gurukul". Those who have synchronized themselves with this reality are experiencing desired growth.