I am pained by the recent videos of Indian soldiers being heckled by coward youth in Kashmir. Soldiers who were equipped with weapons which had a potential to kill these cowards in a fraction of a second. It needed great amount of patience and valour for our soldiers not to react.  As Kamal haasan said in on of his tweets – Height of valour is non violence.

This edit is not to condemn the act, or to bad mouth the cowardly kashmiri youth (they have done that job for themselves), but to ponder on a question – What can we as  common man do beyond the social media tweets, and blogs like these which I write ?

I think the answer is in actions and no longer words.  To do things which contribute towards negating such atrocities, to do things which make a change on ground, make a change by stopping people to stoop to such levels. What can be done – many things to begin with. These are things which come to my mind .

A) Serve in armed forces : Make it mandatory for every Indian family to send their daughter and son for a mandatory Indian armed forces training and service.  This should be made compulsory and not a choice for anyone. Clear benefit I see is our youth getting a taste of what goes into making of armed forces life and why it is important for them to not just respect but live that life and empathise beyond social media. I have a daughter whom I am preparing for armed forces exposure and a son who I pledge to the nation. Charity begins at home.

B) Mainstream involvement : Get India to Kashmir. As Kumar Vishwas said in one of his brilliant oratory style – If Kashmir has to be a part of India, It has to be led by a team which does not belong to any political party. We need to get Indians to Kashmir and outnumber handful of traitors in the valley.  Government should ensure safety and make it mandatory for doctors, civilians, engineers, doctors, media and communication professionals to spend minimum 2 years service in valley. Ensure there is a abundance of Indians in the valley – across every profession, across every sector. Make the valley full of Indians and outnumber the traitors by sheer volume. Safety and employment are two factors for common Indian – if that is taken care of – I am certain we can outnumber the traitors.

C) Control media : I know this is the most outrageous solution, but there should be a two year strict control on media access in Kashmir. Let India decide what is good for Kashmir – not media – nor the social media savvy people who tweet, condemn and fail to act or don’t know what to act on . No information , no perception, no counter opinions. When your kid is with a doctor, you don’t go to social media to seek opinions, you trust the doctor. Government needs to play the role of a doctor and we the parents who trust the doctor. Let media not color your and my opinions.

There is a lot of talk, but little or no visible action on ground which involves the country. Kashmir problem is our problem too – it is not just the problem of armed forces. Time for India to involve Indians in resolving what could potentially be longest standing conflict in post independence India.

Actions will surely speak better then words.

Choose your struggles wisely

As a child we are generally protected from the external world and struggles it may present. While this is a safe period and one must use it wisely to gain strength,momentum and direction towards what eventually you may want to do in life. Much before what life may present its struggles on to you will and should dawn on you someday or the other.

What better way to navigate this phase of life- but to be wise and choose what you want to struggle for.

My thoughts are inspired by my own struggles – which were not chosen by me, and what struggles I wish that my children and younger professionals go through. Read carefully – it may well help you tread well on your career front much better.

#1 First on my list is struggle for right information. You need clear and unambiguous information of things you need to know. This could be pertaining to your self assessment, your quest for a career,your curiosity about say sex, or anything under this sun. As a young mind, you must have the urge to know and know things well. Any amount of struggle you do to get right information is worth it. Cause only when you know will you grow.

#2 Second on my list would be struggle to find a good mentor. Learn from others mistakes, and your mentor would do well to teach you from his/her own mistakes and caution you about things which would might run into. Many of us don’t put enough efforts to find a mentor and struggle later as we end up repeating mistakes which we could might as well avoid. Saves time, makes you more efficient and hence smart enough to fast track on your goals.

#3 Third most significant struggle you should choose is that of articulation and communication. This is what separates wheat from the chaff. How well have you learned to communicate your thoughts and mind will decide how well you are heard and received by your colleagues, peers, seniors, and even yourself. Remember your first two struggles – that of having right information, and mentor are baby steps you take to know what you want and now you know how to communicate that. Defining what you need, defines what you get.

#4 One of the significant aspect of growing up is to stay humble. This can be a nasty struggle to win. If you have tread the path correctly till now , chances are you will be somewhat successful, and somewhat self congratulatory. This often leads to undermining someone else’s struggles and hence makes you a bit arrogant or cocky. I would caution that you must master the art of being humble and grounded. There are always new things to learn and you must learn them. Struggle to remain humble would score high once you are on way to be success.

#5 Last on my list is the struggle to stay updated with technology. This is like running on a tread mill which pick up speed every 1 km you run. But the struggle is worth it. Technology makes you productive and productivity is what one cares for. I find many people to be choosing to pass off on this struggle and I believe this is a strategic mistake. One must stay relevant always and technology can be your best friend – when everything else is changing around you

Hope you pick up above 5 struggles in your life and pass on many other learnings to your colleagues and peers. Happy reading.

I have been lucky to experience holidays. Holidays with my lovely family, friends, parents, and at times alone.  No debate here that Holiday is what everyone should experience in life – it should be a basic human right , not a privilege.

However I have seen a lateral shift in my approach to Holiday. Thankfully not in terms of taking more holidays , but my approach to plan holidays. Those of you who follow my blog – know well about my demographics and life stage. Those of you reading it through social media/first time – I am 42 year young C level executive with a European creative post production studio. Have a lovely family comprising of two kids and beautiful wife. Been taking holiday twice a year for last 7 years.

So what is it that has changed ?

I never considered Holiday as an investment. I always considered it as an expenditure.

If I could afford one – I would spend on it, If I can’t – I would probably be sorry about it. This all changed drastically. Thanks to peer pressure from my lovely friend circle and the strategic response team from Club Mahindra who met me on one of Sunday & changed my point of view completely. More about them later.

First I want to talk about why Holiday is an investment and needs to be planned like any other investment you do in your life – House, Insurance, MF, FD’s.

With increasing life expectancy, improved medical aid and more awareness we are seeing a increased life span. This also means a higher stress on your working life and  higher demand for you and your family to un wind. Holiday is the antidote to it.

Question is can you afford holidays say 10 years from now when your life poses you different challenges – kids studies, parents health, your own health checks etc.  Inflation and you being on wrong side of 50 would leave you with less chances of taking risks. Does it mean you stop taking holiday. Not really.

That is where you plan holiday like an investment. An investment which leads you a successful  family time for next 2 decades or so. I strongly believe that this point is important to consider for all in my age group. You may end up buying nay holiday which fits you scheme of things – budgets, life stage, family type – but invest you must.

Do not consider it as an expenditure and plan for it. You and your family needs it.

Now a bit about Club Mahindra. Ok this is not a plug in for them – however I found the messaging, context , communication and professionalism of team at Club Mahindra to be 9/10. They were professional to check timelines for meet, remind about our meeting, keep the association professional and flexible. It reaffirms my belief that if you have a strong proposition and equally strong team to deliver it – you have a winning combination at hand.

So I ended up taking a Club Mahindra membership and Invested in my family’s future. Quite a shift in my approach to Holidays. What do you consider your holidays as – Expenditure or Investments ? Want to leave you with that thought.

Thank you Club Mahindra folks, I hope to remain as genuinely praiseful of your efforts ever and you continue to exceed our expectations.

Expecting somebody to “Like you” is becoming a easy trap for us these days. If I am eating some food, driving a cycle, going out with kids, drinking beer with friends, everything around me is “Likeable”. Thanks to the omnipresent social media which does not seem to have a “Unlike” option for anything I do- or I pretend to do.

On a macro level there is nothing wrong in somebody “Liking” what somebody else is doing. I would like if my friends are having fun, or spending some time with family, or exercising etc. All good things and nothing “not likeable” in it.

Where I see this as a dangerous trend is that this ‘Like mania” has a potential to change the expectations of youth,  that everything they do – needs to be liked.  Smaller acts like explained above are like worthy and hence deserves likes, what if somebody is doing things which needs to be criticised or abhorred and not “liked”. What choices does social media offer you for this. Un fortunately one does not have a “Unlike” button and hence imbalances the perception of people who are so hooked on to living by the social media.

Some might say that you can comment on something which one doesn’t like and hence there is a balancing mechanism out there. I partially disagree to it. Writing is far more complex and difficult task as compared to simply clicking “Like”. It needs a lot of structuring of thoughts and articulation to write things – expressing by actions like “Like” is very simple. this choice between simple “Like” and difficult “comment” shifts the balance in favour of things being appreciated all the time.

I believe that media has a role to play in structuring people’s behaviour and social media like FaceBook should be open to create space for unlike as much as likes.

You are free to unlike this article, unfortunately even wordpress does both have a unlike option.

I started my first full time job at the age of 23. One year into a new job with The Times of India was not what I had dreamt of . Starting with a English broadsheet in a hindi heartland – Indore had its own set of challenges. Industry challenges apart, I wish to touch upon few learnings from my early corporate life – and wish I had done these things differently

A) Knowing your passion : It is the holy grail. If you don’t know it – you wont enjoy what your are doing. The difficult part is to know your passion, easy part is to follow it at that age. Most – including me failed to understand what is my passion and hence succumbed to the usual grind of doing a PG & getting into a job – I found. My advice – Avoid this trap.

B) Take more risks : Risk is least when you have not much to loose. 2-3 years of your life must be invested in figuring out what works and what wont. Experience comes out of wrong decisions. So do not shy away from taking risks. Get the fear of failing out of your head. You will any which way not succeed early on. So better to build your experiences of what not to do at this age.

C) Find a mentor : Very important . I had none. I could had been somewhere else if I had one. Finding a mentor is also tricky. Not an easy task. But if you have followed above two points – chances are you would have found one by now. So use your mentor as a sounding board. Talk, communicate, express, articulate your doubts with your mentor and you would fast track your learning curve.

D) Write a lot : Nothing works like good old habit of penning your thoughts. Now it is even simpler with Evernote, Twitter, and all sorts of applications available to you. I used to write a lot – but I wish I wrote more. It is like a mirror to your self. You can revisit your image in future and understand your growth or de growth. It is powerful benchmark about how have your grown in your thoughts, attitudes, approach to life, finance and many other hygiene factors.

E) Financial Awareness : When you take risks, you also learn to experiment with money. Risks and financial awareness go hand in hand and allow you to understand how financial planning and awareness can help you in later stages of your career.

I want to keep this note crisp and think I have almost covered what I wish #IfIWere22 today. I am happy what I have achieved and I am hoping to go on and get what I still dream of. someday I would write back on how have I fared in achieving those dreams.

I have been lucky to be on both sides of the business.  Actually three sides of the business is a better word. Spent quality time with creative and media agencies, Publications and broadcasters & Client side as well. Have enjoyed working with agencies of different hue and size and loved interaction with some rational some not so rational clients.

I would talk about clients who seek partnership with advertising agencies. Partnership which extends the relationship to that of a marketing arm, looking at all aspects of brand – including challenges at demand generation, perception building, image correction or improvement & create higher market share, external and internal communication etc. etc .

No denial that there is a real dearth of clients as explained above, but equally important question to ask – Are there agencies who have capability and competence to walk this path with such clients ?

In my opinion the full service advertising agency – which is what clients bargained for – has been fragmented by us folks – purely to satisfy individual aspirations and ambitions of agency folks.

Typical advertising agency would need Strategy,Planner,Creative,Art,Studio,Films,Media,PR,Events,Research etc and all important talent to manage each of these co-related business verticals. Factually how many agencies have each of these functions ? In my view of interacting with agencies in India and abroad, hardly any agency does all. If they do they are termed as boutique agencies and clients dis regard the scale and hence do not work with them (This is a very important for clients to understand that scale and creativity are at times inversely proportional).

My point is if agencies cease to offer all solution under single roof – we are calling for trouble and giving birth to a vicious cycle. Clients would go to multiple partners for a single solution and fragment the dollar further. As such agencies have learned to survive on a a remuneration which is hardly a motivation to hire quality talent. We are fishing in waters which offer a 1 % – to 5 % commission as against a healthy 15 % of a full service offering. We are creating designations and crazier portfolios for people just to keep them hooked on to the job. The fragmentation is not benefitting anybody – nor the clients , nor the agencies , and not the people working in these agencies.

Creative has confined it self to creative thinking and strategising, however studio function is more or less relegated or outsourced to vendors, Production is outsourced to production houses how double up as “deal makers” or “broker houses” who will broker a deal in the given cost. Media agencies have fragmented into – Mainline, OOH, digital, Retail, Rural, Retail , experiential and what not. Each one surviving on the already meagre margins but scurrying for top talent. No wonder we are not able to attract top talent and hence further going down in this downward spiral called fragmentation or as some creative genius would put it – Specialisation.

Call it old school thought, or simple business thinking – consolidation will give you scale, talent, cross business gains and clout to manage reputed brands. Fragmentation would probably give each one of a corner office – if that is what it has come to.

Elections in India is the probably the most extensive exercise conducted ever. If one carefully goes through the election coverage – across media – poll manifesto – across parties, what stands out is the rhetoric given in the form of hope for – Bijli, Sadak, Paani (roughly translated – Power, Accessibility of roads & drinking water).

Strange that even after 67 years post independence politicians are basing poll manifesto on elementary and basic necessities – as above. While politicians – as any opportunist would want to encash on such promises, what is worrisome is how people of this country are getting lured into such promises – every five years – for last 67 years.

Answer probably rests with the lack of awareness of Indians on their basic rights. Right to education, Right to housing, Right for drinking water, Hygiene and information.  Politicians have made best use of this ignorance and hence ruled this country year after year – irrespective of parties they belong to.

You might be wondering where is the entrepreneurial idea here ?

I believe that there remains a vast space for literate and resourceful individuals like the one reading this blog &  the one writing this blog – a startup  which makes Indians aware of these five factors. An idea born out of bringing awareness along – Hygiene, Information, Drinking water, Housing & Education.

There remains a vast space in India , where a professional entity promises to take up villages, talukas, districts and reaches  100 % mark on making people aware about their basic rights. This can be done in multiple ways – Educative staff, E learning modules, road shows, activation, group talks & discussions, school awareness program etc.

Brands who see a common merit in making vast Indian population aware of such rights, stands to unlock a vast potential in it by being a partner in journey of consumer. Brands like – Unilever, MS/Nokia, P&G are already doing it in micro ways. Corporates will see a proper channel in hands of educated, professionally qualified and accountable youth who are making a change not just to the society but also to their brand needs.

It is a big push to CSR commitments from corporates and must make a lot of sense to contribute to society and drive awareness.