how to get things done

It might sound like a typical "street smart" phrase "kam nikalna aana chaiye", but managing a team is much more then that.
Because getting things done from an outsourced vendor is much more easier then getting work done from an internal team.

I am learning the team management traits here, and relishing the learning phase. Basic principal of growth is to "not to do the tried and tested", however that still needs to be done. So who takes the tab. What I mean by "Tried and tested" is basic hygeine work of client servicing, or mere media planning basics.

This is where your team comes handy and useful (in ideal scenario). I say this not because I have a bad team, but I take p:ride in the fact that I have people who think,and who have their own thoughts on business.

I think as a manager of people one needs to understand the fine line of difference between a ruling and hence a mandatory "force down the throat decision" to more democratic and inclusive decision.

After all that is the term "Managers".

I am learning a new chapter in my professional life to drive things through people, and I must say it is a fantastic learning experience. An experience which on one hand teaches me humility and respect for people, on other other hand pushes me to have self confidence and self belief in what I am doing.

A very eclectic mix of people belief and self belief I must say.

Monsoon fury raising a storm in my mind

Today mumbai experienced its worst monsoon fury this season. It has been raining constantly since yesterday night, and the whole of today morning. Wondering why this piece of weather info reflects on my blog today.

Well reason being today witnesses at least 4-5 key people missing in action from our prabhadevi office today (including me).

How does one justify this sheer lack of attendance in office on Tuesday morning (may not be so bright morning, but still). Well blame it on BMC (Bombay municipal Corporation .. for the uninitiated). I took at least 2 hrs. to travel a mere 10 km. from my residence in borivali (East) to Goregaon.

And to top it all there was a mis informed radio channels communicating about conflicting news of a high tide/low tide to make sure the listnership keep on rising.

All this apart, can this ever be tolerated in any other ambitious city. A city which is raring for growth, and equipped well enough with right talent. Not that my mind accepts.

I think this is a sheer apathy from government authorities to recognise needs of people of mumbai. But that is a often beaten to death discussion.

My objective of writing this post is to understand what can I do as a citizen of this country and this state. Can I for example initiate a non co operation movement with BMC/MMRDA/or what ever acronym authorities would like to adopt. A non cooperation to pay taxes, to use public transport (till they adhere to basic minimum requirements), etc.

Problem is I as an individual can do this, but that doesn't bother the politicians/bureaucrats. And to create a movement, you have to be a leader (strictly in political sphere) which current situations don't merit/allow.

Any ideas as to how to create a community, without actively seeking a political ambitions in life.

Agency - Your Partner or Whipping post

When I think of any relationship, I always believe that it is meant to last. Otherwise it should not have begun. While the initial phase of any relationship is certainly a testing time (as for human being involved, equally so for partnerships) but you need to have realistic benchmark to judge efficacy of a relation.

My views are in specific context of client agency relationship which can be a beautiful partnership, or can be a failed relationship. A lot depends on deliverables from both the partner in any relationship.

As a client one is expected to deliver very critical component of the deal - and no it is NOT BUDGETS. Need for the communication and objectives to be achieved from the communication according to me are the most important deliverables from the client.

Agency has to gear up to deliver this to the client, which becomes a second important step towards a succesful partnership. Invariably problems start at this stage.

As a media practitioner I often wonder about my deliverables to the client. Being in a service Industry, beyond the concrete deliverables, I think the key differentiator is deliverables on time.

As a service provider it is very important to respect deadlines,and commit to the job taken in hand. Afterall a lot depends on your commitment to a client. Client makes his assesments/deadline setting post you committing to him.

This however starts a new debate in my mind.

What if the agency is expected to deliver quality service, at impossible pricing, and at break neck speed.

And if that becomes your benchmarking tool against a not so worthy competitor.

This however is the way few clients perceive at agency business. And I dont blame clients for that. Onus is on us agency guys to understand what we stand for. We certainly are not factories delivering a batch of media deliverables at 24 x 7 x 365 pace.

If I step back and look at my deliverables as an OOH Media professional, it is impactful, meaningful and competitive media deliverables. I think the deliverables are strictly in that order. Any change in priority of deliverables is not an agency working, it is a production unit with low cost inputs to deliver a sub standard product.

While I subscribe to the views that budgets may vary from campaign to campaign, but the basic premise should remain the same. Because being competitive does not neseccarily mean being "Cheap" or "Lesser Priced".

Today I lost one of my very close friend. Abhijit vakil in many ways was a special friend. Talented, multifaceted, and very solution oriented person. Struggler throughout his life, he has been a friend I would miss throughout my life. I am a bit sad today, coz I remember small moments I shared with him. I am particularly hurt about the way life behaved with him, and future of his wife, son and daughter. 34 years is no age to die. I am also at loss as to why a battery of doctors have not been able to help him on cancer. Doctors literally played with his money and his hopes. After spending so much of time and money in hospitals like breach candy, all he got was a early death. Post this incident I have realised how life can be cruel at times and can snatch away your friends from you.

Critics

Iam eager to explore opinions, opinions about me, my work, my approach to... Work, life, friendship. I often wonder that how does one improve upon self. Friends, colleagues do give you opinion. Is there someone who is reading this blog and bother to key in some real bad things, with a dash of some goodness which I demonstrated during working/ interacting with them$ feedbacks awaited.

Is there something wrong with your workplace......

How often do we leave our office space with lots of thoughts, and complains about the way things are moving. Complains about how client(s) are creating problem(s), complains about how the whole process is fucked up. Lack of infrastructure, Lack of discipline, Lack of sincerity, Lack of quality manpower etc etc...

I dont think there is an end to this, but yes there is a supposedly (we will come back to this later..) solution to this. Just change the job. Bosses are not listening, colleagues dont pay a damn, pay scale is not right, will get a 30 % jump if I shift, these and many similar reasons work towards you taking the plunge.

Things are pretty well for a period of 2-3 years, and then .. bingo you get the same familiar feeling. Isnt that jobs becoming too predictable.

Not really.

I guess answer lies somewhere else. How often have I tried to change the way things are moving. How often do I believe that if things have to change, I have to drive it.

In my experience of over 10 year, I have worked across 4 organisations, and have found faults at every place. But have I tried to change them, or have I changed the place of work itself. I think I too choose the easy way out.

Going back to the supposedly phrase.... we think this is a better choice and hence go for it. But I think in this hurry to choose, we miss out on a major opportunity. Opportunity to change the things, and hence craft a organisation as per your and like minded colleagues.

Collective leadership is perhaps about finding such opportunities, finding such a team who think like you, and wre willing to work towards a common goal, and hence are partners in progress. Results when you find such a team are always bound to be favourable. Afterall you have not gone for an easy option, but dared to change things.

Schooling times for adults

I had a good learning sessions recently when I was preparing for nursery admission for my daughter Ananya.

Admission form for school were available only for a day (creating demand....) that too between 9:00 hrs. to 13:00 hrs. Each form costing 100 bucks.They must have sold around 2000 forms in a matter of 4 hrs. That isn't a surprise the money school makes out of selling admission form.

What made me write this post is the experience I had after witnessing mad rush parents(including me...)showed for form collection. There was a long Q starting as early as 04:00 a.m.,that is good 5 hrs.before form counter opens. When I went there at about 07:50 a.m., I was welcomed with a long Q, in which I was numbered 193.

After waiting endlessly in that Q,and interacting with anxious parents,I finally could lay my hands on admission forms.

Form had very few relevant details to assess child's capabilities, but there was a column wherein parents monthly household income was to be specified.

Next day the same mad rush was to be repeated since we had to submit the forms,and there was a big Q again.

Now is the surprise.... all parents and children would be called for a "Observation" on a pre decided date, during which the committee will take notes.....

Then a "Lucky Draw" will decide who gets admission and who has to repeat this madness again at some other school.

As grown up and educated professionals, isn't it a pity that we follow such nonsense and nomadic way of ensuring our children get a good education. Standing in Q for 5 hrs, playing with our valuable time, that too for nothing guaranteed. "Lucky Draw" as if a child's career is

I know a simple solution could be pay a donation fee and ensure that you don't stand in a Q. But is that a solution??????.

For a school having a capacity of having 160 nursery students split across 4 batches, is it justified to sell 2000 + forms.Is it not a crime to create artificial demand.

A macro learning from this episode is that we have forgotten to keep a balance between demand and supply gap in our society.

I experienced this on a school front, but I also witness it on many fronts - e.g. Infrastructure (all roads are jammed, trains are packed,) Education (nursery to college the same story), Entertainment (no parks for kids....use internet to make friends)....

Our society is behaving like a mass scale production unit, which utilises its production capability to the fullest extent.... but has not been able to place its products in right places.

Street Children and us...

I often go out for a drive in the night, or on a weekend with aditi,and ananya. Whenever we reach a traffic signal we are terrified by the sight of a poor child, or even infant in hands of a beggar, asking for alms.

Is it not a crime to make these children beg for money, when they don't even understand the significance of it. They are forced to beg, sometimes beated, sometimes drugged just to present a poor image, and gain sympathy.

I fail to understand that why cant government make child begging a crime, and the offenders should be put behind bars. There should not be a single child found begging. The mafia lord should be punished,so that they don't encourage this racket.

We have kind of immuned ourselves to corruption,and lack of action from government, but i cannot withstand an officer who ignores such nonsense and overlooks child begging.

I am going to find is there a law which prohibits child begging and can be used to impose this strictly.

Whenever I see a child begging,on a traffic signal,or railway station,my heart cries. What that child has done to deserve this kind of apathy.

When I see ananya needing so much of support from me and aditi, I cannot imagine how these street children grow up, and for what. Aren't parents to be squarely blamed for this.

A parent who cannot take responsibility of upbringing a child, should not have an ability to give birth to a child. I wish sexual capabilities of such individuals were directly linked to their responsible nature.

When the twain shall meet

I have been practicing OOH media for last 2 years, and after having spent considerable time in different media forms (Print/Internet/DM), I am ariving at some strong convictions about where this medium is headed for.

I think this is one of the few mediums which do not have any content, and hence have a very limited stickiness. It this medium has to click, we need content to be woven around it. which is where we have seem emergence of medium like mall activation, 3-d , hologram innovation, which are a step nearer to creating content.

Someone who pioneers marrying content with OOH is going to rule, and will be the thought leaders in this 1000 crore industry.

I recently was introduced to orkut by a colleague of mine. Though I was aware of Orkut, never did I imagined that this tool has got possibilities of changing the social netowrking patterns of todays youth.

One it is simple, and quite engaging, two it is so very addictive to simply latch on to it for hours, together. I myself have been frequenting this website very often. As I write this piece of thought, I am wondering where these virtual networking tools are taking us.

When I was a young Adult, I used to crave for a social networking platform, and often that was limited to few close friends, who can make it to my place, because of proximity to my residence. These impromptou meetings were fun, because they were in real world.

Now I am experiencing these meetings virtually.

Does it take away the charm?

Does it make us more virtual ?

Is it not making us, and our children, limiting their physical reach to the outside world, because everything is available virtually?

I happen to learn about this websote called secondlife.com. It actually allows you to live a dual life. This virtual life is a replica of your real life, except for the fact that we get a chance to run our own life the way we want to. We become creator of our own life virtually. We become god.

think about it?

Is it not something amazing.

Need to connect with self

Hi,

I remember scribbling words on my note pad, while I was in school. It was not a diary in true self, but yes a penning down of my thoughts for sure.

What I learned is that this marvellous art of writing - to self is like putting a mirror to your thoughts. What you do, what you think, the way you react, all reflect to the kind of personality you are.

My journey with so called diaries, has now found a more public platform through these blogs. While I am still cagey about a lot of things which I share - about me, my thoughts. Trust me - you will find enough information on to start a conversation with me.