Governance through technology – Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, UIDAI

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Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, UIDAI

It’s really great to be here at AIMA and speak on Digital Governance. I’ll just spend a little bit of time talking about why it is so essential and what are the challenges & pitfalls and what we can do about it. I think digital governance is transforming governance through technology is really no longer a choice as it’s really a non-negotiable thing.  Because I sincerely believe that if we’re going to tackle the challenges of India’s public issues, challenges of inclusion,  challenges in health care, education &infrastructure you really can’t do that without using technology in a very big way and I mean information technology.

I think we’re particularly well-placed because we are seeing a huge trend in the last four to five years which actually makes it feasible for us to think of bringing technology to every person in the country. As we are seeing ubiquitous connectivity and in the country, we already have mobile connectivity touching 90% for the population and now with the Internet 2G, 3G, 4G & wifi, all these new technologies it’s reasonable to assume that everybody will be connected in some sense to others.

The government itself is laying a huge plan to build could be the fiber optic network to every gram panchayat. So  with all these investments in wireless & fiber connectivity,  it’s safe to assume that over the next few years everybody will possible for everyone to be on the grid because they’ll be connected in some way and connect-able in the sense of using the internet, so it’s really about data connectivity.  Continue reading →

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Why Waste a Good Recession? – Mr. Kurush Grant, Executive Director, ITC Ltd

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Mr. Kurush Grant, Executive Director, ITC Ltd

Ladies and gentlemen, a very good morning! A few years back when the last financial meltdown took place, the Advertising Agencies Association of India had a seminar in Mumbai, and I would like to repeat the name of that seminar because I think it fits in with what we are going through at this point of time. It is – ‘Why Waste a Good Recession’ and a lot of us laughed at it and thought they were being too clever but what we found is that those companies who leveraged to good recession actually did well and those companies who panicked and who did the traditional stuff, which Mr. Bajaj also talked about, didn’t perhaps do so well.

One of the issues raised in the brief up of this particular recession was, ‘is it worth while changing vision, is it worthwhile changing strategy during times of uncertainties and difficulties? And if you were to look at various examples of companies around the world, what we find is that those companies who stick to a vision and whose strategies are robust and whose strategies actually work across time, never actually change their strategies. What does certainly happen is that they change tactics, they change logistics, they change supply chain possibilities but in the long run, strategies are very very rarely changed. But the issue is what short term is & what is long term?

Successful companies throughout the world have actually, apart from the traditional aspect of having a three layered goal and three layers of new product innovation- the short term, the medium and the long term, what successful companies actually do is that they have three layers of planning and three levels of actual strategic formulation for the short, medium and long term. Continue reading →

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Political & Economic Uncertainty – Mr Manish Tewari, Minister of Information and Broadcasting

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Mr Manish Tewari, Minister of Information and Broadcasting

First of all, I would begin by thanking Mr.Goenka for his extremely kind words, and yes, there is a certain sense of dejavu. I had the privilege of being part of the AIMA proceedings last year this time in Mumbai and I must say it was an extremely invigorating experience to interact with such bright and ignited minds from all across the country.I also take this occasion to congratulate AIMA on its Ruby Jubilee.

It takes a lot of perseverance to build institutions and I think, the successive leaderships of AIMA have persevered and have been able to create this into an institution, which is not only very widely respected but adds value not only to the managerial resources of this country but to the broader national canvas of interaction which in any democracy serves as a very important input to invigorate and enrich our discords as we try and move from one milestone to another.

If we were to go back to 1991, when the Indian economy started opening up or liliberalizing some people say under the force of circumstances, others would tend to believe that it was a logical conclusion or a logical continuation of the policies which have been put in place by the government of Late Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, from 1985-89.But 1989-91 were extremely cataclysmic years for the world. The Soviet Union was collapsing, east Europe was transforming and a lot of strategic thinkers around the world and in that broad sweep, including economists as well, were proclaiming and declaring that this was the end of history. Continue reading →

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If you don’t give up, you can not fail! – Mr D ShivaKumar, CEO PepsiCo & Past President AIMA

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Mr D Shiva Kumar, CEO PepsiCo & Past president AIMA

Thank you Ladies and gentlemen. We have already had 10 wonderful sessions and we have heard a lot on the theme of courage and uncertainty. I think, we can say if we conclude that uncertainty is here to stay amongst us and not go away.

How do firms deal with uncertainty? Some firms behave like an ostrich and soon they cease to exist. They are in denial mode and they start to externalise a lot. They start blaming others for their problems. Some firms get all rational and get into analysis paralysis mode. They think they are making great progress because of the number of slides and data points they have. This is what I call ‘death by PowerPoint’. Some firms get into an activity mode and unleash the activity trap, forgetting that the first thing you need when you go through an uncertain stage is focus. Some firms freeze, hence they lose. Some firms liberate to what I call emotional engagement. Courage is one part, logic many parts magic. And magic happens when we show emotions, when we tap into the emotional energies of people.

I want to show you a clip from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and then I will talk about what happened after that to end with what courage all means.

From the video, Derek Redmond showed enormous courage in dealing with failure, 150 meters into the race and 250 meters to go.

His decision to complete the race shows determination. His hopping for 250 meters shows endurance through pain. His father’s act shows empathy, compassion and the need for emotional anchors in uncertainty. His tears show vulnerability. That’s what courage is all about. And courage shown through these emotions has an astounding impact on 65000 people in that stadium. He didn’t win the race but he won admiration for life and that’s what courage is all about.

Two years after this Derek’s doctor told him that he couldn’t run again because he had had multiple challenges with his feet. So Derek without losing dedication decided to choose another game. He picked up basketball when Toronto represented United Kingdom in basketball. So, Derek represented the country twice, once in athletics and second in basketball. This Barcelona video brought him lot of fame. This was used by the Olympic committee on a theme called ‘humanity’. It was used by the Visa brand to promote the Olympic movement. It was used by Nike for ‘Acts of courage’. And this is what the Olympic committee or the movement said of this film when they ran it. They said force is measured in kilograms. Speed is measured in seconds. But courage, you can’t measure it!

On that note I would end my session. Thank you ladies and gentlemen.

The above article is an excerpt from the speech delivered by Mr D Shiva Kumar, CEO PepsiCo & Past president AIMA  at AIMA’s National Management Convention which was held in September 2013

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Courage in Uncertainty – Sachin Pilot, Minister of State(I/C) for Corporate Affairs

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Sachin Pilot, Minister of State(I/C) for Corporate Affairs

The topic given to me this morning is ‘Courage in uncertainty’. Well, I think we should have courage in the most certain times. I will just spend a couple of minutes talking about what’s happening generally and I am sure you heard other speakers yesterday and you will hear more this morning and this afternoon.

All of you know, exactly, where the art way in terms of our economy, where is India’s position, what needs to be done and I am sure you all are brimming the ideas on how best to fix the situation at hand. When I say ‘fixing it’, I say this with the sense of reality that today we are growing at between 4-5%, perhaps .5% +/-. But generally speaking, the last 18months have been a slower growth than expected. Again, the key word is ‘expected’. If the US economy grows at 1%, the base is so large that it’s a phenomenal growth for them. The European economies are struggling to get positive growth. However, when India grows at 8-8.5%, it’s expected to grow at 8-8.5%. The potential for the economy is perhaps more than that. Where does the word potential come from? It’s the expectations from the people of this country and the global community because we have the talent force; we have the engines, the capacities to absorb that kind of growth, the consumptive capacity, the productive capacity. So, when India grows at 4-5%, everybody, all the rating agencies, the World Bank, all the pink press, the entire world says it’s not good enough. Sure, not good enough. But what needs to be done to fix this growth of the GDP and the forward momentum, is what we have to take into account. The first thing we have done as a government from the last 6months or so, is to reduce the current account deficit. And I think the finance minister has done a great job in pulling back the current account deficit to the target that he set for us, as 4.8%. Also, I think, we have done a little bit better than the 4.8% target that we set out for ourselves. Continue reading →

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Economic Uncertainty – Mr Kamal Nath, Minister of Urban Development

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Mr Kamal Nath, Minister of Urban Development

Good morning everyone. I’m delighted to be here amongst AIMA for the 40th National Management Convention and I would like to congratulate AIMA on its ruby jubilee of NMC.

Ruby jubilee seems to be a nice word. It has always been a pleasure to attend AIMA’s conventions. I have seen AIMA grow from strength to strength and I have attended many of their conventions as it evolved into a think tank and a hub of management development and education. Though it’s not easy for a purely voluntary, non lobbying organisation, to succeed, AIMA has won the respect and support of the management fraternity, academia and government through its efforts to build India’s management capacity. Once again, through this convention, AIMA is trying to explore the possible management responsive, prevailing uncertainty and this is indeed commendable. I would like to congratulate Ms. Chanda Kochar & Mr. Aseem Premji, who have become legends in the lifetime of stupendous achievements. You have not only led corporative institutions but have made several contributions to the brand India. Your work is an inspiration to the new generation of Indian entrepreneurs and executives. Mr. Gopalakrishanan, you are a visionary of the TATA Group and a wonderful writer. I would like to congratulate the award winners as well. Continue reading →

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Courage in Uncertainty – Mr Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd

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Mr Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd

Good morning everyone. This is perhaps the third or fourth time AIMA has invited me to speak and I don’t know why they have called me up again but I’ll tell you why I like coming here. Well, first of all, because Rekha is wonderful and also, Shiv, Gautam and Sanjiv and the others, you all are very nice and very warm and welcoming. But most of all and I say this from my heart, I find that this is the best audience to be with. I mean, there is always so much energy in this room.

The theme of the conference is ‘courage in uncertainty’ and when I was given the executive summary, this is what it said: facing the future and uncertainty with courage is not a way, but the only way. This is what I received from AIMA. Well, this in itself is not new. Aristotle said centuries ago, that courage is the first of all virtues because without it we cannot act on any other virtue. So, that has been acknowledged a long time back. But let me also share with you what a very well known doctor said, a very long time back, Dr. Michael Boyd. He said, “All that which is powerful for good is potent for evil”. It’s good to diet, but it’s not good to diet too much. It is good to exercise, but it’s not good to exercise too much. It’s good to work, but it’s not good to work too much. Therefore, all that is powerful for good is powerful for evil as well. So, courage, I think, is powerful for good but courage can also be very potent for evil, and that is why my presentation starts with a question- “courage is uncertainty?” What I mean to convey is that there is a lot of uncertainty that we find ourselves in, self inflicted, brought upon us by ourselves because we’re being too courageous, perhaps full hardy. So, what I’m going to do for the next few minutes is as Shahrukh said to all of us yesterday, he’s here less to talk about success and more about failure in the context of success. Continue reading →

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Role of Courage in Success – Shahrukh Khan, Actor, producer & television presenter

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I am going to say good evening again, because that’s how I started the speech. First of all, it’s really scary here. Some of the biggest managers of the biggest corporations in the biggest convention for management – AIMA.

It’s very sad that in such an august company of people, big business houses and managers, all you could manage was to get a speaker from Bollywood to speak at the convention. The economy must be really bad.

Well, who am I to speak about the economic downtrend across the globe etc, or anything, for that matter? Just reading the topics being discussed before I came on stage, I was frightened. And if I’m allowed to say so, shit scared. I couldn’t understand a word. Let me tell you one of the discussions they had earlier on in the day – ‘Could financialisation of commodities be used to incentivise supply growth without inflating prices?’  Continue reading →

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Focus on customers rather than on Product – Mr. Gyan Gupta CEO, Dainik Bhaskar Digital Business

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Mr. Gyan Gupta CEO, Dainik Bhaskar Digital Business

Henry Ford has been known for producing the mass production system in the American history. He is known as the most senseless and the most brilliant marketer at the same time. Senseless because all he gave to the customers was one black car and brilliant because he could create the production system that could create a car for 500 dollars, and he could sell millions of them. Henry Ford was a real marketer; he did not produce a 500 dollar to produce an assembly line. He actually figured out if he can produce a 500 dollar car, he would be able to sell million of those to the customers. So he kept the customers in mind and focused on a low cost production system. So, there’s a fine line between the customer & the product.
Not the strongest, not the most intelligent but the most flexible species will survive in today’s world. People from big publications think that they are in the business of newspaper; in fact they should focus on the news rather than the newspaper. Newspaper was a medium that was convenient some time back. The consumer today still wants news, they still want credible news from the trusted sources but the medium has changed due to advanced technology. Consumers are changing & they are adapting themselves to the current changes in the environment. Continue reading →

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How to attain Sustainable Competitive Advantage – Mr. Arunabh Das Sharma – President, Bennett Coleman

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Mr. Arunabh Das Sharma – President, Bennett Coleman

The concept of competitive advantage is slightly outvoted concept today.  What it means today and what it meant in 90’s is vastly different. In this age of dramatic & disruptive technology how can we manage the product life cycle is the main question. I have been fortunate to be associated with brands which have managed it successfully.  I have been fortunate to be a part of the journey of brands like Coke, Whirlpool & Times of India which are more that 100 yr old brands .According to me, the concept of product life cycle is dead. I think more and more people are trying to manage the brand life cycle as oppose to the product life cycle today. Because products that constitute the brand can come & go but the brand value will stay forever.

Product life cycle is an inverse s shaped curve, where you would start slow and then there’s rapid growth and then you start slowing down and at the end it would decline. Let’s take an example of Colgate dental cream. It is probably a 65 – 70 year old brand and yet it continues to be the leader primarily in same form & fashion. It is a very successful brand & product. I would however argue that the reason why Colgate dental cream is so successful is because the company has managed to figure out that there is a core set of consumers & there is a peripheral set of consumers & Colgate has been successful in focusing on both these categories by launching different products under same mother brand of Colgate, for e.g.:  Colgate total, Colgate sensitive & Colgate whitening. Continue reading →

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