Entrepreneurship, Marketing

Entrepreneurship – Creating Opportunities Where None Exists

It was April of 1976. It was one of those evenings when Gary Dahl, an advertising professional was having beer with his friends. His friends were going on and on complaining about their pets. In jest, he remarked that he had no complains about his pet. When probed about which pet, he said, that he had a pet rock. This got a good laugh among his friends and that was that. Just like at time there is a tune or some thought that is stuck in our heads, this entire idea of having a pet rock was stuck in his […]

Leadership

Building a Better Version of Ourselves

Premise: I strongly believe that irrespective of where we are in our lives, there is always a better place to be. We can always be a better person than we are today, we can have a better impact on our world than we are having right now. There is always a better future to look forward to. There is always a better goal to aspire for. If we agree about this, what is the force that can propel us to become the better person that we can become, create the bigger and more meaningful impact that we can create or […]

Innovation, Leadership

Quest for the elusive Innovation Framework

Premise: I have read countless blog posts, wrote a few myself, watched videos, did innovation courses, read books on innovation, all in the quest to learn what makes innovation happen and if there is a way to institutionalize innovation. While there are people who claim that they can do so, I have come to the decision that it is an elusive quest, one that we may never be able to complete. Innovation and Parenting: As is usual, when I was taking a walk post lunch today, I was thinking about innovation and if there is a way to institutionalize it. […]

Marketing

The Role of Marketing in Scaling a Small Business using Customer Centricity

One way that small businesses can continue to be not only relevant but in some ways even compete (or out-compete the large competitors) is through obsessing about their customers and creating meaningful experiences for them. Marketing can play a very important role in this journey by not only knowing who the customer is for their product or service but also ensuring that the entire organisation knows about it as well. This shared understanding enables everyone in the organisation to align and find ways to make a difference in the lives of the customers. – The product development team now knows […]

Sales

Sales Kick-offs

It is the start of another new year. If you are in the profession of selling, you will be invited to yet another Sales kick-off that your company has organised. The leadership team will get on stage and share the results from the past year. If it was a good year, it will call for some celebration. If it was a tough year, it will still call for some celebrations (not many companies publicly admit that it was a tough year and so instead of introspection about what went wrong, they will still find something to celebrate). There is nothing […]