The silent national anthem

This is the most amazing video of the Indian National Anthem.

It really touches your heart to the core.



Well done to Reliance Big Cinemas on doing atleast one good thing

City of Lakes - Udaipur

Was recently travelling through Udaipur (Rajasthan) on a business trip and was amazed to see the greenery in the city...

Udaipur is the city of lakes in rajasthan...the big ones such as lake pichola and fatehsagar lake are the big lakes in the city..

Even though it is a small city, it is always bustling with life and energy..

Here is a few pic of the lake from the hotel i stayed at (it is the highest pt of Udaipur)

where have all the bloggers gone?

It seems like a long time since i have blogged..maybe 2 months or so...but then most of my posts havent really been blogs or anything..but just posts on good ads or songs...

When i try to visit the blogs on my blogroll, i see that most of the blogs dont exist anymore or from open blogs they have become "invite only" personal diaries..is that the natural progression to the blog? i don't know because mine is still a blog open to all to read :D (just that off-late there isnt much to read)

anyhow if any of the old bloggers i have known are still around, please do leave a comment..

looking forward to blogging once again...and more often :)

cheers!!

Farhan Akhtar and Prachi Desai in Pureit Marvella RO ad

Prayers for Mumbai

Prayers for Mumbai!!

May God Bless Mumbai...

Why don’t airlines fly full capacity in business/first class?

It is surprising to see how airlines in India are comfortable flying with empty business and first class seats? I am in BOM-JAIPUR AI flight and there are only 2 first class seats occupied out of 10 odd seats.

Does it make sense to fly with empty business class? I think it is a lost opportunity to make revenue.

Some thoughts on how things can turn around for an airline if they relinquish this practice

First – Positive WOM (for those who don’t understand WOM – it means Word of Mouth)

In today’s internet era where everyone gets to know about everything on the click of a button, can WOM be ignored?

WOM today plays a huge role in helping consumers buy what they are looking for. Consumers today go search for the smallest of items on the internet and if the item searched for has positive WOM on it, it can turn the tables in favor of the item and vice versa. To en-cash on this trend, most companies have set up Facebook pages/Twitter handles etc.

But is having that tool enough? How do you use it for business gains? Most people today are there on FB/Twitter/Google+ . Now if lets say an airline was to surprise a passenger by bumping them off to first class free of cost, it would bring smiles to the consumer as it would delight the passenger.

Most of the passengers today are killing time on social networking till the time flight takes off and imagine a FB/Twitter/Google+ update saying “thanks to xyz airline for free first class upgrade”. Now this would go to 100, 200, 500 people considering the contacts in the passengers profile but more importantly, the positive WOM for the airline has spread to hundreds of people by just one single gesture.

Maybe this crowd of people would consider this particular airline next time they fly as they would see an opportunity to get a first class upgrade incase of availability.

So if you see this is benefit to the airline and the passenger also.

Secondly – Revenue Generation

In today’s inflationary times most passengers are highly price conscious and would like to go with the cheapest airline unless they are millionaires or billionaires ( to them flying in economy class wont be worthy of their status and in their own right it would be correct too). So if you are bumping of a few passengers from existing economy class to first/business class, you are opening up the chance of selling out the freed up economy class seats to new passengers who may have otherwise choose to fly some other airlines. For e.g. if you have 6 seats empty in first class and you bump off 6 economy class passengers to the first class then you have 6 more seats left to offer to passengers who are at the airport and want to fly. If priced competitively the passengers would choose to fly with the airline which offers the best competitive price. The perceived negative is – offering the first class seat to a passenger in need at the airport.

Honestly, this seems to be far fetched hope because for someone who wants to travel first class, he or she would plan his/her travel well in advance.

Alternatively, an airline knows a few hours before departure the number of empty seats in first/business class. Be proactive, and suggest the economy class passengers pay a nominal charge and upgrade themselves to business/first class. For e.g. if someone has paid 3500 for an economy class ticket, offer him/her a business class upgrade at lets say Rs 500 extra. The passenger wouldn’t mind paying that much amount for such an upgrade. He/She would be delighted. In turn the airline would make Rs 500 per first class upgrade + the amount they are able to sell of the newly empty economy class ticket. Win Win situation for all!!

What I am talking about is not something not practiced in the airline industry globally but I guess it is time that Kingfisher/Jet and Air India start practicing it.

Unravelling the Corporate Divide & Rule Policy

There are all types of people in an organization.

Each one of them is trying to give their best in their own capacity.

Some of them have been high achievers in the past.

In a team there are high performers+normal performers+under performers. Each one knows who the other is but then they dont discriminate against anyone. Do you know why? Because they are a team. A team is a cohesive unit, it strives to achieve and deliver the results together as a unit.

And then someone sitting faraway in fantasy land decides that the high performers should be recognized, they should be made to stand out. So along comes a new sub organizational group for them and call them Club Peak. Now let us give them a new tie, new socks, new shirt collars so that they are proud to be a part of Club Peak.

Little do they realize that in the meantime, they have ended up creating a "Club Bleak" (normal performers+under performers). These guys who would have otherwise strive harder to deliver better would now be thinking that their future is now "BLEAK".

Although Club Peak is a noble thought it needs to be done in a way that it doesnt create Club Bleak.

PS - These are my personal views and not representative of any organization.

Redefining music in bollywood

Awesome songs - Unconventional but entertaining..check them out

Nakkadwale Disco Udharwaley Khisko



Switty Switty



and the best one..Bhaag DK bose DK bhaag



Enjoy!!

Nice ad

The first drop of rains in Mumbai this monsoon

And the "ever consistent prediction" of MET dept works again. On Monday they said that monsoon had arrived 5 days earlier in Mumbai and since Monday it hasnt rained in Mumbai :D :D

the reality of growth

As an organization grows in size, business , turnover & people it should become a balance of consumer, customer and employee centric whilst maintaining its ambition to grow.

There is an organization with a business which has grown faster than the category growth rate, with a growth rate as high as double at which the category has grown over the years thus making it a very successful business in the eyes of the organization. However the balance seems to be shifting, not all is well.

This business started as a people centric business - for the people and by the people in its truest sense. Everyone seemed to have a mission and objective in life - to make a difference to the life of the common man and his family (with certain business objectiveswithout which it cant survive).

However the ambition to grow faster than the category has now led the business into a situation where the business ambitions have higher importance than the people who have helped this business grow to this level.

However over the years and more so off late the people centric nature of the business seem to be a superficial attempt to make the employees believe that yes we are concerned about you!! Attrition rates are at an all time high with attrition being reported across all levels from the lowest to almost the highest level of people. From a business which was a small knit cohesive unit with teams that supported each other, today it is a business where all the employees are working with their one hand covering their royal backside.

Certainly doesnt look like a very enthusiastic place to work right now !!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Awesome ad....