We Shall Overcome
Grow, Give and Don't Give Up
If you noticed the banner in the email and liked it, please join me in thanking Kalyan Kumar Reddy (IBS Hyd MBA2020). As usual, KKR had done a great job in conceptualising and executing the Logo and Banner from scratch.
Like everything else in my life, I had dived into newsletter head first and it is still evolving as work-in-progress. The Logo and Banner are part of the evolution to a more distinct identity. This may not be perfect but then I had to start somewhere without waiting for perfection. Anyways, I have always been a fan of serendipity and unexpected connections but I guess that’s subject matter for may be a newsletter(s) in future. .
And if you were shared this newsletter by your friend, do not forget to subscribe for the weekly dose of Running Platform Marketing Life in your email.
DTW
During the Week , one more celebrity fell prey to “Social Media Tone Deafness” during the time of COVID-19! Billionaire David Geffen must have been advised by his PR handlers to delete his Instagram account after he was soundly slammed for an abrasive self-congratulatory post about how he's self-isolating on his $590 million super-yacht and thus being subjected to extreme hardships !
This introduction brings us to the issue of privilege and how can we be better version of ourselves in these testing times. For almost all of us, last few days have been different and for many of us, unsettling. Our lives have been impacted in more than one ways- Work, Social and Wellness. Some of us are Working from Home and I think we should be thankful and grateful for having hit the genetic lottery. WFH should be seen as a privilege and not as an imposition. For millions of our fellow citizens in India and across the world, the lockdowns have resulted in loss of work and incomes. Millions of them are staring at prolonged period of inadequate access to food, education and wellness. Some of us are also “Bored” in this health crisis and I think that’s a very dangerous sign. Boredom harms us in two ways- First, it prevents us from finding meaning in a task and Second, it hampers our ability to pay attention. At the very least, you could consider self-isolation as some sort of social or community service and not necessarily as a mandate from government.
What if this is the new normal ? How prepared are we for this way of doing business and living life ? Leveraging on this #LockDown to reset our goals and priorities could be way forward. We could start by developing a new playbook or even a personal working guide and if you already have one, it is time to update it to the WFH scenario. Whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur , you would need an updated version of your playbook. It is highly likely that this updated Covid-19 playbook would become your default playbook for near future or perhaps even longer.
The road ahead is little hazy and for some may be even broken. Preparation is the key and nowhere I have learnt it more than in running. A popular adage for runners is that “You earn your medal in the practice; You just go to the start line to collect it'“. For people in world of work, please do not let go of your skills and continuous upgradation. From running perspective , every day lost in training requires double the time to recover and get back to the original fitness and efficiency.
We are usually advised to be master of one but as we enter more fuzzier times, it is imperative that we preserve our options. Options are available to us almost all the times but if we are too specialised then we see them as challenges and at worst as threats. During adversity, having options gives us a unique advantage - The upside is theoretically unlimited and the losses are limited to resources that we may spend to acquire the optionality.
So, between strength and flexibility, I would recommend flexibility. For example, again in endurance running, I have felt better when I am injury free because injury free runners will not miss training and hence perform better than just a strong runner. It also gives us the chance to change course if we find something not working or when we hit a wall. So, go ahead and acquire that digital marketing or data analysis skill or even better dust out the guitar or refresh that blog of yours !
I have always been a proponent of platforms in bringing the best of the world to large mass and of course skill buildings as a segment is ripe for scale. There are multiple small but significant initiatives at individual level which provide platform to either learn a skill or even teach one. Our good friends led by Rachna Ghiya at Jaipur Creative Commons are hosting #21daysofcreating and #7DAYSOFSHARING initiatives to learn something new every day. Do check them out. You may also want to go to MicroMasters hosted by edX which is a trusted platform for education and learning and founded by Harvard and MIT. Or keep an eye on programs hosted by Indian Institute of Management Bangalore on SWAYAM , a programme initiated by Government of India. (As of now, no new courses are being offered by IIMB).
This is also the time to open up our hearts for those who might it need it more than us. Our good friends at NotOnMap run by Anubhav have pioneered a unique social driven initiative generating alternative livelihood & minimizing unskilled migration from traditional villages with age old cultural value system.
During the current crisis, they have opened up their doors to any stranded traveller near any of their destinations while keeping in mind the health and safety of the local host families and communities.
Similarly in PBEL City, Trice has stepped up during the #LockDown at two levels- One, starting new stores including groceries deliveries and collective activities like Online Tambola for its community members. They also went beyond the Business-As-Usual and started a community driven outreach initiative called #kindnessbasket where members while ordering groceries for themselves could also order a pre-packed basket for sharing with their household helps. They have already delivered #KindnessBaskets worth more than 2,00,000 INR in less than a week.
#KindnessBasket serves two purpose over larger organised charity intiatives. First- There is a direct and immediate benefit to the targeted beneficiary and second- It reduces distribution cost and leakages. Of course, all of us should continue to pay salaries for the household helps during the #LockDown period thus preventing destitution and desperate measure by them to earn a livelihood leading to increased risk of infections.
Among other notable innovation , we also have Tech-driven fresh produce B2B platform Ninjacart led by Thirukumaran Nagarajan which is working hard along with authorities to supply fresh produce from farmers to the organised retailers and subsequently to resident welfare associations during the #LockDown. Not content with just the business as usual , they have launched an initiative of sending the excess fresh produce to old age homes and orphanages at subsidised prices.
Let me conclude by quoting Kahlil Gibran where he talks about charity in his book titled “The Prophet”.
Then said a rich man, “Speak to us of Giving.”
And he answered: You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
OTW
Over the Weekend, I had fun looking at various relatively unknown artists behind the success of Gangs of Wasseypur and came across this young singer Deepak Thakur. His story -which includes even dropping out of MBA- is an inspiration and also demonstrates the power of platforms in discovering the mavericks in the long tail of exceptional talent available in the world.
Deepak sang Moora written by one of my favourite writer Varun Grover. This song comes pretty close to the best mental approach to tackle present and future crisis-
Naahin Looj Ye Ji Hope, नाही लूजिये जी होप
Thoda Fightwa Karo Ji. थोडा फाईटवा करो जी
Do comment about your personal coping strategies or tactics during COVID -19 or any other crisis that you might have faced and emerged stronger.
Love and Light.
Shailendra
PS- Wash you hands and Stay at Home.
PPS- Show some love and please share this newsletter with others by clicking on the link given below.
I really liked the logo and the banner, Coach.
Only one thing I would like to say, even if a little I could be and think like you, I would feel grateful. The benevolence you showered towards the situation around, is so heartening.
Loved reading it, Coach!!
This is Beautiful and Insightful Article... Yes being bored at this juncture of this scenario is normal.
But like you mentioned being bored can bring in uninvited problems, so what I do to keep myself occupied .. And this can also be a piece of advice too,
As we grow up we expose ourselves and try out so many things, maybe as the situation demands out of necessity, this is the time to dig and excavate all the hidden talents and brush them up, This can help us in two ways, one to keep us occupied and two maybe leads us to have Options in life if something unexpected strikes us with Crises.
as a kid, all I knew was I was good at drawing and always helped me to secure a better grade back then, but now that I revisit those skills of sketching, I turned out to be as good as professional Artist, and that sense of ART will always apply in every walks of my life which helps me to be creative and aesthetic as possible while doing anything as a part of my professional and personal life.
MARKETING WITH ART is always been the Buzz world these days as Digital marketers are more interested now in using ART to market their brands, which are socially responsible as well, one thing that I understood as a marketeer is that no matter what size or what demographics of the population we consider, everyone will have a sense and the reflection to ART.
Maybe now that I have this in mind, I should start something called Marketing With Art sir @Shailendra after mastering the Art of Marketing.
Thank you for making me a part of your new Journey, I will be always happy to be associated with you in every project
I Love you too
KKR