Experience

Yesterday I had the privilege to listen to Mr. Rajesh Srivastava, the man who has been at the helm of UB group and Raymond group and many more. I would just like to pen my thoughts or you can even say my recollecting capability of those 90 minute session which for me was "Experience @ work".

Mr. Rajesh Srivastava is an alumnus of IIT-Kanpur, IIM-Bangalore. He started the session by asking us to say what are the things which we thought are going to dictate tomorrow? Jotting them down, he began his presentation as to where does he think marketing is going to go in the future? He spoke that relationship with the customers is going to be the way forward. For this, he said that Bridgestone is giving its tyres free and charging its customers on the number of miles that tyre is used for by inserting the sensors in the tyres. Then he went on to say that giving away your product for free will bring in rewards for you. Eg. The way Google carried its business, Playboy has started giving its centre spread for free to its primary customers. The next in line was "Third eye vision" which is very important in order to be successful - basically rewriting the existing rules. Eg. Tata Nano: trying to create a new set of customer base, SL Cricket changing the way ODIs are played and going on to win the 1996 World Cup. He also cautioned us saying that just by rewriting the rules wont bring in success, you need to work hard and find experts to teach you what you lack in. Then he went on to speak about why luxury products are sold? According to him, these products are mainly for Self Expression and they become your speech without you even having to open your mouth. Arbitrage is going to come to the fore in lot of future markets. Obviously he went on to give a lot of real life examples about a lot of other aspects like customization, the way Ponds have advertised to still appeal to its target audience, companies enforcing cost cutting but recovering it back from its customers.

Finally before wrapping the show, he gave some tips to us which I thought were the icing on the cake. The virtues which we should have -
Patience: Again the anecdote did the trick. Picasso, the famous painter was asked for an autograph while he was sipping his coffee in a Paris cafe. He signed happily and then asked for 40$ and the man was stunned and asked Picasso that how can he charge for what he did in less than 40 seconds. Pat came the reply from the maestro that it took him 40 long years to make this name. (I know this is in direct contrast to my previous blog: Patience: a fig leaf? But let the debate be settled later on :) )
Commitment: Henry Ford after the success of Model T assembly line concept was asked for a celebration by his workers. Ford looked at his watch and said guys "You have exactly 60 seconds to celebrate our success and then we go back to our work." :)
Enjoying pain: A marble statue was asked by the marble floor on which it stood - Isn't the world an unfair place? People step on me to admire your beauty though we come from the same quarry. The statue replied - When the sculptor started chiseling you, you became harder and he replaced you with me. I went through the entire painful ordeal believing in the master, the fruits of which I am enjoying currently.
Doing it for your parents: An anecdote to it. A fishermen family was having a torrid time in meeting their ends. There were incessant rains for a week, the sea was unsafe for fishing and the entire reserves of the food at home had finished. Now the father-son duo had to face the rough sea if they had to survive. So they went on with their mission but after some time could not get away from the dangerous sea, the son sat dejected at the corner of the boat waiting to see his end come near. Seeing this father went up to his son and said - Son, this is the time to work extra harder and not be sitting dejected. This is the time for us to make the prayers of your mother come true. (He also spoke about another quality which I don't remember.)

Thus the best guest lecture which I attended came to an end. I am looking forward to few more lectures from him :) Hope I have not missed many things :)