When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.
This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
All of us have heard about the herd mentality but if you want to see a live demo you have to look at the Indian businesses.
A few years ago someone said ‘Retail’ and lo and behold ! Before you could blink an eyelid every company worth the name was trying to sell something or the other.Expatriates were summoned,consultants hired,large number of so called retail professionals were roped in and larger number of stores were rolled out.
Just 3 years down the line -you ask any CEO or manager who was till now going to chart a blazing path and they will tell you that they are cooling their heels by consolidating.The wait is for the ever elusive customer and the watch is strictly on the costs which are bleeding the other profitable group ventures.With every second retail “chain” going astray retail has suddenly become an abused four letter word.
I can hardly stop myself from getting amused when people talk about their business models,revenue streams and unique positioning.Feel like saying”oh yeah! I wonder why no other ass… ever thought about it.The problem is that the ideas are so great that they are beyond the customer .The poor guy who is just looking for some fresh veggies fails to register the traceability and sustainability aspects of the innovative supply chains.
This is how most of these SCM models are working :
Farm> Farmer>agent>wholesaler>Retailer
You may ask whats the big deal.I would say its a million dollar question.The only perceivable difference is that you would earlier have seen all Subzi wallahs in the Monda market now you can find a few managers too.
Anyways , coming back to the herd mentality.The buzz word as of the moment is rural.Anybody who is anybody has a rural strategy and a expansion plan in place.The tier 2 and tier 3 towns which were considered god forsaken lands have suddenly transformed into fiefdoms of milk and honey.The poor farmer who was hanging himself for not being able to pay his debts is no less than the Sultan of Brunei today! Let alone steal the wallet every manager worth his salt is ready to plunder the riches flowing in the hinterland through government schemes such as NREGA.After all the payment being made is in dollars yaar !
Hey what are you doing these days ?
Oh I am looking at the rural space.We are targeting Sec C and Sec D in Tier 4 towns.
Man ! you have gone really deep.
You bet.Our plans are even bigger.In the next wave we will cover the cattle too.
From Wall street to Wadala the rant is becoming louder – we will ,we will rob you…we will we will rob you….we will we will rob you.
Let us see how many come back beaten and bruised from this misadventure.
एक शेर नज़र है :
अभी कमसिन हैं ,नाज़ुक हैं अदाएं इनकी
उस पे मचले हैं कि हम खून ए ज़िगर देखेंगे
तो देखो भैया पर याद रख्नना कि ” बहुत कठिन है डगर पनघट की…..”
Found this great presentation on slide share.It talks about how to bring about a culture of freedom and responsibility within your organization.Thought would share with everyone who logs in :
“A retailer prices a product,a customer values it for what it is worth”
This Quotable quote originated nowhere else but in my own mind after being subjected to several incidences of winning and loosing the customer and getting her nod and nay,not for me.
While doing a presentation on Retail pricing strategy I came across a lot of material Differential pricing,Mark up Pricing,Competitive pricing,Penetrative pricing and so on.
But my experience in real life told me that something was amiss.What about the customer ? You are talking about your business model,Your costs,Your margin targets,Your competitors,The market scenario and all else but what about the actual customer who will shell out money from her pocket and take a purchase decision in your favor.I am sure there will be a lot going on in her mind when she decides to part with that hard earned currency note or gets indebted for the next few months to the bank and pay high interest charges.
Are we even asking her what do you want ?
How about a customer pricing ? What’s wrong is creating a product and asking a hundred of them what they would be willing to pay.I have no opposition to the pricing strategies traditionally in practice but I am just saying that something is missing specially in the context of retail.
Let’s see and example :
What would pay for a plastic slipper in a hyper market – May be Rs99
What would you pay for the same plastic slipper if it has a good brand name printed on it – May be Rs 149
What would you pay for the same plastic slipper in flea market – Rs 49
what would you pay for a plastic slipper with a house brand of top luxury retailer – Rs 199
The function is the same and it is just possible that all the product is being sourced out of the same factory and the same assembly line but the customer will only pay so much at different locations.
And location is just one on the dimensions that plays in a customers mind.There could be so many others Festive season,Comfort,utility,distance/cost of acquisition etc etc.
Every retailer positions itself to serve a certain niche or target segment and that is perfect as an idea but where we continuously go wrong is that we fail to recognize is that while your customers are saying yes to many products in your store they are also saying no to a lot of products.This may impact profitability through loosing customer preference in terms of reduced shopping trips and increased frequency and intensity of markdowns on your product mix.
I strongly feel that retailers tend to loose the grip in the sense that what they feel is a great product or price turns out to be a damp squib with their customers.What should be transaction by transaction,customer by customer approach soon becomes a game of probability so much so that the buyers start building in for markdown in their business plans.While mark downs may not go away they can be substantially reduced by asking the customers what and how they feel about offerings.
Typically, a buyer will get in a product or a line of products and the DMM’s,the store managers,The operations guys will all sit in a room and decide its fate.They will debate amongst themselves and the guy with the loudest voice and the heaviest weight will win.If you have a ‘yes’ man culture you can kiss your winter 2010 range good bye.The problem is that even if most people will know it they will not say it.
In contrast if we have panel of customers of different hues,age,sex,color,lifestyles and we get their opinion we may just find out to our horror that the so called ‘winners’ did not excite the audience and they ended up picking up stuff from the ‘dumped’ corner.
When a retailer is ‘pricing’ he is building up the stake of the entire company,his business plans,his growth projections,his stock price,his career path and everything else in between into it.His decisions cannot be but colored.
But when the customer ‘ valuing’ a product she is deciding based on aesthetics comforting her eyes,the softness that her hand feels,the freshness that here senses smell,the utility that here mind perceives,the price that she paid for a comparable item some time back.She is not bothered about what the Ex factory price is,how much it cost to get the product from the Jungles of Africa or how much you pay your 26 vice presidents who have nothing to do with her moment of truth.She will just see what’s in it for me and what I need to pay for it.If she fels that the transaction is in her favor she will go for it else you can put it on discount so it is up for revaluation when the second chance comes.
Again she gives two cents for your negative margins,vendor markdown supports,company policy so please be careful in repricing.You may discover that your Buy One get one offer is a cold turkey as no one wants to buy a yellow color T shirt with Parrot green collars with which you wanted to make a fashion statement in your boardroom.
Our customers are our biggest and most valued assests,let not keep them out of our business plans.
It’s monsoon time in India and being an agrarian economy after 60 years of independence all eyes are on the skies.Monsoon is delayed by two weeks.
The Television channels are blaring out forecasts and interviews by the dozens,the leaders are giving hopes,The Met department is correcting itself a thousandth time ,The stock market is shaking,The priests are performing Yagnas,The professors are lecturing on theories of poverty,the corporates are keeping an eye on the Macro environment……….the farmer is praying for mercy,he is scared.It is business as usual.
In the morning today my 4 year old son was singing a rhyme :
Rain Rain Go away
Come Back another day
Little Johny wants to play
Like a lightening it flashed my mind,I thought about all the Little Johny’s in this big country of mine who want to play if it does not rain.I realized that they would be chanting the same Mantra albeit with a sinister design.
No rain or drought does is not actually bad.It spells great fortunes and goodness for a variety of reason for all sections of our imbalanced society.
I would say broadly everyone benefits from a drought sans the farmer.Its just the Question of changing your attitude and looking for opportunities where ever they exist. Let’s make a list to further build upon this great Aha :
The Gods : Folks who would never bother to bow their heads in front of temples become overtly religious overnight.They offer prayers,prasadam and other goodies to the almighty and seek their favor.Going by the Geeta when Arjuna ask Bhagwan Krishna O knower of all things please tell me what do you eat ? Bhagwan Krishna replies I eat Bhaav ( emotions ) of my Bhakts ( followers).So clearly it is a feast for the Gods.
By making sure that Indra stays at home they can continue their party.And believe me if the followers pray from the heart the food gets even tastier.
I don’t want to annoy the almighty so I will quickly move to the next one who will smile even if you throw your shoe at them.
Politicians : After gods who else ? Demi Gods.They are the biggest beneficiaries of this largesse from heaven.The best thing is that the politicians benefit regardless whether they are in power or in opposition.You must be thinking I’ve lost it.But think again – If you are in power you get yourself photographed with emaciated farmers a few times and waive off all outstanding loans to ensure that you are back in power.The Dogs have to be faithful to their masters.
And If you are in opposition you can always blame the misfortune of the current chief minister which has befallen on the janta(public) and proclaim that the only way out of hell is to vote against the wretched man.Even the Gods don’t like him and they are punishing you for the public for his misdeeds.The opposition has a very good chance of coming back to power if the Government in power cannot arrange for the ransom money in condition one above.
If monsoon fails for two consecutive years the government will most certainly fall.
Police : It’s hay day for them too.Drought means more fights,more andolans ( crusades),more people fleeing the hinterlands and flodding the slums,more black marketing, more crimes and everything else that desperate people do.And desperate people also pay a lot of money to get out of desperate situations.
From the money made over the years and your unquestioned access to power you have more often then not managed vast tracks of well irrigated lands which will produce what ever the market demands.Even the Gods can’t touch the rich and mighty.A shortfall translates to premium.It is demand and supply – simple.
People may not buy clothes,they may not entertain themselves,They make stop sending their children to schools but they will certainly eat.So go ahead make money.Nothing personal against anyone.
Media – Oh my God ! how tragic is this scene the otherwise plastic face of the anchor will anounce.
A mother is mourning over the dead body of her only son.They had nothing to eat for days and they kept themselves alive by eating leaves of plants but even they dried up this season.The camera pans left and you have the dead body with a tight close up of the howling mother ,the camera pans right and you have long shot of the dried and barren landscape for miles on end.
Don’t get scared there is a disclaimer that some of the scenes may disturb you.And you say No way.I have seen worse – Last time when you showed us that amazing video of parts of the body blowing away from a train in motion in Mumbai I tried to calculate the speed of the train and the speed at which the parts were blowing out to understand the concept of relativity.
One mans’ folly is another man’s fortune.The adage cannot have a better example that the media.When hunger strikes , the poor will hang themselves or starve to death and both will present an unsurpassed opportunity for the media to make the most of it.
In today’s newspaper Shekhar Kapoor says ” We are all vouyers ..” and nothing can be more gratifying than watching a man die while you finish your 4 th course and thank good heavens that the face on the Tv screen was not mine.
At the awards Ms . Dutt can walk away with all the kudos for showing the “reality” so sensitively.
I strongly feel we should have ” reality show” if it does not rain this time.
We can have ten families fight with hunger,pain,humiliation and disease every night on prime time.It will be Mega Final when finalistwill die on the stage just when he was going to get the cash prize of Rs100000 from Bill Clinton.Everyone will be crying but you will be laughing your way to the bank.I am telling you you can rake in millions with this baby.
Anyways lets move to a more sophisticated set.
Professors : Poverty strikes a chord with the audience immediately whether it is governments or corporates or the general Public.Talk about it and link it to your theories of wealth distribution and the noble prize is yours for the asking.It is important to maintain a certain ‘look’ so it seems that you are one of the impoverished souls from your doctrines; its just that you have better clothes to wear.If you can muster a tear or two while emotionally explaining the irony of the situation,nothing like it.You can tell Dr . Singh over high tea about your plan to do away with poverty and he will be so impressed with it tha he will make you the Chairman of the steering committee on Poverty and Drought relief.Its your choice the if you steer everyone towards or away from it.
Some fools may wonder that with so much Gyan(knowledge) available for free why millions die of hunger every year.But Like I said they are fools and they will not invite you to guest lectures at Harvard and Stanford nor offer you publishing rights for your next rambling”What poverty.Let’s Party !”
So don’t bother Rock on .
Priests -You stand to gain the maximum.Who bothered about doing homas and yagnas ( rituals ) in good times.Now you can really make use of your cellphones and the Mobikes chanting Gayatri Mantra from one Kalyan Mandapam to the other.God called me and said that he is very angry this time so we need to do the Koti Sahastra Maha Paropkari Yagna.It requires the sacrifice of a 100 cows,1000 kgs of Pure Ghee(purified butter) , 5 tonnes of firewood,1001 kgs of Ladu prsadam and 51 pundits chanting shlokas for 555 hours at a stretch.You can always change the merchandise mix depending on who gives you the maximum commision.
Another big source of revenue is predicting the future.It will It won’t.It may , it may not.Astrology is the best source of comfort in times of uncertainty and by saying something as vague as Water Water everywhere but not a drop to drink you can get away with either outcome.”Ghor nahin Ghanghor Kaliyug hai Bhai”
Then there are small links in this big chain of prosperity :
District Magistrates,officers and Babus – Drought relief from centre,Aid from world bank.Donations from HNI’s ( high net worth individuals).Its raining Money,Money Money !!
Engineers and Overseers – New plans for building dams and canals.Another portion of the house can be completed this year and given for rent with which you can pay the engineering fees of Munna.
Traders,Pawn Brokers and money Lenders – Who said cash crunch is bad.Its damn good.If it does not rain you can always double the interest rate from last year.And whatever mortgage is there from last year is obviously yours as no one will be able to pay up.
NGO’s – with so much coming in as donations you can finally shift to your new offices at Nariman point with a view of the Arabian see.Tell Papa I have arrived in a noble fashion.
And yes it’s time to change your old Fab India Kurta.Someone was saying you smell bad.Tell them you don’t get time to change your clothes doing community service and there is no water to wash clothes.You have to use tissue …..even though you are a Kanyakubja Brahmin.After all you work in drought affected areas.
Lastly a small business can also come to the lowest in the hierarchy the undertakers – when so many die you can up charge for performing the last rites before the body starts to rot and smell.
** Disclaimer – this part may disturb you**
But why did you read it ? I said ” we are all voyuers ‘ .Aren’t we ?
