In Pursuit of Pleasure: laughter challenges, six-pack abs and exotic holidays/Published article, The Financial Express 2

Article in Brand Wagon, The Financial Express, Mar 4, 08

Chakra Watch 2: Survival, Pleasure, Power, Love, Creative Expression, Transcendence, Spirituality – these are the seven basic life themes, based on the seven major charkas in the human body, that drive all human behaviour
From a culture that was more preoccupied with the past and the future, and a background where denial of pleasure was considered noteworthy, India today is fully living in the “now”. Increasingly, Indians are reflecting an intense urge to milk maximum happiness from each living moment. At their own levels and in their own way, people in different sections of society are finding ways to live life more fully than ever before. “We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, might as well enjoy today” is a common refrain. And when asked to share good moments in focus group discussions, people often come up with smaller, “made-my-day” kind of joys than big, life changing moments.
Pleasure Chakra people are generally people who have had fairly privileged upbringings and wish to live life without feeling bogged down. Impulsive, excitable, they are in constant search for higher levels of materialistic living, curious living and rich experiences. There is a tendency to shrug off accountability and disregard commitments. The inability to control cravings and putting one’s own feelings ahead of others are some of the “imbalanced” traits of Swaddisthana or Pleasure Chakra people. They take pride in themselves and what they have and like to enjoy their belongings. Manipulation, selfishness, jealousy, greed, flaunting wealth have all come out of the closet and in fact there is a celebration of the seven deadly sins, as it were. Light hearted advertisements now reflect a “it’s fun to be bad” attitude.
The other big themes in this chakra are laughter, anxiety about attractiveness, sexuality, and luxurious living. And so is “physical creativity” or creativity of a lower order—say, beautiful homes as against higher order creativity like painting, sculpting, writing which would be Throat Chakra activities since they involve, in their own way, a larger search for truth. Little day-to-day acts of creativity, from candle making to puppetry are Pleasure Chakra activities.
Sexuality, the need for appreciation, the need to feel attractive and develop a magnetic personality are also Pleasure Chakra needs. Aneroxia, and the need for surgical intervention to look beautiful, imply an excess of Pleasure Chakra, while disinterest in sex would imply deficiency and an inability to derive pleasure. Clearly, seven-day beauty miracles, six-week skin solutions, Viagra, perfumes and deos that have the whole female population following you, six-pack abs and beauty diets cater to Pleasure Chakra needs! Romantic love is a Pleasure Chakra need as against universal love and sympathy which are Heart or Love Chakra qualities.
Swaddisthana brands therefore cater to anxiety about attractiveness and the need for escape. They add positivism, magnetism, and joy to living, and partner in the pursuit of pleasure. So key brand payoffs that appeal to and arise out of Swaddisthana people and their needs include payoffs like: creates the desire to try new things, makes me feel attractive, reduces my anxiety about attractiveness, brings me appreciation, fills me with vitality and joy, makes me laugh, helps me make people do what I want, permits me to be manipulative and devious, makes me happy with myself so that I don’t have to be jealous of others, brings me sexual pleasure, reflects my passionate nature, helps me enjoy life at every opportunity, and encourages me to experiment and try new activities.
All beauty brands, perfumes and deos, many apparel brands, FM radio, laughter shows, confectionery brands, ice creams and some foods which offer lip smacking taste (and not nourishment) would all be using Pleasure Chakra promises. Walls ice creams, Cadbury’s Temptations, juicy soft drinks come to mind. As also “I am worth it”—the feeling that I deserve to be happy. Breakaway weekends, exotic holidays, the desire to try everything from new foods to white water rafting are Pleasure Chakra activities.
Films like Devdas and love stories fall here, as would Jab We Met, and the whole genre of all those sweet, light hearted Hollywood romantic comedies. While a “message comedy” like Munnabhai would end up as a combination of pleasure (humour) with a combination of transcendence (third eye) because off its higher order point of view, with shades of Heart or Love Chakra qualities that it advises.
In a random population sample Brand Chakras™ survey of Indians in general, women showed a higher level of pleasure seeking, willingness to be devious, seeking appreciation, and jealousy at others happiness. Younger people recorded higher pleasure scores, as did people in Delhi and Mumbai. However Delhi-ites and Mumbaikars also showed a higher need to do a lot more in life before they can be happy with themselves, and would go to any extent to get their way.
Pleasure scores went up with income. Lower income people were predictably lower on pleasure and felt less deserving of being happy. Interestingly, people with income above a certain point felt more need to be jealous, devious, and more demanding of themselves before they can be happy. After all, figuring out whose plane is bigger and whose party was more extravagant, finding unique exotic holiday destinations every time, and searching for high end brands that cost the earth can be taxing!

Indian Concepts in Health and Wellness: Published articles, The Economic Times 7

Article in The Economic Times, Feb 12, 08

Ayushmaan Bhavah used to be our original blessing for long life. A full life where you go through all life stages––student, bachelorhood, family/household man, societal & community do-gooder and then sagely detachment––was the basic and most ubiquitous desire and blessing. Embedded in this core definition of long life/healthy life was the concept of immortality. Youthfulness was a subtext.

If you think of Hindu mythology, two broad health archetypes come to mind. The first is around wellness that comes from discipline, not giving in to cravings and excessive desires. Intrinsic to this is not only disciplined food habits but also right behaviour. In fact, according to Hindu psychology, diet influences character and behaviour. Lifestyle, exercise, diet and faith blended together. If this was the sage archetype, then a different health archetype would be the mythological warrior, who would need to eat more heartily for the purpose of war.

For the real heroes, body building and physical strength was accompanied by focus and concentration in war methods as well as ultra powers acquired through prayer and penance. Perhaps Arjuna could be held up as this combination of great looks, great physical strength and a great focused mind as well as a symbol of spiritual inquiry. For women, of course, health was best demonstrated in the ability to bear many children with ease, and little else. Perhaps that’s why it has taken so many centuries for Indian women to start putting their own health on their priority list (but that’s another article for another day).

Getting back to food and behaviour, Hinduism recognises three broad categories called the gunas. Some foods leave us feeling tired and sluggish––the tamasic effect. Other foods leave us feeling agitated or over-stimulated––the rajasic effect. The third category belongs to foods that leave us feeling calm, alert and refreshed––the sattvic diet.

People with sattvic essence are said to be learned, pure, courageous, skillful, resolute, free from anxiety, endowed with sharp memory, having a serious intellect and engaging in virtuous acts. Sattvic foods are light (as opposed to heavy) in nature, easy to digest, mildly cooling, refreshing and not disturbing to the mind.
Whole, fresh, in-season and local foods, organic foods, fresh dairy and vegetables fall under this category. Also, the food should be fresh and freshly prepared. Leftovers are decidedly tamasic, as is meat. Salty, spicy food, onion, garlic and the like have a rajasic effect, which fuels desire. Rajasic people are active, passionate, excitable––selfishness, greed and restlessness included.

Coming to today. Through the ’90s health in India was about tackling illness. Science and allopathy rose. Today, ironically after the west discovered Yoga and alternative healing, health started getting redefined in India too –– ‘wellness’ is a new word and today tagged along with the word ‘health’ all the time.

Four trends emerge. One, spirituality as Prozac: religion got adapted as a relevant coping mechanism for today rather than the ‘before life-after life’ focus it had earlier. Two, physical and mental well-being as a composite is today becoming the order of the day. And modern medicine is trying to incorporate alternative treatments to offer a holistic way. We are beginning to hear of surgeons who are also into reiki or pranic healing; and physicians in leading hospitals incorporating aromatherapy into their recommended treatment.

Three, healthy habits are practiced alongside unhealthy habits! So, on the on hand, we don’t mind food stored overnight in the refrigerator (tamasic), but on the other hand it’s nice to say; “Oh, I just have a fruit for breakfast” or “I’ve started buying only organic (sattvic) vegetables.” Strangely, the magazines are full of advise on sattvic foods, but in our work sphere we are celebrating the rajasic spirit required for aggressive action and success.

Lastly, health & wellness today is not so much for long life but to realise and unleash your full potential––physical, mental and spiritual well-being; to help you cope with, or better still prevent, stress and illnesses and for youthfulness, beauty and vitality. So, today’s ultimate health icon would be a combination of a beautiful fit body, high potential mind power for large scale achievements, as well as spiritual strength to face the good and the bad with equanimity. This icon then combines the sage and the warrior... we could say, the return of Arjuna, as a corporate sage-cum-warrior who fights in the Kurukshetra of global business, runs branded marathons and attends Art of Living classes! “Global takeover bhavah”!

Chakra Watch 1: What do mothers, action movies and energy drinks have in common?/ Published Articles, The Financial Express 1

Article in The Financial Express, Feb 5, 08

Survival, Pleasure, Power, Love, Creative Expression, Transcendence, Spirituality: these are the seven basic life themes - based on the seven major chakras in the human body - that drive all human behaviour.


Seeing India through the seven chakras

Whether it is the student who is stressing about admissions. Or teenage girls with typical vulnerabilities of their age who are trying to reconcile the gap between what they actually are and the bold media portrayals of women today. Or lower SEC mothers who are pinning their every hope on their children to bring them better futures. Or the thousands of Indians striving to learn English so that they are not left behind. Large numbers of Indians are on self-preservation mode, looking for security, stability, grounding – these are the Muladhara, or Survival Chakra people.

These are the people who were particularly restricted in the past and had diminished self-images but have caught attention by their determined effort to redefine goals, raise the level of persistent efforts and have managed to raise their lifestyles and self-esteem despite inadequacies. Witness the endless stories on the rise of Indian women, the rise of small town people and the rise of the lower SEC. Rags to riches, sudden fame and wealth through hard won contests and revival or comeback stories capture public imagination.

People in this chakra are – naturally – deeply worried about the future. They are of two types – the Anxious Survivor and the Buoyant Survivor. While some remain anxious, get bogged down, and feel an inability to get out of circumstances, others are buoyant and lively with more faith in their abilities, and drive themselves to come out of adversities unscathed. Most consumers in this chakra are conscious of their strengths and weaknesses, tend to set manageable goals and hope that persistent effort in place of brilliance will see them through. Anxious Survivors choose stagnancy over risk, and find security in maintaining the status quo. They need the cushion of certainty and predictability, even if it is limiting. Buoyant Survivors, on the other hand, are determined to climb out of their current situation and are in search for positions of power and influence, almost with a vengeance. These are people who feel more pressured to keep pace with change and are not willing to accept things as they are. The “do tharah ke log” that the famous Bunty aur Babli dialogue described so evocatively.


A recent JWT Brand Chakras™ study, Mother India showed that many mothers are in survival mode, but the fact that they want their children to reach high positions of power and influence and make them famous, shows that they are wanting to move up to the Power Chakra. These are mothers who feel their husbands are unlikely to improve their lives any further, and pressured by fast upgrading neighbours and relatives, are pinning their hopes on their children to lift them from a life of oblivion and transform their fortunes. Children by nature are said to be in survival, as in the early years we are still learning our way around the world.

Muladhara brands can cater to these emotional needs with brand benefits and promises that enhance the will to live, offer energy, fearlessness, stability, freedom from drudgery, bring abundance and physical strength, and support the urge to survive. Brands offering physical strength and love of outdoors operate in this space.

Thumbs Up and Mountain Dew would be examples here, as well as health food drinks, energy foods, immunity and health protection or illness prevention brands. Insurance is mostly a survival benefit, with its promise of security and stability in case of misfortune. The diffident girl of the earlier fairness cream commercials, and some of the teary, self effacing characters in the soaps who never speak up and are forever victims of circumstance are excellent examples of Anxious Survivors or a deficient Survival Chakra. On the other hand, the WWF characters with their extremely well developed bodies and driven by aggression are examples of excessive Survival Chakra.

Action movies too operate in this space, in a totally different way. Malamaal Weekly, Gangster, Provoked, even Chak De for example appeal to our survival intincts, (as against Guru which clearly celebrates the journey of an individual from the Survival Chakra to the Power Chakra).

Therefore, key brand payoffs that appeal to and arise out of Muladhara people and their needs include payoffs like: fills me with a will to win, reflects my spirit of persistence, helps me to face difficult situations, makes me feel energetic and dynamic, and makes me feel safe and secure.

The interesting thing of course is that even the rich and famous – CEOs or cricketers, not to mention the Parvathis and Tulsis of our serials or our politicians or corporations struggling in the market or facing hostile takeovers - fight survival battles, even if it is at a totally different level and of a totally different kind!

Retail Trends: What's in store?/Published Articles India Today

A version of this appeared in the "Simply Chennai" supplement of India Today, dated Jan 21, 08.

In his book “It Happened In India”, iconic Rajah of Retail Kishore Biyani says that in his quest of how to take modern retailing to the next level he found his answer on Ranganathan Street outside Saravana Stores. This was in 2000, after he had started Pantaloon but before he had started Big Bazaar. It was at Saravana that the idea of Big Bazaar was born. Saravana disproved the myth that everything from groceries and utensils to silks and jewelry, could not be sold under one roof, with fast food close at hand. He saw in Saravana a symbol of the real public of India and their capacity to consume. Apparently, everyone who joined Kishore Biyani’s company at that time had to seek homage at Saravana, spending days there with a pencil and book in hand. Shops like these are meant to be crowded, and thrive on what the book says is the “butt and brush effect “ and “organized chaos”. Saravana proved the wonderful consumer philosophy that Indians love to shop as a family, and that it is a social occasion and an outing; and the simple business philosophy of low margin - high turnover. And I know it works when my son tells me that one of his friends got a Nike football at Saravana for half the price that another friend paid for the same ball in a sports shop. In fact, whenever he senses that I’m going to refuse a request for an item, he quickly tells me what price it is available for, at Saravana! Coming out of Saravana and looking at T Nagar, it is easy to believe that it could have India’s highest retail turnover in one locality. Diwali sees more than 8 million shoppers which is more than double of the much publicized Dubai Shopping Festival. Called “The Golden Furlong” this stretch claims to employ as many as 25,000 people.

On the other end of the spectrum, my friends Indu and Malini fall into the “Let’s do coffee at Amethyst” category. Indu says she never buys anything there, but goes to watch Malini buy. This is the place to take colleagues visiting from Mumbai, to show them how posh we are! It’s all about spending time and socialising, ambience and experience turn shopping into a concept, an art form. You actually don’t go to shop at all, but will casually pick up something beautiful and expensive that you just couldn’t resist.

And in between these two ends of the spectrum fall the rest of us.
The Subhiksha Shubhas who know exactly what’s available where, and when, at the best mix of price and quality, and turn shopping into a highly knowledgable act of smartness. Whether it is Sowcarpet or Purasawalkam or the famous Egmore pavement or that small coffee powder grinding shop in Mandavali, they will tell you what’s best in which Nalli, and which rice is best for diabetics and where to buy it.
Then come the Convenience Kalpanas who make do, as I do, in and around Mylapore, where I live: Luz, Tank, Tulsi, Shilpi, Fab India, Kalpadruma, Contemporary Arts, Nilgiris – and of course peeled small onions from Surya and adirasam from Grand Sweets.
And finally, there are the “mall rat” boys and girls: Inox afternoons, whole groups getting together for a birthday bash or spend a whole evening picking up “some junk jewelry and a wallet and stuff”. Young engineering students say they spend Rs 1500 to 2000 a month at malls, checking out the latest… it is a “cool place to hang out and stuff”, meet people and find everything in one place… “clothes, shoes…and stuff”! While Prabha, a young IT professional on holiday in Chennai from New York cherishes the infinite colours here compared to the endless solids and stripes there, the customization and alterations that shops are willing to do and the door delivery of movie tickets. However she feels salesmanship could do with a lot of improvement with more willingness to show and ability to participate with the customer in the decision.

Retailing to women leads trends

In fact, if you think about it, retailing to women has seen more new trends than retailing to men. What sarees, jewelry, accessories, handicrafts, home furniture/ furnishing, home building shops and even groceries have done to the retail scene in Chennai, men’s apparel, sports goods, electronics and even mobile phones have not. The reinvention and trends in sarees in Chennaia actually captures and is representative of the recent trends in retail itself.

Recent trends

* Mixing of western images and Indian formats –the Cindrella pavadai and its aftermath, leading right up to the cell phone pocket in the saree!
* The mixing of north Indian habits and design elements – zardosi, resham and jaal in Canjeevaram, as well as the arrival of North Indian colours, embroidery and designs and this is in men’s wear as well– witness the tamil groom at a reception these days not to mention the now ubiquitous mehendi ceremony with its dress codes. Extend this to food retailing – olives and salad dressings and theplas and rasam powder rubbing shoulders on the same shelves.
* The expanded idea of the saree shop - on the one hand, elaborate accessories and even cosmetics in saree shops, and on the other hand, sarees in art shops. This is best exemplified by what Landmark has become today, going way beyond books.
* Shop design almost as an art form –led originally by Shilpi and Sundari, the mushrooming of women entrepreneurs with a high sense of aesthetics, crafting lovely experiences in sarees, apparel, accessories, jewelry and handicrafts. Shops like Home Center take display to a new level as do some kitchen and bathroom shops and tile displays.
* Speciality shops - like Health and Glow in beauty products. Just parathas, just idlis, just blouses, just bangles, just curtains!
* "Jodi pattu" following unisex salons.
* Consumer participation and innovation – the Jyothika wedding saree.
* Artists as brand ambassadors – Sudha Raghunathan and Sobhana on hoardings.

What next?

Well, I’m not a futurist, but here’s a shot at it. More malls – “other cities have more’ is a constant refrain. Hyper and super markets trying to provide customers with the much touted 3 V’s - Value, Variety and Volume. More discount stores. Personal loans and insurance sellers accosting us in supermarkets. In-shop “Meet the expert” programmes. Speciality shops – music, sports, books - as community spaces. Greater emphasis on store design. More private labels. More designer wear too. More instances of convergence of retail and lifestyle spaces. Men’s products drawing from the lessons of retailing to women and crafting experiences in apparel, accessories, electronics, phones and the like. Slow and steady increase of online ordering. More retailers chasing us with loyalty cards. Customer analytics through use of technology and data capture. Consequently, telecalls for follow ups, feedback and repeat purchase or reminders on the lines of bank telecallers. Pockets of unorganized retailing getting together to become organized.Public private partnership of government retailing.

“Customers demand low prices for basic goods, but pay premiums for products that matter more to them personally. Consequently, those best positioned to grow and succeed will be huge mega retailers on one end of the spectrum and targeted retailers on the other, while undifferentiated companies, lost in the middle, risk fading into irrelevance” says a study from the IBM Institute for Business Value.

Crystal ball gazing further: will we see the packaging of T Nagar a la the Dubai Shopping Festival may be, not to mention our very own Music Season? What would be nice though is the much-awaited multi tier parking lot near Panagal Park; and more imitations of designer items at low prices!
As a blogger in Mouthshut says at the end of a review of Big Bazaar: “As a retailer, their objective is to eat deeper into your wallet. As a consumer, we should be able to protect ourselves from over spending and stay within limits. Money saved is money earned. Hope above information helps you.”

All I want right now is those divine Contemporary Arts blouses to be available at Saravana prices! For everything else, as they say in advertising, there’s Mastercard!

See the original article here http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/content_mail.php?option=com_content&name=print&id=3491

Debate on "Is Brand Racism the new barrier for Indian MNCs?"/Published articles: The Economic Times 6

Article in The Economic Times, 19 December, 07

Barriers are not without, they are within

Firstly, the world has now acknowledged that anyone from anywhere can come along and restructure an entire industry – if he but sets his mind to it. The world of ideas is now democratic, open-sourced and multi cultural. As Simon Anholt says: “Fifteen years ago, who would have believed that we Europeans could be happily consuming Chinese Tsingtao beer or Malaysian Proton cars? That one of the hottest-selling perfumes in Paris would be Urvashi, manufactured in India by a company that previously specialized in hydraulic brake fluid?” If there was Brand Racism, Indian tractors would not have been cleaning debris after Hurricane Katrina. Worldwide, customers are beginning to buy the best value propositions irrespective of where they come from, and shareholders will vote for the best deals, irrespective of who is behind them. Surely Indian companies will not be raising the kind of money they do in the LSE, NYSE or NASDAQ, if there was Brand Racism. If an Indian company doesn’t make the cut it is probably because it didn’t offer the best deal; or couldn’t craft the best combination of people, technology, price, service, and infrastructure. Across industries, Indian MNCs are successfully acquiring companies, setting up greenfield projects, getting into joint ventures, recruiting talent across boundaries, and building global supply chains. There are companies which have more than 50% of their revenue coming from outside India and these are not exports, but operations in several countries around the world.

Secondly, it’s not about how the world looks at you, it’s about how you look at the world. So the barriers are not without, they are within. What’s standing in the way is: faster absorption of global trends and technologies, faster products to market, sharper understanding of value propositions, rising above low cost to innovate, understanding that God is in execution, understanding the importance of messaging and marketing, quick understanding of new cultures and mindsets, global managerial talent, a global corporate mindset and thinking of the world as one market. Not Brand Racism.

See it here http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Debate/Brand_racism_is_a_new_barrier_for_Indian_MNCs/articleshow/msid-2635775,curpg-1.cms

Shine and make me shine: Published articles/The Sunday Express 4

Article in The Sunday Express, Nov 18, 07

Games Mothers Play

Enabling and empowering, coach and companion, event manager and project manager, motherhood has moved beyond protection, nurturance, compassion and selflessness. The child is now a project and a mission, and industriousness, determination, passion and planning are the dominant traits. The seat of motherhood is moving from the heart to the solar plexus, and children today are not just a responsibility but also an opportunity.

Whether she is conscious of it or not, whether she admits it or not, one of the fundamental shifts in motherhood in India in recent times is the fact that children have become a key way by which mothers judge themselves. While earlier it may have been her relationship with her in-laws, her cooking and housekeeping abilities, or the support she lent her husband by looking after the home and freeing him to focus on his work, the climax of her own life is now linked to the peaking of the child’s glory. While earlier her message to her child may have been “be good, be safe”, today it is “shine and make me shine”. This could be academic or in any area of talent that she and her child have together chosen to build. The children too are taking the roti- kapada-makaan for granted and are looking to the mother to give them the head start they need in life and ensure that they remain focused. “Though I will be happy if my son praises my cooking, I will have greater happiness if he gets good marks in his exams… my greater responsibility is to take care of my son’s studies than cooking” says the mother. “If my future turns out to be bright, then my mother will get great happiness...she will get respect in society she will be able to walk around with her head held high,” echoes the child.

And now that she is putting her heart and soul into shaping their destinies, she is demanding credit for the success and acknowledgement for her efforts. “Right from the time my child was born, I have only brought him up. I have devoted my entire life for my child’s growth. I have melted my life into that of my child. I have moulded my child according to what I wanted, hence the child’s future has become this way. 90% of the child’s future achievement is mine,” says the mother. “The full credit of my sister going to UK for her higher studies goes to Mom… she has been running up and down organizing all papers, doing everything herself. If a child gets 100% marks, then 40-70% will be the result of the mother’s efforts” echoes the child.

Children are conscious of the contribution that their mothers make in their current lives by donning the roles of organizer, guide, enforcer, and friend. While there may be the usual squabbles over food, outings and social activities, and the usual temptations of friends, play and television, children do indeed look to their mothers to give them courage, inspiration, help them set and achieve their goals and fill them with a will to win. Mother is both cushion and launch pad, giving new meaning to the famous line “mere paas maa hai”! “For my son to be an IAS officer, both myself and my son will have to put in the efforts. It will happen only if I am after him with all my support. Other wise he will go here and there to enjoy. I will have to ensure that he remains focused through out and is not distracted from this aim,” says the mother. “Because of her mother’s love, she says no… she does not want us to get spoilt, she does not always allow us to do what we want” echoes the child. Though, “itna tenson nahin lene ka” is also something they’d like to say to the mothers, children in fact seem to be defining success in terms of living up to the mother’s expectations.

Changing mother-child relationship: from passive supporter to active visionary and manager
From children as duty to children as a way of realizing her own potential.
From wanting her child to do well to wanting her child to be famous and reach a position of grand power and influence.
From living for the moment to constantly thinking of and shaping the future.
From leaving it to her husband to plan the child’s future to taking it into her own hands and playing a central role.
From just being happy if her child does well to wanting public acknowledgment for her role in it.
From unsureness of what awaits her in her old age to a clear staking of claims to the fruits of success.

Games mothers play: In the effort to best utilize this opportunity she seems to have three key strategies.

One, co-opting the child, creating a shared dream through smart smelling of own dreams for the child or accepting the child’s own desires or reaching a consensus. “I am saying all this for you only”. Of course. But underneath that is “You better do well and make me feel my efforts were worth it.” “What has not been possible for us, children have to achieve, then our names will be well-known…everyone will say look at this person, what her child has done. Children should bring us respect and honor. Though we know that we should not be having hopes in our children, in reality we cannot help having these hopes” says the mother. “After all her effort, if I don’t do well, my mother will say I’m a waste,” echoes the child.

Two, inculcate a deep sense of obligation in the child in order to be able to legitimize future demand for sustenance. “On becoming bigger, children definitely realize how much hard work the mother has put in, how much care mothers have taken in their matters. They will have the realization that they should also in return care for their mothers as much,” says the mother. “She has struggled hard for us and she wants the returns,” echoes the child.

Three, making the child believe that she – and only she - can help him achieve this. If only he listens to her, everything will be all right! In this, whether she will admit it or not, she is distancing the father from this co-creation of destiny. “Like during the exam days, I teach my daughter. I stay up late in the night, may be around 12, to teach her so that we can cover as much as we can. At that time, my husband will be sleeping. Then I get up early in the morning so that my daughter can revise her portions. My husband will still be sleeping at that time. It is the mother who worries that the child is exerting very much for the exam and hence the child must be having healthy food. Husband does not think about these things,” says the mother. “Study is mainly mother’s responsibility. Dad is already having many tensions on the work front” echoes the child. “Fathers say how much ever the child has studied, that is enough. They ask us not to put too much pressure on our children. If fathers have switched on the TV, they will not even switch it off because it is a distraction. They will ask why we are after the children the whole day,” says the mother. “I can enjoy more with my father, not with my mother. My mother thinks more of what is really good for us and is less inclined to agree to various things,” echoes the child. Children seem to feel that mothers do not feel the pressure to win their love by indulging them blindly. Mothers have greater knowledge of their reality and are in a better position to take decisions, and are able to retain their sense of balance better when it comes to judging the merits of their various demands. Mothers exhibit tempered aggression that is a constructive tool in chiseling their future lives. It is a resilient bond with the mother, which can absorb bursts of short-term bitterness. Highly strict or eagerly anxious to indulge, the relationship with fathers is not so multi-textured. Mothers, on the other hand seemingly position fathers as the ultimate authority but the subtle marking of destiny creation as her territory cannot be missed!

Like all behaviourial trends, the mother’s changing worldview is also being driven by some key factors in the environment: the impression that there is a goldmine of opportunities waiting, that merit and hard work can bring glory, that her children belong to a generation that is intellectually sharper and emotionally more mature, and that it is a big bad world out there. She is afraid. Afraid that her children will miss out on the future if she does not take it into her hands – today.

And in doing so, she has redefined mother’s love to mean “tough love” and a steeling of the heart.

This means: an intimate tracking of the child’s activities; retaining control while appearing to be democratic; having adult-like conversations; using emotional elasticity – sometimes accommodative/ sometimes strict, sometimes liberal/ sometimes conservative; cultivating the ability to express love as much by denying as by indulging; as well as balancing immediate happiness with long-term welfare. “Mother is both friend and enemy,” says the mother. “Mother is like popcorn, soft from inside and hard from outside,” echoes the child!

And finally, ensuring the child’s spiritual initiation and pleading with the larger divine force to work in favour of her child – but letting her child know that it is her prayers that is going to do the trick! “We are not always with our children. We cannot go everywhere with them. This is about having indirect presence, influence even when we are not there. Like during exam times, we hope that through our prayers, we can ensure that they never get nervous…that they are able to remember what they have studied,” says the mother. “It’s all because of my mother’s prayers,” echoes the child!

Harnessing the power of karma yogis: Published articles/The Economic Times 5

Article in The Economic Times, Nov 16, 07

Employee engagement and the new age karma yogi

Beauty packages for diwali, karva chauth on office terraces, weaving in sports and games into work lives and presence on Second Life… increasingly, employee is consumer and employee delight is part of talent recruitment, training and retention. But is it making any real difference? Are organisations missing the woods for the trees in the search for employee engagement?

A Towers Perrin study in 18 countries (including India), among 90,000 workers reports that only one in five employees were engaged. The study defines engagement as the degree to which workers connect to the company emotionally, are aware of what they need to do to add value, and are willing to take that action. Higher engagement led not only to retention but also increased profits. And, most importantly it was senior managers that drove employee engagement, (not just feel-good HR activities). India, incidentally, emerged the third most engaged country, next to Mexico and Brazil!

So what exactly do leading edge employees in India want? The Power and the Glory, a recent JWT Brand Chakras study on the global Indian, revealed the complete centrality of work is worship. But these new age karma yogis are clear: work is worship, but only at the altar of power, fame and money. Four very clear desires and demands emerged.

One: Work is an avenue of creativity and innovation, therefore organisational backing of ideas is imperative. This needs to be seen in the light of: a) growing unwillingness to work for others and need to get credit for one’s own work and not give it to the company; and b) a disdain for large organizations even though they work in them, and a belief that individuals and the wisdom of the crowds is faster on the innovation curve.

Two: Work must help to “build my name larger than the organisation”. Careers should provide adequate scope for personal evolution and growth, even while offering monetary rewards. And must, sooner rather than later, bestow a larger-than-life status, leading to social and professional influence and clout.

Three: Work must lead to opportunities to be part of the Indian badge on the world stage. Work is part of their celebration of living, and a keen desire for enriching experiences. So they expect continuous broadening of horizons, skill enhancement, early positions of power and responsibility, and opportunities to ride the crest of technological advances – so that they can evolve a larger world view. Through work, they “want a name for boosting the country’s economy” and satisfy the thirst to play a role in the global impact India is going to have; create jobs, wealth and technology.

Four: Eventually, enriching spiritual and emotional experiences – so that they can “give back”, positively influence others’ destinies and be put on a pedestal. They feel a certain responsibility to make India a better place. Twenty eight year olds are already talking of “going back to my village and doing sericulture”. Or “I’m earning two lakhs a month as a surgeon, so I give free medicines on Sundays at home. My patients say I’m God. I tell them no, but they can put me next to him.”

On his part, his personal strategies are in three large areas. One: invest intellect and energy in work, seize the initiative in any situation, be open minded and adventurous with respect to exploring career opportunities - not letting geographical boundaries or cultural differences come in the way. Two: get spouse and family to buy into his vision of his career; spell out the rewards at stake for them – compensation for not making them the fulcrum of his life. “My wife must actively help and support the search for glory. She is second to career, and she knows it and it is to her advantage, because my success will brings her also greater social respect’. Equally, working women want husbands to “be a source of inspiration” in their own similar quest. Three: cultivate the power of networking by shrewd choice of friends and contacts because “ you never know when they’ll come in handy”.

Underlying all this, are two fundamental shifts in corporate life.

The first is a reduction of distance to the leadership. Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar, in his book The Indians, cites the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness) study as confirming that “what younger managers in India most dearly wish for is a reduction in the power distance between the leader and the led”. He goes on to draw a curious parallel in the transition of father-son relationships in middle class family life – from the formality and restraint of the authoritative joint family patriarch who struggles to express his love for his children to the more involved playmate of today, available to both sons and daughters.

The second is a greater demand on the leadership for inspiration, collaboration, communication, and nurturing. Again, Sudhir Kakar points out the basic Indian tendency to idealize the leader, avoid realistic evaluations and ignore his weaknesses. But not any more. Young global Indians too are revising their expectations of their leaders. The JWT Brand Chakras study showed that younger people like to use their talent to have a hold on their leaders, while older managers say dealing with younger people is one of their key challenges.

Will Indian senior management move quickly to harness the power of the new age karma yogi? Or absorbed in their own worship, expect mehendi, kickboxing and film screenings to do the trick?