The Stages of Boredom and Nothingness

A phase by phase story, with a 2-by-2 ending :)

When you have much more time than you have ever had, what can you do with it? There are many options. Some which I deliberated upon were:

1. Sit at home, sleep for 14 hrs a day, and DO NOTHING – A very enticing option I must say
2. Do some part time work and earn some moolah
3. Develop a new hobby
4. Learn some life skills

All of these appear to be in order of rationality, with the last one being possibly the best option. But as is the case with many, rationality comes after learning from our mistakes.

So when I first had some free time, about 2 months ago now, all I did was follow option 1. It was a good relief to be doing nothing, sleeping a lot, and have no tensions about anything in the world. Soon, and ironically, doing nothing became tiring. The tiredness was more mental, and the brain which had been trained to appreciate challenges and love stimulation, was not rotting away. This situation was very uneasy, but only after about 2-3 weeks had passed.

Then, came the seduction phase – Do some small job for a month, mint some money, and spend it well for the remaining time period. There had been a need to be financially independent for a LOOONG time now, and an MBA meant delaying the desirable by 2 more years. I didn’t want to delay it any further, and jumped at a lucrative opportunity, not for the moolah, but for the need to DO SOMETHING.

I wasn’t anywhere near to being prepared, and hence this was a challenge. Somehow, I managed to do well, and the feedback was “ROCKING”. This meant I enjoyed my one month much more than I would have settled for, and had a new found confidence that I do have an alternative career if the mid life crisis does hit me.

After I ended this phase, I moved to another lull, with tons of free time again. This was the birth of some hobbies – art galleries, blogging, novels, movies et al. I am still in this phase, though I would be consciously trying to move out of this to the next one too. The reason for this, is very well explained by a concept I came across.

Most MBAs think 2-by-2 grids are crap, worthless ways of decorating simple facts, but they do create a lasting impression that I tend to not forget too easily. Thanks to my employer, I know one about time management by Prof. Stephen Covey. He differentiates between the normal people and the most effective ones on the basis of their patterns of spending their time.

Most of us mere mortals spend a lot of time on the urgent and the important, and some time on the unimportant. Frankly, most things that are urgent, represent only incremental benefits to us for the long term. An assignment, a cheque to be deposited, a chore to be taken care of, are all very urgent and important, but would these add anything to what I am or would be 30 years hence?



And then, there are the effective people, who spend most of their time on things that are important, but never urgent. These things include reading up on things, developing skills, volunteering, and networking. None of these are urgent, and not doing them won’t ever significantly impact us in the short term, but in the long term, these are the things that matter, and possibly, make the effective people as effective as they are.

No wonder even I am realizing that I need to move on to the 4th phase, the 4th option, and focus on developing skills I need for a lifetime. May it be cooking, or getting a PAN Card, or learning how to trade online, or appreciate art, I want to learn it all, and do it now.

If only, I knew of this 2-by-2 earlier, I would have done this a lot earlier.. neah.. I still won’t have. I guess profound thoughts and philosophy needs a lot of time, and to get to know what you want to do, requires a lot more free time, when you have nothing urgent to focus on.

The only learning I can draw is to have some time for myself, where there is nothing that’s urgent, and where I can reassess my path, and see whether it reaches my goal or not.

Was fun writing this, though its too teachery and long again.. sorry for that.
Comments are welcome again

Life After MBA

The comatose after the Rat Race

We all have heard a lot of fairy tales, and they invariably end with things like “and they lived happily ever after.” I guess the big MBA dream in India, especially with the IIMs is no different. The entry into one is no lesser than a poor villager getting to marry or run away with the Princess, as the odds of success are same.

But as we know about marriages, not everything remains as sweet as it initially appears. Sadly, not many fairy tales go beyond the initial love affair, and not many students go beyond their love affair, or rather crush or puppy love, with IIMs and MBAs. What happens to MBA students once they enter an IIM, or once they leave it? Sadly, out of the 2 lakh innocent souls writing the CAT every year, not many would ever be aware of this.

I won’t disclose the gory details of life at an IIM, or make a comment whether its worth it or not. This would differ for every individual. I won’t tell you what all IIMs should teach, but never do. I won’t comment about the syllabus, professors, students, or any negatives. But I can tell you what the IIMs teach you. They are primarily as under:

1. Managing Deadlines
2. Working in project groups with even those who you detest.
3. Learning to learn by yourself.
4. Understand competition, and what it takes to beat it.
5. Make you a workaholic, who doesn’t want to sit idle and do nothing.

The last one is what is paining me now, as 2 years in an IIM mean that you get so used to working, having pending projects and piled up work, that you stop enjoying the trivial, simple joys of life. Sitting at home and sleeping till 2 pm every day, seems a waste of time rather than heaven. Watching TV all day is no longer a way of life, and most things on TV suddenly don’t make any sense.

Roadies appear stupid, Cricket seems run-of-the-mill, reality doesn’t quite seem real, and Saas bahu were always stupid. Internet is ok, but aren’t facebook quizzes for 5th graders? :)

This is the IIM story and this is my life post IIM and pre-work. The beauty, or tragedy, of life after IIM is that you are given a period of 3-4 months where you have NOTHING to do. No work, no projects, no assignments, and no rat race to win. Such a time would not come again, and ideally should be utilized for all things one wants to do. Still, such a time remains the most boring, and I guess that’s what has driven me to blogging (and also the fact that even SRK blogs now. If the stupid KKR owner can do it, so can I :))

Comments, again, as usual, are welcome :)

Corporate Branding - The Who, Why n What of it all

Corporate Branding – the new paradigm for India

In the 1970s, India was ruled by conglomerates, some of whom still wield significant power. The family owned enterprises were, and still are, gigantic brands. Some of the biggest and most respected companies in the 21st century India are still those family owned conglomerates. These were the TATAs, Ambanis (Reliance), Birlas, Wadias and the Godrej family.

But in the 1990s, the country saw the introduction of brands where the identity of the owner was smaller than the identity of the brand. No one knew who owned, manufactured or distributed the brands they touched and used many times each day. We knew Close Up as toothpaste, Ariel, Wheel and Surf as three different detergents, Lifebuoy and Lux as two different soaps, Coca Cola and Sprite as different drinks. The nature of their manufacturer, or the company owning the brand, wasn’t considered important given the low involvement associated with such Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs).

All this was soon about to change due to the ever increasing impact of external influences on the brand perceptions residing in the consumers’ mind. Now, the advertisements by the company weren’t the only source of information about the organisation. There were the news channels, the NGOs, the politicians, and even the spiritual gurus who had a view about things as important as cold drinks.
This led us to the stage where India had to embrace the concept of Holistic Branding, where the brand managers tried to manage all avenues of information a consumer was exposed to. This led to significant spending on managing Public Relations, and also on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

CSR is the new buzz word for generating long lasting brand loyalty, as consumers not only want a better product, but also want to be associated with a better, more responsible company. Further, due to the nature of CSR, where only one corporate identity can be highlighted, it’s prudent for companies to associate their brands with the parent corporate. Hence, if Procter & Gamble launches a Rs. 1 crore child education initiative, ‘Shiksha’, it also makes big news about it, using its partner Sony Television, and all its friends in the media. This also includes signing brand ambassadors for supporting a cause.

Having built a responsible, “Good Samaritan” image, the corporate would also logically try to use some source bolstering (a phenomenon where the potential users assume positive traits for a brand and a product based on the information about the credibility of its owner).



The trend started in India with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) where all the television ads for its brands ended with a Unilever logo. Similar strategies are also being used by P&G, Coca Cola India, PepsiCo India, Godrej, Con Agra Foods, Parle Agro, and ITC among many others.





That’s how consumer begin to trust a new brand like Vivel, as its ads end with the ITC logo, which because of its CSR activities (like e-chaupal) is now seen as a responsible company, and not the root cause of lung cancer, mouth cancer, and tonnes of other diseases.





The case for Coca Cola India’s full fledged corporate campaign stemmed from multiple reasons. They were under attack for excessive pesticide content. This was based on tests performed by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which released reports in 2003 and 2006, which were devastating for the soft drinks major. Spiritual gurus like Baba Ramdev were also taking a free shot at their products, and the company had no deep connections with the consumers that would make them stick to the company’s brands.

This is when they realized that their social responsibility, as perceived by the masses, was much higher than what they had realized. This led them to focus on issues like carbon & water neutrality, rejuvenating old dry bawaris, and trying to portray a more caring, and humble image. All their brands were pompous, and hence, a separate campaign was designed to drive home the point. The success of such efforts still remains to be seen, but their plans to set up a separate division for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities with a corpus of $10 million Coca Cola India Foundation sure seems to be indicative of their long term stand.

Thus, I conclude by saying that today, due to multiple information sources and their potential threats, most brands could do well with some parental corporate branding. This makes much more sense for the corporate too, as the protests, the anguishes, the losses, and all the transactions are with and affect the corporate much more than the brands they own.

Hence, today the corporate has to do it straighten out all what it does, and build a brand for its own self, and not just for the products it sells. Those who would succeed in doing this are the ones who would succeed with most of their brands. And those who don’t will always be susceptible to a CSE-like attack ruining their image, sales and profitability. And yea, there are others like Godrej too, who are trying to show how the company has evolved and is more vibrant through its new colorfull logo and Corporate Branding.



Comments, are obviously welcome :)