Meetings - A necessary evil !!

I have often realised that meetings are very potent tools to conclude something stupid, which individually no one participating in the meeting would have concluded.

I have never doubted the utility of meetings. It is an essential platform for all the depending parties to a particular conclusion to come together and take a responsible conclusion.

The question is if we need a means to make the process of a meeting fool-proof. Foolproof from the

• herd mentality that at times creep into a meeting
• strong personality swinging the meeting to his/her favour
• super boss with a tendency to impose viewpoints
• lack of interest that a few participating parties may have towards the point of discussion
• and other such negative dynamics

From my experience, I think that we should take two meetings at least to arrive at a strategic decision.

Some might argue that there are always more than one meeting to arrive at a conclusion. They are right. However, I am not referring to meetings that conclude a process to execute a particular conclusion. I am referring to meetings that conclude a objective decision - Yes or No to a hypothesis. I am referring to meetings which give direction to a project, company or a brand. Usually such conclusions are taken in one meeting and the implementation of that conclusion takes many meetings.

My contention is that we should have at least two meetings to conclude on core strategic direction.

The first meeting should be

• a discussion on the brief and problem at hand
• followed by free brainstorming of ideas without any restriction
• without any intention to conclude
• moderated to avoid any imposing-one dimensional behaviour

The second meeting should

• have presentations of viewpoints by each participating party in a structured manner
• not permit any interuption during the presentations. Only questions for clarity by the audience should be allowed
• have an incentive structured to acknowledge the best presentation arrived at through blind voting
• Once all presentations are presented with, the meeting should analyse the pros/cons, scope and scale of the problem at hand and solutions suggested by each presentation.
• Hence arriving at a conclusion with a much better grip on the problem at hand and repercussions of solutions suggested.

This kind of a process would prevent hasty decisions, emotional decisions, short-sighted decisions and give rise to pragmatic decisions with a good view of the future impact of the decisions.

Above all, this process should breed intellectual thinking in the organisation and improve confidence of the employees behind all major decisions.

Is Air Deccan now being run by an ego ?

Everytime I visit the airport, I get sick. I get sick of realising that the first low cost airline of India - Air Deccan is no more. It is simplifly Deccan or some such name.

It is not only some irrational emotion about my love for 'Air Deccan' but it is also my education that taught me brand marketing communication. In the case of Deccan I see brand marketing tragedy. I see short-sightedness and at the same time high-handedness.

Why would someone change the very established 'low cost', 'quintessentially rural' Deccan yellow-blue branding to the 'rich', 'quintessentially urban' Kingfisher red; unless the reds want to prove a point that they have deeper pockets. And can do anything.

Why would someone change the color, the website, the boarding passes, the uniforms, the badges, the nameplates and all corporate stationery but the NAME; unless the reds want to simply prove a point that they are in control. And the masses need to know that.

Why would someone serve Kingfisher mineral water in a Deccan flight, when the press release after the merger implied that Air Deccan would be treated as a separate brand addressing the low cost segment; unless the reds are managed by shortsighted managers and high-handed supremos always proving a point.

How do I tolerate such branding? How do I tolerate the demise of a great brand - Air Deccan for no fault of the brand?

Our work that makes Us !!

It was one day that it struck me like lightning that how mutated we gradually become because of the work we do. Mutation is not only about genes and chromosomes adapting to situation but also I kind of relate it to the way our brain mutates to adapt to the work situation that we do day in and day out.

Try talking to a software programmer of 10 years experience about abstract illogical creative thinking. He can hardly appreciate the same. For him, it sincerely appears to be utter bullshit.

Observe a creative copy writer or art director of 10 years experience in terms of his/her forgetfulness, casual undisciplined behaviour and attention span. He or she is generally absent minded, hates following rules and constantly seeks for newer things and these traits keep getting more and more prominent with experience. Unlike the programmer he would never get kicks out of logical thinking and outcome.

I have seen people who does defined operation work organised into an everyday process flowchart, becoming flustered and UN-easy when they are told to think for themselves and innovate. They are attuned to follow a particular schedule without any mistake, day in and day out. And they are good at it.

Talk to a sales guy of repute and experience. He would have the flair or habit of saying things to convince of his ideas to his/her friends. He increasing tends to stay in his selling mode even when he is not selling. More often he would blurt out things that are beneficially in the immediate short run, but may have adverse repercussions in the future.

I am not sure if I am completely correct in my analysis but one thing I would like to theorise is that every profession needs certain traits in the professional and those traits keep developing in an one track dimension, slowly killing certain other supposedly non critical traits in that professional. This leads to specialised lifestyles and reduce diverse thinking. It is getting more and more acute in today's highly knowledge oriented society and in cities like Mumbai where there is no time for anything else but your profession. It brings monotony and boredom.

This thought was like lightning to me because I for myself do not want to get straight-jacketed. My philosophy is to stay 'jack of all trades'; mastering one or two of them. Till now I have managed to do that. I have been growing myself into diverse but related functions. Advertising, Marketing, Online Marketing and now technology enabled marketing. But now what. I cant keep going to newer functions. I need to choose one or two of the above to be the constant in terms of my profession. If I do that, how do I maintain diversity?

The answer was immediate. I need to play more sports, read more books and go for more adventure trips. It may not be possible to maintain diversity in your profession but involving yourself in other extra-curricular activities would always give your mind the broad spectrum to develop and flourish.

Greatest PETA activist - Motor Engine

There must be some relation between bullock carts and Muharram. There were so many bullock carts on the road that day. It was hurting to see so many teary-eyed bullocks pulling carts loaded with healthy and hefty human males.

I dread to imagine the days when motor engines were not invented. Every motor existed were rotated by horses and bullocks. (and humans !!)

Thanks to the great Gottlieb Daimler and Rudolf Diesel that today I see the plight of the helpless bullocks only on special ocassion.