Learnings Over 40 Years

 The first step after my MBA in 1984 was into advertising, and then into Marketing Research. Followed by a trip to the U.S. that lasted 5 years, including a Ph.D. and a lot of teaching experience. And driving too, on beautiful 4 lane roads and 2 lane country roads. 

Then, my academic journey started in India with XIMB, followed by VJIM, KIAMS Harihar, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, PES Bangalore, IFIM, IMT Nagpur and Ghaziabad, IIM Indore, NMIMS Bangalore and now, Prestige University Indore.

My learnings are not easy to summarise, but let me try-

  1. Learning never ends, whether you are a student or a teacher. Unless you close your mind.
  2. People are generally nice, except for a toxic minority. If unchecked, the toxic ones spoil the environment for others. 
  3. Productivity is hard to measure, and so is success. Sales figures can also deceive, because quality of customers matters.
  4. Advertising is losing its credibility, but over a long period, brands can achieve credibility through good performance as per customer expectations.
  5. Hard work does help, in various phases of a long career.
  6. Conceptual skills and problem-formulation skills separate a leader from others.
  7. People skills too, sometimes. 
  8. Most employees are confused by contradictions in the workplace. Advice? If you have control over things, be consistent.
  9. How to succeed? Have multiple goals, and achieve as many as you can. If you cannot achieve some, it may not matter. Refer to No. 3 above.
  10. Chill, have a hobby, travel, meet friends. This always works, no matter your situation.



Conquering Gwalior

 Forts are meant to be conquered, and this one changed hands many times, from Qutbuddin Aibak to the Mughals, British and Marathas. Gwalior, I am talking about. Now it houses many precious artefacts that give us a glimpse of that history. 

















Madgaon Express- Film Review

 This film reminded me of a caper called "A Fish Called Wanda" that I saw in the late 80s in the U.S. John Cleese, Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis were the main actors in that.

This has Chhaya Kadam and Upendra Limaye as the loveable, inept gangsters, and three friends - a la Dil Chahta Hai- who plan a disastrous but adventurous Goa trip where nothing goes right.

A fun ride, with a lot of twists and turns, and crazy comedy with some glamour thrown in by way of Nora Fatehi. Easy on the brain, and a nice way to forget the serious stuff. 

Just for fun, go watch!

Classrooms and Learning

 My experience tells me that learning happens better when both teachers and

students get creative. A conventional classroom has limits, and combined with

traditional methods of evaluation of students, it results in short-term learning at best,

mostly meant to pass exams or excel at exams.

If learning with impact is the goal, as it should be, a lot of unconventional approaches

to learning are needed. My view is that some kind of action-based-learning works

best, and can be combined with some presentation or other means of feedback from

the facilitator/teacher.

I have experimented with role-plays involving case studies/situations, projects with

some data collection and analysis, simulation based on a computer program, and

making of video content or writing blogs and trying to get readership. Of course, a

few more types of exercises such as writing an email trying to persuade people to

buy something and competitive bidding exercises.

Laapata Ladies- Film Review

 According to me, it's a must-watch and a mast (Hindi) watch. It reminded me of Basu Chatterjee films like Rajnigandha. 

A simple story, great acting by newcomers to this genre-particularly the female leads, lovely build-up of the rural milieu that reminded me of Peepli Live (the film).

This is how a film should be, though I have nothing against well-made masala films as well. That's a different kind of entertainment altogether.

Go watch it, for Ravi Kishan, Chhaya Kadam (the veterans) but even more for the relative newcomers- Pratibha Ranta and Nitanshi Goel. Sparsh Shrivastava is also good. 

No spoilers. There is a bit of suspense to but it is a delightful film. Good writing, editing and direction (by Kiran Rao).

Comedians as Heads of State

 Seriously (!), it's not such a bad idea. We already have the Ukrainian Prez., the Punjab C.M. and in the past, Trump and Bush (OK, not officially comics, but you know what I mean).. and a bunch of dictators all over the world, who were extremely funny when they weren't executing people randomly. Let's be rational, and list down the benefits of having a funnyman/woman in the top job.

Humour is in short supply, with all the WhatsApp wars going on about your favourite politician, cricketer, or Football player (nod to American football too). 

Most governmental decisions are funny, to the discerning eye. 

The Happiness Quotient of a nation is something to preserve and expand.

Comedians in Hindi films are extinct - with all the special effects, and superheroes, who has the time to think of a comedy track like the guy who says 'Khamba ukhaad ke,' the sidekick to Gunmaster G 9 (Mithun C.) played by Jagdeep?

The bureaucrats run the show anyway, regardless of the party in power (as Yes, Minister proved so well), so might as well have fun with a funny guy/gal up there.

No, I am not contesting.. not funny enough for the job.

IDA Revisited

 IDA is a think-tank that again invited me this year to a meeting of Higher Ed leaders to discuss policy issues in higher education in India. There were many VCs from universities across the country. 

Had a few interesting conversations on the sidelights. This time it was at Le Meridian, Delhi. A pic with one of the organisers, Meekshi Dagar-


and one with the group. I am in it somewhere...




Learnings Over 40 Years

 The first step after my MBA in 1984 was into advertising, and then into Marketing Research. Followed by a trip to the U.S. that lasted 5 ye...

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