Why I Like Google

 Went to their office recently (not the Mountain View one) in Gurgaon, to meet an alum who works there. Thought I should know something about them since they know so much about me- corrected the imbalance to an extent.

Now I know why they are rated so highly n Best Places to Work and similar surveys. Less bureaucratic than most, friendly atmosphere, great food and relaxation areas, flexi timings for those who want them, and more. Some pics from meeting Bhuvneet Raheja and another alum -Surjo Sankar Sarkar- that we ran into from IIM Indore's IPM -5 year Integrated Program in Management. He recognised me, and is a Facebook friend too.so we took a photo, pronto - the third pic here.

During our 5 course meal. :)

What I Got From my Employers-3

 I have worked at 3 different IIMs in the past 25 years. Let me try and expound on the first IIM I worked in, Lucknow, first.

Went there in 2001, stayed till 2003. I was slightly nonplussed by the unfamiliar weather pattern, but learnt to enjoy what I could. Had good friends, old and new. Prof. Akbar was one of the new ones I met, along with Bharat Bhasker (now heads IIM A), Shailendra Singh, Avinash Mulky, Vinay and Madhu Karmakar. Their wives too became family friends. BK Mohanty was a long-time friend from XIMB days-one of the reasons I applied to Lucknow. We were neighbours at Bhubaneswar.

Student quality was good. I remember among them was the daughter of a Cashew king of Goa (Zantye?) -Poonam, I think was her name. And a nephew of my BIL too. And Sameer Ghurye, grandson of my parents' contemporary from the company in Andhra Pradesh. Got along well with JK Das and others in my area- marketing. Neelam Kinra, Prem Purwar and Avinash Mulky were some of them. I also became area chair for a while.

I published my first book-Marketing Research, though it was mostly written at Kirloskar Institute. Tata McGraw- Hill was the publisher. Now in its fourth edition, the Third edition was a bestseller. Also attended a conference at MDI, and met a co-author, Gurvinder Shergill with whom I got a journal paper later in the Journal of Global Marketing. On Marketing Innovation.

Vivek Gupta was a great colleague, and we shared a large office space. He was an IT wizard, and taught me a few tricks on using computers.

The kababs and biryanis in Hazratganj and Ameenabad were out of the world. Not a bad 2 years at all!

Roses Galore in Indore

Well, what can I say? A workplace has never looked so welcoming! A pictorial study of the Roses around us at Indore campus.

These are from a path which I walk up everyday.

Pics IIM Kozhikode or Calicut

I worked at IIM Calicut a couple of years, many years ago. I still think it is the prettiest IIM campus. If you don't believe me, see for yourself-you might just agree!

Nearing 5 Years at Indore

I have been notorious for changing workplaces faster than Hindi film heroines changed their costumes in song situations. But looks like I am trying to change. Must be the poha-jalebis, and the nice people of Indore. I am about to reach my fifth anniversary at Indore, in early December. So what are my thoughts?

The beauty of the campus is incomparable- inspired by buildings at Mandu.

The Sun rises over IIM Indore (above), and below,  Singing in progress- Sadhana Lakshmi tries out her skills- karaoke party with my Google Online Challenge champs-Kalaivani and team

 Above-Nidhi Kanungo with her dad, visits. She was my student in 2000 at Kirloskar Institute. Below, our first Digital Marketing executive program in 2017, at Indore-dinner at Mashaal.

 Gulmohar gar tumhara naam hota..

 Above-Indrajit at the Mumbai campus, and below, the PGPMX 16-18 batch at Mumbai, during the Convocation visit to Indore.

I am thrilled with the peace and quiet, for one thing, on the campus. The variety provided by the PGP/MBA, short term MDPs, and the Executive programs at Indore and Mumbai is a great plus point. We did a couple of interesting programs for Trent, Whirlpool, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.

A chance to experiment with new courses, particularly in the Doctoral program, is for me a definite attraction. Even in the MBA, I started teaching Digital Marketing for the first time in my career, and have learnt a lot from it. I had only one stint with the IPM in a seminar course, apart from some good CIS projects they did with me. But I did interact with a few good actors and actresses during the plays they acted in.

Bright students are like Oxygen, and there have been quite a few, from the first batch whom I taught Advertising to, to the batches thereon, whom I taught Marketing Research and Digital Marketing-you know who you are 😃 Some champions have also won numerous awards and recognition- not necessarily due to me, I might add! I also have been on Doctoral committees of various students in the full-time and part-time programs.

Faculty colleagues are also great fun to be with, and I have had a chance to meet most at breakfast, lunch or dinner, informally, if not at recruitment seminars. Many past students and colleagues visited me at Indore, and I met a few elsewhere during these years. Some also contributed to books that I managed to edit, publish, and I look forward to meeting many more.

Had two admin. stints as MDP chair and Dean-Faculty, that were also enriching. I ended up visiting (for conferences) a lot of nice destinations, from Beppu in Japan to Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Since I also teach Tourism Marketing, it was all useful in my teaching too.

Enjoyed visits to places nearby such as Maheshwar, Pataalpani, Omkareshwar, and Mandu (several times-my favourite). 

Book Review- Lady, You are not a Man

This is a book by Apurva Purohit, CEO of Radio City and an alumna of IIM Bangalore. I picked it up at the Hyderabad airport recently, and since I had heard of it from the alumni, decided to read it at once.

It has a semi-feminist  and humorous look at the positives and negatives of the workplace. Its tone and language are not feminist in its aggressive sense, and men would enjoy reading it as much as women. I did. The take-offs on men/husbands and their egos are particularly good. How a subordinate (man) needs to be cajoled into doing something after planting the seed in him and making him think it was his idea, has invaluable lessons for women bosses.

There are summaries of the sections at the end of each, which make it a little didactic (hope that is the right word), but you can skip those portions. The case studies of real people sprinkled throughout are very nice, adding to the 'theories of the workplace' coming from Apurva's own experiences.

The importance of Indian men understanding the value of women generally, and those in their lives, has been brought out well. How women can help the process, as mothers bringing up sons (the same as girls, helping with cooking or household work, and respecting husbands/fathers who do it) is also relevant to the feudal/patriarchal society that is still evolving around us.

A good read, with a lot to learn. For both genders.

In Defense of Sycophancy

People keep ranting about sycophants and the art they practice. But I don't get it. Like the monarchs of all they survey, sycophants have an important role to play. Who else can do the following things as effectively?

1. Reinforce the self-esteem of the sycophantee (the recipient of the sycophancy- my contribution to the lexicon).

2. Carry tales from rivals and perceived rivals to him. MIS and communication systems rolled into one.

3. Tell humble subjects/subordinates/favour-seekers about his mood swings, and when they should approach him for a favourable outcome.

4. Keep undesirable people away, and let his reign be peaceful, undisturbed by potential bad news.

5. Twist all the news in such a way that it appears that the sycophantee is a gift from God to his subjects/subordinates.

Think of your workplace, and all the (p)syc(h)ophants there. What would the boss do without them?

Corporate Shenanigans and More

This is actually a review of a book on called The Big Bing. Written by a former columnist (named Stanley Bing) of the magazine Esquire and others, it contains a great deal of humour. His punching bag are the workplace, consultants, bosses, and occasionally, himself. An example of the last-

"A host of big swinging editors at Esquire supported my growth from a tiny nub in the back of the magazine next to the hair replacement ads to one of grave sociological importance in the front near men's underwear."

Some more- these are about the Middle Ages and the things that followed.

"Around 1400 AD, anybody with four good limbs got on a horse and went to kill other people for what they believed in.This was called the Crusades."

" Science was invented, and Copernicus realized that the world did not revolve around Poland. This impressed Galileo, who told Newton, who discovered gravity, and the race for nuclear weapons was on."

There are a lot more essays, on a variety of subjects. One is on the importance of Lying in corporate life. Another about accountants and Enron. If you can get (understand) Americanese, it's for you.