I say, be obsessed with ‘like’ where it matters.

• Like who you are.
• Like what you do for a living.
• Like who you work with and
• Work with the people you like.

Its not the number of ‘likes’ on Facebook that define you as a likable person. In fact, it’s the people you like who reflect your likeness.

Be focused on the 20% of activities that will give you 80% of the results and be exceptionally good at that 20%. Like what you do. In fact, go a step further and ‘love’ what you do. Be driven!

Surround yourself with people you like. Then working with them will not be “just a job” anymore. Rise above the “its just a job” attitude and you will end up tapping into your ‘uniqueness’.

Be obsessed with ‘like’.. where it matters. Think about it.

The word in itself, highlights its deficiency – ‘set’ – fixed!

The definition as well, states its insufficiency – ‘A fixed mental attitude’.

If you’re ‘fixed’ you’re as good as concrete. We all complain of living in a concrete jungle. Lets not concretise our minds as well. Being fluid & flexible is key to adapting to new situations, environments and roles.

It’s said, “the grass is always greener on the other side.” Have you heard of the saying “the grass is always greener, where you water it?” Is the glass half full or half empty?
It’s a mindset. The way you look at things, understand them and respond to them will determine who you are, what you have and where you are.

Changes and transitions in life are inevitable. We all move from one state or stage to another. The only concrete aspect in life – is change.

Key ingredients that will help smoothen your state of transition:

• Receptivity
• Fluidity and Flexibility
• Resilience

Bonus ingredient: A mentor to consult and seek advice from.

How would you identify this mentor?

• Someone who you can trust
• Who you believe is equipped to assist you through your time of massive change
• A true mentor will always be more interested in the trying situations in your life that are holding you back from achieving your goals.

Remember: Inflexibility only creates fossils.

When people emerge winners through trying times, they say “I feel reborn!” “I’ve been given a second life!” This is how powerful the effects of transitional phases in life are. Transitioning is life changing.

How perfect would it be if all of us came with instruction manuals that had answers to all the ‘how do I’ questions. We may not have manuals but we have people among us who could play the role of that manual.
They are called ‘mentors’. Their experiences and areas of expertise will help you see through their lenses and you will realise that no problem is insolvable.

Unfamiliar territories are never comfortable.

Transitioning from one career into another?
Migrating from one country to another?
Retiring but considering being an entrepreneur?
Herculean tasks!

We are not equipped to do everything and perform every single task on our own. It is only prudent to go to a doctor if you are unwell. They are specialists in solving health issues.

Similarly, if you feel inexperienced and confused through a phase of career transition, save time, resources and mental dilemmas by seeking an experienced mentor to assist you in your life-changing journey.
I highly recommend it!

‘www’ is like the new salutation. We’ve always had Mr. Chopras and Mr Sharmas, but now we have www.Sharma and www.Chopra

We all went from ‘Touch’ to ‘Tech’!

“Email” is the new verb.
No more letters in envelopes.

‘SMS’ is the new verb.
People prefer ‘texting’ to picking up the phone and calling. Or sending a stream of emails, even if to convey two words.

‘Facebook’ is the new living room.
Meeting face to face, so old fashioned.

Don’t get me wrong. Remember I said I love technology. However, I do feel we need to remember the human ‘touch’ element. Too many wires and gadgets separate people today.

You work on the third floor and constantly email someone sitting on the fourth floor of the same building. Work demands it. That’s fine. However, take a few minutes to go meet this person. Say hi. See what he/she looks like so that when you meet them in the elevator, you can acknowledge each other. Element of human ‘Touch’, safeguard it.

Even if this person who you constantly email for work, is someone in a different country, put a voice to the email. And no I don’t mean a ‘voice mail’, I mean a phone call, ok even a Skype call will do. Add the element of human ‘Touch’.

Ten emails back and forth can be replaced with one phone call, and the work will probably get done faster too. You can always send one email to summarise the work done and have a record. But talk. Listen. Meet. Greet. Acknowledge.

Make eye contact. Smile. Shake hands. Laugh. Don’t forget the element of human ‘Touch’.

Let’s get to a stage of High Tech AND High Touch!

Sometimes… I miss those days when apples and blackberries were still fruits.

Being a family man, Thought Leader, supply chain management expert and a Mentor, I find it extremely useful to keep the ‘how’ of what I say, in mind.

If you are in positions that depend on: communicating, conveying, presenting, promising, delegating, and so on, take this responsibility very seriously. ‘Effective Communication’ is an art. It is not ‘merely’ talking.

• Is your tone of voice: Sarcastic? Taunting? Appreciative? Pressurising? Hurtful? Taking for granted? Belittling? Excited? Reprimanding? And so on.
• Is your energy: Mood (state of mind): Distracted? Attentive? Thoughtful? Approachable? Unapproachable? Trustworthy? And so on.

People you talk to will pick up on all of it.

Have you noticed, when you talk to someone on the phone, people can often ‘hear’ the mood in your voice? You are trying your best to sound chirpy but then suddenly you are asked “is everything ok with you? All well?”

Have you heard someone praising you, but every time that person praised you, it felt more like a taunt?

It doesn’t matter which field you work in. Wherever you have to convey something to someone, whether you are in a position of influence or not– be attentive to how you say what you say.

The outcome of a conversation is what really decides the effectiveness of the communication.

Have you ever visited an ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) temple? Do you think the energy in the voices of the priests and the mood created while singing praises of the Lord is effective enough to make you want to dance? That’s effective communication!

After having struggled through long hours of work, you complete a tough task and receive a phone call of gratitude and utmost appreciation, telling you what a fantastic job you’ve done…. and it makes you smile… that’s… effective communication!

A great coach of a sports team conveys excitement, inspiration, challenge and belief, to his team. As a result, his players feel charged and energetic, ready to take on the game with confidence. That’s effective communication!

The American Marketing Association defines a brand (noun) as a “name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or services as distinct from those of other sellers.

Thus a brand is a product or service whose dimensions differentiate it in some ways from other products or services designed to satisfy the same need.

An effective logo is:

- One that makes consumers instantly recognise it

- Connect it with it’s brand and

- Associate it to the brand’s promise

An effective brand is:

- One that transcends it’s Logo.

The REAL power of a Brand lies in creating meaningful relationships with customers.

For example:

When I say Surf Excel, (a laundry detergent) you will think of its tagline (a memorable phrase) ‘Daag acche hain’ (stains are good!) and children playing in dirt and mothers not getting worried about stains thanks to Surf Excel, as depicted in their excellent advertising.

But do you instantly remember its logo?

If not, it shows that the Brand has transcended its logo!

Logo design is not synonymous with Brand identity. A logo is a part of a Brand’s identity. ‘Brand identity’ is a broader concept.

However, and here comes my twist…. (Twists being synonymous with PK!)

What if you give your Logo a broader concept as well?

Give your Logo more meaning!

One of my favourite examples is http://jmak.tumblr.com/post/9377189056/thanks-steve-posting-designs-like-this-one

Created by a 19-year-old design student in Hong Kong – Jonathan Mak.

I believe that the Indian Retail Industry comes up with ingenious ways to tackle the insecurities that most Indian consumers have about shopping online. C.O.D!

Lets face it. Despite the revolution of online retail in India, there are still a lot of Indian consumers who are unable to trust the concept of sharing their credit card numbers and bank account information online.

Comes, C.O.D!

It satisfies the need of the consumers to pay once the product they ordered is in hand and they feel that no one has taken their money online and vanished without a trace.

It’s like having the store come to your doorstep with the product you want – the concept of home delivery taken to a whole new platform.

The consumer also has the choice of rejecting the product on delivery and send it back if it’s not what he ordered.

C.O.D also helps those consumers shop online who don’t have credit cards and prefer cash transactions. Amazing.

Quite the revolutionary business model indeed!

Online meetings do not reduce the effectiveness of mentoring sessions in any way; neither do they minify a mentor-mentee relationship.

As a Mentor, the key is to maintain communication with your mentee and this can be easily achieved virtually. In an increasingly Internet friendly world, Mentoring is yet another tool that is easily provided online.

I am a virtual mentor and I use Email and Skype to connect with my mentees who I can’t meet face to face.

The experience has been positive for the following reasons:

- My mentee is in his/her comfort zone. Not in mine.  Thus both of us are in the environment of our choice.

- The process of mentoring is easily accessible no matter where you are. You never have to miss an appointment with your Mentor. Be at your appointment from wherever you are.

- Putting down questions/points of discussion in an email allows for well thought out, structured and detailed mentoring sessions.

- The correspondence between mentors and mentees also serves as a good documented record of a mentee’s progress.

- Communication is of utmost importance in a mentor-mentee relationship as in any relationship. Online communication tools make this is possible, without having to worry about taking an appointment to talk to your Mentor. Simply email. Sharing information has never been easier and quicker.

- Get the Mentor of your choice, no matter where he lives and where you live. The range of mentors you can choose from, for yourself, greatly increases.

Mentoring is for everyone. There is always a Mentor for you if you are looking for one, and the World Wide Web makes mentoring so much more accessible. 

Online sales make a small portion of the overall retail spending in India. This niche is still in its nascent stage. India’s retail market stands at $500 billion; it’s online market, approximately at $10 billion.

However, watch out for rapid growth in the Indian online retail sector. This will get bigger than Ben Hur!

Being on the board of directors of the Australian company ‘Shooii’,

http://blog.shooii.com/?page_id=24 and having mentored individuals in online retail companies, I understand the dynamics of the Internet retail world. Having experienced retail for over 15 years I also know that consumers are complex creatures, all of us included!

Online retail in India is like an airplane moving along the runway, simply waiting for its turn to take off! In my view, it’s going to happen, sooner, than later. All it needs is the right quantity and quality of fuel, skilled pilots, maintenance engineers and it’s all fired up!

Look at FlipKart.com, India’s closest version of Amazon. Flipkart Founder & CEO, Sachin Bansal says, “we expect to reach our target of $1 billion in revenues much sooner than our 2015 target!”

SnapDeal.com, a company less than two years old is valued at $100 million!

Kishore Biyani, the Founder and CEO of the Future Group says “This is the biggest thing to happen in India!” (Referring to online retail in India).

This rapid growth in online sales has attracted the attention of Amazon, the online American retail giant. They have an office in Bangalore, India and are now in the process of building a warehouse and hiring employees for http://www.india.amazon.com/

Looking at the flip side of the likes of Flipkart, there are several online companies that have also shut down. It is a herculean task to consistently deliver what you promise. It’s important to understand the needs of your target audience and not only meet their expectations, but exceed their expectations. For this, you need experienced professionals to motivate and propel you in your business from day one. I cannot stress this enough.

Experienced Business Mentors and Retail Experts can assist you in creating a business plan that will compliment your venture. Make that call early!

If you are a founder / co-founder / partner of a start-up, call on the experts while your company is still a start-up and not just ‘one-off-the-many-start-ups-that-shut-down’.

I say the world is a masquerade. Every single day, people approach you wearing masks. The task at hand is to determine if someone truly is who he says he is. Who is the person behind the mask?

One of the things I have learnt in my years of mentoring is to be able to identify real ‘confidence’ from ‘insecurity’ masked as confidence.  Consciously and unconsciously a person tends to disguise himself as something or someone, he knows he is not. Who are you behind the mask you wear?

Sometimes, we begin labeling our insecurities as ‘confidence’ because we so badly want to believe that we are confident.  Wrong label on the wrong jar will only get the wrong ingredient into the broth and ruin it’s taste. You will not achieve the desired result.

This kind of an attitude can create a block for you in your learning curve. If you know someone who has achieved a goal similar to the goal that you’ve set for yourself, stop speaking negatively about this person. Stop trying to sabotage this person. Instead, concentrate on how this person has achieved what he has and better still, if you have the opportunity, interact with him and see how he can assist you in reaching your own goal.

Confident people don’t demand but command attention. They get the attention without uttering a single word. Their presence is felt, even when they are not there. People remember them. This, however, does not mean that people who are confident have a chip on their shoulder!

How do you recognise a person who is truly confident?

Confident people are life-long learners. They function from the paradigm that they do not know it all. They are always open to learning, be it from anyone. They make an extra effort to surround themselves with people who are knowledgeable, are rich in life experiences and are thought leaders. They know that knowledge is power and “with great power comes great responsibility,” as Stan Lee rightfully said.

Stop disguising your feelings of insecurity. Embrace them and deal with them. Don’t waste your energy being in a negative frame of mind. Each one of us has strengths that we can use to contribute to our personal and work lives.

Identify your strengths and thus operate from a position of strength. This will definitely boost your confidence. I assure you!