Gravity Magazine_Final - Great Lakes

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SWIM 17 This fortnight I was at a National Conference of W o m e n Professionals. The a u d i e n c e comprised of w o m e n i n governance and management. Most of them were in the middle level leadership positions. I was invited for an interactive session. The first question I was asked was: “How can we (women) be heard”? My answer was direct and straight! 'With your competence!' I said. “You will be heard not by your decibels but by your reputation and professional capability. Others will want to hear you more when you remain silent. Often times your silence will speak louder. Your colleagues will probe you. They will even provoke you-- to read your mind. You are of value”! “Remember to contribute only if you have something useful to add. Being a learner and a good listener is equally respected and noticed. Do not speak for the sake of speaking or to mark your presence. Speak only to add value, not presence”. “Remember never raise your pitch. Speak softly with measured words. Hear your own self while speaking. Never be critical of the views expressed by the past speakers. Thank them for their perspectives and then offer your own. If you are known for your competence, people will instinctively wait to hear your views. In fact they might ask you to say something. If you are known only to speak for the sake of speaking, then people will wait for you to shut up and even interrupt your speaking. The bottom line is you will be heard only for your competence and capability. If you have it, then your “How can we be heard”? Dr. Kiran Bedi is currently the Director General, Homeguards and Director, Civil Defence contribution will always be awaited and valued: To be heard raise your worth, not your voice”. Naturally, next question was: “How do we raise our worth”? “By respecting your own work Through regular and daily preparation: Do not put your work on hold at every home or personal pressure: (As some women do) Work has to be kept on a parallel priority to run alongside all others. And it must have its time and space. Women as mothers, wives, daughters-in-laws or relatives, tend to lower work priorities more often (comparatively) by all 'other's' needs. (Even when there is no urgency) This makes you (women) taken for granted. Please volunteer for advanced training opportunities. Keep yourselves up to date on the latest at work. Do not postpone learning. It must run parallel if you wish to remain center stage! The next question came not as a surprise: “What do we do if we are sidelined”? 'Make the sidelines the center of your commitment'. “Whatever you get, make that work the center of your attention. Give it all your best. Find ways and reasons to like it. Make it grow as much as you can. Think and be creative in it. Do not sulk. Take it or leave it. Exercise that choice. If you do not leave, because you do not have a choice, or you want to stay, despite the situation, then adopt it. Mother it! Do not orphan it. Nurture it. Reward it. By your ignoring and sulking, you punish yourself and your work. Never punish your work for it hurts your employees even more. They look up to you for leadership, guidance, care, growth and recognition--.all that you want from your own senior. Learn the art of self reward. Dependence on external recognition creates dependence. Train to be independent of it. Or else it will be a weakness others could exploit. It will become as favors done in the expectation of returns of all kinds which may compromise you professionally or personally. Let rewards happen naturally. Make 'sidelines' (if you think they are) your center. Let others wonder what is so special in your work that keeps you contented and happy. Remember no one has time for complaints. State your mind when there is an opportunity to do so. You are the best judge. Meanwhile learn to be centered yourself. I then asked if I could ask a question from the women in the audience. I queried where is your next generation? They said, “very few are interested in networking”. The audience mostly comprised of middle age professionals and very few in 30-35s. Remember, I said, “we need to co-opt, and prepare to pass on batons. Also deepen the expectation of making the difference! We need to build on our positive perspectives which people still have of women in leadership and decision making positions. (We have exceptions of course)”. In the end I wondered if these issues were not equally of the other gender. Yes indeed – But certainly more for women in management! Primary reason being women in professional leadership are the first generation. Work culture they are working in, is not their creation. It is inherited. Change is taking its time along with, its toll. Women must not pass on the hurt. This is if this cycle of being sidelined or 'not being heard' is to decrease! [Note : The National Conference of Women Professionals that is referred here was held on 11th Feb, 2006 organized by Forum of Women in Public Sector at New Delhi. ] – As told to Sai Sudha, PGPM Class of 2006
India is fast losing its competitive advantage as a low cost producer of goods and services. What are the key issues India Inc. needs to address to make a successful transition to high value services? Transitioning to high value services is going to require not only creating the brand promise in that market space but also delivering on that promise. Delivering on that promise will in turn require cultivating the value-oriented mindset at all levels within Indian companies. So helping initiate, navigate and sustain this kind of a systemic mindset change will be extremely important for the leadership teams in these organizations. Organizations can start with reassessing their strategies in their enterprise level accounts, or key accounts. As Phil Kotler and Neil Rackham, my mentors and co-authors, point out, the mindset of a high value services provider has to be very different from that of a transactional services provider. High value service providers are expected to co-create value for the client’s enterprise at all levels. This therefore implies that all levels of contact with the client’s organization are designed and coordinated to move towards The Mind of a Strategist Dr. Suj Krishnaswamy, Principal, Strategic Insights Inc., Chicago, IL. The next big thing in the management world is the co-creation of value, meaning: the creation of value in collaboration with the customer. It is an all-encompassing term. the overarching strategy. It also implies it is no longer sufficient to be involved only at the level of multiple renewable short-term projects. What do you think are the learnings for the West from the outsourcing led growth of Indian economy? First, India has set a great example in showing what commitment to great education and family values can do for a nation. Second, the phenomenal growth of the Indian economy from outsourcing has helped the West truly understand the implications of a “flat world” (to borrow Tom Friedman’s term). Why do you think Marketing and Sales teams work in “silos”? The “silos” are more prevalent in traditional companies and reflect the historical relationship, when sales started running the show and marketing was a sub-function. As companies grow and evolve they realize that aggressive growth cannot happen unless marketing and sales are in sync. In fact they realize the phenomenal reduction in sales cycle times and sales costs as sales and marketing are integrated. As you know, this is the focus of my research with Phil Kotler and Neil Rackham and is the topic of our Harvard Business Review paper, in case you want more details. We are now extending this work to India in collaboration with Dr. Bala. What are your suggestions to integrate Sales and Marketing strategies and how does Strategic Insights, Inc. work with companies to achieve this? The first thing we look at is the organization’s growth agenda. Where does it want to go and what does it need to get there? This is ascertained through sessions with the CEO and his or her team. This process involves answering three broad sets of questions: What value does the organization choose to provide that gives it competitive advantage overall and in its various lines of business? What does it need to do to create that value? How can it communicate that value consistently in the marketplace? Strategic Insights uses the Kotler and Rackham framework to help companies integrate sales and marketing strategies to successfully choose, create and communicate the right value in the market. What suggestions would you give to a consultant who is creating a marketing strategy for a firm? A major suggestion would be to look at how marketing and sales are structured. Then look at the overall growth agenda of the company and work backwards and ask: What needs to happen, and how can marketing and sales be integrated to achieve the needed growth? SWIM 18
Page 1 and 2: GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
Page 3 and 4: From the Editor’s Desk… Chief E
Page 5 and 6: Note from Dr. Abid Hussain I am del
Page 7 and 8: Events @Great Lakes o L'Attitude 13
Page 9 and 10: Thus Democracy, Development and Dec
Page 11 and 12: findings of the study conducted by
Page 13 and 14: on the past experience or leadershi
Page 15 and 16: outside news, due to various reason
Page 17 and 18: I am sure the Vision itself will no
Page 19 and 20: India is a vast nation of diversity
Page 21 and 22: celebrated the successes of several
Page 23: 'Crouching tiger, hidden dragon', i
Page 27 and 28: Find your passion and just do it, b
Page 29 and 30: aligned to the customer's business
Page 31 and 32: Management, per se, is a new phenom
Page 33 and 34: talk, there were a lot of bright ey
Page 35 and 36: this just create a pool of 'modern-
Page 37 and 38: Organizing Human Capital Dr. Hayagr
Page 39 and 40: Behavior of Organizations, The Chal
Page 41 and 42: Launch of Second Batch of Executive
Page 43 and 44: NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY
Page 45 and 46: Eureka! More Fortune! On first thou
Page 47 and 48: Bala can ignite passion and think o
Page 49 and 50: there is nothing called bad or good
Page 51 and 52: Making of the Gravity Gravity, as i

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