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change management

May 15, 2008

Kindle: Amazon's iPod Killer?

So the Kindle is clunky. It comes only in white. And it is several times bigger than most portable devices we carry (phone, Blackberry, camera, iPod, etc). That's three strikes right there. But the Kindle does one thing really well, it allows you to read a book virtually wherever and whenever you want save a completely dark room (there is no back-light). I doubt I would have ever bought the Kindle myself at $399, but as a gift it's been a blessing and now I would buy one. Sold.

Why? Because as much as I love bookstores, getting to one is not always convenient and getting the right book, say at the airport, is not always possible. But more than that, the Kindle does something that's harder to measure than just convenience. Just as the iPod encourages music consumption, the Kindle encourages a reader to buy more books (and newspaper and magazine subscriptions).

Living in New York City and already burdened with a "portable" computer and relentless paper that must be carried day in and out, a book and or even a newspaper seems to get lost in the triage of loading up for the day. Books are heavy and there is never any guarantee that I will have time to read it or be in the mood to read that particular book. With the Kindle I can carry several books and my Wall Street Journal subscription, and surf the web wherever Sprint has service (virtually everywhere in the United States).

So how could the Kindle, a book reader, ever assault the iPod? Well, it already has an "experimental" music player that allows you to listen to music while you read (via headphones or through the speaker). And because of its large screen and full keyboard it can potentially have much more functionality than a current iPod. For instance, you wouldn't want to edit a Word document on the iPod screen.

And the Kindle could be a killer app with a very important demo. If the Kindle can find a way to load up all those textbooks that students drag around it will win this audience. And if that audience becomes Kindle-ized then the iPod has an issue. A big issue.

Buy one or at least try one. Amazon only has about 120,000 books in inventory at the moment, but I think we all see where this could go given Amazon's on-line inventory.

John N. Pasmore • New York, NY • Very.fm

Posted by John N. Pasmore at 10:09 AM

February 29, 2008

Supermarket Sweep

How is it that an entire industry could take something that people inherently love and turn it into something they barely tolerate?

That's what's been going on in the grocery industry for the past 50 years. People love to shop and yet don't love to shop for groceries.

What's to love? Most of the stores are messy, the help is surly and the selection is at once lacking, overwhelming and worst of all, predictable.

Looking in from the outside, grocery appears to be the craziest business on earth. Well, with the possible exception of the airline business … or maybe the magazine business.

Shoppers would love nothing more than to love to shop for groceries. And the thing is, it would not be all that difficult to make grocery stores more lovable. Better lighting. Faster checkouts. Clerks who smile.

It's not as though grocers would have to blow themselves up or try to replicate Stew Leonard's, Trader Joe's or Wegman's (although that would be nice).

In fact, their model could be as simple as that of Amelia's Grocery Outlet. Amelia's is a so-called "salvage grocer" that trades in goods that are either damaged, discontinued or past their sell-by dates.

Don't laugh -- Amelia's same-store sales were up 12 percent last year, about twice the rate of Kroger. The reason isn't just the low prices. What shoppers say they love about Amelia's is that you just never know what you're going to find there. When you get down to it, isn't that what we love most about shopping?

So, surprise us. Pleasantly. Show us you understand who we are, what we want and what we need. We could learn to love grocery shopping yet.

Posted by Tim Manners at 11:39 AM

February 11, 2008

Customer Centric Organizations – Hype or Innovation?

Many companies talk about being customer focused and selling on value, but where’s the evidence? Too often customer value is expressed, as in value propositions, but lost in execution they become value cliches that don’t set us apart, don't connect us to the customer and don't compel the customer to act. Today, and for the foreseeable future, the driving force of customer relevancy is value, and many companies will see themselves drawing the short end of the stick if they don’t figure out that what is actually required of a company to be truly customer centric is creating value and delivering on the value promise.

Take proposals, for example. I was just with a new client in Europe. This innovative and technically superior corporation had a challenge on their hands. They were driving a value strategy and customer centric messaging throughout their organization but not seeing bottom line results. When we were given sales and marketing collateral such as proposals, white papers, case studies, and a website to review, and conducted multiple interviews, the question we were asking ourselves was, “Where is their customer in this picture?” All this stuff was about the seller…their great achievements and super powerful products and services. We found that 90-plus percent of the content was about them and their solutions. There was a clear disconnect between the customer centric initiative and the organization’s ability to execute a great idea. We see this scenario repeat itself over and over again.

Where's the innovation? We tend to articualte customer-centric and value-added in generic and ultimately meaningless terms. As a self-check, compare your collateral, your proposals, your web sites with two of your best competitors. Shuffle them up and re-assign them. Is there a difference?

Ask yourself, in a customer centric organization, what percentage of the proposal should be about the solution, the solution provider and the future value benefits, and what percentage should be about the potential customer of that solution, their business, objectives, obstacles they face, and the critical issues that need to be resolved?

How does this play out in your company?

The bottom line is: innovation is driven by creating value and if you’ve placed the value strategy in play, why aren’t customers responding? Simply said, if you cannot create and clarify value and connect it to your customer’s world, they will not take action, they will not buy, and your customer centric organization is just smoke and mirrors.

Posted by Jeff Thull at 9:31 PM

February 2, 2008

A Different Approach to Planning

Can you name four magnificent events in your life which came about because of perfect planning? Sure, there was the vacation in '99. Then the move from… oh, scratch that. Even if I count a house we built, which was well-planned but not as-planned, I can't name four. Neither can anyone else I've asked.

Yet on Groundhog Day, when more than 70% of all New Year resolutions have been deep-sixed, it's easy to view the eleven months ahead as an empty field for making plans: carefully orchestrated, meticulously organized, stressed over and un-shadowed plans.

In the glow of possibility we seem to forget the 80/20 rule, the path of least resistance, the law of attraction, synchronicity and serendipity as the more accurate patterns for how (and why) change happens in real life.

I don't propose you stop planning all together. Buckminster Fuller said, "All physical movement is a series of course corrections." After you craft plans, persistently revisit and tenderly modify them whenever they lose step with the music. Be less gentle when subsequent activities acquire a life of their own. Above all, spend your time adjusting and equilibrating rather than entrenching yourself in plans created so far.

Take for instance a mid-size company influenced by a big consulting firm to develop a strategic plan. Objectives were agreed upon, analytic staff members were selected to lead the development, customers were polled, constituents and suppliers were surveyed and the board agreed this was to be the organization's new work. Task groups were formed and emails started flying.

Within only a few months, however, many who joined the development team because of an unwavering belief in planning ("If you don't know where you're going, every path leads there" and so on) became disillusioned and their energy began to flow elsewhere. Meanwhile, the development team grew frustrated and felt abandoned, becoming increasingly controlling rather than easing up.

When I was brought in to figure out how to get the strategy back on course, I interviewed the relevant and affected parties, learning that nonstop requests to ask if everyone was on track had become distracting and destructive, creating an environment inhospitable to how passionate people innovate and create something full of life.

We replaced check-in emails and conference calls with mid-course gatherings, both in person and online, where participants across task groups joined in to talk about new discoveries as well as how new information could help everyone work toward a better future.

In parallel, senior management met to revisit any objectives that needed rejiggering, actually altering their organization's targets to take into account new market factors, unexpected plays from competitors, changes in the economy and newfound intel from their teams.

Everyone in the organization became less focused on the course itself (recognizing the course itself didn't matter) and instead examined how where they were at any time could get them to their destination. One department head said this approach reminded her of how walking through the old town of an ancient city proves far more valuable than zooming along a modern road. You get to the same destination, but from only one do you actually learn something en route.

Even the organization's efficiency experts spoke of their delight when changed happened faster than anyone expected because people were now looking up and around rather than down at their desks figuring out how to cajole their work into someone else's form.

Almost a year after the new strategic plan was adopted and now guides much of their work (and as you might expect, gets regular tweaks), I hear from employees who tell me they've adopted a similar process in their personal lives: moving off course to be on target.

Rather than make your trek into spring fretting about the path you've already meandered off of, reassess where you are. Reflect on where you have journeyed. Then ask yourself if your target needs to be moved a little or maybe even completely changed, and then reset your trajectory accordingly. The sun will come up.

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Marcia Conner > www.marciaconner.com

Posted by Marcia L. Conner at 4:35 PM | 1 Comment

January 4, 2008

You Can Do Anything

"How many of you were told when you were young that you could grow up to be anything you set your mind on?"

This was the way a professor-friend recently opened his graduate management course. Fewer than half the people in the room raised a hand.

I've begun asking this of everyone I meet, trying to get a sense if there's a relationship between the mental paths paved during childhood and each person's natural self-leadership to reach beyond obvious walls.

Similar to the class numbers, about half the people I speak with shake their head in wonderment, citing examples of a parent who regularly alluded to or directly told them opportunities were far and few.

One colleague said his parents regularly told him his options and potential were limitless, but also only set the bar knee high. They would say things like, "Your dream sounds neat but who would want to spend their whole life working that hard?" Pronouncements alone fall flat.

In my family, by contrast, my father took this question to another height, even using it as a game on long car trips. He'd ask me, "What couldn't you do?" He did this to help me build pathways to envision I could do almost anything. Then we'd talk through the steps it might take to reach high.

One of my most creative moments came on a day when I was about ten. I said, "I couldn't walk through the sun unassisted." I recall brief chatter about inventing a protective suit but for the most part it ended our conversation -- at least that day.

So what are you asking your children? What mental roadblocks are you helping your employees dismantle? What limits to your freedom are like mirages that once you close in on are simply reflections of something else?

Although I haven't always succeeded, I feel accomplished... and the flops taught me so much I appreciate them, too. Walking through the sun, however, still eludes me.

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Marcia Conner > www.marciaconner.com

Posted by Marcia L. Conner at 3:56 PM | 4 Comments

December 28, 2007

Resolution: Create a Stronger, Smarter Organization

Tired of the usual end-of-year reflections?

Alongside the new year, you may be looking for a new practice to improve your organization's competitiveness, talent, staying power, and smarts.

Conduct a learning culture audit to speed your organization along the learning culture continuum and to help you get stronger now.

A simple diagnostic can help you assess your organization and your leadership team's orientation to learning. Examine characteristics of cultures that encourage or block learning to see how well you're fostering an environment where everyone continuously learns and applies what they learn faster.

Consider each question carefully and think about your behavior and that of your colleagues. You might also want employees to complete such a survey to get a sense of how they feel you and the entire organization are doing.

By taking organizations through this audit, you demonstrate your willingness to ask tough questions and hear answers which are honest rather than reassuring. The self-assessment should take no more than 10 minutes and the lessons learned can focus your organization for at least the next year.

Continue reading "Resolution: Create a Stronger, Smarter Organization"

Posted by Marcia L. Conner at 9:32 PM | 1 Comment

The Leading Edge - How Committed Are You to Keeping Your New Years Resolutions

Want to see if you're really committed to keeping a New Year's Resolution?

Step 1: Think of someone in your life who cares about you that you most respect.
Step 2: Go to him, tell him you'd like his assistance and ask him one positive behavior you could start doing and one negative behavior you could stop doing that would increase his and other's respect for you.
Step 3: Repeat back to him those behaviors to make sure you heard him accurately.
Step 4: Ask him if he would be willing to send you an email in two weeks and then a month later to see if you've kept your commitment (after a month's time, there's a good chance it will become internalized and then you ask for another pair of behaviors to improve upon).
Step 5: Thank him and ask him how you can return the favor to him.

The extent to which you will do this is directly related to your true commitment to change. If you hesitate, then you are more ready for change than you are ready to change and you're not going to change.

Posted by Mark Goulston at 3:12 PM

December 15, 2007

Change Forward

In life and business sometimes bad stuff happens to good people. I like to think I'm currently in that group. If you read my last Fast Company Resource article, Shifting Gears at 105 without Falling Off the Cliff, you will be familiar with my recent land mine, a misstep in selecting an IT development firm and the result a product that the functionality sucks and the back end of the site needs to rebuilt. So during this time of forward change, what do we tell our community and new visitors? Especially since we can't stop the clock, we did screw up and we still need to drive traffic, grow our community and brand fans.

Continue reading "Change Forward"

Posted by Karen Post at 8:26 PM | 1 Comment

December 14, 2007

More or Less

Day after day, year after year, I've strived to always do more. In school when I was assigned a paper on an "ism" I wrote it on "Moreism." My first book was titled, Learn More Now. I've not aspired for more goods, rather more experiences. As to why, I have more theories than time.

My life was complicated by running forward without recognizing I'd tangled my path. More clients. More calls. More writing. More naps.

When starting something new I rarely asked myself, "What will I take off of my schedule?" I'd never aggregated my actions: looking at all I was doing, observing my patterns, let alone considering my bounds.

Then something changed. No single event gets credit, rather more small events than I should have required. It's as if the more light has gone out. In it's place a faint glow that puts everything else in perspective.

Each day I ask myself these questions:

What is it time for?
What is it time to let go of?
Is there even more to let go?

Although some mornings I catch myself trying to separate or avoid the answers, I find these questions as intertwined as learning and life.

Asking them works. Change comes more easily. My capacity to make clear decisions has soared.

There is less on my do-list and there will be fewer experiences to reflect on come years' end. But I'm learning (if not more than ever) at least as much each day as I did when life overflowed. And I feel brighter and lighter because I have the mental space to focus on what matters most.

Continue reading "More or Less"

Posted by Marcia L. Conner at 10:56 AM

December 11, 2007

24 hour Life Detox

Some times I would like to take a break, check in to a non Internet, non phone call, non business treadmill environment and just breathe, think and escape for 24 hours. Today I had a marathon day, back to back meetings, calls, issues etc. My brain simply hurts. My start up is at a critical juncture. I need to be fresh and super energized. We are starting a new fund raising push. I've been working 18 hours a day for 18 months. So on Wednesday, I am signing out to regroup and refuel. I'm getting a massage, doing a picnic by myself and having a "me" holiday. What do you do to recharge your spirit, your mind, your being, when you feel like this?

Posted by Karen Post at 11:14 PM | 1 Comment

December 10, 2007

Fresh & Bumpy

"Arrogant" is probably about the worst invective you could throw at anyone purporting to be in the business of building brands. After all, creating a brand is supposed to be premised on supreme respect for your customers. But, shockingly, "arrogant" is the adjective-of-choice Richard Guha and Kevin Price applied to Tesco's long-anticipated entry into the U.S. market with its Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets.

"Tesco would have done better to have copied from Trader Joe's and simply updated and improved," say Richard and Kevin in an analysis posted (here) on their website. "Sadly, the company seems to have had an attitude of arrogance and decided to show the unwashed colonials the benefits of civilization, which will backfire."

Yowch. I haven't had the opportunity to visit a Fresh & Easy store yet (I live on the East Coast and apparently the Brits decided they might have better luck if they launched their attack from the West Coast this time). But I know Richard and Kevin, and don't doubt the sincerity of their opinions. They were just as excited as I was before the stores opened that Tesco was going to bring something truly remarkable to our shores -- a small-format grocery store, with high quality goods, at reasonable prices, with excellent customer service.

Continue reading "Fresh & Bumpy"

Posted by Tim Manners at 5:15 PM | 2 Comments

December 5, 2007

Leading People On

Steve Trautman spends his time engaging people in knowledge transfer. We met over a decade ago, helping grow Microsoft from a small software firm to something much more. We didn't work together, per se, although we had similar roles heading education groups in different parts of the company, each primarily focused on helping new employees succeed.

When we met, we were each in our mid-twenties, without much experience, taking chances in an environment that welcomed risk. We each held giant jobs and yards of rope we rarely hung from. It was refreshing to know that while we were alone in our responsibility, there was someone else an [internal] e-mail away, who might be facing similar situations.

Perhaps our hard work and early successes make us particularly sensitive to comments we hear now about younger workers with their tech-centered, self-centered, short-attention-span, high-maintenance mentality. It isn't uncommon to hear people from even our own generation say, “Kids these days don’t really know how to work.” I don't believe that's true.

Continue reading "Leading People On"

Posted by Marcia L. Conner at 3:17 PM

November 29, 2007

Design: Are you a consultant or a vendor?

Put another way, do you give your clients what they ask for, or, do you offer your best judgment even when it’s not what they want to hear?

Now before you dismiss this as a question meant for someone else, let me say this: No number of design awards, glowing articles, or Fortune 100 clients grants you exemption from this question.

Design consultancies lead a precarious life. They rely on the good graces of their clients. Of course, a big part of doing business is nurturing relationships, but just because you have a relationship with a client doesn’t mean it’s a healthy one. An upset middle managers at one Client Company or another can ruin a quarter for a design firm - big or small.

Continue reading "Design: Are you a consultant or a vendor?"

Posted by David Oliver at 10:05 AM | 2 Comments

November 13, 2007

Living Green: Tapping into the Hierarchy of Needs

This weekend I had the opportunity to peek into the Green Festival here in San Francisco. Years ago this public tradeshow was primarily full of folks wearing tie-die. Today the crowd is as mainstream as a crowd can look in hippy-dippy San Francisco. I saw guys in suits and soccer moms with their kids in tow--all there to learn a little bit more about the burgeoning green marketplace.

Given that I’ve got Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs on the brain (the foundation for my new book, Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow), I started wondering, "How does ‘living green’ address the higher needs of employees, customers, and investors?” Strangely enough, the more I considered it, the more I realized that the green movement is a perfect example of how any company can genuinely address the higher needs of their key constituents as it can have a transformative effect on people (the reality is that there are many companies today who are not “genuinely” or “authentically” doing this but they’re just providing “greenwash” to make themselves look environmentally responsible).

So let’s consider each of these three constituencies in relation to the key themes of the Hierarchy of Needs pyramid, which progresses from SURVIVAL needs (physiological/safety) at the bottom to SUCCESS needs (social/esteem) to TRANSFORMATION needs (self-actualization) at the top. The Employee pyramid’s progression is MONEY, RECOGNITION, and MEANING. So, do employees have their Meaning needs addressed when they work for a company that’s genuinely taking an environmentally sustainable approach to their business? Absolutely. Creating a Green Task Force at Joie de Vivre was a magnet for proactive problem solving, especially from many of our younger Gen X employees. For many of us, making a difference creates greater meaning in our lives than making a buck.

What about the Customer pyramid? The progression there is from MEETING EXPECTATIONS (survival) to MEETING DESIRES (what could be defined as “success” for a customer) to MEETING UNRECOGNIZED NEEDS (when a customer feels transformed by buying from the company). The initial purchasers of the Prius were definitely self-actualized customers who were having their unrecognized needs met. Four years ago, how many people could say they were helping the planet while buying a car? The core customer for the Prius used to be an eco-minded person who wanted to have a transformative effect based upon the car they chose to buy. What’s interesting is with time the largest market segment for the Prius has become the customer who is looking to save money due to the car’s fuel efficiency. And, the number one reason that people buy a Prius today? 57% of Prius owners say they bought the car because it “makes a statement about me” (this was just 34% nearly four years ago) while lowering emissions (which used to be a primary reason) has fallen to fifth place in the top seven reasons why people buy a Prius.

While many of us wonder whether some investors are truly human as opposed to just being Return On Investment robots, I do believe the Hierarchy of Needs has relevance here, too. The survival and success needs of investors have to do with being in TRANSACTIONAL and RELATIONSHIP ALIGNMENT with the entrepreneur or company in which they are investing. An investor who is looking to experience transformation from their investment is what I call a LEGACY INVESTOR, someone who sees that their role as an investor can make a difference in the world. When a legacy investor invests in a green company or in a company that is at least operating using environmentally sustainable principles, there’s no doubt that investor is feeling a little more self-actualized and proud of how they are making the world a better place.

In sum, companies that focus on transcending the bottom of the pyramid--the survival needs of employees, customers, and investors--are able to address the higher needs of these constituencies. We all have roles in the world of business, whether that role is being an employee or a customer or an investor. Whatever our role, most of us want to feel good about how we make a difference with the actions we take. Companies that are “living green” create inspired employees, evangelistic customers, and proud investors by giving them a sense that they are transforming the world in their own small way.

Posted by Chip Conley at 11:03 AM | 1 Comment

October 22, 2007

Want to create change? Tell a story.

I was a freshly-minted adult when I graduated from Stanford Business School half a lifetime ago (23 years to be exact). Along with my classmate Seth Godin who was also a youngster when he graduated, I found all the theory that filled the biz school classrooms to be rather stale. Seth and I were so bored that we created our own independent studies course where we interviewed interesting businesspeople and asked them to share their rules for success (the result, “Business Rules of Thumb,” was the first book for us both…good luck finding a copy). We found these corporate leadership stories to be much more compelling than any decision tree or manufacturing bottleneck analysis. Two years ago, Seth even wrote a book on storytelling called “All Marketers are Liars,” in which he suggested that successful marketers don’t talk about features or benefits, they just tell great stories.

Since then, I’ve read a lot of great books on storytelling but I’ve yet to read one that so systematically and convincingly explains the steps for creating the drama and landscape for storytelling as the one I’ve just finished. Authors Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman, who are consultants in the entertainment industry (if there ever was an industry based on spinning a tale, that’s it), have written The Elements of Persuasion which came out a few months ago. They suggest that all successful stories have five basic components: the PASSION with which the story is told, a HERO who leads us through the story and allows us to see it through his or her eyes, an ANTAGONIST or obstacle that the hero must overcome, a moment of AWARENESS that allows the hero to prevail, and the TRANSFORMATION in the hero and in the world that naturally results. Sounds a like a Hollywood hit to me. But, reading this book, I became convinced that great leaders are also able to express their reality and vision using this arc to define their story.

I was reminded of this last week while giving a presentation about my book PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow. I was speaking to this group, not knowing that the wife of one of our employees was in the audience. For those of you who’ve read PEAK, you know this is a tale of how I launched my impractically-named company (Joie de Vivre Hotels) more than 20 years ago because of the passion I felt for the hospitality business’ approach to making customers feel good. I talked about how I was burnt out at the age of 25 having spent my first two years out of biz school getting pummeled in the rough-and-tumble world of commercial real estate development and construction. Starting Joie de Vivre (mindful of the company’s mission statement – defined by our name: “joy of life”) and growing it to be one of largest boutique hotel companies in the world was exhilarating. But, in our fifteenth year, we experienced the worst hotel downturn since World War II and Joie de Vivre was particularly exposed since all of our hotels were in the same region, the San Francisco Bay Area. Having all of our eggs in one geographic basket led me to not take a salary for three and a half years, during which time I became a real Abraham Maslow nut reading all kinds of books by this mid-20th century psychologist. I then applied his self-actualization-driven Hierarchy of Needs theory to how we created deeper relationships with our employees, customers, and investors. In the end, Joie de Vivre flourished during a difficult time and a new psychology of business was sprouted, which I applied to the company and came to realize was being used – in various forms – in other peak-performing companies.

So, I was telling this story on my book tour and the employee’s wife I mentioned came up to me after I spoke. She said she’d told my tale to probably 50 people because it was like describing a Jimmy Stewart film in which the good guy wins in the end. As she was describing my story back to me, I realized she was following that arc of PASSION – HERO – ANTAGONIST – AWARENESS – TRANSFORMATION that “The Elements of Persuasion” speaks of. So, I asked her, “Why do you keep telling this story?” And, she responded, “All of us need the inspiration to believe that if you persevere with your passion, you will one day succeed. Your story gives people strength.” While I don’t recommend going through the fire the way my company did, it is more than gratifying to know that our story is now inspiring others.

So, the next time you’re trying to persuade your colleagues about a particular strategy or idea, consider telling a story. Maybe tell a true story of someone who’s tale might mirror what you’re trying to articulate. If it’s your own story, all the better. Or possibly tell a future story that describes the positive, transformative outcome of what might happen if your team pursued your path. Facts and figures can help rationalize your story, but it’s the raw emotion that will draw people in and help them to remember just what you had in mind. Change happens when people are inspired.

Posted by Chip Conley at 2:50 PM | 1 Comment

October 17, 2007

Change Management: US Recession Impacting India

Signs of a recessionary US economy are being seen thousands of miles away in India. India’s apparel exporters are facing canceled orders and dried up pipelines, a result of a weakening US economy and a strengthening Indian Rupee against the US Dollar.

Recently I met with the merchandizing head of a leading Indian apparel chain. She mentioned that top Indian exporters, who were operating at full capacity till a few months ago and had little interest in smaller Indian orders, are now queuing up outside her office to produce her private labels. Apparently, weak consumer spending forecasts have led several US retail and apparel majors to reduce their purchases. And a stronger Indian Rupee has made countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh more attractive than India.

Continue reading "Change Management: US Recession Impacting India"

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 1:07 PM

Change Management: Revolution For Sale

Lots of ink has been spilled over Che Guevara becoming an icon here in the center of the capitalist world, the United States that is. Che was executed on October 9th of 1967 and some 40 years later I'll add a bit more ink.

Reading Che's speech to the UN in 1964 one sees little reason why an average American would want to sport a Che T-Shirt. He condemned this country as an overbearing imperialist power. Yet today wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with his image is a 'downtown' fashion staple. But why would Che be fashionable?

US teens enjoy much of what Che would have opposed. The idea of individual wealth is not something we often question, so from $100 sneakers to time-churning video game machines, US youth seem somewhat out-of-step with Che’s Marxist 'buy only what you need' ideals. That is just not our current credo here in the States. That said, the picture of Che we so often see is a great image. The photo was taken by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda.

Che is fashionable because today the social and political revolutions that roiled the '60s have been replaced by others such as the technological revolution, which is for sale. And the symbols of Che's era from Chairman Mao to the Soviet-style iconography used to hawk high-priced vodka have morphed from symbols of Enemies of the State, to some that offer a simple nostalgia for another time with a kind of soft rebellion built-in sans the intellectual or political ramifications. And as Apple’s now famous Orwellian "1984" commercial illustrated, selling to the rebel in us all can create big bucks.

Posted by John N. Pasmore at 12:57 PM

October 8, 2007

Change Management: Creating Peak Experiences For Strangers

One of the most basic tenets of corporate marketing is that a company should focus its promotional investment on its target market. In other words, market to those who are most likely to buy from you. Seems simple enough and, having run a niche-oriented boutique hotel business for more than two decades, I can say that this focused approach creates great bang for the buck.

But, I want to share a story with you that may shift your thinking from being a marketing mercenary to being a marketing missionary. A marketing mercenary focuses on the return on investment (ROI) associated with marketing to their target market. 95% of what my company, Joie de Vivre Hotels, does fits this category. But, every once in a while, it helps to throw a "Hail Mary pass” - a marketing promotion that is more about your company's mission than it is about your product. If you can get this right, you will develop huge long-term benefits because you will create stories, memories, and goodwill that will last longer than any short-term marketing mercenary initiative you and your company could deploy.

Let's take a step back before I tell you my story. As a devout believer in Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, I know that what engages the human spirit most is what's at the peak of his pyramid: self-actualization, that transformative feeling when what ought to be, just is. For an employee, that's when you feel that you are being "all that you can be" and you are getting great meaning or inspiration from your work. For a customer, that's when experiencing a product or service gives you that transformative effect of "it doesn't get any better than this," or as MasterCard calls it, that "priceless" feeling that is truly intangible. Any company that can do this will create evangelistic customers as you see with those who are part of the Apple or Harley-Davidson flock. Companies that create "peak experiences" for their employees and customers naturally engender greater loyalty. These companies have much lower employee turnover and tend to spend far less in marketing. Fortunately, Joie de Vivre has employee turnover that's one-third the hospitality industry average and our $200 million company spends less than $50,000 annually on print advertisements for our 40-50 hotels, restaurants, and spas. So, I guess we "get it."

Creating peak experiences for employees and customers is a no-brainer. You gotta do it. But, recently, we created a peak experience for a bunch of strangers - albeit strangers who had something in common with each other and the company. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Joie de Vivre, we invited 10,000 people (I'm assuming mostly women) from the state of California with the name “Joy” to a JOY PARTY at our luxurious Hotel Vitale on San Francisco’s waterfront. Our company has spent 20 years understanding the significance and responsibility of having a name associated with such a positive emotion so we thought it would be provocative to invite these women together to share their experience of living with this name their whole life. Excuse the pun, but we ended up with a roomful of joy (or Joys) -- 125 women sharing the name with dozens and dozens of husbands, significant others, friends, children and even a few media there to capture the occasion. What was miraculous was how these strangers bonded in their storytelling so quickly. As if they were long-lost friends. It was remarkable how much they had in common and how many of these women had gone into the service or helping professions. One who received a special award from Joie de Vivre that night talked to the group about the Seeds of Joy non-profit she'd created to help facilitate more poetry therapy in the world. Others spoke of how their name was a daily reminder of their purpose in life (something we often talk about in our company - why not name your company after your mission statement?!). It was one big "joy bubble." Lots of tears of joy flowing. For the couple of dozen Joie de Vivre employees who came to the event, it was truly a highlight of their time with the company to see that we could conceive of and create such an event that brought what will be a lifetime memory to these women. And, since the event, we've shared many of the emails and letters we've received from these Joys with our employees (25 Joys received a free hotel room at the Hotel Vitale so they could have a Joy slumber party).

Creating a peak experience for a stranger? A waste of marketing dollars? I don't think so. While I think it could be dangerous to allocate the majority of your marketing funds to a missionary event like this, I also believe that the word-of-mouth (which has been huge for our JOY PARTY) and internal and external goodwill that comes from this kind of marketing proves that being a "karmic capitalist" pays off in the long-run. Doing good can mean your company will do well. The next time you're thinking about how to make a splash with your promotions, think about making a difference in someone's life in a profound way that will serve as a peak experience for them. While other marketing ploys may fade with time, those marketing initiatives that have a deeper mission attached to them will stand the test of time and give you a remarkable long-term ROI.

Posted by Chip Conley at 2:01 AM | 1 Comment

September 28, 2007

Change Management: What's the Divorce Rate in Your Company?

We live in a promiscuous era, don’t we? America is experiencing a divorce epidemic and the future of the American family is at stake. Is this statement a myth or reality? Turns out it’s a myth. The divorce rate in America has dropped for more than a quarter century and is now one-third lower than it was in 1981.

OK, if that’s the case, then maybe all these stories we hear about employees, customers, and investors being short-term oriented and less loyal are also myths. Actually, while marriage may be making a comeback, sorry to say loyalty in the workplace is become a quaint old notion. The average length of tenure of an American employee has dropped by 6% in the past twenty years (it’s dropped by 17% among men and actually has gone up among women as they have stayed in the workforce longer). In the era of the Internet, customer brand loyalty has plummeted, especially amongst products that are seen as commodities in the marketplace. If employees and customers are defecting, it’s not surprising that investors have decreased their loyalty as the average length of holding a public stock has tumbled from more than six years to approximately one year. Promiscuity (or at least divorce) may be on the decline in homes across America, but the workplace seems to have become a “rent-a-relationship” kind of world.

Fred Reichheld has written a number of books on the value of loyalty in the workplace and he’s proven that building lasting relationships with employees, customers, and investors creates a more sustainable business model for any company. One of his most illuminating studies found that a 5 percent increase in customer retention rates led to increased profits between 25 and 95 percent depending upon the industry. So, if “Loyalty Rules” (as one of Fred’s books is named), why do companies put so little attention on the quality of the relationships that are being created in the workplace?

I’m a bit of an Abraham Maslow junkie and have long marveled at how his “Hierarchy of Needs,” introduced more than fifty years ago, seems to have universal relevance. Most of us are familiar with the idea that we all have base, survival needs like food, water, sleep, and safety and, as we satisfy those needs, we can focus on our social/belonging or esteem needs….in essence, the way we connect with others and see ourselves in the world. For a lucky few, self-actualization is that transformative need at the peak of the pyramid that allows certain people to have continuous peak experiences in their lives. Being a Northern Californian, all this kind of inspirational talk is familiar. What’s ironic is that many business leaders are introduced to (or reacquainted with) Maslow in business school or in corporate universities.

My own reconnection with Dr. Abe occurred when my company was on the verge of bankruptcy. In the post-dot-com, post-9/11 world, being a San Francisco Bay Area boutique hotelier was a struggle and, if I didn’t learn a thing or two about loyalty during that time, I knew I was going to be out of business. Each day during the early part of 2002, when there seemed to be no limit to the depths the Bay Area hotel industry could fall, I would come home from work weary and a little battered and crack open another Maslow book. His theory of human motivation has an awful lot to do with actualizing potential or, as the U.S. Army says “be all you can be” (the phrase came from their internal Task Force Delta team which sort of ripped off Maslow’s quote: “what man can be, he must be”).

I’ve always believed a great leader knows how to tap into potential and actualize it into reality. What Abe Maslow helped me realize is that a great business leader deeply understands the motivations of their employees, customers, and investors. And, from that I started to realize that there was a Hierarchy of Needs pyramid for employees, customers, and investors. But, unfortunately, most companies get so caught up with the base survival needs in these relationships that they lose track of the higher needs of each of these three groups. Business has a natural tendency toward the tangible which impedes many companies from moving to the priceless (to use a MasterCard word) intangible elements at the peak of the employee, customer, or investor pyramids.

I’m thrilled to be blogging for Fast Company about this subject of how creating “peak experiences” can create peak performance for any company. At the very least, I might be able to help reduce your company’s divorce rate with these three important constituencies: employees, customers, and investors. Psychologist John Gottman created a landmark study on marriage and found that successful relationships averaged a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions. Other studies in the business world have put this ratio at 3 to 1 with respect to what drives productivity in employees. If your workplace is more focused on giving feedback only when something is going wrong, as opposed to celebrating what’s going right, you may end up with a high divorce rate with your employees (I’m proud to say that at Joie de Vivre, our employee turnover rate is one-fourth the hospitality industry average). These same ratios can also apply to your relationships with your customers, and, miraculously to your investors too (although I know many of you don’t believe a human Hierarchy of Needs may have anything to do with the Return on Investment Robots we call investors).

Maslow posited that studying healthy functioning humans told us more about psychology than studying unhealthy dysfunctional humans (Freud). Similarly, most of us believe that studying best practices in business teaches us more than studying worst practices. I believe there’s a qualitative difference between a human not being sick versus actually feeling healthy or truly alive. Similarly, this idea can be applied to companies. Think of a company that’s not sick but not really alive. Then, imagine a company that’s living up to its potential and is full of a spirit of being alive. If humans aspire to self-actualization, why can’t companies – which are really just a collection of people – aspire to this peak, too? The self-actualized company creates deep relationships with its employees, customers, and investors, and, in so doing, develops a workplace that has a remarkably low divorce rate. The health of any organization is simply the accumulated health of the individual relationships that constitute it. This is true for families and it’s true for companies.

Posted by Chip Conley at 12:56 PM | 13 Comments

August 26, 2007

Change Management: Urban 2.0?

The urban online community dipped well before the urban music industry. The urban online effort crumbled with the rest of the dot-bust in 2001. But several recent sites signal that Urban 2.0 is on the horizon.

Soundblaze calls itself, "the first private network for the music industry." But from what I've seen of the still in Beta site, it will be much more than that. It comes complete with a very robust offering for consumers, and is built by music and marketing industry veteran Chuck Baker and his team. Impressively, much the same team that took aim at the space with Urban Box Office at the turn of the century. While the site still sits behind an invite-only wall, their blog The Blaze Report is keeping the industry humming.

And then there is Global Grind. Another walled-off offering still in Alpha. Rumor has it that Russell Simmons is helping to incubate the project, which seems to be a form of portal-play.

Add to that the robust redux of All Hip Hop, the current King of urban on-line by most measures. The re-designed site now joins the Internet-as-Television revolution with a much more robust streaming media offering. Speaking of television You Are TV, is not necessarily urban-focused and not in Beta, but is developed by entrepreneur/programmer David Dundas, who the urban community can claim even if he's not calling what he does "urban." YouAreTV is a solid general market play, and that's a smart strategy given the ubiquity of cross-over culture.

All this in of itself would be an impressive set of developments with this just being a few that have crossed my desk. Then the 800lb gorilla, Joost, developed by the founders of Skype, with an impressive $45 million round under the belt, added the Urban 1.0 brand 88HipHop to their channel selection, giving Randy Nkonoki-Ward a very solid platform to work with. The Joost experience will have people turning off their televisions.

Who knows what will come out of these Alpha's and Beta's, but it looks good. And is equally good to see Urban 1.0 executives back at it with improved products and, I'm sure, a healthy respect for all-important robust revenue models needed to power-up these businesses.

Posted by John N. Pasmore at 11:14 PM | 1 Comment

August 21, 2007

Change Management: Will IBM be India's Biggest IT Company?

Well known management guru Jagdish ‘Jag’ Sheth says that successful Indian companies are becoming arrogant and complacent, and this arrogance may eventually bring them down. He predicts that in 2 years we may not see an Indian IT goliath. He predicts IBM will be India’s biggest IT company.

Elaborating on the problems that will plague Indian IT companies, he talks about the lack of diversity of leadership. Very few Indian IT companies would have a non-Indian heading their company. At Wipro, it was he who told them that the board is all-Indian, and finally got a non-Indian on the board. Infosys, according to him, is even worse. In fact, all senior leaders are not just Indians, they are south Indians. There's not a single north Indian in the top leadership of Infosys. To become truly global, Sheth believes that Indian IT companies need to build in more cultural diversity in their leadership.

Sheth can’t stop talking about how serious IBM is on its India strategy. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano deliberately held the annual get-together of all his worldwide analysts in Bangalore . He invited 10,000 people. He also announced that he'll invest $6 billion in India in three years. That's $2 billion a year. Two billion a year is 50 per cent of the revenues of Infosys. So he has made a commitment.

IBM’s clarity of thought and vision seems admirable. Given the volume of procurement from China , they shifted the whole global sourcing from the US to Shenzhen (China), where they'll have their own subsidiary. India will be their base for capturing talent and resources.

Sometime ago, Palmisano said he believed that the next CEO of IBM does not have to be an American. "If my market is going to be Asia , then it's likely that it should be Chinese or Indian or Asian.” He also believes that the headquarters of IBM should be relocated. Sheth feels that IBM is really thinking differently, something he does not see in Indian corporations.

Anupam Mukerji • Bangalore, India • www.mmi-india.com

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 2:52 AM | 1 Comment

August 1, 2007

Change Management: Outsourcing's Dark Shadow Looms on Indian Society

Outsourcing is creating ripples – not just in global business, but in the social fabric of India. As more Indian youth turn to outsourcing work, a relatively easy career option, cracks are beginning to show in youth culture and lifestyles.

In the last decade India has established itself as the leading destination for offshore outsourced work. In India, the outsourcing industry has had a profound impact not only on the Indian economy, but also on the Indian society. Every middle class Indian is separated by one or two degrees from someone in the outsourcing industry. Several homes in the large metropolitan cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and recently even smaller cities like Vizag, Cochin, Chandigarh are buoyed by fat starting salaries characteristic of the outsourcing industry. It is not unusual for a father to have finished his career at the salary that his son or daughter has begun his or hers with. Urban centers teem with bright clusters of call center or data management executives chasing the good life – buying big and staying hip.

However, in this warm glow of the success of outsourcing, it is easy to overlook the long term implications of this industry on the Indian youth, the Indian social fabric and, ultimately, it’s impact on the outsourcing model altogether.

Continue reading "Change Management: Outsourcing's Dark Shadow Looms on Indian Society"

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 8:14 AM | 1 Comment

July 26, 2007

Change Management: The Day Mumbai's Music Died

Today marks the second anniversary of the great Mumbai floods of 2005. The day when Mumbai stood still. The day when Mumbai’s façade of a mega polis was shattered. The day when all problems plaguing this great city came to the fore. The day Mumbai's music, truly, died.

Continue reading "Change Management: The Day Mumbai's Music Died"

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 7:10 AM

July 18, 2007

Change Management: Combining Management with Ancient Philosophy

New Delhi is getting a makeover in preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in the city. And the government has gifted the capital city its latest showpiece, the state-of-the-art Tube, the Delhi Metro Rail. Already 600,000 daily commuters on the Metro Rail have cut their travel time by 75%. And Delhi’s pollution has reduced by a third since this clean and fast mode of transport began. But what makes the Rail extra special is that it’s testimony to how modern management techniques can combine with ancient Indian philosophies to build a truly efficient, ethical and empowered organization.

Continue reading "Change Management: Combining Management with Ancient Philosophy"

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 11:49 AM | 3 Comments

July 12, 2007

Change Management: Globalization is Good

The debate on globalization has been raging since the turn of the century. Economists, politicians, businessmen and social commentators from across the world have judged the merits and demerits of this inevitable 21st century phenomenon. Some countries like India and China are largely viewed as beneficiaries of this trend. While others, especially Western developed countries, are viewed as victims due to job losses to lower cost nations. Nothing could be farther from truth, as was witnessed in Seattle last weekend.

07.07.07 was an unusually sunny Saturday in Seattle. The Boeing airfield in the city saw a Boeing 707 land at precisely 7.07 pm. A Boeing 717 touched down exactly ten minutes later at 7.17. The arithmetic progression continued with a Boeing 727 landing at 7.27 p.m., a Boeing 737 at 7.37 p.m., a 747 at 7.47 p.m. and so on. Finally, at 8.17 pm the new generation Boeing 777 made its presence felt on the tarmac. The next day, July 8th, 2007 or 7/8/7 marked the roll-out of the Boeing showpiece, the 787 Dreamliner. The show demonstrated the American giant’s dominance of international skies with more than 10,000 seven-series planes in service.

Continue reading "Change Management: Globalization is Good"

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 11:45 AM

July 11, 2007

Going Global: America's Christians After George W. Bush

That America continues to look inward is no secret. While Americans may be among the most info-saturated people in the world, their knowledge of the world around them continues to dwindle. Few Americans have traveled the globe, fewer still have worked in the global marketplace. In the inaugural post of this column, I urged readers to make 2007 the year to go global. My focus was on the business drivers of globalization. After reading “God and Country” in the July 8 Boston Globe, I now know that the need to go global extends far beyond Main Street and Wall Street.

University of Virginia professor of religion Charles Marsh explores why the American evangelical community did “not pause for a moment in the rush to war to consider the near-unanimous disapproval of the global Christian community?” As America launched its war in Iraq (or on Iraq – as the European media sees it), The White House’s Christian supporters stood silent as their co-religionists across the globe spoke in unison against the invasion of Iraq.

Professor Marsh writes that America’s Christians must “reach out to our brothers and sisters abroad. We must reshape the way we live in the global Christian community…” Going global has become an imperative – businesses, students, politicians, thinkers, doers…and now believers must redouble their efforts to understand and integrate with the rest of the world.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/07/08/god_and_country

Josef Blumenfeld • Tradewind Strategies • Boston, MA • jblumenfeld@tradewindstrategies.com•www.tradewindstrategies.com

Posted by Josef Blumenfeld at 8:00 AM | 19 Comments

July 8, 2007

Leadership: "China Free" Label Could Undermine China’s Growth

Despite its unquestioned emergence as a global economic power, China does not have a single global brand. Can you name one? In survey after survey, American consumers can’t name one either. By virtue of its acquisition of IBM’s PC business, Lenovo is probably the closest China comes to a global brand – but it certainly isn’t home-grown. In its January, 2006 cover story, Fast Company suggested that fashion house Shanghai Tang could become China’s first global brand – but that has yet to materialize.

In reality, the most-recognized Chinese brand is….Made in China.

A successful brand conveys favorable attributes about the company, products and services it represents - and the market responds by increasing the revenue, profits, and stock value of the world’s leading brands. What attributes are represented by “Made in China?” Aside from low cost, the “Made in China” brand projects nothing positive – and the shocking revelations of tainted toothpaste, pet food, and Thomas the Tank Engine toys coming from China has only tarnished the “Made in China” brand further.

And the market has responded. Reuters recently reported on the emergence of the “China-Free” label – implying that the source of tainted ingredients has been eliminated from the supply chain.

Continue reading "Leadership: "China Free" Label Could Undermine China’s Growth"

Posted by Josef Blumenfeld at 10:09 PM | 1 Comment

June 23, 2007

Change Management: Hip Hop Slips

To anyone who follows the music business the fact that Hip Hop sales have tanked is not a surprise. A USA Today article illuminates the swoon with sobering statistics: Hip Hop sales are off over 43% of their high in year 2000. That Hip Hop is down is widely understood, but "why" is hotly debated. There is more than one factor at work. (Photo of Run DMC by Ricky Powell)

First off Hip Hop's success in selling records was driven by the core audience of Black consumers. That audience is intact. They may buy fewer CD's, but they still listen to Hip Hop.

The driver for multi-platinum sales was not only appealing to the core, but getting lots of non-Black kids to buy in as well. Here is where the problem begins. One need only watch HBO's Entourage to get the idea that white kids, have adopted the culture to such an extent that they don't really need the "authentic" version. They have their own. DJ AM, who appeared on the show is a good example of how to be Hip Hop without being Black. This new non-Black Hip Hop head has taken the swagger and left some of the music behind. They can listen to rock just as easy to Hip Hop, and to demonstrate their keen kinship to the culture they go out of their way to listen to who's next in Hip Hop as opposed to who's pop.

One need only look at the days in rock in the late 70's as the powerhouse bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones faded. Their replacements were no match for disco. But rock didn't die. It evolved.

USA Today goes on to mention over-commercialization with the endorsements and product placements, etc. But with the whole world trying to understand where and how they want to listen to music (and how much to pay), the commercialization theory takes a back seat to these bigger and more fundamental issues.

One need only step into a club or even a department store to note that there are still some very good hooks in the music. But to take it back to the top, Hip Hop needs its next Puffy, Tupac and Jay Z. The ingredients are still present, the talent just needs to find that perfect beat.

Posted by John N. Pasmore at 8:26 PM | 39 Comments

June 20, 2007

India - The Super Job Creator

A recent study shows that India is by far the highest new jobs creator in the world. It may be celebration time for Indians, but is this also the right time to reflect on aspects that could bring the party crashing down?

Well, India’s economic success story is official now. India has created the maximum jobs in the world during the period 2000-2005. Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has claimed in its recently released Employment Outlook 2007 report that India generated 11.3 million net new jobs per year on an average. During the same period, China created 7 million net new jobs while Brazil and Russia created 2.7 million and 0.7 million net new jobs respectively. India’s unemployment rate of 6% in 2005 also compares favorably with other BRIC countries whose unemployment rates were hovering around the 8-9% mark at the same time.

Continue reading "India - The Super Job Creator"

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 7:52 AM | 2 Comments

May 24, 2007

Social Francishing, Part I

In my last blog post, I talked briefly about the emerging "fourth sector" as referenced in an interesting NYT article on the same subject. In this same vein, I have recently become aware of the burgeoning "social franchising" movement within the fourth sector.

Quite simply, social franchising is when a non-profit organization (NPO) starts or acquires a for-profit franchise whose offerings are congruous with the NPO's mission and whose revenues can be reinvested into the NPO to decrease its dependence on outside fundraising. Fascinating and innovative idea, right? Absolutely.

However, an NPO that's considering adding to its to-do list the prospect of managing a business is like a juggler going from tossing balls to flipping running chainsaws for the first time -- and without ever stopping!

Now, if this metaphor may sound a bit hyperbolic for some, I recommend that your NPO does not start/acquire a business. If your NPO's board does not have a respectful amount of intimidation about undertaking such a move, I predict dark times for your organization's operations. But doom and gloom aside, the upside is that with the proper due diligence, strategic heft and market opportunity, some NPOs cannot only stand to benefit from this potential worthwhile juggling act, is not only worthwhile for some NPOs, it may actually be vital for many in this latter subset.

Continue reading "Social Francishing, Part I"

Posted by Chris Rabb at 7:16 PM | 2 Comments

Social Purposes of Social Networking Sites

Who would have thought that the police would use social networking sites to solve murder cases? Well, that’s exactly what happened in Mumbai, India recently. Mumbai Police used Orkut profiles to nab the alleged killer of a young lady found murdered in a suburban Mumbai hotel. The victim’s Orkut conversations led the cops to the profile of an Indian Navy officer, who is now believed to be guilty of the crime.
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/40709/cops-use-orkut-to-track-murderer.html

Well, social networking sites are beginning to serve a huge social purpose in India. Not always in such serious matters, but sites like Orkut, by far the most popular social networking site in India, are being used for several life-changing decisions.

Continue reading "Social Purposes of Social Networking Sites"

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 3:06 AM | 2 Comments

May 14, 2007

Changing Demographics of Online Indians

A recent report on Indian internet users by JuxtConsult gives a perspective on which way the Internet is headed in India. The report is useful for technology products and consumer goods companies targeting the Indian consuming class as internet usage patterns give strong pointers towards consumer behavior for new technology products and services.

This study shows growth of internet usage in both ‘spread’ and ‘depth’ in India with 22% new users added to the pie. The study estimates the current population of urban online Indians who use the internet regularly at around 22 million. 1 out of every 2 computer users is logging onto the net implying that internet availability is a critical factor to PC penetration. The good news is that 53% of the internet connections now are broadband (compared to about 23% a couple of years ago). This will significantly impact areas such as gaming, video/music downloads and other heavy internet activities.

Internet is no longer an elite, big city phenomenon. More than 50% of the internet users are from outside the big 8 metropolitan cities, and 60% are from middle to lower brackets of socio-economic classes.

Continue reading "Changing Demographics of Online Indians"

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 8:22 AM

May 5, 2007

Urban Everest

Sibusiso Vilane climbed Everest. The South African joins fewer than 3,000 people who can say the same. And no other Black man can yet make that claim, though African American woman Sophia Danenberg did the deed in May of 2006.

The challenge of being an entrepreneur or a successful business person closely matches the skills needed to tackle the challenges of an extended expedition. The learning from these individuals includes a key understanding of just how much of a challenge is mental as opposed to physical or even financial. Their journey tell us that realizing a dream lies more within our grasp than we readily admit.

At times we attribute a lack of achievement to something other than the amount of effort we’ve applied or some aspect beyond our control. That’s usually not the reality. Sibusiso tells us dream big, take risks, and pull those dreams into the real world.

JP: What do you enjoy most about being outside?

SV: The openness, the air, the serenity and the unpolluted freshness that is there. I personally feel uplifted if every time I lift my eyes and all that I see is vastness and the unique creation of the universe, the scenery, the sky and all that is there to enjoy while being outside.

JP: Several hundred years ago Black people lived close to nature. That bond has been broken, and it seems as if in the rush to Westernize being outside or close to nature is frowned on or even ridiculed. Have you found that to be so?

SV: We Africans have always been living very close to nature and you can see that from the way we built houses in the olden days where my ancestors never looked at what was there before they could build a house, all they wanted was a piece of land, whether in a forest or mountain without any roads that did not matter. But all that has been taken away by the modernization and that has taken away that connection that we had with the natural world.

JP: What is special about being the first Black man to do much of what you do?

SV: The fact that it comes from a poor ordinary African who had no opportunities, was underprivileged and with no formal education. I had no home while growing up, was never empowered but have been able to excel and do these things which are a testimony to all Africans and people everywhere that no matter how poor, they can still live a life of personal fulfillment and joy if they commit to their dreams.

JP: In climbing, there are the world’s seven tallest peaks; some call them the Seven Sisters. How many of these have you climbed?

SV: The seven summits you mean? Well since I was never a keen climber or mountaineer from a very young age the seven summits had not appealed to me, not even after my successful climb to the top of Mount Everest. But since last year I decided to climb them solely to promote the sport among Black Africans and to build a reputation that would go as a CV for sponsorship for my big mountain climbing project in the future. My dream is to climb as many 8000m peaks as possible, maybe all 14 of them and join the likes of Ed Viesturs and Reinhold Messner. So I have now climbed six of the seven summits all self-sponsored and will be living for the last of them which is Mount McKinley in Alaska this coming May. Mount Everest will always stay as my ultimate when I speak of the seven summits, but each one of them has uniqueness in it that makes each experience very special.

JP: How much of these challenges are mental and how much of it is sheer physical str