Wishing
you all a Very Happy Prosperous New Year.
I
am extremely sorry for being disconnected for long. I have been aggressively
involved in consolidating the Institution M/s. Layam and also drawing the
future plans. During the last 2 months there has been many activities including
arranging Conclaves, Visits to different States for better reach out what has
been good to us and we have got a good opportunity to expand ourselves.
During
my visit to many of the Clients especially the Companies which wants to grow I
experienced that there is an element of negativity or helplessness by the CEOs
and others on the pretext of economic slowdown or otherwise. Experiencing this
I coined the word SOB and just try to put my thought on this giving the heading
as ‘Romance with SOB for Growth in Business’.
Romance with SOB for Growth in
Business
We
are in the Country which has an inherent psyche of emotional trends as an
Individual or as a Professional or as a Promoter, we have a tendency to hide
our happiness and express our sorrow with full steam!
With
my experience, whenever I had an opportunity to meet a Promoter either from SME
or purely Indian context, invariably they have issues to be listed for their
stunted growth. So as a Mentor and Consultant I always ask them why to SOB. As
a Promoter and Leader you are the Engine which has to drive accomplishment and
extraordinary business results. India as a Country having more than 50% of
Young hearts, all are anxiously looking towards the leaders like you for a
break.
Entrepreneurial
Development Programme (EDP) has been introduced in this Country, but sad to say
the Entrepreneurial Zeal is missing in the hearts of Promoters as they always
tend to play a safe game.
During my childhood, I was told ‘No
Risk No Gain’. If you want to be successful the answer is ‘take risk’, Destiny
will follow you. So for any Promoter the word SOB should become Sense of
Business and not Sense of Helplessness.
At the fag end of my career +50s I
thought why not to play a Second innings and thus I call it quit and started my
own Venture. I have always experienced a Sense of Inadequacy and High Degree of
Inertia within myself with a statement asking me ‘If he can, why can’t I’ so I always believe that every individual
has a potential to be ‘He Can’.
After
32 years of working as a Human Resources Professional with Corporate Giants
such as the Tata Group and Hyundai, I was in two minds. The easy way out was to
spend the remaining years working with an Industry major and step into a
comfortable retirement life. The other, more challenging option, was to start
from scratch and set up my own venture which is what I ultimately did.
With
a limited years of, high inertia as a Promoter, the qualities which one should
have are
- Environmentally Sensitive with a Clarity of Sense of Business
- Dynamic Business Driver and Risk Taker
- Empathetic towards the Resources
Once
the Promoter has ‘Sense of Business’ then he has to draw the road map
which I feel can be termed as ‘Sense of Purpose’.
The
Promoter also needs to have a sense of purpose.
Any business needs to work with a clear purpose to deliver to all
parties involved- Investors, Stake-holders, Employees and Clients. A survey
conducted on behalf of Deloitte LLP reveals businesses that display “a strong
sense of purpose” are more confident in their growth prospects and ability to
compete than organizations that lack a purpose-driven culture. The “2014
Deloitte Core Beliefs & Culture Survey”¹ defines a strong sense of purpose
as a focus on making a positive impact on Customers, Employees and Society.
So
the Promoter needs to be focused and have a clear vision and mission. He needs to set long term goals with short
term strategies. All successful leaders have a good Sense of Purpose.
A
good leader needs to be a Business Driver and a Problem Solver. A good leader
determines how the organization functions and how it is perceived. The Promoter should focus on solving actual
problems and not the alleged ones. He must look at the business problem with
critical eyes from outside rather than be emotional.
I have always felt that a Promoter
instead of building Business House should create Institutions, as said the
Institutions have an Emotional Rhythm. With Sense of Passion it ultimately
becomes the Legacy on its own. Hence the Vision part for a Promoters Sense of
Purpose should be Institutional building towards Holistic Growth.
We
also have a very peculiar tendency to do things with low cost. I always believed with Cost, Quality and
Competitiveness should be the Business Mantra, but we must be conscious that
the ‘Cost at what Cost?’. In a lighter vain it is said if you pay Peanuts
you will get Monkeys in your system and obviously these Monkeys will only
contribute towards quality issues resulting into rework and damaging the Brand.
This
leads to another aspect which is to be kept in mind is ‘Sense of Brand’ if one
has to build an Institution of Par Excellence with high level of Sense of
Business as well as Sense of Brand, the aspects which has been indicated should
be kept in mind so why to SOB. SOB is the most positive connotation to become
successful in your life. So have Romance
with SOB that means Sense of Business which would lead to Sense of Brand.
I am sure the above thought or expression would surely give a better insight and
positivity to be the best in our own way.
Once
again I wish you all a Very Happy Prosperous New Year.
G.S.Ramesh
Chairman
Layam Group
www.layamgroup.com
