People at Work & Play

In a recent discussion, the question arose as to how much importance the independent consultant or small firm should pay to brand building. Is branding the exclusive preserve of large corporations?

Obviously not, is my answer. Every entity has to create a brand to compete in the market place. Leave alone an organisation- big or small- we are now talking of a personal brand!

Those who wish to build their brand and want to know how can gain from the many practical issues discussed at Branding Strategy Insider- The Branding Blog.

Some years ago, I came across CEO Express for the first time. Good to see the improvements made since then.

It is called a “Business Portal for Executives Created by a Busy Executive”. Patricia M. Pomerleau, President and CEO, CEOExpress Company, has made it possible for the executive to have virtually all information needs easily accessible in this portal.

A wide variety of links- ranging from Daily News & Info, Business Research to Office Tools & Travel make it a comprehensive portal.

Here are some favourable reports about CEO Express from the press.

A useful site to visit - even for non-members. Members, of course, get many more benefits.

India continues to be the largest employee base for many multinational companies. The talent pool and cost advantages make it a preferred destination as borne out by a recent article in the Economic Times.

When it comes to headcount, Indian talent beats other geographies in numbers, quality and efficiency as well as technological prowess. Many MNCs have been hiring people aggressively in India and now have more than 50% of their workforce working out of this country.

Cognizant, Sapient, Aricent and Xansa are some examples. Is it true that there are more HP employees in Bangalore than any other city in the world?

The Dataquest-IDC Survey of the Best Employers in the IT industry has been released.

2,844 software, hardware and marketing professionals took part in the 7th annual Dataquest-IDC survey. They were from 33 IT companies, totally employing 3,04,834 people in 7 cities.

TCS retained the No. 1 position followed by HCL Infosystems, iGate, RMSI and Synechron. IBM was rated the sixth best employer, followed by Capgemini, Infosys, Tavant Technologies and Sun Microsystems.

The lengths that employers go to in their efforts to track talent finds newer and more interesting forms day by day.

Anjali Athavaley writes in the Wall Street Journal of a new phenomenon: Lunch 2.0.
What started in the Silicon Valley has apparently spread to Seattle and Germnany with new groups being formed in places as far away as Los Angeles and Bangalore.

This is another example of the power of networking.

Who said there was nothing like a free lunch?

Enjoyed reading “Freakonomics“ by Stevan D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. The description of the book: A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side Of Everything.

Written in a very simple and lucid style, the book brings out many startling observations made by the authors Stevan Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Levitt is the Alvin Baum Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and Dubner is a writer for the New York Times.

Economics, they write, at root is the study of incentives; how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing! An incentive is simply a means of urging people to do more of a good thing and less of a bad thing.

There are three basic flavours of incentives: economic, social and moral. Very often a single incentive scheme will include all three varieties.

“Freakonomics” has major lessons for people who manage businesses and people!

India’s growing economy and interest created across the global business world in India as a market is reflected in the India Inc page in Fortune. Key for progress will be improvements needed in infrastructure.

The Round Table on India’s infrastructure issues features Nandan Nilekani, Co-Chairman, Infosys; Carol Bartz, Executive Chairman, Autodesk; Dominic Barton, Chairman for Asia for McKinsey and Manvinder Banga, President of Unilevers Foods Division.

A 2005 study by Morgan Stanley concluded that, “the single most important macro constraint on the Indian economy, holding back its average growth, is the low spending on infrastructure.”

The panelists have given their views on the issues facing India. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in India and business in India.

Cadbury Schweppes plc have decided to revive a chocolate bar called Wispa discontinued four years ago.

The reason why? Over 14,000 people joined “Bring Back Wispa“ groups in Facebook asking for its re-introduction. A campaign followed which led the manufacturers to realize that the brand was in hot demand.

What is Cadbury Schweppes’ Global Marketing Code? “We are proud of our brands. They provide fun and enjoyment as treats or refreshment, and are valued for their functional benefits. They can be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet and lifestyle. We provide choice by offering variety and through innovation. We encourage responsible consumption, as this is central to consumers continuing to enjoy our brands. Our consumers are at the heart of our business. We are committed to listening to them and acting responsibly in their interests and have done this successfully for generations.
This Marketing Code of Practice ensures we continue to meet our responsibilities to our consumers.
Accurate and truthful.
Attentive to local sensitivities.
Supporting sensible consumption and balanced life style.
Protecting children.

Mr. Heiselman of Wolff Olins sums it up well: “It took discarding the brand for people to really want it. This is a good example of consumers’ owning the brand, versus the corporation.”

Came across a nice post by Mike Chitty. He writes about ” Feedback-Making It Work In The Real World”.

I like his description of both forms of feedback. Affirming and Adjusting.

• Affirming feedback is given when an employee exhibits a good behaviour at work and the manager wants to show that it has been noticed, recognised and appreciated.
• Adjusting feedback is used when the work behaviour or product is not up to organisational standards and the manager wants the employee to consider ‘what they could differently next time’.

Sadly, most of us are busy catching people doing something wrong. In fact, some go out of the way to do so.

As Blanchard & Johnson said in The One Minute Manager: The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right and then reinforce that action.

Some websites grab your attention. “Genius is an African who dreams up snow”-Vladimir Nabakov : is the first blurb to hit you when you reach the web site of Ray & Keshavan, a Bangalore, India based brand identity and design consulting firm.

They have many leading Indian organisations like Infosys, Wipro, Reliance, ITC, Hindustan Lever in their client list.

As they say in their site “The real value of a company often lies outside its business, in the minds of its customers and other stakeholders. To sustain the value of a brand, it is essential that all communication related to it speaks in one coherent voice.”

Sujata Keshavan Guha, a graduate from the Yale University School of Art is the Managing Director and Meeta Malhotra is a Director while Ram Ray, an advertising industry veteran, is the Co-Founder.

Apart from the more obvious impact on customers and business assoicates, the impact the corporate brand has on employees is huge. Organisations can derive tremendous value by building a strong employee brand. Disengagement, says Gallup, cost the US economy $ 300 billion a year in lost productivity.