Just finished reading a news item online about Anna Hazare attacking Rahul Gandhi for not meeting the Sarpanch "Head man" of his village despite being called to come with a purported prior appointment. For those of you who are unaware of the controversy, let me jot it down.
Anna Hazare, I am sure you must have heard of, if not - he is the anti-corruption crusader in the Gandhi mould. He lives in a village called Ralegan Siddhi which he has transformed into a model village. Anna is perceived by many in the Government to be anti - Congress. However, popular perception is that he is anti - government only because the government of the day is not serious about fighting corruption by enacting tough laws.
Rahul Gandhi is the scion of the Congress party and viewed by large numbers to be the Prime Minister in waiting whenever the Congress comes to power next. Rahul has been on a PR offensive, trying to portray an image of being connected to the common man and very much concerned with their welfare. It is to protect this image that the idea of inviting the village head man, from the village of the present arch rival of Congress - Anna Hazare, must have come.
There is no denying from the Congress that one of its MP's called and invited the village Sarpanch to come and meet Rahul. On the day of the appointment, the sarpanch and the team accompanying him were told that they could not meet Rahul since there was no appointment. Now no sane person can believe that Rahul did not know of the meeting. The fact that there was to be a meeting was widely covered in the media - print as well as TV. There was no way anybody could have missed it, least of them the media managers of Rahul.
This brings me to the core topic - how the mighty behave? Let us give Rahul the benefit of doubt that he did not know or it genuinely slipped his or his secretary's mind to make the appointment in the appointment diary. But even then, if a congress MP had made the appointment, a fact that could have been easily verified by Rahul's office and the people had travelled thousands of miles, couldn't Rahul who portrays himself as a man of the masses, have taken time our to meet the villagers? After all common courtesy demands this.
But then the real fact, as I guess, is something different. The Congress media managers and Rahul's managers must have developed cold feet at the last moment. This could be due to the thought that the meeting could provide extra mileage or perhaps fresh ammunition to the Anna team. But then this shows weakness on Rahul's part. If he is really serious about bringing change then he should not be scared, and should not be guided by the likes of Digvijay Singh. The sooner he develops his own mind, the better it will be for him and India.
This also brings me to the larger question - does being in a position of power or authority give us the liberty of being arrogant or being perceived us as being arrogant???? My belief is that when one is in power one must be extra cautious to appear as humble and approachable.
I will give another example of how those who are in Power think they know all and behave arbitrarily. We joined a PR alliance and we were told that we were partners from India. While we were not promised exclusivity, what we were told was that there would not be another partner from India, unless the market grew big enough for one partner not being able to service the market. We were also told that if such a situation were to arise we would be first consulted before beginning a dialogue with anyone. And we are only six months into the organisation.
A week back we suddenly got a mail from the Regional Chair saying that they are appointing a new Indian Partner and we were being given advance notice, so that it should not come as a surprise to us. Surprised by it: bloody hell, we were shocked.
Over the course of the last week we have had mails and telecons with the powers that be. They are making all the right noises, saying how they are sorry that this happened, it should not have happened, BUT the new member will be in anyways. Yes you read it right, there was no going back on the new member. Now you tell me: if this is not the height of abuse of power, then what is?? Were we treated as partners - NO, then how can this organisation claim to be a partnership. They now say that they "thought" India was a big market which could not be handled by one agency and that we should educate the partners about the Indian Market, but they will not reconsider their decision.
Moral of the story - be powerful yourself so that nobody can dare to abuse you, but be careful not be accused of abusing others.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Can the Queen and Princess Brides evoke interest beyond the trivial????
Today morning I woke up to see the beautiful photo of the new Queen of Bhutan "Jetsun Pema" staring at me from the front page of the newspaper. The beauty of the Queen took my breath away and I wanted to pinch myself - to see if I am really awake. The instant reaction was - is she really this beautiful and if she is then I am sure there are other such beautiful damsels in Bhutan. I had heard a lot about the pristine beauty of Bhutan, but had never imagined this side of the beauty. My immediate impulse was that I wanted to visit Bhutan to see allllllll its beauty :))).
Well that was that and I had forgotten all about it by the time I was an hour into my work. Then while going through the news section of rediff.com I cam upon an online Poll: Has the new Bhutani Queen's bridal upstaged Kate, Charlene? Out of curiosity I went through the photo of all three and found the Bhuatnese Queen to have really upstaged the other two. She looks stunning in her traditional attire and her beauty is more ethereal than the others.
This immediately took me back to my morning impulse of wanting to visit Bhutan. It also set me thinking that if I am stunned by the beauty of the Bhutanese Queen, then so would many others across the world who have seen the photos. If my impulse is to visit Bhutan to see the BBBBeauty :)))) of the country then so would be that of countless others. If this is the case then can the nation really use these Queens and Princesses as more than mere props and actually treasure them as national resources to further their respective countries' causes.
At the risk of sounding an MCP, all along the ages, which man is not bowled over by a woman's beauty? Be it Cleopatra, an Angelina Jolie, an Aishwarya Rai, Princess Kate or now Queen Jetsun Pema all have beauty beyond words. When wars in ancient times can be fought over queens and princesses, why can't the modern times have visitors clamouring to visit the country of these beautiful women? If such interest can result in increased Tourism then it would ultimately lead to more financial wealth and hopefully more prosperity.
I deliberately say "more financial wealth and hopefully more prosperity" because it is not necessary for Financial wealth to result in more national prosperity. Prosperity depends on a lot of factors e.g. equitable distribution of wealth and protection of environment. Bhutan in fact measures its prosperity not through GDP Gross Domestic Produce) but through GNH (Gross National Happiness) Index which shows the commitment of this tiny kingdom to the real prosperity of its people.
Coming back to the topic of this blog, I would dare say that all the modern Queens and Princesses are educated and distinguished individuals in their own rights. Using them only for ceremonial duties is a wastage of national treasures. If we really promote these beautiful women as the FFFFFFFFFFFFFFACE of the nation, I believe that we should be able to increase "brand awareness" of the nation.
Well that was that and I had forgotten all about it by the time I was an hour into my work. Then while going through the news section of rediff.com I cam upon an online Poll: Has the new Bhutani Queen's bridal upstaged Kate, Charlene? Out of curiosity I went through the photo of all three and found the Bhuatnese Queen to have really upstaged the other two. She looks stunning in her traditional attire and her beauty is more ethereal than the others.
This immediately took me back to my morning impulse of wanting to visit Bhutan. It also set me thinking that if I am stunned by the beauty of the Bhutanese Queen, then so would many others across the world who have seen the photos. If my impulse is to visit Bhutan to see the BBBBeauty :)))) of the country then so would be that of countless others. If this is the case then can the nation really use these Queens and Princesses as more than mere props and actually treasure them as national resources to further their respective countries' causes.
At the risk of sounding an MCP, all along the ages, which man is not bowled over by a woman's beauty? Be it Cleopatra, an Angelina Jolie, an Aishwarya Rai, Princess Kate or now Queen Jetsun Pema all have beauty beyond words. When wars in ancient times can be fought over queens and princesses, why can't the modern times have visitors clamouring to visit the country of these beautiful women? If such interest can result in increased Tourism then it would ultimately lead to more financial wealth and hopefully more prosperity.
I deliberately say "more financial wealth and hopefully more prosperity" because it is not necessary for Financial wealth to result in more national prosperity. Prosperity depends on a lot of factors e.g. equitable distribution of wealth and protection of environment. Bhutan in fact measures its prosperity not through GDP Gross Domestic Produce) but through GNH (Gross National Happiness) Index which shows the commitment of this tiny kingdom to the real prosperity of its people.
Coming back to the topic of this blog, I would dare say that all the modern Queens and Princesses are educated and distinguished individuals in their own rights. Using them only for ceremonial duties is a wastage of national treasures. If we really promote these beautiful women as the FFFFFFFFFFFFFFACE of the nation, I believe that we should be able to increase "brand awareness" of the nation.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Crisis Communication in Personal Life...
An incident yesterday forced me to think and write this, well not that I do not think and write otherwise, but you know what... think think ....
I was leaving to pick up my wife when I was accosted outside my office by one of the neighbours asking about another car standing outside. I replied, Why? what is the matter. He responded with another question - whose car is it? It was one of my colleagues and I said it is ours.
Hearing this the neighbour - an old senile man became aggressive and said that this car had caused an accident the previous day. This particular neighbour had an angst against us as he had cheated us some years back and ever since we had had no dealings with him and had made known his dishonesty. Not that there was much reaction because he and his family including extended family were known to be cheats.
Now that I have laid down the background, my reaction on hearing his accusation was extreme scepticism. I asked him who was involved in the accident and how did he know that this was the car? He said that it was his grandson and the Guard at the gate had noted the number of the vehicle and that is how he knew. I saw the guard who was till then with the neighbour leaving with a smile on his face.
I immediately reacted aggressively too saying how did he know who was at fault. Also what happened, this guy told me that the motorcycle his grandson was driving was badly damaged. I asked him where had the accident taken place, he replied at the society gate.
Now to describe the society gate, it is almost a blind entry with many rickshawwallas crowding the entrance and this is a spot where accidents can happen without anybody's fault.
So I said that if it had happened at the gate then it could be anybody's fault and to blame a bigger vehicle for the accident (in India it is the norm to blame the bigger vehicle in an accident).
The old man became even more aggressive and said that the motorcycle had been badly damaged and who will pay for it, etc. I again said how can he be sure whose fault it is? There was a slip of tongue on his part and he mentioned that his grandson was learning driving so he was coming at a slow speed, I immediately sensed something was amiss but by then my ante was up. I told the guy that since the boy was a learner, in all probability, the fault was his. The reply was that he daily takes the motorcycle to school. Yes in India it is perfectly normal for non driving license holder learners to be driving to school :)))) the parents are really rotten.
By then I was getting impatient to leave and I told the old man that it was not the car's fault, on hearing this he said he will complain to the police, I said as you wish and drove off. I reached the gate and asked the guard what had happened, he said nothing sir, the previous day the cars side-view mirror scraped the scooter which the kid was driving. Just then, the kid in question also drove by and the guard said that this was the kid involved in the "accident".
In the meanwhile the old man also reached the gate and started arguing with me. I again told him that it must have been the kids fault, and nothing had happened. By now the old man started shouting and I was mad too (I wanted to really knock this guy out!!!) so I replied angrily - do what you want, go to the police and drove on.
Now my mind had subconsciously registered facts which in my anger I had ignored. After driving for five minutes, I called my colleague and asked him if he had had an accident the previous day, he replied in the negative and asked me what happened. I narrated the entire incident and asked him to speak to the Guard. (I had stopped the car to make this call - should any of you feel that driving while making a call was what I was doing!!!).
By now I had cooled down and the subconscious became conscious. I realized that my colleague had a habit of informing me of even the minor scrapes that he got into, so it was not possible for him to have hidden a full blown accident. Second, I had passed his car on the way out and it was untouched, third the old man had said that his grandson was injured and the motorcycle had been damaged while the guard said it was a scooter.
My mind started analysing. I realised that I had handled a crisis badly. This was when I had only last week gone for taking a full blown Crisis Communication workshop across locations for a large corporate and had taught them how to handle a crisis!!!
What should have been my way of handling this crisis:
Firstly, I should have asked for all the facts of this so called accident
Then, I should have spoken to the Guard and verified the facts - if I had patiently done this, then I would have immediately spotted the gap wherein the old man said motorcycle and the guard said scooty; I should have then asked my colleague what had happened; Next I should have asked the old man to produce his injured kid - if the motorcycle had been as badly damaged as claimed, the kid would definitely have been injured. In my anger, the fact that the kid was driving his scooty normally while I was coming out only registered in my subconscious mind; after getting all the facts I should have calmly faced the Old man and shown him to be a liar.
In fact after half an hour of my calling the colleague, he called back saying that everything had been sorted out. He said that he made the kid face the old man and tell to his face that nothing as described by the old man had happened the previous day. The old man was proved to be a liar in front of everybody, including his grandson and son (not that it will do any good the son is already a cheat and if the trend continues the grandson will also end up being one - OUCH that is really NASTY - should I delete it - NAH I don't think so). The old man was trying to possibly extract some money out from some poor soul for the repair of a broken bike at his house!
The moral of this is that what holds true in the corporate world can also be applied to our personal lives. As the crisis unfolds, an analysis of facts and presenting the true facts in a rational manner should also be applied and can help identify issues and bring in quicker resolution of problems.
But we are humans after all and let the emotions over rule the brain and create unnecessary complications. Life is too short - If nursing angst means the other person is still important for you, Remember: Nobody is as important as yourself and move on.
Wish I could really apply all the gyan for myself :))))). It is easier dispensing advise than following it!!!!!!!
I was leaving to pick up my wife when I was accosted outside my office by one of the neighbours asking about another car standing outside. I replied, Why? what is the matter. He responded with another question - whose car is it? It was one of my colleagues and I said it is ours.
Hearing this the neighbour - an old senile man became aggressive and said that this car had caused an accident the previous day. This particular neighbour had an angst against us as he had cheated us some years back and ever since we had had no dealings with him and had made known his dishonesty. Not that there was much reaction because he and his family including extended family were known to be cheats.
Now that I have laid down the background, my reaction on hearing his accusation was extreme scepticism. I asked him who was involved in the accident and how did he know that this was the car? He said that it was his grandson and the Guard at the gate had noted the number of the vehicle and that is how he knew. I saw the guard who was till then with the neighbour leaving with a smile on his face.
I immediately reacted aggressively too saying how did he know who was at fault. Also what happened, this guy told me that the motorcycle his grandson was driving was badly damaged. I asked him where had the accident taken place, he replied at the society gate.
Now to describe the society gate, it is almost a blind entry with many rickshawwallas crowding the entrance and this is a spot where accidents can happen without anybody's fault.
So I said that if it had happened at the gate then it could be anybody's fault and to blame a bigger vehicle for the accident (in India it is the norm to blame the bigger vehicle in an accident).
The old man became even more aggressive and said that the motorcycle had been badly damaged and who will pay for it, etc. I again said how can he be sure whose fault it is? There was a slip of tongue on his part and he mentioned that his grandson was learning driving so he was coming at a slow speed, I immediately sensed something was amiss but by then my ante was up. I told the guy that since the boy was a learner, in all probability, the fault was his. The reply was that he daily takes the motorcycle to school. Yes in India it is perfectly normal for non driving license holder learners to be driving to school :)))) the parents are really rotten.
By then I was getting impatient to leave and I told the old man that it was not the car's fault, on hearing this he said he will complain to the police, I said as you wish and drove off. I reached the gate and asked the guard what had happened, he said nothing sir, the previous day the cars side-view mirror scraped the scooter which the kid was driving. Just then, the kid in question also drove by and the guard said that this was the kid involved in the "accident".
In the meanwhile the old man also reached the gate and started arguing with me. I again told him that it must have been the kids fault, and nothing had happened. By now the old man started shouting and I was mad too (I wanted to really knock this guy out!!!) so I replied angrily - do what you want, go to the police and drove on.
Now my mind had subconsciously registered facts which in my anger I had ignored. After driving for five minutes, I called my colleague and asked him if he had had an accident the previous day, he replied in the negative and asked me what happened. I narrated the entire incident and asked him to speak to the Guard. (I had stopped the car to make this call - should any of you feel that driving while making a call was what I was doing!!!).
By now I had cooled down and the subconscious became conscious. I realized that my colleague had a habit of informing me of even the minor scrapes that he got into, so it was not possible for him to have hidden a full blown accident. Second, I had passed his car on the way out and it was untouched, third the old man had said that his grandson was injured and the motorcycle had been damaged while the guard said it was a scooter.
My mind started analysing. I realised that I had handled a crisis badly. This was when I had only last week gone for taking a full blown Crisis Communication workshop across locations for a large corporate and had taught them how to handle a crisis!!!
What should have been my way of handling this crisis:
Firstly, I should have asked for all the facts of this so called accident
Then, I should have spoken to the Guard and verified the facts - if I had patiently done this, then I would have immediately spotted the gap wherein the old man said motorcycle and the guard said scooty; I should have then asked my colleague what had happened; Next I should have asked the old man to produce his injured kid - if the motorcycle had been as badly damaged as claimed, the kid would definitely have been injured. In my anger, the fact that the kid was driving his scooty normally while I was coming out only registered in my subconscious mind; after getting all the facts I should have calmly faced the Old man and shown him to be a liar.
In fact after half an hour of my calling the colleague, he called back saying that everything had been sorted out. He said that he made the kid face the old man and tell to his face that nothing as described by the old man had happened the previous day. The old man was proved to be a liar in front of everybody, including his grandson and son (not that it will do any good the son is already a cheat and if the trend continues the grandson will also end up being one - OUCH that is really NASTY - should I delete it - NAH I don't think so). The old man was trying to possibly extract some money out from some poor soul for the repair of a broken bike at his house!
The moral of this is that what holds true in the corporate world can also be applied to our personal lives. As the crisis unfolds, an analysis of facts and presenting the true facts in a rational manner should also be applied and can help identify issues and bring in quicker resolution of problems.
But we are humans after all and let the emotions over rule the brain and create unnecessary complications. Life is too short - If nursing angst means the other person is still important for you, Remember: Nobody is as important as yourself and move on.
Wish I could really apply all the gyan for myself :))))). It is easier dispensing advise than following it!!!!!!!
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