Welcome to the desk of Billy's random thoughts!

How Much Does Culture Enjoy Eating Strategy For Breakfast? ( first published in Business World on 6th April 2019) Company culture is often described as the personality of a company. While some management experts prefer to call it the backbone of a happy workforce or the glue which keeps a company together, it can also be compared to that of a ‘compass’ which keeps a company’s strategy well on its course. Ever since Peter Drucker, Father of Modern Management theory, coined the phrase “Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast”, there has been a lot of debate in the corporate boardroom on what needs more focus – culture or strategy. However, reports on hyper-job-hopping witnessed among Gen Z and some high-profile exits due to sexual misconduct allegations, only allude to the fact that culture has a voracious appetite, and in particular, is fond of devouring ‘strategy’ which is cooked in a toxic oil of ‘constraining behaviours and beliefs’. A research by Deloitte states, that 94% of execut...

Since the invention of sliced bread, there has never been a time where we were more technologically and intellectually advanced than we are today. And yet the same time, Suicide, Depression, Divorce, Social fragmentation seems to have hit an all-time high. Oh, yes! we have invented a quick intellectual solution to counter these issues of 21st century also  – –  Self Help ! In 2016, the U.S. self-help industry was worth about $9.9 billion dollars, according to a report from Research and Markets . Market researchers have predicted that the industry will be worth $13 billion dollars within the next three years, by 2022. What is "Self Help" industry? This industry generates tons of self-help books (like "You can Win", "The power of positive thinking", "You can heal your life" , etc), blogs, TV Shows, Positive TED talks, social media GIF's  – –  all produced and directed by Self-help Guru's, Life Coaches and sometimes by digital APP...

In a digital world, running analog is one giant leap backwards. When the whole world is talking and breathing “digital”, are you the one who is still walking across the street to encash money from your bank? Are you the one who is still calling your travel agent to help book  your train tickets? Are you the one who is still using inland letters to write a “fan-mail”? Are you the one who is still sharing your recent picture by carrying around a photo album?   I guess you aren’t doing so. If so, one would have to award you the honorary prefix “Dinosaur” to your name! A company whose name was infamously prefixed with the title “Dinosaur” was Kodak. Kodak’s successful run for almost a century came to a grinding halt with the advent of digital photography. Herein is a big lesson for all of us — just because you were successful yesterday, there isn’t any guarantee that you would still keep moving tomorrow, unless you adapt to your changing environment today. Let’s do a qui...

The law of mangoes states, "One cannot hit two mangoes with one stone; you either aim for one and get that one or you end up getting nothing". However, conventional wisdom would say, "Why only two mangoes? Just go shake the hell out of that big tree and collect a hundred mangoes!" The reality though is different. When you try aiming for two mangoes in a tree, you begin to realize your inability to concentrate on the target and your chances of success being slim. You in fact have to take a blind chance, hoping against hope, that at least one would fall to the ground. On the other hand, if you aim for just one mango, not only do you stand a decent chance of hitting one mango, you also realize the one stone you had in your possession falls somewhere close to you, thereby presenting you another opportunity to have a go at the remaining mango! Many a times life too operates in similar fashion - it is either money or happiness; promotion or peace; fame or dignity...

Encouraging disagreements at workplace could lead to more innovations  (first published in Business World on 8th May 2018) When Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, said that Indians lacked creativity, millions of Indians were left shell-shocked. According to Wozniak, it is the “risk-averse culture” which prevents Indians from experimenting and innovating. This audacious claim, though, could be a cause of disagreement, as India prides itself of a vibrant culture even amidst average socio-economic conditions. Nevertheless, it looks like Wozniak has opened the “Pandora’s Box,” which was left untouched in the corporate arena for a long time. In fact, even the Indian tech czar NR Narayana Murthy has lamented this fact a while ago, when he said, “There has not been a single earth-shaking invention from India in the last 60 years that became a household name globally." Creativity, it seems, springs only from an atmosphere of trust, respect, and empowerment. And the question ev...

Malcolm Muggeridge, the English journalist, once remarked “ The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact .” We are living in times where the distinction between right and wrong is almost non-visible. However, what is more shocking is not the fact there are many who aren't bothered about this distinction anymore, but the fact there are millions, for whom something else is more important than this "very distinction" which makes life worth living. For some toddlers, gaining access to the broken toy of another toddler is more important than his/her own costly toy. For some school going children, gaining one-upmanship at class is more important than preserving an unblemished face free from a bloody nose and black eyes. For some college going teens, gazing into a smartphone is more important than looking into the eyes of his/her friend who i...