jump to navigation

Vendor-Client relationships November 14, 2009

Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Innovation.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
1 comment so far

Whatever one may try in building relationships with customers, it always comes back to negotiating prices the way it was done in the industrial (material) age. This hilarious, in-your-face video says it all. Is our client listening?? Can they laugh as loudly as we at this beautifully captured absurdity

Read Ann All’s post “Squeezing Vendors Isn’t a Good Idea“ 

Leadership innovation – The beginning and the end of history February 16, 2009

Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Companies of the future, Culture, Entrepreneurship, Heart Capital©, Innovation, Leadership, Leadership Innovation, Thought leadership, Wisdom of the leaders.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
4 comments

Wow, what an amazing Valentine’s weekend! Thankfully “The Consortium of Red-faced, Jobless and Retrograde Men of India” ( male counter to the Facebook group ”The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women”) was kept in check to allow India’s youth to celebrate Valentine’s day.

 
Vikram Kirloskar launching the new TOYOTA INNOVA
Vikram Kirloskar (left) – Launch of the new TOYOTA INNOVA.

But that aside, I had a blast. My friend Vikram Kirloskar, Vice Chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motors, invited us to the most memorable evening with Jagjit Singh, the Ghazal Maestro. His satin voice had everybody spellbound for a riveting two hours. In Vikram San’s words – “It is Toyota India’s heartfelt gesture of gratitude to our customer ‘family’”. The event was fraught with simplicity and genuine warmth. I wish some people would take lessons from Toyota and especially from Vikram on humility and the natural way to live and work.

In concert with Jagjit Singh

In concert with Jagjit Singh

 How business can ‘flow along’ with such warmth. And to top it, to be immersed in such soul-stirring music. What more could I have asked for. My take away was that the “Toyota way” goes far beyond shopfloor efficiencies and product quality. It is a statement of life and living.

Then came Spiritual Sunday at the Chinmaya Mission precincts on Lodhi Road in New Delhi. Before you start imagining yoga mats and a saffron-robed Godman, I must tell you that the event had to do with the launching of Anil Sachdev’s SOIL – School of Inspired Leadership. (more…)

7 years on and still a startup February 13, 2009

Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Business, Companies of the future, Culture, Entrepreneurship, Heart Capital©, Thought leadership.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
2 comments

Contact IdeafarmsThis post is based on a true story. The story of  Ideafarms. We started among  equally uncertain settings in the wake of the dotcom bust and 9/11. We had no funds. We had no product ideas. We didn’t know who we would sell to. All we had was passion and deep down conviction that we would make things work for us. Today we’re almost 7 years old and alive and kicking. Ready to take on the current gloom with renewed energy. We’re back to our start-up ways.

The most important thing then was - and I say this with the benefit of hindsight – that we had no past to weigh us down; nothing of a reputation either individually or collectively that needed to be protected. Both of which we have today. So we’ve decided to shrug the baggage off our shoulders. (more…)

Creating Heart Capital – KnowledgeBoard January 28, 2009

Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Companies of the future, Culture, Entrepreneurship, Heart Capital©, Innovation, Leadership, Sustainable Innovation, Thought leadership, Wisdom of the leaders.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
3 comments

When I coined the phrase “Heart Capital” a few years ago, I didn’t recognise it’s prophetic undertones. Here’s a link to the stimulating discussion we had half a decade ago.  And for those who might want to read my article, here’s the pdf.

The ideas and views regain relevance with today’s ‘communities’ on the collaborative web. (2.0)

Here’s John Moore’s comment on the article I wrote in 2003.

“I love these lines in particular :

To humanise is to recognise that technology cannot replace the charm of personal contact. To humanise is to disrupt current business thinking and methods. To humanise is to add emotion. To humanise is to add fun to work and work systems.

I think the discussion about emotional environment is important; a lot of money goes into trying to create great physical spaces for work (and that’s no bad thing) but the manners and subleties of human contact deserve equal attention.

I would add that as well as being fun, the creation of real “heart capital” requires taking risks and being vulnerable. Acknowledging our true feelings feels risky in many enviroments; yet in my experience it is often a touchstone for deeper and more satisfying human engagement.”

via Creating Heart Capital – KnowledgeBoard.

Thanks John!

Here’s another excerpt from the article.  :-

It is time now, to create heart capital. An exchange of feelings, emotions and culture to foster knowledge creation and sharing.

- An asset for individual growth and organizational excellence.
- A tool for sharpening the competitive edge.
- A culture for human enrichment.
- A plan to protect and propagate our common heritage.

Let’s ask ourselves some questions.
Is it [not] necessary [for us] to create a new lexicon of corporate nomenclature if we want to change
traditional thinking?

For example, HR is traditionally responsible for all people issues in an organization. Does this mean that other departments do not need to care about people? Is there something about the nomenclature “HR” that needs repairing? When dealing with materials, the word “resource” is probably appropriate. But Human Resource?? I thought resources were for people to use, so how appropriate is it to think of human beings as resources?

The entire business terminology needs a revamp. Human Resources should become Corporate Citizenship, Research & Development should become Knowledge Innovation, and so on. The focus is clearly shifting from efficiency to effectiveness, from sentiment to passion, from profit to value and from performance to the emotional well being of the user.

Comments and critiques welcome.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

An India welcome for Barack H Obama! January 21, 2009

Posted by Sunil Malhotra in Everything 2.0, General, Global Economy, Innovation, International, Leadership, Perception, Sustainability, Thought leadership, Wisdom of the leaders.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
3 comments

Begin Obama

I have a confession to make. I never generated enough interest in watching an American President being sworn in to office. Even yesterday, for me it was an event meant for American Nationals and so I hadn’t planned on watching the inaugural ceremony. It must have been some kind of collective consciousness at work because I found myself sitting in front of the TV tuned into CNN at exactly the time the ceremony was to start. Scenes from Bruce Almighty and Oh God! flashed across my mind as I found myself watching the whole inauguration of the 44th President of the United Sates of America, Barack H Obama. Now I know that it was probably meant to be and I also know that he was meant to be. For the first time in my life, the TV was not playing a digital image. Mr. Obama was right there in my living room just a few yards away whom I could have chosen to meet or shake hands with had I wanted to. Such was the power I witnessed of the ‘human’ (more…)