Saying it like it could be!

In his autobiography restaurateur Vithal Kamat describes strategies he used to attract customers to his newly started Udupi restaurant. Lining up his friend’s cars outside his restaurants - many of them also sitting inside as dummy customers to create a perception of a busy restaurant. Wafting smell of fresh ground coffee and food in the restaurant to titillate and tempt customers. All strategies to create the perception of the amazing experience waiting for customers inside.

#Viewpoint
Greg Creed, CEO Yumi Brands says, "you can market to love and hate,  you cannot market to indifference.

Communicate to Motivate

Debutant Actress Ruhi Singh says, "When you enter the sets of (film director) Madhur Bhandarkar's film, you hear words like 'jalwa' (charisma/luster/ splendor) and 'aag laga de' (be on fire) which is a driving force for us. I had to shoot a waterfall sequence in the night, and it was freezing cold. But I could only do it because (Madhur) makes sure everyone feels comfortable before filming. "

#Viewpoint
Good leaders communicate to #motivate. They channelise the desire and energy of their people to achieve things they know must be done for mutual success.

1+5 Ways to Be The Complete Hu(Man)

The advertisement of a well-known suiting and shirting company assures us that wearing garments made from their fabrics will make you 'the complete man'. But completeness is not complete by only wearing smart clothes. Clothes, and something more go into making the complete (hu) man.

The 5 stories I have gathered suggest some ways of going about making ourselves more complete.

1. Invoke the Universal Power
When Saurabh Kochhar of Foodpanda approached mentor Praveen Sinha in putting putting together a business plan, the latter's advice was ' epic '. He suggested that after creating a business plan, scale it down by 20 %. Consider it " God's share, " for hoping things go well, said Sinha. 

2. Have a healthy ego
"My profession demands that unless I bury conceit, I will not be able perform," says actor Kay Kay Menon. "Today people seem to prioritise ego and call it acting.
The film industry is just a part of my life, I have other interests like sports and reading. I try to understand the inner me and not bother much about the superficial me," 

3.Keep an open mind
An open mind and a willingness to expose oneself to new experiences, new ideas and new people is the fuel of creativity. When he painted ‘Femme D’Algiers”, Picasso took visual information and emotional understanding of his life experiences and transformed them into something unique and unexpected. His creation is now the most valuable painting in history. 
Creativity transforms information into more insight, a better picture of our world, and therefore a more solid foundation on which to build bigger, better ideas.

4. Starve your doubts
When he first approached his boss at Kuoni India, with the idea of offering visa processing services to the American embassy in 2001, Zubin Karkaria met with understandable skepticism. Their was the toughest visa regime, with more processes and documentation than any other country. But Kuoni had nothing to lose in letting Karkaria try, and when he did submit the proposal - the Americans said yes! Today, the visa services operation has turned into a global money spinner. 

5. Maximize your mind’s potential
“Your mind is like a sponge, and less filled it is with muck, the greater the capacity of it to absorb water,” Says Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor. “Keep your mind out of petty jealousies like who is doing what and who is talking about what. You are taking away the tremendous capacity of your mind. You don’t know how much talent and energy it is sucking out of you.” 

Call to Action
The said suiting company also offers bespoke tailoring at its showrooms. You might want to tailor some of the above strategies to suit you. Do share your efforts with us.

Goal Alignment

Lenovo's roots have been as an enterprise focused B2B business. But now, with growth happening more in the smartphone space than in the PC space, they have realised that if you have a B2B mindset and B2B structure, you cannot succeed in the B2C space. To give itself a youthful look, Lenovo's formal dress code, reserved parking space and cabins for senior managers have been done away with,  All senior managers have also been asked to be on Twitter to get a better understanding on how millennials think.

#MyLearning
For success in  work and life, align what you have with what you want.

Adapt or Perish

Restaurateurs today, realising that food is not the only carrot drawing diners in are giving more emphasis to the design and giving their places a makeover. Attention is being paid to the decor, layout, music. lighting, the clean fragrance (of herbs or fresh coffee and bread or wood charring in a clay oven) comely staff. All of which come together very nicely to pull in the customers.

#MyLearning
Adaptability is one quality that is key to success.  Know when to focus on targets, when to pay attention to emotions and when to focus on the changing needs of customers. Being sensitive to the ecosystem and responding as per need the need of the time is the essence of adaptivity.