Musings

The invite: ‘You run innovation workshops, Deepa? Have you worked for ….? Call … He is our client and a wonderful person. They want to run an innovation workshop.’, texts my client-friend Zia. I have just boarded the flight to Sydney and my heart skips a beat. Its a client I’ve been eyeing since I fell in love with their advertising. My mind does a quick back flip and a few cartwheels before it lands on my mobile. I regain my stoic composure and call Zia. In a calm, steady vo

Being a researcher is about curiosity. It is about building rapport with a stranger. Its about willingness to explore and go on an adventure on the landscape of a new person. A story is hiding in the most unlikely places. Be interested and the person opens up the treasure chest of his story. Twelve plastic jars of ‘mukhwas’ in the tray from two months ago are nearly empty. Time for a refill. But before that, a story. ‘Supari’, ‘magai paan’ and ‘Calcutta meetha mukhwas’, elaic

A friend in Singapore sends me an email survey. She is invited to speak at an HR Conclave and is gathering data on succession planning. I am intrigued enough to reply on a Saturday morning while on vacation: Do you think about succession planning in your company? Yes. All the time! Succession planning is indeed planning to succeed. We have a ‘succession planning’ culture and mindset that permeates everything we do. It’s really about making the organization robust with strong

Collect what you LOVE! What about WHAT we love? What we love is a clue into our natural talents. We are often unconscious about these natural talents and may take these for granted. We are often unaware of what makes us unique. Becoming aware of these ‘raw’ talents and practice over time converts these talents to strengths. According to The Gallup Organization there are 34 talent themes which play up in a unique manner. Years of research conducted suggests that the most

~ Sanjana Ramani & Lumière Voices This 8th of March, the world celebrates yet another day paying tribute to and political achievements of women. This day is a call for gender parity. This day has been observed since the early 1900’s – a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization bu

Happy New Year! 'You will receive a package from Sevantika. Has it arrived already?' reads an SMS from Ankeet, a client-friend. Sevantika is his boss. 'Thanks Ankeet. Am on vacation and in office on 1st Jan. Will inform my office and message to thank' I type. 1st January is a holiday but I go to office for a few hours. The package is sitting at my desk. Wrapped in thick paper, it looks bulky but feels surprisingly light. It reads 'less than 250 gms' and 'fragile - handle w

We are at a three-day workshop with the client, a large company, spending long hours with their successful young leaders. Our day begins at 8:30 am over breakfast and closes at 7:00 pm. A few of the managers are already at their table in the conference room. Deeply engrossed into their mails or poring over documents. Some are on the phone over lunch and a few of them are doing meetings at the end of the day. A couple of them said they have annual planning work to do. I am dra

The tak-tak-tak-tak rhythmic sewing machine pedal sounds, the hum and whirr of the pedal and motor in the second bedroom of my parents’ Andheri apartment is a familiar 'come-home' sound. The room is in the far end of the flat, west-facing, light and airy. Cross-ventilated with two windows, and in my parents’ classic generous style, it is my grandparent’s bedroom. The room is fitted with two Godrej cupboards, a ‘mandir’, a queen-sized bed by the wall, and two sewing machines.

Sheela Chitnis is a sparkling jewel in my collection. A bundle of raw energy with silver hair, a stentorian voice, twinkling eyes, she is a woman with a cause. Her cause is Multiple Sclerosis, or MS as she calls it. Until I met her, I only knew two MS' - MS Subbalaxmi, my Milind Soman, and our Milind Soman. Vice Chairman of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of India (MSSI), Sheela tai tumbled upon the disease when her husband was struck by it. She brought up their only son, who

Dr. Nitin Patankar is a health & fitness myth-breaker. He brings fresh perspective on “right” health, for nothing according to him is either good or bad. Practical and realistic, this doctor brings a magical alchemy of logic, science, reason and ultimate good sense. I am a believer and owe 10 years of “right” health to knowing him. Not preachy, never holier-than-thou, his is a method of both, positive & preventive, sustainable good health. Self-effacing, slightly shy and res

P&G initiated the consumer connect culture with its ‘living it, working it’ program where employees need to spend a month living with consumers and working alongside trade. Companies have since seen the value of building consumer centricity. We help train and enabling companies with observing, listening and dialoging with consumers and structure and run their programs. Governments have used tools of marketing research to understand their people better. The English were master

There is a special woman in each of our lives, some one we want to think of and celebrate. While the list of women celebrities grows by the day, there are millions of invisible ones. Whether in our homes, our work places, on railway trains, in small huts that one drives past, there’s something in every woman that calls for a standing ovation. Be it courage, resilience, tolerance for physical and emotional pain, patience and endurance, there is need to recognize, respect and a

December to January marks the time for 'discover' or 're-discover India'. Its not difficult to cherry-pick wide eyed newbies at airports, ashrams, management school campuses, malls, temples and streets. Each one of us here has played host at some time or another. We take our cultural prescript “athithi devo bhava” seriously. It makes playing host pleasurable and rewarding, especially if the guest is curious, happy to explore, open and receptive. Playing host to people from “o

Pondicherry is repose for the spirit. It is a pit-stop in the journey, offering a salve of calm, sitting easily besides the clamour of noisy small town traffic and accumulated garbage. The French Quarters on the Eastern side and the Tamil Quarters on the Western side are separated by a double carriage-way. A distinctive promenade along the Bay of Bengal is an interesting walk. Rocks and small benches make inviting seats for contemplation at the waterfront. French colonial sty

Have a wonderful 2007. New Year is a time for fresh beginnings and nothing fosters a sense of freshness, more than a great holiday. It’s good to be back after a whole 9 days of being on leave. The holiday was refreshing with quality family time. We enjoyed KL and Singapore. I’d like to share a few lessons that Singapore taught me. A significant take away is the ‘Merlion’ the ‘mascot’ of the country, which is an impossible creature with the head of the lion and the body of the

Varanasi is a powerful sense imprint. It mesmerizes, overwhelms, and in some sense, unhinges once from the moorings of time and space. A curlous medley of ever-changing with the ancient, the city is a mall of all experiences. The call of Varanasi has been strident at times, and a low persistent one at others. This piece will do no justice and the incomplete, unfinished sense will prevail. The sense is the same for every seeker, unfinished incompleteness that the city fulfi

‘Beware the Ides of March’ - A Wikipedia reference will yield this – In the Roman calendar, the Ides of March was a term used to denote 15 March. The term is still used in a colloquial sense for centuries afterwards to denote the middle of the month. In modern times, the term is best known because of Julius Caesar assassination on the Ides of March in 44 BC. The term has come to be used as a metaphor for impending doom. The Ides of March for us began with dismal playing perfo

Lumière is a virtual organization that we founded 10 years ago, primarily as a work opportunity for women professionals who weren’t strictly willing or able to work in a conventional workplace. Does this sound like a social cause? We believe it’s a business cause and a human cause. There are lots of bright professionals out there who might want to get into a work environment that respects them for their ability to work full- flexi. Lumiere is a way of doing business, and for

“Mind is the Master power that molds and makes, And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills; He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass; Environment is but his looking-glass.” CONTENTS Foreword 1. Thought and Character 2. Effect of Thought on Circumstances 3. Effect of Thought on Health and the Body 4. Thought and Purpose 5. The Thought-Factor in Achievement 6. Visions and Ideals 7. Seren