Well, I did not hear about this book till a couple of years ago when my mentor made comment to me – “Navin, with your attitude towards work; you may end up like the horse on the Animal Farm” – I, obviously, did not understand his comment and so I probed further. He, then, mentioned about the horse in this classic. I read the book immediately and became a huge fan.

You can read the book for free at - http://www.george-orwell.org/Animal_Farm/index.html ... Its a small book and you may be able to finish it quickly …

Basically, the book is a satire on a communist or any other totalitarian regime. During those days (1040s that is) the book was very well received since it fit the political upheaval in Soviet Union so well.

The book is about a bunch of barn animals taking over the farm from the "opressive humans" only to find that themselves more opressed by their own chosen animal-leaders. Its about grab of power by the 'power hungry pig" from the pig with the vision. Its about use of squealer to smear reality and implanting false stories. Its about all the dumb animals gettings a raw deal no matter who is in-charge. For example, the horse, who worked so hard to make the windmill is sent to the pound when he gets disabled.

In my mind, what gives this book such timeless validation is my own assessment of the way some of the regimes in the political arena or in the work forces play out. And those who are currently a part of the work force, would realize that, once in a while, you end up working for a company run by some of the totalitarian regimes …Lehman Brother’s, for example … This book will give you a great feel of how the assortment of human behaviors pans out due to that and how they react to the dictum of the power! It explains how the power grab games are played? Who helps perpetuate the fear? How simple minded “animals” end up in the pound once their useful life is over?

Read it and you would know what I’m talking about.

What I am trying to draw your attention to is the “Connected Customer” phenomenon. Social media and smart phones are changing the way we consume information. Apps are helping people connect, collaborate, and create things in ways that were not possible even a year ago. However, large consumer and industrial goods retailers have been very slow with regard to catching up and internalizing the potential offered by these channels and the underlying technology platforms. The analogy that comes to mind is that of the dot-com revolution, when the large organizations struggled to comprehend the web innovation. The current social-mobile revolution is no different in that regard, as it is making companies scratch their brain on how to use its potential and how not to get left behind. Typical marketing teams tend to believe that they have all of the CRM initiatives in place to keep the customer connected and informed on their brand of products. But just pushing routine content, promotions, newsletters, surveys, or campaigns at your target audience, without having understood the complete context in which your product is consumed by the customer, amounts to sheer ignorance and waste of precious company dollars. 

If you look at the demographics, the average smart device owner is 20-30 something in age, in the top 35 percentile of their peer group in terms of earnings, and has travelled internationally at least once. Although this is a macro-level data, the conclusion I can draw from it is that this audience definitely cares about how and where they spend their precious time when it comes to professional as well as personal activities. Majority of this audience is striving to find ways of improving their productivity, potential, quality of life, awareness, relationships, and earnings. That was the precise reason why I’m guessing they bought the smart device in the first place. Now if you are going to peddle to them these one-hit, 5-minute, use-and-throw wonders, you are wasting a huge opportunity and risk alienating/boring the customer away from your brand. Let me give you a couple of examples of these low-utility apps – the Coke app that wants you to spin the bottle, the Audi app that wants you to race the car, the Budweiser app that wants you to pretend that you are pouring beer – you get the idea. Once again, neat apps but when it comes to utility, slim to none.

The companies that I just mentioned above are hi-tech, sophisticated, global brands. They are leaders in their category. They can do better than pushing simplistic, adolescent apps. They, and others, ought to start thinking about the complete picture, anything and everything that comes to play and stands to influence how their brand gets consumed over its useful life. You need to place the customer in the center, understand the ecosystem, build the context diagram, and finally connect your customer across all the touchpoints. Use the app or service to enable such a model. This will require some amount of imagination but once you do this, you will start to make a genuine, positive difference in your customer’s life. So what’s in it for me you ask? Increased product utility and life will result in increased loyalty, buzz, recall, differentiation, and value of your brand, for which you can charge a small premium. 

A connected customer is a more productive customer. Improved productivity leads to an improvement in the customer’s professional and personal potential. This further leads to an improvement in their personal bottom line. And if you’ve played a hand in improving your customer’s bottom line, I am pretty sure they will help improve yours!

For years, they have been the darling of the markets and the envy of their competition. Toyota set the standards and raised them at a steady pace, and eventually became the #1 car company of the world. The world of manufacturing and process engineering has reaped huge dividends thanks to Toyota’s business revolutionizing concepts like Lean Manufacturing, TPS (Toyota Production Systems), Kaizen, Kanban, Poka-Yoke, etc. They have been one of the most admired companies in the world and other companies, both inside and outside of the auto vertical, have benchmarked their execution and performance against those of Toyota. You do not just become the market leader by fluke – it takes time, effort, money, planning, persistence, and performance. 

Will all of the above gains just get washed away due to their current recall crisis? Will their loyal customers start switching over to other brands? Will Toyota have to compromise on the price premium (anywhere from $1000 to $1,500) for the quality and residual-value advantage? The list of questions is indeed a very long one. The answer, in my opinion, is relatively simple and straightforward. I predict that Toyota will bounce back and we all will get to see an even bigger, better, and stronger global organization. You see, they are the Japanese. They are process freaks and they work their butts off. It’s in their DNA to fight back. They may come across as calm, quite, and composed but inside, there is a fire burning within. So they screwed up this time. I guess the timing was bad, given the economic situation and the plight of the auto industry. And they screwed up in the largest global auto market of all – USA. Yes, they couldn’t have timed this more poorly. 

Based on latest sales numbers, their sales have dropped about 15% in the US market. They’ve always been behind GM in the US market but now they will probably fall behind a few others as well. Globally, they may lose their #1 position to the Volkswagen group. Although Toyota initial response to the gas-pedal recall issues was late and lacking, they now have clearly understood the gravity of the situation and have poured in people and dollars like you won’t believe. When it’s all said and done, this crisis will probably cost them about $2.5B - $3B ($1.5B towards fixing the problem, $0.5B in incentives to boost revive demand, and another $0.5B - $1B to fix internal processes) and that would be money well spent. There may be rumblings of quality issues coming from other parts of the world as well but Toyota will focus on fixing the US issues, perception, and trust. US still is the #1 auto market, although China will likely surpass it in the near future. There are plenty of examples of such corporate PR crisis that Toyota can learn from and take consolation in the fact that all of them went away with planning and time. 

When it comes to competitive advantage, nobody stacks up like Toyota – be it there hybrid technology, manufacturing processes, distribution network, and consumer insights. They understand these critical business functions as well, if not better than their competition. So while the American big-3 auto manufacturers can extract some temporary joy from Toyota’s sorrow, rest assured that Toyota will be back. And BTW, I read somewhere that you are 10 times more likely to get struck by lightening than getting into an accident due to the gas-pedal issue. 

I would like to take a quick poll and see what the Kazira audience thinks about Toyota’s future. Please take 15 seconds to answer the 3 questions on the top-left side of this article.

On one hand we have the rest of the world moving towards a service centric and customer focused value model, which improves the customer’s flying experience and provides meaningful amenities for which there is adequate customer-willingness-to-pay. On the other hand, we have the US based airlines that do not give a rat’s ass about customer service or comfort, and would rather take the cheap route of disaggregating the ticket fare and charging for every interaction with the customer. Now I do get that airlines are struggling and need to find new, innovative means to getting back to profitability. But come on, enough with the constant baggage fee hikes! First it was 1 bag for a certain fee, now it’s every bag for a lot bigger share of your wallet. First they blamed the increasing fuel prices, then the increasing security measures and TSA regulations, and now it’s the economy. Next thing you know, you will be required to carry quarters on flight so that you can use their toilets! 

My most recent travel experience was flying to India and back (via Europe). As an economy class traveler, I noticed one distinct trend. The farther East you travel, the more pleasant your travel experience is likely to be and the more value you are likely to get for your money. The moment you enter a US airport, you are bound to feel the stress-effect. Be it the agent at the check-in counter, the people manning the security lines, the agents checking your boarding passes, and the most feared of them all, the attendants in your flight. Every one of them will try their best to give you that unwelcome feeling. Try asking them for information and they will give you that look that says “Have you never been on an airplane before?”. The check-in agents want you to use the kiosk and not disturb them while they are having that all important chat with their fellow agents. The security agents will come down upon you as if you have broken some serious laws by forgetting to pack lotions in a zip-lock. The gate agents once again have that “Don’t even think about it!” look on their face. Finally, you step in the plane to experience the worst part of the ordeal. Yeah you have those call-attendant buttons on your armrest but if you did not know this already, they are not meant to be used. Because, if you do dare to press it, chances are that the attendant will not show up. If they show up, it will feel like it’s been an eternity. And then, you will get that look again. And finally when you put in your request, it will be another eternity before your request is serviced. 

All of the above improves drastically as you move further east. The European airlines pay a lot more attention to serving their customers with a smile and the Asian airlines are the best of them all. At the Amsterdam airport, when the check-in agent noticed that we were travelling with our 2-yr and 5-yr old, she immediately asked us to step ahead of the line and made a proactive effort to get us bulkhead seats so that there would be extra room for the kids to walk around. Expecting that from a US based airline staff would be out of the question. The European and Asian airline staff are a lot more courteous and accommodating, and they do not make it sound like they are doing you a favor every time they serve you. 

From an airline operations point of view, you do want minimal customer interaction with your staff and agents. You want to be running a lean setup and as such, customer interactions with human agents are significant cost drivers. You want your customers to be using all of the online and airport portals and kiosks, before they pick up the phone or approach an onsite agent. I do not have a problem with that as that is right way to approach customer operations. But it should never get to a point where you foster, directly or indirectly, a culture which tells your staff that it is ok to be cold or offhanded to customers. That kind of behavior, attitude, and environment is a recipe for doom, and your customer ratings will decline at a steady clip. The right approach is to look at these human interactions as opportunities to wow the customer, just like you are trying diligently to do with your process and technology innovations. Customers will rate you on the overall, end-to-end experience and lapse on your part at any stage of this experience will hurt you. This is the Holy Grail when it comes to things like customer loyalty and customer retention.

Unfortunately, just like the US economy has taken a dive, so has the US airlines approach to customer service. Consumer spending on services represents a nice chunk of the annual GDP estimates and the airline sector certainly is not helping the economy in that regard. Instead of using it as a key lever for brand differentiation and long term growth, US airlines continue to look at customer interaction as profitability dilution. If the rail network within the US was a lot more established and mature, it could provide the much needed competition to air travel, which would then lead to the kind of travel business transformation the the EU and Asian markets have witnessed.

What I am proposing in this blog posting is a "Sales" strategy map for an automotive manufacturer.  The purpose of this particular map can be summed up as follows -

"To set forth a strategic framework that captures how the different parts of an auto sales organization come together, collaborate,  and contribute towards the overall brand goals and objectives." 

Here is the Top-10 list for how you could use such a map -

1. Articulate and communicate the organization’s “big picture”, internally as well as externally
2. Determine whether the functional organization is designed for long term success and achievement of strategic goals
3. Evaluate and re-align organizational goals and objectives
4. Determine critical performance areas that require tighter controls and monitoring
5. Rationalize the “strategic fit” of new IT initiatives/projects vis-à-vis the organizational strategy
6. Determine weak links or areas (i.e. vulnerabilities) that need more emphasis than others
7. Utilize for understanding how investments in soft areas (like culture, teamwork,, etc.) translate into business outcomes
8. Rationalize the spread of people across various functions and evaluate opportunities for resource re-alignment
9. Utilize for assessing the breadth and depth of business performance analytics coverage
10. Use as a basis for having operations strategy discussions and determining how macro conditions may impact the map

As always, write to me if you need a soft copy of this map or would like to discuss it or would like me develop one for your organization. Also, make a few seconds to leave your comments on this blog posting.

Disposable incomes are on the rise and consumers are sitting on a good chunk of cash, trying to figure out where next to spend their money. I went to malls, markets, restaurants, hospitals, airports, train stations, salons, car dealership, and movie theaters – the one thing that was very obvious to me is that Indian consumers are desperate to improve their lifestyles and day-to-day experiences. They are constantly scrounging for the next gadget or service that will help improve their quality of life, social status, and/or personal productivity. Whereas on one hand, the global consumer goods giants and MNCs have managed to flood the Indian market with lots of products (clothes, phones, cars, shoes, etc.), on the other hand they have been very slow in understanding and identifying the service needs and opportunities of the same consumer base.  

With the global economy going bust, companies are looking at the two 1B+ consumer markets of China and India to gain market share, boost waning demand, and add revenue new streams. There used to be a time when product introductions between the developed and the developing markets lagged by 4-5 years. That is not the case anymore with the lag shrinking down to maybe a year. And that makes sense because it allows the company to better manage their launch related activities and risks. Moreover, it takes time to understand and tailor the product to a different market; you start with the most promising ones and then graduate to other, more risky terrains. However, as firms continue to mature in their understanding of the Indian consumer’s product needs, they show remarkably slow progress on the services end.  

Traditionally, it has been relatively easier to understand consumer’s product related needs and facilitate the product launches than to understand consumer’s service related needs. Products are typically made of what we all fondly call “matter” and hence can be held and felt, compared to services that are things that need to be experienced and take time to immerse within the target market segment(s). Moreover, the Indian consumer is about the finickiest one that you could come across anywhere in the world. It’s rather challenging to pin them down on their needs, desires, and aspirations. Let’s say you’ve successfully done that, how do you distribute and deliver the service (remember the inadequate Indian infrastructure)? Better yet, how do you price it? I guess I could attribute a combination of these factors and more as the factors delaying the growth of the services sector in the Indian market. 

Don’t get me wrong – there are sectors where consumer services have been able to make decent inroads. Examples that come to mind our finance/banking, air travel, telecom, fast food, retail, education, and to some extent, media. But then there are significant opportunities and potential in sectors like insurance, legal, healthcare, hospitality, security, transportation, and personal wellbeing (gyms, spas, rejuvenation centers, etc.). Let me try and give you some specific examples. Today, in Delhi, if you get into an accident and need to be ferried to a hospital, there is no reliable ambulatory service provider that you can call upon. You will literally be at the mercy of the traffic around you for getting you safely to a nearby healthcare facility. Further, if the other person is at fault and your car gets totaled, odds are that they may not have auto insurance to reimburse you for your damages. The car repair shop would take your car but probably would not be able to give you a loaner since that concept is non-existent.

All of the above are examples of consumer services, things that make our lives safer, better, and your daily experiences, richer. This is what is lacking and what the Indian consumers are craving for. They have the money but there are few value-added and quality services to subscribe to. I guess I should be patient, which is what I’ve said in some of my earlier postings. Figuring out a 1B+ consumer base is not that easy and navigating the Indian system is even more difficult. But the opportunities are knocking …..

This blog posting is a review of two books. I don’t need to remind anyone, especially those who are serious about investing, as to what transpired in the last couple of years. The whole world came to its knees … US went bankrupt, Dubai went bust, world went into deep recession. During this fiasco, all I strived to understand is how the hell did things come to this? Who should be blamed for this mess? What can we learn out of this? And, most important of all – how do we make money from this when it comes around again before I die? I have come to expect that this phenomenon of boom and bust is inherent into the existing financial system. This has already been hammered-into my head by the two great books that I’ve previously reviewed on Kazira, “The Black Swan” by Nassim Taleb and “A new paradigm for the financial markets” by George Soros.

Markets in the “Extremistan” (borrowing terms used by Nassim) are bound to exhibit the boom-bust pattern of growth and contraction. The ones we have seen in the recent past are – 

a.  Savings and loan fiasco in the 80s.
b.  Long Term Capital Management hedge fund bust in the 90s.
c.  Housing and the sub-prime bust in the 2000s.

And the government intervened in all the three cases listed above to save the world from financial calamity. The point is, if I were head of an investment bank or a commercial bank – I would be keeping an eye on who the next Treasury Secretary is going to be – who the next chairman of the federal reserve is going to be – Wine them, dine them, take exotic vacations with them – Get everyone on the bandwagon of Deregulations - Then invest crazily while heavily leveraging yourself (all the way touting the virtues of “regulation free” Capitalism) – Earn like a SOB – and when the time comes for the payment – Plead ignorance and ask for the government bailout of my company (Embrace Socialism all the way to the bank) – Fed opens the short term window to all who screwed up and we all live happily ever after. That is exactly what has happened in the three major fiascos that I noted above. So, folks, here’s a model for you to get insanely rich. Just leave your morals home.

But Lehman, poor Lehman… Got the short hand of the stick since the CEO Fuld was not in bed with Paulson (Then Treasury Secretary) and rest of the Wall Street "families". How difficult is it to be like JP Morgan Chase or Bank of America? Give the big bosses (the Fed Chairman and the Treasury Secretary) the pleasure treatment when he/she most desires .. (I hope you notice that I wanted to be cruder here but refrained myself). You could be given "Jamie Deal" for Bear-Stern and some kind of deal for Merrill-Lynch. But no! Lehman brothers, you just had to do things your way. You couldn't play nice in the sandbox when asked (LTCM bailout by private sector) - Well, then you go down and take a part of the system down as well. You were worse than AIG - at least those bastards survived and the employees and customer investments were preserved.

Who got left holding the bag? You and I, along with shareholders of these unfortunate companies. We were the ones who received the short end of all the sticks. Our money, taxes, given away to these greedy investment houses as presents on Christmas. We, on the other side are left with no jobs, no loans, nothing. Merry Christmas to you all.

So, here are two books to take you inside the minds of the movers and shakers on the Wall Street and Washington DC. Their personal traits and tribulations.

The first book – “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense” by Patrick Robinson – – is written by an ex-Lehman executive. It provides a good insight on the inner workings of Lehman (When it was still sailing towards the iceberg). It provides a great day to day workings, rivalries, and company history before and during the meltdown. It also provides a good explanation for all complex financial tools (Refered to as “Financial Weapons of Mass Destruction” by Warren Buffet) for non-finance-savvy readers. It alsi gives the reader a good feel of how the tradings really get done and the energy that is present on the trading floors. But accept it, the author got fired from Lehman and so some of that bias does creep in when he is describing the working methodology of upper echelons at Lehman.

The second book – "Too Big To fail" by Andrew Ross Sorkin – 
picks up on the subject left by the first author and expands it to the whole financial markets and Washington DC. If you want to know all critical movers and shakers on the Wall Street and Washington DC, and wish to know their characters, interconnections, and behind-the-scene trials and tribulations – This the book for you. It has background on JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch. Individually it describes the background of larger than life personalities such as Jamie Diamond, Richard Fuld, Timothy Gietner, Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, among others. The book starts at the point where the financial Tsunami starts to the point where Paulson nationalizes all the major banks in the US. The book raises several important social, political, and philosophical questions and leaves you thinking. Was Lehman collapse intentional? Why Bear, AIG, and others and not Lehman? Was Paulson thinking of his buddies at Goldman more than the people of the US?

I would STRONGLY recommend: TOO BIG TO FAIL” over the “A colossal Failure of Common Sense” – simply because it contains way more details (on Lehman and beyond) about various different players and various different perspective; in addition to depth of reporting and less personal history of the author.

This concept is universal when it comes to professional success. (Now letting my mind wonder a bit) Obviously this concept does not apply in your personal relationships. ;-) Ok, Ok - Let me focus now …

• Innovation/Ideas – Truly innovative ideas are rare. As you know, each idea needs time to blossom and some, unfortunately, do not - due to timing. The point is not to get disheartened if your idea did not fly the first time around. Keep thinking, keep implementing and that way you would have a higher chance of success. There is a community of entrepreneurs out there that see each failure as the step closer to success.
• Investment – Stocks or any other investments – Don’t get married to them – I have seen numerous small investors sink along with the ship that they bet on. Stop Loss is the key word here. Always have a number where you would like to stop your losses. Move your money around, diversify …
• Jobs – More moves will not only get you moving up the corporate ladder faster – you will also learn the tricks of the trade from all difference direction. Each company has a character, once you’ve worked for company long enough, the company's character sort of morphs into yours. You definitely don’t need that. Move around, get different flavors from different companies till you find the one where your acquired spectrum of colors is appropriately honored and compensated.
• Skills – Staying as an expert in one skill is a sure sign of getting obsolete as well. Unless you are one of those 6-sigma persons who is so good at what they do, they are always in demand (for example – Einstein, Steve Jobs, etc.). But, accept it, most of us do not fall into that category. Be the best at what you do, but keep yourself abreast of the new and upcoming trends. I know of a few friends in IT world who got obsolete with their expertise in their respective programming skills – since they refused to upgrade themselves to the upcoming new technologies. I also know of a few dinosaur managers, who got kicked out of their positions because they refused to accept that the computers are completely fit to replace the personal secretaries that they got so used to.

The point is, move around, explore new avenues, new ideas, and always be on your toes to embrace new and upcoming trends. Don’t get rolled into the “Not invented here”-Syndrome or the “confirmation”-bias mode where you do not see the other’s point of view at all. “CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT IN LIFE” – Best you can do to deal with it is to accept it, deal with it head-on, and move on …

This is an effort to document all the knowledge that I have accumulated on the subject so far. It’s an attempt to provide tangible suggestions on how a briefing must be prepared and presented and all the common pitfalls to avoid. This is the last one in the series which would focus on your audience and the delivery of your pitch.

This is the point where the rubber meets the road. You have all of your slides prepared to the best of your ability – but, this is the place where you truly score. The best pitch is when your briefing and talk completely complement each other. This is th epoint where the science of presentation becomes art. And all I can say is that over time you can learn this art with some caution and suggestions that I’ve outlines here in this series.

I must say that I have observed myself and countless other folks who really get nervous about their talk at this point. You could be an expert in your field, but there is something about getting in front of a group of people and pitching your idea. In the beginning, I personally used to keep ‘cheat sheet’ for points that I would like to cover on each slides and I remember my throat getting all dry as I’m about to reach the podium. I guess English being my second language had much to do with it. But over time, with practice, and learning from others (believe me, I’ve seen some really good presenters), I think I’ve reached a place, where I no longer embarrass myself and my team. 

OK. Here’s my list of things to do before you arrive at the stage for your show.

• Know your audience. Your level of preparation must be in line with what your audience would like to hear. Presenting financial information to engineers and equations to manager will only make things worse. Understand the context for which people are listening to you. No one has free time – so be precise and to the point. If the audience is not ready to learn the details – dumb it down to a point where you can explain to a manager. Sometimes, it may be possible to contact some members of your audience before hand so you can get the context right and get to know the issues at hand.
• Make eye contacts with your audience. Looking at the slides and reading only alienates them. Keep a copy of your presentation handy in case you don’t have a visual props directly in front of you. 
• Tell a story. Don’t assume that folks that have come to listen to you know the background or the context of your briefing. Include some background slides, if you think, the folks are already aware of those background, then go through them quickly. Keep the tone of the briefing as if you are conversing with the audience. 
• Solicit Feedback. Unless you are in a formal setting, where the Q&A is reserved towards the end of the talk – poll the audience if they are with you so far. This encourages dialogue. 
• Conventional wisdom. “If you are nervous - Visualize them naked” – this guidance is a pile of worthless bullshit – I tried it in the past, it does not work. What’s worse, if there are good looking folks in the audience, it will only distract you more. Go prepared and make your time worth while.
• Enthusiasm and Positive image. There is something that must be said about this. In my past experience, those who present their charts with enthusiasm are very well received.
• Avoid Monotones – Man O man … Sometimes I get into this mode where I can make people sleep with the just the tone I present my briefing. The thing is, one should avoid this and become more expressive, not only with your hand gestures, but also with your tone. Never – ever talk from a script, just use notes and weave a story in it. Humor is very helpful here as well.

God speed and good luck.

India continues to grow at a break-neck pace with no signs of letting up in the foreseeable future. So this should really not be a surprise to any of you. New construction – school, malls, hospitals, commercial/residential developments, and flyovers – these continue to pop up in every square yard that the city of Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region) can spare. These again are typical signs of growing economies. With the increase in the earnings of the average Indian, there is a complimentary increase in the physical assets they continue to invest in – cars, electronics, clothes, and homes. All of this is overtly obvious every place I’ve visited thus far. But none of these are surprising. While all this is good, what are woefully lacking are all the other socio-economic changes that should typically accompany this growth – green parks and play areas, paved and clean streets, public parking to accommodate the glut of cars, reduction in the number of street beggars, general levels of cleanliness, and use of child labor in activities like construction and cleaning. This is the part that I thought would have shown some signs of improvements over the past 4 years but sadly, that is not what I am observing.

I am not sure whether this type of paradox is unique to India or is typical of all growing and developing economies that were once labeled the “Third World” and are now in the throngs of this painful transition to a better place. Whether it is the ever growing population of the country or the constant migration of masses from rural to urban India in hopes of improving their destinies, it seems to me that the all important demand-supply equation is ridiculously out of whack - the demand for and supply of wage-earning and life-improving opportunities. There is a relentless clamor and contention for the ever-shrinking pool of these socio-economic resources. The metros and a few other cities continue to get the lion’s share of investments and breaks while the smaller cities, towns, and villages continue to languish or get sidelined. Although there are other cities that have started seeing economic growth, the numbers are no where close to reasonable in order to keep the masses grounded to their hometowns.

You can neither blame the state governments, for the lack of pace or commitment, nor the people, for their desire to improve their personal state of affairs. The states enjoy a fair amount of autonomy in terms of how they want to organize and execute, corruption continues to be rampant, rule of law begs attention, and respect for fellow humans is abysmally low. Outside the metros and pseudo-metros, the pace of change has been rather slow and this aggravates the “opportunity divide” between the haves and the have-nots. Yes technology is starting to make some inroads into the heart of the country but that is not because the administration is doing anything creditworthy. Those changes are more due to individual efforts of a small set of entrepreneurs who see opportunities to target the BOP (bottom-of-pyramid) segments.

I guess one must be patient and hope for the best in these environments. Although India’s GDP presents a picture of a country that is way ahead of the pack in terms of economic growth, unfortunately that picture is one which is utterly distorted when you look at population, poverty, healthcare, and general happiness levels. India is in her early stages of reform, just like China, Brazil, and maybe Russia. It is unreasonable to expect dramatic changes in a short period of time. But it’s been 20 years now since the then Finance Minister and the now Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, kicked off this change agenda. In this day and age, 20 years is a generous enough duration for changes to be introduced and adopted. How much longer it will take to find a foothold at the grassroots level is anybody’s guess. But in the mean time, the world will continue to witness this growth paradox.