I am honoured to be featured in Adgully’s print magazine feature – Powerful Influencers 2018. Here’s a look at my detailed interaction with the team from Adgully where I have shared details about my experience, learnings, success mantras I follow and many more things.
1. What’s the maxim that you adhere to professionally?
Well, there are a few of them that I follow. I believe in ‘constant learning’. My hunger for learning and knowing about different things is what helps me keep myself updated about all the latest happenings. I always think that Trends are overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term and thus spotting trends and acting based on that is essential to be relevant in future. By voracious reading not just from the industry updates but cross-industry happenings helps me to guess possible trends. When you are well versed with the updates it becomes easier to design better strategies for the business.
Secondly, it is very important to ‘share the knowledge’ with your peers and team members.
And last but not the least, always keep on improving. Delta change a day can make a huge difference in the long run. Situations, trends, circumstances, everything will keep changing. You need to be able to adjust adapt yourself with the changes and simultaneously update your skills quickly to get a competitive edge and continue growing.
2. Tell us about three accomplishments from your career that have given you the most satisfaction.
The biggest accomplishments in life are not the awards and accolades that I have won, but the victories against one’s own fears, insecurities, doubts. For me, the moment we decide to fight the internal obstacles and positively walk on the unknown path are the true moments of accomplishment. Someone has rightly said “Never compete with anyone else. You are your only competition.” Here are three such moments from my life where I tackled my internal insecurities and won against myself.
● I am the youngest among 4 siblings and hence was very much protected and pampered at home. It was not at all easy to leave home for studying at IIT Madras. The entire journey from Mumbai to Madras very very scary and full of doubts. I remember I was crying inconsolably and wanted to come back to the comfort of my home, known people and the familiar city. It was the moment when I decided to stay put, explore the new phase and make the most out of the opportunity that I consider as one of my first accomplishments.
● Many years later, I had a good professional life and a great family, a very comfortable and settled life. I often dreamt about starting something of my own. However, I kept postponing it. Few years down the line when I was introspecting about who or what stops me from being an entrepreneur, I realised it was myself. I was frightened to resign and start something on my own. As Sir Winston Churchill has said, “Fear is a reaction and courage is the decision”, I finally took that decision.
● The third important journey is what I am going through right now. Digital media industry is evolving rapidly and one needs to constantly learn and innovate to keep up with the dynamics of the industry. Every day, experimenting with different products/ services/ strategies to provide great value to the clients, colleagues, partners and the larger industry is demanding and full of uncertainties. However, it is an accomplishment for me when I take every step to tale Logicserve Digital and thus the whole industry to a better position by conquering all the uncertainties one step at a time.
3. Over the years, who has inspired your quest for excellence?
Well, there are many people who have inspired me throughout my life. If I have to name a few, the most important ones have to be Steve Jobs and Nicolas Tesla. Their experiences and journey has a lot to learn from. Both have faced a lot of failures but never gave up. They kept on working and overcame obstacles, delivered excellence to the world and soon became well-known names in the world.
4. According to you, what makes businesses successful?
Managing and running a business is definitely not easy and there are no sure shot ways of making it a success. There are varied factors that collaboratively contribute towards the success or failure of a business. According to me, some of the important things that can assist the success of a business are:
● Trendspotting: while trends are often short-lived, they have the power to exponentially grow your business. It is very important for entrepreneurs to be able to spot trends quickly, learn from them and improvise on it from their business perspective.
● Dreaming Big and Believing: Every business starts with a dream and a belief that your dream means something to you and you have the power to make it a reality. No matter if people think your dreams make no sense or are stupid, always dream and dream big. Also, have faith in yourself and your dream. If you can dream it, you surely have the capability to succeed in it. It might not be an easy task, you will face a lot of challenges and will need to figure out ways of making things work yourself. But keep at it and one day your perseverance will surely lead to success.
● Get the right team and make them a part of the dream: Some support and help is always welcome right. Get the right team who can support you and help you build your dream. Also, make them a part of your dream. A group of self-motivated and, focused individuals can significantly augment the growth of the business and take it to new heights.
● Strategise and execute: Always strategise and figure out ways you can transform various aspects of your business. Focus on designing robust strategies and then execute them well to see beneficial results from your venture.
And lastly, looking at your business from a broader perspective, ensure that it is helpful to all the possible stakeholders involved and everyone is benefited from the venture.
5. Comment on India’s socio-economic dynamics from a marketing perspective.
Indian consumer market is one of the most lucrative markets for brands across the globe. The rise of digital media aided with low-cost data has resulted in information exchange among consumers and potential consumers in the form of reviews, ratings and so on.
Tapping the price conscious Indian consumers and capturing their share of wallet comes with unique challenges due to diversity in culture, language, income disparity, huge population and other socio-economic factors which affect the purchasing process of consumer. ( e.g.: During Diwali, big-ticket sales happen in North India, while during Onam big ticket sales happen in Kerala). Hence it is necessary for brands to work with talent who have knowledge about local customs and consumer behaviour of the region.
It is essential for brands and marketers to chalk out their strategies keeping in mind the above-mentioned factors. To increase the effectiveness and achieve maximum potential of the campaigns, marketers need to evaluate and reevaluate their strategy according to market conditions and consumer response. Customer-centric and tailormade strategy based on brand awareness, pricing, and targeting right demographics will lead to a win-win situation for the brands.
6. What’s the key to achieving a fulfilling work-life balance?
If you consciously focus on achieving a work-life balance, it’s going to be even more difficult to achieve the same. Rather, we should always focus on being at our best in our personal as well as professional lives. Rather than trying to balance between the two, we should consider them as two important and integrated parts of life. Never compete between the two and instead, focus on building a reciprocal relationship between your work life and personal life. If you are happy in your personal life, it will reflect in your work life too and vice versa.
Your friends and family are a major source of motivation and energy. I strongly recommend to continuously keep investing in those relationships. A hobby is always helpful in rejuvenating your mind. A healthy life and good habits will go a long way to have a good work-life equation.
7. Apart from work, what else drives your passion?
There are a few things that keep my passion for my work going and further accelerate my work. I am intrigued by the concept of ‘connecting the dots’. I often tend to introspect and try decoding various aspects that play an important role in my professional life and figure out the correlation between them.
I also like to meet people from various walks of life, try to understand their perspective on various topics.
I enjoy reading about diverse topics and concepts that help me grow my knowledge about things and, sometimes, even help me come up with innovative ideas for my clients/ brand. I also like to read about history and social sciences to understand the human behaviour that can help unravel future trends and consumer reactions.
8. One life advice for the people starting out in their careers.
I believe everyone is special and has their own unique abilities. Don’t spend your time trying to imitate others and their way of working. Instead, find your strength and work on enhancing the same. Also, be aware of your weaknesses and try to smoothen the rough edges from time to time Always keep the student in you alive and kicking. Be your own critique but don’t be too hard on yourself. Remember, life gives many opportunities provided you believe in yourself and the world around you. Have faith in yourself and continue working towards your goals. Keep learning and innovating. Your determination and zeal to make things happen will surely lead you to success.
