Category: Management

Lockdown blues

Today I was scrolling through the list of the available restaurants delivering in our area on Zomato. This was to order food for the security guards of my society. I noticed that the restaurant that was my favourite for the Sunday morning brunch for many years was missing from the list. Something broke inside me. I know now that they have closed down. Another one that was fairly recent but delivered awesome Italian food has also shut down. And many more I suppose have either packed up or are on the verge. My eyes got misty. Not because I am missing some of the best food (that of course I am) but also because I know that theses restaurants were the lifelines for those many young people who cook, clean and deliver. These restaurants were / are also the brainchildren of the young upwardly mobile entrepreneurs; otherwise who can expect the best Italian or Lebanese or any other type of cuisines from across the world, to be delivered right at your footsteps, at a reasonable price?

Where have all those people gone? The cooks, the waiters, the delivery boys/ girls?

The human toll of this lockdown is unprecedented and extremely scary. The fear of hunger and homelessness is worse than the fear of the disease.

Quickly and very quickly, the restaurants need to convert more into the delivery and takeaway centres. They need to put up the pictures and videos of hygienic conditions onto their websites and also collaborate with Swiggy, Zomato etc on this. They have to have a strategy in place to build the trust with their patrons once again. This trust will have a totally different format – a patron should be thoroughly convinced that the food they are buying is completely contactless. Technology is a great enabler. Lot of measures need to be taken fast by all the stakeholders to survive in this crisis which may take a pretty long time to end.

Dissect Fear and get rid of it

A 36-year-old Indian origin Stand up Comedian died on the stage in Dubai, while he was talking about his own anxiety. You try to be stronger, you try to be immune… you try whatever, when anxiety strikes, it definitely does and no Gyan can help. Gyan can only irritate. 
Build kindness into the system, build forgiveness into the psyches, build relationships that do not have the judge and the victim. There is no cure for this epidemic of anxiety and social awkwardness. 

Humans are social animals…, just like most other animals. The only difference is that we are layered and therefore blessed (or cursed) with brains, that develop in leaps and bounds for good or worse.

Introversion or extroversion cannot be the parameters of ‘smartness’, as the prevalent societal norms make people think. It is the place that you have given to ‘fear’ in your psyche that decides and defines you as an introvert or extrovert or ambivert.

Why does social anxiety get the best of the tribe? Why do successful entrepreneurs seem to be the conquerors of fear and doubts?

Read more in my book ‘The Entrepreneurial Outlook’ available on Amazon

Being normal

Conformity is a major building block of the giant superstructure of Normal. Normal keeps the engines of the human structures of society, culture and politics, oiled and running. Those who stick their necks out and decide to create their own path and walk or even better, sprint on it, are not ‘normal’. On the other hand, conformity is the way to go for the most because it ensures survival. The jagged edges of exceptional do not bruise their inner child, who is scared as it is. Fear ensures conformity and courage challenges it. Courage leads to extreme successes and failures and many times failures are the stepping stones for success and vice- versa. Success is like walking a rope above the ocean of conformity. This is so because, success thrives on exceptions and challenges. Success needs its own path. Do you still want to be normal?

Co-ordination is an art

Problems occur when the right hand doesn’t know what the left arm has done or is doing. And that hits customer service the most. I have two examples to quote here from my recent experiences.

Firstly, a well known investment firm’s representatives tried to sell some investment advice to me. I listened quietly and feigned ignorance about the matters of money making strategies. This emboldened the salesperson and he started giving me exaggerated figures, so much so, that he calculated the principal as the taxable amount instead of the interest earned through investment. I guess he wanted to scare me. 🙂 I realised that he had indeed become ambitious and certain about acquiring a new client. I curiously asked if they conduct training for investors through some experts. Very willingly he talked about an upcoming training for investors in the area that I live. I thought of exploring the network by attending a training programme. With hope for getting some business out of me he immediately enrolled me online for the said training programme, which interestingly did not happen on the dates promised by him. His organisation’s training and development department totally kind of disowned him and refused to acknowledge his promise. It is an extremely bad example of a complete lack of coordination, greed and insincerity.

Secondly, the hospitality industry in India has indeed come a long way when it comes to customer service. For example, I stayed in a couple of two-tier cities’ hotels. Both were indeed exemplary and stellar in their service to the guests. Each guest is treated as special by them and that is the way to survive and grow in this highly competitive field.

Ensuring better coordination among the staff is the management’s job and to the highly discerning customers of today, it shows and when it shows it benefits the organisation. So, how to achieve that excellence is a challenge. To be continued…