Be Empactful Shivakumar Valadi & Vineet Nandan Gupta

Dr. Robert Cialdini speaks about 6 different aspects of Influence: Reciprocity, Authority, Consistency, Consensus, Scarcity & Liking.

How one is influenced in the workplace to be aware of spaces?

This might sound a bit tricky, theoretical, & academic in nature but that's how it influences us while the culture is being established for an organization.

Welcome to Season 3 of Be Empactful Podcast, In this episode, we have Sashi, who is a Gender & Behavioral science professional & Social Scientist with expertise in sectoral research, CSR partnerships, gender, intervention, research, teaching at TISS along with 12+ yrs of experience.

We hear a lot of noise about diverse hiring, women in leadership positions in organizations, LGBTQ is to be made of something which brings in different conversations, biases, influences, thoughts, decisions, and so on.

It's under the broader discussion of D.I.E.&B where #Diversity leads to #Inclusivity to #Equity & creating a sense of #Belonging.

Diversity: We have been exposed to & grown with it in our entire life, which also impacts the ability to perceive and understand, & communicate what is going on. There is a certain privilege of these intersections, bringing in opportunities & exposure. As we come from various regions, belong to various genders, different labeled people, different qualities, thought processes, gender, class, caste, religion, and a lot of intersections keep on affecting us on an everyday basis.

To Inclusivity: What comes to your mind when you hear "good or bad", "right or wrong", "black & white", "male & female", & so on.

These binaries have such a strong impact on our minds that anything that is different becomes a challenge to accept.

LGBTQ - companies focus on hiring, grooming people & making them feel comfortable, they are not marginalized.

When the diversity is respected & heard, move forward together as a collective. That's where we become Inclusive.

Gender is a very marginalized subject and a very important space for addressing the new upcoming trend, "Giving a second chance".

People take a little break after childbearing - being a little mindful about the words we use and the plays we give them, engendering of micro & macro economic policies, have to be some kind of affirmative action for gender to make place for themselves.

Equity is transformational in a way of moving forward. Imagine breaking the bias and everyone getting a fair chance to grow in a professional & personal environment.

Diversity, Inclusivity, & Equity together bring a sense of #Belonging.

Belonging is a long haul & Differences are OK.

In a workplace, the difference to be seen is your strength. Bringing another point of view, How we can gel through it, navigate this minefield & reach our targets & achieve results, & respect each other's differences.

"We belong to a particular culture, we are common in our culture, still, there is some sort of diversity we try to bring out. This aspect also leads to a lot of innovation."

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We love the product-We love the service-We love the company

or

We love the company-we love the product or service it produces.

or

something in-between...

All of us at least cherish that one product or service where we will get into a conversation with our friends and acquaintances, share our thoughts, experiences and also defend them in case we believe that the person on the other side is sharing which is not in sync with & that is called word of mouth.

Check out:

Royal Enfield - a brand that was revived from death or near bankruptcy as the owners of the motorcycles connected with its legacy, craved for its experience and look at how the One Ride & Himalayan Odyssey is making its mark.

Lego - We played with lego bricks as kids, and loved & cherished them, the 75 yr old company was bought back to life as it tapped into the community of its fans.

Check out what scientists at CERN did https://home.cern/news/news/experiments/using-lego-study-building-blocks-universe & https://home.cern/news/news/experiments/build-your-own-tiny-lego-lhc

Welcome to Season 3 of the Be Empactful Podcast. In this episode, we have Mr. Abhishek Sagar, AVP Growth at Amura, a MarTech company where we discuss what it takes to build Brand Loyalty.

A sexual awareness brand increased its revenue from Rs. 6 Cr. ARR to Rs. 12 Cr ARR, as they felt connected to the brand and were purchasing the product even if there were alternatives available in the market.

An Electric Vehicle company invested in its vendors, subcontractors & stakeholders who amplified the word of mouth in a way where the end customers started talking about them as they were part of the experience & the loyalty clubs, they attended the one-day workshop along with Try Before You Buy programs.

A retail brand from the Middle East, Phygital - Physical + Digital aspect, the experience was unified that customer acquisition on e-commerce platform through anchor cohorts of products.

All these and some more examples with the takeaways:

- Brand Loyalty is different from repeated buying - Check why they are buying; is it just cheaper or they are loyal to the brand - Brand Loyalty is earned and it drives long-term revenues for the companies.

- Build Brand Loyalty, one single communication across all the platforms, that ties back to goal original memberships, communication videos & formats, core things that people remember when they are not seeing ads of these brands.

- Word of Mouth is a free advertisement tool, why not build a community of fans purposefully, everybody contributing to the growth flight.

Our listeners who want to connect with Abhishek & Amura Tech, check out the website: https://www.amuratech.com/

Abhishek's LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/abhishek-sagar-96660826

So,  let us know what you think leadership is all about and how easy or difficult is it to be a Leader in the business world. Reach out to us if you want to discuss, just share a thought or even a cup of coffee.

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Leaders who adapt themselves to this generation of people joining an organization are in a better position to engage with them, groom them & lead the growth of the organization.

Welcome to Season 3 of Be Empactful Podcast, In this episode, we have Mr. Ravishankar, CEO @ Ceresta BC, and Business Director, Oil & Gas, Alethe Labs, where we discuss the role of leaders in this dynamic business environment, where a leader has to adapt to the changing pace of technology, changing pace of people, expectations of people, background, qualifications & exposure of people.

Also, in this dynamic business environment, there are collaborations, mergers & acquisitions, roles of communication, and so on...

Ravi graduated from IIM, Ahmedabad in 1987, and over the three decades been in the Oil & Gas industry which is considered a traditional industry compared to the new-age industry such as IT & ITES, although now every industry is using CRM & ERP and there's a pressing need to adapt these to stay relevant & competitive in this dynamic environment.

According to Ravi, in the first two decades of his career, the change was slow and in the last decade, things have transformed very fast. In this challenging business environment, leaders who adapt themselves are in a better position to engage, groom, & lead the growth of the organization with the new-age talent to make the best use of talent and resources.

Companies that have managed risks both planned and unforeseen, well & known for their efficiency & optimal use of their resource, leveraged the technology to the fullest extent possible, these are companies have survived during this period whereas others after a couple of months into the pandemic were on the verge of shutting down & out from the business.

Mergers and Acquisitions have become common in the post-pandemic stage where resource optimization is something that is at the fulcrum of all acquisitions.

There will be natural shake-ups that would take place with the major agenda of a leader is to clearly communicate the decisions to make the people prepared for smooth transitions.

The hierarchy has to embrace these changes and complete transformation in the functioning of the organization.

Key Takeaways:

Create more leaders and not more followers - for percolation to trickle down to the last person in the team.

Enable Decision Making - By delegating the authority.

Enable more involvement of everyone in the decision-making process.

Ensure Learning & Knowledge on a continuous basis.

Communication is very important, especially during challenging times. Right communication keeps the team working together.

Community is about people with diverse backgrounds coming together for a cause and once it is mission-led - Everybody unites under one flag. Led by a leader creating the next rung of leaders.

For our listeners who wish to connect with Ravi, check out:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravishankar-sundaresan-89b6562a

So, let us know what you think the strategy is all about and how easy or difficult is it to be a Leader in the business world. Reach out to us if you want to discuss, just share a thought or even a cup of coffee.

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A couple of Days Ago YC wrote to its startup founders that the economic environment is going to be challenging in the coming months. You will have to increase the time horizon, if you are raising funds, you will have to wait for more time for clients to pay up once the work is done. It's going to be tough.

Now, it's all the more important for founders to rethink their #strategy in the new environment where resources are constrained & stakeholders are demanding accountability for survival.

Welcome to the Season 3 of Be Empactful podcast bonus episode, we are releasing this episode early so that everyone can make sense of what's going on in the business environment & plan for it.

One of the frequently asked questions by our prospective clients was: If we invest in strategy right now? How soon will we get our returns?

We now have a tentative model and a case study to share.

While working on a Marketing Strategy consulting with our paid client who is an 8-member strong team working remotely with an ambition to grow big?

What we figured out is that it is a challenging task to go through the strategy sessions, as the questions are deep, intense, and mindblowing that you have to literally work your brain muscles.

The stakeholders were asking for accountability and getting them to the sessions acted as a force multiplier as different perspectives were addressed.

With the 4-KYC framework report being ready?

We have told them to share it with their team members, use the insights from it to reach out to bigger clients on scale, and figure out a way to get them to do some community projects together to impact the industry building relationships to grow further.

ROI - Return on Investment of Strategy is nothing if you don't implement it and the culture change starts from the TOP.

Share the goal - Build the Roadmap - Finetune & navigate the journey with a simple thumb rule.

If the investment in (Strategy + Execution) is Rs. x/month for 12 months, Then the revenue should be anywhere between 24x to 12x at the end of the year.

It's a challenge & Are you up for it?

So, let us know what you think the strategy is all about and how easy or difficult is it to be a Leader in the business world. Reach out to us if you want to discuss, just share a thought or even a cup of coffee.

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Brands messaging oscillate from FOMO to JOMO, Aspiration to Inspiration, or Guilt to Assurance.

Welcome to Season 3 of Be Empactful Podcast, In this episode, Shiva dissects the power of branding & the message that it creates in the minds of people looking at it. They can be your audience, your consumer, the influencer, and something which has a long-lasting impact on the decisions.

On one end, it's FOMO - Fear of Missing Out, that makes you anxious, you want to fit in, and there is always a curiosity that something is missing...

On the other end, it's JOMO - Joy of Missing Out, as attention span is reducing with so much noise around that how much to tune in and what to tune out becomes very important in holistic well-being.

When brands share the messaging:

- If you are not using this product: you won't become successful, your kids are missing out on something critical, this is so much essential, and so on.

To the other end is Inspiration:

- Dove - it feels good

- Mountain Dew - Darr ke aage jeet hai - Victory ahead of Fear

- Surf Excel - Daag Ache hain - If you get dirty by doing something good, It's good as the dirty patches could be cleaned

- Coca-Cola - Joy of Giving - It feels good.

Products or Services are created by People & it is used by People, At the end of it is the human connection. In this case, the personalities use their influence to shape thoughts decisions & actions.

From the movie personalities to innovators to entrepreneurs and statesmen.

Rajnikant - Thaliva - has a cult following such that with one request there are countless people jumping in with resources.

Sonu Sood - used his stardom to mobilize resources and create that impact.

Sonam Wangchuk - Innovator who is working at the grassroots to bring that change and the impact created by it is being shared by other personalities through storytelling.

Anand Mahindra & Ratan Tata, are creating an impact through their actions where they are leaving an impact on everyone's mind.

These are some examples of how personalities have become brands among themselves and are using it to drive change & impact.

Branding & Marketing go hand in hand that need to be inclusive where we are addressing folks from diverse backgrounds with religious, language & regional diversity, and orientation.

DEIB - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

This might sound simple, but a variety of experiences, resources, biases & other factors have impacted the behavioral patterns of individuals, and impacting the collective now is becoming much more critical.

Breaking the Bias in messaging and meaning it to the core in letter & spirit is more critical to amalgamating everyone into it.

Airbnb did it. A couple of jewelry brands in India did it.

Some campaigns had to be taken down but nevertheless, it's a start to cater to people with special needs, varied sexual orientations, physically challenged etc.

It's a start & we would say a great one.

FOMO vs JOMO

Guilt vs Assurance

Aspiration vs Inpiration

Brands have the power to influence & use this power to make people more inclusive incorporating the DEIB.

So, let us know what you think leadership is all about and how easy or difficult is it to be a Leader in the business world. Reach out to us if you want to discuss, just share a thought or even a cup of coffee.

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A financial institution started by lending Rs. 5,000/- per month to women entrepreneurs in rural India as a part of CSR activity & now it lends Rs. 30,000/- per month to these women to scale their business.

Imagine 6 times growth over a period of time.

So investing in #community is good for business & good business.

Welcome to the Season 3 of Be Empactful Podcast. In this episode, we have Rajashri, Co-Founder of Impactree Data Technologies, where we discuss the journey of being an Activist, then working as a CS in the legal firm then coming to a decision point that led to Jagriti Yatra, and now building an organization which is using data to build in transparency, storytelling & impact.

With an aim to impact 5 million people by 2027 and a subset of it will be 15 lakh, women-entrepreneurs & family-led enterprises in rural India as a tribute to her late mentor Prema Gopalan.

The community became a key enabler and played the role of a critical partner in the ecosystem.

Rajashri calls herself a Recession Entrepreneur, as there was almost no work flowing in her team, and finally to her which led to submitting an application to be part of Jagriti Yatra with a promise that if the application is accepted she would quit the job.

That's exactly what happened, the application to Jagriti Yatra was accepted today Impactree Data Tech is Impact Partners in the program.

Jagriti Yatra is that transformative train journey and a space for young entrepreneurs to realize that "you are not alone", where you travel & stay on a train and stations to interact with entrepreneurs and become more realistic about what your goals could be such that if someone wakes you up from your deep sleep, you should be able to share your business idea in two sentences.

After running a couple of programs for 1,000 women entrepreneurs in the retail & clean energy space and scaling it across Africa & Indonesia, there is a realization from ideating, running, and reporting the data with action points. Implementing things at scale becomes a challenge that the solution becomes irrelevant when it is implemented 3-4 months down the line.

At Impactree there are systems in place where the donors get transparency whether they want to align these programs to integrate them into businesses or align as a charitable vertical in their organization.

Make Connections, Visibility of Data, Ease with which stakeholders can use & see it has been a real crucial change which has allowed stakeholders to innovate in the pipeline, not make CSR only another compliance tickbox.

In one of the cases the financial services organization was able to ensure two things:

1) Able to impact the community better through the CSR programs, because they were lending in that particular community by supporting the women to move up the entrepreneur value chain.

2) Reduce default rates by 8%, Move the women on ticket size they were lending to Rs. 5,000 a month, now they are lending 20-25k a month

The result is that women have established enterprises, which make economic sense to the community & to the corporates to add value to businesses in rural India through CSR.

For our listeners who wish to connect with Rajashri, check out the website: https://www.impactree.in/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajashri-sai-4a2b2230




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