Happy Valentine's Day

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Lessons for today’s CEO from Barack Obama

Almost all organisations go through turbulent periods, during which their core capabilities are
severely tested. The turbulence may be caused by factors such as
significant events in the market-place, economic upheavals, dramatic
inflection points in the technologies that drive the business, sharp
changes in customers’ needs, game-changing strategies implemented by a
competitor, leadership upheavals within the organisation itself, and so
on.

These periods can be called “defining moments” in a company’s
history — when the strategies and actions of the CEO, and the manner in
which the organisation aligns itself to the change strategies,
determine whether it can weather the turbulence and continue on its
growth path.

CEOs under pressure

This is a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty and
governments are trying to co-ordinate the timing of various financial
strategies, to maximise their beneficial impact worldwide. “Bailout”
has suddenly become the buzzword in business dailies.

The US economy is officially in recession, with negative
consequences for countries as diverse as India (primarily in the case
of its IT services industry) and China (for its manufactured exports).
Europe and Japan have slowed down significantly. Falling oil prices in
recent months have impacted Russia’s revenues, which are heavily
dependent on oil and gas exports.

Overall, popular wisdom has it that the global economy will
get worse in 2009 before it gets better in 2010 at the earliest. The
current period could well qualify as a “defining moment” for many
organisations, large and small, worldwide. On a much larger scale, it
could also prove to be a defining moment for many countries and their
governments.

Markets are shrinking, customers are cutting back,
shareholders are nervous, and CEOs are under pressure to “do something
different” to keep companies afloat. “This is the way we have always
done things here” is not acceptable anymore – look at the sharp
reaction to the CEOs of the US Big Three automakers using corporate
jets to fly to Washington to plead for bailout. “We need to change our
business model” is an emerging theme — except that most organisations
typically exhibit significant resistance to change.

Under these circumstances, the CEO has to step up and take
charge quickly. Here is where Barack Obama and his election campaign
come in.

Obama and change

The US President, Barack Obama, won his election on a simple and powerful message of “change”.

The context for this change was two-fold — growing opposition to
the Bush-era policies and actions both at home and abroad, and the
deepening crisis in the US economy. The US was beginning to experience
its own “defining moment”.

Given this background, Obama’s strategic intent is clear. He
wants to change the way the US is governed, and the way the economy is
managed; he wants to change the industries in which future jobs will be
created; he wants to change the manner in which the US responds to
environmental issues and global warming; and he wants to work with
other governments and countries in a collaborative fashion — and not
force US’ views on others by sheer muscle power.

Taken together, this represents a fundamental and strategic
change for the “American way” as a whole, both within the country and
internationally.

If we look at the US government as an organisation, and Barack
Obama as its CEO, the shareholders are the US citizens. Obama has
worked relentlessly over the last one year on communicating his
strategic change message to all his shareholders, and the election
results show that a majority of them have aligned themselves to this
change.

He realised the need for a committed and energetic
organisation at the grassroot level. He zeroed in on the young voters
(who were known, till then, for showing little or no interest in
politics) to be the “agents of change”.

Obama signalled his commitment to his change strategy by acting
quickly on the first step — the appointment of key members of his
leadership team — months before even assuming office. Hitting the
ground running, as he has done, is a message in itself — that the
situation is grave, and that there is no time to lose.

By appointing several knowledgeable but strong-willed people
to key positions, he has made it clear that he is confident about his
own leadership skills in managing a talented but disparate team. He has
also demonstrated common sense and humility in seeking expert help in
areas, which are not his forte.

And he stuck to his campaign and his theme in spite of
distractions, in contrast to John McCain, who suspended his election
campaign to make an abortive dash to Washington, when the $700-billion
bailout package came up for discussion.

10-point game-plan

The current global economic turmoil is forcing many
organisations worldwide to do some fundamental introspection, and draw
up their own strategic change maps.

If we now look at the critical role of the CEO in defining and
implementing such strategic change initiatives, there are several
operating principles in Obama’s election playbook that are worth
emulating:

Analyse and understand the global and local context for change.

Tune in to shareholders’ expectations, frustrations and values. Ignore them at your own peril.

Take the time to formulate the strategic theme. This is the single most important step in the whole exercise.

Stick to this theme right through, notwithstanding distractions that are sure to pop up.

Create a strong leadership team, where each member brings “best-in-class” knowledge and wisdom to the team.

Learn how to manage a team which doesn’t always say, “Yes, you are right”.

Communicate — in a consistent and clear fashion.

Make smart use of technology to spread the message, but do not let technology become the message.

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When was the last time you saw a VHS ...

When was the last time you saw a VHS tape? Can't
quite remember right. First came VCDs, and was later followed by the
wave of new DVD technology that together have revolutionised the
concept of storing and playing back audio and video. The quality of our
home music-listening and movie-watching experience has, since, never
been the same again.

CDs and DVDs, completely transformed media
storage, the VHS box came to an end and in came slim and sleek discs;
that made storage easy and dramatically improved portability. Over
time, they also became relatively cheap, indestructible and re-usable.
The technology was such a great hit that it gave way to a new industry
by itself - home theatre.

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Kingfisher gets nod for 5 global routes

The government has allowed Kingfisher Airlines to operate daily services on various international sectors, including Mumbai-London, Chennai-Colombo and Mumbai-Singapore. The Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher currently flies between Bangalore-London, the only foreign route after it became eligible to fly internationally in August this year. “The government has granted permission to Kingfisher to operate daily services to Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Colombo and Dhaka with immediate effect. In our earlier interaction, the airline had showed its preparedness to operate to all these sectors,” a government official, who did not wish to be named, said. The airline confirmed the development. “The time frame for launch of these services will be announced progressively,” a spokesperson of Kingfisher Airlines said. The airline plans to operate services to Hong Kong and Singapore in the next few months. It may, however, wait to operate in the Mumbai-London sector as the route already has excess capacity.



“Despite the downturn in the world economy, Singapore and Hong Kong offer robust premium air traffic growth. There is very good onward connectivity from the two points for north Asia and north America. Both the two destinations are gateway to north Asia and hold huge premium traffic to North America,” Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation India head Kapil Kaul said. London is overserved at present, he added. According to an industry estimate, designated airlines carried about 7.89 lakh passengers during January-October, 2008 on India-Singapore sector. Last year, these carriers flew 7.48 lakh passengers. India-Hong Kong sector also saw the traffic growing with designated carriers carrying 3.58 lakh passengers during January-October period.

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Kim Sharma takes flak for national flag mess

Mumbai is still recovering from those dastardly terror attacks and this is definitely not the time to be playing around with emotions. But poor Kim Sharma seems to have messed up more than just her good PR - she pretty much killed the national flag!

What is saffron, white and green took all sorts of colours on Kim`s shirt as she walked with protestors in Mumbai to express her anger against the terrorist attacks on November 26thand 27th.

We could probably overlook this as an innocent oversight- but will the majority agree?

Leave your comments below!

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HomeShop18 Kids Special Show

HomeShop18, the 24-hour home shopping channel from Network18, has launched a weekly show Kids Special which will be aired every Saturday at 1:30 pm and Sunday at 3:30 pm.

Says HomeShop18 CEO Sundeep Malhotra, “Children are a large audience in India. Kids Special will appeal to kids for the innovative toys that they can find on the show. At the same time, parents will like it as the merchandise helps in attracting kids to new hobbies.”

The half an hour show offers products like kids laptop, remote controlled toys, kids puzzles, paper recycling mini factory and art and craft products.

In addition, every episode will have experts from varied fields like psychology, education addressing various issues and problems faced by kids across the country.

Also every episode of Kids Special allows parents to win a Zenith computer through a lucky draw.

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MOVIE REVIEW | 'TWILIGHT' The Love That Dare Not Bare Its Fangs

TWILIGHT

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke; written by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer; director of photography, Elliot Davis; edited by Nancy Richardson; music by Carter Bruwell produced by Greg Mooradian, Mark Morgan and Wyck Godfrey; released by Summit Entertainment. Running time: 2 hours 1 minute.

WITH: Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Billy Burke (Charlie Swan), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Nikki Reed (Rosalie Cullen), Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Cullen), Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen), Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen), Cam Gigandet (James/Nomad Vampire), Taylor Lautner (Jacob), Anna Kendrick (Jessica), Michael Welch (Mike Newton) and Justin Chon (Eric).

t’s love at first look instead of first bite in “Twilight,” a deeply sincere, outright goofy vampire romance for the hot-not-to-trot abstinence set. Based on the foundational book in Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling multivolume series, “The Twilight Saga” (four doorstops and counting), this carefully faithful adaptation traces the sighs and whispers, the shy glances and furious glares of two unlikely teenage lovers who fall into each other’s pale, pale arms amid swirling hormones, raging instincts, high school dramas and oh-so-confusing feelings, like, OMG he’s SO HOT!! Does he like ME?? Will he KILL me??? I don’t CARE!!! :)

And, reader, she doesn’t, the she being Bella (for Isabella) Swan, played with tremulous intensity and a slight snarl by Kristen Stewart. A sylph with a watchful, sometimes wary gaze who’s often cast in daughter roles, Ms. Stewart transformed from an appealing actress into something more complex with her brief, memorable turn in the 2007 movie of Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild.” As the child-woman whose longing for the ill-fated wanderer Christopher McCandless is largely expressed through piercing looks and sensitive strumming, Ms. Stewart gave form and feeling to the possibility that the search for freedom and authentic experiences can be found in the embrace of another human being. This was a girl worth living for, if not for that film’s lost soul.

Since living really isn’t an option for Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), the moody, darkly brooding vampire who catches Bella’s eye and then her heart, she becomes the girl worth fighting for, a battle that, as in the book, involves not just malignant forces, but also ravenous appetite. Like all vampire stories, “Twilight” is about repressed desire and untamed hunger and the possibility of blood, the blood that flows from violently pierced necks and that, from John Polidori’s 1819 short novel “The Vampyre” to Alan Ball’s new HBO series, “True Blood,” represents ravishment of a more graphic kind. This is the ravishment that, in its pantomime of seduction and surrender, transforms innocence — like that of Bram Stoker’s sacrificial virgin, Lucy, in “Dracula” — into “voluptuous wantonness.”

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