Food for Thought

Often people struggle to come up with logical and practical solution to the problems at hand. This happens because we tend to approach the problem with combination of viewpoints. In his book Thinking Fast and Slow, the author Daniel Kanheman breaks down these view points into two systems of thinking- fast and slow. Understanding hows and whys of these systems will help us in taking a better approach of handling situation at hand making better decisions. System One: Fast Thinking This mode of thinking is based on emotions and sub-conscious reactions. The biases and personal experiences are the foundations of this thinking system. It is what we commonly call the 'gut instinct'. At times, it may be irrational and flawed. When faced with a situation requiring decision making, the brain naturally makes associations and referencing to the past experiences. The natural tendency is to find solution quickly with minimal efforts. This reaction is subjective and has ele...

Book: 12 Disciplines of Leadership Excellence: How leaders achieve sustainable high performance Authors: Brian Tracy, Dr. Peter Chee Summary The authors describe 12 principles to succeed as a Leader. These can be developed over time by practice and experience. These are listed below: 1.  The Discipline of Leadership Excellence Current age employees most of the times look for what is in-stored for them in any work. Thus in current era, two types of leaders are more valuable as per author - charismatic transformational leaders who inspire people to do their best and transactional leaders who possess the ability to work with and achieve through others. Great leaders connect their team with the larger purpose by articulating their vision effectively and adding meaning to their team's work. As a leader one should make decisions and take actions and be accountable for the results. Leader should be prepared for adversity by planning for the worst-case scenario. Ope...

Shoppers’ Stop was started by C.L. Raheja in 1991 when organized retailing was unheard of in India. The retailer’s main focus was on the customer and to the person who attended the customer- the employee. At Shoppers’ Stop, right from the CEO to the front-end sales person, everyone was called  Customer Care Associate  This helped in boosting the self-esteem of the employees. It had specialized induction programs to groom the recruits, especially the first timers. The program included classroom training on the basics of retail, store design, store space planning, visual merchandising, selling and cashiering. This was followed by two weeks ‘mentoring’ program. Under this program they were attached to a senior in the workplace. Finally, to give the new recruits the sense of belonging, their parents were invited to breakfast to get a feel of environment at Shoppers’ Stop. In 2002, Shoppers’ Stop realised that the customer care associates were not performing up to the mar...

In India, the retail industry is broadly divided into the organised and unorganised sectors. Organised retailing in India started picking up in South India in cities like Chennai and Hyderabad, where real estate at prime location was available at cheaper rates than in cities like Mumbai and Delhi. In the early 1990s, leading Indian business houses started taking a keen interest in retailing sector. Several business houses like Tatas, Piramals, RPG Group and Rahejas forayed into this sector.    Organised retailing in India can be classified on the products or services offered. There include (but not limited to)  Apparel retailing  Food retailing  Health and beauty products retailing  Footwear retailing  Music and entertainment retailing  Book retailing  Watches and jewelry retailing  Petrol and diesel retailing  Home furniture  Luggage Let’s have a look at what kind of strategies these pioneers in organised retail...

Sam Walton along with his brother James Lawrence Walton opened first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, USA in 1962. In Sam Walton’s best-selling autobiography “Made in America: My Story” was published in 1992. He outlined in it the very popular 10 rules of building a successful business which formed the basis for Wal-Mart’s success. The rules are as follows: Rule # 1 Be committed to the business. Have an infectious passion for one’s work. Rule # 2 Sharing profit with employees and treating them as partners brings great performance. Rule # 3 Motivating your partners beyond money and ownership by setting high goals, encouraging competition and keeping track is important. Don’t hesitate in keeping goals shockingly high. Rule # 4 Communication to partners is vital as it develops understanding and makes them caring. Empowering employees with information helps to mitigate risks from competitors. Rule # 5 Realize the importance of appreciating the employees. It works wond...