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Words. Wisdom. Winners.

It seems to me…

This will be a lesson. A lesson that took a lot of effort for me to learn, but once I did I realized its power.

This is a lesson on Feedback – giving and receiving.

It has been a fascinating experience for me. It started in an “organized” fashion once I started Executive Coaching. I realized its an art and science at the same time. The realization that its science – was pretty startling. And in the time between then and now, the realization has turned itself in a fascinating belief!

there is feedback

and then there is judgement

and then there is a request

And all three are different. Though considered the same by almost everyone, including me before the realization.

Feedback is about yourself – the one who gives it. Its NOT about who you are giving it you. Hence the tone of feedback always has to start with you

“It seems to me…”

“I feel…”

“I think…”

“I thought…”

Feedback is about perception. Not necessarily fact or truth. Its like saying “I feel cold” – which may be a totally different thing for someone from Antarctica!

What feedback is almost always confused with, is judgement

“What you did was wrong…”

“You are not understanding…”

“You need to work more…”

In such cases, the speaker is casting a decision on the actions. Rarely helps, as one can imagine.

 

What is also “unique” about feedback is that it is NOT meant to initiate change. Its just feedback – your perception of how things are. If you wish the opposite person to change, do not give feedback, instead make a request. But here is the twist. You making a request isnt reason enough for it to happen. What is needed back is commitment.

How many times have I written an email saying – I need this asap. And then when it came after 3 hours, I was like “why did it take so long”. 2 things happened here

Our definition of asap didnt match

I didnt convert my request into a commitment – based on clearly laid out objectives

 

So let me rephrase

I will need this by 5pm today. Do you think thats possible? 

I will either get a yes or a no! But I know what to do when I get either of the responses.

 

While I know I am a convert, I have also grown less and less respectful towards people who are not receptive to feedback. Turn defensive or start explaining themselves. I think its partly because I used to do so earlier and never liked doing it.

fascinating lesson, especially when you are managing people…

Fuck you, Delhi!

22 years
College topper
Super smart
Hardworking
Fun to be with
Always smiling

Female

In sales
In Delhi
Has to meet merchants
Has to convince them of Groupon

Female

Advances made at her
Inappropriate Touching
Porn pics sent
Sleep with me and I will sign the contract

Female!

Fuck you Delhi! Fuck you
If you think you can bulldoze a career into oblivion, fuck you!
If you think you can act like a predator and it won’t come back at you, fuck you!
If you think why does the same happen to your sister and wife, fuck you!
If you think you can make her feel cheap, fuck you!
If you think she will give up, fuck you!
If you think she is scared of you, fuck you!

If you think you will win, FUCK YOU!

I am ashamed to be part of this city.
So should be everyone.

Twitter favorites and their awesomeness!

20131008-203659.jpg

Let’s for a second ignore the jaw-dropping retweets.
What’s with the favorites. What are people thinking

“Oh what was that brand someone had mentioned, which had bad customer service.
Umm – let me check twitter favorites
Aaah – Range Rover!
Phew!
Glad I checked before buying.
I just love this feature on twitter!”

People are weird. Occasionally.

Time is the biggest sunk cost

I grew up dreaming of becoming an astrophysicist. That dream consumed me. I loved everything about the universe and the physics of it.
And then, over a year – while I was in my PhD program (and top of my class, with a 100% scholarship) I realized this wasn’t something I will be good at – something I wouldn’t enjoy!

This was almost 10 years of preparation I am talking about. Faced with the realization that it wasn’t to be!

I left all that – to come back to India – in search of what next to do. With no idea at all of what that would be.

It wasn’t easy – but was the right thing to do. I didn’t know of any other way at that time.
The past 10 years didn’t matter anymore.

“But I have already spent so much time on this. How can I leave it all together?”

The most dangerous statement in the world, I would argue.

It ignores signals, it ignores trends, it ignores advise and it ignores the truth most often.

Time, in my opinion, is the biggest sunk cost of all. It doesn’t matter what you have been doing. It doesn’t matter how much of time has gone into it.

The day you realize you have to change – that’s it – you have to change.

Your past can never determine your future. It definitely cannot dictate how your future has to be!
The past has no salvage value
The future is for you to salvage

The Tomorrow Test

The past 2 weeks have been unusually busy. Preparing for Q4, some key initiatives.

And speaking to a stream of entrepreneurs that came my way. 6 of them, to be precise.

All but 1 failed the Tomorrow Test.

Somewhere in the past 6 years, it become clear to me that any new idea has to answer a critical question.
“Is the problem you are trying to solve – likely to be a bigger problem or a lesser problem tomorrow”

This single question ideally should define whether this idea is even worth your time. And if it is – what does it do to your product, your market and your business model.

Hidden between the lines of this stunning question – is the part where most people stumble. Articulating the problem one wishes to solve. Surprisingly – or maybe not – that’s the hardest part. And the first step for you to answer the part about the future.

So you are out to build a service that accurately determines people’s residence address. Awesome!
Do you expect maps to get better at solving this problem or worse off?
Ummmm

So you are building a portal for students that wants deals less than Rs100. Awesome!
Do you expect the share of such students reducing (and the rest going for “better deals”) or increasing?
Ummmm

So you wish to build an app that syncs with your car and provides all information you need. Awesome!
Are cars more likely or less likely to have this information inbuilt, tomorrow?
Ummmmm

Bet on tomorrow. Take the test today!

Why is Groupon India selling onions at Rs 9/Kg when the market price is Rs 50?

Answer by Ankur Warikoo:

Setting aside modesty (which I would endorse any other day), this was indeed a brilliant move for us. 

Context:
Groupon India launched on Sep3rd a crazy deal – selling Onions at Rs.9/kg – when the market rate is between Rs.60-70/kg.
Onions are a staple food item in India and the rising price is a hot topic of discussion for the past 3-4 months. In the past, rising onion prices have been the reason for even governments toppling in elections.

Mechanics:
Our objective was to shock and awe our customers. And in the process generate some PR around the brand.
Rs.9/kg was chosen because of the shock value (this price was last seen in India in 1999)
Onions were home-delivered across 78 cities in India (free of cost)
Only 1kg per delivery address was allowed
We released 3000kgs of onions everyday for 7 days – with the intent of selling 21,000 kgs in all

Consider this:
We sold 22,500+ Kgs of onions over 7days.

And we chose, as beautifully explained in the other answer, a product that was mass and was being spoken of.

In these 7days,

  1. Our site crashed on the 2nd day, because of the traffic we had never witnessed before – Demand for discounted onions crashes Groupon's Indian website
  2. We got over 16,500 new buyers on the site over 7 days, at a never before cost
  3. We activated over 3000 buyers that had not bought anything in the past 90 days
  4. It increased our brand search on google by over 400%
  5. Business went up by 60% and is now stabalized (10 days post the campaign) at 12% higher than the base before
  6. This deal generated unprecented press coverage – all national press carried it (in a positive light) and it even reached international (WSJ, AFP, Huffington Post, Verge, Medium, Gulf times
  7. Indian TV picked it up
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CqpIkbVP7E&feature=youtu.be
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5gRFoPSJPg&feature=youtu.be
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTyqmeDR1_E&feature=youtu.be
  8. People have started analyzing the deal and its dynamics
  9. The deal was nationally trending on twitter for a total of 28 hours
  10. Facebook had it covered all across
  11. And finally, business generated by the new customers has paid itself over several times (compared to the cost we bore for the exercise)

A case study indeed. And a good one at that.

Happy to respond to specific questions.

View Answer on Quora

The final interview round

Considering my “fancy title”, most candidates I meet everyday have already gone through multiple technical and qualifier interview rounds. I am fortunate to meet the best of the crowd.

And I am entrusted upon conducting the “final interview round” – also fashionably termed as the “culture round”!

3 questions make up this round for me

What’s the riskiest thing you have done in life
This is a powerful question. It not just allows the candidate to lower their guard, but also beautifully gives an insight into the risk appetite of the individual.
Most people stick to the basics – rafting, bungee jumping, crossing the road in Delhi!
And some are fascinating – changing my industry, coming back from the US, becoming an entrepreneur, participating in a singing competition.
A 10-min conversation following this question almost always gives me a clear idea of where the candidate belongs in their worldview.
The best response I recall was – marrying my love against my parents wishes.
Brutal honesty! And tells me so much about the individual to even speak about this in an interview.

If you didn’t have to earn for money, say you had plenty of it, what would you do in life?
This is a really hard question. And shopping is the worst response!
The question allows most candidates to explore what is it that they really like doing. Is it painting, singing, teaching, traveling?
Magically, the candidate is forced to say the truth and nothing else but the truth. And the truth is all that the final round needs. One of the best responses I have received was – “I would spend my time visiting universities across the world and attending their best rated courses!”
Wow!

How many unread emails in your inbox as of today?
I know it’s anal and this question is so me. But it does have a very strong proxy with how organized the individual is. That said, I have several examples where non-organized people excel supremely.
I am simply biased by the notion that being organized is definitely a more positive indicator of delivery (not really performance).
God-awesome response – “today is 12 hours old. Can you be a little more specific!”
Hired, I say! :)

Would love to add more questions to this kitty. Please do share

Let me get back to you on this

This is a statement you will rarely, If not never, hear at a startup.

And this statement forms the basis of most conversations in a large company.

I have come to realize – the reason large companies are so slow to move is because they tolerate the existence of excuses.
Excuses for not being able to deliver
Excuses for inaction
Excuses for not taking charge
Excuses for not deciding then and there!

Whosoever you are – no matter how big or small – don’t ever create an environment where excuses are easy to discover. Only then will you have a “let me get back to you on this” free world!

Who are you meeting today?

Nothing, NOTHING AT ALL, does more to developing a relationship than meeting someone in person and talking!

No amount of flowers

No amount of pleasant emails

No calls

Nothing

Humans are meant to meet, to converse using emotions. And if you have to apologize, congratulate, resolve, clarify or update – and you can do it in person – do it!

 

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