Monthly Archives: December 2018


The Chilly Winter Special: India’s sordid relationship with Political Consciousness

Politically charged discussions abound in all corners. Everyone is glued to their TVs to finally concur if the exit polls matched with the actual result. Some bets are won, others feel forlorn and dejected.

By now you would have realized that it’s that time again when promises will be made in abundance, freebies will be distributed far and wide and all kinds strict oaths will be undertaken to ensure the ‘common welfare of all the people.’

The politics of consciousness refers to the idea of a person who is self-aware.We have got to continually engage with politics in our often-limited capacities. Being cynical or indifferent to the idea only adds to the problem. We understand that it’s easier said than done because of the bad name and colour that the word ‘politics’ has acquired over the years. We can blame the politicians, corrupt officers and even the justice/ judicial system but that is exactly where our job begins, not ends. Because politics affects us and it takes consistent efforts on a societal basis to affect any positive change.

The essence of a democracy is in understanding, analysing, criticising and reacting to issues. We need to account for the fact that politicians are elected representatives, that we chose to elect them and they are an extension of the society we all are a part of. We’ve got to live up to the fact that we are the world’s largest democracy. Let’s show the world what we’ve got, people! Because it doesn’t matter how many slaps/ abuses/ insults we throw at our representatives but rather if we made honest efforts in fully engaging with the system.

Also, don’t forget to vote this election. Make an informed choice and all the best!

Yours for the revolution,

Karan Kampani


Make the Business Purposeful, The Brand will Follow

Bangalore, Dec 4, 2017

I was fortunate to attend #e4mSouthConclave, the first of e4m’s flagship events in Bangalore and was impressed with the quality of speakers and the well curated event. Given the theme, “How to Make Brands Purposeful” I couldn’t miss it.

Here are my three key takeaways:

1. Great brands solve problems: Mathew Chandy, MD of Duroflex, a mattress company, while deflecting a tough question on ‘What keeps you awake at night’ answered, “Whether sleep will someday become irrelevant.” He then went on to describe the importance of a good night’s sleep and its effect on how we see our lives and impact those of people around us. That’s purpose. It doesn’t have to be complex, overly clever or elusive. Plain and simple will do as long as it responds to our emotional needs as much as our functional ones. Mathew also used cats and the Simpsons in his slides. Bonus points for Mathew.

2. Make the business purposeful, the brand will follow: There are two types of organisations – ones that are business driven and the others that exist to fulfil a role in our lives, beyond the business of wealth creation. When organisations are built around a central principle and have a clear reason to exist, they set a firm foundation for growth – one that is sustainable and scalable. In these instances, brand purpose is central to the business model of the organization and drives a vision that brings people together around shared beliefs. In other instances, when brand purpose is identified as a marketing tactic to tick a box or send a one-off message and create some fuzzy good-will, it back-fires with irreplaceable damage to the brand.

In his talk on ‘Humanising Brands’ Shashi Sinha, CEO of IPG Group delivered a single case study on Amul, its origin as a business, its journey as a brand and role in the lives of farmer communities and the many billions of us who use its products today. Dr.Kurien, the brand’s founder has always been a legend in Indian business case studies. What Shashi also shared was how the company has had a steady relationship with its advertising partner for more than 25 years and is one of its rare clients that sticks to paying a healthy 15% commission. A large part of building your brand is how you behave with your stakeholders. No amount of marketing spend can build a brand without the business living the purpose it wants its brand to stand for.

3. Brand purpose is little understood, but that’s changing:

In India, the concept of brand purpose is still emerging. Brands are still catering to demands from consumers to fulfil functional needs. Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR has become a buzz-word for reputation management consultants to offer as part of an image building exercise. The Companies Act of 2013 that stipulates 2% profits to be used for a company to demonstrate its commitment back to society has made CSR largely a compliance led activity, with lots of meaningless photo-opportunities, award exercises and a new industry for impact measurement and reporting.

I was pleased to see #e4mSouthConclave feature a number of business leaders (beyond just marketing) from brands like Fujitsu, Lenovo, ITC, Xiaomi, Toyota and Indigo. Purpose needs to be led from the top. As markets become more commoditized, the ones that are able to offer people an opportunity to see a better version of themselves through shared values and aspirations, the ones that are able to create shared identity and ways of being, the ones that are able to inspire employees with a bigger sense of purpose – will build more authentic relationships with the people they work with and the communities they operate in. On purpose.


How to Get Started with Diversity and Inclusion in an Organisation

On Dec 1, I had the privilege of moderating a discussion on ‘Turning Diversity and Inclusion Practices into Action’ with a fantastic set of panelists. Here are some learnings that may be useful to others:

1. Start with Why: Any change program in likely to fail unless we’re unable to recruit the people concerned as allies. This means starting from the top. We need to sensitise the leadership first and then the rest of the organization on why building a diverse and inclusive organization is not just the right thing to do, it’s also good for business.

As Madhumitha Venkataraman, a D&I Champion, put it, “Diversity begins with I/me and recognizing our unconscious biases.”

Yeshashvini Ramaswamy, Managing Director of e2e People Practices and a venture capitalist made no bones about Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), as an integral part of employee wellness, being the future.

I’d listen to her, she knows where the money is going.

Here are some more resources with evidence to demonstrate that D&I is good for business:

Why Diversity Matters – A McKinsey publication

Designing a Bias-Free Organisation – Harvard Business Review

2. Get Some Data: Measure the status quo of people employed in your organization broken down by different types of diversity dimensions for e.g. Age, Race and Ethnicity, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Religion, Disability, Personality, Socio-Economic Status, Education and Life Experience. Keep the data collection process anonymous to help those not yet comfortable with disclosing sensitive personal choices like sexual orientation or religion. It’s ok if the numbers aren’t pretty. The good news is now we can start making changes and measure progress.

3. Identify Areas Where Bias is Likely to be Rampant: Especially recruitment and talent management. Ban ‘culture fit’ as a reason for rejecting a candidate. Taking this from Jennifer Kim’s Linkedin Article on 50+ Ideas For Cultivating Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace – “When interviewers want to reject candidates for ‘culture fit’ or ‘gut feeling’, it’s an indication that unconscious bias is at play. Also, review the recruitment language – scrutinize job ads for language that unconsciously discourages either men or women from applying. When it comes to appraisals and promotions, again, rely on hard data. Take the boss’s feelings about them out of the equation and objectively measure performance.

4. Articulate D&I as part of your DNA: There’s enough literature to confirm that companies with diverse talent are more innovative, dynamic and deliver stronger returns.

As Co-Founder of rydS, Madhu Menon said, “We’re all more interconnected than we think. We can’t afford to exclude anyone.”

This means stating your commitment to building a diverse and inclusive culture in your company messaging everywhere – on the walls, in the recruitment ads, how candidates are sourced, making it a part of the induction process so new employees understand why the company cares about D&I, printing inclusive bathroom signs, allowing flexible work hours and above all listening to employees and making an effort to hear everyone, not just the loudest ones.

“We don’t need namesake actions, we need deeply-rooted policy and a different culture.” Aparna Prasad, Director HR at Jain University echoed.

5. Constantly look in the Mirror: We’re all a bit inherently biased. We have to avoid the temptation to only listen to and connect with ‘people-like-me.’

Priya Chetty Rajagopal, CxO Consultant and Co-Founder of Multiversal Advisory had some strong words for leadership teams, “Just spend one day a month walking in someone else’s shoes, doing what they do and you’ll know what to do to make your organization inclusive”

Hiring employees with varied perspectives and backgrounds is only one step. How we make everyone feel valued and embrace group differences will determine how our workforce is empowered.

Dolly Koshy, a thought leader on Gender Neutral Perspectives said, “Diversity is being invited to the workplace. Inclusion is being allowed to re-arrange the furniture”

Speaking on the issue of mental health in the workplace, Ashwini NV, Founder of Muktha Foundation said, “Like physical first-aid, we also need psychological first-aid.”

Representing LGBTQIA concerns, Prashant Y of Solidarity Foundation said, “We may have the skill-set, but we may not have requisite documentation to get the jobs.”

LGBTQIA activist Suman Sana agreed, “Post #Section377, there are policies on paper, but their practice still lags behind terribly.”

“The constant fear is – how will I be treated if I reveal my positive status?” PLHIV ctivist and radio-jockey, Radha Mani expressed her concern

Sonali M Balgi, an engineer and mother of an autistic child spoke about sensitizing the workplace with the needs of persons with disabilities and their caretakers.

Sandesh H.R. from Enable India demonstrated a range of examples of how organisations were making workplaces disabled friendly and how targeted training and solutions could help. For more information, click here: Enable India

As Deepa Narasimhan, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at DellEMC said, “D&I policies become actionable when there is dialogue. In India, we have a long way to go and taking action is the only way to really change anything.”

Thank you to RadioActive and the Deputy British High Commission of Bengaluru for hosting.