The Hindu Business Line : Get real to fight FUD

Forget the Fed. What you should be worried about is FUD, or fear, uncertainty and doubt. The cost of FUD on our businesses and economy is profound, cautions Andy Birol in ‘The 5 Catalysts of 7 Figure Growth’ ( www.jaicobooks.com ). “It suffocates the business owner’s ability to grow.”

If in doubt, peel the company onion down to its essence, urges Birol. “Real customers with real problems must spend real money to purchase real products or services the company really makes which solve real pain or create real opportunity real soon. Everything else is distraction. There is nothing virtual about this reality!” he declares.

Some of the telltale signs of company morbidity that Birol lists include the following: The owner is ambivalent and conflicted; the company isn’t in touch with its value; and it squanders its best opportunities for growth by failing to sell what customers most want or need.

Birol’s advice to bosses is the PACER process, an acronym for ‘process for acquiring customers and enhancing reputation.’ So, owners, start your engines, he pushes.

Prescribed read for those who would like to rev up!

Power of observation

To develop a macro understanding of an organisation, its people, and the dynamics around, a key strategy is observation. “Pay attention to your environment, especially to the interactions between people and the patterns of these interactions,” says Jerry W. Gilley in ‘The Manager as Politician’ ( www.macmillanindia.com ).

“Effective political navigators spend far more time observing than communicating,” he notes. “Observation allows you to examine the political terrain prior to engaging in a political interaction and engagement. Observation also allows you the opportunity to gather your thoughts, reflect on current and past events, draw conclusions, and formulate strategies while others are busy formulating and executing political manoeuvres.”

Useful guidance.

Right choices vs popularity

If you are going to lead, trust your judgment, counsels Howard Lester in one of the essays included in ‘Leading by Example’ from Harvard Business School Press ( www.tatamcgrawhill.com ).

As leaders, you have a responsibility to really think through what you are doing, he insists. “You ask a lot of opinions; it’s not as if you hide from everybody because you’ve made up your mind.”

Anybody can make an easy decision, observes Amelia Fawcett, in another essay. True managers are those who are able to make quite difficult choices, she adds. The real test, according to her, is the ability to stand up to unpopular decisions and criticism, and to have the courage of conviction to do what you think is right, while keeping in mind the strategic long-term goal.

Leadership is not a popularity contest, avers Sanjiv Ahuja. Be effective and decisive, he tells leaders. “And while you are leading with effectiveness, decisiveness, clarity, and the passion for the success of your business, your team eventually does follow you.” Don’t get confused between popularity and the right choices, says Ahuja, because the two do not have to go hand in hand.

Discerning wisdom.
Resizing government

To Tavleen Singh, the Planning Commission is a ‘crumbling edifice of Indian socialism’ and ‘the symbol of all that is wrong with the way India is governed.’ However, ‘in a discreetly elegant room in Yojana Bhavan’s otherwise decaying atmosphere,’ is Arun Shourie ‘quietly working at bringing about what could be the most important change India has seen in decades,’ as Singh recounts in ‘Political and I ncorrect: The real India, warts and all’ ( www.harpercollins.co.in ).

“When Shourie became the Minister for Disinvestment he tried speeding things up by pushing through the sale of BALCO, and was not only accused of bribery and corruption by the Congress but also taken to court,” she narrates.

“Luckily for us, the Supreme Court took a stern view of a case that it said should never have been brought before it: that there was nothing wrong at all with the sale of BALCO, the judges said, and they would be grateful if people did not misuse the instrument of the PIL (public-interest litigation) on needless litigation.”

Engaging account.
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