The Three Things, which will create an Impact in the Corporate World on the road to 2010
- By Gautam Nath
Roads are a changing today
In the yesteryears, a road would be this tarred surface taking you from here to there. Usually in your shining Lambretta scooter or as life looked up, in your second hand Fiat (Premier Padmini) or Amby (the stout ol Ambassador). Familiar sight? Gone today.
Roads are still there, but they have joined forces with multi laned highways, subways, over bridges, fly overs, under passes, metro lines, one way streets and more. All a sign of choice, all a sign of the multitude of opportunities available to each of us.
Times have a changed
And so have you, day trips on the spot from Delhi to Mumbai, video conferencing, black berry’s, mobiles, webex, concalls and radio taxis, all a sign of things a changing. The familiar laptop case, no longer a status symbol, a symbol of the highflying executive but converted merely to a symbol of corporate existence. Chargers, a necessary evil. Time, a commodity running out on us.
Lunch, something that flies into your stomach somewhere between meetings, endless cups of tea and coffee – your only friend, the cigarette in the hallway, time a dying breed and family a weekend commodity if you get lucky.
The Boss – just a phone call away
Your subordinates - hiding behind those hideous ring tones that change every Friday
What looms ahead
More of the same, YES! More of the same.
And a resigned realisation, that times have changed and those good ol days ain’t coming back. Lead, follow or get out of the way.
Values that have changed
Loyalty, a thing of folklore
Performance linked bonus, mandatory
The new corporate anthem – Outcomes not efforts
Managers getting younger and younger, everywhere you turn
Women emerging as a strong and growing corporate work force
Marriage, moving into the background and children, slow and steady, not today please.
And The Corporate space
2010, merely three years away
Several years ago, while speaking at a lecture to students at the Delhi School of Economics, and at the Faculty of Management Studies, I pointed out to them about the future being in their hands, about changes to expect in 2010 still far then in the horizon, and we shared estimates such as the follows:
FMCG – a 50% growth
Retailing – A 1000 Billion INR industry
Telecom and ICT – Third largest market in the world
KPO – Employing over 250000 professionals
Entertainment Industry – Over 600 Billion INR
Today, the road is near, and we can read about progress down this path, of more to come, and 2015 becoming a near reality.
And one cannot but read about India as a BRIC nation of the future at every turn.
But what is really changing
The Crystal ball says
Outsourcing – organisations are sizing for focus, shedding non essential tasks and focusing on their key strengths, everything else will get outsourced
The work force – younger, here today gone tomorrow, more immediacies in their needs, instant gratification and a different set of life values
Boundaries – geographies will disappear and client servicing will be the new mantra. It’s all about target group orientation. Travel & technology being man’s best friends here.
But is there a moral to the story
The future belongs to the youth and they are indeed geared to do wonders in their own immitable way.
But the author would like to end by pointing out three areas not to forget as you move down the road to progress:
1. Your health
2. Your family
3. Your parents
Take it from me, been there, done that.
No more explanations, no more gyan, no elaborations or watching over you, just leave you to work out your own equation for your own inner peace.
The future is yours.
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The Author is Executive Vice President, TNS India, a leading Global group in market intelligence and business counsel. Mr Nath is an alumni of the Faculty of Management Studies and has been associated with Corporate India for over 24 years in various capacities in the field of Market Research, Domestic & International Marketing as well as Corporate Communications and Human Relations. He may be reached at gautam.nath@tns-global.com
