The Wisdom Wall
16 quotable lessons, heuristics and mental models. Every one is playable at the moment it was said. No fortune cookies allowed.
“If you're not going to be surprising competition, which means there's no advantage, ok? Forget it.”
“So I always say rich people buy brands for vanity to show off. Poor people buy brands for security.”
“Don't get swayed by a CEO who talks rubbish, who makes grand plans, five years you'll be here, 10 years, don't get carried away by that. Because a lot of CEOs promise and don't do anything.”
“in most MNCs, a budget setting exercise is an exercise in minimalization. What is the least I can get away with?”
“So, always look for what I call the full number manager, not the decimal point manager.”
“You know, a lot of founders, the other mistake they make is, the first sign of rough weather or turbulence, they cut price. In fact, I would say the first sign of turbulence, invest in innovation. Get something new to the table. Because in every troubled times, If you do the same thing again, the comparative benchmark…”
“A lot of CEOs outsource their presentation to a junior manager. Don't do that. It's your voice. When somebody else does it, it's not your voice. It's a voice over. A voice over is very different from a voice.”
“In these industries, product mattered, innovation mattered. In FMCG, innovation didn't matter. They all talk about it, but there's no innovation.”
“one of the biggest sins of a CEO is past forward. You think that the past will repeat itself.”
“Today, the information and the insight logic, that pyramid is upside down. Today, young people have much more information and insight on everything to do with technology and the impact of technology. In fact, the higher up you are on the value chain, the lower is your Linked technology. So by definition, you rely on…”
“So if you target only for Gen Z's, they age, remember, in five, 10 years time. So you have to be relevant. Like we used to say, it's not about age, but do you, are you young at heart? That's what it is. You know, and if you are not able to straddle that as a brand, then you will die with each generation.”
“The elder care has become a very big market thanks to that brain drain as an example. Now, that's what you go back as a brand person. You have to correlate events to say, okay, that happened in the nineties, eighties. This elder care business is taking off now.”
“Now what happens when you are prepared, when you have experience, and by and large you want to do the right thing for the institution is, the answer comes to you intuitively. So when the answer comes to you intuitively, there is certain pride in saying that answer comes to me intuitively. But also there is a certain…”
“then suddenly you are in an industry like mobile phones where if half, 40% of your sales don't come from new models launched that year, you are dead. It's over.”
“One of the biggest unmet needs for poor women on sarees is faster drying sarees. Because a number of those sarees are polyester sarees. They wash it. They want it to dry fast.”
“When I interviewed those people, there were two, what I call crossroad points. The first crossword point is, my parents are getting old Shiv, I want to come back. I need to take care of them. Ok, whatever I've done is enough, fine, but I want to come back. If I got a good job, I'm willing to relocate. The second…”