The Fury of the Flooded River

As we are getting ready for bigger challenges, we will be encountering innumerable hurdles. There will be moments when we may feel disheartened, down, bashed around, etc. But we musn't lose hope and optimism; hope is the strongest foundation we can have, besides a will to succeed.

As I was thinking of the challenges we face and strong will to succeed, I came across a poem titled "The Fury of The Flooded River", which was penned a few years back by a close one, which is reproduced below. Read on.

The Fury of the Flooded River

The flooded river flows down with all its fury.

No one in its way is spared.

Even the mighty rock is crushed to pebbles and dust.

There I am ......

Trapped in the flooded river.

Desperately trying to keep afloat,

My head above the water.

Battered and bruised I am...

My face cut, my body aches.

Weary I try to find my way to the banks....

I hope the woes would end soon...

"My feet will again kiss the sand on the bank"

I put in an extra effort at this thought...

The mighty river with all its momentum moves on.

It hits me back the harder I try to move to the banks....

I let out a cry of pain....

"God help me - Get me out of here"

I avoid a rock,

Pass by a whirlpool...

I heave a sigh of relief...

"Thank God I wasn't sucked in"

Forget all the pain and weariness for a moment...

I move with the flow....

Gradually, the force reduces, calmness and normality returns....

I begin to see the bright sunshine,

And hear the sweet song of the canary.

I make my way to the banks....

Once again my feet feel the firmness of the bank.

The warmth of the sand energises me.

I take a deep breath and bow my head in a Prayer

"God, Thanks for the strength to survive the ordeal"

I move on.....

For life has dreams....

Dreams to be fulfilled!

Foundation of a Living Team!!

Today is May 3, 2009 and I have just completed 60 days at Aircel. Joining Aircel was like home-coming for me, as Telecom has always been my passion. Like I always say, its natural that one does land up following his/her passion in life. It is only in our area of passion where one gets the energy, positivity, and the internal self-drive to create something larger than life. The Aircel, Mumbai launch was slated for March 27th and we had a handful of days left with us. I still remember my first day at office when I was doing everything apart from just filling the joining formalities-getting introduced to the team by Sapriya, interviewing the candidates, understanding the status on the appointment of Channel Partners for Post-paid with the team and chalking out the plan of action, all back to back.

I never felt that I was new to this organisation. I saw myself getting into the market, something which has been my first love, on the second day itself, meeting the prospective Channel Partners.

Being the 8th operator, we had some challenging but genuine objections to face like why Aircel??, how will it sell in this severe competition??.. These questions used to be extremely exciting for us to answer!! I remember such discussions getting spread over hours and ending on positive notes. For some people, these questions could be frustrating and de-motivating, but like I always tell the team, we have to take these questions 'Head-On'. Why shy away from them?? Also, since the team was working for a common goal, I guess the perseverance to handle these questions came-in automatically!!

Each Channel partner meeting was like a case-study for us and infact later on, towards the launch, when I was conducting training session for the team, I hand-picked three to four of them to be shared with the entire team. All these meetings had some exciting and funny moments, which the team still enjoys talking about. Our conversations during the lunch, or otherwise, used to be in telecom language, making it more enjoyable. I still remember making 3 ARPU levels in the team and taking inspiration from Archana Puran Singh's TV show of yesteryears to call it HS (HNI), MS, LS. Hahahahaha!! Whoever has seen the show will understand what am referring to. Despite the tough challenges, these meetings helped build the team camaraderie, which is an invaluable asset for me.

As we moved into the launch, the feeling of being a part of the Aircel family kept becoming strong and finally I started feeling proud of the organisation. The feeling of being a family got reinforced when, based on Sudha's suggestion, the entire team visited ISKON Temple, Juhu, on the day of commencement of post-paid business.

A Living Team is made of people, by the people, and exists for the people. In order to deliver in the tough marketplace, we have to be a Living Team. And that can only come from passion; passion for the industry, the organization, the team and the customer! It is only this passion that helps the individual engage with the work he/she is doing, which is the most important element of effective, winning teams!!!!!!

A New Beginning

The Aircel, Mumbai launch reminds me of the Genesis story of the Bible, about the origin of the world and how God created Earth.

Today, the mobile phone has become a necessity rather than a luxury item. Be it a house-maid, or a chauffeur, or a government servant, or a CEO/businessman, everyone carries a mobile phone. But, launching as the 8th operator in the over-crowded Telecom space in Mumbai is certainly no joke. Every coin has 2 sides to it. I look at it as an opportunity to get the incremental revenue base, which we all know is big when it comes to Telecom in Mumbai/India. As an 8th operator, some of the basic questions which we all have been challenged with are 'Who should be our target segment??', 'How do we get healthy revenues and bottomline??' and ‘How do we design the right reach model to target every kind of consumer, be it a Jhuggi walla at Dharavi or the elite staying at South Mumbai, with the right product??”.

Although getting a launch campaign ready is a no-brainer in today's hi-tech world, attaining consumer's mind-share at the time of launch and later, keeping the brand fresh and alive with ‘New News’ is clearly the most challenging task which most of the leading Brands face today, be it Pepsi, Coke, Nokia, Kingfisher, Jet, etc.. While in countries like China and Taiwan, where 90% of the market is organised trade, in India, the dynamics get completely changed, largely due to the Socio-economic divides. Hence, launching the Brand and Marketing it at the ground level to reach every nook and corner becomes a challenging task. If one looks at our Ad, it doesn’t talk about voice at all, because voice has become a hygiene factor or the core benefit. What it talks about is the augmented product, which is the VAS, like Yahoo! search engine, the Pocket Internet, which provides a whole lot of services like Hotel reservation through MakeMyTrip.com, M-commerce, Yahoo! messenger, CricInfo and Music Downloads. VAS has increasingly gained importance in the last 2-3 years. I still remember, in 2002, there used to be a few chosen customers for GPRS, but today, the customer base using VAS, has grown multiple-fold. Today, majority of the customers want their mobile phones to replace lap-tops. My maid’s dialer tune changes everyday; was just wondering the rate at which she must be re-charging her talktime on her pre-paid card.

Apart from the USP created in the main communication, the ideas adopted on the mediums used to communicate were innovative enough to create that required disruption in the market. For the first time in my life, the TOI had changed their Brand name to ‘Move On India’ from ‘Times of India’. For the first time, I saw the name of Mid Day changing to ‘Aircel Day’. For the first time in my life, I had seen the iconic ‘Gateway of India’, being flashed with the Brand Aircel. What an Innovation!!!

God took 6 days to create Heaven and Earth, with its various elements and of-course life. He finally rested on the 7th day. For us, it is just the first day.

The movie, ‘Miracle’, is a true story of Herb Brooks, the player-turned-coach, who led the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team to victory over the seemingly invincible Russian squad. Success lies in dreaming the impossible and having the passion to fulfill it. From now on, lets sleep, eat and drink Aircel!!!