 "Leading a frugal life")
I know that it is unfashionable, but I continue to be a representative of old world middle class values. I stand by a few basic principles. They are time tested beliefs. I believe that: Hard work pays. If you can dream it you can do it. Dedication and determination are the key tools to achieve our goals. Gains made from dishonest and corrupt ways do not last long. Integrity and goodness are the true stepping stones for a good, happy life.
Yes, it is a middle class belief system. I have always believed that it works.
I have also believed, for a long time now that learning is an unending process, and the moment we think we've learned it all and stop learning, it signals the beginning of the end.
I consider arrogance a vice and simplicity a virtue. I am not sermonizing here.
Believe me, there are many today who swear by such values and live by them. They are happy leading a frugal life. They have few demands in life, and fewer worries too, as a result.
Some of these values aligned with my ambitions, my background, my personality and my way of life most importantly. After all I am a desi product. Not a suave, urban, convent educated Saheb in the making.
I have learned that you need to smile when you want others to smile.
They frown when you frown.
The saying 'As you sow, so you reap' is plain, simple logic.
Sometimes, simple logic works.
Like, 'be good to others, they will be good to you'. Simple, yet true.
This is also a middle class value.
I have always been a shy fellow from my childhood. I could never muster up the courage to ask anyone for anything. Breast-beating or blowing my own trumpet doesn't come naturally to me. I believe it is vulgar.
I have always felt that I am lacking in many areas. My self-confidence levels used to be pretty low. So low that most of the time I was unsure of myself and what I really wanted. I don't know if other people feel the same way about themselves.
In Mudra, the HR department would send me shortlisted candidates for my final approval for certain positions. Once they settled down in their seats, I would ask them to tell me something about themselves. Invariably, a few minutes of silence would follow. I could see from their faces they did not quite get what I was asking. I would elaborate and ask them to tell me a little bit about their strengths and weaknesses; what makes them angry, what brings joy to them etc. 'Tell me about this, in a couple of sentences', I would ask. More silence would follow. Finally they would break the silence and describe a few qualities about themselves. Mostly awesome qualities. Never a negative point.
I have always wondered that if everyone were such good and noble humans, how is it that we experience so much cruelty and injustice from each other?
Murugesan was a colleague of mine in Shilpi and then in the advertising department of Reliance Textile Industries and in Mudra too for a great many years. A faithful, loyal, dependable war horse I would say. One day, sometime in the early years of Mudra, he told me after witnessing one of my angry outbursts at a colleague, 'Krishnamurthy, in your fit of anger you do not seem to know what you are saying. Control your anger...'
I took the advice very seriously. I started being conscious of my hot temper and the language I used. I mellowed down. When people pointed out my inadequacies or shortcomings, I would ponder over them and try to correct myself.
I will narrate another instance. Most of us go through a middle age or mid-career crisis. The same applies to organizations as well. That is when we need guidance or counselling. Mudra faced such a crisis in its 15th or 16th year - 1995 or 1996. At that time, there was a brilliant professor in Organizational Behavior-Mrs Indira Parekh who taught at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She was an expert in identifying, analyzing and recommending solutions to such crises.
I got in touch with her and explained our predicament. She called for a meeting of the top 15-20 senior executives. We assembled in the conference room. She then requested all of us to write a bit about ourselves.
A very simple request. Yet it seemed so difficult for all of us.
Like the rest I too was blank for a while. After considerable time, I put my pen to the note pad and scribbled a few lines:
* I am very kind hearted
* Sometimes I can be very tough and ruthless
* I do not harbour great ambition to become rich
* I want to grow in my profession and make some money for my family
* I am very fond of my family. But if I were to choose between my family and career, I would most likely choose my career.
Thus went my self assessment. Contradictory statements. Something quite similar to the self-assessments of all others as well, Indira Parekh told me later on.
It is not unreasonable to assume that we do not know too much about ourselves.
It is reasonable to assume that others would know more about us than we do. This is the reason why I have included the views and impressions of others about Mudra in this book.
IF YOU CAN DREAM...
AUTHOR: A G Krishnamurthy,
PUBLISHER: Tata Mcgraw-Hill Education,
PRICE: Rs 325,
ISBN: 9781259058660
Reprinted by permission of Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited. Excerpted from If you can dream...Autobiography of the founder of Mudra & Mica. Copyright © 2013 by A G Krishnamurthy. All rights reserved."
Yes, it is a middle class belief system. I have always believed that it works.
I have also believed, for a long time now that learning is an unending process, and the moment we think we've learned it all and stop learning, it signals the beginning of the end.
I consider arrogance a vice and simplicity a virtue. I am not sermonizing here.
Believe me, there are many today who swear by such values and live by them. They are happy leading a frugal life. They have few demands in life, and fewer worries too, as a result.
Some of these values aligned with my ambitions, my background, my personality and my way of life most importantly. After all I am a desi product. Not a suave, urban, convent educated Saheb in the making.
I have learned that you need to smile when you want others to smile.
They frown when you frown.
The saying 'As you sow, so you reap' is plain, simple logic.
Sometimes, simple logic works.
Like, 'be good to others, they will be good to you'. Simple, yet true.
This is also a middle class value.
I have always been a shy fellow from my childhood. I could never muster up the courage to ask anyone for anything. Breast-beating or blowing my own trumpet doesn't come naturally to me. I believe it is vulgar.
I have always felt that I am lacking in many areas. My self-confidence levels used to be pretty low. So low that most of the time I was unsure of myself and what I really wanted. I don't know if other people feel the same way about themselves.
In Mudra, the HR department would send me shortlisted candidates for my final approval for certain positions. Once they settled down in their seats, I would ask them to tell me something about themselves. Invariably, a few minutes of silence would follow. I could see from their faces they did not quite get what I was asking. I would elaborate and ask them to tell me a little bit about their strengths and weaknesses; what makes them angry, what brings joy to them etc. 'Tell me about this, in a couple of sentences', I would ask. More silence would follow. Finally they would break the silence and describe a few qualities about themselves. Mostly awesome qualities. Never a negative point.
I have always wondered that if everyone were such good and noble humans, how is it that we experience so much cruelty and injustice from each other?
Murugesan was a colleague of mine in Shilpi and then in the advertising department of Reliance Textile Industries and in Mudra too for a great many years. A faithful, loyal, dependable war horse I would say. One day, sometime in the early years of Mudra, he told me after witnessing one of my angry outbursts at a colleague, 'Krishnamurthy, in your fit of anger you do not seem to know what you are saying. Control your anger...'
I took the advice very seriously. I started being conscious of my hot temper and the language I used. I mellowed down. When people pointed out my inadequacies or shortcomings, I would ponder over them and try to correct myself.
I will narrate another instance. Most of us go through a middle age or mid-career crisis. The same applies to organizations as well. That is when we need guidance or counselling. Mudra faced such a crisis in its 15th or 16th year - 1995 or 1996. At that time, there was a brilliant professor in Organizational Behavior-Mrs Indira Parekh who taught at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She was an expert in identifying, analyzing and recommending solutions to such crises.
I got in touch with her and explained our predicament. She called for a meeting of the top 15-20 senior executives. We assembled in the conference room. She then requested all of us to write a bit about ourselves.
A very simple request. Yet it seemed so difficult for all of us.
Like the rest I too was blank for a while. After considerable time, I put my pen to the note pad and scribbled a few lines:
* I am very kind hearted
* Sometimes I can be very tough and ruthless
* I do not harbour great ambition to become rich
* I want to grow in my profession and make some money for my family
* I am very fond of my family. But if I were to choose between my family and career, I would most likely choose my career.
Thus went my self assessment. Contradictory statements. Something quite similar to the self-assessments of all others as well, Indira Parekh told me later on.
It is not unreasonable to assume that we do not know too much about ourselves.
It is reasonable to assume that others would know more about us than we do. This is the reason why I have included the views and impressions of others about Mudra in this book.
| Mediocrity dominates all areas of agency operations today: Krishnamurthy Author Speak In a chat with Rohit Nautiyal, Krishnamurthy explains how investments in market research and right talent will help agencies bring great advertising to the brand table You talk about the ‘creative ego’ in your book. Has anything changed over the years? Are creative leaders more professional now? I have not had any major interaction with many of today’s superstars. My take on self confidence and ego is simple: If someone says, “Only I can do it”, it is ego. On the other hand if one were to say,”I can do it”, it is self-confidence. I see a lot of confidence and willingness to learn in today’s young people. This would make me believe that the creative ego could be less now. Vimal campaigns and fashion shows in the 70s are great examples of a multimedia campaign. Is it tougher to achieve that kind of brand recall today? To be honest, for a long time I have not seen good multi-media brand building campaigns, the few exceptions being some Hindustan Unilever brands like Dove, Cadbury’s etc. We are living in a different world today where only quarterly results matter. Where the markets are getting young and the young are going digital. The world is more democratic and one small village, with unrestricted access to technology and information to one and all. We have different media vehicles too. Adapting to change is the name of the game. It’s a world which is not demanding long-term brand-building strategies and creatives. Rather it is demanding instant gratification like daily foot falls, sales and quarterly profits. Because the world has changed so totally, the client-agency relationship too have undergone major changes. The agencies are doing less and less for their clients and clients are doing more and more on their own with various service providers (some clients would even call them suppliers or vendors). In addition, there are various issues like declining knowledge about consumer insights among the agencies and mediocrity dominating all areas of agency operations. It’s a baffling situation and I don’t see any immediate solution to the problem. The book says, “If advertising is irrelevant or unnoticed, it is a wasted effort and investment”. Even today 90 per cent of the work done by agencies fall in this category. What’s the way out? Simple. Good people produce good work. It’s directly proportional. Based on my interaction with various agencies in the last decade as a client, I believe that the quality of agency people has been falling drastically. No longer do the agencies go to premier schools like IIMs for recruitment, the reason being the remunerations at agencies are low and heavily bargained. Agencies need to bring well-researched consumer insights and great advertising to the brand table. Investment in market research and good people are vital. |
IF YOU CAN DREAM...
AUTHOR: A G Krishnamurthy,
PUBLISHER: Tata Mcgraw-Hill Education,
PRICE: Rs 325,
ISBN: 9781259058660
Reprinted by permission of Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited. Excerpted from If you can dream...Autobiography of the founder of Mudra & Mica. Copyright © 2013 by A G Krishnamurthy. All rights reserved."