Tag: Organisation

Copycats: You Have Nerves of Steal !

 

Stealing other people’s ideas is now disguised as creativity ! I, me, EMMY to that!

 

 

Imitation might be considered as the best form of flattery. But, when ideas get stolen, used, monetised without attribution, acknowledgment, respect and royalty, it has to be considered daylight robbery. Worse, when the ‘ dubious claiming to be owners ‘(I have no compunction in calling them thieves) of the idea begin to flaunt it cockily all over social media, neither does it make for pleasant viewing or an easily digestable experience. If any of you have traveled in the same boat, it is time to rock it together. Let us not remain just chat bo(a)ts.

 

 

I am (almost) certain that iconic businesses are not made this way. Nor are iconic entrepreneurs or executives. Cons don’t become icons. They might savor the interim thrill of the non existing chase (because they got it on a platter from someone or somewhere else) of the new shiny object and bask in the after glow. One shallow does not make a summer. Or does it?

 

 

This malaise is not restricted to the non playing captains of zilch honor and high disrepute. It is systemic and has transcended like beg bugs and termites into the sanctum sanctorums of decision making in organisations and countries. Probably the culture (sleight of) handbook there is captioned ‘ With Nothing But Malaise Towards One and All ‘. With the preamble reading something like this ‘ Since we are totally incapable of doing anything original and worthwhile, the solemn promise we make to ourselves is to NOT do anything that remotely involves sincerity, authenticity, bonafide intent and commitment. That said, we reassure all our stakeholders that we will do everything in our might to steal, connive, manipulate, fraud , short change other people and organisations so that we can move around with our fed held high and head held low. In dignity, we mistrust ‘.

 

 

You and me might have heard of cheat days but there is a small community of people ( con artists) and organisations that have taken this art form and scaled it exponentially- they have redefined it as cheat weeks, cheat months, cheat years and have the despicable intent to make this into an established perennial money and reputation looting assembly line.

 

 

Still waters run deep. Steal waters remain shallow. How about this as a tagline:

 

 

To all the con artists on STEALettos:

 

‘ I con, therefore I can ‘-option 1

 

‘ The art of the cheat ‘-option 2

 

 

Welcome your thoughts please.

 

 

ENDS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A ROM COM Called ” Meritocracy “

Merit might seem like a ROM COM, but there is merit in talking about it I guess.

 

Meritocracy is our social ideal, particularly among good liberals. Equality of opportunity, but not of outcome.

 

To this day, the origin of the term meritocracy is widely attributed to the British sociologist Michael Young, who used it pejoratively in his book “The Rise of the Meritocracy “. For Young, merit is defined as intelligence plus effort.

 

The triumph of meritocracy as a social ideal was a turning point in human history. Before the Enlightenment, most societies were elaborately stratified- be it England‘s hierarchy of king, duke, earl, viscount, and baron, or China‘s imperial order of Emperor, heshuo qinwang, duoluo junwang, duoluo beile, and gushan beizi. In these regimes, the vast majority of people- peasants, servants, slaves – had little hope of bettering their station.

 

Many philosophers like John Locke, Charles Montesquieu and Jean Jacques Rousseau in fact questioned the idea of an unelected elite. On the eve of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine boldly proclaimed that ” of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived“. In Paine’s view, power was the gift of the people rather than the divine right of the monarch.

 

Meritocracy raises the returns on talent by ensuring that individuals are free to contribute and succeed, whatever their social rank or personal connections. That said, its troubling that bureaucracy – the world’s most ubiquitous social structure– systematically undermines the cause of meritocracy. A recent survey in the Harvard Business Review had 76% of big company respondents saying that political behaviors highly influence who gets ahead in the organisation.  Though in theory bureaucracy is a ranking of merit where those with exceptional abilities get promoted over those are less accomplished. But, in practice, organisations rarely come even remotely close to achieving this idea.

 

It is said that it is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other.

 

“That is the great danger of meritocracy: the people who reach the top of the system are precisely the people who have most completely identified with the system and its demands, creating a vicious circle preventing any actual change. It is no accident that conservatives tend to employ the rhetoric of social mobility so readily, as social climbers generally do not ask questions about the ladder.”

— Adam Kotsko

 

 

As I conclude, may I direct you to read this article in BrandKnew where Bridgewater Investments Founder Ray Dalio talks about Investing in Idea Meritocracy

 

ENDS

Same Circus, New Monkeys!

The world is going digital at a frenzied clip. It’s gone from being the flavour of the season to being the only reason for brand marketers and CMOs. In this sordid vortex of elation and over glorification with digital being heralded as the manna from heaven, the campaign hits are paraded for the world to see. There is hardly any mention of the innumerable misses that get lost in the wilderness.

Take a look at the average CMO tenure- it’s not going anywhere beyond 18-24 months(with some exceptions of course). If it’s a hit parade through and through on all campaigns, would this be the threshold duration?

So the next time you have a fire and hire issue for a CMO, please do remember what your new CMO will say:-

It doesn’t matter what the problem is..the answer will be:

  • we need to get more digital
  • we need to get more younger

You have a crappy product:

  • we need to get more digital
  • we need to get more younger

You have no discernible strategy:

  • we need to get more digital
  • we need to get more younger

Your advertising is a stupid pile of shit:

  • we need to get more digital
  • we need to get more younger

Your stores are filthy, your people are morons:

  • we need to get more digital
  • we need to get more younger

If you are looking for a marketing job, repeat after me:

  • we need to get more digital
  • we need to get more younger

It seems to be the universal marketing strategy that will get you get employed by any dumb ass organisation. Never mind that you will last only 18 months. Or 24 at best. There is always another sucker(dumb ass organisation I mean) around the corner. That needs your ‘ keen insights ‘.

Agreed we are now in an era where the 4Ps of marketing has seen a shift to personalisation, privacy, permissions & performance- fully respect the merits of these. But it sure does not offer a license to overlook fundamentals like product quality, your advertising content, the customer experience you deliver, the human resources you have and the market insights that drive your R&D. Ideally, could the true CMO combine the traditional 4Ps with the new age 4Ps? What a potent combination that would be!

There is already talk in some organisations around the world about making the CMO position redundant. So, let’s not do our bit to accelerate the demise.

Digitelly yours!

www.groupisd.com/story

www.brandknewmag.com

www.weeklileaks.com