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Introduction
“Take up one idea. Make that one idea
your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain,
muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave
every other idea alone. This is the way to success that is way great spiritual
giants are produced.” - Swami Vivekananda
Indians are known for their inherent
talent in mathematics internationally and Indian youth for their talent in
information technology. Indians are not
only known for their interests in cinema and cricket but also for their
passions in various other areas.
However, predominantly India
is known for its excellence in IT and mathematics. We have the world class
technical manpower and talent that is unparalleled. We have the largest English speaking
population in the world. But why are we still lacking our leadership position
at the global level? Small countries
like Japan, Singapore and Germany marched ahead in various
sectors despite their geographical limitations and constraints. What ails India? It is time to diagnose where we lack. It is time to take stock of the situation by
analyzing our strengths and overcoming weaknesses, managing threats and
exploring opportunities.
In the past we blamed British for all
the ills and the mess they had left for India at the time of independence.
Sometimes we blame democracy for all the ills as politicians serve their
interests than serving the interests of the people. And few Indian politicians played the role of
British and divided the country in religion, regional, linguistic, cultural and
caste lines during post - independence era.
However, the silver lining over the dark cloud is that we have survived
as a democratic country for more than 64 years and we are the largest democracy
in the world. We are also going good economically because of our inherent hard
working abilities and tenacity.
Most of the Indian youth are ambitious
and driven. In addition, most of the
Indian youth who come out of educational institutions are quick learners and
thinkers and conceptually agile. They
come out with simplistic models and numbers and have ability to diagnose the
situations through given data.
Precisely, Indian youth are incisive, decisive and inclusive. Their technological adaptability is amazing
and their level of learning is unparalleled.
However, Indian youth still face several challenges to lead better life.
Challenges
for Indian Youth
There are several challenges Indian
youth are currently facing. They are
lack of employability skills, soft skills, entrepreneurial skills and
leadership skills. These four skills are the four pillars for rapid progress of
Indian youth. For instance, lack of employability skills lead to dearth of
employment opportunities; lack of soft skills lead to losing the employment;
lack of entrepreneurial skills lead to working under someone rather setting up
their own enterprises and, finally, lack of leadership skills lead to mere
managing the things than leading from front.
If Indian youth take care of these four skills sky is the limit for
them. They can achieve anything and
everything as these skills equip them with adequate ammunition to take on
challenges head-on.
Indian
Youth – Unlock Your Potential
Indian youth have huge potential. If they know their real potential and uncork
they can achieve anything. If they know
their talents they can script their success stories. India’s growth lies in the hands of
Indian youth as they constitute major portion of Indian population. If they get
good guidance from educators, parents and society, they will be able to take India to
greater heights of glory thus achieving super power status soon. Hence, the
intellectuals, thinkers, educators and parents must work on their strengths to
unlock their potential for the benefit of our country. They must also channel their energies and
efforts in a right direction. We lost
our super power status to the world several centuries ago. It is the time where all responsible citizens
and thinkers must work and ensure that India stages a smart come back as a
super power.
Aspirations
of Indian Youth
I wanted to know what is in the minds
of Indian youth. Therefore, I conducted
a poll for a group of students who were pursuing their management
education. The students belonged to
various multinational companies working in both in junior and middle level positions
with an age group of 24 to 35. They
actively participated in the poll. I
asked them the following questions:
- What
are the three main challenges the Indian youth facing currently?
- What
are their expectations and aspirations?
- Where
do they see India
by 2030?
The responses for these questions are
as follows:
Majority of the students feel the
current challenges are due to outdated educational system followed by lack of
guidance. The other responses include, lack
of employability skills, identity crisis, technology, excessive westernization,
corruption, lack of opportunities, information overload, time management, lack
of freedom, regional imbalances, lack of clarity in their goals and
direction. Finally, the other challenges
facing them are health issues and losing moral values. Therefore, we will discuss these challenges
in the next chapters. We will also
discuss the challenges that prevent India from becoming a developed country and
as a global super power.
Here is an interesting case study that
helps you think out of the box.
Case
Study - What Is In It For You?
“The entrepreneur in us sees
opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere
they look. The entrepreneur in us is more concerned with discriminating between
opportunities than he or she is with failing to see the opportunities.” -
Michael Gerber
Marshall was an ethical entrepreneur with vast
experience. He was bankrupt in business
due to the external political problems in the host country leaving him
insolvent. However, he did not lose his
heart as entrepreneurs are basically brave hearted.
He returned his home country and
requested for help from couple of close friends. They refused to help as they thought that
extending hand was inviting problems for themselves. However, a childhood friend, Robert came
forward to lend him 100 bags of sugar with each bag containing 100 kilograms at
a price of one dollar per kilogram. But
Robert imposed a condition that the amount should be paid within a week. If the goods were not sold completely, the
left over unsold stock along with the cash had to be refunded by the end of the
week. Marshall had agreed to take 100 bags containing
sugar as per the terms and conditions of Robert.
He started selling the stocks of sugar
in loose quantity at the cost of one dollar per kilogram. That means at the cost price. He liquidated the stocks and paid back the
amount to Robert regularly within a week.
He did in this way regularly. Did
Marshall get
any profit out of it? If so, what were
the other advantages out of such transactions for a businessperson? Just think.
Solutions
For every problem there will be
multiple solutions. Similarly, in the
given scenario, there are number of ideas hidden behind the business
transactions of Marshall. Let us briefly
analyze few of them.
Since Marshall was taking the quantity of sugar in
bags he could sell each empty bag and could make profit although he was selling
the stocks at cost price in loose quantity.
Over a period of time, Marshall would generate
goodwill as he was selling at reasonable rates. More customers would pour in to
buy sugar and also they would ask for more related groceries/items so that
everything would be available under one roof.
He could include other items in small quantity where he would sell at
nominal profits thus enjoying profits directly in ancillary items without
hiking the selling price of sugar.
He could also increase the volume of
business and get profits by selling the empty bags. Since the time frame given to pay either cash
or unsold stocks was one week, there was another way to generate more
profits. For instance, he could sell his
stocks in loose quantity within two days itself and negotiate with other
suppliers at discounted price as he would buy the stocks against cash. In any business transaction, cash is
king. In the given scenario, Marshall
was taking stocks at a price of one dollar against credit. Hence, he could buy at a price less than a
dollar and sell the stocks at one dollar and enjoy the difference in profits
per kilogram. In volume business, the
profits become more although the profits appear to be meager per each kilogram
of sugar.
If he could sell the stocks within two
days against cash purchase from other suppliers, he could do another rotation resulting
into more profits. Depending upon the sales, he could do multiple rotations
resulting into more profits without any capital investment. It may also happen that Marshall might get stocks from other
suppliers against credit at the same cost he was taking against credit from
Robert as he created a marketing base for himself. He could sell the stocks at the same price he
was selling earlier and also he could enjoy the profits as he was getting the
stocks at a lower price and that too against credit. Gradually Marshall could take the stocks from
other suppliers instead of taking from Robert.
Marshall
could also negotiate with Robert and take stocks at lesser price thus keeping
friendship and doing business as well.
In the long run, other suppliers could
approach Marshall
for lending their other items on credit as he earned good will and trust from
his suppliers and from the customers as well.
Marshall could provide the door delivery of
the stocks by hiking the price thus enjoying profits on goods. However, he had to hire extra manpower for
door delivery of stocks.
He could also take the unbranded sugar
in bulk, and brand them by adding value and sell at a higher price because of
the branding and packaging. Marshall could easily say
that his products had superior quality with value added features and coolly
enjoy the decent returns. To go
further, he could brand the items depending on the income level of the
customers and sell the stocks accordingly.
Once he was flushed with his own
capital Marshall
could sell the products with little higher price on credit to customers
depending on their credibility and goodwill thus enjoying at higher
profits. He could keep two prices for
two types of customers – cash customers and credit customers. Likewise he could eat the cake and have it
too.
Once business gets established Marshall could sell the
stocks as per the prevailing market rate without selling at discounted prices
and without compromising the quality of goods and services as customers were
habituated to buying from him.
Lessons
For the success of any business
venture, business acumen is more important.
Although capital is the essence of any venture, we find several
entrepreneurs reaching from nowhere to number one position without any capital
investment. It is basically because the
values, principles, trust and goodwill apart from other things such as ability
to see the invisible and the capability to go by the road less traveled.
Entrepreneurship is more of a passion
than an option. It is all about taking
risks and willing to experiment with right business acumen. It is the ability
to exhibit tenacity and resilience and staying focused on your goals. It is the ability to hit the bulls’ eye
without giving up. To sum up, entrepreneurship
is not for faint hearted but for brave hearted.
References
Spirit of Indian Youth – Soft Skills
for Young Managers
Life is great!
Professor M.S.Rao, India
Founder of MSR
Leadership Consultants India
Listed
in Marquis Who's Who in the World in 2013
Vision 2030 Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCO-gWmTRk
Twitter: @professormsrao
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