The Art of Choosing - A Book Review

I picked up this book called "The Art of Choosing" by Sheena Iyenger hoping to get greater insight into the minds of the consumers I much yearn to address as a marketeer. I wanted to understand if I could influence the choices of buyers. Well, the book has gone far more deeper than just about the choice of a consumer & dealt with the entire psychology of every choice that we make in life. It has brought forward the fact that much as we think that choices are made by us, we also are eventually made by them. What we choose to accept eventually turns around and shapes our lives and that choice is influenced by factors like culture, society, multitude of choices etc.

Human Behaviour & Social Network

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin & the rest are viewed as just social networks by most of us. But recently I realised how these networks have tagged on to the human behaviour and thus created a revolution. I had joined Facebook in 2007 to stay connected with mostly my non-Indian classmates (it hadn't picked up among my Indian friends yet). The social network at that time was mostly a medium to get in touch with old school friends and maintain contact with graduation friends, atleast for commoners like me.

Networking has however moved beyond in the last few years. Facebook creators identified an age old human behaviour of curiousity to pry or know more about friends and acquaintances and introduced a unique home-page which doesn't talk about us but what our friends are doing and saying on the network.

Isn't gender Equality a Reality?

I am the daughter of a bengali mother who dared to take mathematics (instead of arts, which was the trend among her peers) as a subject of honors in graduation, in the late 1970s. I am the progeny of a bengali engineer father who never differentiated between his son and daughter. I was made to believe from the early nineties of the 20th century that men and women are equal. But, here i stand a decade into the 21st century and a colleague tells me that the philosophy of gender equality is Utopia.

Where is Empathy?

Happy Holi to all reading my post. The festival of colours pretty unique to India is a much-awaited occassion for most youngsters and families.

During my school days this was the most exciting festival for me as well. Time to go crazy with loads of colours, freedom to wet friends with coloured water & loads of sweets from elders for putting a bit of colour on them.

But down the years the charm has slowly passed away. Why?

Leaders across Public and Private

Ever since my introduction to the corporate world, I have been wondering or rather wanting to compare how running a private organisation is different from running a government. Some differences are evident, i.e. government has much bigger targets especially when it comes to running a nation as large as India. Also, here the stakeholders are the citizens of the nation & since lives are moulded by government's decisions the responsibility of the ones running a government are higher than one running a private holding. (Not saying that the ones with responsibility always live up to it or are more talented)

The fact that there is a lot of resemblance in the act of governance and running a business, became further clear, when I read about Nandan Nilekani being offered the role of chairman in the Unique Identity Authority of India. Creating unique identity for each and every citizen of a 1.14bn+ population is not only ambitious but one of the biggest challenges. Ofcourse, once the challenge is attained, hopefully governments will be able to address a number of loopholes existing in various systems & sectors.

Power of Consumers

Till a few years back conversations in marketing were B2B & B2C, today social media has enabled C2B (Consumer to Business) and C2C (Consumer to Consumer) conversations.
Consumers now play a major influence in how & what a company communicates across all media.

Some of the key tools are active consumer forums and most known Twitter, FB and the likes.

Fast Forward Generation

Few days back I had a chance to meet an industrialist who made it to the top all by herself. She obliged us by letting us know the story to the top. It was a story of hard-work, patience, insight and much more.

I wouldn't name the industrialist but I would definitely say that she has made something out of her life. She and her husband worked together to build an empire of their own and she didn't hesitate to mention the mansion like house across the beach was the dessert she deserved after 25 years of dedication to their business.