Posted by gireesh on May 31st, 2010
It has been more than 3 years that I am active on Linkedin.
First time when my contemporary manager Tushar introduced me to Linkedin, I was excited. Suddenly my world has grown from a small cubicle of an unknown writer penning some technical stuff to a limitless world where I could see what was going in the minds of entrepreneurs, C-Level Executives, and top level professionals. My mind was linked with the greatest geniuses of the world, all in Free. Who says there is no free lunch?
Aha! It was mind-boggling, literally.
Soon, I was promoted as a Business Analyst >> Marketing manager and I started realizing the potential of Social Networks. I got connected to more important people day on day. I started feeling important. My confidence levels in the business meetings shot up. Now I could talk the language of managers and of business leaders. Both, my thought process & communication skills improved significantly.
Today I have around 21 CEOs as my first level Linkedin Connections, and a much larger number of CEOs as second level connections. To name a few, I am proudly connected to G. P. Singh, ZenFinancial, Dr. Janice Presser, The Gabriel Institute, Jessie Paul, PaulWriter, Sumeet Kapur, CEO, EmployWise, Bella Karakis, Core Element Ventures LLC, Krishna De, CEO BizGrowthMedia, Pradeep Chopra, Digital Vidya and many others.
Posted by gireesh on May 28th, 2010
Today I met a disgruntled employee in shared transport. This gentleman is a sales manager with a business solutions company and getting average salary. He complained to me that his salary is no where near his peers.
I really hate employees who continuously speak foul about their employers. Today all white collar employment are at will – if you don’t like it walk out of it. Search another job and quit.
So we two started a real time analysis on paper.
I believe worth of an employee is directly proportional to 4 things:
Posted by gireesh on May 28th, 2010
Of lately, everybody, especially large corporations have well understood the power of participatory media. Here is a small story in pictures, where a large bank in India responded to 2 tweets by two frustrated customers Pradeep and Gireesh. Let the picture speak the truth.
Social Media Particpants:
http://twitter.com/pradeepchopra
http://twitter.com/gireesh_sharma
http://twitter.com/ICICIBank_Care
This story is continued in my new post Social Media Works! Not only in Marketing but HR, customer service, word of mouth marketing, socializing….
Posted by gireesh on May 26th, 2010
A few days back I started making a list of my present and desirable skills and competencies that can make me a nearly perfect marketing enthusiast. I am as of now focusing on learning Macromedia Fireworks and creating some cool designs for my employer.
So I took an opportunity to unlock my mind and peep into it. Here is what I get:
In the mind of an e-marketing enthusiast!
Posted by gireesh on May 4th, 2010
CEO at Work - Scapel the Organization
While working with a CEO of a mid sized company, and doing a SWOT analysis of its various departments , especially HR and Marketing, we realised that as we asked hard questions about the company and people – he suddenly took a protective stance. The more we tried to take the topic on the weaknesses, the more he argued over the strengths.
We could sense his love for his company. We paused and said “Boss we know you have built a great company,and nobody denies that, but today we are here to discuss the weaknesses, not the strengths,so we can help you make your company better.”
While he felt uneasy, we as business consultants continued the critical analysis and finally created a list of 5 things that this company should do to move ahead and grow amidst the fiercest competition.
Most Business Leaders commit the mistake of loving their company. While it is absolutely justified to love one’s company and defend it , but not to an extent that its spoils the business culture and stops it from moving ahead.
CEOs can get more by criticising their organisation rather than defending its processes. While motivating people is a good thing to do, critically analysing the situation and improving based on scientific and management principles is key to improvement.
What many founder CEOs do when the business grows:
- They start loving their company
- Employees become Friends or enemies (within the office.)
- Mixing Professional Ego and Personal Ego
- Be victim of the inter-office politics. They become part of the game (played by their key team members) and thus loose control. Some will boast that there is No Politics in my Office, but it is a myth!
What should be done?
Posted by gireesh on April 25th, 2010
Do you still wonder why good candidates hesitate to join your company? Why candidates do not turn up for interviews? Or why many don’t join even after getting offer letters? Unless you are a top and coveted brand to work at, your recruitment depart face these challenges very often.
While there can be many reasons for candidates not joining, one of my friend declined to join a company because of the company’s poor online presence and an out-of-date recruitment process. He tried hard on google to know about the company, but more he searched , more his trust in the company weakened. Further during the interactions with the company, the recruitment process failed to impress him.
Employer Branding Matters
In a world of social media, most candidates google about the company, look at its website. They want to know about the history of the company, its employees, its work culture etc. They want to know the financial condition of the company. They may also look at the companies news, press releases, blog, videos etc. They will also go to Linkedin, Facebook, and a plethora of other social media sites. Well said by a character in one of the Indian movie “Paa”, “Where will you escape from google?”
