Visit to Gypsum Mine & Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Few weeks back I got opportunity to visit FAGMIL (FCI Aravali Gypsum & Minerals Ltd) at Jodhpur. FAGMIL is Public sector undertaking organization, setup by the Govt. of India for exploration 265 gypsum deposits with a reserve of more than 100 million tones. These Gypsum mines are scattered in vast & difficult Thar desert & are situated in Jaisalmer, Sri Ganganagar , Bikaner, & Barmer district. Mohangarh mines in Jaisalmer District has one of the best quality gypsum in Asia.

 

Gypsum powder is used in agriculture as a source of sulphur. Gypsum neutralises alcaline soils and improves the soil permeability and also help the penetration of water and air which are mainly prevented from circulating in alkaline soils. The major consumers of the Gypsum at present are cement industry. By weight about 4% to 6% gypsum in crushed condition is utilised in portland cement manufacture after mixing with cement/clinker. Gypsum is also used in plaster of Paris.

While returning from Jodhpur don’t forgot to enjoy famous pyaaj kachori & Mirchi bada.

 

Happy traveling! Good night.

Strategic Priorities & go-to-market initiatives

Now market is in good shape, it has recovered a lot and people in India are anticipating good growth rate in coming times. I have been traveling lot in India, during last couple of months, especially after recovery of market. I have visited lot of factories small and big, organized and unorganized, professional and unprofessional. One thing I have noticed that way in which we Indians are working is maturating. Small- small companies are focusing on concept of day to day field execution. In India developing strategies in some respect is easy part but executing that strategy in alignment with strategic priorities is real hard job.

Now a day’s most of the organizations are flooded with enquiries, but they do not have capacity to execute or full fill the orders. This is the only time when underdog can prove by making themselves proactive. It is often most difficult because you are dealing with combination of factors in business such as market analysis, strategy development, incentive, people management, developing a performance culture, and sustaining that culture in face of inevitable market changes that are often outside the control of selling company. Aligning strategy and sales is therefore critical to long-term revenue growth for most firms, and poor alignment means both direct and opportunity costs for companies. But it's especially critical for small entrepreneurial firms. They are often competing with bigger and better-resourced companies in their markets. They need to move faster and more coherently than big companies, and that means they must be better than big companies at aligning their strategic priorities and their go-to-market initiatives.

One must understand externals in business and their impact on sales. These externals are as follows:

1) Industry you compete in

2) Market segment where you choose to play

3) Nature of customer

Too often leaders of firms use their industry as an excuse for not doing the things that can, in fact, improve strategy execution and profits. It's very important to understand your industry and its market dynamics. But industry is not destiny. As usual in business, the important levers in aligning strategy and sales are committed leadership and management behaviors.

Across the industries you can find lot of companies that are successful in aligning strategy and sales and driving long term profitable growth. One such example is PACCAR, a producer of heavy-duty trucks that has been consistently profitable for over 70 years. It commanded a 10 to 15 percent price premium versus its competitors throughout this period. And over the past 10 years it realized an average total ROE of nearly 20 percent.

Hi & Hello has changed to YES SIR! YES SIR!

Today I did nothing. I slept & dozed. It was planned; in fact I was in need of good sleep. From last couple of days I could not sleep properly. Some time I feel that I put my leg in wrong job and wrong place. When in early morning I go for work I see lot of people jogging on the road – young and old, some of them with dog, young girls & boys with ipod plugged in their ears. I think how lucky they are.

From last couple of days I am trying to complete my partage of sleep by tiny-tiny forty winks, some time at airport, and some time with 5 minutes post lunch siesta or while traveling in the cab. Situation has worsened, two years back all was normal, and it was manageable to reach home by 8:30. But now ever growing traffic on NH-8 and with growing in-job complexity it has become difficult to reach before 10:00 in night.

One of my associate asked me –“you have just returned from Diwali vacation, still you are tired.” I simply replied yes. I don’t know how my colleague manages their work life balance? I have never seen anybody who says - today I am tired, there is headache, insufficient sleep, indigestion, bewailing wife and kids. I thing among my group I am the only weakest person who got afflicted once every month.

I thought why I got afflicted, why I always feel tired & irritated as week approaches to end. I realized I have changed, I have killed my hobbies, call duration of personal call on phone have drastically reduced, I never call my friends and family, and frequency of reading books has reduced, my garden has dried, I forgot sound of my bike, I failed twice to achieve GMAT score, I could not write blogs, I always forgot to say ‘I love u, u r most beautiful’ to my girl friend, I start neglecting my own health…..

Hi & Hello has changed to YES SIR! YES SIR!

Diwali Pooja

Obliquity – Why our goals are best achieved indirectly

If you want to go in one direction, the best route may involve going in another.

This is the concept of ‘obliquity’

If you want to go in one direction, the best route may involve going in another. This is the concept of ‘obliquity’: paradoxical as it sounds, many goals are more likely to be achieved when pursued indirectly. Whether overcoming geographical obstacles, winning decisive battles or meeting sales targets, history shows that oblique approaches are the most successful, especially in difficult terrain.

Obliquity is necessary because we live in an world of uncertainty and complexity; the problems we encounter aren’t always clear – and we often can’t pinpoint what our goals are anyway; circumstances change; people change – and are infuriatingly hard to predict; and direct approaches are often arrogant and unimaginative.