Inflation ; Cause and Control from a rank Amateur

I am not a statistician. Nor am I an economist or even an Industry top honcho. Nor am I anyone backed by reams of data on economic growth, consumer purchasing pattern etc. I am an ordinary upper middle class person staying in India’s most expensive city: Gurgaon.

To me Gurgaon used to represent the shining beacon of New India’s global ambition. Its cosmopolitan culture inspired me for most of the seven years which I have spent here. So much so was I blinded by Gurgaon that when my company decided to relocate to Mumbai , I chose to resign from my high paying job to set up my own consultancy practice here.

I do not regret the decision of not moving to Mumbai. Yet in the last one and a half years the rose colour of my glasses seems to have faded somewhat. Off late I am noticing the cracks behind the spectacular growth story of this millennium city. This disturbs me as I see this impacting India’s future in the long run.

In the new India’s coming of age which I see through Gurgaon, I draw a parallel to America’s evolution. America, the erstwhile land of opportunity where hardy pioneers braved unknown dangers and an extremely hostile environment to give birth to a new nation. America also has a tumultuous history , the Civil War ,  the great depression , World War 2  , the Vietnam war , the political assassinations to name a few. Yet it was this pioneer stock which set the foundation for America’s leadership in innovations. Be it the car, telephones, railroad, heavy engineering, space exploration, office machines, Entertainment, Computers it was America which set the trend. I think all this innovation was fuelled by need. Need of a country, need of an individual. A nation had to be built from scratch and somewhere the building process brought out the best in its citizens.  Today when we think of America, these images may not come to our mind. Today when we think of US we may think of the recession; a fall out of the subprime crisis. It brought to light the extent of the rot which had seeped into corporate America. A nation which a few decades back had led the world in manufacturing innovations today manufactures the highest number of Lawyers and MBAs.

There may be many reasons for this erosion. I think this simply happened because Need was substituted by Greed.

Greed is dangerous. It is a cancer which kills its own host. Greed is fuelled by instant gratification. And it is this evidence of moving towards instant gratification which I see happening in front of my eyes.  I see it invading our society and eroding our robust value systems inherited from our parents.

We blame inflation and corruption as some of the biggest banes in our lives.  Both are driven by greed. ”Corruption, Yes…but inflation? No, not possible. That is the Government’s fault. I am a victim of inflation” ,we exclaim.

Let me explain. I understand inflation as a mismatch between supply and demand.  Too much money chasing too few things.

Let us look at demand factors with 4 examples which I have observed in Gurgaon.

1^st example : Over the last 1 year I have noticed that the number of cars in my block seem to have doubled. Yet more than 50% of the cars remain in their parking bays every working day. It seems we are purchasing more cars but not using them.

2^nd example:At a hypermarket in my locality I see shoppers piling the shopping carts with big bottles of soft drinks , chips , snacks amongst other things and then queuing up to pay with a credit card and that too on the last days of the month.

3^rd example: While taking a morning walk at 7 .00 a.m.   I routinely see some parents sitting with their children waiting for their school buses with the car engine idling and the ACs running.  I was of the opinion that the petrol prices affected everyone.

4^th example: I see young couples purchasing 3-4 bedroom flats in Gurgaon for Rs.1 Crore and above without batting an eyelid on a combined annual income of Rs.20-30 L.

In all the 4 examples I see Greed as more of a driving force than Need. This has me worried. We are consuming more to fulfil our greed. Some of you might say so what? The disposable incomes have gone up so why should an individual not have the right to enjoy life in his or her way?

My question is that are we capable of handling this high income? I think the answer is no.

I recall in the 1980s when the Maruti 800 hit the Indian Roads, there was a steep increase in the number of road accidents in Delhi. Indians brought up on a diet of the leisurely moving Fiats and Ambassadors, found the rapid acceleration power under their feet exhilarating and they just could not control it.  It was then; speed limits were imposed on the Delhi Roads. An external measure to impose control on human behaviour.

In inflation too, the government is trying to impose external speed limits in terms of hiking interest rates, but the main control for inflation is in our hands.  We can choose to live our lives with things to fulfil our needs. Spend on what fulfils our need and not what fans our greed.  Conservative living does not mean Spartan living. It just means living happily well within our means. It means buying 1 television set which the family can share. It means showering our families with love and time instead  of gadgets and gizmos. It means being a parent and passing the same core values which were passed us on to us by our parents.  I think if each of us takes even 1 small step in this we will see the impact if not in terms of increased savings then definitely in terms of increased happiness.

I think conservative living will also impact the supply to some extent. At least voracious real estate companies will think twice before acquiring agricultural land at dirt cheap prices to build high end residential complexes which we rush to buy and pay with our souls to keep the EMIs from piling up.

Let us not become another America.

It is up to us actually.

The 8 Fold Path on Emailing which no Corporate Fresher should Ignore

‘Finally made it’ is the exultation every fresher feels on Day 1 of entering the corporate world. All the slogging, the applications, the group discussions seem worth the effort as you walk in to the office which has placed its faith in your capabilities and offered you a coveted place in their team. It is at this moment, you feel omnipotent and infused with a sense of mission to make your impact in the corporate world. At the starting point of the corporate marathon, you want to put your best foot forward.  As you crouch at the racing point staring at the race track ahead you feel confident about your capabilities.

At this point you may not be able to see some potential hurdles which can slow down your speed and progress and must  be avoided in the beginning of the corporate life.

Today I want to inform you about one of them; Emailing.

While a lot of new comers make the transition from college to corporate in areas like dress code, punctuality etc., many slip in making the transition in emailing.

 Emails are the life blood of a corporate. They flow through every corner of the corporate transferring information, decisions, and opinions in a continuous flow. It won’t be uncommon for your boss to get 100 plus emails a day. And hence in this deluge of emails it is important that your emails stand out and add to your personal brand rather than weaken it.

Let us talk about the 8 things you need to know about corporate emailing etiquettes. It might be better if you repeat this as an oath after me

1.       I will not use my ‘cool’ sounding email id for sending corporate emails.  Cooldude@gmail.com might have made me a hit in college but here all it can do is hit my perception of being a mature professional. During a recruiting process, I happened to interview a candidate whose email id cannot be printed here for obvious reasons. However let us say that the email id mentioned in his CV, there was more appropriate on a anonymous dating site. Needless to say , this weakened his candidature and final was not selected. Hence let us repeat ;  I will only use my official email id for official purposes.

2.       I will always remember to put the subject in the subject space of every single email I send. An ex Regional Manager of my team would always send 6 out of 10 mails without a subject. Whether it was an customer request, a special rate for an Institution , information on the resignation on a team member , they all had one thing in common ; No Subject. While I enjoy the surprise of a lucky dip , I disliked playing lucky dip in opening emails and wondering what would be the surprise in it. Hence let us repeat;  I will remember that it is the most irritating thing for my boss to get an email without a subject mentioned.

3.       I will always remember that corporate email is not the same as sms. This happened when I had taken a new assignment with a team. I had mailed a data requirement to one of my enthusiastic team members. Was just logging off for the day when in pops this mail. Hi Boss, I wanna mail u data 2nite. Plz go thru’. And what was worse , it was marked to other senior people in the organisation. Believe me, this is a habit if not nipped can spell career suicide. Hence let us repeat; I will refrain from using sms language in emails.

4.       I will always remember my boss does not like to play detective where he/she has to search with all his/her skills to find the nuggets of meaning which I have carefully hidden in my long verbose email.  Friends, I have received mails where the mail matter was almost 24 lines long written in a rambling tone wanting to convey to the field managers that they should send the number of prescribers for the new product within a deadline. Needless to say the response rate to this mail was not even 1%. I am sure that almost everybody must have opened the mail but just did not read the same. Hence, let us repeat ; I will always remember that in emailing Less is more.

5.       I will always remember not to pass forwards / chain mails to my boss for him / her to forward to his / her unsuspecting bosses and peers as he / she will hate me for not only adding to his /her email overload but also for giving him the fear of the consequences of breaking the chain.  I am sure all of you would have experienced this. The cryptic subject matter saying ‘PLS DO NOT DELETE’ and when you open it you see a photograph , message which tells you what to do to get luck and the risk of incurring the wrath of the universe if you do not forward the same to at least 7 unsuspecting people. Frankly , like any God fearing person I used to act on the request but cursing the person who sent me the mail. One day ,
with a small apology to God , I deleted the mail.  I think God understood and did not mind my deleting the same. Hence, let us repeat; I will not forward chain mails to my peers and bosses, rather I will with courage delete the mail and have faith in God.

6.       I will always remember to think who needs to be marked a copy of the email before going berserk with the cc button and the address book. Email is free and unlike normal mail one does not incur a cost for sending to every additional recipient. The single most apparent reason some mail writers add cc it ‘to keep everyone in the loop’. It however speaks of lack of clarity in thinking and decision making. Putting so many loops can sometimes result in a noose for your interpersonal relationships. Hence, repeat; I will always ask myself , why am I sending this email and use my judgement to decide every single recipient of my email.

7.       I will always remember not to unnecessarily prolong a back and forth mail on a particular subject. This is most commonly seen in inter department mails which are  fuelled by the desire to prove the other department wrong on a thorny issue. I have seen mails being served back and forth 15 times till the original issue get lost in the muck of back and forth mails. Email is to surface and resolve issues and not to play a prolonged game of ‘who is right’ ping pong. Hence, Let us repeat; I will not allow more than 2 sets of back and forth emails before I pick up the phone and try to resolve the issue with a frank talk with the other person.

8.       I will always remember that it is more convenient for my boss to read a one page note pasted on the mail body rather than send  an attachment where he / she has to waste one click to open the same. Just a simple maths , for your boss who might receive close to 100 plus mails a day every click is an interruption. My experience says that one saves approximately 10 seconds from opening and closing an attachment. More importantly , a non attachment mail is faster to act on as relevant points can be highlighted and mailed for further action by the your boss.  Hence, let us repeat; I will try to save time for my boss by not sending him 1 pager attachments.

I am sure you can think of a couple of more think of more points. Remember, the written word is a record which leaves an indelible mark on your perception.  Its abundance, ease of use, cost and access makes us careless in using emails. Treat emails like you would any resource which is scarce and precious. Use it sparingly and effectively and you will truly understand the phrase that as far as emails are concerned, ‘LESS IS MORE’.