All roads lead to Rome

This is an old saying which we learnt in grade 5 or 6. And I am a little sheepish in claiming that I didn’t know the actual origin of this term.

At the height of the Roman Empire they had built about 13000 km of roads in the Gaul region(the Western European region) now part of France, Belgium etc. and about 4000km of what is now considered Britain and in other areas of Europe.

One of the core principles of the Roman doctrine was to build roads so that the Roman armies could move fast and was the reason for their undisputed might.

All the central or key roads used to terminate in Rome so that the transportation of the army from the central location to any direction was quick.

So why did I decide to look at the roads of the Roman Empire. It started because I was delving into railway line gauges- the width between the inner ends of the railway track.

Globally most railway tracks are built on what is called as standard gauge. In India we now follow what’s called the broad gauge network for all our railway lines. Initially we also followed the standard gauge or what was known in India as meter gauge.

We had to convert to broad gauge because the only way to carry a large population cost effectively in a developing country like India was to accommodate more people per journey.

So if there’s a broader track, you can have broader bogies and when you have broader bogies you can accommodate more people in a bogey.

However now most of our metro and high speed trains that are coming are coming with standard gauge. Which led me to research the size of the standard gauge -Its 4feet 8 and 1/2 inches. This is a very odd figure.

That led me to the history of the development of the standard gauge to Britain, in a town which had coal mines. Which had old remains of roads of the Roman Empire of that width.

Till then I didn’t know that the Roman Empire had extended all the way to Britain. Which made me research where else it had gone. And that brought me to the way the Empire had constructed its road network.

You see how a search for one item led me all the way back to an Empire which existed more than 3000 years back but which still impacts the diameter of the engine of the space shuttle – 4ft 8 and 1/2 inches.

Till next time time then look out, history impacts our decisions today.

Carpe Diem!!!

Gratitude

Gratitude, mindset, possibility thinking, Uncategorized

I have written a lot about Karma and gratitude even if you don’t believe in God. I have generally used these things with the view that the Universe conspires to do good to people who do good for others.

In the last few days you would have noticed I have written a lot about the book by Steven Kotler , The Art of Impossible, that I am reading.

In this book I came across actual research data by Barbara Fredrickson, that spoke about positivity ratios and that it takes about 3 positive thoughts to nullify the effects of a negative thought.

What better way to get positive thoughts in your mind than being gracious about what you have achieved, being thankful for that.

There will always be things about which you can feel bad. Someone overtakes you on the road from the wrong side or the ticket clerk at the metro station didn’t behave properly. Our mind has the ability to spiral out of control with negative thoughts. More than the thought itself, its the emotion with which we think about the thought that causes the bigger problem.

When you are thanking God, the Universe or whoever for what you have, and where you have reached from where you started the emotions just can’t be negative. When the mind starts having gratitude multiple times a day, slowly the mind gets more restful I have noticed. Maybe its the positivity ratios which kick in. Once the mind is more restful, you start having better ideas for solving problems. Possibility thinking helps find more options to solve the same problem.

When you solve problems, there’s a dopamine kick which comes in which makes you feel even better and the positive spiral starts.

I first got introduced to this idea by Tony Robbins but didn’t actually follow it religiously. But I saw some videos by Dan Sullivan, in which he spoke about how people with a gratitude mindset are able tot create more abundance. That got me hooked on to this idea and since then I have been following it very religiously.

Till next time then, be grateful for what you have today.

Carpe Diem!!!

Leverage

Leverage, Marketing, Marketing Ecosystem, relationships, Sales, Uncategorized

When you think of the word leverage it generally ends up with a negative image intended mind. It sounds like being in debt.

In financial terms, leverage can have some negative connotation but today I am going to talk about the positive effects of leverage.

Archimedes is supposed to have said “give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world.” The biggest advantage of leverage that with very small effort you can achieve massive results. Little hinges swing large doors.

Moving in your car versus walking is leverage, automating a factory is leverage and all these help tremendously

In marketing (and sales also as part of marketing ) there are tremendous processes where we can leverage on things like automation etc.

But my favorite kind of leverage is relationships. These could be relationships with customers, relationships with vendors or your network. If you have enough good relationships in place, as Archimedes mentioned in a different context, you can grow your business dramatically.

However in any relationship is always better to give, before you get. That way the principle of reciprocity comes into play. Otherwise the person will feel exploited or used.

Other than relationships good sales people are tremendous leverage. A successful advertisement / message in one market can be leverage to get into other markets faster.

A CRM can help the new salesperson on speed faster to the accounts that she needs to target because all the historical information about the prospect is available.

A family of aspirational products and brands are also leverage for the company.

I would love to hear what is your favorite leverage in marketing or sales.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Getting blindsided

B2B, Marketing, Product Management, Technology, Uncategorized

Yesterday I wrote about my experience taking the COVID-19 vaccine.

Well yesterday late night the side effects of taking the vaccine started showing. I had so much weakness that all night and all day today, I was only sleeping.

Why am I telling this. It’s a known fact that there are side effects of taking the vaccine.

What is important though is that I got blindsided by the intensity of the weakness. Due to this I had to cancel all my meetings today.

In the technology market you can get blindsided so very often. A lot of you may have heard of the mobile phone brand Nokia. It was the number one brand and then it got blindsided by Apple with their iPhone. Today you don’t even hear about Nokia mobile phones.

For a product manager in the technology space, where the pace of change is so rapid its very easy to get blindsided and suddenly your product is not needed by your customers.

For today, this is all since I am still having a lot of weakness.

Carpe Diem!!!