This morning, I want to share with you three things that have been on my mind since the start of this day. The first came out of an article that I read by Mckinsey and Company, entitled "Thinking Outside The Bottle," written by Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Company, Muhtar Kent. What really got my attention was this line that he used. He said, "Companies that come into India need to accept the market for what it is and not as they wish it to be." I thought that it was a keen insight, not only in terms of markets but also in terms of our own lives. Sometimes we go into situations and want it to be the kind of situation that we would like it to be. We start at that point and then completely miss the mark because it is not.
Muhtar Kent brings a rare insight into Indian markets when he says, "You've got to understand the Indian market scene first and then begin to see how you can operate a business within that scenario." He talks about the time when he was a little boy in India. He actually spent two years here; his father was a Turkish diplomat posted in India. He remembers the variety and the spices and the smells and colors that impacted him at that time. But he says, "All of that helped me understand culture when I came into India, because I realized that family-owned businesses were so integral to community. That's how we started moving the Coke products into the family stores. There we met challenges because there was no cooling, no electricity, not enough infrastructure for so many things." He realized that while they gave a product like Coke, they also had to provide the right infrastructure.
He talks about one of the cool things that they did in developing it was to have a product called the eKOCool, which was a solar-powered mobile cooler that was then introduced into thousands of rural Indian villages that lacked electricity and yet, was able to provide a cool bottle of Coke to people.
That was a rare insight from an outside person on perspective of doing business in India. "Accept the market for what it is, not for what you wish it to be."
The second thing that came to my mind today was in terms of feedback that we receive or give. How often, when we talk to people and are about to give them some kind of feedback, we see them cross their arms and get into almost defensive postures. A lot of the time, the feedback that is given is more destructive than constructive feedback. Yet, feedback is something that is so important because it allows us to know and understand how the process that we are using, is being seen by other people.
So as I was looking at this whole idea of feedback, I decided to throw out a couple of things to you on how to give good constructive feedback. Good constructive feedback can be, both, positive and negative. It is negative when you already have a goal in mind. When the goal is defined, then the feedback will always be negative. It would be something like: "Don't do that because the person is veering away from the goal." But if the specific goal is not very clear, if it is ambiguous and you are working towards something, then the feedback should be positive. "That's a good start. Keep going so that one is able to understand that it's a good movement from a beginning point but we still haven't reached the point where we can say – we've arrived. This is what we wanted to do."
The other aspect of feedback is to be able to give the feedback in a way that allows the person to understand immediately what needs to be done. So often we start by saying a lot of nice things and the person who is listening to it is really waiting for the 'but' at the end. Because you will say all of these nice things and then, "But, what I would also like to tell you is that you need to be able to do this or that better." And all the initial good that was spoken has been negated by 'but'.
I thought that a better word is 'However' or 'despite this'. Come clean with the feedback that you need to give. "Let's be very clear: this is what you need to change. However, you've been doing a good job till now. I think all the good that is coming out of it is tremendous." So the person is left with something positive to go on.
I love this article that said, "Find the Gold in Toxic Feedback" by Fernando Bartolomé and John Weeks. Basically, they say, "We need to think like alchemists." If you remember, alchemy was a science used in the middle ages with the goal of changing ordinary metals into gold. But it is also the power or process that changes or transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way – turning something common into something special. "Good managers are good alchemists. Good listeners are good alchemists. They are able to look at something that could be toxic, harmful or very negative and say, 'How can I take this and mine it and make it gold?'" I thought that was the way we should take feedback and give feedback as well.
Thirdly, I want to say with a little sadness this morning. I got a SMS that said that one of our regular listeners on Corporate Capsules, Mr. Pradeep, lost a colleague yesterday. A young man 34 years old, had a heart attack and passed away, leaving behind a 4 year old child and a pregnant wife. I was so saddened by it. Our prayers are with Mr. Pradeep and his colleague's family and I want to submit that to you for your consideration.
Accept the market for what it is and not for what you wish it to be. Accept situations for what they are. We always need to go into situations and say, "This is what it is, but this is what I would like it to be." Friends, we are entering Christmas time and I think about the birth of Jesus and I think that that's exactly what God did. He sent Jesus to our world, into the kind of world that we are in, exactly as it is, with all its vileness and negativity. He did this to show us a way to His perfect world. He came into the world that is, to take us into a world that can be. That's a lovely example of God in our midst.
Let's pray together. Almighty God. Help us to know the kind of world we live in, the kind of markets we work in. help us to then move into those markets and then bring about change. Help us to be constructive in our feedback to others and even as we listen to feedback, to be able to understand feedback and be able to mine it for the nuggets that are in it. We also remember this friend who lost a colleague. We pray for the family, that You would minister to them. At the same time I pray for each one on this call. Help us to remain strong, help us to be healthy, to take care of ourselves and our families. We pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
• Muhtar Kent, "Thinking Outside the Bottle." http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/Asia-Pacific/Thinking_outside_the_bottle?cid=reimagining_india-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1312
• Huitt, W. (2004). The importance of feedback in human behavior. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date], from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/behavior/feedback.html
• Alchemy definition, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alchemy
• Fernando Bartolomé and John Weeks, "Find the Gold in Toxic Feedback."http://hbr.org/2007/04/find-the-gold-in-toxic-feedback/ar/1
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