I am amazed at the various self help and self development books that are currently on the best sellers’ lists. This clearly indicates that many people are looking for a road map to develop and succeed in their life quests. Most seem to be newer edits or versions of age old truths which are just written differently using new jargon and acronyms. Yet, they sell and many become best sellers. I wonder who buys these books and what do they do with them? If the books do work, there should be a gradual decline in demand for them as people would be succeeding in achieving their goals. One reason could be that people read these books, but few bother to practice what is recommended. But I think there is a majority who do implement the suggestions but yet they continue to seek out the next self help book that comes along. Why is that? My theory is that successful people have a formula, but there is nothing that should be considered a universal success formula. Each one of us is unique and we have varying strengths and weaknesses in our abilities and personalities. Some of us are excellent in planning and leading a structured life, while some cannot function without a chaotic environment.

1. Leadership Challenges - Be aware of
a Leading Company 21st Century
The human spirit will not invest in
mediocrity, on any Vision
Statement
Unknown
Learning and Development Centre
for Excellence SPCL SJ Sarwan

2. Have a Living Funeral
An old Indian Fore lore goes like this, an Indian
maharaja who would engage in a bizarre
morning ritual every day, immediately after
waking up, he would celebrate his own funeral,
complete with music and flowers. All the while,
he would chant, "I have lived fully, I have lived
fully, I have lived fully."
At first I could not understand this when I first
read this, I could not understand the purpose of
this man's ritual. So I asked an old Indian sage
to enlighten my thoughts on the story.
His reply was this "Son, what this maharaja
is doing is connecting to his mortality
every day of his life so he will live each
day as if it were his last. His ritual is a very
wise one and reminds him of the fact
that time slips through our hands like
grains of sand and the time to live life
greatly is not tomorrow but today."
Unknown

3. In this issue one will be able to see
what great companies in this world
have much in common. They continue
to succeed, to grow in revenues and
profits, to adapt to change and
opportunity, and to inordinately
influence society and their industries.
These Great companies have the
highest rates of return on assets and
equity in their industries. These are the
hallmarks, the guiding principles, of
these companies, some Pointers given
below.
VISION
Great companies plan with very clear,
measurable specific goals… and not
just short-term, one year goals, but
those of strategic vision.
To reiterate, they have a clear market
vision. They know what business they’re
in. They know what customers want.
They give customers what they want.

4. CUSTOMER ORIENTATION
Great companies believe, the customer is
always right.
Top managers are all customer-oriented.
All top managers regularly make calls on
customers.
Consequently, they are constantly
segmenting their markets and executing the
segment plans meticulously.
There is constant contact with customers.
They always observe with clarity customer
behaviour, changes in behaviour, and
emerging customer needs. They do lots of
listening.
The whole company serves the customer
culture… not just the sales and marketing
people, but production, financial, and
research people as well.
They work hard to create customer
franchises.
They seek lots of opinions, especially from
current and lapsed customers, suppliers to
their industry, and from their people.

5. MARKETING and SALES
There is a total company marketing orientation.
Everyone in the company understands that
marketing is the only renewing activity. Every
employee values the customer.
Application case histories and successful customer
incidents are constantly communicated throughout
the sales forces.
The sales function is considered part of the
marketing mix and is overseen by a marketing
manager. These companies understand that selling
or advertising is not marketing, rather a marketing
function.
They do not get surprised by changes in the market.
They usually influence the market.
They sell benefits, not features. They sell benefits,
not technology.
They combine market data with intuitive marketing
common sense.
They provide good, customized and consistent sales
training.
They do not price products too low, rather they sell
on price-to-value, not to cost.
They reserve opportunity money to take advantage
of unplanned opportunities.

6. COMPETITION
There is a constant review of competitive
activity. They realize that competitors are
after their slice of the pie.
Therefore, they invest more in marketing
than their competitors.
MARKET SHARE
Achieving and keeping dominant market
share is their priority. These companies
fully understand that Leadership, strong
market share is the fundamental common
denominator of profitability.
They know that their No.1 market share
status as a leaders almost always have
No.1 profits, No.1 awareness, strongest
customer franchise and loyalty, and highest
prices. This allows them to invest more in
market research, more in R&D, and more in
gaining share advantage over their
competitors.
They focus on market volume share more
than market value share which would come
naturally.

7. Understanding the importance of market share
leadership requires a sharp awareness of what
business the company is really in -- from a
customer perspective -- and what that
translates to for positioning and niches. That’s
why great marketing companies think about
marketing strategy and execute that strategy
relentlessly.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Manufacturing and marketing people meet
often, once a week ... to discuss costs,
forecasts, production, new products, new
processes, etc.
R&D is rewarded for commercialized
successes, not just technical ingenuity it’s the
nomenclature of the company.
They reduce uncertainty with homework and
research.

8. BRAND MANAGEMENT
They truly understand the
importance of brand names,
and constantly work to keep the
brand names known and
untarnished.
CHANNEL PARTNERS
They do not make decisions
based on the short term shouts
and pleas of the distributor or
channel.
They see trade channels as
partners, not customers.

9. “Managers muddle - leaders inspire. Leaders are people who
inspire with clear vision of how things can be done better.”
“What we are looking for are leaders at every level who can
energize, excite and inspire rather than enervate, depress,
and control.”
Jack Welch
Learning and Development Centre
for Excellence SPCL SJ Sarwan