Rebooting Consulting Value

Consulting is a knowledge centric industry where the client needs are met through knowledge solutions rendered through reports, training sessions and on site deployments of the ideas suggested. Thanks to the Web 2.0 era, the consulting malaise of Cntrl +C and Cntrl+V can be easily detected, and fortunately the client too has the secondary same data set and information asymmetry is on an even footing.The fourth industrial revolution with the advent of machine learning driven predictive modelling and data gathering through bots, is ratcheting up the game for the consultant.

The best package for the consulting space is to merge the professionalism of the Investment Banking sector with the intellectual rigor and writing of liberal arts academe and to remove the ‘expert’ pretensions and work on delivering value, by thinking out of the box and delivering expectations at the correct price point. The transition from vendor to partner cannot happen cannot occur sans a value driven culture.

Long term collaborations between client and consultant is a rare commodity unless a Master Services Agreement is available, and this alone is the domain of the big players, where the niche, small sized consulting firm cannot even bid for them many a time, for a retainer services arrangement as they cannot match the scale.

The pressures on the margins on every report churned out is significant and the focus is on the billings of the quarter rather than investing in long term bets which are capital intensive such as technology deployments and training.

Consultants will have to be agile and intellectual with an eye for implementation potential in order to demand top dollar as the sharing economy of freelancers (with many hiring independent contractors) is further reducing margins. Overheads such as a big office on the 21st floor seem like a luxury that few can afford. The shared working space or the friendly neighborhood coffee shop is more like it for small players. Big ticket contracts in the public sector are increasingly being made accessible to start ups in Singapore and India, as the best bang for the buck is expected.

Consultants have to walk the talk on their ideas with the client, with implementation support on the ground. The new mantra could be ‘Be implementable, or perish’ inverting the academic adage.

An unlikely Social Justice Narrative : ‘Kabali’ Tales

Kabali is a film that tries to engage the minority Tamil diaspora issues in Malaysia, especially the former plantation worker community who are disenfranchised from the mainstream racial politics in Malaysia as they are the subaltern without education and jobs, driving them to the underbelly of crime in Malaysia. Rajnikanth acting as the gangster messiah of the Malaysian Tamil Hindu community, plays on stereotypes and the lowest common denominator emotion of the macha (colloquial Tamil for the friendly neighborhood boy ) in Port Klang. The Tamil Movie Industry with this gamble of picking up a diaspora topic for a megastar film starring Rajni Sarr, has moved on from Jaffna Tamil Politics of Mani Ratnam Cinema to a safer Malaysia which is a lucrative market for the industry.

I applaud the social justice driven dalit subaltern political impulse of Director Pa Ranjith which has got a huge megaphone for an outlet; the reason why Ambedkar wore suits vis-a-vis a Gandhi as a statement of resistance against subaltern nature of existence is the same reason why the character Kabali wears it as well. The structural inequalities of the Malaysian Indian Community are depicted, in that sense this film brings the issues to the Indian living room such as teen age pregnancies and crime. On the cinematic method side, Kabali is an excruciating slow film, with a smattering of Bahasa Melayu and Mandarin making it ‘Truly Malaysia’ story. A through and through film for the die-hard Rajni fan, it stood out for its flawed depiction of its minority politics than anything else. This film attempts to bridge labor activism with racial politics under a post-colonial cloud.

It is now time to watch Jagat, a smaller budget Malaysian Tamil Film (a rare effort by Director Sanjhey Kumar Perumal, who took a decade to make a film) on a similar theme, far less popular, due to the indie character of the film. Kabali has indeed brought the Malaysian Indian community more traction than any other creative initiative earlier. A very clever film which has balanced politics in a commercial warp, with the masala entertainer of a Rajni Film. A job very well implemented Mr. Ranjith.

Question For Kashmir?

Every conflict zone is a human problem. The national security or the ‘independence’ lens really does not capture the torment of zero healthcare, zilch jobs and real absence of hope. The question to be asked is, is the land so vital even if the people treat you as oppressors? And the other question to the other end of the spectrum is: How do you envision life for your citizens after peace is achieved? Will the current revolutionary class be the new power elite ? Will the status quo evolve for the unemployed boy who throws stones for two hundred rupees?

Unlocking Value in Start Ups: Refocus on Operational Processes

I have been fortunate enough to work for Fortune 500 Consulting firms at one end of the curve to advising a migration non profit focused on cultural activism in Singapore at the other end. The bigger picture and the rhetoric, often boils down to dollars and cents during performance review, as donors/funders need to evaluate the ROI. We live in a business environment dominated by mega trends of political shocks, declining oil and commodity prices and flat value chains; where the consumer/client knows the set of data as you, the product manager. The information asymmetry between client and vendor has vanished. Machine Learning and Big Data is transforming the service economy, where specialists will dominate and entry-level jobs will disappear in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In this scenario, operations is often under rated in the every day running of the business. They maximize the leverage available make sure the product/service is delivered at the right price point to the consumer. Ideas are simply not enough; there needs to be implementation excellence to unpacking the black box called value, easy to define, harder to deliver though.

Non Profit Platforms and Business Start Ups need to move beyond the ‘idea’ that they are pursuing whether it is a cause or a product and invest into expertise. The disruption has to be backed by professional teams, which focus on long-term bets, in value creation. The ‘Big Idea’ is brand equity but operating teams have to aggressive in funding, program management and innovation. Building teams and products that the market needs is the simple truth. Non-profits need to invest in operations as much as for profit peers. Being sexy is not cool all the time. Think Rahul Yadav, and contrast it with Martin Sorrell of WPP, who built a holding company around which brands evolved (HBR, July/August 2016). Have patience and do the right thing otherwise being out of business does not take time; the same advice is valid for careers too. The career of the entrepreneur follows a particular product lifecycle too.

Festivals : Diaspora markers of the Past

On a crowded Deepawali or Hari Raya eve in Little India, we can observe a sea of humanity passing by, the excitement palpable in the air and faces gleaming with joy. Festivals in Singapore serve as cornerstones of a multicultural society founded on respect for different beliefs and cultural affiliations.Various communities and sub groups within it have observed festivals as days to mark their togetherness and to celebrate diversity as the cultural fabric of this city state. In that nuance, festivals are registers of memory, emotion and a past that a person tries to cling to as time fizzles away like sand in a glass jar. I remember spending Hari Raya eve with Bangladeshi and Indian friends at Usman, a Pakistani food joint at the intersection of Desker Road and the main Little India fareway over masala chai and pakoras will 3am in the morning chatting away in anticipation of something more than a public holiday.

The Thaipusam procession along Veerasamy Road to Bencoolen with packed devotees and bystanders is a spectacle of culture and faith for the Tamil Hindu Community in Singapore.

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Pic: Thaipusam Celebrations 2016 in Little India, Singapore (Photo: Author)

Likewise, the Bengali Hindu Community from India and Bangladesh celebrate Durga Puja in differing ways but the cultural importance of the festival is salient.

Hari Raya or Eid Ul Fitr is celebrated by different communities in their varied traditional flair, with the values faith, community and family as the bedrock after a month of prayer, penance and fasting. As a perennial migrant who has lived overseas in Oman and Singapore for many years, festivals were days i looked forward to engage as spaces of culture and memory along with donning the traditional attire and digging in to good food. Festivals serve larger purposes of social integration in multicultural societies as nodes of interaction between the mainstream and the margins of metropolis.

At the human level, Festivals are about celebration of values and bonding.

This is the true essence of a festival.

Writing as more than Communication

Writing is more than dishing out information, it’s about expression, aesthetics and shattering the silence. Mediocre writing is insincere at its heart. Great writing is not verbose, yet detailed enough, engaging and not indulgent. Writing is the mainstay of communication as we write emails, chat or write consulting reports. Great writing as a skills takes years of practice and mentoring by seniors who are amazing communicators themselves. Read material which expands ones imagination rather than sheer vocabulary. Writing after all is more than articulating data in words but about informing new visions for the future.

Pragmatic Hillary

Sanders is like Paul, with great optimism and no structural strength to carry all the way through. Inspiring ideas, do not get you the top job as in politics as business who you know matter and what you can do really does not. Only political entrepreneurial initiatives such as AAP can succeed as they back their ideas with action. Hillary is one sharp political operator, preparing the ground for years. I wish her the best against ‘The Apprentice’