Shanti Mantra "ॐ सह नाववतु " VS Theories of Motivation

We live in a highly cut-throat, globalized, extremely competitive Corporate world which often takes a high toll on the physical and psychological well being of a person. As such, the importance of self-motivation is now more profound than it has ever been. In this blog post, we are going to discuss about individual motivation and its juxtaposition with the Shanti Mantra.

Motivation is what causes us to act in a particular situation in a particular way, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge. It is the drive that keeps pushing us towards the goal no matter how insurmountable the hurdles might seem. 

 ➢ Types of Motivation and examples:

1. Positive vs. Negative: Positive such as want to become an astronaut. 

Negative such as want to pass to avoid being thrashed by parents 

2. Basic vs. Learned: Basic as instinctive such as thirst, anger, pain, etc. 

Learned ones are not instinctive such as recognition and achievement.

3. Extrinsic motivation and Intrinsic Motivation: Extrinsic motivation occurs when we are motivated to perform a behavior for external reward, but intrinsic motivation comes from inside for personal satisfaction 

➢ Maslow’s Motivation Theory: 

Maslow designated 5 levels of needs, these needs are to be fulfilled from bottom to top. Individuals must satisfy lower-level needs before they can satisfy higher-order needs. 

This concept of lower-level needs being satisfied first before moving higher is called satisfaction progression. 

For a corporate manager: he must first ensure that the basic needs of employees are satisfied first and only then can be motivated to achieve higher. 

Criticism: many scholars have criticized this theory because as per them in collectivist society social belongingness holds more importance than personal achievement. 

 ➢ Alderfer's Hierarchy of Motivational Needs 

Clayton P. Alderfer's ERG theory categorizes Maslow's five human needs into three categories: 

1. Existence,
2.  Relatedness and
3.  Growth. 

The ERG theory demonstrates that more than one need may be operative at the same time through Maslow’s theory assumes in satisfaction progression that higher-level needs can be fulfilled only after lower level needs are fulfilled 

According to Maslow, an individual would stay at a certain need level until that need was satisfied. ERG theory counters by noting that when a higher-order need level is frustrated the individual’s desire to increase a lower-level need takes place. Inability to satisfy a need for social interaction, for instance, might increase the desire for more money or better working conditions. So, frustration can lead to a regression to a lower need. This concept is called frustrated-regression 

On a Corporate level: Alderfer’s model implies that managers must recognize their employees’ multiple simultaneous needs. Focusing exclusively on one need at a time will not motivate your people. 

 For example: Even though you may provide financial incentives, if your person’s other needs aren't being met, according to Alderfer's ERG theory your workers will not be motivated.

The Shanti Mantra: a win-win situation

In our latest Business communication class, we came across The Shanti Mantra and its relevance.

The mantra is:

ॐ सह नाववतु ।
सह नौ भुनक्तु ।
सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥


Meaning:
1: Om, Together may we two Move (in our Studies, the Teacher and the Student),
2: Together may we two Relish (our Studies, the Teacher and the Student),
3: Together may we perform (our Studies) with Vigour (with deep Concentration),
4: May what has been Studied by us be filled with the Brilliance (of Understanding, leading to Knowledge); May it Not give rise to Hostility (due to lack of Understanding),
5: Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

How is it comparable to the above theories?

This mantra moves beyond the narrow individual motivation based on needs and plunges into the spiritual realm of "co-existence and mutual benefit". This mantra addresses the major criticism of Maslow's hierarchy theory that fails to address the societal need (of man as a social animal) of mutual cooperation and collective progress. 

It also talks about the fact that while we are treading on our path of success driven by our own needs, we must simultaneously try to avoid the hostility with those whose own selfish needs might clash with ours. After all the world has witnessed 2 World wars because of narrow interest-clashes. 

All in all, it aspires for collective success with no conflict with others, thereby preaching the universal mantra of वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्.

That Fine Line between being Lame and building your own Brand Name- an Interaction with Mr. Nikhil Kulkarni

 

So, 3^rd week of Business communication and we were addressed by Mr. Nikhil Kulkarni, a NITIE aluminous and the founder of Darwin Travel Tech.  I am not going to go through the personal accomplishments of Mr, Kulkarni but rather discuss the details of the message he conveyed based on his experience after spending years in consultancy and corporate sector.

 

So, his entire speech/message revolves around 2 basic themes

•         The importance of effective communication in the current Business world.
•         The value of building your own “Personal Brand” (think Narendra Modi, Oprah Winfrey, etc)

 

 

Importance of Effective Communication

 

The crux of his speech revolves around the so-called Pyramid principle of communication. He laid particular stress on “Say less, Mean More” rule, that is, to put maximum content in a message in as few words as possible. 

The pyramid principle shown in the above diagram gives a hierarchical structure on how to organize one’s thoughts and communicate. This follows further 2 rules of effective communication

 

IDFL:  Idea, data, facts, logic- here the main idea is presented first, followed by evidence in support of the idea in the form of data, logic, and facts.

 

MECE: Mutually exclusive collectively exhaustive rule- we should present our idea in such a way that it covers all possible scenarios (mutually exclusive and exhaustive) and must avoid recurrence of the same fact or redundancy of same set of information. He further laid stress that for delivering the right message one must know his/her objective, the target audience and the context in which the message will be delivered.

 

 

Using the above 3 rules he urged the audience to work on their communication skills and build a solid foundation upon which a successful career can be built upon

 

 

Building Personal Brand

 

A personal brand is a perception that one builds for himself which accentuates the aura surrounding him/her. It can be of many forms

1.   Perception of effectiveness or reliability about a person without even meeting him/her personally.
2.     A deemed quality or strength about a person, ex skills, expertise, managerial capacity without actual proof.
3.       A projected Unique Selling Proposition about him/her which gives an edge over the competitors
4. .       A kind of familiarity, likeability, fondness about the person in people who might have never met him

 

Many celebrities have an entire PR team to build a personal brand and better public perception. Some have such a personal brand that their endorsement enhances the brand value of a product/place. Ex. Amitabh Bachchan was roped in by Cadbury to rebuild their image.

                               You reap what you sow- Some popular personal Brand names in India

 

According to Mr. Kulkarni, we can build our own personal brand by extensively utilizing the digital media space in our own favor, he suggested the following ways:

 

• Write a blog, on relevant topics, to get readers a peek into the thought process and communication skills of the person.
•  Extensively use social media like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram to increase reach and propagate your own persona.
• Make videos, vlogs, podcasts on YouTube.

 

Thus by building your personal brand a user is building a strong foundation towards success in the digitized corporate world. His reputation precedes him and that increases his chances of success in the corporate/business world.

 

 

Author’s Note: A word of caution

 

There is this thin line between trying to promote yourself by building a personal brand and lampooning yourself on a social platform. Some people while trying to be cool or following the latest fad tend to overdo things and come out as needy, lame, and insecure. All they could manage is some paltry 100 followers for 100+ videos and some meager, generic one-word comments. This stint at building a name might very well backfire and hence treading with caution is of paramount importance while exploring any such daredevilry. 

So, I will try to add some guidelines towards building this “Personal Brand” thing over social media platforms:

 

•       Try to play to your strength, do not try your hands at something you are not good at. That looks forced, unnatural, and works against you.
•      Don’t do something just because everyone else is doing it. You want to build your own “Unique” selling proposition, not a GSP (Generic selling proposition).
•      Make/write/build what you want to do based upon a path you want to walk on and not under any person’s influence. Not because your boss or father told you so. Write what you want to write, make a video on something you want to make a video on.
•     Writing/Video making is not for everyone, there are tonnes of success stories of people who have succeeded without using social media and you can do that too.
•      Be more expressive and use better communication skills in your blogs. Writing blogs doesn’t improvise your communication skills it is the other way round.
•      Share useful content, stop sharing futile and pointless stuff, that gets you nowhere. No one is interested in what you are doing in your college or at your home, structure your content around something people want to see/read, or what adds value to the readers.

Follow these and you will be good to go. Always remember social media platforms are a good slave but a bad master, you have to control your social media presence and not be controlled by it.

 

That’s all for today Folks.

Hope you all make a good personal brand.

May the force be with you…….

 

“Of Mahatma and Mandi”- Nayi Taleem- a neo Gandhian approach to learning in a business school

 

It is not always that the very 1^st class of the very 1^st semester begins with the teacher grooving to the beats of Pink Floyd song “we don’t need no education”, Marketing 101 at display: “gather the viewers’ attention”. The teacher,  Prof. T Prasad, then went ahead and explained the significance of the song in the currently flawed, degree-obsessed, job-greedy contemporary system of education. He said that he aspires to be “1/12 Mandi sir”, asked us to check his YouTube channel for a sneak peek at his philosophy. Well, his unique teaching style combined with his (probable) good taste in music and his open approach to study, meant I instantly opened up his channel.

 

What is the 1/12 Mandi sir?

 

1/12 Mandi sir is the Mascot/Brand Ambassador/Philosopher and the Promoter of the Gandhian “Nayi Taleem”- a neo-education system of learning being promoted by Prof. Prasad. Prof. Prasad who himself belongs to a humble background is well aware of the lacunas and hurdles to continuing education without a regular source of money. So he synthesized a system where learning and earning go hand in hand (his mantra being “Socho, Becho, Seekho” which translates to “Think, Sell, Learn”). He emphasized on turning from job seeker to job provider (which incidentally is the theme of startup India program), to leave the job and do business.

 To lay stress to his philosophy he cites examples form history, on how there were 2 major economic “Jatis” in India – Karigari ( working class, the proletariat) and Karobari ( the business class, the bourgeoisie ) then he emphasized on how only the latter enjoyed a state of continuous prosperity throughout time and age. According to him, the job seekers are the modern-day Karigars and their salvation lies in turning into Karobari (businessmen/entrepreneurs)

His 2 major mantras for success are:

Learning must pay for learning

A person should be employable but not want to be employed

 

“ Nayi Taleem”- with a twist

 

Being a Gandhian myself and having read obsessively about Gandhi, I was greatly fascinated when he mentioned that his version of “Nayi Talim” draws inspiration from Gandhi’s Sarvodaya model of education. ( Sarv+Uday= universal uplift ). He mentions Gandhi’s “Towards new education”,  his awe of “onto the last “ and his philosophy of craft and vocation based learning methods for self-sufficiency of all. Having read the Sarvodaya plan and the subsequent “Wardha Scheme of education”, I couldn’t help but draw some parallels between his version of Nayi Talim and Sarvodaya Plan, which I will put in my own words

 

 

Sarvodaya Vision of Gandhi:

1.     the good of the individual is contained in the good of all.

2. A lawyer's work has the same value as the barber's in as much as all have the same right of earning their livelihood from their work. 

3.     A life of labor,  (the life of the tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman) is the life worth living

 

 

Similarities:

 

1.      Both the models advocates , self-sufficiency . (Although Gandhi talked of self-sufficiency on a macro level of villages).

2.      They propagate Decentralised model of education where the main focus is The Student himself.

3.      The colonial model of education based upon Macaulay’s system of “rote learning” was to be rejected.

4.      Learning is to be the focus and not merely “Tutoring”

5.      Advocacy of local products, milieu, crafts, and services has been highlighted

6.      Propagate education system affordable to all and earn fees by activity

7.      Universal access and equal opportunity to all for achieving a welfare state

8.      Stress on mother tongue for increasing the learning outcome.

 

 

Differences

1.      While Gandhis model was deeply rooted in Socialism of “to each according to his needs”, Mandi model recognises the modern reality and posts a slightly Capitalistic model more relevant in the contemporary world.

2.      While Gandhi stressed too much over village-centric model, mandi model is universal.

3.      Gandhi rejected too much emphasis on Machines but Mandi model is rooted in innovations and novel ways in tume with the current era of Industralisation-4.0.

4.      Gandhi emphaised on moral education, Mandi model emphasises on earnings.

5.      Mandi talks about student driven startuops which were absent during those times.

6.      Gandhi’s model was more idealistic Mandi model is more pragmatic.

 

 

 

“Be the change you wish to see in the world”- Mahatma Gandhi-  how Prof. Prasad practice what he preaches.

 

Prof. Prasad is the man in charge of the annual flagship marketing event at NITIE, Mumbai- “Mahamandi”. In this event, the students of one of the premium MBA college of the country, get a first-hand lessons in marketing by trying their skills in street marketing. Selling whatever they could and thus adhering to the Gandhian principle of “Koi kaam chota nahi hota”. This not only refines their marketing skills ( a skill in need for an MBA student) but also gives them a nascent first-hand experience in entrepreneurial skills by marketing a product directly to the populace. It also helps students earn some money while pursuing their education, a win-win situation.  This year in tune with the current situation of Covid-19 induced social distancing norms, the event has rechristened itself as “Swadeshi Mandi” with the theme of "Being Local for Vocal"(combining another Gandhian philosophy of advocating indigenous products as opposed to foreign ones). This event has resulted in various student-driven start-ups from the institutes like FreekaMaal, Laal10, Quiffers, CropWheel Agro among others.

 

 

Way Forward- Can he lives up to the Gandhian standard?

 

Gandhi believed in teachers having freedom in curriculum matters. He was against the idea of the teacher having a prescribed job based on what the authorities wanted the children to learn, and he was against prescribed textbooks because a teacher who taught from a textbook did not “impart originality to his pupils". Having just attended a few of his class I am not sure whether Prof Prasad would be able to match the high standard set by Gandhi for the teachers. Also, being a Business Communication teachers, he will at some point have to teach us various intricates of business communications- Mail writing, Board-Room communications, how to handle an agitated superior/subordinate, how to deal with different personality types, etc as Business Communications as a subject is not limited to Street marketing and promotional activities, but encompasses a much broader subject-content. So it will be interesting to see how the next few classes roll out and how he balances the “Nayi Taleem” with the compulsions of his job as a Business Communications teacher. Only time will tell.

 

 

To be continued………………..

Subah-e-Banaras, a Mahamandi initiative.

Following the PM Modi’s call for building the "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" and the Theme of being "Vocal for Local", the Marketing Interest Group(MIG) of NITIE, revamped its annual flagship “Mahamandi event” to inculcate the ever-relevant theme of self-sufficiency by promoting indigenous products.

 

This Independence day, under the auspices of the Promoter/mentor in-charge Prof. T Prasad (Mandi Sir), the MIG is undertaking a virtual pan-India drive to promote the lesser-known local, indigenous products and services wherein the spirit of inclusivity and themes of "Unity in Diversity" will be highlighted. The theme is also in tune with the Mandi slogan of “Socho Becho Seekho”. This post is my contribution to the same.

 While most of my friends have chosen a local product (some already renowned and some lesser-known), I am taking a different approach altogether. I am choosing to promote the unique Experience of “Subah-e-Banaras”. An experience of the morning at the world-famous "Assi-Ghat" of the oldest surviving city in the world, Banaras (official name Varanasi).

 

 

The city, which is, the contemporary of Athens, Peking, Jerusalem, and Babylon survived through history and maintained its socio-cultural ethos while others either couldn’t survive the wrath of History or moved to a different ethos.  It’s that age-old spirit of the city that I want to put on a pedestal today. The morning at Assi Ghat which has been a focal point of countless poems and literary contents is a refreshing and awakening experience for anyone who wants to feel the embodiment of 3000+ years of history. 

यूनान मिश्र रोमां, सब मिट गए जहां से,
कोई बात है कि हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी!

 

Also known as the “City of Lights” (because of its emanating aura of eternal bliss and spiritual tranquillity), Benaras is the city at the zenith and epitome of the Indian cultural plurality of "The Ganga Jamuni Tehjeeb" on one hand and glorious Indian  heritage on the other. The city has been home to luminaries throughout History, giving the world the likes of  Kabir, Tulsidas, Jaishankar Prasad, Prem Chand, Lal Bahadur Sastri, Bhartndu Harishchand, Madan Mohan Malviya, Ustad Bismillah Khan, and Rani Laxmibai among others. The entire experience of Varanasi cannot be surmised in a single post, but the "Subah-e-Banaras" experience is enough to get one a feel of why people from all around the world are in awe of the city.

 

Why Subah-e-Banaras

Since Banaras boast of innumerable famous products and services like Banarsi Saree, Banarsi Paan, and Chat, Evening Ganga Aarti, countless temples (including the unique Bharat Mata Mandir) , unique handi-crafts and many music Gharanas (of Tabla, Thumri, and Sitar), it is not very surprising that an experience which could have been the USP of any other city gets lost in the shuffle. The  "Subah-e-Banaras" experience is one such experience which accentuates the Banarsiya spirit of being "मस्त" while the world is "पस्त ". We will try to cover a comprehensive experience in future posts and try to propagate the same by being "Focal" on this "Local" experience in a "Vocal" way. 

Some local paraphernalia of the experience includes:

 1. Sunrise at the crescent-shaped Ganga river ( myth: in the shape of Lord Ram's bow)

2. Boating along the ghats with each ghat encompassing its own unique heritage and story deeply rooted in history and mythology. 

3. Interaction with Sadhus at the Ghat, who possess knowledge that transcends the physical realm.

4. Local handicrafts and paintings.

5. Local cuisine including the marquee Kachori-Jalebi.

 

These sections will be explored in greater detail with the video blog. 

To be continued.........

Links for MIG NITIE:

https://twitter.com/mig_nitie

https://www.youtube.com/user/nitieprasad1/playlists

https://www.youtube.com/user/nitieprasad1/playlists

https://instagram.com/migofficial_nitie