Tag: Education

How to Handle Criticism, Hate & Disrespect

 Hello everybody , people did you ever notice that we all are told since childhood that the habit of embracing criticism is the stepping stone to success. But, nobody ever tells us how exactly do you embrace criticism ? If you look at the greatest leaders of all time, the greatest change makers of all time. The one thing you will find common in all of them is their ability to take and act upon the criticism that they receive. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, one of the greatest kings who ever lived in this country was primarily known to take criticism from everyone. 

For him it really did not matter whether it is coming from an ordinary villager or the prime minister of the state himself. A modern day example of the same is Elon Musk, you know what, Elon Musk was once asked at a conference as to what exactly is the most difficult thing in his life. Now, considering the fact that he is already doing crazy things like colonising the Mars and making reusable rockets. You would think that his most difficult thing would be related to either one of these crazy things that he is doing. But you know what he said, and I quote, And here’s where the question arises, as to why is this habit so so important and more importantly, how can ordinary people like you and me learn to take criticism the right way. To give you a deeper understanding of the same, I want to take you back to 1846, Europe. For those of you do not know, this was one of the darkest times in the European history wherein there was a major disease that was on the rise. 

This disease was called the black death of child bed wherein as soon as the mothers gave birth to their children they used to die out of something called the Puerperal fever. And just like the Covid-19 death toll today there used to be a consistent increase in the deaths of mothers. And even after years of research and millions of dollars into spending no one could actually find out what exactly caused this problem. But amidst all of this chaos, there was this one guy by the name Dr Ignaz Semmelweis. He very openly started criticising the doctors and was screaming out the solution in every way possible. And he did everything in his capacity to get his word out and prove the solution to the world. But you know what, nobody listened to him and the entire society, especially the doctors they called him crazy for decades. And this poor man died in a mental asylum. But you know what, after years of ‘Research & Development’.

As it turns out, Dr Ignaz had made an observation that the doctors were doing the deliveries in the afternoon after conducting the autopsies in the morning which is why the disease got passed on from the dead bodies into the mother’s body which is why even healthy mothers were dying out of the puerperal fever. So all they had to do was wash their hands and instruments with Chlorine and one of the deadliest disease in the history could have been eradicaed very very easily. Today, Dr Ignaz is considered to be a legend and he is regarded as the ‘saviour of mothers’. But all throughout those years while the doctors were too proud to admit their flaws, god knows how many mothers went inside the ward hoping that they would be able to see their babies only to come of in body bags. 

God knows how many children in that generation grew up without a mother just because of the futile ego of the doctors who consider themselves next to god. This is the reason why feedback and criticism is very very important. This story also tells us that criticism is a double edged sword. If taken the right way, it will lead you to greatness and at the same time if not taken the right way, it will become the graveyard of your success. So now the question is, in this big bad world while we have got only a few genuine well wishers and on the other side we have got these dedicated haters who will go out of the way just to pull you down and then we have got these people who often sugarcoat their answers just to keep their image regardless of how pathetic your condition is.

 How do you exactly filter through this chaos and take the feedback that really matters ? The answer to this question comes from this book called the culture code wherein Daniel Coyle talks about the method which is used by one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time who goes by the name Gregg Popovich. And this method is very famously known as the magical feedback. And you can use this magical feedback technique by asking three questions to your critic Eventually, you will realize that you are getting constructive feedback. These 3 questions are: That’s it. Once you begin to ask these questions, automatically you will begin to receive constructive feedback from your critics because these questions help the viewer navigate through both the good and the bad and urges him/her to think about the new possibilites of improvement which is what brings constructive feedback. 

Once you get all these answers, it’s time to jot them down And work upon treating what works best for you and work upon what is not Then comes the most important question of all How do you exactly process this feedback and how do you decide whom to listen to and who not to. Well always remember, people, that there are 4 broad categories of people who will criticise you. The first category of the people are the haters. These are the people who will criticise you just to pull you down and if you start taking them seriously it will mess up with your focus and stifle your growth. So, block them both from your life and social media and it will work wonders for you. The second category of people are innocent critics. These are people who love you a lot but might sometimes give you baseless advice. 

For example, your parents love you a lot that is why they might push you to take a so called safe career. But you need to remember one thing; that their intent is never bad but their advice very well could be. So, never ever take their advice without giving it a clear thought If it makes sense to you, work upon it, if not, learn to ignore it. But the one thing that you need to remember is that you should never ever disrespect them because today they might be giving you baseless advice but tomorrow they could be giving you a sensible advice because ultimately their intent is not evil. But then, if you begin to disrespect them they might eventually stop giving you feedback which is very very bad.

 With that we move on to the third category and these are sweet talkers. These are people who will praise you so much that you will knowingly or unknowingly incline towards them just to get validation. And this is where you need to remind yourself that “Ego is the anaesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity” I repeat So definitely listen to the sweet talkers but don’t ever take them seriously. And last and most importantly we have got constructive critics These are people who love you a lot and will give you feedback that might sound very harsh at the beginning but is very very important. This could be a professor who really cares for you this could be your best friend or even your partner.

 And you know what, never ever leave these people and always jot down what they say. And sometimes they might give you baseless advice because nobody is perfect but do make sure to jot down their criticism and work obssessively on it. And once you start doing this, you will begin to witness exponential growth in whatever aspect you’re taking criticism for. This could be your personal life, professional life and this could even be your own business. 

And if you do this I am 100% sure that nobody in this goddamn world can stop you from achieving greatness regardless of what you’re doing right now. And every time it gets difficult to gulp down a harsh feedback just tell yourself one thing Criticism is that stone that people will throw at you all the time but it is you who needs to decide to whether to build the castle of your greatness or the graveyard of your success. Now, let that sink in, and think about it for a while.

How to Handle Criticism, Hate & Disrespect

 Hello everybody , people did you ever notice that we all are told since childhood that the habit of embracing criticism is the stepping stone to success. But, nobody ever tells us how exactly do you embrace criticism ? If you look at the greatest leaders of all time, the greatest change makers of all time. The one thing you will find common in all of them is their ability to take and act upon the criticism that they receive. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, one of the greatest kings who ever lived in this country was primarily known to take criticism from everyone. 

For him it really did not matter whether it is coming from an ordinary villager or the prime minister of the state himself. A modern day example of the same is Elon Musk, you know what, Elon Musk was once asked at a conference as to what exactly is the most difficult thing in his life. Now, considering the fact that he is already doing crazy things like colonising the Mars and making reusable rockets. You would think that his most difficult thing would be related to either one of these crazy things that he is doing. But you know what he said, and I quote, And here’s where the question arises, as to why is this habit so so important and more importantly, how can ordinary people like you and me learn to take criticism the right way. To give you a deeper understanding of the same, I want to take you back to 1846, Europe. For those of you do not know, this was one of the darkest times in the European history wherein there was a major disease that was on the rise. 

This disease was called the black death of child bed wherein as soon as the mothers gave birth to their children they used to die out of something called the Puerperal fever. And just like the Covid-19 death toll today there used to be a consistent increase in the deaths of mothers. And even after years of research and millions of dollars into spending no one could actually find out what exactly caused this problem. But amidst all of this chaos, there was this one guy by the name Dr Ignaz Semmelweis. He very openly started criticising the doctors and was screaming out the solution in every way possible. And he did everything in his capacity to get his word out and prove the solution to the world. But you know what, nobody listened to him and the entire society, especially the doctors they called him crazy for decades. And this poor man died in a mental asylum. But you know what, after years of ‘Research & Development’.

As it turns out, Dr Ignaz had made an observation that the doctors were doing the deliveries in the afternoon after conducting the autopsies in the morning which is why the disease got passed on from the dead bodies into the mother’s body which is why even healthy mothers were dying out of the puerperal fever. So all they had to do was wash their hands and instruments with Chlorine and one of the deadliest disease in the history could have been eradicaed very very easily. Today, Dr Ignaz is considered to be a legend and he is regarded as the ‘saviour of mothers’. But all throughout those years while the doctors were too proud to admit their flaws, god knows how many mothers went inside the ward hoping that they would be able to see their babies only to come of in body bags. 

God knows how many children in that generation grew up without a mother just because of the futile ego of the doctors who consider themselves next to god. This is the reason why feedback and criticism is very very important. This story also tells us that criticism is a double edged sword. If taken the right way, it will lead you to greatness and at the same time if not taken the right way, it will become the graveyard of your success. So now the question is, in this big bad world while we have got only a few genuine well wishers and on the other side we have got these dedicated haters who will go out of the way just to pull you down and then we have got these people who often sugarcoat their answers just to keep their image regardless of how pathetic your condition is.

 How do you exactly filter through this chaos and take the feedback that really matters ? The answer to this question comes from this book called the culture code wherein Daniel Coyle talks about the method which is used by one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time who goes by the name Gregg Popovich. And this method is very famously known as the magical feedback. And you can use this magical feedback technique by asking three questions to your critic Eventually, you will realize that you are getting constructive feedback. These 3 questions are: That’s it. Once you begin to ask these questions, automatically you will begin to receive constructive feedback from your critics because these questions help the viewer navigate through both the good and the bad and urges him/her to think about the new possibilites of improvement which is what brings constructive feedback. 

Once you get all these answers, it’s time to jot them down And work upon treating what works best for you and work upon what is not Then comes the most important question of all How do you exactly process this feedback and how do you decide whom to listen to and who not to. Well always remember, people, that there are 4 broad categories of people who will criticise you. The first category of the people are the haters. These are the people who will criticise you just to pull you down and if you start taking them seriously it will mess up with your focus and stifle your growth. So, block them both from your life and social media and it will work wonders for you. The second category of people are innocent critics. These are people who love you a lot but might sometimes give you baseless advice. 

For example, your parents love you a lot that is why they might push you to take a so called safe career. But you need to remember one thing; that their intent is never bad but their advice very well could be. So, never ever take their advice without giving it a clear thought If it makes sense to you, work upon it, if not, learn to ignore it. But the one thing that you need to remember is that you should never ever disrespect them because today they might be giving you baseless advice but tomorrow they could be giving you a sensible advice because ultimately their intent is not evil. But then, if you begin to disrespect them they might eventually stop giving you feedback which is very very bad.

 With that we move on to the third category and these are sweet talkers. These are people who will praise you so much that you will knowingly or unknowingly incline towards them just to get validation. And this is where you need to remind yourself that “Ego is the anaesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity” I repeat So definitely listen to the sweet talkers but don’t ever take them seriously. And last and most importantly we have got constructive critics These are people who love you a lot and will give you feedback that might sound very harsh at the beginning but is very very important. This could be a professor who really cares for you this could be your best friend or even your partner.

 And you know what, never ever leave these people and always jot down what they say. And sometimes they might give you baseless advice because nobody is perfect but do make sure to jot down their criticism and work obssessively on it. And once you start doing this, you will begin to witness exponential growth in whatever aspect you’re taking criticism for. This could be your personal life, professional life and this could even be your own business. 

And if you do this I am 100% sure that nobody in this goddamn world can stop you from achieving greatness regardless of what you’re doing right now. And every time it gets difficult to gulp down a harsh feedback just tell yourself one thing Criticism is that stone that people will throw at you all the time but it is you who needs to decide to whether to build the castle of your greatness or the graveyard of your success. Now, let that sink in, and think about it for a while.

How to Handle Criticism, Hate & Disrespect

 Hello everybody , people did you ever notice that we all are told since childhood that the habit of embracing criticism is the stepping stone to success. But, nobody ever tells us how exactly do you embrace criticism ? If you look at the greatest leaders of all time, the greatest change makers of all time. The one thing you will find common in all of them is their ability to take and act upon the criticism that they receive. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, one of the greatest kings who ever lived in this country was primarily known to take criticism from everyone. 

For him it really did not matter whether it is coming from an ordinary villager or the prime minister of the state himself. A modern day example of the same is Elon Musk, you know what, Elon Musk was once asked at a conference as to what exactly is the most difficult thing in his life. Now, considering the fact that he is already doing crazy things like colonising the Mars and making reusable rockets. You would think that his most difficult thing would be related to either one of these crazy things that he is doing. But you know what he said, and I quote, And here’s where the question arises, as to why is this habit so so important and more importantly, how can ordinary people like you and me learn to take criticism the right way. To give you a deeper understanding of the same, I want to take you back to 1846, Europe. For those of you do not know, this was one of the darkest times in the European history wherein there was a major disease that was on the rise. 

This disease was called the black death of child bed wherein as soon as the mothers gave birth to their children they used to die out of something called the Puerperal fever. And just like the Covid-19 death toll today there used to be a consistent increase in the deaths of mothers. And even after years of research and millions of dollars into spending no one could actually find out what exactly caused this problem. But amidst all of this chaos, there was this one guy by the name Dr Ignaz Semmelweis. He very openly started criticising the doctors and was screaming out the solution in every way possible. And he did everything in his capacity to get his word out and prove the solution to the world. But you know what, nobody listened to him and the entire society, especially the doctors they called him crazy for decades. And this poor man died in a mental asylum. But you know what, after years of ‘Research & Development’.

As it turns out, Dr Ignaz had made an observation that the doctors were doing the deliveries in the afternoon after conducting the autopsies in the morning which is why the disease got passed on from the dead bodies into the mother’s body which is why even healthy mothers were dying out of the puerperal fever. So all they had to do was wash their hands and instruments with Chlorine and one of the deadliest disease in the history could have been eradicaed very very easily. Today, Dr Ignaz is considered to be a legend and he is regarded as the ‘saviour of mothers’. But all throughout those years while the doctors were too proud to admit their flaws, god knows how many mothers went inside the ward hoping that they would be able to see their babies only to come of in body bags. 

God knows how many children in that generation grew up without a mother just because of the futile ego of the doctors who consider themselves next to god. This is the reason why feedback and criticism is very very important. This story also tells us that criticism is a double edged sword. If taken the right way, it will lead you to greatness and at the same time if not taken the right way, it will become the graveyard of your success. So now the question is, in this big bad world while we have got only a few genuine well wishers and on the other side we have got these dedicated haters who will go out of the way just to pull you down and then we have got these people who often sugarcoat their answers just to keep their image regardless of how pathetic your condition is.

 How do you exactly filter through this chaos and take the feedback that really matters ? The answer to this question comes from this book called the culture code wherein Daniel Coyle talks about the method which is used by one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time who goes by the name Gregg Popovich. And this method is very famously known as the magical feedback. And you can use this magical feedback technique by asking three questions to your critic Eventually, you will realize that you are getting constructive feedback. These 3 questions are: That’s it. Once you begin to ask these questions, automatically you will begin to receive constructive feedback from your critics because these questions help the viewer navigate through both the good and the bad and urges him/her to think about the new possibilites of improvement which is what brings constructive feedback. 

Once you get all these answers, it’s time to jot them down And work upon treating what works best for you and work upon what is not Then comes the most important question of all How do you exactly process this feedback and how do you decide whom to listen to and who not to. Well always remember, people, that there are 4 broad categories of people who will criticise you. The first category of the people are the haters. These are the people who will criticise you just to pull you down and if you start taking them seriously it will mess up with your focus and stifle your growth. So, block them both from your life and social media and it will work wonders for you. The second category of people are innocent critics. These are people who love you a lot but might sometimes give you baseless advice. 

For example, your parents love you a lot that is why they might push you to take a so called safe career. But you need to remember one thing; that their intent is never bad but their advice very well could be. So, never ever take their advice without giving it a clear thought If it makes sense to you, work upon it, if not, learn to ignore it. But the one thing that you need to remember is that you should never ever disrespect them because today they might be giving you baseless advice but tomorrow they could be giving you a sensible advice because ultimately their intent is not evil. But then, if you begin to disrespect them they might eventually stop giving you feedback which is very very bad.

 With that we move on to the third category and these are sweet talkers. These are people who will praise you so much that you will knowingly or unknowingly incline towards them just to get validation. And this is where you need to remind yourself that “Ego is the anaesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity” I repeat So definitely listen to the sweet talkers but don’t ever take them seriously. And last and most importantly we have got constructive critics These are people who love you a lot and will give you feedback that might sound very harsh at the beginning but is very very important. This could be a professor who really cares for you this could be your best friend or even your partner.

 And you know what, never ever leave these people and always jot down what they say. And sometimes they might give you baseless advice because nobody is perfect but do make sure to jot down their criticism and work obssessively on it. And once you start doing this, you will begin to witness exponential growth in whatever aspect you’re taking criticism for. This could be your personal life, professional life and this could even be your own business. 

And if you do this I am 100% sure that nobody in this goddamn world can stop you from achieving greatness regardless of what you’re doing right now. And every time it gets difficult to gulp down a harsh feedback just tell yourself one thing Criticism is that stone that people will throw at you all the time but it is you who needs to decide to whether to build the castle of your greatness or the graveyard of your success. Now, let that sink in, and think about it for a while.

Genius Marketing That To $19.6 Billion – American Express Case Study

Hi everybody, If you want to be a legendary entrepreneur, this episode is for you. because the story that I’m about to tell you today is the story of a brand that has leveraged, perhaps, the most undervalued attributes of mankind and made a billion dollars out of it. And if you learn how to use these attributes you can easily go on to outperform your competition regardless of which domain you belong to. These attributes that I’m talking about are kindness and empathy. Now, in this capitalistic world while most people might consider empathy and kindness to be intangible qualities . I gotta tell you that it’s an open secret recipe that can enable you to design game changing marketing strategies in the 21st Century. To tell you about it, let me take you back to 2010 America. 

This is when the American economy was still experiencing the wrath of the 2008 recession which caused the stock market to hit rock bottom, the giant corporations to shut down, and caused millions of job losses within a fortnight. When this happened, while the entire economy was collapsing there was one company that did not just survive but also went on to make a profit of $13.4 billion during the very same times of recession. This company that I’m talking about is the giant American retailer- Walmart. And as it turns out during the two years of recession Walmart improved its profitability by $700 million year on year. Additionally, Walmart never had a return of equity of less than 20% during the same time of recession. Now, on the outside this might sound amazing but if you take a closer look at the impact of Walmart on retail America it’s quite devastating. 

In fact, it has even got a term called the Walmart effect. Among the multiple studies that were conducted, it was proved time and again that every time a Walmart store opens up in a city or a town hundreds of small businesses along the radius of the store shut down within 1 year or at max 2 years. This was because Walmart bought all of its product at such high quantities that it was able to lower the price of products to such a low level that small business couldn’t even come close to competing with Walmart’s prices. Now, just to give you an example of the same, let’s say if you have a small retail shop. You would buy notebooks from the wholesaler for ₹30/notebook, alright? And when you buy it at ₹30 , you will sell it at ₹40 in the market but at the same time Walmart would sell the same notebook at ₹28 per piece. Which means what? Walmart’s selling price is lower than your cost price. And this made it impossible for small businesses to survive in the market. 

In fact, more often than not there are even protests that are held every time Walmart announces that it’s going to open up a store in a town. But you know what? There was a small twist in the tale here. As it turns out another giant company stepped up and became a saviour for small businesses during the times of recession. And this company lodged a campaign that was such an amazing hit that the senate of the United States itself unanimously passed a resolution to support the initiative. And cherry on the cake, President Barack Obama himself publically supported the campaign. The question is- What is this company and how did the American president himself end up endorsing a marketing campaign. Well, the company that I’m talking about is American Express and the campaign that it launched is known the ‘Small business Saturday’ This was an initiative where American Express gave away $25 dollars of special credit to 100,000 credit card members wherein they could only redeem these $25 if they shopped at a small business on a Saturday, after thanksgiving. And they also gave away $100 of Facebook advertising credits to 10,000 small businesses just so that these small businesses could utilise digital marketing in order to maximise their profits. 

On top of the incentives, they also ran T.V. ads, radio ads and even social media campaigns to educate the American population about their impact on the small businesses. And you know what? Soon enough, hundreds of small business owners all across the country participated in the campaign and what followed next was nothing short of a capitalistic miracle that many considered to be impossible. Millions of Americans started walking into a small business store and rather than shopping from a Walmart they began shopping from a small business inspite of knowing that they were making a more expensive purchase as compared to Walmart. In it’s second year, ‘Small Business Saturday’ became even more successful wherein 5,000 small businesses participated in the campaign and 103 million Americans shopped small. And soon enough the Small Business Saturday became such a social phenomenon that it generated over 2.7 million Facebook likes and became a top trend in topic on Twitter. And #SmallBusinessSaturday became so popular that even President Barack Obama tweeted his support towards the campaign. 

This is how the capitalistic America went beyond their conventions and came together as a community to spread kindness and showed empathy towards small businesses in their community. By 2012, American Express took the campaign to the next level wherein they did not just give out credit card incentives but they also provided the small business owners with social media kits, email templates and various marketing materials to help them maximise their marketing. This further maximised their sales and within just 2 years Small Business Saturday became a part of the annual American tradition wherein everybody starting from small business owners to the President himself participate in the campaign. And soon enough, it turned into a beautiful occasion with lots of happines, lots of smiles and most importantly it became an occasion of communal unity for the United States of America. 

In 2015, President Obama even documented taking his daughters to the local bookstore to promote the initiative of shopping at a small business. Fast forward to 2020, American Express estimates that 110 million people participated in the Small Business Saturday and sales hit a record high with an estimated $19.6 billion in spending and all of this money helped keep small businesses alive even during COVID-19 recession. This is how a bank like American Express was able to use empathy and kindness to make an economic miracle come true even during the toughest times of American history. 

Now, there are 3 very important lessons that we need to learn from this case study while we execute these ideas to our domain. Lesson 1, identifying the pain and the interest of the audience is always the key to unlocking extraordinary business ideas. In this case, American Express identified the pain of the shoppers and used its service to give them a $25 credit just so that it could motivate the shoppers to shop from a small business. Therefore, the interest of the shoppers has been addressed, at the same time it has also catered to the pain of small business owners. 

Lesson 2, in the 21st Century participatory campaigns will always turn out to be more powerful than even an award winning advertisement. Why? because the new age of marketing is moving from impressions to expressions. So, more than a T.V. ad it is the participation of the customers that is going to create more impact. In this case, because American Express gave out email templates and social media kits the shopkeepers automatically became the local ambassadors who participated in the campaign which eventually led to a chain reaction and got millions of shoppers on board too. This is what we call as participatory marketing campaign.

 And last and most importantly, always remember that empathy and compassion are the most undervalued attributes of this capitalistic world and very few people know that these are two of those qualities that are so powerful that they can turn a commoner into a king. In this case, they were powerful enough to give rise to a capitalistic miracle that America will cherish forever.

How did India's MTR Foods Overcome The Economic Downturns

 Hello everybody , On 25th of June 1975 the Indira Gandhi government officially declared a nationwide emergency. The fundamental rights were curbed, the press was censored and within a fortnight the livelihood of 620 million Indians was at stake. Little did they know that the next 21 months of their lives would be known as the darkest chapter in the history of Indian democracy. And all of this was happening during a time when India was already witnessing a socioeconomic crisis. During this time, let alone business prosperity even survival was considered to be a miracle. And the story that I’m about to tell you today is the story of one such miracle wherein amidst this economic nightmare while most businesses were shutting down there was one incredible businessman who turned this very same emergency into an business opportunity and built a business empire that now has a revenue of 1000 crores. This businessman is Mr Sadananda Maiya and the company that I’m talking about is Mavalli Tiffin Room which is popularly known as MTR. 

The question is- What was so special about MTR and how was it able to turn an economic nightmare into a business opportunity ? The answer to this question lies in the rich history of MTR that dates back to 1924. This is when the Maiya family started the MTR restaurant with the vision to serve the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food to its customers. And the entire family was so dedicated to their profession that even during the post-independence time when the country was witnessing a political turmoil they still served the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food in town. Within a few years the restaurant became so popular that it became a hotspot for tourists television personalities and even film stars. But after 5 long decades of prosperity; in 1975 when the emergency was imposed the family hit a dead end due to the socio-economic crisis. 

During this time, apart from the emergency India had already seen 2 bad agricultural years and due to the formation of OPEC the oil prices had quadrupled and the inflation in the country had skyrocketed to 15%. The situation was so bad that the government had to stop all new construction work they froze the wages and salaries in the public sectors And imposed compulsory savings on income tax payers. And this meant that every single rupee was a lifesaver for a middle class person and it obviously meant that rarely anybody ever went to a restaurant. On top of that, the government required every restaurant to conform to prices set by the government and it was practically impossible to run a profitable restaurant business with those given prices. For example, under the President’s rule, the price of Idli was clipped to 10p from 25p while a cup of coffee which costed one rupee was to be sold for just 25p. 

Now, people, when something like this happens most of the restaurant owners do either one or many of these 3 things to survive. And this is something that you would’ve seen even during the COVID-19 crisis. Number one, they do extreme cost cutting and fire all of their employees. Number two, they indulge in adulteration and serve extremely low quality food to their customers which eventually leads to health hazards. Or number three they just shut their shop altogether and wait for the situation to get back to normal. And this is exactly what the restaurant owners did in 1975 because they saw no other option to survive. But you know what ? Even during this time MTR foods still served the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food to its customers without compromising on their quality. 

And not just that They retained most of their employees and built a supply chain that was so robust that when the emergency was lifted MTR went on to become one of the most successful food companies in the country. The question is- What exactly was this strategy and what was so special about it ? As it turns out, when the government imposed the prices the MTR restaurants started bleeding. They were loosing out ₹25,000 on weekdays and lost upto 1 lakh rupees during weekends. But even during that time Sadanand Maiya sir was not willing to compromise on his family business values. At the same time he did not want to fire any of the employees because they had stayed loyal to the business for decades So you know what ? He took a bold step to shut down the restaurant altogether and made 3 strategic changes to it’s business.

 Number one, he realised that inspite of the emergency, the demand for food did not go down. It’s just that the purchase power of the customers had declined drastically. And the supply chain of the restaurant was too costly to actually cater to their demands. So, to reduce the cost he moved from cooked food to packed food. Because of this the heavy cost and loss due to perishable items was completely eliminated. On top of that instead of adulterating the costly ingredients he changed the ingredients altogether. For example, they moved from rice idlis to rava idlis to make idlis cost effective. And even today, Rava Idli is one of MTR’s signature dishes. 

Number two since he could not comply by the prices imposed by the government he turned the same restaurant into a grocery store and started selling food mixes via grocery sales. And last and most importantly he trained his entire staff to build an efficient supply chain to make packed food and sold it at an affordable price. In the corporate world this is what we call as reskilling. And that is how ladies and gentlemen MTR was able to survive the emergency without compromising on its business values. And guess what ? As soon as the emergency was lifted MTR restaurant reopened but this time along with the restaurant they had a ready to fire manufacturing chain which produced nothing but high quality products. Soon enough it extended to multiple food mixes like pickles, like spices and even special spice mixtures. Fast forward to today MTR has emerged as one of the finest food brands in the country with a revenue of almost 1000 crores. And MTR exports its products to 21 countries including US, UK, Australia and Japan. 

And most importantly it has successfully stood the test of time for 97 years without ever compromising its values And even during the COVID crisis, 10 years after Maiya sir stepped down The company is still setting very high standards for change management in the industry. While most companies were clueless and struggled to keep their supply chain intact during the COVID crisis; MTR foods had already doubled their inventory level from 14 days to 30 days capacity. And while the first lockdown was imposed on 25th of March MTR rigorously started preparing for the crisis way back from 10th March itself. And this is when none of us had a clue that our lives were about to change forever. 

And that is how time and again by turning a business threat into a business opportunity MTR has consistently set a benchmark for other brands to follow and from entrepreneurs like you and me to learn from. Now there are 3 very important lessons that we need to learn from this iconic case study. Number one and this is something that has been followed by Dhirubhai Ambani sir better than anybody else wherein his policy was everytime you see a market crisis you need to realize that your competitors are facing the exact same crisis as you are. The question is are you going to see it as an obstacle and succumb to it or treat it as a business opportunity and get way ahead of your competition.

 Number two, money can build a company but it takes guts, quality and values to build a brand. And last and most importantly as much as the Internet is filled with American and European business case studies we often fail to realise the fact that India has had a long history of political and economic crisis and the adversity has been so much that let alone business, even staying alive was considered to be a big deal.

 But even during these times we have had some incredible entrepreneurs who were able to build a business empire and have established a golden legacy for us to follow and we being in the Indian markets need to pay very close attention to these lesser known goldmines because they have got nuggets of wisdom that can turn us into extraordinary business leaders of this country. 

How did India's MTR Foods Overcome The Economic Downturns

 Hello everybody , On 25th of June 1975 the Indira Gandhi government officially declared a nationwide emergency. The fundamental rights were curbed, the press was censored and within a fortnight the livelihood of 620 million Indians was at stake. Little did they know that the next 21 months of their lives would be known as the darkest chapter in the history of Indian democracy. And all of this was happening during a time when India was already witnessing a socioeconomic crisis. During this time, let alone business prosperity even survival was considered to be a miracle. And the story that I’m about to tell you today is the story of one such miracle wherein amidst this economic nightmare while most businesses were shutting down there was one incredible businessman who turned this very same emergency into an business opportunity and built a business empire that now has a revenue of 1000 crores. This businessman is Mr Sadananda Maiya and the company that I’m talking about is Mavalli Tiffin Room which is popularly known as MTR. 

The question is- What was so special about MTR and how was it able to turn an economic nightmare into a business opportunity ? The answer to this question lies in the rich history of MTR that dates back to 1924. This is when the Maiya family started the MTR restaurant with the vision to serve the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food to its customers. And the entire family was so dedicated to their profession that even during the post-independence time when the country was witnessing a political turmoil they still served the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food in town. Within a few years the restaurant became so popular that it became a hotspot for tourists television personalities and even film stars. But after 5 long decades of prosperity; in 1975 when the emergency was imposed the family hit a dead end due to the socio-economic crisis. 

During this time, apart from the emergency India had already seen 2 bad agricultural years and due to the formation of OPEC the oil prices had quadrupled and the inflation in the country had skyrocketed to 15%. The situation was so bad that the government had to stop all new construction work they froze the wages and salaries in the public sectors And imposed compulsory savings on income tax payers. And this meant that every single rupee was a lifesaver for a middle class person and it obviously meant that rarely anybody ever went to a restaurant. On top of that, the government required every restaurant to conform to prices set by the government and it was practically impossible to run a profitable restaurant business with those given prices. For example, under the President’s rule, the price of Idli was clipped to 10p from 25p while a cup of coffee which costed one rupee was to be sold for just 25p. 

Now, people, when something like this happens most of the restaurant owners do either one or many of these 3 things to survive. And this is something that you would’ve seen even during the COVID-19 crisis. Number one, they do extreme cost cutting and fire all of their employees. Number two, they indulge in adulteration and serve extremely low quality food to their customers which eventually leads to health hazards. Or number three they just shut their shop altogether and wait for the situation to get back to normal. And this is exactly what the restaurant owners did in 1975 because they saw no other option to survive. But you know what ? Even during this time MTR foods still served the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food to its customers without compromising on their quality. 

And not just that They retained most of their employees and built a supply chain that was so robust that when the emergency was lifted MTR went on to become one of the most successful food companies in the country. The question is- What exactly was this strategy and what was so special about it ? As it turns out, when the government imposed the prices the MTR restaurants started bleeding. They were loosing out ₹25,000 on weekdays and lost upto 1 lakh rupees during weekends. But even during that time Sadanand Maiya sir was not willing to compromise on his family business values. At the same time he did not want to fire any of the employees because they had stayed loyal to the business for decades So you know what ? He took a bold step to shut down the restaurant altogether and made 3 strategic changes to it’s business.

 Number one, he realised that inspite of the emergency, the demand for food did not go down. It’s just that the purchase power of the customers had declined drastically. And the supply chain of the restaurant was too costly to actually cater to their demands. So, to reduce the cost he moved from cooked food to packed food. Because of this the heavy cost and loss due to perishable items was completely eliminated. On top of that instead of adulterating the costly ingredients he changed the ingredients altogether. For example, they moved from rice idlis to rava idlis to make idlis cost effective. And even today, Rava Idli is one of MTR’s signature dishes. 

Number two since he could not comply by the prices imposed by the government he turned the same restaurant into a grocery store and started selling food mixes via grocery sales. And last and most importantly he trained his entire staff to build an efficient supply chain to make packed food and sold it at an affordable price. In the corporate world this is what we call as reskilling. And that is how ladies and gentlemen MTR was able to survive the emergency without compromising on its business values. And guess what ? As soon as the emergency was lifted MTR restaurant reopened but this time along with the restaurant they had a ready to fire manufacturing chain which produced nothing but high quality products. Soon enough it extended to multiple food mixes like pickles, like spices and even special spice mixtures. Fast forward to today MTR has emerged as one of the finest food brands in the country with a revenue of almost 1000 crores. And MTR exports its products to 21 countries including US, UK, Australia and Japan. 

And most importantly it has successfully stood the test of time for 97 years without ever compromising its values And even during the COVID crisis, 10 years after Maiya sir stepped down The company is still setting very high standards for change management in the industry. While most companies were clueless and struggled to keep their supply chain intact during the COVID crisis; MTR foods had already doubled their inventory level from 14 days to 30 days capacity. And while the first lockdown was imposed on 25th of March MTR rigorously started preparing for the crisis way back from 10th March itself. And this is when none of us had a clue that our lives were about to change forever. 

And that is how time and again by turning a business threat into a business opportunity MTR has consistently set a benchmark for other brands to follow and from entrepreneurs like you and me to learn from. Now there are 3 very important lessons that we need to learn from this iconic case study. Number one and this is something that has been followed by Dhirubhai Ambani sir better than anybody else wherein his policy was everytime you see a market crisis you need to realize that your competitors are facing the exact same crisis as you are. The question is are you going to see it as an obstacle and succumb to it or treat it as a business opportunity and get way ahead of your competition.

 Number two, money can build a company but it takes guts, quality and values to build a brand. And last and most importantly as much as the Internet is filled with American and European business case studies we often fail to realise the fact that India has had a long history of political and economic crisis and the adversity has been so much that let alone business, even staying alive was considered to be a big deal.

 But even during these times we have had some incredible entrepreneurs who were able to build a business empire and have established a golden legacy for us to follow and we being in the Indian markets need to pay very close attention to these lesser known goldmines because they have got nuggets of wisdom that can turn us into extraordinary business leaders of this country. 

How did India's MTR Foods Overcome The Economic Downturns

 Hello everybody , On 25th of June 1975 the Indira Gandhi government officially declared a nationwide emergency. The fundamental rights were curbed, the press was censored and within a fortnight the livelihood of 620 million Indians was at stake. Little did they know that the next 21 months of their lives would be known as the darkest chapter in the history of Indian democracy. And all of this was happening during a time when India was already witnessing a socioeconomic crisis. During this time, let alone business prosperity even survival was considered to be a miracle. And the story that I’m about to tell you today is the story of one such miracle wherein amidst this economic nightmare while most businesses were shutting down there was one incredible businessman who turned this very same emergency into an business opportunity and built a business empire that now has a revenue of 1000 crores. This businessman is Mr Sadananda Maiya and the company that I’m talking about is Mavalli Tiffin Room which is popularly known as MTR. 

The question is- What was so special about MTR and how was it able to turn an economic nightmare into a business opportunity ? The answer to this question lies in the rich history of MTR that dates back to 1924. This is when the Maiya family started the MTR restaurant with the vision to serve the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food to its customers. And the entire family was so dedicated to their profession that even during the post-independence time when the country was witnessing a political turmoil they still served the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food in town. Within a few years the restaurant became so popular that it became a hotspot for tourists television personalities and even film stars. But after 5 long decades of prosperity; in 1975 when the emergency was imposed the family hit a dead end due to the socio-economic crisis. 

During this time, apart from the emergency India had already seen 2 bad agricultural years and due to the formation of OPEC the oil prices had quadrupled and the inflation in the country had skyrocketed to 15%. The situation was so bad that the government had to stop all new construction work they froze the wages and salaries in the public sectors And imposed compulsory savings on income tax payers. And this meant that every single rupee was a lifesaver for a middle class person and it obviously meant that rarely anybody ever went to a restaurant. On top of that, the government required every restaurant to conform to prices set by the government and it was practically impossible to run a profitable restaurant business with those given prices. For example, under the President’s rule, the price of Idli was clipped to 10p from 25p while a cup of coffee which costed one rupee was to be sold for just 25p. 

Now, people, when something like this happens most of the restaurant owners do either one or many of these 3 things to survive. And this is something that you would’ve seen even during the COVID-19 crisis. Number one, they do extreme cost cutting and fire all of their employees. Number two, they indulge in adulteration and serve extremely low quality food to their customers which eventually leads to health hazards. Or number three they just shut their shop altogether and wait for the situation to get back to normal. And this is exactly what the restaurant owners did in 1975 because they saw no other option to survive. But you know what ? Even during this time MTR foods still served the most authentic, hygienic and the tastiest South Indian food to its customers without compromising on their quality. 

And not just that They retained most of their employees and built a supply chain that was so robust that when the emergency was lifted MTR went on to become one of the most successful food companies in the country. The question is- What exactly was this strategy and what was so special about it ? As it turns out, when the government imposed the prices the MTR restaurants started bleeding. They were loosing out ₹25,000 on weekdays and lost upto 1 lakh rupees during weekends. But even during that time Sadanand Maiya sir was not willing to compromise on his family business values. At the same time he did not want to fire any of the employees because they had stayed loyal to the business for decades So you know what ? He took a bold step to shut down the restaurant altogether and made 3 strategic changes to it’s business.

 Number one, he realised that inspite of the emergency, the demand for food did not go down. It’s just that the purchase power of the customers had declined drastically. And the supply chain of the restaurant was too costly to actually cater to their demands. So, to reduce the cost he moved from cooked food to packed food. Because of this the heavy cost and loss due to perishable items was completely eliminated. On top of that instead of adulterating the costly ingredients he changed the ingredients altogether. For example, they moved from rice idlis to rava idlis to make idlis cost effective. And even today, Rava Idli is one of MTR’s signature dishes. 

Number two since he could not comply by the prices imposed by the government he turned the same restaurant into a grocery store and started selling food mixes via grocery sales. And last and most importantly he trained his entire staff to build an efficient supply chain to make packed food and sold it at an affordable price. In the corporate world this is what we call as reskilling. And that is how ladies and gentlemen MTR was able to survive the emergency without compromising on its business values. And guess what ? As soon as the emergency was lifted MTR restaurant reopened but this time along with the restaurant they had a ready to fire manufacturing chain which produced nothing but high quality products. Soon enough it extended to multiple food mixes like pickles, like spices and even special spice mixtures. Fast forward to today MTR has emerged as one of the finest food brands in the country with a revenue of almost 1000 crores. And MTR exports its products to 21 countries including US, UK, Australia and Japan. 

And most importantly it has successfully stood the test of time for 97 years without ever compromising its values And even during the COVID crisis, 10 years after Maiya sir stepped down The company is still setting very high standards for change management in the industry. While most companies were clueless and struggled to keep their supply chain intact during the COVID crisis; MTR foods had already doubled their inventory level from 14 days to 30 days capacity. And while the first lockdown was imposed on 25th of March MTR rigorously started preparing for the crisis way back from 10th March itself. And this is when none of us had a clue that our lives were about to change forever. 

And that is how time and again by turning a business threat into a business opportunity MTR has consistently set a benchmark for other brands to follow and from entrepreneurs like you and me to learn from. Now there are 3 very important lessons that we need to learn from this iconic case study. Number one and this is something that has been followed by Dhirubhai Ambani sir better than anybody else wherein his policy was everytime you see a market crisis you need to realize that your competitors are facing the exact same crisis as you are. The question is are you going to see it as an obstacle and succumb to it or treat it as a business opportunity and get way ahead of your competition.

 Number two, money can build a company but it takes guts, quality and values to build a brand. And last and most importantly as much as the Internet is filled with American and European business case studies we often fail to realise the fact that India has had a long history of political and economic crisis and the adversity has been so much that let alone business, even staying alive was considered to be a big deal.

 But even during these times we have had some incredible entrepreneurs who were able to build a business empire and have established a golden legacy for us to follow and we being in the Indian markets need to pay very close attention to these lesser known goldmines because they have got nuggets of wisdom that can turn us into extraordinary business leaders of this country. 

How Facebook become Powerful & Giant Company

 Hi everybody, We all know Facebook as the giant, powerful company that it is today but very few of us know that when Facebook actually came out in the market it was neither the first social media product in the market nor was it the best social media website in the market. In fact, when Facebook came out, there was already another social media website that had about 1 million users. And it was already one of the most visited websites on the Internet. But somehow, within the next four years Facebook made history by overtaking this huge company and went onto become one of the most powerful companies on the planet. 

And the reason why this happened has got some very very important business learnings for each one of us because more often than not, we all must have had a brilliant idea but then after doing a little bit of research, we tend to realize that there is already a giant company as our competitors doing the exact same thing as we planned to do. And that could be demotivating. But guys, what if I told you that instead, you should be super happy to build a business if there is already a giant competition in the market. And the fact that it will actually provide you a golden opportunity to build a business. The question is- How is it even possible and how can you go on to build a business to compete with a billion dollar company. The answer to this question lies in a story that dates back to 2004.

 This is when a social media website called Myspace had arrived on the Internet. It was just like the modern day Facebook which allowed people to form connections and helped them find new friends on the Internet. And within just one year Myspace became a sensation in the making with more than 1 million users signing up within the first month itself. And by the end of the year, Myspace had 5 million users. This is when in 2005, it got purchased by a gigantic media company called News Corp for $580 milllion. Because somehow, News Corp was one of those few organisations that actually realized the potential of social media ads, back in 2005. And the day this purchase happened it marked the beginning of the capitalistic Internet era. During this time, Facebook was just a college student website which was open to only Ivy League students in the US. But on the other side, from 2005 to 2008 Myspace became the most visited social networking site in the world. And in 2006, it even surpassed Google to becoming the most visited website in the world. 

But something happened in the next 4 years because of which the same Myspace had 115 million users while on the other side Facebook, the college community website had more than 1 billion users. The question is What exactly happened and how did two companies inspite of being in the exact same space, doing the exact same thing have such a vast difference in their success. The first reason is based on the fundamental concept of social network and human psychology which is known as the triadic closure property. And this is something that was suggested by a german sociologists named Georg Simmel in 1908. In simple words what it means is if there are three people: Shyam, Baburao and Raju If Raju knows Babu and Babu knows Shyam then automatically, Raju will form a connection with Shyam and Raju will be more inclined to trust Shyam. So, basically, if A knows B, and B knows C then A is more inclined to form a connection with C eventually leading to speed of trust. And you must have observed this while you used Facebook or Instagram, that is when you get a request from a person who has 200 mutual friends you easily tend to accept their request. 

At the same time if you get a request from a person whom you possibly know but has got zero mutual friends there’s a little bit of skepticism that pops in. This is how the triadic closure property plays out. In case of Myspace and Facebook, the major drawback with Myspace was that it did not allow users to use their real names as their usernames and because of this, although you could meet new people on the Internet through similar interests you couldn’t really tell who exactly are you chatting with. So, this kinda turned into a fine mix of privacy and creepiness. But on the other hand Facebook insisted on getting people to use their real names as their usernames. Why? Because as legend has it, Facebook was meant to stalk girls and if you didn’t know the names of those girls stalking wouldn’t be user-friendly right? Will do anything for girls Just kidding guys! It was meant to be that way because Mark Zuckerberg believed in helping people build authentic connections through digital technology. 

And regardless of the truth behind this statement the strategy of using real names turned out to be Facebook’s X factor because of which apart from connecting with people in their own respective social circle users actually started to expand their network to form second and third connections. And this is where the mutual friend feature came in handy and because of this, the networks on Facebook became far more deep rooted and helped people expand their connections beyond their social circle. And this is the reason why in 2006, when Facebook opened itself to the general public people flocked to create a Facebook account inspite of having a Myspace account already. Now, this begs the question If this was just this simple feature of using real usernames that distinguished Facebook from Myspace then why didn’t Myspace incorporate that feature and kill Facebook altogether? In fact, this is what Facebook did with Snapchat right? By introducing Instagram stories. In fact, the Myspace team even had the backing of a large corporation like News Corp, right? Then why couldn’t they incorporate this feature? Well, as it turns out, this is exactly why they couldn’t incorporate the feature in their website. Because News corp turned Myspace into a proper corporate organisation which had to follow protocols and procedures And more than the ideas and the execution, the focus went to register quarterly profits, yearly profits and all the other corporate procedures. 

In fact, even if the Myspace team came out with a brilliant idea. It first used to get scrutinized by the lawyers, then by so-called experts and then a series of meetings used to be held and then a series of emails to be sent and it just kept going back and forth. And in the process, things got so slow that the ideas just got lost into bureaucracy and even something as simple as adding a feature also took forever to be executed. While on the other side, Facebook was being run by a bunch of college students who could add, change, modify and delete features overnight. And make major modifications to the website without any formalities. And unfortunately finally when Myspace incorporated the option of real usernames it was already 2008 and Facebook had already surged way ahead.

 So, to put that straight, while Myspace became a rigid organisation that was focused on procedures and protocols. And was constantly debating about who is right and who is not. Facebook was obsessively focused on what is right and executed ideas with agility. And this became the second reason for the fall of Myspace and the rise of Facebook. And the story didn’t end here the rigid corporate structure of Myspace also lead to another huge setback that literally became the golden recipe for Facebook to surge way ahead of Myspace. And this recipe also became a game changer for Amazon, Google and Apple. And this was the idea of third party integration wherein Facebook practically tranformed from a product to becoming a platform. 

On 24th of May 2007, Facebook launched the Facebook platform to provide a framework for software developers to create applications that could interact with core features of Facebook. For example, Spotify could use Facebook API to allow users to share music directly within the Spotify application itself. Candy Crush used Facebook for instant login and I’m sure most of you must have used it. And thirdly, Nike run club used Facebook API to enable its users to share their achievements of their run with their friends by posting directly to the Facebook’s news feed. So, this way Facebook allowed developers and gave them the freedom to use their technology and build products and services of their own.

 Whereas on the other hand, Myspace was set to be a notoriously closed system and Myspace even used to block contents from potential competitors. And for some reason it also ended up blocking Photobucket which was at that time the most popular photo sharing website. And this is the third reason why Facebook became an incredible platform not just for consumers and advertisers but also for developers. And by the way, this concept of going from a product to a platform is also the reason for the unprecedented success of Apple because back then even Steve Jobs was skeptical about allowing third party developers. But when Apple started providing its platform to developers the iconic App Store was born and that changed Apple forever. 

Even Android did the same with Play Store. But If you look at Nokia Nokia acted like Myspace and made it very difficult for developers to operate because the symbianOS was too rigid for third party apps to be built upon. And fast forward to 2006, Amazon launched its own version of third party integration by allowing third party sellers to use this technology to sell their products. And guess what? In 2020 alone, Amazon generated $80.46 billion dollars in third-party seller services revenue which is more than the revenue generated by its own sellers. This was the insane revenue stream that Myspace passed on and turned Facebook into the billion dollar company that it is today.

Now, let’s talk about the 3 important lessons from this case study. Lesson number one, Every entrepreneur and a leader needs to realize that the fundamental purpose of an organisational structure is not just to help you make strategic decisions but to enable you to make those strategic decisions before its too late. And the day you realize that these protocols are making the execution of ideas tedious you need to kill those protocols straightaway or else those very same protocols will end up killing your organisation. 

Lesson 2, regardless of how marvelous your technology is if you’re building a business to consumer product human centred design must always be taken into consideration because if you see, in this case, it was the simple feature of mutual friends that actually got Facebook the same amount of popularity as Myspace. Because knowingly or unknowingly it abided by the triadic closure property. 

And last and most importantly, even if you’re not the first mover in the industry it’s completely fine guys. In fact, it is great because regardless of how big a company is if they are venturing into a new space, they will make mistakes. And if you carefully learn from those mistakes you can save yourself a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of efforts. And more importantly, merely by learning from those mistakes you will have the opportunity to race ahead of the game Because afterall, wisdom is that attribute that often separates a few legendary entrepreneurs from the many good ones.

How Facebook become Powerful & Giant Company

 Hi everybody, We all know Facebook as the giant, powerful company that it is today but very few of us know that when Facebook actually came out in the market it was neither the first social media product in the market nor was it the best social media website in the market. In fact, when Facebook came out, there was already another social media website that had about 1 million users. And it was already one of the most visited websites on the Internet. But somehow, within the next four years Facebook made history by overtaking this huge company and went onto become one of the most powerful companies on the planet. 

And the reason why this happened has got some very very important business learnings for each one of us because more often than not, we all must have had a brilliant idea but then after doing a little bit of research, we tend to realize that there is already a giant company as our competitors doing the exact same thing as we planned to do. And that could be demotivating. But guys, what if I told you that instead, you should be super happy to build a business if there is already a giant competition in the market. And the fact that it will actually provide you a golden opportunity to build a business. The question is- How is it even possible and how can you go on to build a business to compete with a billion dollar company. The answer to this question lies in a story that dates back to 2004.

 This is when a social media website called Myspace had arrived on the Internet. It was just like the modern day Facebook which allowed people to form connections and helped them find new friends on the Internet. And within just one year Myspace became a sensation in the making with more than 1 million users signing up within the first month itself. And by the end of the year, Myspace had 5 million users. This is when in 2005, it got purchased by a gigantic media company called News Corp for $580 milllion. Because somehow, News Corp was one of those few organisations that actually realized the potential of social media ads, back in 2005. And the day this purchase happened it marked the beginning of the capitalistic Internet era. During this time, Facebook was just a college student website which was open to only Ivy League students in the US. But on the other side, from 2005 to 2008 Myspace became the most visited social networking site in the world. And in 2006, it even surpassed Google to becoming the most visited website in the world. 

But something happened in the next 4 years because of which the same Myspace had 115 million users while on the other side Facebook, the college community website had more than 1 billion users. The question is What exactly happened and how did two companies inspite of being in the exact same space, doing the exact same thing have such a vast difference in their success. The first reason is based on the fundamental concept of social network and human psychology which is known as the triadic closure property. And this is something that was suggested by a german sociologists named Georg Simmel in 1908. In simple words what it means is if there are three people: Shyam, Baburao and Raju If Raju knows Babu and Babu knows Shyam then automatically, Raju will form a connection with Shyam and Raju will be more inclined to trust Shyam. So, basically, if A knows B, and B knows C then A is more inclined to form a connection with C eventually leading to speed of trust. And you must have observed this while you used Facebook or Instagram, that is when you get a request from a person who has 200 mutual friends you easily tend to accept their request. 

At the same time if you get a request from a person whom you possibly know but has got zero mutual friends there’s a little bit of skepticism that pops in. This is how the triadic closure property plays out. In case of Myspace and Facebook, the major drawback with Myspace was that it did not allow users to use their real names as their usernames and because of this, although you could meet new people on the Internet through similar interests you couldn’t really tell who exactly are you chatting with. So, this kinda turned into a fine mix of privacy and creepiness. But on the other hand Facebook insisted on getting people to use their real names as their usernames. Why? Because as legend has it, Facebook was meant to stalk girls and if you didn’t know the names of those girls stalking wouldn’t be user-friendly right? Will do anything for girls Just kidding guys! It was meant to be that way because Mark Zuckerberg believed in helping people build authentic connections through digital technology. 

And regardless of the truth behind this statement the strategy of using real names turned out to be Facebook’s X factor because of which apart from connecting with people in their own respective social circle users actually started to expand their network to form second and third connections. And this is where the mutual friend feature came in handy and because of this, the networks on Facebook became far more deep rooted and helped people expand their connections beyond their social circle. And this is the reason why in 2006, when Facebook opened itself to the general public people flocked to create a Facebook account inspite of having a Myspace account already. Now, this begs the question If this was just this simple feature of using real usernames that distinguished Facebook from Myspace then why didn’t Myspace incorporate that feature and kill Facebook altogether? In fact, this is what Facebook did with Snapchat right? By introducing Instagram stories. In fact, the Myspace team even had the backing of a large corporation like News Corp, right? Then why couldn’t they incorporate this feature? Well, as it turns out, this is exactly why they couldn’t incorporate the feature in their website. Because News corp turned Myspace into a proper corporate organisation which had to follow protocols and procedures And more than the ideas and the execution, the focus went to register quarterly profits, yearly profits and all the other corporate procedures. 

In fact, even if the Myspace team came out with a brilliant idea. It first used to get scrutinized by the lawyers, then by so-called experts and then a series of meetings used to be held and then a series of emails to be sent and it just kept going back and forth. And in the process, things got so slow that the ideas just got lost into bureaucracy and even something as simple as adding a feature also took forever to be executed. While on the other side, Facebook was being run by a bunch of college students who could add, change, modify and delete features overnight. And make major modifications to the website without any formalities. And unfortunately finally when Myspace incorporated the option of real usernames it was already 2008 and Facebook had already surged way ahead.

 So, to put that straight, while Myspace became a rigid organisation that was focused on procedures and protocols. And was constantly debating about who is right and who is not. Facebook was obsessively focused on what is right and executed ideas with agility. And this became the second reason for the fall of Myspace and the rise of Facebook. And the story didn’t end here the rigid corporate structure of Myspace also lead to another huge setback that literally became the golden recipe for Facebook to surge way ahead of Myspace. And this recipe also became a game changer for Amazon, Google and Apple. And this was the idea of third party integration wherein Facebook practically tranformed from a product to becoming a platform. 

On 24th of May 2007, Facebook launched the Facebook platform to provide a framework for software developers to create applications that could interact with core features of Facebook. For example, Spotify could use Facebook API to allow users to share music directly within the Spotify application itself. Candy Crush used Facebook for instant login and I’m sure most of you must have used it. And thirdly, Nike run club used Facebook API to enable its users to share their achievements of their run with their friends by posting directly to the Facebook’s news feed. So, this way Facebook allowed developers and gave them the freedom to use their technology and build products and services of their own.

 Whereas on the other hand, Myspace was set to be a notoriously closed system and Myspace even used to block contents from potential competitors. And for some reason it also ended up blocking Photobucket which was at that time the most popular photo sharing website. And this is the third reason why Facebook became an incredible platform not just for consumers and advertisers but also for developers. And by the way, this concept of going from a product to a platform is also the reason for the unprecedented success of Apple because back then even Steve Jobs was skeptical about allowing third party developers. But when Apple started providing its platform to developers the iconic App Store was born and that changed Apple forever. 

Even Android did the same with Play Store. But If you look at Nokia Nokia acted like Myspace and made it very difficult for developers to operate because the symbianOS was too rigid for third party apps to be built upon. And fast forward to 2006, Amazon launched its own version of third party integration by allowing third party sellers to use this technology to sell their products. And guess what? In 2020 alone, Amazon generated $80.46 billion dollars in third-party seller services revenue which is more than the revenue generated by its own sellers. This was the insane revenue stream that Myspace passed on and turned Facebook into the billion dollar company that it is today.

Now, let’s talk about the 3 important lessons from this case study. Lesson number one, Every entrepreneur and a leader needs to realize that the fundamental purpose of an organisational structure is not just to help you make strategic decisions but to enable you to make those strategic decisions before its too late. And the day you realize that these protocols are making the execution of ideas tedious you need to kill those protocols straightaway or else those very same protocols will end up killing your organisation. 

Lesson 2, regardless of how marvelous your technology is if you’re building a business to consumer product human centred design must always be taken into consideration because if you see, in this case, it was the simple feature of mutual friends that actually got Facebook the same amount of popularity as Myspace. Because knowingly or unknowingly it abided by the triadic closure property. 

And last and most importantly, even if you’re not the first mover in the industry it’s completely fine guys. In fact, it is great because regardless of how big a company is if they are venturing into a new space, they will make mistakes. And if you carefully learn from those mistakes you can save yourself a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of efforts. And more importantly, merely by learning from those mistakes you will have the opportunity to race ahead of the game Because afterall, wisdom is that attribute that often separates a few legendary entrepreneurs from the many good ones.

How Facebook become Powerful & Giant Company

 Hi everybody, We all know Facebook as the giant, powerful company that it is today but very few of us know that when Facebook actually came out in the market it was neither the first social media product in the market nor was it the best social media website in the market. In fact, when Facebook came out, there was already another social media website that had about 1 million users. And it was already one of the most visited websites on the Internet. But somehow, within the next four years Facebook made history by overtaking this huge company and went onto become one of the most powerful companies on the planet. 

And the reason why this happened has got some very very important business learnings for each one of us because more often than not, we all must have had a brilliant idea but then after doing a little bit of research, we tend to realize that there is already a giant company as our competitors doing the exact same thing as we planned to do. And that could be demotivating. But guys, what if I told you that instead, you should be super happy to build a business if there is already a giant competition in the market. And the fact that it will actually provide you a golden opportunity to build a business. The question is- How is it even possible and how can you go on to build a business to compete with a billion dollar company. The answer to this question lies in a story that dates back to 2004.

 This is when a social media website called Myspace had arrived on the Internet. It was just like the modern day Facebook which allowed people to form connections and helped them find new friends on the Internet. And within just one year Myspace became a sensation in the making with more than 1 million users signing up within the first month itself. And by the end of the year, Myspace had 5 million users. This is when in 2005, it got purchased by a gigantic media company called News Corp for $580 milllion. Because somehow, News Corp was one of those few organisations that actually realized the potential of social media ads, back in 2005. And the day this purchase happened it marked the beginning of the capitalistic Internet era. During this time, Facebook was just a college student website which was open to only Ivy League students in the US. But on the other side, from 2005 to 2008 Myspace became the most visited social networking site in the world. And in 2006, it even surpassed Google to becoming the most visited website in the world. 

But something happened in the next 4 years because of which the same Myspace had 115 million users while on the other side Facebook, the college community website had more than 1 billion users. The question is What exactly happened and how did two companies inspite of being in the exact same space, doing the exact same thing have such a vast difference in their success. The first reason is based on the fundamental concept of social network and human psychology which is known as the triadic closure property. And this is something that was suggested by a german sociologists named Georg Simmel in 1908. In simple words what it means is if there are three people: Shyam, Baburao and Raju If Raju knows Babu and Babu knows Shyam then automatically, Raju will form a connection with Shyam and Raju will be more inclined to trust Shyam. So, basically, if A knows B, and B knows C then A is more inclined to form a connection with C eventually leading to speed of trust. And you must have observed this while you used Facebook or Instagram, that is when you get a request from a person who has 200 mutual friends you easily tend to accept their request. 

At the same time if you get a request from a person whom you possibly know but has got zero mutual friends there’s a little bit of skepticism that pops in. This is how the triadic closure property plays out. In case of Myspace and Facebook, the major drawback with Myspace was that it did not allow users to use their real names as their usernames and because of this, although you could meet new people on the Internet through similar interests you couldn’t really tell who exactly are you chatting with. So, this kinda turned into a fine mix of privacy and creepiness. But on the other hand Facebook insisted on getting people to use their real names as their usernames. Why? Because as legend has it, Facebook was meant to stalk girls and if you didn’t know the names of those girls stalking wouldn’t be user-friendly right? Will do anything for girls Just kidding guys! It was meant to be that way because Mark Zuckerberg believed in helping people build authentic connections through digital technology. 

And regardless of the truth behind this statement the strategy of using real names turned out to be Facebook’s X factor because of which apart from connecting with people in their own respective social circle users actually started to expand their network to form second and third connections. And this is where the mutual friend feature came in handy and because of this, the networks on Facebook became far more deep rooted and helped people expand their connections beyond their social circle. And this is the reason why in 2006, when Facebook opened itself to the general public people flocked to create a Facebook account inspite of having a Myspace account already. Now, this begs the question If this was just this simple feature of using real usernames that distinguished Facebook from Myspace then why didn’t Myspace incorporate that feature and kill Facebook altogether? In fact, this is what Facebook did with Snapchat right? By introducing Instagram stories. In fact, the Myspace team even had the backing of a large corporation like News Corp, right? Then why couldn’t they incorporate this feature? Well, as it turns out, this is exactly why they couldn’t incorporate the feature in their website. Because News corp turned Myspace into a proper corporate organisation which had to follow protocols and procedures And more than the ideas and the execution, the focus went to register quarterly profits, yearly profits and all the other corporate procedures. 

In fact, even if the Myspace team came out with a brilliant idea. It first used to get scrutinized by the lawyers, then by so-called experts and then a series of meetings used to be held and then a series of emails to be sent and it just kept going back and forth. And in the process, things got so slow that the ideas just got lost into bureaucracy and even something as simple as adding a feature also took forever to be executed. While on the other side, Facebook was being run by a bunch of college students who could add, change, modify and delete features overnight. And make major modifications to the website without any formalities. And unfortunately finally when Myspace incorporated the option of real usernames it was already 2008 and Facebook had already surged way ahead.

 So, to put that straight, while Myspace became a rigid organisation that was focused on procedures and protocols. And was constantly debating about who is right and who is not. Facebook was obsessively focused on what is right and executed ideas with agility. And this became the second reason for the fall of Myspace and the rise of Facebook. And the story didn’t end here the rigid corporate structure of Myspace also lead to another huge setback that literally became the golden recipe for Facebook to surge way ahead of Myspace. And this recipe also became a game changer for Amazon, Google and Apple. And this was the idea of third party integration wherein Facebook practically tranformed from a product to becoming a platform. 

On 24th of May 2007, Facebook launched the Facebook platform to provide a framework for software developers to create applications that could interact with core features of Facebook. For example, Spotify could use Facebook API to allow users to share music directly within the Spotify application itself. Candy Crush used Facebook for instant login and I’m sure most of you must have used it. And thirdly, Nike run club used Facebook API to enable its users to share their achievements of their run with their friends by posting directly to the Facebook’s news feed. So, this way Facebook allowed developers and gave them the freedom to use their technology and build products and services of their own.

 Whereas on the other hand, Myspace was set to be a notoriously closed system and Myspace even used to block contents from potential competitors. And for some reason it also ended up blocking Photobucket which was at that time the most popular photo sharing website. And this is the third reason why Facebook became an incredible platform not just for consumers and advertisers but also for developers. And by the way, this concept of going from a product to a platform is also the reason for the unprecedented success of Apple because back then even Steve Jobs was skeptical about allowing third party developers. But when Apple started providing its platform to developers the iconic App Store was born and that changed Apple forever. 

Even Android did the same with Play Store. But If you look at Nokia Nokia acted like Myspace and made it very difficult for developers to operate because the symbianOS was too rigid for third party apps to be built upon. And fast forward to 2006, Amazon launched its own version of third party integration by allowing third party sellers to use this technology to sell their products. And guess what? In 2020 alone, Amazon generated $80.46 billion dollars in third-party seller services revenue which is more than the revenue generated by its own sellers. This was the insane revenue stream that Myspace passed on and turned Facebook into the billion dollar company that it is today.

Now, let’s talk about the 3 important lessons from this case study. Lesson number one, Every entrepreneur and a leader needs to realize that the fundamental purpose of an organisational structure is not just to help you make strategic decisions but to enable you to make those strategic decisions before its too late. And the day you realize that these protocols are making the execution of ideas tedious you need to kill those protocols straightaway or else those very same protocols will end up killing your organisation. 

Lesson 2, regardless of how marvelous your technology is if you’re building a business to consumer product human centred design must always be taken into consideration because if you see, in this case, it was the simple feature of mutual friends that actually got Facebook the same amount of popularity as Myspace. Because knowingly or unknowingly it abided by the triadic closure property. 

And last and most importantly, even if you’re not the first mover in the industry it’s completely fine guys. In fact, it is great because regardless of how big a company is if they are venturing into a new space, they will make mistakes. And if you carefully learn from those mistakes you can save yourself a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of efforts. And more importantly, merely by learning from those mistakes you will have the opportunity to race ahead of the game Because afterall, wisdom is that attribute that often separates a few legendary entrepreneurs from the many good ones.

Increase Your Productivity Using This Simple Step To Focus…!!!!

 Hello everybody,  People, let’s first try to understand why are we so bad at instructing ourselves. Why is it that we are not able to manage our time ? Why is it that we are not able to focus ? And the answer to this question lies in our conditioning that has happened. since childhood You will see that since childhood there has always been an external entity which has been telling you what to do and when to do. For the first 18 years of your life you’ve got your school that gives you a timetable and tells you that from 9AM to 10AM you’re supposed to learn Hindi from 10 to 11 your are supposed to learn English and so on and so forth. 

And the same thing happens in college also when the college gives you a timetable and tells you that tells you that you’re supposed to have 75% attendance. And then when you get employed there is a boss who is going to keep an eye on you, the company tells you that you’re supposed to be there from 9 to 5. And then you’ve got those annoying peers who often keep an eye on you as to how many breaks you are taking. So if you see, there has always been an external entity that has been telling you when to do and what to do. As a result of this, we have lost our ability or our ability to self-govern ourselves has degraded to such a large extent that the next time you command your brain to do something the first response that you get is “NO” (laughs) .

So, practically speaking, your mind has become this notorious monkey which requires an external entity to tell it what to do and when to do. So, here’s a simple 5 step procedure which will help you to condition your mind to focus on something. Now the disclaimer over here is that this step by step procedure is very easy to understand but very difficult to execute. So, do not expect this to be like an easy ride for you to improve your focus and and for you to have this ultimate level of concentration that you wish to have. So, here’s step number one People, 

the first thing that you are supposed to do is make sure that you have one particular time slot and you reserve this one particular time slot for whatever activity that you want to do. This could be your homework This could be your project work, this could be anything. But fixing this time slot is very important and once you have, let’s say, fixed 9 AM to 11 AM what you are supposed to do is you’re supposed to make sure that you clear out every single possible distraction. For example, if you want to have breakfast, do make sure to schedule the breakfast before 9AM so that between that time, that is, from 9 AM to 11 AM you don’t have to get up for breakfast. 

Make sure that you do all the calls that you need, make sure you send all the PDFs to your friends or whatever you want to send. After doing all that work you shouldn’t have any work left between 9AM to 11AM except for that activity. The second step would be to get everything that you need at that desk wherein you’re supposed to work so that you don’t have to get up. Now, this includes everything starting from a sharpened pencil to your bottle of water. If you drink a lot of water then get 2 bottles and make sure that you have everything that you needed so that you don’t have to get up during that time slot. 

Step 3 is the most obvious step of all and that would be to put your phone on DnD and keep it away. And then we move on to step 4 and this is by far the most difficult step of all and here’s where no matter what happens, I repeat, no matter what happens you are supposed to be at your desk from 9 AM to 11 AM for 22 days straight, alright ? And here’s where, for the first 10 days your productivity will be ultra low okay ? It doesn’t matter. You are supposed to be at your desk, you’re supposed to be sitting at your chair. And the moment you do this, your battle with the monkey mind begins and here’s where all kinds of thoughts will start coming into play. Bro, what is the purpose of life ? Is Kunal Kamra right or Modi Ji right ? Why didn’t Seema reply ? I think I’m alone. 

What is the purpose of this Indian education system yaar ? Hmm.. these scientists are saying that the world will be doomed by 2030 then what’s the point of me studying all this ? And when this happens, just let your thoughts flow and you know what people ?this reminds me of what one This is what reminds me of what Blaise Pascal once said He said, “Most of the humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room, alone. And this experience of yours is the standing example of the same. Over the course of time, in about 5 to 10 days automatically, you will be able to make peace with your thoughts. And you will see that slowly and steadily your efficiency is increasing. Eventually, by the 22nd day, I can bet you that you would have reached at least 50% efficiency as in, if you sit down for 2 hours you will be able to focus on your work for at least one hour. 

And after you’re done with all of this, what you are supposed to do is maintain a progress sheet and over there you are supposed to write how much work you have done on each day until the 22nd day and if possible, follow it all throughout. Once you start doing this you’ll notice that you’re making progress, your efficiency is increasing and that will give you motivation to keep going. And once you follow this technique for about 22 days, you will see that by the end of 22nd day you have cultivated a powerful habit, you have discplined yourself to sit from 9 AM to 11 AM. Automatically, your focus will improve, your concentration will improve for those 2 hours and once you keep doing this for many many things in life, automatically you will begin see that you are making some amazing progress. 

Now, people, here’s where I want to tell you something very very important. I am not teaching you this technique so that you can study better I know that you are going to study well anyways because your teachers are going to kick your a**, your parents are going to kick your a**. But the reason why I want you to practice this technique for something as lame as studies is because this technique will teach you 3 very important life lessons that will help you achieve greatness in life. 

The first lesson that this technique is going to teach you is to live with your thoughts. And trust me, in this world of hustle and bustle because we don’t spend enough time with ourself we always live in a state of misery and the worst part is more often than not we never realize it. 

The second life skill that this technique will teach you is the art of self-governance. You will learn how do you exactly take control of your temptations, you will learn how to take control over your distractions. And once you start doing this in small things in life, automatically, you will begin to prepare yourself for much bigger and much more difficult battles in life. 

And third and most importantly this technique will also teach you that greatness takes time. At day zero, you will suck. Regardless of whatever you do, if you want to be great at it, you have to first learn to suck. And in this big bad world wherein we get everything with a click of a button it is very important for our generation to understand that greatness takes time. And once you learn this, I am 100% sure. that you will be on your way to achieve greatness. 

Review of THE 5 AM CLUB Book Summary

Book Name : THE 5 AM CLUB

Author Name : Robin Sharma

Year of Publication : 2018

By the time we turn off the alarm in the morning here and go to sleep, on the other hand the biggest World Class Business Leaders, Sports Persons, Entrepreneurs will be starting their day. They make some effort and do something special in their mornings. That’s why they are at the peak of their lives. 

This book is very clear on what ordinary people like them need to do to make progress. Author Robin Sharma has written very clearly in this 5AM Club book what to do when you get up at 5am. In this article we are going to know the summary of this book. Let’s start reading.

In this book he talks about three things and divides those three things into several parts and wonders what is special about waking up at 5 p.m. 

Those three things are, 

1. Use 20/20/20 Formula

2. The Four Interior Empire

3. Habit Installation Protocol


1. Use 20/20/20 Formula

Author says our first hour after waking up in the morning is the Most Worth and Important Hour. He calls this hour “Victory Hour.” This hour can be divided into three parts.

  •  Move
  •  Reflect
  •  Grow

*Move*

For the first 20 minutes we need to exercise. I.e. High Intensity Workout. Doing so is our Energy and Focus Increase. Scientifically speaking, there is a chemical release in our brain called BDNF. BDNF stands for Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor. This will increase our focus and reduce the stress level. In addition, the newest neural connections in the brain is Increase. So it will be very helpful to increase our focus and thinking power.

*Reflect*

Reflect for the next 20 minutes. In this step we need to isolate ourselves and get to know ourselves. Then we need to plan what we want to do on this day. Doing so will keep our focus on our work without becoming distracted. So we will be busy whole day. We can stay away from unnecessary distractions. During these 20 minutes we can meditate or pray. Doing so will give us a clarity on our lives. This will be very helpful in taking the right decision for the whole day. 

*Grow*

Finally grow in the last 20 minutes. That means gain Knowledge. We can read books that may be in our field. Otherwise read the biographies of the great men. That too can be done by listening to audio books or watching motivational videos. We must keep doing something every day to develop our knowledge. By doing this we will be much more advanced compared to our competitors. 

2. The Four Interior Empire

We must spend our precious time equally on these four things if we are to be happy in our lives. What they are,

  • Mind Set
  • Heart Set
  • Health Set
  • Soul Set

*Mind Set*

We can learn many things to improve our mind set by watching motivational videos, podcasts and using the strategies that can be told in it. But by doing so we can only achieve 25% of our goal. 

*Heart Set*

It is connected with our emotional life. We can not make the right decision just because our mind set is strong. We also need to be strong in our emotional lives. Emotional life is the connection that friends, family, relatives can have with them like this. Only if we are strong in emotion will it be easy for us to make any decision in our life.

*Health Set*

No matter how much money and property we have, if our physical health is not good it is all waste. Health is essential to providing a legacy for those who depend on us after we die.

“You cannot make a good business if you are dead.”

That is why world top successful people place importance on their health.

*Soul Set*

This is something very important. In our lives we are running after unwanted material thoughts. In this running we forget who we are. We have completely forgotten what we need in our lives to be happy. The only way author says to improvise the Soul Set is through meditation and prayer.

3. Habit Installation Protocol

Our Author says in this book that we need 66 days to accept a habit. He has divided this into three stages.

  • Destruction Phase
  • Installation Phase
  • Integration Phase

*Destruction Phase*

At this stage first 22 days one has to destroy a bad habit and implement a good habit. This is the most difficult part of all three stages. Our will power must be very high to do this. We need to keep motivating ourselves over and over again.

*Installation Phase*

The next 22 days will be totally irritating for us. Thought appear that this is why we need to do this. The thought appears that we can leave this. But we should not quit there. We have to go through those 22 days somehow to boost our self-confidence. 

*Integration Phase*

This will make it easier for all of us. After this we do not need an alarm to wake up at 5am. Looking at the next one we get to the point where we can tell why these people are sleeping so long.

The Silent Killer of Immunity – Indoor Pollution

Hello everyone , Stay Home, Stay Safe. Today, everyone is advised to stay inside their homes if they want to be protected from the virus. But have you ever thought about the viruses inside your home? I’m talking about the pollution inside our homes. Whenever we talk about air pollution, we refer to the pollution outside in the city. But do you know that there are multiple sources of air pollution inside your home? Which are adversely affecting your health and immunity. 

I think this will be an apt time to talk about indoor air pollution. What are the different sources of indoor air pollution? And how can you protect your health from them and fight against them? Come, let’s find out all of this, in today’s video. A US-based report of 2019 had stated that more than 6 Lakh Indians died because of indoor air pollution. The diseases from this type of pollution are respiratory. Pulmonary diseases. Like stroke, lung cancer, asthma, those diseases which are often caused by outdoor air pollution. But the good news is that, though you can’t control the outdoor pollution, but you can control the pollution inside your homes to quite an extent in simple and easy steps. 

Come, let’s get to know the sources and how to control them. You might not have to worry about the first and largest source perhaps because most of you live in cities where LPG cylinders are used. But in India, around 60% of the people, especially those living in rural areas, often use wood, charcoal and cow dung as fuel for cooking even today. The cooking fuels cause incomplete combustion which releases PM2.5. Which is very harmful to the lungs. Thankfully, for the last few years, through the Ujjwala scheme, the use of LPG cylinders has increased across the country. And the indoor pollution from this source has been reduced. If you know someone who still uses these cooking fuels, please advise them against it. 
The second source is something that can be easily found in the kitchens of the people living in cities. That is a non-stick pan with Teflon coating. Generally speaking, Teflon is safe. But when it is heated for more than 300°, the Teflon compound breaks down and harmful chemicals and gases are released. It is not very difficult to avoid this. If you have a Teflon pan, do not pre-heat it when it’s empty. Do not use it over extremely high heat. You can get its alternative, the ceramic pans which are not made of Teflon. The third source of indoor air pollution is your vacuum cleaner. Who would’ve thought? The machines that you use to clean your house are the ones who make it dirtier. 
Many vacuum cleaners, especially the old ones, suck in the dirt, dust and bacteria from the floor, and throw it back into the air. This was discovered by Australian researchers in 2012. That some vacuums instead of making things cleaner, spread more dirt. The same logic is applicable for brooms as well. The dust in the ground is spread into the air by the brooms. Which might then go into the respiratory system of the people. Friends, the simple solution to avoid this is to use the latest vacuum cleaners which have the High-Efficiency Particulate Air filters. The HEPA filters. When you buy a vacuum cleaner check whether it has the HEPA filter or not. These filters apparently capture 99.9% of dirt, dust and bacteria. The fourth source is the chemicals present in your personal care products. 
The air fresheners, perfumes, baby lotions and artificially scented candles which have synthetic fragrances in them. Synthetic fragrances are very harmful. There are petrochemicals in them. Benzene derivatives and Aldehydes which can cause cancer, birth defects and nervous disorders. The solution is very simple. Use such personal care products which do not have any synthetic fragrances. 
 The next source of indoor air pollution is paint. The paint that goes on the walls. You heard it right. Often, when the paint is wet. Many paints have VOCs which are very harmful to you. They may cause respiratory problems, headaches, nausea and your central nervous system may also be affected. Again, the solution is very simple. Use those paint companies which do not have VOCs. Or have minimal VOCs. Today, you will find many paint companies which sell VOC free paints. Second, when you get your walls painted, ensure that the windows remain open until the paint dries. And keep the paint cans tightly closed to prevent chemicals from leaking. 

The next source of indoor air pollution is something very common. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to avoid it. Mosquito coils, candles and incense sticks. You heard it right, friends. The things which are heavily used in our day-to-day lives. Especially, the candles and incense sticks. You would’ve read about combustion in school, friends. There are 5 main types of combustion. Let’s focus on the first two. Incomplete combustion and Complete combustion. In incomplete combustion, the combustion process is not fully completed. It means that unburnt soot particles are released. 
Combustion where the frame is of yellow colour. Like that in candles and incense sticks. And the blue frame is of complete combustion which is purer. Unburnt soot particles are not released. And fewer harmful gases are released. The logic is simple, friends. Whenever there is incomplete combustion, harmful gases will be released. Which are very harmful to your health. Not only candles and incense sticks, but also hookahs, cigarettes and wherever you find incomplete combustion. Obviously, in cigarettes and hookahs, there are many other harmful chemicals as well. 
Which are even more harmful to your health. Friends, cigarette smoke not only affects the health of the person smoking but if smoked indoors, the health of all the people in that house is also affected. Because the smoke from the cigarette spreads all over the house. It’s called Second-Hand smoking. You might have already heard about this. But, friends, did you know that after Second-Hand smoking there’s also something called Third-Hand smoking. When the ash residue from smoking falls on the furniture it can stay there for many days and release harmful gases. 
This third-hand smoking is as harmful as second-hand smoking according to several pieces of research. I talked about mosquito coils as well. They also release particulate matters. The solution here is that these things; mosquito coils, candles and incense sticks, avoid using them as much as you can. And when you have to use them, open the windows. Ensure proper ventilation. So that the air keeps moving and the smoke from them can go out of the house. 
While talking about ventilation, always remember one thing, friends, ventilation is a very important weapon not only against indoor air pollution but also to fight against coronavirus. Several research papers have said that if you keep your house well ventilated, keep the windows and doors open regularly so that the air can pass through, it reduces the spread of coronavirus to a large extent inside your house. The chances of your being infected by coronavirus are reduced a lot. Many research papers have stated that the spread of coronavirus and its infection has been seen indoors mostly. 
The infection rate outdoors is low. After ventilation, another important weapon is the sunlight. You might be amazed to know this, friends, that direct sunlight kills coronavirus. Not inside the human body but on the surfaces and in the air. When the direct sunlight falls on them. The scientists had previously assumed as such. But the latest research has proven that the intensity of killing coronavirus that direct sunlight has is 8 times as intense as was previously assumed. So open the doors and windows and let sunlight come in. Let it fall on your furniture and the floor and kill the germs and viruses.
 I hope that you would have learnt important and new things in this video. Share this video so that your friends and family can also get to know it. And get to safeguard their health. And can truly Stay Home and Stay Safe. 

Goa Mollem Protests- The Fight Against Coal

Hello everybody, Chances are that you don’t know about it because it is an issue that hasn’t been talked about much by our national media. For the last many months, thousands of people are protesting against a critical environmental issue, the Mollem National Park. 19th December is celebrated as the Goa Liberation Day because Indian government threw out Portuguese colonisers from Goa on this very day in 1961. So, on this occasion on 18th December, 2020, some protesters stood holding sign boards and wearing t-shirts that said “Save Mollem”. 

Without any provocation, they did not even do anything…there even were some children there standing with their posters, Police detained them. So, let’s get to know why this entire protest is happening in the first place. In simple words, the government in the name of development wants to clear forests in an ecologically sensitive area without consulting the public. In this case, the ecologically sensitive area is the Bhagwan Mahavir Sanctuary and Mollem National Park, the pride of Goa. Spread across 240 sq kms, it is Goa’s largest protected area. It is one of the 8 hottest biodiversity hotspots in the world. 

That means a high variety of plant and animal life is found here, the likes of which are found at very few places in the world. There are some great tourist attractions here as well such as the Dudhsagar Falls, Devil’s Canyon. There is a temple too so it is quite a popular destination for tourism as well. So, what is the development that the government wants to do here? There are three projects: one is a highway which the government wants to be four-lane, another one is a railway line and the third is a power transmission line. All these three projects are going through the middle of this wildlife sanctuary. Geographically, if you look at it on a map then these three projects will look this way. 

A railway line is going from the lower region, highway is crossing from the middle and in the upper region is the power transmission line. So, for all the three projects, trees would be cut off. It has been estimated that about 20, 000 trees would be felled for the railway line, 40,000 for the highway and about 5,000 for the power transmission line In total, it is being estimated that 60,000-80,000 trees are to be felled. Now you will ask here, what’s the harm? Some trees will have to be felled for a little bit of development.

 These are three main problems First problem is that prior to approving these projects, the government did not do any assessment, did not follow proper procedure and did not even consult the public. In fact, two of three projects were approved during lockdown due to Covid 19. In the month of March, the National Board of Wildlife approved these projects through video conferencing. When the central government was asked how this was approved then they said that the state panel approved it therefore we approved it as well.

 News is that some 5-6 members of the state panel have alleged that they were not even consulted. In fact they did not even know that clearance had already been given. Omkaar Dharwaskar is naturalist who also attended the State Wildlife meeting has said that they have not given any approval in that meeting. This project was not approved. But the minutes of the meeting say exactly the opposite and the project was subsequently approved after being forwarded to the National Wildlife Board. 

The second problem is that environmental activists and protesters believe that this is not only about a few trees but the entire Goa is being transformed into a coal hub. The extension of the railway line and the highway is not for the convenience of the public but rather for the convenience of big corporations. It is being done so that the transportation of coal is simpler. RTI activist and lawyer Savio Correia says that all three projects are part of the government’s Sagarmala project which was approved by the central government in 2016 for the development of Goa’s port. This project aims to develop Goa into a coal transportation corridor. Mormugao port is a port in South Goa and according to the projections of its trust, by 2030, they wish to import 51.6 million tonnes of coal for Adani group, JSW Group and Vedanta. The names of these groups have come up here although the Adani group denies it. 

This is the reason, many protesters of Goa have pointed out Adani as well. If this railway will in fact be used to transport coal then remember one thing, the coal dust can travel up to 5-15 kms due to the wind and depending on the speed of the train. “-Coal is entering their houses, if you…-in what way? -You just have to ask them for tea and probably you will see that in the saucer and you see that in their kitchen … -There’s coal in their saucer? -Exactly! You see that in the kitchen, the living room. You can’t live in that house. Your children need nebulizers from morning to afternoon In the morning they start brooming, they collect coal in their house and by evening again… -black particles of dust… This coal dust is not only a threat to the environment but also for the fishing industry, agriculture, tourism as well as for the public. 

If Goa really turns into a coal hub then think about it, would you want to go to Goa beaches as a tourist where you will find coal dust in the air? Perhaps this is the reason that in 2013 the then CM of Goa Manohar Parrikar rejected this railway line project in Goa. This is the reason friends that today the protesters stand with banners that say “Goyant Kollso Naka”. Forgive me if the pronunciation is not correct but it basically means that we don’t want coal in Goa. 

The third problem is that if any railway line or highway goes through a wildlife sanctuary then it results in habitat fragmentation which can eventually lead to the extinction of many animal and bird species. Habitat fragmentation basically means that you split a big ecosystem in small pieces due to which animals are not able to interact from one piece to another. This usually happens whenever a highway goes through a wildlife sanctuary. Imagine, there is a squirrel species and it has only 50 members left because it is an endangered species. So, 50 squirrels live in a big forest but if a highway goes right through the middle of the forest then the forest will be divided into two. 

Now, assume that 25 squirrels live on each side. Now animals living in each of these parts cannot go to the other part because of the highway. It is quite difficult for them to transfer from one side to another. The first problem arising out of this is that if the minimum number of any animal does not exist in any part then its entire species will become extinct due to inbreeding depression. You can search about inbreeding depression. It is quite an interesting thing. Secondly, any natural calamity or if any disease spreads that say results in the death of 23 out of 25 squirrels so it is not possible for that species to survive with so few animals. 

This can happen in a big forest as well but if you start splitting the forest from the middle and making fragments of it, then the chances of it happening increase manifold. Overall, the highway and the railway line will split the wildlife sanctuary in three fragments This increases the chances of any animal extinction by three times. The public has expressed its protest through various means. There are different trends on social media on hand while there are protests on ground on the other hand. Even children have participated in these protests. More than 150 scientists have written letters to the government to tell them why this project should not go through. 

The common public has even written emails to the government as to why this project must not be executed. If you want to see the latest updates on this protest on twitter then you can follow this account “Save Mollem campaign”. I will attach the link in the description below. Goa’s youth also wrote letters to their respective MLAs in order to pressurize the government. What was the government’s response regarding all of this? What would you expect? Think about it, what would be the government’s response in such cases? If you are thinking that the way the government responded to the farmers’ protest, they would respond the same way here as well then you are right. Because the government has said that all protests are funded by the opposition and all these protesters are misled. 

The famous leaders of this protest have been booked under several FIRs, detained and like I mentioned in the beginning, even children have been detained by the government. But fortunately, the good news is that the High Court has stayed at least one of the three projects. On 8th December, the High Court stayed the power transmission line project. But for the rest of the two projects, the government can still execute. This is why it is important to raise a voice regarding this, whichever way you can do it. If you live in Goa, you can join the protesters.

 If you are not living in Goa then you can raise your voice on social media by using #SaveMollem Share this video with as many people as you can so that the voice raised reaches the government and pressurizes them to stop these projects for the sake of climate and the public. The good news is that when the public raises a voice then it does create pressure on the government. Remember the Aarey forest case; the final end result has been a positive one. As soon as Uddhav Thackeray was made the CM, he took a decision in favour of Aarey forest by moving the metro rail project elsewhere and saving the Aarey forest. 

Third Wave of Coronavirus – Delta Plus Variant in India

 Hello everyone,  Talking about Coronavirus, there is an uproar in the world because of the Delta variant. America and European countries are worried that the Delta variant will cause the next wave of Covid. On the other hand, people in India are worried that there might be a third wave because of the Delta Plus variant. What is this Delta Plus variant? And when can this third wave happen? Come, let’s try to find out in today’s video. Friends, what’s special about the mutations is that it happens in every living being. Whether it’s a human, animal, plant, tree, or even a virus. 

Mutations accompany reproduction. A person’s DNA, when you have children, and the DNA is transferred, then from one generation to the next, on average there are 100-200 mutations in the DNA. Most of the mutations are harmless, can’t be seen and neither can their effects be felt. Same with viruses. Thousands of mutations take place in the Covid virus. Most of them do not bother us. But at times there are such mutations that make the virus more transmissible. So that the virus can spread easier. And at times there are such mutations that make the virus more deadly. 

WHO or the World Health Organization keeps a track of the dangerous mutations of Coronavirus. WHO has classified these mutations into two categories. The first category is ‘Variants of Interest’. And the second category is ‘Variants of Concern’. Broadly speaking, Variants of Interest will include those coronavirus variants that have been detected in multiple countries. And which have high transmissibility. Meaning that they spread easily. As compared to the original virus. On the other hand, the variants of concern include those coronavirus variants that has not only high transmissibility not only do they spread more easily, but the disease caused by them is much more severe. And the effectiveness of the vaccines on these variants is lesser than compared to the original virus. Currently, WHO has put four variants in the Variant of Concern category. Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. The Alpha variant was called the UK variant initially. Because it was first found in the UK. Similarly, the Beta variant was found in South Africa. Gamma in Brazil. And the Delta variant was first discovered in India. That’s why it was also called the Indian variant initially. 

Later, people protested as to why they were named after countries. When the original virus came from China, we did not name it the Wuhan virus or the China virus. So why are the names of the variants based on the countries they’re found in? So WHO reacted to this. And then WHO decided to rename them to Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. The strain of the Delta variant was first found in October 2020 in India. This was the cause of the second wave in India. Today, the Delta variant has spread to over 80 countries. Its transmissibility is extremely high. Meaning it spreads really easily. Before moving forward, I should clarify one thing. Discovering a variant in a country is merely a matter of chance. No country can be blamed for anything. 

Because as I said, the virus is going through thousands of mutations. Which mutation will turn out to be more dangerous or more transmissible is all up to chance. Including where the mutation will be found. In extremely mathematical terms, studies have shown that the Delta variant is 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant. And the Alpha variant was 50% more transmissible than the original strain found in Wuhan in 2019. So you can imagine how much more infectious it is than the original. Generally, when viruses mutate and become more transmissible, they become less deadly as well. I explained it in detail using this chart in a previous video. But there can be some rare cases where the virus becomes more transmissible and more deadly after the mutation. 

But at the same time, I’d like to say that there has been no conclusive research yet that shows that the Delta variant is, for sure, more deadly or more dangerous. A study conducted in the UK has said that because of the Delta variant, the risk of hospitalization doubles. As compared to the Alpha variant. But does getting hospitalised mean that it is more deadly? It cannot be conclusively said yet. It may also happen that this variant is not more deadly. But because it is so highly transmissible, it spread among so many people in such little time. So the death rate peaked a lot in that short time. 

As compared to the same number of deaths in a longer time period. Do you understand what I’m trying to say here? If transmissibility is so high, it becomes more difficult to ascertain if it is really more deadly or not. Many factors need to be considered here. Another interesting thing to know is that the symptoms of the Delta variant are a little different than the original Covid-19 symptoms. Originally, a runny nose was not made out to be one of the major symptoms. But recently, a study has been conducted in the UK when people self-reported their symptoms. It was found that among the symptoms of the Delta variant, runny nose features prominently in the list of symptoms. Headache, runny nose, cold, sore throat, were the top symptoms. So the symptoms of the Delta variant are very similar to the symptoms of the common cold. Loss of smell. 

Not being able to smell things properly. Was a major symptom in the original strain of Covid-19. But for the Delta variant, it ranked 9th in the UK study. The good news regarding the vaccines is that according to the data available till now, almost all the vaccines are definitely effective against the Delta variant. Pfizer vaccine, AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine and the others have shown that they are more than 90% effective in preventing hospitalization and death. If you catch the Delta Variant after taking both doses. The only trouble here, though marginal, is that the effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing symptoms has reduced. Like AstraZeneca’s Covishield’s effectivity in preventing symptoms against the Delta variant remains at only 60% after taking both doses.

 Though Pfizer’s vaccine is still showing an effectiveness of 88% in it too. Now, the Delta variant is no longer a major concern for India. But now we get to hear about a mutation named Delta Plus in the news. The Indian government has declared the Delta variant as a Variant of Concern. And some people believe that there will a third wave in India because of the Delta Plus variant. The limited research conducted till now regarding it has found that the Delta Plus variant is 60% more transmissible than the Delta variant. And it is highly resistant against some drugs. But the reality is that friends, we don’t honestly know much about it. It is important to note that the World Health Organization has not declared it a Variant of Concern yet. 

Even though the Indian government has done so. Indian Council of Medical Research ICMR says that it is too soon to tell if there will be a third wave because of the Delta Plus variant. So it seems a bit unlikely that that there will be a third wave because of the Delta Plus variant. But still, the experts believe that there is a very high chance that there will be a third wave in India. The gap between two waves is said to be generally of 15-16 weeks in an epidemic. 

A Reuters poll of 40 medical experts was conducted with the conclusion that the experts said that a third wave is inevitable. There will definitely be a third wave. And they believe that the third wave will come around October of this year. On the other hand, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria says that the third wave may come in the next 6 to 8 weeks. If people stop wearing masks and stop following social distancing. But there are some experts like Dr N.K. Arora Dr N.K. Arora is the Chief of the Centre’s Covid-19 Working Group, he says that the third wave of Coronavirus will not happen before December of this year. So there are estimations from October to December by the doctors and experts. 

This is just the time. But if we’re to talk about the severity, How dangerous can the third wave be? A report of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research has stated that it is very likely that the third wave will not be as severe as the second wave was. It may be less disastrous than that. But does that mean that we can relax because there’s nothing to worry about? No, it doesn’t mean this. Because take an example of South Africa. The first wave in South Africa was because of the original Coronavirus. Look at this chart. And then the second wave happened because of the Beta variant that was found in South Africa. And now the third wave is happening because of the Delta variant. And the third and second waves seem equally dangerous. And they’ve spread so rapidly. Experts believe that their government is to be blamed for not planning things properly and because of the inefficient vaccine rollout.

 As of today, less than 5% of people have been vaccinated in their country. Had more people been vaccinated, then the Delta variant wouldn’t have caused havoc. Take Israel’s example. 60% of its population has been vaccinated. When the Delta variant reached Israel, the government definitely took some measures. Some people were infected. But hospitalization and deaths are still negligible in Israel. Friends, the good news is that in recent times, the vaccination rate in India has increased very well. Recently, India broke the record of vaccinating more than 8 million people in a day. 

That’s an amazing feat. The sooner the vaccinations are administered, the sooner people are vaccinated, we will have a better chance of beating the third wave. But the unfortunate thing is that this speed of vaccination may still not be enough. To completely avoid the third wave. The government aims that by the end of the year, the entire adult population of India will be vaccinated. But on this graph, you can see that we are, unfortunately, not on the track to achieve this. At an individual level, there is only one sure-shot, long-term solution of being protected from the third wave. And that is to get vaccinated as soon as you get the chance to. 

Today, as a matter of fact, I got my vaccine. I got the chance to get it today. Because it’s possible that the Delta Plus variant does not cause the third wave. But remember, there are thousands of mutations in this virus every day. Someday, a mutation may crop up, that is more transmissible and more deadly and can bring forth the third wave. That’s why the vaccine is the best chance we have to be safe from it. I hope you found this video informative. Thank you very much.