The Power of Us

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Shefaly

Summer in India brings not only juicy mangoes but also the prospect of frequent planned and unplanned power cuts. The euphemism “load shedding” tries to hide the fact that the grid is unable to shoulder the demand for electricity. This demand is rising with India’s rapid economic growth. This economic growth also means that fewer and fewer Indian citizens have the time to take their utility companies to task for failing to deliver a reliable power supply. However they do now have the means to have spent a reported US$ 22 Billion on power back-up equipment such as inverters that store power in a battery while there is supply, or generators.

This is my third summer on Twitter. Come summer time, my Twitter stream floods with persons complaining about power cuts in the middle of a workday stymieing productivity, or in the middle of the night interrupting resting hours. On May the 4th, after seeing a few tweets, I suggested: “May be you guys SHOULD tweet #powercut with location. The infographic will highlight the need for investment. To many people.” Within a few minutes, an enthusiastic techie, Ajay Kumar had created a site with an Ushahidi backend to track such reported powercuts. Within seconds we had our first report – from Gurgaon, a new, modish town which is in the national capital region but whose powercuts are legendary. It has not stopped since. These reports mainly came from Twitter users reporting power cuts with their locations and a hashtag #powercutIndia. In the first 24 hours, the hashtag reached an audience of over 98000 people with over 157000 impressions. In the next couple of days, Ajay and I took the decision to move to a proper own domain – www.powercuts.in. On the website persons can also report anonymously; this allays privacy concerns and security risks that were highlighted to us early on by some Twitter users. Soon a design firm provided us with a logo and is now developing the website further. We set up a Facebook page and one of India’s leading dailies, Times Of India, wrote a piece on the project.

From idea to execution, to the actual build-up and success Power Cuts In India is a crowd-sourced, open data project. This means everything we do is out in the public domain. The Wiki details in one place all the work and credits. An open document collates ideas on how to improve the data collection and what possible uses it can be put to. At the time of writing, we are testing SMS based reporting and smart apps for smart phones are in development. Purely on voluntary basis from enthusiastic donors of their expertise and time, who believe in the project.

Naturally there has been curiosity as to why so many of us, including Ajay and I, would give so much of our time to collate this information. Typically I have been asked why such monitoring is needed, since everyone knows how bad the power situation is. The short answer is that situational awareness allows specific responses. Whether from government, from utility companies, from investors or from citizens themselves. One of the most recent examples in another – admittedly acute, not chronic like the power cut situation – setting was seen in Libya.

For me, the project is a beautiful example of how the power of social media can be harnessed to take a simple idea into execution and how web and social technologies can build a resilient backbone for a project. The rapid prototyping and release of the website by Ajay deserves a special mention too. And with rapid prototyping come iterations and incremental changes.

These are being made based on ideas suggested through our open document. Collective wisdom continues to shape and define the project. We are all aware that this should not become yet another urban India project but also rolled out to villages where issues related to linguistic diversity as well as lack of literacy may be a problem. This awareness is feeding into design and reporting protocol related to SMS reporting and smart apps in development. With mainstream media carving a narrative out of something happening on the web, more citizens in India are getting to hear about the project as evidenced by reports now coming in from more regions than just the metros or individual towns where some of the Twitter users are located. SMS reporting will enable even more persons.

What can a corporate firm learn from our experience so far?

First, social technologies can be unpredictable in their scope, reach and success. When the Power Cuts In India project was rolled out, a Twitter user pointed out she had suggested the idea three years ago. But it did not take off then. However when I mentioned it on May the 4th, it did take off and is now growing by leaps and bounds. This unpredictability of uptake can be unnerving for those, who like to predict both the trajectory and the time line of their “social” undertakings.

Second, when an idea gains traction, crowd-sourcing can be benevolent or damaging. In case of Power Cuts In India, it has been benevolent so far. HSBC’s experience from a few years ago was bracing and different.

Third, “social” is not concrete, fully formed. It is amorphous, iterative. Or in the words of Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke: “Planning is everything. Plans are nothing.” Before launching into “social” an organisation needs cultural readiness. And comfort with amorphousness, iteration and tweaking in response to feedback.

Regardless of where you are, you can contribute to the project by sharing your views here. Or on this post.

Further reading:

An old post on the use of Twitter in emergencies/ acute situations.

Power Cuts In India in media:

One India (online in Tamil)

Trak.in

The Daily Dot notes that for all its resilience, the web still needs electricity.

BBC – on Social Media for Social Good in India – features PowerCutsIndia (video)

Whose data are they anyway?

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Shefaly

What a difference two days make!

First, T-Mobile in the UK informed the Information Commissioner’s Office that some of its own rogue employees had sold on the firm’s contract customer data to third parties. These third parties then ring the contract customers just before their contract expiry to offer deals that may or may not be kosher, or the best deals on the market.

So exactly what data might a mobile network operator hold on a contract customer? These data include the customer’s name, address, date of birth, and bank account details or credit card details for collecting bills. A credit check is also run before contracts can be agreed. While the identity of the said “third party” is unclear, there is of course no compensation for any mishaps. So much for our famed data protection code that prevents more things from happening than it enables!

A day later, Iceland’s deCODE Genetics filed for asset protection under Chapter 11. The firm’s customer testimonials include one from Dorrit Mousaieff, Iceland’s first lady. The firm offered personalized DNA testing through its deCODEme website too.

Under Chapter 11, deCODE is now looking to sell its assets. These “assets” include the genetic data of 140,000 Icelanders. And DNA samples of an undisclosed number of customers, their identification details, possibly the reports of the analyses conducted on the DNA samples. All held under contracts which prevent the sharing of the data or the information with third parties such as insurers etc. But will that hold when one contracting party goes bust? Who is the custodian of that contract? Who will uphold it and what recourse exists for customers whose DNA and data are hanging in the balance?

Meanwhile, it was reported that a credit card processor in Spain was being investigated for enabling a major credit card scam. The scam has affected over 100,000 cards in Germany. While their credit card contracts protect them against fraud, someone will end up paying for it. Depending on where the PCI-DSS compromise is found and how the liability is established, any or more of the players in the payment value chain – the issuer, the acquirer, the processor, the retailer or the customer – may end up suffering the real monetary loss.

Note the commonalities? All three industries are highly regulated but so different from one another that one may be tempted to ignore any possibilities of transposed learnings. Two major themes emerge:

These incidents point to some of the many complex challenges that unite otherwise disparate, highly regulated businesses: customer data ownership, data security, privacy breaches, liability, recourse and compensation.

They also illustrate while human beings – employees, third parties, contractors, service providers – remain the weakest link in data protection, the more fundamental questions are often missed. These could be related to the business’s survival and how regulatory complexity may mean that resolving data breaches is not really straightforward.

As a large number of consumers sit in limbo in fear of their data falling into the wrong hands, it has to be asked: When the custodians fail, who protects the consumer?

These test cases will all provide fascinating insight and may well set the precedent. Not least set the stage for the essential reform to remove all the unnecessary information that businesses insist on collecting from customers, when they have no way to guarantee the security of the data.

Obama's Nobel Prize: Lessons for Business

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Shefaly

To say that all hell broke loose on Twitter, when the annoucement came in on late morning on October the 9th, is to euphemise. For once, world peace was achieved as a chorus rose in unison wondering why Mr Obama had been given the Nobel Peace prize. Jokes at his expense flew around, without fear of people being labelled “racist”. I confess I contributed too. People wondered how it could be an award for future performance, I called it his “anticipatory No-Bail”. Several Alice In Wonderland references were inevitable but I spare you those in this post.

Mr Obama is the President of the United States, one of the world’s largest democracies and an economy with an eye-watering deficit, fighting two seemingly never-ending wars away from home, facing-off with Iran after tough talk during the elections, and facing tough fights regarding healthcare and other reform at home. He humbly accepted the award and promised to donate the prize money to charity.

So what lessons can a business leader learn from the episode? I see three main things of varying importance depending on one’s business and its place in society.

Don’t drink your own Kool-Aid (or sometimes, just say “no”!).

Awards can be irresistible even to the most limelight-eschewing people. Indeed many industry awards require business leaders (or their PR departments) to nominate themselves/ their companies for the scrutiny of a deciding panel. Notably the deadline for this year’s Nobel peace prize nominations was within two weeks of Mr Obama having been in office.

But whether one accepts an award humbly, like Mr Obama did, or with a wild celebratory party, the main question to consider is if it is well-deserved or simply a case of the business lapping up its own PR.

If it is not well-deserved, customers and other interested parties will soon let the business know. But if PR is the objective, then, provided you did not self-nominate, saying “no” can garner as many headlines as, if not more than, accepting may. Could Mr Obama have said “no”? Possibly. It would be precedent-setting but no more than the prize itself being given for expected performance in the future.

Can you imagine how much more discussion and positive PR about Mr Obama’s humility and general wonderfulness as a human being and a leader might have come if he had said “no”?

Celebrate success, not potential.

Companies hire business leaders for their past successes and their future potential. The salary may be negotiated based on both, but bonuses are contingent on actual results, for delivering on the promise.

Can you imagine giving your “Business Development Star of the Year” award to a new recruit, however senior she may be or however wonderful her prior record in the industry? What possible impact could such a decision have on the morale of others on the team? Does such a decision burnish or tarnish the team’s view of the leaders’ judgement? From many perspectives, it is wise for business leaders and firms to celebrate success, not just potential. This is one of the reasons why the Nobel Peace prize being given to Mr Obama has generated so much unwelcome buzz.

A funny and poignant mnemonic to remember this golden rule comes from another Nobel Peace prize recipient, Al Gore, who famously said in a speech: “I am Al Gore, and I used to be the next president of the United States of America.”

Engage with your publics but do not become the instrument of their appeasement.

The Nobel is unlike any other prize. It is decided upon by a committee nominated by elected representatives of a country. It is generally given out ex-post and not in anticipation. Some scientists wait 3 or 4 decades to gain Nobel recognition. Two things – both political – stand out about this year’s Peace prize.

In the history of the Nobel prize to date, with 800 prizes awarded, only 12 black people have been given the Nobel, of which 8 were for Peace, 3 for literature, 1 for economics and none for Science. Why is this worth a mention? Because much coverage of the prize deems necessary that Mr Obama’s racial heritage be mentioned. Wangari Maathai, a former Nobel Peace prize recipient, speaking on BBC’s News 24, also said that it was one of the reasons why Mr Obama’s prize was well-deserved. Mr Obama probably does not want to be the poster-boy of the Nobel Committee’s “race-inclusive” decisions. Especially at a time when he is at pains to say that race is not behind his policy measures being opposed at home. But having been given the prize, he is caught in the middle of this politically sensitive issue.

Further, I am not sure if describing the Nobel Peace prize as a “call to action” is very smart. As a visionary statement, it is all warm and fuzzy, I agree. But as a pragmatic step, it sounds like a mere prize is going to be allowed to influence, however subtly, a sovereign state’s foreign policy! The Nobel is unlikely to win him plaudits and friends inside his own country. His current battles and his real publics are at home, not in the wilderness of Europe.

Many business leaders face such dilemmas when engaging with their broader publics. How far should they go before the publics try to influence their decisions or nudge them along inflexible or undesirable strategic trajectories? And how to avoid being exploited to serve the objectives of another firm or organisation?

I am sure others see different lessons in the episode. Feel free to agree, disagree and contribute your thoughts below.

Related reading:

Henrik Hertzberg in the New Yorker on Nobel Surprise;

Lessons for success from Darwin's life

Posted on September 27, 2009 by Shefaly

For nerds, scientists and Charles Darwin fans, the year 2009 is a bumper year. It is both the 200th year of his birth, and the 150th year of the publication of The Origin of Species. Through the summer, I spent many a fascinating afternoon in Down House, where Darwin lived with his family after returning from his five year voyage on HMS Beagle.

Spending time poring over the artefacts and manuscripts, and indeed re-reading The Voyage of The Beagle, I find that Darwin’s life has much to teach entrepreneurs, business people and other human beings.

Disciplinary walls constrain thinking; an open mind plus a multidisciplinary approach may catalyse serendipity and insight.

During his time at university, Darwin had read medicine, natural history, geology, natural philosophy, logic and reasoning. As part of his preparation to becoming an Anglican parson, he had also studied William Paley’s Natural Theology which argued for divine design. He also had developed several skills – collecting, classifying, dissecting and above all, critical thinking.

What others saw as fruitless pursuits and digressions during Darwin’s time at university, including hobbies such as beetle-collecting, were his first steps to becoming a naturalist. The interest in collecting and classifying was crucial in his time on the Beagle where he kept copious notes and collected specimens that led to one of the most influential works of our time.

Ample examples exist in business, and in life, of how breakthroughs come from non-traditional thinking about problems. From 3M’s innovations such as Post-It(R) to Pfizer’s Viagra. Are you being walled in by linear thinking or the NIH syndrome?

It’s not only what you know, but whom you know that can shape your success.

The Origin of Species was published to a stormy reception. Defending Darwin and arguing for him were his friends: lawyer and geologist Charles Lyell, botanist and explorer Joseph Hooker, botanist Asa Gray and zoologist and comparative anatomist Thomas Henry Huxley. Huxley called himself “Darwin’s bulldog”. His 1860 debate with Bishop Samuel Wilberforce is seen as a turning point in the acceptance of evolutionary theory. Wilberforce reportedly asked Huxley if it was through his grandmother or his grandfather that Huxley considered himself descended from a monkey. Huxley responded that he was not ashamed to have a monkey for his ancestor; but he would be ashamed to be connected with a man who used great gifts to obscure the truth.

For a business, its best advocates are happy customers. Do you know who they are, how to find them and how to engage with them meaningfully?

In any success, luck is under-rated.

Darwin was born with good fortune. His father was wealthy and his paternal grandfather was a slavery abolitionist, champion of women’s education and inventor. On his mother’s side, he was related to the Wedgewood family and his maternal grandfather was not only a creative genius and entrepreneur, but also an abolitionist and a pioneer of many marketing tricks that endure today.

Darwin’s father tolerated his inability to focus on the structured work at University and yet bank-rolled his voyage on the Beagle. Upon his return, Darwin was able to buy Down House with its (then) 21 varieties of orchids and a kitchen garden big enough to feed his family with 10 children and several domestic staff all year round. His wife was a devout Christian but remained his faithful companion despite their differences.

Do you recognise what your sources of fortune are? It is wise not to over-attribute the successes in business and life to individual decisions; it is wiser rather to be aware of the multitude and complexity of factors that make that success happen.

Lost in Translation

Beyond Privilege: Managing Information Asymmetries

Learning to Love – And Solve – Multivariate Problems

John Kay’s Sept 30th column on why Evolution is the real hidden hand in business (FT may require registration)

Creativity in the time of recession

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Shefaly

Or, why the brand should never take a back-seat (pun unintended, but why miss the glorious chance anyway?).

In June 2009, Mercedes Benz launched a related diversification. The Mercedes Benz Driving Academy was inaugurated by the F1 driver, Lewis Hamilton. On offer is an early start to safe driving. Young persons over 12 (minimum height 5′) can take early lessons; persons over 17 can take lessons leading to a driving licence and take post-licence classes. Experienced drivers can do much more including improve skills or do AMG days.

The launch of this academy was propitiously timed with the British schools on summer holiday. Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey is positively teeming with kids and their parents and grandparents these days. But on the whole, this is a great example of creative thinking about the strategic management of the brand in a time of recession.

The driving academy is a related diversification for Mercedes Benz into a service category where incumbents BSM or AA cannot compete meaningfully. Sure they can offer driving lessons but can they deliver the aspirational value of Mercedes Benz?

While driving lessons with the Mercedes Benz Academy cost about the same as those with a good BSM/ AA/ independent instructor, the brand association has effectively premium-ised the pedestrian (sorry!) category. Lessons take place, for instance, in a Mercedes Benz A-Class, a far cry from the Nissan Micra, Ford Fiesta or similar cars used by driving schools.

By offering children as young as 12 the possibility of driving lessons and experiences – and the promise of a finale with Lewis Hamilton for this summer’s driving experiences – Mercedes Benz has upped the ante, catching them young, in a product category that has traditionally not had much to do with children except use them as points of concern for selling the safety features in a car.

But more important from a strategic and a branding point of view is the positioning – making younger drivers safer. Catching them young could look cynical but statistics suggest that those who learn at young ages are less at a risk of accidents than those who learn at later ages. What does this do for Mercedes Benz? It scores the firm valuable corporate social responsibility points in driving stakes.

When times are tough and money is tight, brand investment must get creative, not become the sacrificial goat at the altar of cost-cutting. This is a fabulous example and some news will follow for my own business, later in the year, along similar lines.

More info: Mercedes Benz’s targeting strategy includes social media. The Driving Academy is on Twitter. Others can become their fan on their Facebook page.

Full Disclosure: In this case, I am paying Mercedes Benz Driving Academy. So this post comes with the full disclosure that I am doing track and road sessions with the Academy and enjoying my experience.

Shefaly Yogendra

Strategy | Technology | Investment | Regulation | Culture

Tag Archives: culture

Whose data are they anyway?

Obama's Nobel Prize: Lessons for Business

Lessons for success from Darwin's life

Creativity in the time of recession