Cautious Smart

Published in March-April 2022 Issue

Viraf Pocha

It's not getting any easier. Is It?

Just as it was safe to start dropping covid masks, time has come to stock up on wartime gas masks.

Covid arrived suddenly and overtook us very quickly and just as quickly it vanished.

We were all wallowing in lethargy as wave after wave hit us. How many of us were really prepared to open up? That too just as the traditional season was ending. More than a few are wondering if there will be another wave before the season really starts post-monsoon.

Authorities say summer is going to be Harsh. All those planes, cars and pollution-spewing machines have been cranked up. While the machines were resting (and their owners were sweating) the planet cooled.

Sadly the most intelligent species on the planet did not learn. We just started up again as before. So look forward to a time when machines & all living things on the planet will be sweating away together.

Before we have some time to think about the imbalance in the ecosystem - A certain Russian gent went out on an adventure. The world responded (perhaps wisely) fighting back with money and fortunately not with Bullets ... at least at the time of this writing.

That is what we need to be both - super cautious about. Really smart about.

One thing we in India have learnt. If there is any disruption whatsoever - our government's first response has consistently been to simply stop and send everybody home. They won't tell you for how long and as we have just learnt, even take away our means to go home. I am too uninformed here to understand if that's the right way of doing things, and frankly, it does not matter.

That's the deck we dealt with and that's what we got to play with.

We just got to be cautious and deal with the situation in a smart way.

In Real Terms.

1. Cut back on both inventory and overheads.
2. While it's tempting to cut back on people - Think. How many of your good people are still with you today.
3. Figure out why. Sit and have a meaningful conversation. They worried for themselves. Most of us are low on savings and were looking forward to refilling our savings tanks. If there is more disruption, what is the plan?
4. Collaborate. Remember, we all face common problems. Remember, the people who pay us have got into the habit of doing anything in search of a sweet deal. The layers of sub-contractors are getting thicker and thicker. The final money that trickles down to us is shrinking. Not just shrinking - even the terms are getting more elastic. Government policies are pinching. Compliance issues are mounting. Across industries, everybody is forced to spend increasing amounts of time and money is just filling out endless forms. Failure to comply is expensive. If we don't look after each other and where possible create a common pool of resources to deal with these issues, we will cripple ourselves.
5. Learn to do more with less. Our methods of working are extremely wasteful. A key aspect we need to look into is transport and delivery. Let's learn from people like Amazon (yup) how to get as diverse a set of resources into the widest variety of spaces. How they organise the warehouse. How they dispatch. How they handle shortfalls. Of course, they do it on a massive scale - but the principles are the same. Take the trouble to learn.
6. How do we give up this adversarial attitude? Over the last ten years, I have watched with alarm how slowly every link in our production chain is getting more and more demanding and so increasingly adversarial. There was a time when the client, venue, production staff and technical teams gathered around a table and over some chai-biscoot, every detail was sorted out in a few hours. Everybody knew the concept, set design, broad creative content, production schedule, rehearsals, Front of House protocol, show running teams and break down post-event. Slowly these friendly meetings that sealed associations, led to mutual respect for each other's jobs. Everybody supported each other and putting on a great show was top of mind.

Today it's as if we hosting a Russian Ukraine peace deal. Each guy thinks he is the king. Everybody else on the table better follow his direction or else..... Earlier each point was discussed, a solution found and duly noted. Nobody writes or types anything down on paper or a smartphone. Nine out of ten points end with - I'll get back to you. (never do) Nobody at that table has any knowledge or understanding of anybody else's jobs and nobody seems to care.

Is it any wonder that in a time of increasing production complexity - everything frays. In the end, both the client and audiences suffer.

We have to look at the larger picture. I watched with alarm that during the covid lockdown, more than a few of my colleagues adopted this attitude of 'Each Man for himself.' The rest of the world can go to blazes, I'm looking after Mr. No 1

Is it a surprise that the teams that had been built around these people just melted away. If they did gather out of majboori, they were half effective at best.

That could be disguised as the scale of shows has been greatly reduced.

Many of the larger agencies have splintered. So many new agencies have sprung up. On the one hand that is great. But resources have been stretched thin. I'm watching with interest as this unfolds. In a few months, it will be clear on how each of us passed our time in lockdown. How many learned new skills, thought about their businesses and reorganised.

I was surprised at how many people called me looking for ideas on how to tackle the road ahead. At first, I was taken aback. They were all good guys and we had a super technical partnership. But in the past, every time I tried to initiate discussions on how to improve the industry, I got some version of 'Bak Bak Ban kar. Glass pakad'

Now suddenly they were calling with philosophical questions. AND!

Actually listening to the answers.

Time will tell how much listening they did. How much thinking. Most importantly - What did they implement?

It's still early days. But I hope we looking at better days.

Then the war happened. And as I said the world fought back with economic warfare.

Those Europeans and their egos. For centuries it's been the same story. They do some incredible work. Then some guy gets jealous and decides to display greatness by unleashing turmoil. The only difference is that the stakes keep getting bigger.

This conflict has the potential to destroy the world. Either physically or economically. Theories abound about US Dollar Vs oil & gas Vs gold Vs China equation. Clearly, globalizationn has not worked.