I have been talking to a few folks, seniors in the high-tech industry, in both India and USA for the past one month – checking both from my business stand point as what to plan for and what client’s needs, I have to be ready for, and also in a more general way. Here is how I can bucket these people in three slots:
(i) Ready to Lead (from the front): I have seen many of my friends invent small
devices for COVID, or some application that make life easier for farmers to
sell in these down time, all in the click of a button – they have wilfully
taken this opportunity to lead and try to transform and do their bit to the
society as well. Form our client relationship, I see at least a few customers
not getting bothered (yet) but wants to invest in this downtime and stay ahead
when the economy turns around and new demands are created. They are ready to
engage with us both at the project level and augmenting key resources to push
their projects through without any hiccups. Couple of them asked us to take the
whole project and execute them now. They are ready to move fast now. Bold Marshals. Salutes.
(ii) Wait and Watch: These are the folks
called “cat on the wall”. They usually say wait till end of June to
get a clearer picture and then come to us. They do have ongoing projects that
they can invest but something is not allowing them to open their purse strings
although they have not got any news one way or the others. They are ready to
move with caution. They are the careful treaders. And
(iii) Looking lost kind: Nothing has happened to them, but still they have gone into a shell and gone negative in their outlook. No good reasons to back their despair but still sounding dejected and feeling helpless. For them, they do not see any light at the end of the tunnel anytime soon and when we talk to them, we feel that they are so far from reality and not capitalizing on their strengths to move ahead. They just sulk and are told what has to be done for the gloomy days ahead. This is their attitude. Born losers.
We have seen these three types in the political circles recently with the handling of the COVID situation, in the US or India or elsewhere, Governors or Chief Ministers, Presidents or Prime Ministers. They get the people around them and work together in a transparent way forward. The leading from the front folks always win and stay ahead. I am glad and overwhelmed to see their optimism and their realistic change transformation attitude and how they have used opportunities presented to them to their advantage. Amazing. You can see a lot of world and corporate leaders being at the helm only because of this one strength of theirs.
As things stand, depending on how the public relations wave goes against China, led by both USA and Australia, in my humble opinion (and I want to be right ) India has a lot to gain both in the manufacturing and information technology front to come up with innovative products with high quality quickly.
