On A Lighter Note - Keeping to the Basic

Yesterday I went to watch Jodha Akbar with my “better half”, a fairly controversial movie in its own rights. It’s a much hipped supported by a well talked controversy of whether or not Jodha was the wife or daughter in law of Akbar. The entire experience was absorbing with mystifying sets and costumes. I must admit that there was spectacular detailing which have gone in the making of this movie.

I am a big fan of Ashutosh Gowariker's past work and wasn’t much disappointed by this one. Tough in certain ways, I feel that the first half was much like a family drama and did not justify the virtues of Akbar. The music was so very captivating, especially the Khawaja mere Khawaja (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKWJzv9pd_0) which was my favorite. One interesting aspect that I noticed from a business perspective was “doing the obvious”, where the great Akbar disguise himself and goes to the market to know what is going in his kingdom and what people think of him.

It reminded me of my professor of Market Research in Bristol Business School who use to advocate that it is very simple to understand any situation, problem or complexity…..by “Just Asking”. Just ask the people who are the stakeholders in the entire process and/or an organization. The biggest mistake we all do over and over again is to avoid sticking to the basic of not asking anyone about their suggestions/feedback, either from our customer(s) or our employee(s) to know how the organization is doing or what we should do to make it better or more effective. In the movie as well the allies of Akbar tells him that their objective of coming to the market is met and they now know more about what people are expecting.

Similarly from an organizational perspective this disconnect could be removed if we can encourage more participation from stakeholders, which might pop up a simpler solution for a complex situation. This will also motivate the stakeholders. As the people of Akbar’s kingdom got when they got to know that the tax they are suppose to pay for visiting any shrine has been abolished. This act by the king motivated them to give him the name, Akbar.

At the end of it my wife was considering herself as Jodha and me a plumpish version of Akbar :) . So I can say that it was worth my Saturday evening as I kept to the basic of keeping the wife happy.

Have a Happy Sunday!