Nandini Vaidyanathan speaks about EMF and its importance in the corporate context
On my LinkedIn feed a couple of days ago, I saw an incredible video of Captain Shashank Shandilya, a retired military officer, doing gravity-defying exercises. Believe you me when I say this, these were HIIT of a different level altogether, more in the manner of special forces in the military who are trained for death-defying missions. I am one of those who browse exercise videos with the same frequency and intensity as those who browse porn. Because I am
fitness obsessed. Maybe when you are a single parent, this obsession overtakes your whole life because you not only
want to be physically present for your child, but you want to be present in the pink of health.
So with each passing year, I try and push myself intellectually to challenge myself physically. I hate the packaged
training regimen peddled by gym instructors, especially to women. They have no clue of women’s bodies, even
lesser clue as to what works for us and zilch on what women need.
To me a good regimen is one that builds endurance, mobility and flexibility. Not necessarily in any particular order, let me hasten to add, as each of them is important as a standalone and in conjunction with the others.
As I started writing this, it made me wonder. Aren’t organisations too like the human body? Shouldn’t they be trained in endurance, mobility and flexibility? Let’s see with examples, what each of them means in a corporate context.
Endurance: The simplest definition is power to last. Look at Xerox. They had everything going for them with their copiers. How come they couldn’t endure? The organisation was not built to last obviously.
Mobility: It refers to an upward spiral. If they settle into their comfort zones (read taking customer loyalty for granted), their journey ends where they are, and the upper reaches don’t even come on their radar. Look at Kodak. This was a brand which had category ownership. Quite like Xerox. Kodak refused to see that digital was the next upward spiral and filing for bankruptcy was the result of this tragic myopia.
Flexibility: For what? Obviously to manage change. The bigger the organisation, the more lugubrious it is on its feet and therefore the most resistant to change. Look at Coca Cola. When the rest of the world was moving towards energy drinks, Coke remained stubbornly a cola company. Gatorade had originally approached Coke and when Coke turned it down, it went to Pepsi.
And seeing Pepsi’s success with Gatorade (both in top line and bottom-line, but more so the latter as margins were huge in the energy drinks space), Coke bought Glaceau, although a trifle late in the day.
As you can see, there is no hierarchy of primacy here. Each is important in itself and combined with others. Organisations can’t endure without mobility and flexibility. If there is no mobility, they can’t last. If there is no flexibility, they can’t be upwardly mobile. See what I mean?
IMF was an institution that was created after the two world wars to stabilise international currency. I like to think EMF (Endurance, Mobility, Flexibility) should be the new order so we can take better care of our bodies and the body corporate. The vision statement of organisations should stop focusing on customers, employees and profits. Instead it should focus on how to endure, grow and be flexible. By doing this, wily nily, it will have a positive impact on customers, employees and profits.
The columnist has commenced her fourth professional avatar with her bakery and restaurant business in Jaipur
(www.concoctions.fr) with her French Michelin-star chef life partner. Email: nandini@carmaconnect.in
