The Dangers of Supplanting Caste for Race

Finished reading the second book that my aged father gifted me in Goa for my birthday this year. I hadn’t heard of the author or any of her books, even though she is supposed to be a Pulitzer Prize winner. Right from the start, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson struck me… Continue reading The Dangers of Supplanting Caste for Race

Protected: Reading the Omens of October 2023

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Global Economy Still Searching for Direction

The last time I wrote about the global economy, I wrote about its fractious state, thanks to the geopolitical tensions all around. This time, I thought I would look at it from the multilateral institutions’ point of view and then share my own thoughts on where the global economy might be headed. As I write… Continue reading Global Economy Still Searching for Direction

Smoke and Ashes, And Parallels Too Many

This August I received two books from my aged father for my 61st birthday and one of them is Smoke and Ashes by Amitav Ghosh. He has written this years after writing the Ibis trilogy – a fictional account of India’s opium trade with China – which was well reviewed in the press at the… Continue reading Smoke and Ashes, And Parallels Too Many

Have Consumers Changed the Way They Make Brand Decisions?

In the old days when I was still a cub copywriter in the advertising industry in India – which is around 35-40 years ago – the prevailing marketing wisdom was that the consumer or customer is the one who makes the biggest decisions on brands. “Customer is King” was always heard at meetings, in conference… Continue reading Have Consumers Changed the Way They Make Brand Decisions?

Protected: Between China and India, the World

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

When Prying into Writers’ Lives Passes Off as Literature

For the past few years that I have been blogging, regular readers of my blog must have noticed my lamenting the lack of anything intelligent or thought-provoking to read. Most of my complaining has been about books – old and new – that unprofessional PR agency idiot bosses and their cronies in RK Swamy/BBDO Chennai… Continue reading When Prying into Writers’ Lives Passes Off as Literature

The Generational Impact Generative AI Could Have on Work

For years and maybe even decades, technology experts and think-tanks have been warning us of the impact of automation and AI on work, skills and jobs. McKinsey, in its 2017 report on the Future of Work, which I had written about and shared on my blog in 2019, had indicated what kinds of jobs and… Continue reading The Generational Impact Generative AI Could Have on Work

Airlines as Image-Builders of Countries

In my previous blog post, I had written about airlines as world connectors, providing an important economic and cultural link between countries and their people. And in it, I tried to create and recommend a new brand strategy for British Airways, already an image-builder for Britain as well as a world connector. I had envisaged… Continue reading Airlines as Image-Builders of Countries

Airlines as Connectors of the World

We think of airlines as transportation, and also in the context of tourism, but rarely as providers of international connectivity, as vital as telecommunications and the internet. And even more rarely do we think of them as performing an important economic function, not even in today’s globalized and highly connected world. They are critical not… Continue reading Airlines as Connectors of the World