Masters Speak

How did TCS involve its employees in the major shift to the Work From Home model?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

It is a massive decision, you know truly a remarkable decision. How did you involve your employees in such a decision process? That's the first question. TCS is plan…

How does one make up for physical aspect of propagating an organization's culture in the WFH model?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

I think it's pretty reasonable that the idea is not to say that nobody will come to the office or just don't do the office. I think people will be working from home.…

Is there going to be a reverse migration of IT professionals to tier 2 and tier 3 cities?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Do you see reverse migration of IT professionals or for that matter any professionals to tier two and tier three city? We've been facing the situation that people fr…

People will no longer move to expensive cities to work, will this lead to compensation adjustments?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

If this work from home or work from remote locations becomes a way to go do you see, this will also lead to compensation adjustments? Organizations will be able to …

What will be the future of marketing professionals since physical distancing will now be the norm?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

For marketing and sales professionals, there's a paradigm shift, especially the ones who were relying on face to face interaction, building relationships, meetings, …

How will the major shift from retail stores to online retail stores take place

Rakesh Wadhwa:

This is moving away slightly from the future of the workplace. With the social distancing norms, safety protocol requirements, are we heading to scale disruption in …

What approach should organizations who haven't yet started their digitalization process take?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What would be your advice to companies who are still not embarked on this journey? How might they go about this digital transformation of their organization? Because…

How can small and mid-size organizations manage the shocks of this crisis better?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

As a result of this ongoing crisis also there will be a case, a lot of businesses who are trying to grow, midsize businesses, they will be pushed out and it will be …

How can organizations smoothen the transformation process from product-based to service-based model?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Businesses or business models are transforming from product-based model to service-based model. What organizations can do to ensure that the workforce adopts these s…

How can freshers nurture their careers through the COVID scenario?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What would be your advice to our audience who are possibly early in their career or at mid-level in their career journey and want to grow and head the function? How …

How can online education be made better for the consumer?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What about the future of schools and educational institutions, because everything is going online. And given that school's possibly the last ones to open, how do you…

What consumer insights do you have for the restaurant businesses during COVID?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What is the future of ready to eat food? Is that people are going to explore given everybody is sick of sitting home and preparing their own food.

Rama Bijapurkar:…

How can the economy be boosted in the current scenario?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Since last year, agriculture has grown at about two to three times. From your study, the hope is actually on agriculture to do well. And in turn impact the consumpti…

What kind of behavioural shifts can we expect from consumers?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Would you expect a gradual shift in, going back to old ways once, you know, these things become normal, if at all, they can never become normal. Or do you see a diff…

Should brands increase their budgets for branding during this time?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

You serve on the board of many companies and you advise them all the time about their marketing strategies. What would be your advice to businesses? Should they incr…

Should organisations accelerate their spends on innovations?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What is your view about functions in organizations like innovation, R & D in these times. Should organizations be treating them as liability, or these really fun…

What is the future of Start-ups?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Given the current situation where capital is scarce and everybody is trying to conserve it, what do you think about startups in the absence of capital? How will they…

What behavioural shifts can we expect in consumer loyalty?

Ashish Tiwari:

What happens to consumer loyalty?

Rama Bijapurkar:

I think as long as you continue to deliver the value advantage, you will have greater loyalty at this time than …

Brand value vs price value - what works for the customer?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Indian are very price sensitive and have a difficulty, accepting the price mentally, irrespective of their socioeconomic background. So does branding and strategies …

What would you advise young professionals who wish to pursue a career in marketing?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What career advice would you want to give to our audience over here who are looking at building a career in marketing, let's say at a middle level, and they have asp…

What aspect of a product should brands focus on - desire or functionality?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

In a crisis situation like these, there is a separation between need and desire categories. So people become more rational and they start scrutinizing their expendit…

Do the concepts, you mentioned in your book published in 1982, In Search of Excellence, apply to today's volatile world?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

The book in search of excellence was published in 1982. It's been nearly four decades now, and the business world has changed so dramatically ever since. The themes …

How do you define leadership?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How do you define a leader then? How do you define leadership?

Tom Peters:

There is an American movie director by the name of Robert Altman who said “The role of t…

Should businesses focus first on profit or on people?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What are your thoughts about organizations making profits to be able to serve people? Should that not be the first point to emphasize after purpose? Or should it not…

Should organisations spend on training their employees even in the current scenario?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

The first two of your 29 number ones, talk about training and preparing employees to be better, but training people to what end? Today all People intensive and labor…

A leader often needs to take tough decisions that are unpleasant but necessary. How do they deal with this dilemma?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Being a leader or a CEO is a tough job. They must balance the need to deliver quarterly results those 90 days. And they also need to decide if they must have tissue …

What approach should SMEs that are the backbone of the Indian economy take for business continuity during the pandemic?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How should SMEs, backbone of the Indian economy as well, approach this pandemic situations? Because they may not have the capital to bring latest technology or to …

Since the lockdown consumer preferences have changed significantly. Should businesses pivot or stick to their core competencies in such a scenario?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

That's after the initial shock of this event, everybody seems to be talking about pivoting. So how necessary is that or does it make more sense to keep focused on yo…

How will the WFH model impact businesses?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

There's a lot of buzz around working from home or working remote, and a lot of people have been talking about it, a lot of big organizations, have made some big clai…

What are the biggest challenges that CEOs face when it comes to achieving success?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

You've worked with many CEOs, many entrepreneurs, and a lots of great people. What do you think, their biggest challenge or challenges have been when it comes in the…

How does an organisation that wants to hyper-scale build its culture?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

You have a great idea, and you're starting a company, it's a billion dollar idea with a global vision and you want to hyper scale it in a short period and capital is…

How can Companies Establish a Culture of innovation?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How can companies establish a culture of idea generation or innovation? There may be some fundamental changes that one would have to make in the organization. So wha…

What are the ways leaders can build adaptive intelligence?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What are the ways in which leaders can build adaptive intelligence?

Keith Coats:

So I would look no further than those four areas. We call that the DNA or the adap…

What should the leaders do when they know that the short term to medium term is uncertain?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Since you're a futurist, what do you see disappearing from the world, a product or service or a way of doing things as the result of this pandemic.

Keith Coats:

Wh…

What is the future of small and medium businesses?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Not every business  is capable of setting up online. So how do you see that playing out for small and medium scale enterprises going forward?

Keith Coats:

Two thin…

What will be the outcome of WFH in terms of culture and innovation?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

A lot is being said about work from home, remote as a result of this pandemic. And that's something which a lot of organizations are seeing as a real benefit on real…

Career advice for mid-level individuals

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What would be your message to all our audience who are in the middle of their career, somewhere between five to 10 years?

Keith Coats:

That would depend on the ind…

Can SMBs transform digitally given very tight budgets?

Ashish Tiwari:

Do SMBs have the capability of digital transformation during these times when budgets are very very tight?

Mani G:

This is one of the key questions that most of th…

Is there a need to address Digital Labor in Workforce?

Ashish Tiwari:

is there any need for entrepreneurial ventures to develop the strategies for addressing digital labor in their workforce?

Vivek Puthucode:

I think that the importa…

How should SMBs deal with the ever changing field of technology?

Ashish Tiwari:

How do smaller businesses cope up with the ever-changing technology?

Vivek Puthucode:

First the SMEs handle the challenge of being top of the visible app world.I thi…

What are the potential risks for SMBs in going digital?

Ashish Tiwari:

What are the risks to be kept in mind while going digital? Especially if we look at it from the lens of SMBs. A lot of SMBs will have their question in their mind.

 …

What kind of skill sets are coming up and lacking in the younger generations?

Ashish Tiwari:

What kind of skill sets are coming up and are lacking with the younger generations?

Mani G:

The basic skills that I saw that is very much lacking, was common sense…

What principles of framework to follow to make the best decision?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What principles of a framework did you follow to make decisions that kept you on course?

Arjun Malhotra:

So when you take a decision, just remember at that time, l…

When to pivot or move to a more promising opportunity?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Most entrepreneurial businessmen face this dilemma, they get inward and invested in that idea in business. At times they miss the opportunities to pivot or don't kno…

How do you convince VCs to fund your idea?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How do you really go about building or getting conviction from VCs to fund your ideas? And, if you have a bright idea, what would be your advice to somebody on this?…

What can those who seek to master marketing learn from David Aaker?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What advice would you like to give to the aspiring marketeers who are looking at making the career in marketing or perhaps wanting to lead the function. So one of th…

How can brands demonstrate authenticity in these turbulent times?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Which communication tactics or strategy are most efficient in today's environment for brands to demonstrate authenticity?

David Aaker:

There is no rule. There's no g…

Would signature stories counteract the current wave of protectionism?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

This is the question is to do with this whole wave of protectionism that the countries are that it's happening in America it's happening in India. So a question is w…

Should start-ups focus more on innovations or branding?

Rama Bijapurkar

So I want to ask you on behalf of a lot of the startups that I know in the audience about what you said on subcategories. We see actually a lot of subcategory creat…

What elements of the David Aaker model are most important in a crisis?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

When we look at the brand architecture model during COVID situation which elements of this model which is your model become most important for Brands? For celebrity …

How can B2B brands use story-telling to grab sustained attention?

Rakesh Wadhwa :

How can storytelling be individualized in B2B?

David Aaker:

The B2B first of all they understand that stories are important. Because prospective clients want to h…

What aspect should brands focus on the most to develop the brand’s persona?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Six facets of a brand identity prism – personality, culture, relationship reflection and self image also physic. So in case of a service brand what will be the physi…

What products or services will become void post COVID?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

There will be profound changes as a result of pandemic and new paradigms will emerge. So in the context of products and services, what do you see disappearing from …

Should traditional companies shy away from self destruction?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Would you suggest that traditional big companies must not shy away from self destructing what traditionally has worked for them and if not, then how do you really t…

Is Television still relevant in the age of OTT platforms? How will advertising shape up on OTT?

Incrementalism vs Massive Transformation of Business

Munish Sharda

How do you look at this transformation from incrementalism versus a massive transformation of the business?

Alpesh Shah:

Banks and insurance companies have always b…

What will disappear as a result of this crisis?

Munish Sharda:

What do you think will disappear as a result of this crisis? What will just disappear? And it'll not be the same again. Either a business or a process or activity or…

How should insurance companies evolve with emerging customer consumption patterns?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What actions should be taken to overcome this situation? How do you deal with these new consumption patterns that may emerge?

Alpesh Shah:

By creating innovative bit…

Is this the era of ecosystems?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Is this the era ecosystems, which basically means that, for example happening with the Reliance Jio, their ambition clearly seems like they want to be a Alibaba of I…

Will smaller BFSI players need to exit the market?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Will we see more consolidation in the BFSI industry? Because market leaders who have access to capital and cash will be able to augment their digital transformation …

How should businesses remove the element of fear regarding financial credit?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

There is this fear in the mind of consumers in the mind of businesses that even if the government is encouraging them to avail of financial credit, they're not reall…

With WFH, will there be a strategic shift in the way companies view employment?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

We see this shift to work from home and that's got to stay. Do you see a strategic shift in the way companies view employment? Do you think gig economy is now going …

How to build a career in financial services? What are the challenges?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How did you think of building a career in this direction and what were your challenges at that point in time? I'm sure it must not be a cakewalk for you. So I guess …

What is the difference between rural and urban India in terms of finance management?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Urban India and Rural India or Bharat, as most people prefer to call it, appear to be two distinct worlds ,yet they're so tied with each other for collective success…

How is financial management helping to change the game in rural India?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

There's so much buzz about technology, digital transformations, mobile phones, in the rural, India, internet penetration's. How do you see in your field of this is r…

How to get rural India, where income is unstable, to appreciate financial management?

Rakesh Wadhwa:                                                

Concept of wealth management in rural India - you don't even know what the next month’s income will be. So how do you…

Will the migrated labour get back to urban India post COVID-19?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Well there is a labor exodus which we have seen, like never before happening, due to this pandemic. One of the perspective is that it's going to be a reverse labour …

How should the salaried class preserve their finances during a crisis?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

In the current situation, what advice do you have for employed people who are salaried? How should they conserve or preserve their finances during this crisis? What …

How to stay focussed even during emotionally low phases of life?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

While going through emotionally low phase in your life, how can you be in distractible?

Nir Eyal:

There are only two potential solutions. Either fix the source of …

How to be outstanding at everything when one has multiple varied interests?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

You are an entrepreneur, investor, teaches and author. In my experience, most people find it difficult to be good at one thing, but you good at everything. So what i…

How to ask for distraction-free time without sounding rude to your colleagues?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

A lot of productivity is lost because of incessant emails and calls. So how does one sensitize colleagues to the importance of leaving you alone without seeming rude…

Is multitasking a good idea?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What about the times when you have to multitask? Can multitasking and remaining in distractible coexist?

Nir Eyal:

Multitasking interesting topic because the ortho…

How to deal with overwhelming emotions when one is trying to focus?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Emotions are natural and involuntary. So how do you work on emotions? Well, when you're focusing on distraction tactics.

Nir Eyal:

So these are the internal triggers…

How will the COVID scenario impact the behaviours of people going forward?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What will normal look like post COVID-19?. And will this change everything? World has seen many crisis in the past from health to economic, what is different about t…

Can procrastination help us in any way?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What do you think about procrastination as an idea generator and a creative release?

Nir Eyal:

Not true.  What you can call it is a diversion. Okay. Diversions of at…

How do professionals prepare for black swan events?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How does one prepare oneself for this scenario?

Jasprit Bindra:

In the last hundred years or so organizations have come up and become these very powerful organizat…

Do we see the component of compassion being coded into AI?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Is compassion not a matter of time for AI in the ways things are going? If they could emote or just learn to understand the context. Is that true?

Jasprit Bindra:

What products or services might not be able to adapt to the impact of the pandemic?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What is one thing that you see disappearing from the world as any product any service any habit as a result of this pandemic?

Jasprit Bindra:

I haven't thought about…

What is role does HR play in digital transformation?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What is the role of HR In Digital Transformation?

Jasprit Bindra:

 HR is a wrong word actually that's CHRO should be the custodian of the company's culture. And so i…

How can small and medium sized business stay afloat during a crisis?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Now given the pandemic and what we are seeing of it appears that big will get bigger because they have access to capital the more resilient balance sheets on and so …

What are the major challenges that organisations face during cultural shifts?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Why is it so difficult for organizations to change culture?

Jasprit Bindra:

Firstly, If you are a wreck. If your company is going down that lane, it's very easy to c…

How will the rural consumer’s purchasing sentiments change post the pandemic?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

I've seen a lot of your work has been done for brands trying to capture rural markets. And you've got some very deep insights about rural markets through your experi…

What business opportunity should we take up post the lockdown?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What kind of business opportunity do you suggest after lockdown?

Harish Bijoor:

Any business affairs committee that is COVID insulator is a great one. Firstly I ha…

How can brands gain the trust of customers in terms of safety standards?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How do you make people trust the brands again? That the product is safe? Safely produced? The package?

Harish Bijoor:

If you really asked me it is a re-education p…

How can local businesses succeed when put against MNCs?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

In the Atmanirbhar bharat era how do you achieve innovation and go local in a marketplace where global companies are still dominating? What would be the recipe to su…

How to retain and increase sales without physically meeting customers and business partners?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

In today’s scenario without meeting our customers business partners on the regular basis how does one retain and increase sales?

Harish Bijoor:

Selling is in our DNA…

Do we expect to see a rise in Indians picking Indian colleges for higher education?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What's your view on the higher education? Do you think studying in India will be preferable than studying abroad? Especially in the context of Atmanirbhar Bharat?

How can brands seem genuine with their communications and are brand collaborations a good idea?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Brands are today sending out messages to their customers that they care and so on and so forth. And there was a big joke going on, on social media that suddenly the …

What aspect should brands focus on the most to develop the brand’s persona?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Six facets of a brand identity prism – personality, culture, relationship reflection and self image also physic. So in case of a service brand what will be the physi…

What are the signs of a vigilant organization/vulnerable organizations – specific to India?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Which organization in India, from your experience, would you consider it to be vigilant organization so far that you've seen.

George Day:

I haven't been there fo…

How are Tesla and GM evaluated through the model of Vigilant Organizations?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Tesla sells about 350000 cars a year against GM. And Tesla is $90 billion evaluation versus the GM. So how do you see these two companies through the model of Vigila…

What is the difference between being paranoid and being vigilant in turbulent times?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What is the difference between being paranoid and staying vigilant in the context of responding t the current chaos?

George Day:

Not Much! I am going to go back to…

When should organizations pivot? Any markers for successful pivot?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How do you know when to pivot given that Most organizations have a commitment to three to five year plans and the choice of strategy also remain consistent?

George…

How to define or access vigilant quotient in an organization?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

So how do you really define or assess the vigilant quotient in an organization?

George Day:

The vigilance quotient can be assessed from a survey that we've used in…

How can smaller organizations remain vigilant in turbulent times?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How would you advise smaller other organizations to remain vigilant? What can they do differently?

George Day:

Well firstly this is not a big or small company ques…

What products or services would vanish as a result of this pandemic?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

As a result of this current pandemic, which product or service do you see vanishing?

George Day:

I don't see any obvious candidates for completely being obliterate…

How will marketing change post this pandemic?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How do you see marketing changing post COVID? It was already changing, thanks to data, technology, automation, all that sort of stuff. But how do you see that changi…

Career advice for marketeers.

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What would be your advice to our audience?

George Day:

Marketing careers are fascinating, important. I consider marketing as first and foremost a general managemen…

How does the COVID - 19 infection manifest in children?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How does the COVID-19 infection manifest in children and prognosis in most children?

Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan

Most children are not asymptomatic. A very small prop…

What kind of mask is recommended by medics?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

There's a lot of talk about which kind of mask? Everybody seemed to be wearing a mask but what kind of mask works because today you get a dozen right in this sort of…

When can we stop being paranoid?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How long before you think we get information about some of these aspects of our daily lives that we can say, okay, you don't have to be so paranoid at all point in t…

What would happen to the restaurant hotels and real estate businesses?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Real estate industry the restaurant business or hotel business it seems from what you just suggested that these industries are in for the long haul of stress.

Dr. …

How does 'herd immunity' work and can we deal with it?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How does the concept of herd immunity work and is that a plausible solution who adopt?

Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan:

So herd immunity is not a strategy. Herd immunity …

How to break down and rebuild processes and systems during a crisis?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Most organizations are not used to self-destruction right. They are not used to breaking down processes and systems in the normal course of time. And you spoke of th…

What are the top skills for people at various levels to remain resilient during pandemic?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What according to you or other top skills for a unit for people at various levels. What are the top skills that you see people should focus on, at the entry level mi…

How should leaders communicate with the employees during these uncertain times?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What is the role of communication in these times with employees and how leaders need to sort of focus on communication that connects with employees in these situatio…

How should the government maintain balance between economic liberalization and national sovereignty?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

In India How should the Government balance between economic liberalization and national sovereignty given that there is an opportunity now for global supply chains t…

How can advertisements stay relevant post COVID?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Customer behavior is bound to change. Given the situation, then you sort of alluded to it in your talk as well. So how should advertisement change for companies? Wha…

Is it a good time for startups to startup?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Is it a good time for startups to start-up?

Rishad Tobaccowala:

This is a terrific time because this has been a lot of new companies and new industries get formed.…

In which sector should you invest in during this pandemic?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Which is at one sector that you would want to put your money on today.

Rishad Tobaccowala:

I believe 5G is going to be very big. So just like Jio was very big for …

Has the pandemic increased the demands of robots?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

In this pandemic situation, have you seen this accelerating your business?. And are you more bullish about the future especially after what we are going through?

R…

How can the AI and Robotics industry help in preserving jobs done by the human work force?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Every new boat that replaces human jobs creates some level of inequality in society. How do you think companies that make robots can help in bridging this divide? An…

How do we humanise AI and robotics?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Will artificial intelligence start understanding the context and therefore the feeling and therefore empathy? Is this something that we are heading towards?

Rajeev K…

How can Indian entrepreneurs use the pandemic as an opportunity to grow their business?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

The question is with respect to the geopolitical changes this pandemic is driving. China was the outsourcing capital of the world and a lot of high end tech world wa…

When will a robot be able to gauge human interest without interacting with the human?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

When do you see a robot gauging human interests without interacting with a human?

Rajeev Karwal:

It is already happening. But only with the emotions with expressio…

How long will it take for robots to become an everyday affair?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How long before you see such a robot being commonplace in the world?

Rajeev Karwal:

You see there are a couple of things. So one is the robotic technology itself. …

What path should mid-level employees take to grow in their career?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What is that one or two piece of advice that you want to give to our viewers who are working in the corporate who have ambitions to grow in their career? Probably le…

What is the future of small scale retail shops 5-10 years from now?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

I'm going to request you to look at five to 10 years from now assuming we are somewhere between 2025 203, how would you see the scenario for small retail shops?

Ll…

What will happen to retail and fashion businesses, will big businesses grow bigger?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What do you think about the retail industry the fashion industry, Fashion industry, these single brand outlets the big ones? Is there writing on the wall that a big …

Advice for sales professionals to remain relevant and employed in this scenario?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How do you think the sales fraternity or a business development fraternity prepare for something like this? Because they will be at risk given that longterm social d…

How can labour driven businesses pivot in times when labourers are moving back to their homes?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

There've been an Exodus of labor from rural to urban centers in search of better prospects and jobs. And now it's reverses happening because of health and people are…

What must SMEs or small businesses do differently to fight this economic crisis?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

So many possible scenarios that may merge out of this crisis. And, from most of these scenarios, it appears like large businesses with strong balance sheet and resou…

How will China recover economically from this crisis?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What we hear at least in the news is that China is sort of coming back to what they were. There's good progress to the economy. What if this turns around in the next…

How should travel and tourism industry deal with this pandemic situation?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

There's a saying that he never let a crisis go waste. And you mentioned about travel and tourism industry and they would be the worst to hit from this crisis. So how…

With people moving towards self employment, should corporates tackle this proactively?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

So the gig economy where people are increasingly moving towards self employment and part time work, Isn't a time for corporates to start thinking of those models and…

How to maintain control over sensitive information given the WFH situation?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

With Work from home becoming a norm, how can companies maintain control over the flow of sensitive information, across different levels of business? Is that somethin…

How to take advantage of this crisis caused due to the pandemic?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

If you were a mid level employee, what would have been your game plan to take advantage of this crisis today?

Ajai Chowdhry:

Well, I would start to look at my skil…

Career advice for sales people! What skills should they pick up?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What would be your advice to, the sales for industry? Because a lot of our viewers are in business development and since a lot of business happens face to face in mo…

Should organizations continue training online or wait till they can do it face to face?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

The organizations are moving towards training through webinars and online, which could be a good way, but is it as effective as face to face? And do you see that thi…

How should leaders communicate with the employees and customers in this time of crisis?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

How should leaders communicate with their employees who may be getting solely impacted because of pay cuts or possible, job losses and so on and so forth. And how sh…

What will be the impact of this crisis be on real estate?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What do you see would be the impact on real estate? And whether you see a shift happening over there in terms of prices, crashing rentals?

Ajai Chowdhry:

All of th…

How should organizations, that have borrowed a lot from the market, respond to this crisis?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

There are companies who are highly leveraged or have exposure on borrowings, how should they respond to these guys? And what would be your advice to them?

Ajai Cho…

How should the government handle the situation of overcrowding in public transport?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Public transportation in all megacities, including Mumbai, they are overcrowded. And even if people are working from home, a lot of them may still have to commute us…

Will working from home hamper the productivity?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

Indians lack ethics on working from home. Therefore this whole work from home model may not be good for productivity. You have managed massive businesses. The and so…

What is the future of businesses that deal with playground and sports equipments?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

There is a businessman engaged in developing public areas for kids. What's the future there? Do you encourage him to continue in this business?

Ajai Chowdhry:

Well…

How can leaders take better decisions when faced with a paradox?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

 We have seen there have been N number of paradoxes which have emerged today due to COVID times and with that the decision making truly a core competency to hav…

What’s the difference between learning and unlearning?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

What's the difference between learning and not learning.

Yogi Sriram:

Un learning is dismantling a mental model. Let me illustrate. There's a lot of talk thes…

What actions should organisations take to optimise the WFH set up for employees?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

How should organizations gear up to make people learn virtually and how digital learning should be structured so that we also know that people do not have the s…

Is there an attitude shift required when hiring someone from a different industry?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

On the demand side organizations still are highly parochial when it comes to hiring people from different industries. So that is a risk aversion. And that is m…

Since people management is now virtual, do we see HR jobs dwindling in the future?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

With more artificial intelligence and remote working scenario and coming up into play, do we anticipate less number of jobs in the HR in future? And if so, whic…

Would organisations prefer workers rather than managers now?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

Is middle management as a layer, out boarded now or even the upper middle layer. Are companies now looking for Hands on workers and less of managers.

Yogi Sri…

How does one say “no” in an office set up, as it is perceived as not being flexible?

What is your take on the role of leadership during these times?

Rakesh Wadhwa:

What is your take on leader and the role of leadership in the context of dealing with uncertainty?

Rita McGrath:

So one of the things that's critical about leaders…

What should employers do to build a differentiated employer brand?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

What should employers do to build  unique employer brand and a differentiated employer brand during these times?

Yogi Sriram:

There is a lot of literature on …

What measures should large scale and small scale businesses take during the pandemic?

Deepali Naair:

I want you to differentiate between large enterprises and medium and small enterprises because the issues really are different when they have to deal with the pandem…

Should professionals focus more on their input or output in the WFH set up?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

Given the work from home scenario, what should one focus on? Should it be outputs or inputs?

Yogi Sriram:

It depends on the role one is handling. If you are a…

How should organisations revamp their employee learning and development programs?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

That is a time now for moving from actual learning to E-Learning solutions. How do you think organizations should structure their learning agenda through soluti…

What are the qualities of a good leader?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

What are the qualities of good leaders in today's world?

Yogi Sriram:

Firstly the ability to make a good judgment. There are several elements in making a good…

Besides upgrading to digital learning, shouldn’t our curriculum from school to college be revamped?

Ruchira Bharadwaja:

Careers are going to be more agile than ever before. Shouldn't our education right from school to post-graduation also be they looked at. And not to be only abo…