Sohail Zindani

Few people have impacted the day-to-day execution of learning in Pakistans corporate arena more than Sohail Zindani. A gregarious, sought-after speaker, author and organizational development consultant, Sohail is characterized by friends, colleagues, competitors and clients as one of the most insightful, humorous, compassionate and professional individuals in training industry. He is Pakistans leading educator and motivator for uplifting training and development standards and creating learning cultures. He is the founder of Learning Minds Group, a company dedicated for providing the best of Learning and Talent Management Solutions. He is also the founder of Quality of Life Foundation, an NGO, working on holistic human development. Sohails obsession with results and practical action, and his extensive experience across industries, are distilled into proven methodologies tohelp clients consistently upgrade performance and capitalize on their human capital. Sohail resides with his wife and daughter in Karachi, Pakistan and travels extensively to share this vision: A world where people are excited to learn, prepared to grow and always willing to help others.
Email address: sohail.z@learningmindsgroup.com

============================= Corporate Lessons from Children

Sohail Zindani

The most beautiful, challenging, yet thrilling dimension of my training career comes from my interaction with children. They are smart, creative, simple and honest. These four attributes are, however, quite rare in most modern workplaces. Although, we do invest a lot in making our employees creative, yet the environment we provide is simply contradictory. Let me share few observations, Ive made, while training those whiz kids: They ask for every damn thing no matter how expensive it is. They even dont care about who have the actual possession of it They just want it, and so they demand. We - the grown-up waste most of our lives, thinking whether to ask for it or not! They always want to win, without hurting someone else. They dont create troubles for others in order to pursuit good for themselves still they want to win. Are we still that eager, yet not greedy!

They are happy, with no particular reason. Searching for reasons to be happy is an adult nonsense. They get bored quickly. They hate doing the same thing over and over again. This disenchantment gives them the hunger to find new things to do, or at least new ways of doing the same old thing. They forget grievances, and move on with building stronger relationship. They fight, they yell yet they settle issues, 100 times faster then the adults. What a shame for us. I hope youve enjoyed reading it. Now, may I request you to do something about it! The author is a Corporate Trainer, Coach, Motivational Speaker, Founder and Chief Learning Officer at Learning Minds! Group (sohail.z@learningmindsgroup.com) ========================================

Celebrating Chaos
Sohail Zindani

Times are changing fast. Very Fast. Hell too Fast. Generation Gap occurs every month okay, if its exaggeration, you count it every year What is true today becomes ridiculously obsolete tomorrow. Hyperactive markets are thriving, and active players are now merely surviving. In such chaos, I get mad at insanity to cheer strategies sustainable competitive advantage key success factor SWOT analysis Go and meet the American security officers who were all too set, predictive and let it come mindset individuals go and meet them to check out their strategic plans before 9/11. All crap in front of chaos. Globalization or lets say, Glocalization is making certainty out of diction. Being a student myself, and now meeting present grads give me a great sense of concern over the trap minds, our educational system is producing. I dont know about most of the world, but I know about rest of the world our educational system is getting irrelevant at an

exponential speed, ensuring more dumb-head managers, controlling for nothing. We are living in Google Wal-Mart Disney TATA world. Growth is no more about tickling ahead. Kaizen, once a quality tool, is now, nothing but a source of early destruction. TQM and 6 Sigma is good to read, useless to apply and pathetic I repeat with more certainty pathetic to suggest. It was good for the industrial revolution but what it has to do in an era of crazily freaking talent world. I meet managers senior and senior citizen managers, and let me describe both. Senior managers are those who have grown through learning senior citizen managers are just victims of longetivity. Aging is an animal trait, shared by humans Learning instinct is what makes human more sexy creation and by sexy I mean pleasure to watch. I was panelized upon to meet a senior citizen manager few days back who said, Young guys and gals are just not mature enough to take the leadership roles. I murmured, May you live a few more 10 years to see how tremendously WRONG you were. Bet me on this Leadership will belong to those with the most weird way to see the life, and guts to be different not merely better. Getting better might be the strategy for the day but getting different is for sure going to be the slogan for future. Getting better is TQM & CQI getting different is TGA (total guts application) and POL (Passion Over-Loaded). The creative age is a wide-open game comments Richard Florida. How true it sounds! White elephants should start dancing else get busy winding things up. To thrive in this creative age talent will be the only key success factor, but with the sorry state HR is in, we need more Ulrich and others Recruiting for Passion should be the only damn criteria everything else follows My clients and seminar attendees ask me the same idiotic question every time How to get in control of high-turn over. Let me answer them now once and for all Reduce the measuring time length of turnover thats the only way out. Why are we so convinced about hiring for a job! Why! Why? Hiring for projects and assignments might do it for us! Try it! Try it as you are not left with much to loose anyways. Our business schools will need to play a bit more serious role. Get off with providing notes on Innovation Damn it! Notes and prescriptions for creativity and innovation. What a shame! Creating Gut-full, obsessed to win grads should be your challenge for the decade Built to Last is one of the greatest management books of all times so what, Harry Porter is even bigger fiction. Nothing is about built to last today. Its all about Built to Try, Thrive, again try and Thrive Our companies are somewhat exceptionalThey are willing to call top international consultants to their organizations, paying them heavily, and then saying It doesnt work that way in our context What a waste of resources time and money. Remember, You miss 100% of the shots you never take. The success rate is directly proportional to failure frequency the more you fail the more you succeed keep playing safe and you will never become a star. Its just like that. Strategy sucks Action is sexy. Almost 80% of the strategic decisions are failure ask your employees, informally, and you will get to know that even 80% is under-rated. Even then, strategy takes almost 60% of total available time shame! Children are amazing. They are fearless, damn creative and super beings. Unfortunately though, the world of traditions, norms and methods corrupts them. Companies are willing to pay a hell lot of money to fresh grads these days, but damn it they corrupt them within first 6 months of their exposure to the company. Change is the only constant we have heard it quite a few time. Let me give you some more constants to think upon Human Stupidity and Hunger for more. Although both belong to the change family, it was important for me to name them separately. Now assume that if human stupidity is constant and you as a leader say that you are always right think who you are its just an equation I havent said anything. Leaders with the slogan, I dont know will rock the world. I dont want to conclude my article, as then I will commit the same crime the crime of summarizing. The only summary to any discussion can be lets talk more about it! May you get the passion to challenge the status quo this is a prayer for all educational institutions, corporate firms, government, and all those who think that everything is under control- damn it.

The author is a Corporate Trainer, Coach, Motivational Speaker, Founder and Chief Learning Officer at Learning Minds! Group (sohail.z@learningmindsgroup.com) =========================================

Nuruddin Abjani

Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker

Nuruddin Abjani is a successful businessman, motivational speaker, writer, regular blogger and a learner by choice. He passionately speaks about how our thoughts affect us, both positively and other wise. He believes that if people are not laughing at your dreams at least once a week, you are thinking too small. Nuruddin has an easygoing speaking style. He also serves as success coach to various professionals. Apart from his regular television appearances, he also speaks regularly at leading business schools, with a humble purpose to make students passionate for succeeding in their lives. Visit his interesting blog/website to learn more www.powerofthought.org
Email address: info@learningmindsgroup.com ==============================================================

Why We Need Mentors

Nuruddin Abjani

I was reading a blog post from Rajesh Setty - a great blogger/writer and a beautiful person - just now and he mentioned mentors and why they are important in our lives. Let me tell you something about myself, I am what I am now mainly because I have been very lucky to have found great mentors in my life who have been instrumental in nudging me in the right direction. Grooming me, coaching me. Not only then, but even now, I cherish their comments and advice on where I should be going or where I am going wrong - which is ALL the time! I do not know if YOU have had the good fortune to have people in your life who have been able to coach and advice you on stuff that you were unsure or confused about. Or when you simply needed to have someone older or experienced (not necessarily in age!) to give you

the right feedback. If you have not, I urge you to look around and start asking someone you admire or look up to. Send an email, ask questions, seek answers. You would be surprised how many of the successful people would love to help the budding ones with their advice, suggestions and experience. Never be afraid to ask. What you need to be careful about is giving them enough time to respond to you. People are busy, as ALL of us are, hence, to respond to your query they might need more time or have to be in the right frame of mind to mentor you. One caveat: Ask for advice, not favors. You will get favors in the end, do not worry! And if you are someone who has had the good fortune of having enough mentors and teachers, please share them with people you think might need them. And if you think you are one of those who could help people around...Just look around yourself and you will see lots and lots of them, waiting for your advise and support. Case in point: ME! My mentor-in-chief - Azam Jamil - not only mentored me for years (he does it still now: Thank You, AJ. God bless you!) but also got me a job which I could NEVER have gotten given my credentials! But, the relationship did not begin with me seeking a job. In fact, we both taught each other in the beginning! He taught me marketing, and I taught him music. Way back in the late 80s. But now, he does not need me to play keyboards - having become a maestro himself - but I seek his advice, frequently. Hope this post helped. Dare to dream! Be the best you can. Nuruddin Abjani www.powerofthought.org
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10 Things to Create Your DREAM LIFE!

Nuruddin Abjani

Try and Do This Every Day 1. Thank God: I had no shoes till I saw a man without feet. Count your blessings! 2. Have clear defined goals and affirm them, aloud. 3. Give yourself at least 20-30 minutes to THINK. Just think. And write everything that comes to mind. Dream! The ideas will blow your mind! 4. Shoot for the moon but Be Happy: Happiness is a state of mind and has nothing to do money. Be happy for being YOU, alive and being able to read this! 5. Sleep less Live More: Sleep to live not vice versa! Read Sleep Less (Live More!) 6. Watch LESS TV: Read Idiot Inside 7. 1 Hour for YOU: MEDITATEREAD..EXERCISE 8. Dont sweat the small stuff: Ask yourself Would it matter a year from now? 9. Forgive Everyone: Put to better use the energy usually consumed by holding grudges. 10. Give Back: Charity doesnt always have to be money. You can give your time, piece of advice, lend a hand, make someones day/life, be there for someone in need etc. =========================================

Is Your Advertising Not Working For You?

M. Ekhlaque Ahmed

What happens if your advertising does not work for you? Its not paying for itself. Advertising is very expensive. Today it takes huge sum of money to buy thirty seconds during prime time. And it is equally ridiculous from financial point of view when you buy a half page ad. in one of the leading newspaper. Then why spend the money if it costs you so much and its not paying for itself. Manufacturers and marketers are tempted to advertise when the brand is not getting them enough sales. Its normally a sales meeting agenda point by clever field sales officers/managers who know that sales figure achievement vs. quota for the month is not going to make an impressive show. Then they all shift the blame to the headquarters, to the brand manger. Where is the consumer off-take? We made it up to the neck. Up to the throat of each and every dealer, wholesaler and retailer. Consumer franchise should match the secondary sales (a difficult quantitative formula, but logically should match). If it is not matching taking into consideration our stretched sales target, there is something wrong with our brand loyalty. Why dont you create it? If it is not sufficient enough to meet the sales goals, why dont you make efforts to increase it. So, you advertise. But can advertising increase brand loyalty particularly when the product is in maturity stage of its life cycle. Another situation you are advised to advertise by your marketing experts when your product/brand (once the darling of the consumer) has moved far away from its original position. You go for the revival of your brand/product. May be you stopped advertising when your brand was doing very well. A concept that the leading and well positioned brand sells on its own. A myth which many managers fall trap of when the brand is on its peak. But now when you are nowhere, experts advise you to advertise and you do that in the hope that you will re-gain your previous position. But the question is will you really regain your previous position, or will reach closer to that. How much it would cost and with what result? More importantly, the resource availability to do it enough or leave it in the middle of the road, is a big

question. Yet another situation whereby you advertise and may be its not working for you, is the situation where you have a high brand equity (so called concept which is the basis for price premium in some multi-national organizations) but facing severe price competition. You advertise with no result. Your competition does not reply on equal terms i.e., advertising for advertising. But with more price cuts. And you have a big brand name. But that too is not working for you. You may be losing market share and are tempted towards price cuts. But that too does not work for you, as your competitors reply you back with more forceful price-cuts. A vicious circle sets in. And you are confused. Has marketing stopped working. Are we back to selling era once again. Is there any mid-life crisis for marketing concept which experts have been emphasizing upon so long. Is it becoming obsolete? Before you develop a perceptual bias against advertising, let us discuss, what should be logical expectations from advertising. Whats the core value it can add and what you need to do to effectively get the results. Selecting the Creative Approach When you advertise (functionally) your product or a number of line extensions with or without an umbrella (of your brand), have you ever thought what kind of creative appeals you are focusing on and are they going to deliver results for you. Even if you are advertising quality of your product which everyone else does, how consumer is going to have a distinct re-call for your brand. There are two schools of thought concerning the development of creative appeals. One puts forward the argument that you will succeed if your advertisement is based on the creation of a distinct brand image, whilst others argue that success is more likely if emphasis is placed on developing a unique selling proposition (USP). The brand image philosophy The brand image philosophy was developed very largely by one of the founding fathers of advertising, primarily from the approach to advertising of David Ogilvy, and refers to all those emotional and aesthetic qualities which people associate with a brand. Ogilvy call this the complex symbol of the brand and suggests that many advertisers make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people and end up with a product that has little or no personality with which consumers can identify. He argues that an infinitely more worthwhile strategy involves creating a personality for the product in order to conjure up strong images in the public mind. The development of a distinct brand image therefore begins with finding out what the brand means to the consumer and then emphasizing the product as a means of self-fulfilment. Walter and Paul (1970) pointed out that there are five different concepts of self image: 1. The real self, made up of the individuals physical and emotional characteristics and is the total person as an objective entity 2. The ideal self represents what the person would like to be 3. The self image is how he sees himself and combines the real and ideal self. 4. The apparent self: refers to the way in which others see him and therefore has an effect on his social interactions. 5. The reference group image is the way in which the individual perceives significant others seeing him. Walters and Paul suggest that much of our behavior is the result of an attempt to enhance or maintain some concept of the self and this is reflected in five main patterns of behavior: 1. People buy products which are consistent with their self image 2. They avoid products which conflict with the self image 3. They buy products which reflect an improved self image 4. They avoid products which represent a departure from group norms 5. They buy products which relate favorably to reference group norms or behavior The implication of these concepts is that people feel like buying a product which is more compatible to their self image. Therefore, look at your advertising campaign, is it trying to build a specific brand image first to tie up to the specific characteristics of your target consumer, or it is just another advertisement based on product features and attributes. Unique selling proposition Rosser Reeves came out with almost diametrically opposed approach. His philosophy is that successful advertising needs to be based on USP which is based on three rules: 1. Each advertisement must make a definite proposition to the consumer: buy this product and you will get this specific benefit 2. The proposition must be unique: it must be one which competitors either do not or cannot offer 3. The proposition must be sufficiently strong and attractive to persuade people to switch from the competing products they are presently using to your product The brand image philosophy handles the subject from an emotional perspective whereas USP is more a functional approach. When you are trying to solve a more chronic marketing objective issue, an approach which is first based on creating a strong brand image, a special meaning of the brand to the consumer is more likely to work. The functional aspect of the product (USP which is different and unique) being advertised becomes a strategic necessity rather than a strategic strength. The positioning philosophy Another angle to look at the whole subject of branding and marketing (and advertising as one of its subsets) is the positioning philosophy given by Alries and Trout, the famous branding consultants. They argue that each brand should hold a specific position, a specific window in the minds of the consumer (prospects). The stronger this position is, the brand name becomes a surrogate or substitute for the generic name. The prospect has the tendency to put the first product into the mind on a pedestal and to treat the metoo products as somehow inferior to the original.

Where are you in the minds of consumer? If your advertising is not working for you, look at where are you in the minds of consumer? And where you would like to be, in the prospects mind? Has your advertising a clear goal in terms of well defined creative approach or it is merely a functional scenario? Are you just advertising your sales promotions without a long term positioning strategy? Buy one, get ten free. Nikli nikli, kiya nikli. Are you just advertising your line extensions without clear strategic pathways? Thande (cooool) ho ja.o! If it is so, you may be wasting your money. So, give your strategy a fresh look. Take help of research. Interact with the consumer. Find out where you are in his mind. Find out what you still mean to him and try to capitalize on that special meaning if you happen to find one. If you are too far, then first work out a strategy how you can again open a window, a strong one in his mind. And base your advertising theme on that strategy instead of

beating the drum of product attribute, quality, line extensions, sales promotions etc., which might not work for you. Where are your competitors in the minds of consumer? It is equally important to find out where are your competitors in prospects mind. Particularly if you are trying to revive your brand, it is important to trace where are you in the minds of consumer and how strong your competitors are in the prospects mind. Because that may the significant difference now from the history. If your competition now occupies a positioning which is close to generic positioning of the category, it will be much more difficult for you to re-gain your position with your past image. It is better that your re-positioning efforts should try to open altogether a new window in a new category. Be the first in a new category and build a new position. And more importantly, it should not be done half heartedly. Full force, vigorous efforts are necessary. Otherwise results are very difficult to come. Revival of the old position strategy may not work as substitution of that place in the prospects mind has already taken place with some other brand (s). Two important topics would be quite appropriate and relevant to be discussed here before we conclude the subject. First topic is to take an inventory of what advertising can and cannot do. This is important to avoid any possible under/over expectations from this marketing tool and make its use more optimal from cost-benefit angle. The second subject is to suggest some strategies to integrate advertising with other marketing mix without which optimal results cannot be sought. What Advertising can and cannot do Advertising can: 1. Convey (simple) information 2. Create awareness 3. Generate inquiries 4. Shape attitudes 5. Create desire 6. Establish or reinforce associations 7. Provide post purchase reassurance 8. Create/reinforce positioning 9. Remind Advertising cannot: 1. create needs 2. reverse product dislike 3. build brand loyalty 4. prevent long term decline 5. work without clear objectives and strategy to succeed 6. work without being part of an effective marketing mix As Alries and Trout point out ,your advertising budget is like a countrys defense budget. Those massive advertising dollars dont buy you anything; they just keep you from losing market share to your competition. They further assess that advertising is a powerful tool, not to build leadership of a fledgling brand, but to maintain that leadership once it is obtained. Companies that want to protect their well established brands should not hesitate to use massive advertising programs to smother the competition. Its like your brand maintenance cost Integration with other marketing mix Consumers actions and reactions are very complex at times. And we marketer often fall trap of inside out thinking. We think, by our own standards, we are excellent. We excel at delivering customer value. But fail to define an acceptable customer value from customers point of view. Isnt it strange? Its our own standards which we impose on customers and say like a politician says on publics demand. Consumers become unpredictable. If they do not accept you anymore but you are still having a strong positioning in their minds, the positioning will remain there. But they will not act according to that positioning. It may be termed as you have the mind share but do not have the market share. No one likes that situation. We were investigating a few years back brand recall of a famous brand. Consumers recall for a specific product version of that brand registered a very high percentage. When presented to the company, they pointed out that they stopped producing that product a couple years back. See, how it works. This may happen with one of your existing product too. The consumer is not acting, but still has a strong connection of the brand in his memory. You certainly dont like that position. You spend but your advertising spend does not bring you anything. May be the issue is with other marketing mix which due to changing driving force has lost its compatibility and needs to be re-looked. Know the driving force Know the driving force behind the market dynamics. These are most dominant forces which have the biggest influence on your business. These are to be linked with your key success factors also. These could be in the area of machine cost, new customer group, new customer usage, product innovation, marketing innovation, technological change, cost factors etc., Some of other relevant areas could be your channel profitability, your delivery reliability linked with their better ROI (return on investment) prospects due to which they push a product better than the other. May be the industry is now being driven by some new rules. Innovation and renovation in these areas are extremely important. These determine the strategic direction of an organization and bring them back to their basics by which the customer judges between good and bad. These give them a framework of better and result oriented operational strategies including of course the advertising! Look at value chain In order to work out a strategic compatibility between your own and the industry situation, an analysis guideline is to start with a look at your value chain and the value chain of the industry. The value chain in simple ways may be understood like this. Organizations work through people. People fit in various functions. Functions should ideally be process driven. Processes should ideally be customer driven. An analytical look at these functions from customers point of view i.e., how you manufacturer, what you manufacture, at what cost you manufacturer, from where you buy your raw materials and components, how you deliver your goods to your customers, what is your process of finding out your customers unmet needs, so every thing you do to create a value proposition to your customer. Does it match with or exceeds customer expectations. Has the competition created a new benchmark for any of these areas which has put them ahead of you. Cannon did it in distribution and won the battle of market leadership against Xerox.. Lu did it in product innovation in biscuit industry and left behind all its competitors. Look at your value chain. This is an exercise of coming back to your basics better than your competition. According to Peter F. Drucker, when your strategies are not working ask basic questions to yourself and see where is the issue. Basic questions like: Who you are? What are you trying to achieve (your goals and objectives), whom are you fighting against?

Who are you customers? What are their buying habits? What they are looking from you? and such more questions. Then look at your value chain. Mind you customers are value maximizer. They maximize value for value. They cannot tolerate your inefficiencies. They will reject you and will not even tell you of their decisions. You do not find it yourself (sometimes your arrogance, sometimes self-fulfilling prophecy). And when you find it, its too late! Conclusion Advertising does work. People probably will not recognize the value of an article unless they are taught to recognize it, to understand how it works, to appreciate what it can do for them. This is exactly what advertising does. It explains. It dissects. It compares. It teaches. It praises. It educates. H.K.McCann Harvard Business Review (April 1923). The task of advertising as some experts assess e.g., Gilligan and Crowther (1976) is to achieve a communication goal will not be appreciated by the organizations who spent their resources. They will always look for sales and profitability goals associated with advertising spend. If these are not being achieved, it leads to management frustration. It is important to look at the subject from an integral business perspective. Some of the thoughts which have been shared in this article i.e., creating a value proposition, positioning philosophy, study of driving force and key success factors, closer look at your value chain etc., should preempt your communication strategy. Rather than your advertising is made to remove these obstacles to get the sales results which it is not capable to do in any case.
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Mumtaz Murani

Advisor, Special Projects

Mumtaz Murani with an extensive research experience of around 4.5 years joined Learning Minds! Group in July 2011. Her professional working experiences have provided her with the ample know-how of extensive research and communication related activities and studies. Mumtaz started her career as Researcher from Aga Khan University and worked in other renowned institutions in the past few years like Center of Educational Research and Planning (CERP), a unit of Habib University Foundation (HUF), Indus Resource Center (IRC) and GEO Research and Analysis Division (GRAD). She is very passionate about learning and growing herself professionally. Her strong interpersonal skills have always supported her in fulfilling the targets she had set for herself and the organization. Academically, she is completing her masters in International Relations. She is currently handling the publication project for LMG that is International Management magazine and trying hard to create a learning difference through this project.
Email address: mumtaz.m@learningmindsgroup.com

========================================= Qualities that Make a Good Teacher

Mumtaz Murani
Sunday, 27 Dec, 2009 | 01:01 AM PST |

Although there seems to be an existing hypothesis that effective teaching cannot be defined, research indicates that it is possible to define the levels of teaching. Based on a few studies, I have identified some teacher characteristics considered as effective by students. It is a good idea for a teacher to keep these characteristics in mind in order to know how their students monitor their teaching. Efficient teaching ensures that the students learn best when they actively participate in the learning process. The successful faculty members work on their teaching in order to engage and motivate their students to learn and build on their existing knowledge and understanding. Students have had hundreds of teachers remember only a few as being exceptionally good. So what are these qualities that combine to create an excellent, memorable teacher? Why do some teachers inspire students to work three times harder than they normally would, while others make them want to skip class? Why do students learn more from some teachers than others? The qualities that distinguish exceptional teachers comprise knowledge, communication skills, interest, respect for students, commitment and approach as well as personality. Knowledge In every type of teaching, students consistently and clearly mention knowledge of the subject as the number one quality of a good teacher. You must be an expert in your field if you are going to be a good teacher. So it is always a good idea to do your homework before going into class in order to be prepared for any relevant question that the students ask you. The reading and searching routine also help teachers to come up with new and exciting ideas to make the subject more interesting. Communication The ability to communicate their knowledge and expertise to their students is the second core quality. You may be an expert in your field, but what if you are unable to deliver what you know in a right manner? How much would your students learn then? It is the teacher job to take advanced knowledge and make it accessible to the students. A good teacher can explain complicated material in a way that the students can understand and use. There is a saying: Give me a fish and I eat for a day, teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime. This is the philosophy of a good teacher. Give your students an answer and they can solve one problem, but show them the techniques needed to find answers so that they may become independent in the field. Students need to be shown how to apply the new techniques for solving a problem. This is what problem-based learning is all about. Interest Good teachers are themselves interested in the material they teach. That is how they generate interest in the class. Knowledge is worthless unless it is delivered to the students in a form they can understand. But the effort expended in making the material understandable will be wasted if the students fall asleep when it is delivered, or if the students see no point in learning what is being taught. They should know how to make students want to learn the material by making it interesting for them.

Respect All good teachers carry a deep concern and respect for their students. They allow the students to make their own decisions, which encourages independent and critical thinking.

Commitment and approach Every profession needs commitment and a promise to fulfill all the deals faithfully. A responsible teacher should spend time with the students in order to fill the gaps left in their understanding of a subject. Classroom rules and procedures set by the teacher help the students know what is expected of them and how they can help themselves. He or she encourages cooperation. It is also required of the teacher to be flexible enough to change lessons on the spot in order to accommodate the needs of her students. Personality It is required of the teacher to be curious and passionate while showing interest in their student interests, wishes, and feelings. Teachers should form examples for the students in the way that they carry themselves. Highly effective teachers are viewed as easy going and relaxed. They should always keep an open mind. The teacher attitude has a strong bearing on his or her class. There should be no bias and no fixed point of view. A good teacher has to be strict and self-confident. He or she must exercise authority, but at the same time also be a friend and helper to the students. =========================================

Jovaria Khizar

A unique, worthy and much needed addition in corporate trainings, Jovaria Khizar is an enthusiastic, practical and unconventional facilitator. With an extensive hands-on experience as a trainer in banking and hospitality industry, Jovaria speak sense and logic while keeping humor and energy intact. As an outstanding resource for soft skills and managerial trainings, she have trained thousands of employees, at various organizations on a diverse range of topics including supervisory skills, service excellence, time and stress management, communication skills, team building and loads more. As an AVP HRD at Emirates Global Islamic Bank, she was responsible in implementing Performance Management Systems, Orientation and Induction, Training and Counseling and creating various other continuous learning projects. Being an exceptional writer as well, she won various accolades in her educational domain. She has taught at various business schools in Pakistan. An MBA by qualification, she kept on pursuing various learning opportunities offered through various national and international training and certification programs. She loves painting, and attributes it towards her expression of life.
Email address: info@learningmindsgroup.com ============================================================================

Troubled Times
Jovaria Khizar

Chaosone word that I see everywhere around me but surprisingly, as soon as I leave the country and step into another I see chaos again. Gone are the times of relaxed atmosphere both at workplace and in real life. Yet as I see older retired people sitting sipping their early morning tea and reading newspapers or tending to their gardens I see calmness and tranquility. And I end up asking myself how can that be? We all of course live in the same country then why such a difference between the temperament of the young and the old. The answer came to me just by sitting and talking to the wise elders. According to them they were complacent with what they had at that time and enjoyed the little blessings by the Creator at the same time, family was so much important, evening teas at friends house (without prior informing them) was also a way to relax, early dinners, early rising up, less TV all contributed to the blessed life they had spent. Laws of nature never change, we have the same time on our hands as our forefathers had. They and we have the same 24 hours a day though at that time they only had Friday as a holiday and now we have two holidays i.e. Saturdays and Sundays. Nowadays mostly people never have time for themselves let alone their family. Only way of relaxing is sitting and munching at front of TV. I do not say that do not watch TV but keep it to the minimum, go out, have a walk, talk to the long forgotten friend, if you are getting too bored why not volunteer somewhere to help the needy. Revisit your own life, prune the garden of your life, take out the weeds (by weeds I mean bad habits). According to a research one can acquire a new habit if one practices for 21 days in a row. Spend time and money on your family. Go out for picnics, stay away from miserable people and surround yourself with positive ones as they are the ones which actually matter in your life. Who doesnt have troubles in their lives? We all do, but we need to get out of these troubled times to make ourselves worthy of becoming grandparents so that one day one young child would come up and ask us the same question about life as I have asked today. =========================================

Osman Rohail

If you want to see inspiration, passion, positivity and knowledge converged at one point, meet Osman Rohail. With a bachelors degree in Electronic

Engineering from the N.E.D University, he is currently a Faculty Member at Szabist, and educates through innovation & creativity. Osman describes himself as a change agent, catalyzing the process of self-development among people. He has this energy within him which he diverts towards creating equilibrium in his participants lives. Osman digs deep in things to learn from them and help discover hidden potentials. He has to date worked on Time & Stress Management, Communication Skills and Influential Leadership with the youth of prestigious institutes such as IoBM, Karachi University, Iqra University, M.A.J.U, Greenwich University and numerous others, making him realize that his heart is into core corporate training. Osman has a very entertaining style when he approaches the Floor; always ready to arm you with his secret weapon to move ahead in life A Smile. So get ready to take the journey on with him with a Smile! J Email address: info@learningmindsgroup.com =====================================================

The Secret to Great Marketing Learn how to Date!

Osman Rohail

Last year, after being stuck in the single zone for almost two years, I was all set to straighten up my dating life, and score. Since I had never dated in my entire life, I knew little about how things worked. So I did what I thought was best met random people, bragged and boasted about all I had achieved in life, and tried setting up a date! And the response I got? Rejections. 10/10. Not giving up, I then started reading books written by the pick-up artists and gurus who taught the technicalities of the dating game. Im sharing one of the golden principles here, just because it made me realize, that dating and marketing are the exact same thing! Let's look at dating first. Let's say you're out at a coffee place or a cocktail party. You observe a handful of prospects that look really good, and their persona or charm catches your eye. Without giving it a thought, you walk up to every one of them and start blabbering away, narrating all your success stories of life. Keeping the exceptions aside, the average response youll get is, Ugh, just another person trying to set me up. Im NOT interested!" Good? Not good. But what if you reversed what youre doing? What if you positioned yourself in a way that invited them to you? What if we reversed the attraction and created a magical field. What if we placed ourselves in such a way that compelled them to take the first step? What if we made it possible for people to buy, instead of trying to sell? It's the same with marketing! Assume you have the database of a thousand potential prospects that fit in perfectly to buy your product. Does that mean you cold-call every one of them and try selling to each and every one of them? For a lot of usual organizations, the answer would be yes. And those might have some success. But conventionally, the people being coldcalled might probably think the exact same thing as those prospects in the club - "Ugh, just another person trying to sell me something." But what if, you simply reversed the process? What if you place your organization, your product, your idea in a manner that magnetizes prospects to you? Lets now take a look as to how it is done. Its not about YOU Its about THEM. Companies who market poorly are those that talk primarily about themselves or their products. What they dont realize is that marketing should actually be about the customer's lifestyle, relating his needs to your product, instead of a recitation of the best features of their product. Apple's message to market their iPod is a brilliant example that explains this phenomenon! Apple states, "10,000 songs in your pocket!" instead of "20 gigabyte mp3 player" which is simply a description of their product. Although the players 20GB memory is an excellent feature, they know that the consumer wont care until they relate their products feature with the customers lifestyle. And that is exactly what Apple did. Unless organizations start a piece of communication is focused on the lifestyle of the customer first, the products will have no impact at all. The customers will fail to understand how a product or service integrates into their lives, and will eventually say, Who cares. Marketing Is Like Dating Yes, marketing is not rocket science, think of it like dating! You would never want to show up on a date and just start talking about yourself. Companies who know the art of good marketing relate to this concept; they know that simply telling consumers features about their products is unattractive. Like an effective seduction, creating a strong marketing scheme takes needs for sure, the skill of listening. Listening to what the needs are. Once they have that understanding, they then provide solutions, not mere products. They then become genuine problem solvers, instead of just plain marketers. And trust me, if that goes well, your date (consumers) will be much more interested in you (the product) and might even consider introducing to their parents. Happy dating Marketing. ========================================

Meena Valli Mohammed

Meena is a trainer in Business Communication and Interpersonal Skills for more than 20 years that brings a frame work for personal and professional excellence. Her trainings are focused on providing support to the organizations whose mission and culture embraces the potential in each person in the societies, and respects their rights and dignity to give them an opportunity to bring to fruition their innate capacities to transform their quality of life through education and training and the societies in which they live. She utilizes her experiences, knowledge and combination of intellectual curiosity, a passion for social change, a focus on tangible results and a desire to work within a culture that practices continuous learning and improvement. Meena successfully instituted with various projects for World Learning Inc. U.S.A. for their clients M/S Educational Testing Service (ETS), of Princeton, New Jersey. Set up test centers in Pakistan and Bangladesh, as part of business development consultant for ETS, worked with various government and private sectors in U.A.E. Africa and South Asia. Negotiated various programs and projects and monitored

the global marketing campaign for Egypt and India. Acquired extensive experience in Human Resource Management at the Aga Khan University Hospital. Set up the Aga Khan Education Service, Afghanistan for the Aga Khan Development Network. The war ravaged post conflict era required extraordinary resilience in establishing quality education and training programs in Kabul, Baghlan and Badakshan. Partner Consultant at World Educational Services, a not for profit organization based in Karachi, Pakistan. With a mission to help advance quality and equity in education by providing fair, unbiased, authentic information for studying abroad. Training and Solutions arm of WES designs training and coaching programs for young adults, professionals and teachers.
Email address: info@learningmindsgroup.com ======================================================================

Discrepancy in Education System in Developing Countries Few Thoughts

Meena Valli Mohammed

Discrepancy in education system in the developing countries may be various and there are many reasons associated with this. One that stands out in my view is awareness within remote communities on the importance of academic/secular education. I have observed that they are very keen on religious education, which is important, but miss the boat when it comes to keeping up with the rest of the country and the world. Science and technology is part of secular education and for a developing nation like Pakistan it is vital that its population get an opportunity to access quality input in the academics. It is also equally important for civil society organization to assist in bringing awareness on the importance of acquiring knowledge in these fields. Quality of life improvement is very much linked to access of quality education. The second area of concern is marginalizing the girl child and her rights to education. Educating females in my opinion is crucial as she instills the seeds of good practices in the early years of the child. Today, the importance of Early Childhood Education (ECD) has been given credence and it is directed linked to neuro-science. According to UNESCO ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) Unit, Early childhood is defined as the period from birth to 8 years old. A time of remarkable brain development, these years lay the foundation for subsequent learning. Research within the field and early childhood educators regard parents as part of ECD process. When the girl child who is the future mother is not educated and is also the childs first teacher then the whole concept of ECD is defeated. We need to see with fresh eyes the implications of leaving out 50% of the population, which happens to be females from accessing education. The process of education and the impact is felt over a period of time, unlike healthcare where a patient with minor symptoms comes out with a smile and gratitude for being healed by the health care giver. Education is the pillar on which nations are built, generation after generation quality of life improvement is achieved, one brick at a time. Food for thought think about your life, how did YOU achieve a place in the corporate, business or private sector? In this day and age is it still possible to get ahead with your career without academic base? =========================================