When I decided to go on a sabbatical three years back, I was little prepared for the changes that were in store for me both in the personal and professional fronts.
Personally, I have spent more quality time in the three years with my wife and child than I have done in the nineteen years of married life prior to 2006. Health wise, my doctors are more satisfied that they have ever been before.
Professionally, I was invited to consult for one of the largest FMCG companies in the world. The project duration stretched to eighteen months from the initial ninety days. And work kept coming courtesy all my good friends who pitched to make my transition from a corporate employee to an entrepreneur a successful one. I also got involved in business education. My rationale : 1) it was time to give back to society who had contribute so much in my life and 2) to learn how the young and future customers think and understand their behavior from a marketing perspective.
In the last three years I have probably learnt more than I have taught. My young friends have taught me that they have a much shorter attention span today since they have more to choose from and so much is on offer. So as I marketer, I need to constantly be relevant to them in order to get and hold their attention.
I have also been taught by them that they are not ‘wasting their time’ when they spend time at Facebook and Orkut. It is their ‘hangout space’ and that is how they communicate with their community. So I have my own Facebook account now. And in the last three months or so I have had more communications from my young friends than I have had in the last three years put together.
And once again, it is because of their suggestion that I have started writing this blog. I intend to learn more from them as I provide them this platform to share their experiences as they start making meaningful differences in the organizations that they work for.
