Me Too? No Thank You!

A term I first became aware of whilst studying advertising & marketing, decades before its more mainstream interpretation, symbolising sexual harassment in recent parlance. Most marketers invest a lot of time & effort in liberating their brands from the forgettable trap of ‘yet another generic’ and try to cast, or recast, their labels as noticeable, memorable, clutter-breaking icons. Examples that spring to mind include Colgate, Xerox & Maggi, which have dominated collective consciousness to the extent that it has made it almost impossible for other brands to find a place!

 

The analogies we can draw from this realm of ad & marketing, juxtaposed with us human individuals, and the benefits that can be derived are staggering. Which individual wouldn’t want to be as distinctly top-of-mind recall for a critical mass of people in the same way as Colgate!

 

In an age of cloning, sameness, and a desperate need to belong and be accepted, more and more individuals are conforming. Either to family, society, cohorts and peer groups, sometimes compromising certain ideals, at other times, refashioning their beliefs to fit in with the popular majority. 

 

How then is an individual to truly stand out, stand apart, make an impact, and not be entirely swallowed by and lost in the mire of me-tooness? By applying certain marketing fundamentals.

 

On some prior occasions when I have suggested this, and I even use a few of these tools to great effect (If I may say so myself) in my psychological counselling sessions, I have been accused of robbing some of the authenticity from a deep & inward self-reflective excavation to unearth one’s true purpose. I appreciate that concern. My submission however, is that given a scenario in which, for the most part, there is no journey taking place at all, inward, outward, explorative, introspective; at least through what I am suggesting, a young person can build an ‘outward’ differentiated brand-identity for the self – and who knows, through that process, even stumble upon some genuine insights!

 

Which brings me to the simple tool I’d like to share in and through this little write-up. It is essentially a mildly revised version of a fairly standardised and commonplace Marketing Exercise called a SWOT Analysis – adapted by me to better suit a human individual rather than an inanimate brand.

Driveway Devi Life-Guidance Counselling Client SWOT-ANALYSIS

Let us begin with a basic SWOT Analysis of the Self. SWOT, as you might know, elaborates on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats. To help you get started, I am sharing a SWOT analysis of myself in the table below:

Strengths	Communication Skills	Empathy	People’s Skills
Weaknesses	Erratic Mental Health/Moods	Erratic Physical Health	Tendency To Procrastinate
Opprtunities	Social-Emotional Learning Curricula at Schools	Therapeutic Communications Programs at Corporations	Mental Health Content
Threats	Deficit of Will/Time at Schools, Colleges, Corporations	Artificial Intelligence	Established Players

Conclusions:

1. Partnering with a well-regarded, allied organisation that will boost the national profile
2. Tapping into networks of alma mater, clubs and other individuals I’m friendly with
3. Greater focus on steady medication, diet & exercise for longevity & stability of physical & mental health
4. Advocacy of AI-related deficits in the realm of Mental Health & Social Emotional Learning
5. Proprietary Annual Property that becomes synonymous with Mental-Health + DD + Kartik 

You will notice that in the above sample of my own SWOT Analysis, I have written 3 Strengths, 3 Weaknesses, 3 Opportunities and 3 Threats. I have then carefully analysed these findings and written a 5 Point Conclusion, with specific Steps to best capitalise on the Strengths & Opportunities whilst mitigating the negative impact of the Weaknesses & Threats. 

Kartik Bajoria – Founder, Driveway Devi Life Guidance

Member Good Schools Alliance

Courage and Patience - Penta BHIS

It was a breezy afternoon when I asked my excited learners:

“Who was the first Prime Minister of India?”

Even though Cather knew the answer, she always seemed hesitant to respond. When I beckoned at her, she could only mumble. Cather wanted to answer. I could see that eagerness in her eyes. However, under the waiting gaze of all the other students in the class, she felt anxious and scared. Having got nothing but silence from her, I asked Cather to sit down. As though on a cue, the lunch bell rang. Everyone rushed out to play, except Cather.

She sat in the class alone and quietly ate her food. I called out to her; she did not move for a second. Then very slowly she walked up to me. Cather was apprehensive of being pulled up for not answering. She knew where she was lacking and thus felt anxious and unsure. I handed over a slim book (from my little collection in the Teacher’s drawer) and requested her to read it.

The name of the book was ‘Courage’. It narrated a story about a seagull who wanted to fly but feared to do so. Despite the best efforts of its family and loved ones, the seagull was terrified of using its wings. It thought that it would fall if it ever tried to fly. I was certain that Cather would relate to the seagull, as I saw her settle down with the book. In 

In the story, the seagull mustered courage, moved up towards the edge of the cliff, near its nest, and jumped off it. Initially, the little bird nosedived straight down, sure of a rather painful injury, if not death. However, just when it was about to touch the ground, something magical happened.

Something inside the seagull made it spread its wings and fly; and fly it did – really high! The seagull had patiently borne its weaknesses and had finally mustered the courage to overcome them. It perfectly embodied the values of patience and courage, which could magically transform lives.

Cather now knew exactly what she had to do. When the class returned after the break, she raised her hand to say something in front of the class. As I encouraged her with a nod, she took a deep breath and answered with conviction: “Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India”.

The entire class clapped with joy, seeing this new confidence in Cather while she grinned with the radiance of self-discovery. Just like the baby seagull, she had gathered courage at the opportune moment. Just like Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam had said “The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.”

Penta @ Billabong International High School, Thane
-Jeeji Sanjeev, Sanika Joshi, Arpita M.G., Muskaan Menda, Radhika Anand, Supriya Naravankar & Bhavani Swamy.

Friendship - Monika Vaishnav

We have some relation by birth which we don't have to create and have a strong bonding with them naturally.  But there is a relation we make which is based on love, care, understanding and trust are called friendship.

In my opinion, friendship is a pure relationship between two people which is beyond selfishness.

A friend is a person with whom we can share anything, which we can't share with anyone else. Friendship is not just about having fun or sharing happiness with each other, it's about standing by each other and supporting each other whenever it is needed and must correct each other whenever he or she is doing wrong and helps to show the right path.  It is the only relation which does not see the differences in religion, caste, financial status etc.

When we have friendship with someone, we should accept him with his weakness and strength too because nobody is perfect in this world. A friend is one who doesn't afraid to stand by you even if hundreds of people are against you. People must have enough faith in each other that no one can create misunderstanding between them. Friendship brings sweetness in life. It can make us laugh at a difficult time. When I see children, I feel they love to come to the school because of their friends, they play, eat, study and laugh together. They won't like to come to school if they don't have their friends there.

Monika Vaishnav

The Fabindia School

Understanding Icons: Courage

Courage is standing up to your fear and doing the things that may frighten you.

We all face difficulties in our lives whether we are an educator, a student or a parent, but what makes us different is strong-mindedness. Having the feel to move forward and face the challenges and diffuse them with passion and strength is rare to find. A lot of people find it difficult to share their fear and weaknesses in front of others. They cannot think about courage without thinking about loss and failure. There is no courage without risk. To have a value of courage one should be open to taking up risks in their lives which will help them become strong and fearless.

Here we would like to quote the example of Helen Keller who accepted her disabilities and gathered all the courage to overcome her difficulties. In spite of a lot of criticism, she did not look back and moved forward with courage by helping people who were facing the same difficulties. She finally invented the new language which is known as Braille Script which brought a revolutionary change in the world. This example of Helen Keller is one of the inspiring examples of moral and physical courage.

     “A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.”

Understanding Icons

Purnima Bansal, Isha Tiwari, Era  Saksena, Ratna Gupta & Shristi  Nayak

The Iconic School www.IconicSchool.in

Guruwani

 

The two pots

It was a cyclonic season. There was a flood everywhere.

Many houses drowned in the flood. There was a copper pot and an earthen pot in a house. Both these were washed away in the flood to a river.

The copper pot called the earthen pot and said, “Many friends, you are made of mud. You are so weak. Please come near me.I’ ll save you.”

The earthen pot replied.”Thanks you for your kindness. My friend. But let me swim to the bank by myself. The earthen pot began to swim towards the bank of the river.

As the copper pot tried to swim, water got filled into the pot and the copper pot drowned. But earthen pot reached the bank.

Moral:

        Weakness is not in appearance

Rajni Rajput

rrt.av@dbntrust.in