Contraminds - Decoding People, Minds, Strategy and Culture

Consent, Compliance, and Conversational AI: Marketing's New RealityIn this episode, Nitin Seth, CEO of SMS Magic & Conversive, reveals how strict privacy regulations like GDPR and TCPA are forcing marketers to completely rebuild their customer engagement infrastructure around sophisticated consent management and AI-powered channel orchestration.  Most provocatively, Nitin argues that traditional mass-market branding is dead—replaced by direct customer experience and real-time engagement that requires marketers to master database marketing, social media management, and AI-driven personalization to survive in this privacy-first future.About Nitin Seth: Nitin Seth is the CEO & Co-Founder of SMS Magic & Conversive.  5 Key Takeaways for Marketers: 1. Privacy Compliance Is Now Table Stakes, Not Optional2. Consent Management Requires Sophisticated Digital Infrastructure3. AI-Powered Channel Orchestration Is Replacing Single-Channel Thinking4. Conversational AI Will Transform Brand Engagement Architecture5. Traditional Branding Is Dead - Direct Customer Experience Is KingTimestamps00:04:22 - 00:05:42 From IIT Engineer to Marketing Tech CEO: Nitin's Journey00:05:42 - 00:08:37 Why Privacy-First Marketing Is Now Essential for Every Brand00:08:38 - 00:10:45 Privacy Laws Then vs Now: What Changed for Marketers?00:10:45 - 00:13:53 The Compliance Landscape: US vs European Marketing Rules00:13:53 - 00:17:41 How Brands Actually Handle HIPAA and Privacy Compliance00:17:41 - 00:20:49 What Every Marketer Must Know About Privacy Compliance00:20:49 - 00:25:47 What Is "Consent" and Why It Matters for Your Marketing00:25:47 - 00:30:22 Building Customer Preference Centers That Actually Work00:30:22 - 00:34:36 How AI Can Make Privacy Compliance Easier (Not Harder)00:34:36 - 00:39:49 Channel Orchestration: The Future of Customer Engagement00:39:49 - 00:43:11 From Search to Conversations: How Customer Behavior Is Changing00:43:11 - 00:47:32 Will ChatGPT Kill Google Ads? The Future of Lead Generation00:47:32 - 00:48:58 How Conversational AI Will Transform Customer Experience00:48:58 - 00:55:40 Building Brand-Specific AI Without Losing Customer Data00:55:41 - 00:59:10 The New Marketing Architecture: Privacy + AI + Personalization00:59:10 - 00:59:56 Essential Skills Every Marketer Needs for the Privacy Era00:59:56 - 01:00:47 Tech Skills That Will Future-Proof Your Marketing Career01:00:47 - 01:02:27 What Should 18-Year-Olds Learn for Marketing's Future?01:02:27 - 01:04:19 The Death of Traditional Branding: One Professor's Prediction#PrivacyFirstMarketing, #ConversationalAI, #MarketingCompliance, #CustomerEngagement, #AIMarketing, #DataPrivacy, #MarketingTech, #FutureOfMarketing, #ConsentManagement, #marketingautomationThis episode was made possible by the great folks at MovingWalls. Moving Walls provides a global Adtech platform built by Out-of-home advertising experts, automating the process of planning, buying, executing and measuring OOH campaigns, with a presence across four continents and seven markets.  Moving Walls is also a Tie50 winner, a listing of 50 most enterprising startups globally. Visit https://www.movingwalls.com to learn more. Selected Links and Show Notes: https://www.contraminds.comSubscribe to our Weekly Newsletter: https://blog.contraminds.comFollow UsTwitter: https://twitter.com/contramindsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contramindsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds

Job vs Career: The Mindset Shift That Changes EverythingIn this episode, Swami and Aswin explore the fundamental difference between approaching professional life through a "job lens" versus a "career lens." While a job focuses on immediate tasks and short-term objectives for monetary compensation, a career requires having a larger vision, imagination, and aspiration for where you want to be in 15-30 years. The discussion reveals how extraordinary professionals distinguish themselves through three key elements: they develop a portfolio of skills beyond their current role requirements, maintain a lifelong learning mindset with heroes and mentors to emulate, and have the courage to "disrupt themselves" every few years rather than becoming complacent. Using examples from Ilaiyaraja's musical journey and Nitin Paranjpe's rise at Unilever, the episode demonstrates how career-minded individuals prepare for future opportunities by building capabilities they don't yet need, while job-focused individuals risk losing relevance over time. The conversation concludes with practical resources for making this mindset shift, including the My TRUE Compass diagnostic tool that helps professionals align their purpose, mindset, and practice for extraordinary success.5-point SummaryJob vs Career Mindset: A job is what you do today for money with short-term focus, while a career is a life journey requiring 15-30 year vision and imagination of where you want to be professionally.Portfolio of Skills: Extraordinary professionals build capabilities beyond their current job requirements by studying what skills they'll need for their dream role (like a CFO learning about board management, fundraising, and industry trends even as an entry-level finance executive).Lifelong Learning with Heroes: Career-minded individuals identify heroes in their field, study their biographies, and continuously learn from the best practitioners, while job-focused people stop learning and eventually lose relevance in their 30s and 40s.Courage to Disrupt Yourself: Every 5 years, extraordinary professionals deliberately make themselves "comfortable with being uncomfortable" by taking on new challenges, saying no to attractive but misaligned opportunities, and pivoting to stay ahead of industry trends.Purpose-Driven Career Diagnostic: Use tools like My TRUE Compass to regularly assess if your purpose, mindset, and practice are aligned, treating your career development like a systematic process rather than hoping for the best outcome.Timestamps00:00:27 - 00:07:41 The Core Difference00:07:41 - 00:16:36 Self-Limiting Beliefs00:16:36 - 00:23:16 Building Vision00:23:16 - 00:31:09 Making the Transition00:31:09 - 00:39:40 Focused Learning00:39:41 - 00:40:58 Personal Disruption#JobVsCareer, #CareerMindset, #ProfessionalGrowth, #LifelongLearning, #CareerDevelopment, #BeExtraordinary, #DisruptYourself, #CareerVision, #ProfessionalSuccess, #CareerPlanning, #SkillBuilding, #CareerGoals, #ProfessionalMindset, #CareerTransformation, #MyTRUECompass⁠Selected Links and Show Notes⁠: https://www.contraminds.com⁠Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter⁠: https://blog.contraminds.comFollow UsTwitter: https://twitter.com/contramindsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contramindsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds

Former Hollywood executive and tech entrepreneur Steven Puri shares how his journey from coding to filmmaking inspired Sukha, a platform recreating the "coffee shop effect" for remote workers. Drawing from film industry cycles and startup failures, Puri reveals why tenacity outweighs talent, how distractions require 22 minutes to recover from, and why human connection drives both successful blockbusters and productivity tools. His practical insights offer a refreshing approach to finding focus and fulfillment in our distracted digital world.RetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.5 Key Insights:1. Productivity increases when working alongside others without direct interaction, inspiring Sukha's design to recreate this coffee shop energy virtually.2. The film industry naturally cycles between remote, hybrid, and in-person collaboration, offering valuable lessons for post-pandemic work structures.3. Success comes from unwavering persistence and daily discipline, not superior talent or skill.4. Blockbuster films succeed by understanding the human story beneath the spectacle, just as digital tools must address fundamental human needs.5. Context-switching destroys flow state, requiring 15-22 minutes to regain focus after each interruption.About Steven PuriSteven Puri — a rare blend of Hollywood storyteller, tech entrepreneur, and remote work pioneer. From producing blockbusters like Independence Day and Star Trek to building platforms that help people focus and connect in the digital age, Steven's journey spans visual effects, studio leadership, and startups like Centered and The Sukha Company. He's spent his life at the intersection of creativity and productivity, and today, we explore what drives him to keep reimagining how we work and live.Timestamps00:02:00 - 00:03:38 How a Software Engineer Became a Studio Executive00:03:38 - 00:09:59 What I Learned from the Leaders in Tech Program00:09:59 - 00:15:27 Learnings from the Film Industry00:15:27 - 00:19:38 Film Industry Lessons for Office Ecosystems00:19:38 - 00:22:50 The Story Behind Sukha Platform00:22:50 - 00:25:17 Building Mastery and Excellence00:25:17 - 00:27:53 Is Discipline Actually Real in Creative Fields00:27:53 - 00:30:07 How Sukha Helps Build Tenacity00:30:07 - 00:31:02 What Lenny Loves About Sukha00:31:02 - 00:33:25 What Distraction Does to Your Performance00:33:25 - 00:43:11 Is Slack Helping or Hurting Productivity00:43:11 - 00:45:28 Taking Sukha to Large Organizations00:45:28 - 00:47:55 Happiness, Fulfillment and Sukha00:47:55 - 00:49:10 What Success Means to Steven Puri00:49:10 - 00:50:40 The Best Advice I've Ever Received00:50:40 - 00:51:23 What Work-Life Balance Means to Me00:51:23 - 00:53:29 Intensity and Work-Life Balance00:53:29 - 00:54:48 How to Stop Being Distracted00:54:48 - 00:56:00 What AI Does to Distraction00:56:00 - 00:59:09 My Advice to College Students00:59:09 - 01:01:44 What Failure Taught Me⁠Selected Links and Show Notes⁠: https://www.contraminds.com⁠Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter⁠: https://blog.contraminds.comThis episode was made possible by the great folks at https://goaffortless.ai.⁠Effortless⁠ has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes.Follow UsTwitter: https://twitter.com/contramindsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contramindsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds#FocusHacks, #RemoteWorkSuccess, #ProductivityTips, #DistractionFree, #DeepWork, #StartupLessons, #TechFounder, #WorkFromAnywhere, #DigitalNomad, #FlowState, #CreativeProcess, #SiliconValleyInsights, #WorkLifeHarmony, #TenacityWins, #CoffeeShopEffect

Take the Next Step in Your Professional JourneyDiscover if your purpose, mindset, and practice are aligned.Visit https://contraminds.com/tools/mytrue-compass/ now to take the My TRUE Compass exploration. This exploration will provide you with valuable insights into your professional priorities, strengths, and areas for development. The personalized report will help you chart your path from average to extraordinary by identifying gaps between your purpose and current practices. Don't leave your career success to chance—take the My TRUE Compass test today and begin your journey toward extraordinary achievement!Take The Leap from being Average to ExtraordinaryBecoming Extraordinary: Aligning Purpose, Mindset, and PracticeThe Be Extraordinary pilot episode explores what separates average professionals from extraordinary ones. Swami and Aswin Rao discuss how extraordinary professionals align three key elements: purpose (finding meaning in what you do), mindset (preparing mentally for challenges ahead), and practice (consistent daily efforts). The discussion uses examples like Rahul Dravid, Sridhar Vembu, and Nandan Nilekani to illustrate how this alignment works across different career stages and industries.Swami lays emphasis on the idea that becoming extraordinary is a journey of self-discovery where professionals must identify what energizes them, develop self-awareness about their strengths and weaknesses, and consistently practice habits that align with their purpose. The newly launched ContraMinds My TRUE Compass tool is a way for professionals to assess their current alignment and identify areas for growth.Timestamps:00:11 - 03:34 What Separates the Average from the Extraordinary03:35 - 20:40 What is Purpose?20:40 - 30:20 How Does one Align Purpose, Mindset and Practice?5 Key Takeaways:1. Extraordinary professionals align their purpose (meaningful goals), mindset (mental preparation), and practice (daily habits) to achieve sustained excellence.2. Purpose is about finding meaning in your work and having clear goals for what you want to achieve in your career.3. Being extraordinary requires self-awareness about your strengths and weaknesses, and a willingness to work on improvement consistently.4. Career priorities may shift over time like an "audio equalizer," requiring regular reassessment of your purpose and practices.5. Learning from role models in your field can help you understand what skills and mindsets are needed to achieve similar success.Subscribe to ContraMindsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4xceASphmwAjJONTlsvo2Y?si=ba40bdbe2c644d78&utm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=ContraMindsyoutube&utm_campaign=ContramindsspotifyApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-contramindspodcast/id1485202972utm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=ContraMindsyoutube&utm_campaign=ContramindsapplepodcastNewsletter:https://blog.contraminds.com?tm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=ContraMindsyoutube&utm_campaign=ContramindsnewsletterFollow UsTwitter: https://twitter.com/contramindsutm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=ContraMindsyoutube&utm_campaign=ContramindstwitterInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/utm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=ContraMindsyoutube&utm_campaign=ContramindsinstagramLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/utm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=ContraMindsChannel&utm_campaign=ContramindslinkedinFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds/utm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=ContraMindsyoutube&utm_campaign=Contramindsfacebook#personalgrowth, #professionalexcellence, #professionalgoals, #selfdiscovery, #leadershipskills, #careersuccess, #professionalgrowth, #authenticleadership, #personalexcellence, #professionalfulfilment #contramindsmytrucompass #mytruecompass #careertools

Marketing Must Make People Believe, Not Just BuyThe Journey from Content to ConversionAkhil Almeida shares his remarkable journey from Virgin Records to becoming Head of Marketing at Bandhan Life Insurance. With over two decades of experience across music, market research, and financial services, Akhil reveals his core marketing philosophy: "Marketing isn't about selling. It's about making people believe." Tracing his pioneering work in predictive content intelligence at Kantar and E-commerce research panels tracking 60,000 online shoppers, Akhil demonstrates how understanding consumer behavior at a deep level is the foundation for building brands people genuinely care about.Beyond Data: Creating Meaningful Marketing StrategiesAkhil identifies three critical skills modern marketers must master: 1. Pattern recognition to spot cultural shifts before they go mainstream2. Agility to pivot quickly when playbooks become outdated 3. Commercial acumen to articulate ROI to leadershipUsing his experience transforming Bandhan Life Insurance, he illustrates how focusing on underserved segments like self-employed individuals (60% of India's workforce) created strategic advantage in a crowded market. Perhaps most valuably, Akhil emphasizes the crucial distinction between data and insight: "Data tells you what people do, insight tells you why they're doing it. Data without interpretation is just noise." Through practical examples of landing page optimization and brand-agency partnerships, he demonstrates how cultivating insight as a daily ritual ultimately drives marketing that shapes behavior, builds habits, and creates long-term brand value.⁠For Show Notes, Selected Links and ResourcesSubscribe to our weekly newsletterAbout Akhil AlmeidaAkhil Almeida, now the Head of Marketing of Bandhan Life, is a dynamic leader with over two decades of experience in marketing, specializing in brand building, digital strategies, and consumer insights. Timestamps00:01:45:13 - 00:05:57:08 From Virgin Records to Marketing Pro: Akhil's Journey00:05:57:09 - 00:13:32:13 Predictive Content: The Next Big Thing in Marketing?00:13:32:14 - 00:16:45:04 Data to Strategy: How Insights Shape a CMO's Success00:16:45:05 - 00:28:43:09 Decoding E-commerce: Secrets from an Early Pioneer00:28:43:10 - 00:38:39:16 Must-Have Skills for Today's Marketers00:38:39:17 - 00:44:57:18 Rebranding 101: Transforming a Brand with Trust00:44:57:19 - 00:48:26:17 Financial Services Marketing: What Sets It Apart?00:48:26:18 - 00:55:49:21 Rethinking Insurance: Innovation for the Self-Employed00:55:49:22 - 01:07:15:12 Are Agencies Ready for Marketing's Evolution?01:07:15:13 - 01:08:30:10 Top Campaigns Revealed: A Marketer's Favorites01:08:30:11 - 01:10:51:16 Advice for New Marketers: Stand Out Early01:10:51:17 - 01:12:58:17 Must-Read Books for Marketers: Expert Picks01:12:58:18 - 01:14:09:15 Stay Curious: The Advice That Drives Success01:14:09:16 - 01:21:00:03 Data Vs InsightThis episode was made possible by the great folks at ⁠MovingWalls⁠. Moving Walls provides a global Adtech platform built by Out-of-home advertising experts, automating the process of planning, buying, executing and measuring OOH campaigns, with a presence across four continents and seven markets. #MarketingStrategy, #BrandEvolution, #ConsumerInsights, #ContentMarketing, #DigitalTransformation, #MarketingLeadership, #CustomerBehavior, #MarketingInnovation, #DataDrivenMarketing, #FinancialMarketing, #MarketingMindset, #ContentIntelligence, #BrandTransformation, #ConsumerBehavior, #DigitalFirst, #MarketingInsights, #CMOAdvice, #DataToInsight, #BrandBuilding

Professor Rohit Srivastava shares his vision of transforming India through a 10X innovation mindset, prioritizing patents over papers, and building product-focused ecosystems that turn academic research into market solutions.5-point Episode SummaryThe 10X Impact Framework: Prof. Srivastava's approach to creating 10 times more value through patents, startups, and reaching more patients than conventional academic labs.Patents Over Papers: How filing 250+ patents and co-founding 15 startups is transforming academic research into market solutions for India.Building Innovation Ecosystems: Creating bio-clusters across India to connect universities and accelerate product development through interdisciplinary collaboration.Product-First Thinking: Training students to identify market needs and develop solutions that can reduce India's ₹90,000 crore medical device import bill.From Innovation to Impact: The vision to create thousands of "innovation builders" who will transform India from a service economy to a product powerhouse by 2047.Timestamps00:03:37 - 00:05:56 Mentors Who Shaped My Vision for India 00:05:56 - 00:08:55 India's Forward-Thinking Academic Leaders 00:08:55 - 00:11:47 Making Maximum Impact with Minimum Resources00:11:47 - 00:15:00 Patents vs Papers: The Future of Innovation 00:15:00 - 00:18:03 Why Product-First Thinking Changes Everything 00:18:03 - 00:21:39 The Product-First Mindset Behind Innovation 00:21:39 - 00:25:25 The 10X Impact Framework for Success 00:25:25 - 00:28:47 Building NanoBIOS - an Innovation Ecosystem in Academia 00:28:47 - 00:35:02 Transforming Students into Innovators 00:35:02 - 00:38:52 Why Interdisciplinary Thinking Creates Better Products 00:38:52 - 00:42:04 Cross-Pollinating Innovation with Bioclusters Across Universities00:42:04 - 00:45:02 How Patents Create a Virtuous Cycle of Innovation 00:45:02 - 00:49:08 Advice for Young Academics: Be Innovation Builders 00:49:08 - 00:49:43 Can India Create Its Own Philips or Siemens? 00:49:43 - 00:50:08 What is Success? 00:50:08 - 00:50:29 Advice for 18-Year-Olds in University Today 00:50:29 - 00:51:01 The Best Advice I've Ever Received 00:51:01 - 00:51:54 My Dream Dinner with Innovation Giants 00:51:54 - 00:52:27 The 10X Thinking That People Find Hard to AcceptSelected Links and Show NotesSubscribe to our Weekly NewsletterAbout Prof. Rohit SrivastavaProfessor Rohit Srivastava is a pioneering academic entrepreneur who holds the Himanshu Patel Chair at IIT Bombay's Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering. Known for his revolutionary "10X impact" philosophy and "patents over papers" approach, he has filed over 250 patents and co-founded more than 15 startups in just 19 years. His Nanobios Lab has commercialized numerous affordable medical technologies including UChek (a mobile urine analysis system) and Suchek (an indigenous low-cost glucometer), helping reduce India's dependence on imported medical devices.Honored with the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2021) and the inaugural Vigyan Shri Award (2024), Prof. Srivastava is transforming how academic research translates to market solutions. This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless.Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes.#10xImpact, #InnovationIndia, #PatentsOverPapers, #ProductFirstThinking, #StartupEcosystem, #MedicalInnovation, #MakeInIndia, #FrugalInnovation, #IITBombay, #HealthTech, #BioTech, #AcademicEntrepreneurship, #IndianInnovation, #ViksitBharat, #TechForHealth

Marketing science pioneer and UC DavisProfessor Prasad Naik reveals the power of cross-media orchestration, why mathematical models are transforming modern marketing, and why investing in your weakest media channels could be your smartest strategy.Cross Media Orchestration for Creative Excellence

Transforming the Indian Classroom In a groundbreaking conversation, neuroscientist and educator Sai Gaddam discusses how traditional education systems are becoming increasingly disconnected from real-world demands. Through his micro-school initiative, Comini Learning, Gaddam demonstrates how personalized learning environments, supported by AI technology, can nurture individual growth paths. His approach challenges the conventional assessment-driven model, advocating instead for a system that values problem-solving abilities, adaptability, and creative thinking. About Sai Gaddam Sai Gaddam, Co-Founder of Comini Learning, brings a unique blend of neuroscience, technology, and education to his work in transforming early learning. After graduating from IIT Madras, inspired by V.S. Ramachandran's "Phantoms in the Brain," he pursued computational neuroscience at Boston University. His entrepreneurial journey includes founding Kernel Insights and developing MakkhiChoose, which grew to serve hundreds of thousands of users. Currently, through Comini Learning, he implements Finnish educational principles adapted for Indian children, focusing on experiential learning and whole-child development. He's also developing Giffie, an AI-powered educational tool that combines his expertise in neuroscience and learning technologies. Gaddam on LinkedIN Swami on LinkedIN Selected Links & Show Notes Chapters: Q1 From IIT to Neuroscience What Led to Your Journey Q2 How Did Phantoms in the Brain Transform Your Perspective Q3 Engineer to Teacher What Has Teaching Taught You Q4 Why Question the Old Education Template When It Worked for You Q5 What Can Current Education Do vs What Can't It Do Q6 How Do Kids Really Learn What's Your Mental Model Q7 How Does Comini Learning Approach Education Q8 What Does a Comini Classroom Look Like Q9 How Do You Teach Kids to Handle Failure & Ambiguity Q10 What is Holistic Assessment in Education Q11 How Do You Find & Train Teachers for Alternative Education Q12 How Are You Building a Platform to Scale This Q13 Is AI the Future of Personalized Learning Q14 Can Board Games Transform Education Q15 How Will These Kids Adapt to College & Beyond Q16 What's Your Vision for Scaling Micro Schools Q17 What Does Success Mean to You Q18 What's Your Advice for 18-Year-Olds Today Q19 What's the Best Advice You've Received Q20 Which Books Have Inspired Your Journey Q21 Who Would You Invite to Your Dream Dinner Q22 What's Your Contrarian Belief About Education This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. ⁠⁠Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Best of 2024 - Full episode links CM-Ep048 - Anton Howes - A historian studying how innovation spreads through society, particularly focusing on Britain's transformation during the Industrial Revolution. He examines how improvements and inventions actually developed through incremental changes rather than dramatic breakthroughs. CM-Ep049 - Khyati Bhatt - A body language expert trained by ex-FBI agent Joe Navarro, who helps professionals understand and leverage non-verbal communication. She emphasizes how body language reflects emotional comfort levels and impacts professional interactions. CM-Ep050 - Vasant Dhar - An AI researcher and professor at NYU who pioneered machine learning applications in finance and examines how AI impacts society. He discusses technology's transformation of humanity and the future of work in the age of AI. CM-Ep051 - Dr. Vignesh Devraj - A fourth-generation Ayurvedic healer who advocates for a holistic approach to health and wellbeing. He explains how Ayurveda views health as a balance between body, mind and lifestyle rather than just treating symptoms. Link: CM-Ep052 - Scott H Young - An author and learning expert who studies skill acquisition and mastery, advocating for deliberate practice and varied learning experiences. He emphasizes the importance of challenging projects and deep engagement over surface-level performance goals. CM-Ep053 - Brandon Hendrickson - A passionate advocate of Kieran Egan's educational philosophy who runs Science is Weird, making complex scientific concepts accessible and engaging. He challenges traditional educational approaches by focusing on making learning matter emotionally to students. CM-Ep054 - David Nutt - A neuropsychopharmacologist studying drugs' effects on the brain, particularly focused on developing alternatives to alcohol and using psychedelics for mental health treatment. He advocates for evidence-based drug policies and challenges conventional approaches to treating depression and addiction. CM-Ep055 - Rajendran Dandapani - A technology leader at Zoho who revolutionized tech education through Zoho Schools of Learning, focusing on practical skills over academic credentials. He emphasizes the importance of learning through doing and building real-world capabilities. CM-Ep056 - Dr. Nigel Paine - An organizational learning expert who transformed learning at the BBC and advocates for collective rather than individual learning approaches. He emphasizes the importance of "knowing" over "knowledge" and creating systems that enable organizational wisdom to develop. CM-Ep057 - Elena Aniere - Elena Aniere, a 20-year veteran at Slow Food, shares profound insights into how the movement is revolutionizing food systems worldwide. Aniere explains how the movement connects local farmers with consumers, chefs, and communities, building sustainable alternatives to industrial food systems while preserving cultural food heritage and biodiversity. SCMO-Ep09 - Moses Gorrepati - Moses Gorrepati has over 15 years of experience championing inclusion and empowerment for people with disabilities. As a leader at Enable India, he heads programs transforming lives through digital literacy, livelihoods, and social platforms. A catalyst for change, his mission is to build an ecosystem that unlocks the potential of people with disabilities as active citizens and nation builders. SCMO-Ep13 - R Sridhar - In this candid conversation, advertising veteran R. Sridhar shares fascinating anecdotes from his journey working with industry giants like David Ogilvy and Mani Ayer, offering rare insights into Indian advertising's golden era and the creation of transformative campaigns. This episode was made possible by the great folks at www.goeffrortless.ai.

In this candid conversation, advertising legend R. Sridhar takes us through his remarkable journey through fascinating anecdotes involving industry giants like David Ogilvy, Mani Iyer, and Drayton Bird. Sridhar reveals how authentic leadership and deep consumer understanding shaped his approach to building brands and teams. The episode offers rare insights into the golden era of Indian advertising, including behind-the-scenes stories of transformative campaigns like the Infosys recruitment drive that changed the company's relationship with TCS. Sridhar's perspectives on orchestrating brand communications, building trust with clients, and maintaining relevance well into his 70s make this conversation invaluable for both marketing professionals and anyone interested in meaningful career development. About the Guest R. Sridhar enjoyed a remarkable 25-year tenure at the prestigious Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency in India, serving as a Director on the company's board. Over the course of his storied career, Sridhar had the privilege of being mentored by some of the industry's luminaries, including the legendary David Ogilvy, Drayton Bird, and S.R. Ayer. Ogilvy encouraged his people to hone their writing skills, which inspired Sridhar to immerse himself in the craft, reading extensively on techniques like simplification and readability improvement. Whether navigating the worlds of advertising, direct marketing, or entrepreneurship, Sridhar has remained steadfast in his commitment to continuous learning and creative problem-solving, making him a respected and versatile leader within his fields. Five key takeaways from this episode: Success in advertising comes from understanding human psychology and motivation, not just creative excellence. Sridhar's journey shows how deep consumer insights matter more than superficial industry expectations. The best mentors don't just teach skills but help overcome self-limiting beliefs. David Ogilvy and Mani Iyer helped Sridhar see his perceived weaknesses as strengths. Brand building requires holistic orchestration across all touchpoints. It's not just about communication but about aligning every aspect to build trust and influence behavior. Leadership is about empowering teams through persuasion rather than authority. Sridhar's experiences show how giving people freedom within frameworks produces better results. Career growth should focus on fulfillment rather than conventional success metrics. As Sridhar demonstrates, following your interests while staying open to learning leads to meaningful achievement. Connect with Sridhar Connect with Swami Timestamps My Greatest Mentors: Life Lessons from My Father From Physics to Advertising: An Unexpected Career Path Marketing Mastery with Mani Iyer at Ogilvy Learning Finance Through Advertising at Frank Simoes My First Meeting with David Ogilvy That Changed Everything Career Advice from David Ogilvy to a Young Executive Building Direct Marketing in Indian Advertising Decoding Brands with Drayton Bird at Ogilvy London A Lunch in Paris with David Ogilvy David Ogilvy on Building a Marketing Career The Ad Campaign That Transformed Infosys The Secret Science Behind Great Brand Building Why Marketing Needs Orchestration: The Ogilvy Way Building Trust with Clients in Advertising Direct Marketing Principles for the Digital Age Integration Essentials Every CMO Must Know Traditional to Digital: Timeless Marketing Laws Building Meaningful LinkedIn Connections at 75 Corporate Leader to Independent Consultant Journey Staying Relevant in Marketing After 70 Being Different as Your Biggest Strength Essential Advice for Young Marketers What Success Really Means in Advertising A Message to 18-Year-Olds About Dreams The Best Career Advice I Ever Received Why Being Useful Never Gets Old

Transforming Global Food Systems Through Local Action Elena Aniere, a 20-year veteran at Slow Food, shares profound insights into how the movement is revolutionizing food systems worldwide. From their successful transformation of 1,000 gardens into 10,000 across Africa, to preserving 6,000+ endangered food products through their Ark of Taste initiative, Slow Food is championing "good, clean, and fair" food practices globally. Aniere explains how the movement connects local farmers with consumers, chefs, and communities, building sustainable alternatives to industrial food systems while preserving cultural food heritage and biodiversity. About Elena Aniere As Network Coordinator for Slow Food International, Elena Aniere leads the transformation of food systems across a vast territory spanning from Southeast Asia to India, and from Pacific Islands to Azerbaijan. An Australian native with deep roots in agriculture and environmental tourism, her journey from managing large-scale farms to championing small-scale sustainable practices since 2004 offers unique insights into both sides of our global food system. Through her pioneering work linking food biodiversity with sustainable tourism, Elena has helped transform thousands of rural communities, making her a leading voice in the movement for good, clean, and fair food systems. Connect with Elena: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-aniere-91192b29/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Timestamps: 01:28 - 07:30 Why should people care about food ecosystems? 07:30 - 10:58 Is small-scale farming realistic in today's world of scale? 10:58 - 15:47 What drew you to the Slow Food movement? 15:47 - 23:16 How do you put biological and cultural diversity into action? 23:16 - 25:24 What impact does industrialized food have on health? 25:24 - 29:53 How do Slow Food Gardens work? 29:53 - 31:53 What is the Slow Food Cooks Alliance? 31:53 - 36:21 How do you raise awareness about Slow Food? 36:21 - 43:20 How do Slow Food communities work globally? 43:20 - 47:57 How do you build trust between farmers and local consumers? 47:57 - 53:03 How do you make local produce affordable? 53:03 - 56:38 Have you seen small farmer systems impact larger food ecosystems? 56:38 - 1:01:35 Which countries have embraced Slow Food at a national level? 1:01:35 - 1:04:38 How do you fund the movement? 1:04:38 - 1:06:28 How do you stay motivated when change is slow? 1:06:28 - 1:07:53 What does success mean to you? 1:07:53 - 1:09:15 What advice would you give to a university student? 1:09:15 - 1:09:57 What's the best advice you've ever received? 1:09:57 - 1:10:52 What do you believe that others don't agree with? 1:10:52 - 1:11:57 Closing

Revolutionizing Organizational Learning Dr. Nigel Paine, a leading expert in organizational learning, advocates for a shift from individual-focused to collective learning approaches. He emphasizes the importance of systems thinking and understanding the interconnectedness within organizations to drive meaningful change. Dr. Paine argues that by focusing on "knowing" rather than just "knowledge," organizations can create more dynamic, responsive learning environments that better address complex challenges. Transforming Adult Learning in the Workplace Dr. Paine shares innovative strategies for adult learning, highlighting the need for experiential, context-rich learning experiences. He provides compelling examples from his work at the BBC, demonstrating how immersive, scenario-based training can lead to significant improvements in performance and understanding. Dr. Paine also stresses the importance of values-driven organizations and the role of organizational culture in fostering effective learning and development. ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Nigel Paine is a prominent thought leader in learning, development, and technology. With over 25 years of experience, he's a sought-after speaker, author, and consultant in organizational learning and leadership development. Formerly the Chief Learning Officer at the BBC, Dr. Paine now advises companies worldwide on building learning cultures and embracing technological change.  He's written several books, including "Workplace Learning: How to Build a Culture of Continuous Employee Development" and "Building Leadership Development Programmes: Zero-Cost to High-Investment Programmes that Work." Dr. Paine is also a professor, broadcaster, and podcast host, dedicated to transforming organizational learning for the digital age. His expertise lies in helping companies navigate complex change through effective learning strategies. 5 takeaways from this episode: Organizational learning is crucial for navigating complexity: Dr. Paine emphasizes the need to shift from individual-focused learning to collective, organization-wide learning to address modern challenges. Knowing" trumps "knowledge": Focus on the process of learning and understanding (knowing) rather than static information (knowledge) for more effective organizational development. Systems thinking is essential for leaders: Understanding the interconnectedness of various parts of an organization is key to effective leadership and problem-solving. Adult learning requires context and experience: Dr. Paine shares examples of immersive, scenario-based training that led to significant improvements in performance and understanding Values-driven organizations foster better learning: Creating a culture based on shared values, rather than just individual competencies, leads to more cohesive and effective organizational learning. Connect with: Dr Nigel Paine on LinkedIN ⁠Swami on LinkedIN⁠ ⁠Click here for Show Notes⁠ This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. ⁠Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Amita Mehra on Mastering Data-Driven Marketing with Google Google's AI Revolution in Digital Marketing: Insights from Amita Mehra In this exclusive episode of The Super CMO Show, we dive deep into the cutting-edge world of AI-powered digital marketing with Amita Mehra, Head of Agency Business at Google. With over two decades of experience in the industry, Amita shares invaluable insights on how artificial intelligence is reshaping the marketing landscape and empowering brands to achieve unprecedented success. Transforming Campaigns with Data-Driven Strategies and First-Party Data Discover how Google's advanced AI tools are revolutionizing campaign optimization and learn the importance of building a robust first-party data infrastructure. Amita Mehra reveals key strategies for marketers to thrive in the AI era, including the shift towards integrated planning across channels and the evolution of media agencies from idea generators to solution facilitators. This episode is a must-listen for marketers looking to future-proof their careers and harness the full potential of AI-driven marketing. Click here for show notes. Watch full video episodes on YouTube Connect with Amita on LinkedIN Connect with Swami on LinkedIN About The Guest Amita Mehra, Head of Agency Business at Google, is a seasoned expert in the digital advertising landscape with over 20 years of industry experience. For the past 15 years, she has been at the forefront of Google's digital advertising initiatives across the APAC region, leveraging her expertise in campaign management, business analysis, and project operations to drive innovation and success. As a Business Process Improvement professional with a keen analytical mind, Amita excels in creating end-to-end sales processes and fostering global collaboration. Her leadership at Google continues to shape the future of digital marketing, guiding agencies and clients through the complexities of AI-driven strategies, data analytics, and integrated planning to achieve unprecedented marketing success in the digital age. Timestamps 00:03:31 - 00:06:22  How does Google support media agencies? 00:06:22 - 00:11:30  Why is marketing experimentation crucial? 00:11:30 - 00:17:31  How to develop a data-driven mindset? 00:17:31 - 00:20:52  What changes does AI bring to marketing? 00:20:52 - 00:24:26  How to build first-party data infrastructure? 00:24:26 - 00:29:28  Main challenges in first-party data adoption? 00:29:28 - 00:35:23  How to optimize campaigns with Google's AI tools? 00:35:23 - 00:38:30  How are media agency roles evolving? 00:38:30 - 00:44:43  What new skills do marketers need in the AI era? 00:44:43 - 00:49:22  Benefits of integrated marketing planning? 00:49:22 - 00:51:55  Example of successful AI-powered marketing? 00:51:55 - 00:52:49  Top three future skills for digital marketers? 00:52:49 - 00:53:28  Advice for university marketing students? 00:53:28 - 00:54:26  Most valuable career advice you've received? 00:54:26 - 00:56:18  Where to learn about AI-driven marketing? 00:56:18 - 00:57:10  Google's resources for marketing creativity? This episode was made possible by the great folks at MovingWalls. Moving Walls provides a global Adtech platform built by Out-of-home advertising experts, automating the process of planning, buying, executing and measuring OOH campaigns, with a presence across four continents and seven markets. Moving Walls processes more than 10 billion data points and measures more than 100,000 media sites across the globe. In 2017, APAC CIO Outlook listed us as one of the “10 Most Promising Digital Technology Solutions Providers”. Moving Walls is also a Tie50 winner, a listing of 50 most enterprising startups globally. Visit www.movingwalls.com to learn more.

Zoho's Revolutionary Approach: Skills-Based Learning for Tech Industry Success Rajendran Dandapani, a tech leader at Zoho Corp, shares insights on reimagining education and career development. He emphasizes the importance of practical, hands-on learning over traditional academic metrics, as exemplified by Zoho Schools of Learning. This innovative program focuses on cultivating real-world skills, fostering a product mindset, and preparing students for the dynamic tech industry. Dandapani advocates for a shift from time-driven to event-driven learning, encouraging students to pursue their interests actively rather than passively receiving information. Leadership and Lifelong Learning in Tech: Insights from Zoho's Rajendran Dandapani The conversation also delves into the essence of lifelong learning and leadership in the tech industry. Dandapani stresses the significance of finding one's true calling, rather than merely chasing jobs. He discusses the importance of resilience, transparency, and the ability to adapt in leadership roles. Notably, he challenges the notion of unbiased leadership, suggesting that effective leaders must make deliberate choices in allocating their attention and resources. Throughout the interview, Dandapani's unconventional approach to education and career development shines through, offering fresh perspectives on preparing the next generation of tech innovators. About The Guest: Rajendran Dandapani is a technology leader and educational innovator serving as Business Solutions Evangelist at Zoho Corp and President of Zoho Schools of Learning. An IIT-Madras dropout, Rajendran was part of Zoho's founding team and later spent seven years as Chief Algorithms Officer at Xerago. Since rejoining Zoho in 2004, he has spearheaded mobile development for their 45 million+ customers, led Zoho Schools of Learning, and become a respected TEDx speaker and technology evangelist. A self-described "contra-academician," Rajendran is passionate about reimagining education. He homeschooled his son, who later graduated from Zoho Schools and now works alongside him at Zoho Corp. With over two decades of experience, Rajendran's unique blend of technical expertise, educational innovation, and unconventional thinking makes him a compelling voice in both the tech industry and educational reform. 00:02:26 - 00:07:13 Rajendran's Journey and Life Lessons 00:07:13 - 00:15:24 How Can Young People Change Their Minds About Success? 00:15:24 - 00:23:11 What Makes Zoho Schools Unique? 00:23:11 - 00:28:42 How Do You Integrate Different Tracks At Zoho Schools? 00:28:42 - 00:30:24 How Many Students Have "Ungraduated" From Zoho Schools? 00:30:24 - 00:35:43 What's Needed For India To Become A Product Nation? 00:35:43 - 00:42:01 Why Is A Compass Mindset Important In Tech? 00:42:01 - 00:49:27 How Can Professionals Disrupt Their Working Life? 00:49:27 - 00:55:22 Career Vs. Job: What's The Difference? 00:55:22 - 01:02:07 What Skills Make A True Leader? 01:02:07 - 01:05:47 How Can We Build Resilience In An Age Of Instant Gratification? 01:05:47 - 01:06:17 What is Success? 01:06:17 - 01:06:44 Advice to a University Student 01:06:44 - 01:07:21 Best Advice Rajendran Has Ever Received 01:07:21 - 01:08:39 Guests at a Dream Dinner 01:08:39 - 01:09:16 What Rajendran Believes That Others Don't Connect with: Raj Dandapani on LinkedIN Swami on LinkedIN Click here for Show Notes This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Professor David Nutt, a renowned Neuropsychopharmacologist, specializes in researching the effects of drugs on the brain, particularly in relation to conditions like addiction, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. As the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the non-profit DrugScience and the head of the Center for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, Professor Nutt is a leading advocate for evidence-based drug policies and innovative approaches to mental health treatment.In the episode, Professor Nutt explains his role as a neuropsychopharmacologist, emphasizing the study of how drugs affect brain function and mental health. He shares his extensive experience in prescribing medications and exploring brain mechanisms through pharmacology. Professor Nutt highlights the importance of neurotransmitters in brain communication and how drugs can mimic or block these chemicals to treat mental illnesses. He reflects on his influential 2010 Lancet paper, which evaluated the harms of various drugs and controversially concluded that alcohol was the most harmful substance overall in the UK. This finding has been replicated in studies across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, reinforcing the need for policies that address both personal and social harms caused by alcohol.The discussion also covers Prof. Nutt's efforts to develop synthetic alcohol, aiming to provide the relaxing effects of traditional alcohol without the associated health risks and social harms. He emphasizes the potential of these alternatives to reduce alcohol-related deaths and improve public health. Additionally, Prof. Nutt delves into the use of psychedelics like psilocybin for treating mental health disorders, explaining how these substances can reset brain function and offer long-lasting relief from conditions like depression. He contrasts this with traditional antidepressants, which often need to be taken continuously and can have significant side effects.Professor David Nutt's work highlights the transformative potential of science and innovation in addressing some of the most pressing issues in mental health and drug policy. By advocating for evidence-based approaches and exploring new treatments like synthetic alcohol and psychedelics, Nutt aims to reduce the societal and personal harms caused by substance abuse and mental illness. His insights underscore the importance of continued research and the adoption of policies that prioritize scientific evidence over political expediency, ultimately fostering a healthier and more informed society. Watch the video episode on YouTube. Prof. Nutt on X https://x.com/ProfDavidNutt Swami on LinkedIN https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ For Show Notes, visit https://www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes.Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Making Education Engaging: A Journey of Discovery Brandon Hendrickson credits Kieran Egan as a significant influence on his educational philosophy. Diagnosed with ADHD, Brandon found traditional schooling uninspiring until he encountered Egan's work, which revolutionized his approach to teaching and learning. Egan's perspective on education, emphasizing the importance of making learning emotionally engaging and relevant, resonated deeply with Brandon. This new outlook led him to prioritize understanding and curiosity over mere academic performance, fostering a love for learning in both himself and his students. Watch the video episode on YouTube. About Brandon Brandon Hendrickson is the founder of Science is WEIRD (https://www.scienceisweird.com/) — a startup that's developing a new approach to science education. At Science is Weird, they're building a progression of courses that rockets kids to a full, up-to-date understanding of science — from the subatomic to the intergalactic. Brandon also writes at The Lost Tools of Learning (https://losttools.substack.com/). Five key takeaways from this conversation: 1. Importance of Making Learning Matter: The most crucial element in education is making subjects matter to students. When a topic resonates emotionally, students are more likely to engage deeply, remember, and understand it. 2. Integration of Stories and Logic in Education: Egan's educational philosophy emphasizes the integration of stories and logic. While traditional education focuses on logic and facts, Egan believes in using stories to make learning engaging and memorable. 3. Holistic and Interconnected Curriculum: Effective education should present subjects as interconnected. Understanding how disciplines like physics, chemistry, and biology relate to each other helps students see the bigger picture and appreciate the complexity of the world. 4. Role of Teachers, School Founders, and Parents: Each stakeholder has a unique role in making education meaningful. Teachers should focus on making lessons emotionally engaging, school founders should design curricula that integrate Egan's principles, and parents should foster an environment that encourages curiosity and love for learning. 5. Potential of Modern Educational Tools: With advancements in technology, such as LLM AIs and online educational resources, there is now a greater opportunity to create the best educational systems ever. These tools can help tailor education to individual needs and make learning more accessible and engaging. Brandon on LinkedIN https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-hendrickson-36270b20/ Swami on LinkedIN https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ For Show Notes, visit https://www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Build Mastery Through Deliberate Practice and Varied Experiences To build true mastery in any skill or profession, it's crucial to engage in deliberate practice focused on continual improvement, not just mindless repetition that leads to automaticity. Expose yourself to varied practice scenarios and different contexts to develop deeper flexibility and understanding. Early in your career, prioritize breadth over narrow specialization by seeking out diverse, challenging experiences across multiple domains. This varied background better equips you to adapt as industries and opportunities evolve over time. Cultivate a Mastery Mindset with Lifelong Learning Approaching any endeavor with a "mastery mindset" centered on lifelong learning, not just surface-level performance goals, is key to achieving excellence. Realize that simply accumulating years of experience often plateaus your growth; you must make efforts to deliberately improve through practice, feedback, and learning from others at the cutting edge. Maintain a spirit of curiosity, embrace arduous projects that excite you, and take full ownership over charting your own path to mastery. With sustained dedication, the potential exists for anyone to acquire remarkable skills in their chosen pursuit. About The Guest Scott H. Young is an author, programmer, and an entrepreneur. Scott's work has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, and Business Insider. He is also the author of the Wall Street best -selling book, Ultra Learning. Scott's new book. Get Better at Anything is out in the stands now. In this new book, Scott explore the science of skill acquisition, illustrating the core principles that can help you get better at the things that matter most to you. Timestamps 05:04 - 09:12 What got Scott Interested in Mastery 09:13 - 11:38 Mastery vs Excellence 11:38 - 16:17 Mastery Motivations vs Performance Motivations 16:18 - 22:40 How To Build Mastery in Anything That You Do 22:41 - 28:58 The Process of Seeing, Doing and Taking Feedback 28:59 - 32:43 Apprenticeship Helps You Build Mastery 32:44 - 39:09 Defining Your Profession To Define Your Mastery 39:10 - 43:46 Variability Over Repetition 43:47 - 49:17 How Will AI Aid Mastery? 49:18 - 55:46 The Need For Mastery in Craft 55:47 - 56:45 What is Success? 56:46 - 58:42 Advice for an 18-year Old at University 58:43 - 01:00:21 Best Advice Scott Ever Received 01:00:22 - 01:01:54 Scott's Dream Dinner Guests 01:01:55 - 01:02:46 What Scott Believes That Others Don't For Selected Links, Show Notes and more insights⁠ This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless.Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more. #Mastery,#LifelongLearning,#SelfImprovement,#ProductivityHacks,#PersonalGrowth,#KnowledgeWork,#LearningScience,#CognitiveScience,#ExpertPerformance,#DeliberatePractice,#MasteryMindset,#CareerSuccess,#SkilledCraft,#LearningStrategies,#GetBetterAtAnything

Ricky Afrianto is a Global Marketing Head/Director - Mayora Group. Previously he was Marketing Director and managed 21 brands across 5 categories: Biscuit, Candy, Wafer, Chocolate & Instant Food. Before joined Mayora, Ricky was Regional Marketing/Category Manager – Adult Category for Asia & Middle East Region of Fonterra Brands Singapore. For Show Notes, visit https://contraminds.com Connect with Ricky on LinkedIN Connect with Swami on LinkedIN 15 key takeaways from this conversation: 1. Mayora is an Indonesian food and beverage company with a wide range of products available in over 100 countries, with almost equal business split between domestic and international markets. 2. Local brands like Mayora can innovate and make decisions faster compared to large multinational companies due to their entrepreneurial mindset and connection with local markets. 3. CPG marketing has transformed significantly in the last decade with the rise of e-commerce, social commerce, and new digital platforms like TikTok. 4. Localization and customization are key advantages for local brands, allowing them to create products and campaigns tailored to specific markets. 5. Intuition backed by solid data is crucial in media buying decisions, especially for categories like CPG where e-commerce may not be as effective. 6. Digital marketing for CPG brands should focus on building brand equity and not just performance marketing. 7. Observing consumers directly is still the best way to gain insights, despite advancements in research technology. 8. Future agencies need to be open to leveraging creativity from clients, influencers, and embrace an ecosystem approach rather than being the sole creative source. 9. Successful CMOs need a balance of creativity, analytical skills, business acumen, and an entrepreneurial mindset. 10. CMOs must understand financial metrics and drive business results, not just focus on marketing outputs. 11. Entrepreneurial skills are essential for CMOs to bring new ideas, optimize processes, and drive business growth. 12. Key success metrics for CMOs include business performance, brand metrics, and creating a strong brand pull where consumers can't explain why they like the product. 13. Admired brands mentioned include Nike, Absolut Vodka, Apple, Coke, and Mayora's own Kopiko brand. 14. Innovative campaigns like Anlene's health movement and revamping the century-old Roma biscuit brand were sources of pride. 15. Advice for marketing students is to learn beyond just marketing - subjects like statistics, behavioral economics, and psychology to better understand consumers.

Holistic Living in this Stressful Modern World Modern living has wired us to overeat when we're stressed. Nature on one hand has designed our body to live in scarcity, but on the other hand, we are also wired to be fat. Modern living exposes us to heavy, rich and sugary foods in abundance, so we have to fight that genetic gravity to live healthy. Therefore, a holistic approach to modern living comes with lot of self discipline and that self discipline comes with emotional wellbeing. Ayurveda aids emotional wellbeing. Balanced Diet, Balanced Life Success without fulfilment is worse than failure.What are you striving for if you have all the money and success but poor health, what's the point? You have all the success and money and health but if you don't have good family and friends around you because you are not an easy person to get along with….how do you then build relationships and create memories? A balanced approach to personal and professional life lies in realising just focusing on one aspect in your life is not going to give you happiness and fulfilment. Physical wellbeing must go hand in hand with emotional wellbeing. About Dr. Vignesh Devraj Dr. Vignesh Devraj is a fourth generation Ayurvedic healer. He is the founder and chief physician of Sitaram Beach Retreat, Kerala – a space for authentic healing and transformation. Dr. Vignesh is a committed practitioner and researcher on Panchakarma, an ancient body purification method which activates the body's innate healing energies, providing the foundation to true health. His expertise lies in explaining ancient healing concepts and making it more accessible to the modern world. He is an avid traveller who studies and explores the lesser known healing methods around the world. He is an international speaker on Natural Healing, Ayurveda, Meditation & Transformation. Connect with Dr. Devraj Connect with Swami For Selected Links, Show Notes and more insights This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless.Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

 The AirAsia Media Playbook: Integrating Travel Experiences About The Guest: Mahek Shah is the Global Head of Media at Airasia (AirAsia Media & Airasia Ads). Mahek is an integrated marketing and communications professional with rich digital marketing and product development experience. She started her career in advertising with successful stints at Ogilvy, IPG Mediabrands, Lion & Lion and Wavemaker before AirAsia. Timestamps: 00:00 - 03:40 Cold Opening, Sponsor Message, Guest Intro 03:41 - 05:51 The Evolution of Marketing: A Marketer's Journey from Traditional to Digital 05.52 - 07:32 Shifting Skills for Modern Marketers: From Fragmented to Integrated Experts 07:33 - 09:52 A Two-Pronged Approach to Strategic Planning and Inventory Monetization 09:53 - 11:20 First-Party Data Monetization: Leveraging Brand Ecosystems for Partnerships 11:21 - 14:25 Redefining the Travel Experience: Building an Immersive End-to-End Ecosystem 14:26 - 18:34 The Insourcing Trend: Why Brands Are Bringing Marketing In-House 18:35 - 25:54 Redefining Agency Value: From Execution to Consultative Problem-Solving 25:55 - 30:47 AirAsia Move: Redefining Travel as a Seamless End-to-End Experience 30:48 - 36:45 Redefining Travel Marketing: Working with Endemic and Non-Endemic Brands 36:46 - 40:30 First-Party Data and Ad Tech: Building Seamless Customer Experiences 40:31 - 41:51 Marketing Campaigns that Inspired Mahek 41:52 - 43:00 Why Mahek Admires Amazon's Business Model 43:01 - 44.53 Marketers who Inspired Mahek 44.54 - 47:26 Mahek Shah's Book Recommendations 47:27 - 50:36 Dynamic Digital Out-of-Home: AirAsia's Campaign to sell 7 Million Tickets 50:38 - 53:30 Advice to a Marketing Student at University Key takeaways from this conversation Marketing has evolved significantly, shifting from traditional offline methods to a digital landscape that's constantly changing. Modern marketers need to be multifaceted, integrating data, digital, and technology skills to deliver cohesive customer experiences. Brands are insourcing marketing tasks like media buying and content creation for faster turnaround times, better brand custodianship, and cost savings. Agencies must redefine their value proposition, moving from execution to strategic consultative partnerships that solve business problems. AirAsia's "Super App" vision is to provide a seamless end-to-end travel experience, from booking flights and hotels to local transportation. The Super App ecosystem allows AirAsia to monetize its assets through retail media and partnerships with endemic (travel-related) and non-endemic brands. First-party data and ad tech solutions enable AirAsia to target audiences on and off its platforms for better conversions. Integrating multiple technology platforms is the future of media, enabling seamless customer experiences across channels. Mahek admires Amazon for its progressive business model and aspires to build a similar media ecosystem. Philip Kotler's work and cultural literature have influenced Mahek's marketing approach. A recent 7 million seat sale campaign leveraged programmatic digital out-of-home advertising for dynamic, real-time targeting. Mahek advises aspiring marketers to understand data, derive actionable insights, and focus on connecting with consumers. Campaigns like Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" and Dove's diversity campaign have inspired Mahek. A professor who taught her the strategic role of media in marketing has been a significant influence. Addressing business problems, understanding consumer insights, and delivering integrated experiences are key for modern marketers. Watch the full episode on YouTube For Show Notes, visit https://contraminds.com Connect with Mahek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maheks/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ This episode was made possible by the great folks at MovingWalls. Moving Walls provides a global Adtech platform built by Out-of-home advertising experts, automating the process of planning, buying, executing and measuring OOH campaigns, with a presence across four continents and seven markets. Moving Walls processes more than 10 billion data points and measures more than 100,000 media sites across the globe. In 2017, APAC CIO Outlook listed us as one of the “10 Most Promising Digital Technology Solutions Providers”. Moving Walls is also a Tie50 winner, a listing of 50 most enterprising startups globally. Visit www.movingwalls.com to learn more.

Prof. Vasant Dhar is an AI researcher who pioneered machine learning applications in finance. His research examines how innovations like AI impact society, focusing on issues of trust, ethics, and the future of work. Dhar is host of the podcast "Brave New World" exploring technology's transformation of humanity. Prof. Dhar is a professor at the Stern School of Business and the Center for Data Science at New York University, former editor-in-chief of the journal Big Data and the founder of SCT Capital, one of the first machine-learning-based hedge funds in New York City in the 1990s. Connect with Prof Dhar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasant-dhar-931175/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ For Show Notes, visit https://contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless.Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

From Disability to Ability: How Enable India Unlocks Potential About The Guest: Moses Gorrepati has over 15 years of experience championing inclusion and empowerment for people with disabilities. As a leader at Enable India, he heads programs transforming lives through digital literacy, livelihoods, and social platforms. A catalyst for change, his mission is to build an ecosystem that unlocks the potential of people with disabilities as active citizens and nation builders. About Enable India: Enable India is a non-profit organisation that empowers people with disabilities as active citizens and nation builders through dignified livelihoods. Their vision is a world where people with disabilities are seen as change agents and taxpayers with full potential when included in society. Enable India serves 14 disability types across India, impacting over two lakh individuals and families by collaborating with companies to open up new career opportunities. Over 20 years they have opened 291 roles across 22 sectors, advancing inclusion and agency for people with disabilities. 15 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE CONVERSATION 1. Enable India's mission is to enable economic independence and dignity for people with disabilities through livelihoods and employment. 2. They focus on ability rather than disability, providing workplace solutions to unlock potential. 3. Marketing campaigns are designed as collectives, bringing stakeholders together around a shared vision. 4. Language and framing is critical - they promote positive narratives about disability. 5. Solutions should be co-created, giving agency to contributors rather than just consumers. 6. Grassroots community platforms like EnableVani spread awareness and information. 7. Employers are pitched on the strong business case for hiring people with disabilities. 8. Workshops build inclusivity skills and break down barriers with personalized stories. 9. People are transformed through nurturing potential and setting high expectations. 10. Life skills and attitude development ready people for opportunities beyond just a job. 11. Alignment on purpose and values matters more than money with donors. 12. Fair compensation enables dignity but purpose drives staff passion. 13. Marketing success requires collaboration across stakeholders. 14. Solutions should focus on the larger context not just the immediate need. 15. A positive, empowering narrative uplifts and brings people together. Watch the full episode on YouTube For Show Notes, visit https://contraminds.com Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ This episode was made possible by the great folks at MovingWalls. Moving Walls is a media technology group with a presence across four continents and seven markets. Moving Walls processes more than 10 billion data points and measures more than 100,000 media sites across the globe. In 2017, APAC CIO Outlook listed us as one of the “10 Most Promising Digital Technology Solutions Providers”. Moving Walls is also a Tie50 winner, a listing of 50 most enterprising startups globally. Visit www.movingwalls.com to learn more.

Khyati Bhatt is the Founder, Senior Coach, and Head Consultant at Simply Body Talk specializing in nonverbal communication, helping business heads sharpen leadership and communication skills. Trained under former FBI Agent, Author and Public Speaker Joe Navarro and guided by scientifically crafted models, Khyati has collaborated with elite military forces and top-tier global corporations like Google, Deloitte, Discovery, Adani, Capgemini, Wipro and Panasonic. In this engaging conversation, Swami and Khyati discuss the importance of body language, the power of observation, visual cues and strategies to make connections, how to read a room in a few seconds, simple and effective tips to master verbal and nonverbal interactions in crucial situations like board meetings, interviews and negotiations. We are available on all leading platforms - Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music For show notes and past episodes, visit www.contraminds.com ⁠Connect with Khyati: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khyati-bhatt/?originalSubdomain=in ⁠⁠Connect with Swami⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Anton Howes (www.antonhowes.com) is the Head of Innovation Research at the UK-based think-tank, The Entrepreneurs Network. Anton also serves as the Historian in Residence at the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. In this engaging conversation, Swami and Anton explore the fascinating role the Royal Society of Arts played in fostering innovation and invention during the late 17th and 18th centuries. Delving into the roots of the industrial revolution, they discuss the historical spread of innovation and the pivotal shift from Britain to the US in the early 19th century. Anton shares valuable insights into the significance of interdisciplinary learning as a catalyst for innovation. The discussion extends to pondering the future, exploring where the centre of gravity for innovation and invention might shift over the next decade or two. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music For show notes and past episodes, visit www.contraminds.com ⁠Connect with Anton⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonhowes/ ⁠⁠Connect with Swami⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Welcome to a very special year-end episode of the Contra Minds Podcast. In 2023, we had a phenomenal line-up of guests who were achievers in their own profession. They all stood for the ContraMinds philosophy of having the conviction in what they were doing irrespective of what the world around them wanted them to do or believed in. This episode is a curation of their thoughts, ideas, and insights. Rajesh Jain shared the idea of ProfiCorn and how profits need to be at the core of any business. Pooja Jauhari spoke about the leadership lessons that she learnt while building a marketing services firm. Rajat Agarwal spoke about how health tech platforms need to focus on patients, nurses, and hospital support staff that can deliver exceptional experience for patients. Matt Abrahams spoke to about spontaneity of communication. Sridhar Ramaswamy spoke to about the digital factories and how the digital factories are changing the world of marketing. Dr. Aniruddha Malpani emphasized the need to rewire education so that education can build curiosity in kids. James Bellerjeau talked about how great performers look beyond job descriptions. Ravishankar spoke about storytelling and he shared great frameworks to be better storytellers. Roger Forsgren, the ex-Chief Knowledge Officer of NASA, spoke to about the importance of learning history and how history can help improve critical thinking skills. And this is something that he said is so very important for engineers. Finally, Prem Kumar Gokuladasan, shared the phenomenal work that he was doing using technology in transforming rural education in India. --- You can access the full episodes on www.contraminds.com. We are also available on all leading podcast platforms and on YouTube as well. Here's wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year! ----- Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com ----- This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

We launched The Super CMO Show in January this year and it has been a truly rewarding journey so far. This episode is a curation of the top marketing moments we've had with our esteemed guests on the show... moments from our conversations with Unilever veteran Marc de Swaan talking about Humanized Growth and the Da Vinci CMO Model, to Prof Tanvi Gupta of IIM Jaipur on Visual Semiotics in marketing. From prolific author and Prof, Peter Fader on the Customer Base Audit to marketing leader Sukumar Muthya on the need for technology-driven marketers. Amit Tiwari of TCS's Global Demand Centre talked about why marketers need to recalibrate. reskill and reboot…while Prof Venky Shankar, a Ford Chair Professor shared insights on the role of the CMO in today's marketing world. We had the privilege of talking to the one and only David Fradin on Product Design and Management…and the Out of Home Pioneer Srikanth Ramachandran on how app data can influence Out of Home Experiences. Eight Enlightening Episodes! It's been a truly enriching experience talking to the best minds in the industry and we look forward to bringing you much more in 2024. ----- You can access the full episodes on www.contraminds.com. We are also available on all leading podcast platforms and on YouTube as well. Here's wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year! ----- Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com ----- The Super CMO Show attempts to find answers to all these questions through conversations with the best minds in marketing: - How should the CEO and Company Boards take strategic advantage of marketing to improve the value of their firms? - What do CMOs and Marketers worry about, and what issues or problems make them lose their sleep? - Why is it important to understand customer behaviour if you are involved in marketing as a technologist or a marketer? - What impact does 800-Pound Gorilla – Technology have on the marketing world, and how can it be leveraged for a company's product or brands? - Why is the power of data, analytics, and technology on creative is here to stay? - Why are financial skills as essential for marketers as marketing skills? ----- This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Bharath MS is an accomplished IP litigator and strategist, slated to become the INTA Board of Director for 2024-2026. With over two decades of legal experience and 12 years leading a regional office, he founded KRIA Law in March 2021. Bharath is recognized for his expertise in IP litigation, advising clients across diverse industries, and mediating complex conflicts. His notable achievements include securing the protection of the Tirupati Laddu GI and registering national and international GIs in India, such as Tequila and Scotch. Madhura Shanthini is a Senior Associate at KRIA Law. Madhura talks about technology laws, intellectual property and commercial contracts. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts. Click here for full access to earlier guest interviews and show notes Sign up for our weekly newsletter Connect with Bharath MS Connect with Madhura Shanthini Connect with Swami Connect with us ⁠LinkedIN⁠⁠ Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook ⁠⁠Website⁠ This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes.  Visit ⁠www.goeffortless.ai⁠ to learn more.

Building Digital Out-Of-Home Experiences using Data, Automation and Algorithms Srikanth Ramachandran is the Founder of Moving Walls, a world-renowned AdTech company that specializes in innovative out of home (OOH) media solutions.  With 2000 campaigns Moving Walls helps businesses launch audience-based OOH plans, programmatic DOOH campaigns, and generate billboard reports. Their ecosystem spans over 120,000 digital, static, indoor, and outdoor media sites across the globe. In conversation with Swami, Srikanth discusses: - His foray into the media business - How Moving Walls is transforming the fragmented OOH media industry - How billboards influence the sub-conscious mind - Building the customer journey with omni-media - Frameworks for CMOs to deliver contextual experiences - Using first-party data for a real world experience - Building connected marketing, dynamic content and contextual data frameworks - Learnings from his entrepreneurial journey - The future of Moving Walls and what has Srikanth excited about the future. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Srikanth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srikanth-ramachandran-b7a105/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes.  Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

James Bellerjeau is a researcher, lecturer and he is the ACC docket career path columnist. In this episode,  @jamesbellerjeau  talks to  @sivaramanswaminathan4406  about what he believes is career success and how career success is about having internal benchmarks and being satisfied with what you want to do rather than what the world wants you to do. He talks about how to achieve excellence in small incremental steps, the fact that you need to look at contemplative questions about how to balance your personal values and beliefs with company philosophy and the importance of having personal benchmarks and being satisfied with doing a good job and achieving mastery and excellence in what you need to do and being convinced that you have given your best in the job. And that is really key to achieving personal and professional success. James draws upon his two-decade experience as an S&P 500 General Counsel, as well as his earlier studies in psychology, law, and business. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with James Connect with Swami Connect with Vignesh Connect with us LinkedIN Instagram Facebook Website This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes.  Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Matt Abrahams is a Larsen Lam Family Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at the renowned Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. As an expert in the field of organizational behavior, he has become a sought-after figure, offering his insights and wisdom to Fortune 100 companies as both a keynote speaker and a communication consultant. In his new book “Think Faster, Talk Smarter" Matt distills his wealth of knowledge and experience into a comprehensive guide that helps readers sharpen their communication skills and excel in both their personal and professional lives. Matt also hosts a widely admired podcast called Think Fast, Talk Smart. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maabrahams/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes.  Visit ⁠⁠www.goeffortless.ai⁠⁠ to learn more.

Rajesh Jain is a technology entrepreneur based out of Mumbai, India. Rajesh was a pioneer in Asia's dot-com revolution, creating India's first internet portals in the late 1990s. Today, he's the founder of Netcore Cloud, a bootstrap, SaaS company that helps B2C brands and marketers create AI-powered new age customer experiences at every touch point of a customer's journey. Netcore Cloud is a very successful global marketing technology company and what they offer is an AI-powered marketing automation and analytics solutions for customers globally. Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Rajesh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajesh-jain-b941/ Rajesh Jain's Blog: www.rajeshjain.com Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes.  Visit ⁠www.goeffortless.ai⁠ to learn more.

Building a Toolkit for Product Success Management David Fradin is the president of Spice Catalyst. He's a product management and product marketing consultant. David is a mentor, professor, and one of the world's foremost authorities on product management. He is an author of two incredibly great books - Successful Product Design & Management Toolkit and Building Insanely Great Products. David has trained thousands of people on product management. He talks on product management, product strategy, product success management, and his belief is product managers need to be called product success managers. He also believes that the product managers of today need to be given all the authority and responsibility to build great products. In this episode, he talks to Swami and Vignesh about the fundamentals of product management. What does it take to build great products? His experience at Apple and HP. What did he learn there? And what are the key tenets of product management? Listen now. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfradin/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes.  Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Roger Forsgren is a retired Chief Knowledge Officer of NASA. He was a director of Academy of Program, Project and Engineering Leadership at NASA. Roger is also an undergraduate with a liberal arts degree, a mechanical engineering degree and a masters in industrial engineering. Roger is also the author of two books and the most recent being “When Graduation is Over, Learning Begins - Lessons for STEM Students and Professionals”. In this episode, Swami & Roger discuss the importance of having a liberal arts background for an engineer, foundational skills needed for successful engineers, how communication skills, decision-making skills, and working with people are as important as number crunching, and where empathy can help achieve efficiency in an imperfect world filled with vulnerable people. This is Roger's second episode with Swami & Contraminds. We had the privilege of playing host to Roger in episode 23, released on Jan 22, 2022 - Roger Forsgren on Knowledge Management Lessons from NASA. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Roger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-forsgren-b5a20a166/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless is a Neo-Banking business application built for handling Bookkeeping, Compliance, Payroll, and Funding. Today entrepreneurs are struggling to track the cash inflows, outflows and forecasting of cashflow with the current broken finance stack. Lot of founders and core team time is spent to manually track collections, vendor bills and make payments, and in various spreadsheets, saved in mails, laptops and some physically and different banking app and sending the same to the accountants and consultants for compliance filings leading to poor financial planning, lack of finance data and non-compliances leading to penalties and interests. Effortless has made e-invoicing compliant invoicing simple for anyone to make, reduces 90% effort to collect, with all banking integration stay on the top of your cashflow. Secured UPI like business payment directly from effortless ensures all expenses are tracked including expenses you make from your personal credit card and UPI apps. Realtime insights, reports, alerts and notifications to enable you to thrive in your business. For further details, visit: www.goeffortless.ai

Sridhar Ramasamy is an industry veteran with interdisciplinary knowledge across the pharmaceutical and manufacturing domains. Sridhar leads digital transformation, engineering, automation and data analytics. In this episode, Swami and Sridhar delve deep into -The Importance of an Engineer Understanding a Business Problem - Asking Stupid Questions - How to Handle Ambiguity - Having an Open Mind and Looking at Data - Doing Your Boss's Job - Mindset For Digital Transformation - Industry Economy to Knowledge Economy Factories - Mixing Pragmatism with Innovative Thinking & Business Reality for Digital Transformation - Mixing Engineering Skills and Business Strategy - Key to Building Digital Factories - KPI Requires Business Understanding and Knowledge - Specs and Siloed Processes - Digital Twins and Applying it to the Digital Knowledge Factories of Tomorrow - Multi-functional-multi-disciplinary Knowledge - Automation does not Reduce Jobs - Learnings from other Industries - How to Solve for a Problem not Invented as yet #digitalfactories #smartmanufacturing #reliabilityengineering, #lightsoutmanufacturing#dataanalytics #justintimeproduction #leanmanufacturing #pharma #sanofi #plantautomation #sixsigma #digitalmaturity #automation #industryeconomy #knowledgeeconomy #businessstrategy #digitaltwins #multidisciplinaryknowledge #multifunctional You can watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit ⁠www.contraminds.com⁠ To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit ⁠https://contraminds.substack.com/⁠ Connect with Sridhar: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/sriramasamy/⁠ Connect with Swami: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/⁠ Connect with Vignesh: ⁠https://twitter.com/hrorq⁠ Connect with us: LinkedIN: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/⁠ Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/contraminds⁠ Website: ⁠www.contraminds.com

Rajat Kumar Agarwal is the Chief Executive Officer of Jagriti InnoHealth Platforms - a tech startup creating knowledge management centric intelligent IT systems for healthcare using a business platform approach resulting in improved patient outcomes and scientific publications. Jagriti InnoHealth products: BMTPLUS - the world's first dedicated software platform for complete management of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation THALCARE - the world's first web based application for comprehensive Thalassemia Management and THE BLOOD BANK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - an affordable yet comprehensive and scalable system built for modern blood banks In this episode, Rajat, Swami and Vignesh discuss: - The Genesis of Jagriti - The Sankalp Foundation - The Need for a Blood Bank Management System - Deep Tech Expertise to Solve Human Centric Problems - Learnings from Building Products for the Healthcare System - From Electrical Engineering To Healthcare - Challenges in Building Healthcare Products for India - Working with Dr. Lawrence B Faulkner and BMTplus - What Really Is a Knowledge Management System? - How Doctors Can Interact with Medical Data - Influencing Habit Change in Legacy Systems - Knowledge Management & Program Management - Aligning Purpose with Ambition - Hiring Talent - The Future of Jagriti - What is Success? - Advice to an 18-year old in University - Best Advice Ever Received - What Rajat Believes That Other's Seldom Do - Books Recommendations by Rajat - Who would Rajat Invite to a Dream Dinner? Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Amazon Music | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Rajat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajat-kumar-agarwal-2b22946/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com

Marketing Accountability: Elevating the role of the CMO and Value of Marketing in an Enterprise Prof. Venkatesh (Venky) Shankar is a Ford Chair Professor, a RETHINK Retail Top Influencer, and an Advisory Council Chair at the Marketing Accountability Standards Board. With vast experience in retail, Prof. Shankar is a professor at the Texas A & M University and has over 27,000 citations (Marketing, Strategy, Retailing, Innovation and AI) on Google Scholar. In this episode, Prof Shankar and Swami discuss: - What inspired Prof. Venky into the Marketing Field - Prof. Venky's Early Years - Mentors and Guides  - Building Marketing Accountability Standards - Marketing CEOs Create More Shareholder Value - Why CEOs Need Marketing Experience - Hindsight, Insight and Foresight in Retail  - Harvesting Big Data in Retail - Apple Pay and Paypal Increase Engagement - Customer Loyalty Online and Offline - Accountability Standards for Marketing Expenses - Hardskills and Softskills for Budding CMOs - Advice to Marketing Students at University Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Prof. Shankar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/venkyshankar/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com

Ravishankar Iyer is a Story Coach and Founder of Story Rules (storyrules.in), a startup that offers training and coaching services on how to apply storytelling techniques at work. A Chartered Accountant with an MBA from IIMA, Ravi a.k.a. “The Storytelling Guy”, believes From boardroom reviews to big family gatherings, from TED Talks to teachers in classrooms, from magical monuments to mythology epics, from job interviews to jungle safaris, from CEOs writing shareholder letters to cricketers making superb videos, from Presidents making inauguration speeches to political experts cutting the clutter… In this episode, Ravi and Swami chat about: - How Ravi became “The Storytelling Guy” - Cultivating the Reading Habit Early in Life - The Impact of Storytelling and Learning - Storytelling Techniques for Education - Storytelling at the Workplace - Honesty and Authenticity in Storytelling - Tackling Corporate Crises with Storytelling - The 1-3-9 Framework - Creating the Design Story for Product Companies - Understanding Contemplation and Aesthetics - Presentation Skills at the Workplace Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Ravi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravishankar-iyer/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com #datastory #storytelling #datastorytelling #businessstorytelling #storytellingforbusiness

Inside the Mind of a Technology-Driven Marketer Sukumar Muthya is a seasoned marketing technology executive with over 27 years of marketing experience across a variety of industries - from manufacturing to technology. Sukumar is currently the Executive Vice President at Ansira Global - an independent global marketing technology and services firm with clients from automotive, technology, finance & insurance and restaurant businesses, helping in media, ad technology, CRM and loyalty. In this episode Sukumar and Swami discuss: How marketing has transformed over the years Muthya's Journey from Tech to Marketing Balancing Marketing Functions as a CMO The Chief Marketing Officer Meets the Chief Marketing Technologist Skillsets to orchestrate integrated marketing initiatives Reconciling Attribution Across Marketing Channels Marketing in a Cookie-less World Digital Transformation in Manufacturing Best Practices to Build Digital Transformation in Companies Integrated Loyalty at Ansira Global The Ansira Value Proposition Marketing in the Metaverse Non-negotiable skillsets for Future Marketers Book Recommendations in Tech, Martech and Marketing People who Inspired Muthya What does Muthya do off-work? Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Sukumar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sukumarmuthya/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com #DigitalMarketingTechnologies #EnterpriseSoftwareBusiness #ManagementConsulting #DigitalMarketingProcesses #DirectResponse #RelationshipMarketingStrategies #SupplyChain #ProcessImprovement #EnterpriseApplications #StrategicThinking #ProgramManagement #OffShoreDelivery #Adtech #Martech #SukumarMuthya #SivaramanSwaminathan #SwaminathanSivaraman #SuperCMOShow #ContraMindsPodcast

Amit Tiwari is a Martech Leader with a new-age marketing approach for new marketing technology enablement. His experience includes a crucial role in the modernization and transformation of marketing technologies.  Amit has vast knowledge in managing all aspects of the product lifecycle from concept development to launch in both B2B and B2C platforms. He is currently the Global Head of the Marketing Demand Centre at Tata Consultancy Services.  Earlier Amit held leadership positions in Philips - where his eight year tenure saw him grow from Country Manager to Director of Marketing for the Indian Subcontinent and subsequently at Havells where Amit spent four years as the VP of Marketing playing a key role in all the four power brands. - Lloyd, Crabtree, Standard and Reo. In his current leadership position at TCS as the Global Head of Marketing Demand Centre, Amit is deeply involved in building a network and influence senior, cross-functional leaders to align technology solutions and business processes to drive marketing transformation, provideing strategic direction for integrating marketing technology products with other technologies & platforms and defining the marketing technology strategy that enables customer engagement and relationship marketing business priorities. In this marketing masterclass with Swami, Amit Delves into: What Inspired Amit to take up Marketing Heading the Global Demand Centre @ TCS Why Marketing Needs To Reclaim Its Seat At The Table Balancing Act Between Marketing Metrics and Business Metrics Running A Business: Being a CMO Versus Being A Business Head Strategies To Balance Marketing Functions as a CMO How Marketers Can Be Agile - Real Life Examples Managing Trade Partners As A Marketer Balancing Budgets Across Marketing Initiatives Ad Agencies Need To be Integrated Marketing Agencies The Marketing Narrative Needs To Change Creating A Unified Briefing Format Across Agencies Marketers Need To Be Jack Of All Trades & Master Of One Working in a Global Role At A Tech Company Amit's Career Trajectory How a Tech Company Can Adopt Marketing Cross Pollinating Marketing Principles & Practices Across Categories ... and much more. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Amit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amit-tiwari-marketing-leader/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com #StrategicPlanning #EnterprisePlatforms #AgileMarketing, #CuratedCustomerExperience #DigitalMarketingTransformation #GoToMarket #MediaPlanning #BrandStrategy #ChannelManagement #ProductDevelopment #NewProductLaunches #BrandArchitecture #MarketingCampaigns #Promotions #MarketIntelligence  #BusinessGrowth #BusinessTransformation #CRM #Leadership #TeamBuilding #marktech #techmarketing #leadershipculture

Dr. Tanvi Gupta is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIMU) and a practicing semiotician. Her academic research focuses on brand language and consumer culture—and her research has been published in Journal of Consumer Research—one of the top marketing journals in the world. Tanvi co-leads the Consumer Culture Lab at IIM Udaipur, a platform to foster research on consumer culture in India. She is also a member of the Editorial Review Board at the Journal of Retailing. Before doing a Ph.D. in Marketing from IIM Bangalore, Tanvi has worked as a marketing research professional with Kantar. During her stint in the MR industry, she has worked on semiotics, brand tracking and advertising research—integrating both quantitative and qualitative methods. Tanvi also holds a communications masters from MICA, India with the director's award for academic excellence. Tanvi also has a flair for creativity and aesthetic sense. Being a trained graphics designer, her passion for visual aesthetics and culture drives her interest towards visual semiotics and brand language. In this Super CMO episode with Swami, Dr. Tanvi talk about: - Why Prof. Tanvi Chose Marketing & Semiotics - What is Semiotics? - Anthropology, Sociology & Psychology in Semiotics - How Brands Can Use Semiotics - How Brands Can Decode Indian Culture - Binary Opposites, Plotting and Code Trajectory in Semiotics - Residual Vs. Emergent -Lakme Vs L'Oreal - How Brands Can Revive Themselves - The New Code Trajectory: Role Reversal in Brand Advertisments - Can Tech Companies Apply Semiotics in Design? - Culture Hues Embedded Into User Experience - The Influence of Typefaces in Brand Building - Semiotics and the Diverse Indian Culture - The Consumer Culture Lab @ IIM Udaipur - Tulsi, the YouTube Village of India - How Brands Can Tap Into Emerging Regional Digital Identities - Advice to Brands From a Semiotician - Advice to a Young Marketer From a Semiotician Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Dr Tanvi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanviguptamr/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com

Pooja Jauhari is the former Group CEO of VMLY&R India, and former CEO of The Glitch. Over her two-decade-long career, Pooja has worked with some of the biggest brands in the country and the world, and introduced powerful campaigns to society. Pooja has worked with some brilliant people and has held important responsibilities over the past 20 years. She is the Founder of Seat At The Table, an unbiased investment and advisory initiative to invest in companies and people that are built on a purpose. Prior to her appointment in the VMLY&R network, Pooja was the CEO of The Glitch, a high-performance creative company that has worked hard to create a workspace that is gender blind, inclusive and progressive. The Glitch was acquired by WPP, the world's largest marketing communications company in 2017, and integrated into the VMLY&R network within WPP in 2020. Before The Glitch, Pooja worked with Unilever, JWT and Times of India. With two recessions & a pandemic under her belt, her work in leadership has included a variety of business models, people, challenges and marketplaces. She has been honoured with the IMPACT 50 Most Influential Award in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. In conversation with Swami, Pooja talks about: - Her formative years and how she built her foundational value systems - How youngsters need to structure their career - Running a company through recession and volatility - What the marketing department of the future may look like - Getting comfortable with being silent - Skills today's marketers need to equip themselves with -Tactical Vs Strategic Frameworks - The Creative Guy and The Data Guy - Challenges in scaling a services company in the creative industry - Me needs to be the servant of we - The learnings from VP to CEO - Strategic Thinking as a CEO Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Pooja: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pooja-jauhari-4ab38755/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com

Prof. Peter Fader is the Frances and Pei-Yuan Chia Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His expertise centres on the analysis of behavioural data to understand and forecast customer shopping/purchasing activities. He works with firms from a wide range of industries, such as telecommunications, financial services, gaming/entertainment, retailing, and pharmaceuticals. In addition to his various roles and responsibilities at Wharton, Fader co-founded a predictive analytics firm (Zodiac) in 2015, which was sold to Nike in 2018. He then cofounded (and continues to run) Theta to commercialise his more recent work on “customer-based corporate valuation.” Fader is the author of Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic Advantage (2020, 2012) and coauthor of The Customer Centricity Playbook (2018) with Sarah Toms. He has won many awards for his research and teaching accomplishments. In this episode with Swami, Prof Fader gives us a peek into the Customer-Base Audit, talking about: - How A Math Major turned Professor of Marketing - The Importance of Hard Skills for Marketers - Understanding Customer Base Audit - Can we Run Diagnostics on Customer Behaviour? - Customer Based Audit - The Diagnostics of Marketing - Applying the Concept of Customer Base Audit - Customer Based Audits for Contractual Vs Non-Contractual Relationships - Non-Contractual Businesses Need Customer Based Valuations - Understanding the Customer at the Granular Level - The Customer P&L Statement - Prof. Peter's Blueprint of Customer Centricity - Re-engineering Companies for Customer Centric Corporate Culture - Changing the Fundamentals of Market-Mix Modelling - The Marketing Department of the Future - Direct & Indirect Marketing Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Pro. Fader: https://twitter.com/faderp | https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterfader/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com

Dr. Aniruddha Malpani is a pioneering IVF Specialist, Angel Investor and Social Impact Entrepreneur. Through his firm Malpani Ventures, Dr. Malpani has contributed immensely in promoting India's startup ecosystem. A strong believer in the power of entrepreneurship, Dr. Malpani funds frugal innovation in India, and is also among the leading voices seeking a transformative change that India's outdated education system needs. In this enlightening conversation with Swaminathan & Vignesh, Dr. Malpani deep dives into: - Social impact investing and compassionate capitalism - The transformative power of reading books - Why parents, teachers and students need to speak up against archaic structures - Dr. Malpani's Social Ventures - Apni Patshala - Why we need to break the mould of one-size-fits-all education - Why students need to be respected and given the freedom to think - How we can change from being a nation of answer-givers to question-askers - The nonsensical need for social validation through degrees earned and - The mental tenacity, competency parents need to retrain their thinking Dr. Malpani has authored 4 books – How to Get the Best Medical Care, Successful Medical Practise, How to Have a Baby and Using Information Therapy to Put Patients First --- Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ --- Connect with Dr Malpani: https://twitter.com/malpani |www.drmalpani.com | www.malpaniventures.com Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq --- Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com

Prem Kumar is the founder of Kalvi40, a mobile educational technology app that is transforming the way education is imparted to over 750 Government schools across 26 districts in Tamil Nadu. A seasoned IT delivery Manager with a career that spanned 19 years across companies like HCL and TCS, Prem Kumar took a leap of faith in creating Kalvi40 when he observed gaps in the way education was reaching school children in Tamil Nadu's Hinterland. With a global collaborative volunteer network which helps Kalvi40 create content for the kids, Prem Kumar today has managed to reach over 750 Government schools across 26 districts in Tamil Nadu. Listen to Prem's fascinating journey in this podcast where Swami delves deep into the what, why and how of Kalvi40, including: How Prem was inspired to start Kalvi40 What made Prem take the ultimate leap of faith Understanding what “rural India” really means How Prem built the platform from scratch Discovering the difference between Corporate Outsourcing and Social Outsourcing The distinction between Purpose and Process in Social Startups The challenges of running a social startup Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Prem: https://twitter.com/premgkumar | https://www.linkedin.com/in/prem-kumar-gokuladasan-43105618/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com

HUMANIZED GROWTH: A NEW BLUEPRINT FOR MARKETING Mark de Swaan Arons is a thought leader in global marketing leadership. An experienced marketing hand, Marc had a successful 14-year career with Unilever working in The Netherlands and New York offices and is now the Founder of the Institute for Real Growth (IRG) - a not-for-profit organization that helps CMOs and other growth leaders drive humanized growth. Earlier Marc co-founded EffectiveBrands (2001), a global marketing leadership consultancy which later became a part of the the WPP group.Marc has learned from and collaborated with many of the world's most prominent Chief Marketing Officers, and he is a frequent keynote speaker at business schools, companies, and industry conferences. In this inaugural episode of The Super CMO Show, Swami and Marc discuss: How Marc found his true calling in Marketing How marketing influences the strategic direction of companies The Da Vinci CMO model Being an effective CMO Tips for future marketers Brand insights with Dove, Nike, Patagonia, Tide & Colgate How technology, creativity and emotion drive marketing and much more. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Marc: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcdeswaanarons/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com

Is it Your life is your responsibility or Just keep going. No matter what or pay yourself first. It does not matter how good the advice is if you have benefited from it! As Prof Annapurni says, Whatever the situation you are in be it a disadvantageous situation but identify the advantage of it and make use of it. As Sunder Madakshira says, Winning the battle in one's mind before winning it in the marketplace is very important. As Chris Yeh says, Quantity has a Quality of its own, You should keep doing and trying, Keep trying and work hard! Find out the Best Advice our guests Ever Received in this curated video. Featured in the video are: Roger Forsgren, Former Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA Neil Hoyne, Chief Measurement Strategist at Google Sunder Madakshira, CEO of Rezolve Prof. Thales Teixeira, Co-Founder of Decoupling.co Prof. Yadati Narahari, Director of the Centre for Brain Research B Joseph Pine II, Author, Speaker and Management Advisor Dr. Annapurni Subramaniam, Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics Amit Ranjan, Co-Founder of Slideshare Paul Zak, Neuroeconomist Chris Yeh, Author, Investor and Entrepreneur

What advice would you give to an 18-year-old in university? Is it Getting out of the bubble of your Majors? Developing communication skills or simply sticking to the basics? As Prof Annapurni says, work hard, be passionate, and find something that challenges you. If you feel comfortable and capable, you are no longer challenged. As Neil Hoyne says, in the future, you must learn subjects outside your core discipline and gain real-world experience! As Chris Yeh says, Try and experience new things because there will be an easier time to try new things or meet remarkable people as all things are being served on a silver platter! Find out what advice our Guests would give to an 18-year-old at university in this curated video. Featured in the video are: Roger Forsgren, Former Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA Neil Hoyne, Chief Measurement Strategist at Google Sunder Madakshira, CEO of Rezolve Prof. Thales Teixeira, Co-Founder of Decoupling.co Prof. Yadati Narahari, Director of the Centre for Brain Research B Joseph Pine II, Author, Speaker and Management Advisor Dr. Annapurni Subramaniam, Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics Amit Ranjan, Co-Founder of Slideshare Paul Zak, Neuroeconomist Chris Yeh, Author, Investor and Entrepreneur

What Does Success Mean To You? Is it about how much money you make for yourself, or is it in being able to give back to society? Is it a measure of happiness or in constantly striving to achieve your goals? As Prof Annapurni says, the definition of success changes in every stage of career and life. When we start our career, we are hungry, we are curious. We want to learn, we want to create and we want to be recognised. A few years later, it is about how much money we make, the kind of lifestyle we want, and the kind of material pleasures we consume. Once financially secure, as we reach the last couple of decades of our career, success lies in the reputation we've built, the goodwill we've earned and the lives we've touched along the way. At the end of the day, as Sunder Madakshira says, a good night's sleep with a clear conscience is a measure of success in itself. Watch this curated video on what success means to the guests we have spoken to this year. Featured in the video are: Roger Forsgren, Former Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA Neil Hoyne, Chief Measurement Strategist at Google Sunder Madakshira, CEO of Rezolve Prof. Thales Teixeira, Co-Founder of Decoupling.co Prof. Yadati Narahari, Director of the Centre for Brain Research B Joseph Pine II, Author, Speaker and Management Advisor Dr. Annapurni Subramaniam, Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics Amit Ranjan, Co-Founder of Slideshare Paul Zak, Neuroeconomist Chris Yeh, Author, Investor and Entrepreneur

Rupal Patel is an ex-CIA agent turned entrepreneur, international speaker and business consultant. She helps founders and executives unlock their potential through a powerful new toolkit that reveals how techniques of the CIA can help anyone find their voice and thrive without conforming to stale stereotypes or dated “best practices”. Rupal is the author of the bestselling book “From CIA to CEO”. In this episode, Rupal talks to Swaminathan Sivaraman on the fundamental values that shaped her life, as the child of immigrant parents in America the importance of curiosity in career-building understanding your personal mission and corporate mission how it was working at the CIA how to have difficult conversations as a leader talking the truth to power how the CIA taught her to handle failure her philosophy of absolute v relative life learning, gathering and debriefing data about yourself and many other strategies and unique methods to reset your mindset and aim for success. Listen to the full podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor Full Video Episode available on YouTube.

A writer, investor, and entrepreneur, Chris Yeh has had a ringside seat in the world of startups and scale-ups since 1995. His books help founders, venture capitalists, corporate leaders, policymakers, and everyday people better understand how the internet has changed the way we work together to build amazing organizations. Chris Yeh is the co-author, along with Reid Hoffman, of Blitzscaling, the book that explains how to build world-changing companies like Amazon, Alibaba, and Airbnb in record time. In this episode with Swami & Vignesh, Chris talks about His work at D E Shaw when the internet was an emergent technology The importance of design thinking, storytelling, art & design for engineers How public speaking and Improv can help structure pitches The need for playfulness in product design Blitzscaling for companies in emerging economies Embracing ambiguity and uncertainty when you're creating something new ...and many more engaging insights. Listen in on the podcast. You can also catch the full video episode on YouTube.

Prof. Thales Teixeira is the co-founder of digital disruption consultancy Decoupling.co. Previously, he was the Lumry Family Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, where he taught MBA, doctoral and executive-level courses in Marketing Models, Digital Marketing and Ecommerce for 10 years. His two primary domains of research constitute Digital Disruption and The Economics of Attention. He is the author of dozens of articles published in trade press outlets such as The Harvard Business Review, The McKinsey Quarterly, Think with Google, and in academic journals such as Marketing Science, JMR, JM, and JAR. His research and opinions have been routinely featured in The NY Times, The Financial Times, ABC Nightly News, NBC News, NPR, Forbes, Quartz, The New Yorker and The Guardian. Thales is the author of Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption, which is based on eight years of research visiting dozens of startups, tech companies and incumbents. Thales shows how and why consumer industries are disrupted, and what established companies can do about it—while highlighting the specific strategies potential startups use to gain a competitive edge. In this episode with Swami & Vignesh, Thales talks about: Disruption & the genesis of Decoupling Product Development in Developed vs Developing Markets Differences between Customer Value Chain and Customer Journey How certain Customer Value Chain niches are creating new business models How to define Business Models through the Customer Value Chain How Large Companies Vs Startups approach Customer Needs Identifying Erosion of Product-Market Fit Insight into how Uber, Airnbnb & Etsy made their first 1000 customers ...and many more insights and strategies. Listen in on the podcast. You can also catch the full video episode on YouTube.