Shaping the aspirations of Arab awakening

One thing for sure, the countries that saw the Arab awakening have a vibrant,educated young population that loves technology and are desperate for freedom. In fact, one of the striking features of the Arab revolution was that it was driven by youth and technology.

 At the peak of the revolution in Egypt, 87, 293 had signed up the Facebook page “We are all Khalid Said”(Khalid Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian from the coastal city of Alexandria, Egypt, was tortured to death at the hands of two police officers became a symbol of the protestors). 


Later, Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian-born Google marketing executive, who first played a role in organising the opposition through Facebook, told the American audiences that without Facebook and Twitter their revolution ‘would never have happened.’

Similarly, when it came to the protests in Tunisia the main stream media took time to get into grips with the situation, whilst hints of unrest was already brewing on Twitter soon after Bouazizi ,the vegetable vendor, who later became an immortal face of the protests set himself on fire.

In many ways, the zeal and the enthusiasm of the youth in particular, and their smart adoption of social media tools to propel their revolution debunked certain stereotypes about the youth of the region. The misperception amongst many in the world that the region is traditional, inward looking and adverse to modernity and technology was unfounded.

In fact, when the young protestors went to the street in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere, they also sent out a clear message to their rulers and the world at large that they too have the aspirations to live in a world that is based on the principles of dignity, justice and freedom.

Now that the Arab awakening has taken its course and in the dictators toppled, it is largely in the interest of the world that the aspirations of the youth are given shape and their dream is not lost.

The top 10 points of  Burson – Marsteller’s   Arab Youth Survey  indicate in general the views and the concerns of the youth from the region. While they say that lack of democracy and the civil unrest are some of the biggest obstacles facing them, their personal preference is however to able to earn a good pay and lead a decent lifestyle. And this is a priority number 1.

Their demand is clear: they want a transparent, corruption free government that creates amongst other things, good job  opportunities and guarantees a decent life . Democracy, they say is of no use if it doesn’t improve their lives or is replaced by a system that is equally inefficient or more corrupt than the dictatorial regimes that preceded them. The survey shows that the youth across the Middle East increasingly look at UAE as a model that their countries should emulate. 

The political crisis in Egypt is unfortunate. However, whoever takes charge of the nation eventually will run the risk of triggering another mass movement if their aspirations are not satisfied. At the end of the day, as Hillary Clinton says, it is up to the Egyptian people to determine their own future but there will be will no going back on the democratic transition.

Whilst such assurances are welcome, the West must also understand that it can takes decades or at least a generation before the democratic institutions in these states can mature. Democracy in the Middle East should conform to the culture, history and tradition of the region. In a recent interview with the BBC, Tariq Ramadan, the Islamic philosopher at Oxford University says that if democracy in the region has to succeed in the future, it is important not to follow the Western model blindly but it should based on innovation that premises on local values and progressive aspects of culture and tradition.

For the world outside, one of the best ways to help these young democracies will be to use the aid money to built modern education institutions and  help develop teachers training programme that acknowledges progressive education based on universal values. Such initiatives alone can guarantee peace and democracy in the region as well make the newly formed democratic institutions stronger in the long run.

Beyond China's public diplomacy

It is interesting to note how an emerging power’s arrival on the world stage generates an unprecedented media attention, and the innovative steps the country itself takes to promote its culture and voice to the world.

The Economist now devotes a special section on China - carving it out from the Asia section. The newspaper says for the first time in 70 years, it has devoted a section on a country (the United States was last to be included in 1941). Likewise all international media has a section on China (some also on India).

And why not: an interactive map comparing Chinese provinces with countries on the Economist website shows the country’s economic might: For example, Guangdong's GDP (at market exchange rates) is almost as big as Indonesia's; the output of both Jiangsu and Shandong exceeds Switzerland’s. Shanghai’s GDP per person is as high as Saudi Arabia’s (at purchasing-power parity), the poorest province, Guizhou, has an income per head close to that of India.

A student in Confucius institute

It is not that the world has suddenly taken interest on China. Over the last decade China has invested large amounts on public diplomacy to educate the world about Chinese culture. It has established 356 Confucius institutes in fifty different countries. In the UK alone there are ten.  This is at the back of huge aid and foreign investment in dolls out to other developing countries particularly in Africa.

On the digital sphere, China Central Television (CCTV) is increasingly expanding its global operation. Reports say Chinese state broadcaster is looking to increase its overseas staff by tenfold by 2016, and aims expand its audience base in Africa with English-language services produced in Washington and Nairobi .At the heart of operations will be six hubs: two probably in London and Dubai and others in South America and the Asia Pacific region. I have been watching CCTV in the UK, and must admit their reports are world class.

This is not just a state initiative.  A host of Chinese private channels have registered themselves in London to reach out to the Chinese diasporas across Europe.  However, close sources say that they are yet to see any dividends on their investment.

CCTV HQ in Beijing

On another front, Chinese second tier cities have embarked on global promotion and branding exercise to allure foreign investments and tourist particularly from Europe and the US. The city of Chengdu frequently run adverts on CNN , but also has an ambitious plan for a worldwide promotion which includes inviting international film starts, hosting a friendly English premier league football match and organizing an economic forum probably in London. Through a London based media company they are promoting the city by using classic panda pictures on 150 London taxis!


All these are really admirable initiatives and show the strong appetite of the Chinese to be right on the top. I remember listening to Professor Jonathan Spence, sterling Professor of History at Yale University and is recognised as one of the foremost scholars of Chinese civilisation on Reith Lectures a few years back. In the concluding part of a four series lecture on China, he talked about ‘Li Yang movement’. He said, Li Yang, a charismatic teacher had opened thousands of English language schools in China. 

 He demanded that his students shout every English word learnt to get over any fear of not  able to interact with  foreigners.  Professor Spence felt it is this shouting of English which probably has helped to equalize the sense of nervousness about coming and studying abroad. Li Yang’s banner read ‘conquer English to make China stronger’ – not surprised: most of my classmates in my master’s programme in Scotland were infact Chinese students.

Poverty in India's North-east

Pop into some of the dance clubs in down town South Delhi and adjoining Gurgaon, you will see oriental looking girls dressed in skimpy clothes, dancing in groups to ’entertain’ the men in the clubs. I later found out that they are hired (or given free entry) by the clubs to allure customers, and some of the girls are indirectly involved in prostitution.

Almost unseen to an outsider and sandwiched between posh neighborhoods of South Delhi is Munirka – an urban village.  It provides affordable accommodation to thousands of students, young professional and other migrants. It is crowded, cosmopolitan and is bustling with small businesses. This is also home to thousands of migrants from India’s North- eastern states- mostly from of Manipur and Nagaland, and also Nepal. Many of the girls dancing in the clubs also live here.

One of the local landlords, who recounted how this urban village has transformed in last 15 years due to the development of South Delhi, told me that when the oriental looking people first arrived, the locals – mostly rich but  uneducated – thought they were from Korea or Japan. 'We had no idea such people existed in India’!

India's Northeast has been historically underdeveloped, geographically isolated area, home to diverse tribal groups and far from the political capital. It has been a centre of militancy and secessionist movements, and has not benefited much from the country’s rapid economic growth.

The latest  poverty figures of India shows that the levels of poverty has significantly increased in five states of North-east  - Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. This has forced thousands particularly from Manipur – an impoverished state that has been ravaged by insurgency- to move to bigger cities across India in search of work and better life.

Once in Delhi, the migrants from the northeast increasingly find difficult to get along with the local mainstream cultures .Regional sentiments run high. They complain of racism – they are generally referred as ‘chinkis’ ( a derogatory term for Orientals). The locals say they are ‘immoral’ and bring in foreign (western) culture.

The problems of the North- east are acutely complex and it is not possible for policy makers in Delhi to even conceive a solution without visiting the region. Writing in The Assam Tribune, an English daily, Sanjoy Hazarika, an eminent journalist, points out how the former home secretary, Gopal Pilai was appalled to see the desperate poverty while visiting a remote area, and made immediate donations for toilets to be constructed in a local school. He says it is this process of discovery that is needed not just by the government officials but also the media and other scholars.

The local and the state governments also should make concerted effort to boost the economy of the area through a combination of infrastructure development, cross-border diplomacy with China and Myanmar, and strategic marketing, bringing prosperity to the region.

The region has suffered immensly due to neglect of the succesive  federal governments and corruption at local levels. It is imperative to give a new sense of hope to the people of the region and make them a part of India's economic success.

India is changing for the world, Indians not for themselves.

A day after my arrival in New Delhi from the UK, I went to buy a bottle of Coke. It was twice the price it used to be four years back. I told this jokingly to the shopkeeper. He winced and told me in Hindi: des taraki kar raha hai, sir (The country is making progress, sir!)

Progress indeed:  four years of absence from India can mean a lot. The country’s urban landscape is changing at a staggering pace.  For someone who has lived here, the changes meet head-on. As you land in New Delhi, you can only marvel at its swanky world class air port. The city now has a state –of the art metro system, the cranky old buses have been replaced by sleek air-conditioned high capacity buses and good roads and giant flyovers dot the city.  

It is precisely this image of modern India that the world is looking at (alongside China) with both awe and envy. India’s economic miracle, the rise of its huge middle class, its growing military expansion offer enormous business opportunities for various businesses in the western world. In 2010 -11 the leaders of the P5 visited India in quick succession. Britain in particular called for a ‘special relationship’.

India’s flair for frugal innovation and entrepreneurship and the giant strides made by Indian conglomerates in terms of global mergers and acquisitions are catching the eye of the world. India’s Tata is now the largest industrial employer in Britain.

This is the good side of India the world knows about, and I had come to India on a professional visit with a great hope of working with a trendy young work force with a high sense of work ethics and professionalism. But to my dismay, things were utterly disturbing at the management level.  Whilst I found people here are hard working, have tremendous aspiration and go an extra mile to help you, they are let down by a system or a culture of work that is highly demoralizing and pays scant regard for the people they manage.

The inefficiency is a result of a number of factors:  it is an agonizing mix of ego, sense of superiority, lack of empathy, ownership and good manners – all at the administrative level. The combination of these factors creates an impregnable bureaucracy where there is little co-ordination between departments.  It results in an incessant delay for getting a simple work done. 

Private sector in India is a beacon of India’s hope and pride, but for Indians to be happy at work and prosperous in their careers; issues in management structure have to be addressed. Attributes like inability to communicate politely, or failing to take ownership of an issue, or using rough language indicates there is something fundamentally wrong in the manner we approach work.

 What is needed is a proper training in human management and communication skills to create a work culture that promotes efficiency and professionalism.  Mangers at all levels must be trained to behave in a more humane and professional manner. They must be taught good leadership qualities along with basic manners like  how to smile, empathize with subordinates and trouble shoot a problem within a fixed time frame.

The first glimpse of unprofessional behavior is witnessed   at the New Delhi’s swanky airport itself where the immigration officers lack even the basic courtesies - clearly demonstrating how incredible we are.

The biggest problem, however, is that no one wants to listen to you, let alone understand your problem. It is really disheartening when educated citizens of one of the world’s most literary cultures behave in such an appalling manner.

Let's welcome 2012 with a 'spring of hope'

Looking back at the events of 2011, the following lines by Charles Dickens spring to mind:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the   epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,....”-  A Tale of Two Cities.

Dickens wrote these words in1859, but personally, I feel that they hold a great relevance in our present times. The year 2011 wasn’t a great year for most of us: there was hardly any good news, and we all suffered in one way or the other either because of the ongoing recession, or a revolution or a natural calamity. Sadly, there was nothing really to cheer about this year.

Clearly, from the perspective of the era that we live in, “it was a best of times.” Globalisation, new technology, social media, freedom of speech, democracy all made it look like a world full of possibilities – sky seemed to be the limit. But, in reality we are in the ‘worst of times'. Graduates are increasingly finding it  difficult to get jobs, unemployment figures have been worst in a generation, economies around the world have become stagnant, the promises of a ‘flat world’ are vanishing, ambitions of young people are being thwarted- in short there is a prevalent mood of frustration and anger. This was a fact in 2011.

The unsurpassed ‘age of wisdom’ is failing to live up to the expectations. We have benefited enormously from the internet and never in the history of mankind the exchange of ideas and access to information and knowledge have been so profound; yet on the other hand, big international summits like G20 or a conference on climate change end in nothing but a deadlock. What did we see at G20 in Cannes – surely a Greek play? Where is the wisdom to create an age of consensus? Isn’t the Euro zone crisis a shame? This was another reality of 2011.

In many ways, we are living in an ‘age of foolishness’ refusing to learn from history or are too complacent. We love mass movements directed at state but not willing to do our bit to change the world (look at the mass protests in India against corruption). We are as individuals more corrupt, irresponsible towards our loved ones, unsocial and more selfish. The London riots this year was shocking – ringing the alarm bells of a society and a system drastically gone wrong.  It had a lesson for the affluent in the emerging economies as much as it did for ‘broken Britain’.

The revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa was the ‘epoch of belief and incredulity’ – no doubt about it. It was great to see  youth wielding the power of technology and education for freedom and change, but I hope the sweeping changes we saw in the region is long sustained and is not replaced by regimes that are intolerant to progressive ideas, religious freedom and human rights.

Politically, there was a ‘season of light’ in Myanmar with junta showing some signs of political reform, but in the rest of world  stretching from Afghanistan to the US, from Norway to Japan it was all gloomy and bloody.

However, 2012, will hopefully bring lots of promises paving the way for the ‘winter of despair' to the ‘spring of hope’ Four major nations of the world: China, US,  France and Russia are going to choose new leaders. The London Olympics will usher new optimism and hope.We hope the Arab spring will enjoy a fruitful summer, and the BRIC economies along with Columbia and Venezuela (another country to go to poll) will continue to show some economic miracles. We also hope the rich and developed nations will continue to inspire more dynamism and less protectionism and a solution to the Euro crisis will soon be found.

After the three years of economic depression, it is the time to collectively rebuilt and bring prosperity, peace and hope to the citizens of the world. It is the time for us, the youth in particular to come forward and do utmost in our individual sphere. Together we can create a secure world full of promises based on the universal values of freedom, love and dialogue. Let’s march to 2012 with a spirit of hope, let’s not make it an era where “we had everything before us, but we had nothing before us”

Let me end with this quote by a renowned Buddhist scholar and philosopher Daisaku Ikeda:

“Youth means to cherish hope ; it is a time of development. Youth means to challenge oneself; it is a time of construction. Youth means to fight for justice; it is a time of action”

 

Speaking all the way..

The purpose of public speaking can range from simply transmitting information, to motivating people to act, to simply telling a story. Good orators should be able to change the emotions of their listeners, not just inform them.

Public speaking can also be considered a discourse with a community. Interpersonal communication and public speaking have several components that embrace such things as motivational speaking, leadership development, business, customer service, large group communication, and mass communication.

Public speaking can also be a powerful tool to use for purposes such as motivation, influence, persuasion, informing, translation, or simply entertaining. A confident speaker is more likely to use this as excitement and create effective speech thus increasing their overall ethos.

In public relations, we have to incorporate to a great deal the above mentioned features while dealing with all stakeholders. Our job involves persuading the public on behalf of our clients either through oral presentation or through some great writings. Like a good orator, our writings have to be clear, concise, and coherent and have the right selection of words so that the audience can easily absorb the message.

PR also involves making presentation while pitching for a new business. It involves explaining strategic communication issues, and many a times the audience may not be familiar with certain aspects like digital PR. Good oratory skills are handy in explaining complex issues with simple words and wining the trust, confidence and finally the business!  

Business lessons from the Indian Grand Prix

Major sporting events are no longer just about who won the match or who won the medals. Who hosted the event — “Formula 1 in India? You must be joking!” — can have a major impact on that nation’s image worldwide.

And when India did host Formula 1, on October 30 this year, that nation’s status was instantly ratcheted up several notches — globally.

This is yet another example of how emerging economies are increasingly bidding for major, prestigious global events.

Since the great success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, mega sporting events have been travelling to new destinations, particularly to the world’s fastest growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS).(See table below)

From a public relations perspective, the lure of large and spectacular sporting events is often seen as an opportunity to also attract tourism and new investment. The sporting event becomes a platform on which to showcase the culture of the host nation. But the whole event becomes even more than that: it highlights the country’s arrival on the world stage.

The Formula 1 race in New Delhi generated huge international media attention, not just because of the global popularity of the sport, but because the arrival in India of the most expensive sport in the world also signalled that India had now come of age.

For global brands this was a wake-up call: India (and China too) has a growing middle-class with disposable income and they want to buy your goods, so tell them what you have to offer.

The success of the F1 race (against the background of shoddy preparations for the Commonwealth Games) offers instant PR and marketing lessons for foreign firms who want to break into India. Unlike the public sector — that handled the Commonwealth Games —private ventures in that country can indeed deliver world class standards. This flare of the private sector is further underlined by the active involvement of various Indian conglomerates in mergers and acquisitions overseas.

In terms of market demography the young Indian middle-class consumer is trendy, well-informed (due to a free media), cosmopolitan, and exceptionally open to global ideas and cultures (the first F1 race had around 120,000 spectators). It is a country where aligning brand with any truly global event really works.

It could be just a matter of time before there is massive hysteria and a major fan following for the Formula 1 teams, as already exists for the Indian Premier League cricket teams. India might even become the world’s largest market for F1 merchandise.

Marketing gurus should look behind all those depressing figures for literacy, poverty and poor infrastructure: India with its vast young population offers enormous opportunities. The nation of 1.2billion is likely to become the world’s third largest economy by 2030, if not before. However, to get a good slice of that pie, it’s important to get into the market right now — not the day after tomorrow. 

Mega sporting events in emerging nations	Destination
2008 Olympics	Beijing
2010 FiFa World Cup	South Africa
2010 Commonwealth Games	New Delhi
2014 Fifa World Cup	Brazil
2018 Fifa World Cup	Russia