June Update : Webinars.Feedbacks.Learnings.

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June was a tipping point. After the lockdown began in March, it was difficult to clearly visualize the future of my consulting and training business. However, within a month the webinar bug bit me and I was on my way to exploring possibilities in rough waters. Until May, business dynamics were going haywire – announcing free and open webinars on Facebook and LinkedIn brought in good amount of traction initially but registration was no indication of number of attendies. Three sessions could attract only 33, 21 and 16 participants respectively. Numbers decreased. Consistency, though, paid huge dividends. After consecutive open sessions, opportunities to conduct sessions for organizations and institutions came through. With the ongoing covid crisis, it became clearer that economic slump is inevitable and therefore simply making makeshift arrangements to keep oneself busy is not a foresighted answer to the question mark looming large over future of business. Thoughts about market trends, precipitated into a webinar for fellow Image Consultants and I moderated the session that consolidated the insightful inputs of more than 65 professionals in the presence of my teachers from ICBI as panelists.

By May end I was a pro! Had tested several platforms – Google Meet, Gotowebinar and Zoom, even subscribed to one of them. Yeah right! It is Zoom.

June started on an accelerated note with calls from an institute, a corporate house and a professional group. It busied me with improvising on virtual presence skills, getting used to the dynamics of technology, learning various features of VC platforms and designing sessions in response to specific requirements of professional groups. Those who approached for training sessions were either looking for a worthwhile engagement for their community or were grappling to standardize protocols for online presence within their organization. (Although for quite a few years now, smartphones have empowered everyone with basic logistics to create audio-video content, post Covid culture of WFH and online meetings brought forth several problems that are big hindrance to work such as lack of awareness about etiquette and compliance with formality.) I used the problem statements to create a few sessions that addressed common issues and covered everything practically applicable to all kinds of online interactions. A rich content piled up in front of me as I went deeper into reading through blogposts, watching videos, researching on theories of voice modulation, micro-expressions and also completing a course in photographic techniques for home videos.

Next step was even more interesting. It involved learning about more specific operations within the professions from where I received the inquiry. For what purpose do pharma managers use Zoom platform? Is it internal review meetings of head office staff or cycle meeting for field staff or interaction with doctors? Why do students interact on Zoom/Meet and for what? Is it job interview or attending a course of study or group activity with fellow students? How different is the need of a first/second semester student from that of a final semester student? Does the age of a teacher matter in their ability to cope with online teaching challenges? In libraries how can professionals engage their readers or promote various services and resources accessible to them? Is it a breach of copyright if they conduct online reading sessions for their patrons? And so on. Answers to those questions resulted into sessions with interesting and engaging activities. Each Webinar followed by encouraging comments in chat box, feedback forms and WhatsApp messages increased the spirits and the hunger to create more. What happened next comes a little later.

I would take this opportunity to summarize the webinar-feedback-learning string for each project in a concise form here.

Student Group – Its time to Upskill

The management institute in question is affiliated to University of Mumbai and runs two parallel courses PGDM and MMS both extending to 2 year duration. The institute arranged for registrations – creating google form, sending links, reminders and submitting final sheet to me. As far as registrants are concerned, common behavioural patterns emerged from both groups. There were more registrants from 2nd year than 1st year. 60% of Second year and 35% of First year students registered for the session. Some of them panicked at the close of registrations and requested entry into the session to which we complied. Out of total registrants 70% students attended the entire session. We had 63 and 67 students logged in for both sessions respectively till the end of presentation. However, half of them left during Q & A. Inspite of repeated reminders about feedback form by their faculty members who also attended the session along with them, only 26 and 38 respectively filled the form and shared their viewpoints on the issues covered in the session.

The highlight of the feedback form was a question asking the participants to suggest topics for future sessions. Interestingly few students asked for mock sessions to build on skillset discussed in the session whereas majority of them used general expressions like “want more” / “good experience” / “nice presentation” / “no comments” and were unable to state clearly what they wish to learn within the realms of Personal Branding. Many attended the webinar because their friends were attending. Some also stated that their friend was attending another webinar scheduled at the same time and they intend to exchange notes later. Seems a great arrangement. What I could infer from the analysis of feedback and follow-up discussions with the organizers (who also happen to be teaching the same set of students and have observed /interacted with them over a year at least) can be summarized as :

• Students are greatly influenced by their peers when it comes to learning non-technical skills. They will choose to attend sessions based on their friends’ opinion.
• A small fraction is future-anxious in the right proportion and is able to adopt learn-unlearn-relearn behaviour aptly to remain industry relevant for life
• a large group believes soft skills can be learnt by watching YouTube videos and do not realize that here’s a chance to get 101 tips during Q&A and receive practical solutions to more specific problems
• Behaviour and etiquette is often a sensitive issue for them and feel embarrassed to ask questions related to personal grooming
• Due to ignorance and conditioning of the mind, students find it difficult to accept lack of soft skills openly, would rather ignore it and continue to portray an image of perfect beings – thus reinforcing false self image and doing more harm to themselves.

Corporate Employees’ Business Focus

A pharma company reached out to me for a webinar session for its first line managers who had to train field staff and also develop alternative means to reach out to doctors. Transitioning from a business model that largely depended on extensive travelling across globe to remaining seated in respective places and depending on online platforms for business meetings created enough chaos, unrest and stress at all levels throughout the organization. Whether in a cycle meeting or a review meeting every member of the audience is required to know and follow the protocols of online domain. The company arranged for the session on Zoom platform which was attended by more than 65 product managers. This experience stood out for an ultimate show of professionalism, discipline and drive for business. For this session I had tweaked my content to take it to a higher level by including some tips on micro-expressions and practical exercises on voice quality improvement. (I had been reading and researching about them for a long time and used for my own upskilling, but included in a session for the first time). The experiment worked and became the highlight of the session.

For me this was a window to an entire industry that even during lockdown was at its best trying to serve people and conduct business as usual. As I interacted with a sample group from the classified essential services segment, I felt the immense pressure of paradigm shifts at work. What matters to Pharma industry right now is multifarious set of factors – doctors not in service so who will prescribe their medicines, people staying at home and not going out for treatment so who will buy their products, restricted vehicular movements so how should they deliver supplies to stockists and retailers, danger of contracting corona virus so field staff wary of going out to meet doctors and for the same reason doctors not willing to meet for any business promotion. And finally the perils of losing their job if sales do not reach the target. As an interim relief though, owners of some companies have decided to support their staff without salary cut or lay-offs, but the question is – for how long will they do it? Business as usual will take too long to pick up hence the perils at large will continue to haunt and hunt the vulnerables.

The participants’ concerns revolved around how to effectively train their field staff such that they could translate the lists of Dos and Don’ts into behavioural changes ASAP and thereby ensure better business prospects. It is quite obvious that the entire focus is towards change management in minimum time and at minimum loss of business. I can hope the group manages to reclaim their market space with the use of etiquette tips, active body language, controlled micro-expressions and principles of visual communication in the online domain until the restrictions are lifted from market operations and also into the future.

Staying Relevant as a Professional

Meanwhile my friends and well wishers at BKC Knowledge Network invited me for a session on a topic that would resonate with the current situation – Virtual Rejig – New Skillset for the Librarian. Initially announced for Google platform that allows 250 participants in a session, it garnered a registration list as long as 300+. So we decided to divide the group and deliver back to back sessions in repeat mode. During the Covid crisis here’s a group of professionals that is a part of something as essential as education yet not being counted as essential services. All academic institutions being under lockdown , libraries automatically went down with their parent organization and professionals sat home with literally nothing to do. Some corporate librarians resorted to conducting series of webinars in the interest of professional growth – sharing of information and experiences. As webinar concept gained momentum, collaborations emerged and academicians entered into a web of cross connections across disciplines, departments, universities and thematic interests. Interesting permutations and combinations encouraged library professionals to talk about future trends mostly revolving around technological applications and enhancement of library services – based on an anticipation that library services would resume soon.

When we announced a non-tech theme it picked traction too fast to imagine. At the time of designing the session, a preliminary research through informal telephonic conversations with professionals combined with responses of registrants to a question about new activities and services introduced by them in recent times, formed the basis of conceptual framework of the session. Feedback and Q&A of these two sessions was tremendously inspiring. On the suggestion of organisers we announced a 5 day training programme on Personal Branding of Library Professionals and managed to conduct the same successfully on Zoom. My team included Image Consultants Urmi Bhatt and Alpa Doshi and together we facilitated self evaluations, brainstorming, fun exercises and application of emotional intelligence, communication skills and soft skills to library situations that involve various stakeholders – administration, reader community, vendors and library professionals. Stating real life problems and using creativity to solve them added vigour to the online sessions as the participants competed enthusiastically to put their newly acquired skills to use.

Time and again professionals have reiterated their inability to cope with expectations of reader and researcher community. Similar to other service industries, library professionals need to upskill themselves in communication and business etiquette in addition to sharpening their critical thinking, using creativity to solve complex problems of scholarly world. To remain relevant to the academic and scholarly communication process it is important that library professionals develop :

• High emotional intelligence to be able to comprehend individual readers’ information needs accurately. Additionally knowledge of challenging situations readers face in their professional and personal lives
• Value system and character strengths to feel the urge to add value by locating problems and finding solutions using information resources
• Deeper knowledge of their collection and ability to identify valuable information sources lying in library shelves undiscovered or underused
• Ability to repackage information into learning objects and make them deliverable using latest technological medium
• Art of designing microinfo products with the objective of addressing immediate problems of readers

Consistent efforts of individual and collective nature will guarantee emergence of strong personal brands in library and information profession and eventually change the Image of the profession.

Just Around the Corner

June was a tipping point. It also marks completion of Five years of my existence in Image Consulting. From here on we have bigger plans to go ahead. From here on I will be using the term “We”. Roughly 2 years ago I started building contacts with fellow Image Consultants and building my team. There are no big investments involved. Just pooling of talent and trust. Now my team is stronger with 6 new entrants in the process of induction. We are about to start testing a range of new training products developed for online delivery but in synchronous mode to replicate the experience of offline learning-teaching process. We together hope to achieve greater heights and touch more lives enabling them to look, feel and perform better in their personal, professional and social lives. We will continue to help you to “Be the Best Version of YOU”!!

How to Enhance Employability Skills

When Pope Francis apologised for trying to free his hand from the clutches of a woman who shockingly grabbed his hand and pulled, the world cheered him. An article in The Guardian called it an example that might teach other public figures to be contrite. Pope has been applauded for not mincing words in his much-hyped new year apology and accepting that it was normal human behaviour both before and after.  This is a great lesson in Emotional Intelligence. It brings to the fore, manifold revelations about human physiognomy. It shows that we all have a responsibility to correct our behaviour not just for the fear of being judged but in the interest of human goodness. most problems would disappear if we follow the Pope’s example – just say heartfelt “sorry” to the ones we have hurt in the past.

To reach Pope Francis’ level of emotional maturity is no easy task. Many would argue that it’s his job to set the best example of humility, patience, courage and compassion and hence an apology had to follow. For any other human being in a similar situation, if your personal space is threatened like being held by hand and pulled, you have all the right to shove them away and never ever have to apologize. But there are other instances where people offend others but cannot gather enough courage to apologize or simply do not care. Situations maybe different but the need and urgency to apologize remains the same and commonly seen in innumerable small instances everyday.

Can we teach people the simple rule of saying sorry without much fussing over it? Why do people not apologise in the first place, if they have done wrong?

Actually, why stop at saying sorry? Let’s revisit the ‘sorry, thank you, please, excuse me’ quartet and rebuild habits as children are taught in schools. But the analogy ends here.

Children learn social etiquette at an early age and start practicing with consistent reminding from parents and teachers until it forms a habit to say the golden words every time they are in order. Whereas when adults are asked to follow the same rules, insistence does not suffice. Adult minds respond well when the theory of “emotional intelligence” is used to logically explain the implications of very small positive deeds and their big impacts on the psychology of people around them; they are more likely to make an effort towards building simple good habits. No matter how trivial this sounds but it forms the basis of learning all other soft skills and effectuating behavioural changes in adults. Emotionally Intelligent adults receive great benefits from soft skills, such as high productivity and an upward career graph. They develop a skillset that is in great demand at present. 1)High Self Esteem 2)Problem solving skills 3)Critical Thinking 4)Conflict Resolution 4)Good Communication Skills 5)Service Orientation 6)Leadership – are rated highly desirable in several studies e.g. World Economic Forum’s Future OF Jobs Report 2019 , Skill India Report 2019 and Udemy Data 2020.

Currently tremendous efforts are being made by all HEIs to match up with industry expectations of skilled workforce. During the academic year 2019-20, we conducted training programmes for students and teaching faculty across the disciplines of Management, Engineering, Medical Science, Library Science and Pure Academics (Economics) on topics related to soft skills. Some good practices adopted by these departments and colleges to teach soft skills and enhance their Employability Quotient (EmpQ) are already yielding good results

1. Corporate Initiative: Tata Consultancy Services Initiative  is an AICTE supported platform that offers a comprehensive course catalogue for different levels of learning at affordable prices. But measuring effectiveness in terms of of behavioural changes is challenging in online format. While soft skills are at play in interpersonal spaces, human interactions proves to be a more effective teaching method.
2. Syllabus Coverage: Knowledge, skill and attitude related to soft skills are tested and evaluated along with final exam of the core subjects. Students benefit more from case studies, internship programmes and field visits.
3. Industry Collaboration: Industry experts have field experience but soft skills are often lost in subject expertise and students do not benefit as much.
4. In-house Training: Training and placement cells are doing a great job by scheduling and deciding topics and then assigning to guest speakers selectively.  But if there is a gap between the talk and the walk, students are not motivated to adopt practices.
5. Full Time Faculty: Dedicated faculty for Soft Skill Training is the best option to get high ROI. Structured annual programme is always better than intermittent training schedules.
6. Soft Skill Experts: Outsourcing training programmes to freelancer Image Consultants and Soft Skill Trainers brings in all the good elements of structured trainings with up-to-date knowledge, skills and attitude.

There is still room for improvement. Industry is moving much faster than imagined by academia. Every year we have amended lists of skills in-demand, in fact during the time interval between a survey and publication of its report, new skillset would have emerged. Pace of technological advancement is the chief force behind accelerated change. Speed of change in academics has to catch up fast and concentrate on relevance to productivity. Here is a list of pointers to think about ways to cope with a future not far from now.

ENHANCING ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMMES

1. Delink English from Etiquette. Soft Skill and Etiquette education is different from English Language education. Authorities need to understand this and make necessary amendments to hiring policies of faculty meant to teach such courses.
2. Dedicate a section/paper in the syllabus to Personal Excellence for real benefit
3. Declutter the existing list of Soft Skills. It is changing every year, hence make it a policy to revisit your training programmes annually.
4. Decentralize by taking experts on board for their advice on latest market trends to retain your students’ EmpQ
5. Demonstrate behavioural expertise through your teaching faculty to garner confidence in your students. Start with training faculty members to be the role models for the students.
6. Deglamourize Appearance Management because taking good care of oneself is not the same as wearing fancy expensive clothes, hairstyle or makeup. It is about good hygiene, neat look, pleasant body language and polite conversations.
7. Determination to get positive results not only in terms of placement numbers but effectuating real life behavioural changes for good.

To deliver our young generation from the perils of redundancy, mediocrity and frustration, this is the time to increase our speed of change by multifold. We don’t have enough time to waste on mulling over age old practices – they have to quickly make way for the new order. Positive Behaviour, Etiquette, Thinking skills and Emotional Intelligence will not arrive automatically. We need to bring them in by educating every student enrolled in a college in aspects of personal growth in formal setting with resources available around us. India has no dearth of expertise; efforts to identify and utilize them for the maximum gain in the interest of general goodness may sometimes need a forceful pitch though.

 

“Small Differences In Worker Skills Create Large Differences In Productivity & Wages”

Changing for Real : How a Library School is doing it

In a bid to increase Employability or Employment Quotient of graduating students, professional colleges and institutes conduct intermittent trainings under the umbrella term “Personality Development Programme”. The topics covered  range from technological expertise to soft skills – basically anything not covered in the syllabus but is certified by industry as relevant to placement prospects. And the trend is catching fast without much introspection into Return on Investment  (ROI). But  reality cannot be ignored for long. Most programmes are followed by expressions of displeasure over wastage of time, effort and money. This is simply because behavioural changes expected in the participants are not visible even after huge investments. To minimise complaints we need to improvise. But the question is  – What should we change? Content is not the only culprit. Even the delivery mechanism has lesser role in making a training ineffective. In all likelihood it is the planning or layout of the entire programme that governs the course of action on either side of the platform, both trainer and trainee need a definite connect at emotional and psychological levels.

Simply put, most students who attend (because it is mandatory) strongly believe that these issues exist only in the lives of others. For example if the session covers issues related to “Emotional Intelligence” none of them will care to look at themselves and evaluate their own inerpersonal skills. They pick up the theory part of the session and each one stares at others to find faults against the newfound scale. So the crucial point is preparedness of the mind that undergoes training to increase receptivity so that thoughts and words are put to action.

A couple of years back, the Dept. of Libray & Information Science, Mumbai University revamped their 2 year PG degree syllabus to include an entire paper on “Soft Skills and Communication” in third Semester coursework. For the last three years I have been associated with the course and seen some amazing transformational leaps taken by those  students who really got into action. The whole idea is to improvise upon the IMAGE QUOTIENT of a student at the time of admission to take it to a higher level so as to  increase his/her job prospects at the end of the course. Year after year as number of success stories will grow we can  expect to see a gradual change in the stereotypical professional image of the LIBRARIAN .

In this case the FOUR factors that worked in favour are listed below :

1. Embedded Curriculum : Within the  curriculum these classes are timed somewhere halfway through the degree course, by then students are well aquainted with the professional skills and attitudes that they will need on-the-job. When we started with Soft Skills sessions one year of libraianship course work had already enabled them to understand their prospective professional roles and goals. As a result when they were subjected to activities during training sessions they could think innovatively and perform better in interactions and role-plays thereby strengthening their grasp on the concepts.
2. Duration : Under one day – one topic strategy  each session extended for 5 to 6 hours. Because the trainer spent a day with the students as opposed to just delivering a lecture for 2 hrs, everyone had enough chances of discussions, offhand advice and personal interactions with beneficial consequences such as motivation from instant gratification. This freedom to incorporate theory and practice into a day long session interlaced with breaks-at-ease helped to develop confidence in the trainees who opened up with the trainer easily. Less inhibitions meant more learning.
3. Frequency of Contact : For 2½ months I was meeting the same group of students every week and got to spend a day with them. This helped a great deal in refreshing the previous topics, taking a follow-up and keeping a tab on the progress without the pressures of formal evaluation. In subsequent sessions the students could be motivated time and again as some needed to be pushed into taking action. Creating a little bit of competition  students actually worked hard to change their Appearance, Behaviour and Communication and build a Personal Brand stronger than the others. It was overwhelming to see how they started helping each other to learn and grow on an everyday basis.
4. Evaluation Method : Since the training programme is a part of regular course, there is an academic compulsion on all stakeholders. Syllabus has been designed with defined learning objectives and topics aligned in a logical sequence. The department invites the best available faculty in the industry, some experts are not just trainers  but libray professionals with  years of experience. They understand the dynamics of academic milieu and keep a balance between fun activities and committed teaching-learning process. Students  know that they have to undergo formal evaluation at the end of semester and with not many ready-made books available on these  topics, they direct their efforts towards classroom learning. Regularity, punctuality, participation and responsiveness follow automatically.

Just engaging the audience is not enough, the art lies in taking them on a train of thought which halts at stations called Realization, Acceptance and Willingness  (I call it RAW Tunnel) and strictly in that order. However, the final destination called “Visible Change” is still afar. Even at the end of the tunnel, chances of dropout  are high because agreeing to take action needs to be followed by actual “action”. This is the longest and most difficult terrain. Partially because both trainer and trainee are confused over who drives the engine and who blows the whistle. In a planned curriculum there is no such confusion. An efficient way of minimizing the aftermath of blamegame, is to think ahead at the very outset.

Other Colleges and Institutes who care to increase the (new) EQ – “Employability Quotient” need to take cues from this small department and contrive their training activities with more precision and relevance to the evolving demeanour of the market. The most important consideration here should be that one cannot choose to work on selected components of Personal Branding, rather it is a composite exercise involving multifaceted growth of an individual in conjunction with the Image of the Profession. And we are looking forward to changes in behaviour of human beings so it should be more like teaching and less like training.

“Your Beliefs Become Your Thoughts, Your Thoughts Become Your Words,

Your Words Become Your Actions, Your Actions Become Your Habits,

Your Habits Become Your Values, Your Values Become Your Destiny.”

 – Mahatma Gandhi

The science of Fairness creams

Over the past few years there’s been quite a sudden uproar over selling of fairness creams. I don’t know if the objection was triggered by the fact that a separate range of products will now be available exclusively for men , or we have finally given up on “fair and lovely” kinds, or we just want to voice an opinion that can grab attention because “its different”, or maybe anything more bizarre than the imaginable. For at least three generations we tried and tried, with almost no success, so now we decided that the problem is with our outlook – from  stereotypical representation of women, historical inclination towards everything “firangi”, manipulations by social icons who endorse them, to social evils like dowry system have been slated to be the reason for the flourishing of a diabolical idea – the fair skin. Why this sudden uproar??

Epiphany?? Intolerance?? A new fad?? Which is it??

Whichever, but the fact remains that we are slamming the whole idea. However, my problem is that every such uproar triggers a train of thoughts leading backwards to why it has existed for so many years in the first place. I am personally interested in exploring the psychological reasons for its inception rather than implications of its existence. Why did human mind at all  decide to do a certain thing? What was the urge? So I searched the Internet resources, read few articles – some written by subject experts and others by enthusiastic non-experts. Everyone has a genuine point to make. But, 90% literature quotes examples, incidents, problems, issues related to the aftermath of the diabolical practice and belief in “Fair is Better”. At first fairness cream and its endorsers seem to be the culprits, then the focus shifts to age old affinity towards fair skin owing to prolonged subjugation during British rule because fair represented power and control. Although this cannot be true at least not in toto because the obsession is definitely older than the East India Company.

Further delving into literature reveals similar obsessions among African Americans too. Au contraire, white women (especially) have a great longing for tanned skin. While it may be the grass-is-greener-on-other-side syndrome or genuine need for consumption of natural Vitamin D which is abundant in India but scarce in the cold countries, some have argued that climatic and environmental conditions are responsible for the skin color hence less sun means less color. And so on goes a list of arguments and counter arguments.

Interestingly, the great black hair obsession of black women caught my attention. Suddenly I was reminded of a time when hair oils were the only hair products in the market and the premise used for endorsements was the promise of “black, long and thick” hair. There were few hair tonics and shampoos in Indian markets during 70s and 80s. Conditioners were unheard of. Forget the rest of the list that now extends to haircolors, hairserums, anti-dandruff creams, styling gels, setting sprays etc. Since ages women in India have had an indubitable inclination towards black hair , there is enough proof in historical and religious literature. Grandmother’s remedies always included hair treatments that claimed to make your hair strong, thick, long and black.

So the question I was intensely grappling with was – what connects Forever fairness cream  to Kesh Kanti hair oil besides frequent blarings on TV channels and commercial values at stake. It has to be some scientific fact, way of thinking or human response to a certain stimulus. Several readings later I did find an answer to my query.

A certain  article by German researchers Hans-Peter Frey; Christian Honey; Peter König (http://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2193355) reported that human eye fixations are  same for face recognition in both color and grayscale manifestations. It implies that visual attention is color independent. However Color contrast plays an important role in attracting attention to certain parts of the face which remains constant across subjects. When examined in the light of Hering’s Color Opponency Theory (http://psych.ucalgary.ca/PACE/VA-Lab/colourperceptionweb/theories.htm), it makes sense to a layman’s mind. Naturally we are programmed to get attracted to color contrasts and  pay attention to a person’s face much longer and with more focus, if the contrast is high. In a human face the most prominent outline is hairline, hence higher the contrast between the skin color and hair color, more likely it is to attract and retain attention of the perceiver. Darker hair and fairer skin are desirable because they satisfy the psychological need to be noticed and acknowledged.

Now if we re-examine the obsessions of women across the globe regarding facial features, whether it is fair skin for an Indian woman or dark hair for her African counterpart, it all seems to be engrained in our neurobiology. We are guided by our natural instincts to like one thing and dislike the other. When we look at a face, the duration of our gaze is controlled by the identifiability of areas in the face in desirable proportions and this forms the basis of first impressions. Typically Indians have brown skin, brown eyes and brown hair – variations limited to intensity of the color, otherwise from top to bottom all colors belong to the same family -Orange. A slightly fairer skin would definitely increase contrast value, add interest to the face and balance the look. This also explains the Indian craze for bright colors in their outfits. It is all about breaking the monotony of monochrome. Africans on the other hand wish for  hair in the darkest hue of black probably for the same reason i.e. creating contrast value for greater attention.

This further strengthens the theory of visual communication that we Image Consultants employ in our daily work. Aspiring for  fair skin or black hair cannot be viewed in bad light, however effectiveness of these products (Fairness creams and hairoils) making huge profits since ages by feeding on the gullibles is still questionable.  As for Image Consultants we have several other techniques in our kitty that we are already using to create impactful visual communication. With stronger conviction about the the scientific reason for what I enjoy doing, I am on my way to work on another interesting client, and leave the rest of the world to gather wisdom at their own pace. Good luck with the creams and hairoils!!

 

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
― Isaac Asimov

 

Leggings : the Jeans of Indian Women

They are omnipresent. Or at least thats how it seems. In the past 10 years they have sneaked into the wardrobes of most Indian women. LEGGINGS !! For the middle class women this is a lifesaver for …

Source: Leggings : the Jeans of Indian Women

Leggings : the Jeans of Indian Women

They are omnipresent. Or at least thats how it seems. In the past 10 years they have sneaked into the wardrobes of most Indian women. LEGGINGS !! For the middle class women this is a lifesaver for a lot more reasons than one can imagine. It definitely  IS the comfy, versatile, affordable, casual jeans of Indian WOMEN.

1.Comfort : Leggings are comfortable to wear because the most popular regular ones are made from a weft-knit fabric which stretches in both lengthwise and crosswise direction, thus giving ease of movement to work around the house while accomplishing daily chores.

2.Easy Care : The fibre used for these stretch knits is commonly a blend of cotton or nylon, polyester and elastane. Cotton fibres make the fabric very absorbent, verstile, strong and most importantly easy to wash, bleach and dye. A fabric with higher percentage of cotton is best suited for the hot and humid climate of Indian sub continent.

3.Casual-look : On examining the design elements of “leggings” as a garment, it is not difficult to conclude that the clothing silhouette is extremely subordinate and conforms more closely to the curves of the body. So the messages communicated by the outfit are more of relaxed, informal, friendly, soft nature.

4.Variety : Leggings come in all sizes, colours and patterns. Lately the designer range has replaced the plain basic ones by a wide assortment of variously designed accent pieces in digital, geometric, floral patterns. Most appealing of them all is the embroidered matching set of a piece of legging and a dupatta, similar on the lines of matching salwar-dupatta sets that were so popular untill recently. Some designs include addition of embellishments, zippers, laces and pipings in contrasting colors. 

 

5.Versatility : Historically, leggings have been used as a protective garment since ages in the West. Interestingly, sometimes it was just a kind of undergarment to serve as a protection against cold or was worn under skirts to cover the exposed part of skin. In 2005, it made its way into Indian market in a big way and since then its adapted versions have  been all over the place. In fact the structure of this clothing combines the two qualities that Indian women had not found in a single garment so far -the comfort of a Salwar and the sophisticated look of a Churidaar. Although from time to time Churidaars have been in and out of fashion over the last 60-70 years, Salwars have constantly been en vogue, with few variations here and there to break the monotony.So here’s a garment that is both comfortable as well as sleek in structure, hence can be worn at home, to work, while exercising, or shopping or even to parties when teamed up with the right pieces of other garments and accessories.

6.Affordability and Availability : With so many varieties there is also a broad range of price tags to the leggings based on the kind of fabric used and the quality of construction, amount of detailing, techniques used in creating a pattern etc. Also one can get a legging from any kind of market that is accessible to her – local market, Departmental stores, Online portals …anywhere.

With these characteristics playing in favour of its popularity, the future of leggings seems as bright as that of any other basic piece of garment. However, it will always remain a casual outfit option and can never be recommended for formal, authoritative and official situations and surroundings. Fashion and Style experts suggest that leggings although appear to be so lucrative as an option for everyday wear, it is imperative to trudge carefully in this zone. There are several important points to remember when pairing it up with different kinds of tunics and tops to create an outfit.

1. Depending upon the body shape, choose to wear longer tops or tunics with leggings .
2. Tight tunics should be avoided completely.
3. The side slits in tunics should ideally start at the middle of the upper leg or even lower. 
4. The patterned leggings will draw a lot of attention therefore create a balance with some detailing or point of emphasis directed upwards.
5. The shape of the tunic is important because leggings will conform to the body curves, hence making the body silhouette dominant, therefore choose carefully.
6. If at all wearing at workplace, take it a little higher up on the style scale by teaming up with straight, long, slightly loose tunic (with smaller slits) and a jacket with collars.
7. In conformity with the color scheme chosen for the entire outfit, select a matching scarf, preferably rectangular and complete the tubular silhouette.
8. Closed shoes look good and appropriate with leggings. 

The most important suggestion regarding this specific garment is , to not just wear it but style it in a way that flaunts your physical traits without creating a distraction. Being comfortable is important  but not at the cost of elegance and gracefulness.

 “Look Casual, When You have to Be Casual”

Being Pulled back by your Wardrobe..

Recently I met two women with whom I got a chance to interact over 3-4 months @ once or twice a week, sometimes face to face else on phone or via Watsapp. And the way they have enriched my life is just amazing. Since they are both my clients I got to know them and their lives close enough to start thinking about other women in the same age bracket. Further my mind raced from big cities to smaller ones , then from India to the entire world. And I am thorougly amazed to find similarities and differences galore.

Keeping every other thought on the back burner, I want to concentrate only on Wardrobes of working women in India, who are in their 40s and 50s. Their lives are quite settled with one or two kids who may be attending school or college, a husband who goes to work early morning only to come back late in the evening, leaving hardly any possibility of interaction pertaining to something as trivial as appearance. Everybody in the family just about manages to get dressed and is in a hurry to leave the house and reach respective destinations on time. Now these women that I am talking about here are not at-home mothers. They are WORKING …maybe in a corporate setup, school, bank, government office or have a small business to run. Seems perfect. Right?

WRONG!! These women are not dressed as appropraitely as they ought to have.And the reasons are very simple:

1.Lack of Awareness   The diversity of Indian culture has given  us so many choices that we are often lost in a myriad of clothing styles, hairstyles, manners and etiquettes because every region, community and class has a set of parameters which over time have all evolved together to create a set of Indian or Ethnic Wear. So we have a wide range of Sarees, variations of Lehengas and innumerable variations of Kurti suits. Kurtis paired with salwars, churidaars, leggings, jeggings, palazzo pants, cigarette pants, patiala salwars, harem pants, dhoti salwars, aladin salwars – all spread across domains ranging from formal to semi casual to casual looks. Throw in western outfits and you get a far wider spectrum than you can imagine by virtue of fusions thus created. For the younger crowd it is still easier because they can follow a certain fad and carry off well even without a consistent Personal Style.However for middle aged women its a difficult choice.With variations in body shapes at different stages of life they  mostly keep juggling between currency of a fashionable item and appropriateness. Every outfit is not meant for all shapes, sizes, ocassions etc. Similarly all colors, shades and hues do not work well for everyone. All it will take to change the picture is spreading a little awareness about body shape, personal colors, possible customization of an outfit to suit a certain Personal Style and how it affects the perception of others about you in addition to elevating your own confidence and self esteem.The goal is to make them feel unique with the help of a unique wardrobe.

2.Lack of Interest  A little girl who in an attempt to imitate her mother or elder sister quite often gets appreciated and loved for adorable looks while trying  to drape a saree or don a dupatta grows into a fun loving, fashion forward youngster always competing with the peers and friends for the most stylish look. Once married all the glamour quotient gradually dissipates with the vicissitudes of daily life. Home, family and kids grab a higher wrung in the list of priorities. Actually she loses interest in keeping a track of latest trends because with advancing age she stops loving herself. New additions to the wardrobe are no longer a reflection of her choice or suitability but whatever others think will enhance her look. Makeup reduces to the bare minimum. Comfortable slip-ons in a non glamorous design add to the platitude of the wardrobe. I want to make it very clear here  that it is not lack of time but an insidious lack of interest that I  encountered. 

The two factors create a negative Image cycle where a person with poor self image is not investing enough efforts to dress and groom herself and consequently fails to think, feel, act and behave appropriately. This package is carried over to the workplace as well. Consequently , others see her in the same light and react and respond accordingly. On getting a negative response from colleagues or clients, confidence level further depletes, thereby completing a vicious circle. In order to break the cycle, wardrobe correction is the most sensible starting point. Just by infusing a new lease of life into the wardrobe, better results can be achieved in every sphere of life. And knowing the perfect answers to What, When and How of self styling will pay multiple dividends.Although in the beginning, it is difficult to cite “defunct wardrobe” as a reason for non-performance at work and that too convincingly. But it is imperative for everyone to understand the significance of appearing impeccably dressed at all occasions.

Just as my these two clients I wish to make every aging woman  realize that styling is age independent and never give up taking care of yourself. Each one deserves to look good at all times. Therefore get a better understanding of your own likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses and let them be expressed through your WARDROBE styling. In return the same wardrobe will earn you brownie points in every endeavour that you undertake.

After the first few sessions with my said clients my initial reaction of dismay gradually changed to empathy and understanding because the most surprizing element in both cases was enthusiasm and positive response that I received from them. With each session I saw them changing for the better and for me ther was a new lesson to be learnt. However, an implacable attitude and a slow walk through the epiphany of self worth bore wonderful results that I can proudly boast of. Today when they share their pictures with me via Watsapp to show their well coordinated clothes,  lipstick and mascara…….I have to give a light pat on my back.

“MAKE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, THE BEST OF YOUR LIFE” – Morton Shaevitz

TO MAKE IT COINCIDE

   It is not uncommon to face awkwardness while encountering people who are not happy and satisfied with their choice of career or profession. What do you say to a teacher who wanted to be an engineer? How do you respond to the insensitivity of a doctor who rates his business strategies over people’s lives? Where did they go wrong? Obviously in the choice of their calling. This is no rocket science. But the question is what makes them sad and complaining about one of the existential necessities which is not only an inevitable but also a biggish part of themselves. Clearly there is a mismatch somewhere. I am not going to give a solution to the predicament because it is entirely an individual’s outlook. What I can sense here and want to highlight is the mode and procedure that led to the disastrous outcome. 

As children we have a number of aspirations which keep on changing with time, age, friends, teachers, role models, marks obtained, place of stay, stories heard, people met and seen working, parents’ advice, first hand experiences, feelings, there’s an endless list. Finally everything boils down to the exam you are able to qualify, which may or may not be any close to what you dreamed about all this time. And you settle with it, in professional followed by personal life. Although some courageous ones are often heard of following their heart and venturing into new turfs. But not everyone can do so. 

What could have drawn a child’s mind to be so attracted that he decides to make it his own profession one day and spend his whole life with one label? Certainly he is making a decision based on incomplete facts. But definitely he has some understanding  of what he has perceived about the profession based on what he has seen. So it starts with visual perception. It starts with an IMAGE. Let us look at the stereotypical characteristics associated with a professional which get magnified over time to define a certain profession. The entire package called “profession” includes knowledge, skills, attitudes, clothing, grooming, and etiquettes. Out of these attributes some are visually perceived hence predominantly occupy our minds and therefore play a major role in the definition of the profession. Clearly clothing, grooming and etiquettes are affecting the choice of career even in little ones. Perhaps when a decision is made, it is solely based on how we would like to “look” or be “seen”. Other attributes viz. knowledge, skills and attitudes form the core that pertains to what we would want to “do”. But as time progresses the LOOK part takes a backseat and ironically sometimes the DO part is not clearly understood because it does not match with the inherent personality traits that we are born with.

So we need to see our image in an appropriate mirror, that is of our liking in its shape, size, color and design in order to understand correctly the connection between “do” and “look” components of a profession before venturing into it.

 From this point onwards if the aspirations are nurtured in a way that an individual has clear understanding of these two components that need to match perfectly, I think a lot of conundrum waiting to happen in future can be completely avoided.  To make them coincide  is the first step towards making perfect CAREER CHOICE.

Resolve and Register

It’s been 6 years as a stay@home mother and wife and I’m getting bored and frustrated. Perhaps I saw this coming and so spent the last 6 months studying about Image Management. Now I have come close to finishing the course and start working as a Consultant. However before that I know how much hard work is to be done especially garnering courage and confidence, a tad difficult to admit that I am progressing very slowly. 

Last week I started to read a book “How the world sees you” by Sally Hogshead. It made me realise that I am “fascinating”.  That got me thinking about all the good qualities I have and instilled in me an instant eagerness to add some more. Gradually narrowing down to some new skills that I would like to acquire. And I finally had a new year resolution. Hold that thought for awhile! 

During past first week of 2016, I have come across numerous posts, feeds and apps on suggestions how to  stick to your new year resolution. Why does everyone insist on adhering to a thought throughout the year? Can anyone have a short term resolution? Say, for a day? Uh??? A day? Yes u heard me right, that’s it. What if I see everyday as a new year. Resolve in the morning, follow through the day and feel happy at bedtime to have accomplished something. Monotony beaten altogether. Each day comes with fresh challenges hence adjustments necessarily follow. So……no apprehensions of breaking resolution. Make resolutions as per the requirements of the day. Done!

And here I have my resolution for the new year – learn a new lesson howsoever small everyday. Actually there’s nothing innovative about it. This is what we all do. And what I have also been doing until now. But the difference is we don’t keep a track of all this and therefore while learning a new lesson forget the one learnt earlier. Why does this happen? The answer is quite simple : we don’t care enough! We fail to give enough importance to little learnings and make mistakes repeatedly. Although a simple technique can save all the trouble. REGISTER. At the end  of each day before falling asleep, just close your eyes and state in clear words what you have learnt. The sentence should start with “this day taught me to………”. Believe me it will stay with you for a longer time and will gradually become a part of your being. Thus eliminating the need to learn it again anytime in future.

I can vouch for it. Because I have done it. 

Happy living!!

A FRESH CONJECTURE

Starting again for the love of thee!!

Each life is a tale to tell. And so is mine. Maybe it is similar to thousands of others termed as ‘ordinary’ though they all have some elements of extraordinary feats achieved with great difficulty. Sympathy and Empathy are easily garnered in huge numbers owing to the vast expanse of social media. Together they form the story of entire mankind. And that is fascinating. Concurrently each has several beginnings and endings too.

At 45, I feel my life has been a smooth continuum flowing like a stream without a fixed mapped road to follow. However, now I plan to embark upon a new beginning that I am going to talk about. Blessed with a comfortable, pampered childhood I graduated in the Sciences and further majored in Library Science. Luck led my way as I got opportunities to work at some of the distinguished academic and research facilities of our country. My longest association being the last one, with the University of Mumbai for 5 years as an Assistant Professor. And now it is close to six years that I have been a full time mom and a homemaker. My problem is that I am a “multipotential person”. It means that my interests are varied and  I am severely allergic to stagnation. A similar feeling crept in again at the completion of 5 years of stay-at-home profile.

A reminiscence of childhood and teenage brought back the memories of how I loved to dress and behave nicely and struggled to achieve impeccable presentation in everything that I did. A little exploration directed me to a career in Image Management. At present I am half way through the course and looking eagerly forward to  starting work with a new sunrise while the rest of my life continues to flow like the stream as it always has been. Good luck to myself!!

Knowing that it isn’t going to be an easy ride, I feel scared. But so is everyone else around me. We all want to be successful in our respective endeavours and are striving towards achieving what we aspire for. For me the underpinnings of apprehensions are accentuated by the pressure to match my earlier success.