How to be tactful in dealing with people

By Somali K Chakrabarti

Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip. ~ Winston Churchill

As easy as it is to speak your mind out, doing so tactfully requires that a person acquire some distinctive skills. Tact is the talent that allows you to gracefully convey what you stand for and make your point without ruffling feathers.

Tact or diplomacy is needed for managing a vast gamut of relations - ranging from personal relations, to relations with co-workers, to business relations, to national and international relations. Parents need tact to deal with their children, as much as teachers need tact to deal with their students. You need to act with tact while dealing with your boss, your partner, your spouse, and even your friends.

Your ability to get along with people, while maintaining your individuality plays an important role in determining your success path.

In business, tact is absolutely essential when it comes to managing diverse group of people. Leaders, with the use of tact and conviction can get people to willingly do what they want them to do, in a manner so convincing that they relate to the leaders’ idea as their own and feel motivated to work towards it. With the increasing degree of complexity and stakeholders, leaders need to act tactfully at each and every stage to influence, persuade and align people with their objectives.

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Why do we procrastinate and how to stop procrastinating

By Somali K Chakrabarti

Procrastination is like a credit card: it's a lot of fun until you get the bill.  ~ Christopher Parker

Procrastination is too familiar a tendency that we all give in to at some point or the other. If you think of those several occasions when you waited till the last moment to do your work, it won't take much for you to realize that procrastination is more of a behavioral problem than a time management issue. There would be instances when:

• You managed to complete your assignment just at the nick of time.
• You were so lost in surfing the net that you ended up doing a report past its deadline.
• You did not pay up the bill till the last moment and then paid the fine for it.
• You did not leave on time and turned up 15 minutes late for the urgent meeting.

Mostly you would be aware of what you should be doing and when, and yet you simply can’t get yourself to do certain tasks. As you postpone your work and leave it for the last second, many things that were not so pressing before, suddenly become urgent and call for your attention.

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Here's how 3 Brands created an Emotional connect

By Somali K Chakrabarti

A brand is an emotion your customers have associated with your company.

Emotions, it is said are more psychological than logical.

In the fiercely competitive market, where consumers are spoilt for choices owing to the presence of a number of companies that sell similar products, it is only natural that all brands vie for attention.

Yet, amongst the several brands that scream out loud to make their presence felt, there are still a few brands that quietly sneak in into your lives and intertwine with your good memories.

Here's how 3 brands, instead of imposing their products upon people, chose to form their marketing strategy around the people to create an emotional connect.

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1. Creating good memories

Festival times are generally associated with fond memories. These are also the times when many companies expend a chunk of their marketing spend.

Most of the big Navaratri, Durga Puja celebrations are usually sponsored by companies, ranging from jewellery, to real estate, to insurance policies, and a host of others which capitalize on the marketing opportunity for exposure before the huge number of people who join the festivities.

During my visit to one of the Durga pooja celebrations at Andheri, what caught my interest was the different approach of Tata AIG.

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