Friday, March 12, 2010

The Power of Human Connect

Even as I write my own blog, check my facebook profile for messages and review the enterprise collaboration strategy for the company I work for, not for a moment do I stop believing in the power of human connect and the power of building personal relationships -- which was evident from the energy I felt at a recently-concluded annual customer - leadership meet that Genpact organizes every year.

We invite some of our customers and top leadership to get away for a couple of days of hardcore networking, strategizing and..partying! While the days consist mainly of business presentations and sharing of best practices, the evenings are filled with good old fashioned drinking, dancing...you name it!

I often meet these people (both customers and employees) at work..at conferences..at meetings but nothing beats the energy and connect one feels when you put people together in an informal setting...agreeing..fighting..debating...and partying. So sorry Cisco and HP..if you think your virtually-connected world is going to take over, it won't. No matter how evolved we get technologically, it will always be about getting people together..building relationships..working and playing together. And if you were an airline company, you'd say thank god for that!

NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2010

Last month I was in Mumbai for the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum. Billed as Asia's Most Awaited Leadership Conference, it was a powerful platform that brought together over 150 organizations - both big and small from around the world. But from all the key messages that one took away, the one that was the most powerful was the one that wasn't even stated -- the industry has expanded far beyond India.

The game has grown exponentially and the international flavor of the conference was evident and refreshing - over twenty different countries had delegations present. It wasn't just the usual suspects from Europe, Americas etc who made their presence felt -- the conference was as much about a Poland or an Egypt as it was about an India. The undercurrent clearly had moved away from "the recession is over and its business as usual" to the changing way services will be sold in the future and that the newer players are entering and transforming the industry.

On a separate note, another thing I found pretty impressive was the slickness of the conference and quality of presentations etc. The fact that they had significant social media presence with their own blog and twitter page only helped!