You might be wondering why the nasty imagery of ears and Joseph Stalin, the twentieth century Soviet dictator. Well, allow me to share a story which I borrow from Hugh Downs, the longtime host of ABC’s 20/20 program.
Downs, whom many recognize today as one of the most legendary TV show hosts, started his career as a radio broadcaster. It was then, during his early career where he first saw one of his senior colleagues be brought down because of a simple mistake – failure to listen.
Downs recalls his colleague interviewing a man who miraculously escaped a Kremlin prison in the 30s. The guest was telling this colleague how for months the prisoners had been trying to tunnel their way out of the prison. They dug and they dug. They used spoons, forks and once even managed to smuggle a saw inside the prison. They had to eat dirt to cover their tracks. And once they were confident that they had crossed the prison walls from beneath, they started digging upwards.
Downs, recalls:
“Then this one midnight, they were finally ready to break loose. They had already sawed through a wooden platform above their heads. But when this one prisoner stuck his head out, he was shocked by what he saw.
“When I got up,” he told the interviewer, “I realized I was right in the middle of Joseph Stalin’s office!”
And do you know what the interviewer, Down’s senior colleague, asked next?
“So, do you have any hobbies?”
Not- “What did you do next?”, “How did you escape?” or “Are you serious?”
Not just did the interviewer miss out on what could have been a fascinating conversation, but he also deprived his listeners of a potentially amazing climax. This style in the radio business, Downs calls out, began to be known as the ‘yeah-well interview’.
Listening can be one of the single most important skills for any product manager and just as Down’s senior colleague you could be hearing your customers, but ask yourselves, are you truly ‘listening’?
If not, you’re probably pursuing what can be called out as ‘yeah-well’ product management. The same goes for a marketing manager. Luckily for me, I have senior colleagues who taught me the importance of listening not by making the mistake themselves, but by actively listening.
Over the last few days I have been busy getting my hands dirty building alongside an amazing team, comprising of Nitin Misra, Deepak Abbot (whom you’ve probably heard on the Use Case podcast before), Shashwat Srivastava and the Heroes of our team at Flat White Capital, which is why I’ve missed out on writing.
But if you are currently pursuing or aspiring to be a product manager or are a marketing manager who has scaled and led growth from 0 to 100 (need someone with skillsets in both analytics+ marketing) please do write to me at ravish@indiagold.co. We’re also looking for some superstars to join our engineering team. If any of these open positions interest you or anyone you know, please write to shashwat@indiagold.co.
While I can’t share much at the moment, what I can promise you is the amazingness that comes with being a part of a team founded in mutual understanding, big dreams and common goals. Please do write to us if you are interested.
We promise we listen.
Talking of listening to consumers, here are 2 suggestions that caught our attention:
Consumer Protection Act 2019 comes into force: In what is likely the biggest win for consumers all over India, the Consumer Protection Act 2019 came into force this Monday. The Act is going to set waves in the world of e-commerce as it introduces the concept of ‘product liability’ on the makers and sellers vs. the ‘let the seller beware’ regime that as product makers we have been used to. This probably means a change in the way we structure our Terms and Conditions, a mandatory return policy, the way (and where) dispute resolution can take place and more. Find a broad understanding in this HT Mint article and a more detailed read for e-commerce players here.
Direct to a Billion Consumers Podcast: I was super thrilled and excited to hear a new podcast centered completely around Indian consumers for a change. Arjun Vaidya, who was honoured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list as the CEO of Dr. Vaidya’s, and is now also the host of the podcast has brought on some amazing guests who have set up successful consumer centric businesses in India. My favorite episode so far was with Mohit Sadaani, founder of TheMomsCo. Check it out here!
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