HOW TO HAVE

ACCELERATED GROWTH
IN A DISRUPTIVE
VUCA WORLD?

By Shakti Leekha
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mr. Shakti Leekha has over 25 years of leadership experience in starting &
growing operations with various global fortune 500 companies like Philips,
Johnson Controls, ABB, UTC & Bajaj Group (BEL). Associated with
Teimmers Cooling solutions & VAMS Global as VP. Created many Award-
Winning successful businesses, in his leadership. An expert in the subject
of Illumination with thought leadership in Smart & Sustainable Infra with
various Innovative Smart Lighting Solutions developed under his
leadership & has a Paper Publication. A thought leader, whose expertise is
frequently published in leading publications. He is a mentor and advisor to
early-stage entrepreneurs throughout the nation and speaks at events to
promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and intrapreneurship is part of
various Think-Tank forums and on Jury Panels for Sales, Marketing &
Business Leadership across Asia. He is a Certified Mentor, Coach, and
Qualified independent director with expertise in ESG and serves as an
independent director on the board of Allied Digital Services a public listed
technology company.

He is an author of Amazon's Best Seller Book "Reimagine High-Value

Sales". He is associated with various Education Institutes, as a Member
Board of Studies and an Honorary Member of the National Council for
Green and Eco-friendly Movement (CGEM) at ASSOCHAM.

He is a fellow member of the Institute of

Directors (IOD). He has been further
selected as a 'Mentor of Change' for the
Government of India's flagship program
of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs), established
by the Atal Innovation Mission, NITI
Aayog. He is an Industry Expert, Sales
Coach & Mentor for upGrad for Business a
global digital education platform for
Lifelong learning & Skilling.

SHAKTI LEEKHA
TRUSTED BY

MENTORSHIP
 01
Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous
..................... 2
(VUCA) World

02 ..................... 3
TABLE OF CONTENT

Should companies add sustainability to profits?

03
Should the CEO come from Marketing /Finance/IT/HR ..................... 4
or Law?

04 Should companies seek gender equality and diversity?..................... 5

05 What Should CEO know about Marketing? ..................... 6

06 What’s the purpose of marketing? ..................... 7

07 ..................... 8
Impact on Advertising, Salesforce & Retailing –
Growth or Decline?

08
Which new digital tools will come into greater ..................... 9
use & impact?

09
What is the relation between product development ..................... 10
& marketing?

10
Should the company brand take a stand on the ..................... 11
public issue?

11 How can a company be creative & innovative? ..................... 12

01
 VOLATILE, UNCERTAIN, COMPLEX &
01 AMBIGUOUS (VUCA) WORLD

Corporations are changing; all are reexamining their purpose,

goals & responsibilities.

Companies must respond to Covid, climate change, social-

economic headwinds & new wars. The world today is (VUCA)
Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous, with unpredictable
changes in nature and dynamics and multiple forces in action
whereby we have confusion around cause & effect and,
relationships are unclear, and we face unknowns with no
precedents.

The significant challenges organisations face are:

Shareholder driven Vs Stakeholder driven:

All companies have been shareholder and customer-driven,

and they must pay back the shareholders. Nowadays, we find
stakeholder's view, which stands for we make money as a
team, and any weakness in our team has to be corrected. In
this view, we have typically seven groups to satisfy.

1. Customers
2. Business partners/Employees
3. Suppliers
4. Agencies
5. Communities
6. Planet
7. Stakeholders/Shareholders

We have seen stakeholder companies outperform shareholder-

driven companies. Stakeholder companies will become the
mainstream.

02
 SHOULD COMPANIES ADD
02 SUSTAINABILITY TO PROFITS?

The planet is warming because of increasing greenhouse

gases. The result is a rising level of fires, floods, hurricanes &
desertization. There is a clear need to replace fossil fuels with
renewable energy. Companies need to reexamine their energy
mix, packaging, lighting, heating, shipping, purchasing and
other processes. Sustainability may cost high in the short run &
low in the long run.

ESG – Environment, Social & Governance has taken

importance and is being discussed, reviewed and tracked for
all large organisations. Buyers as well are evaluating their
purchase decisions on such parameters. Government’s and
nations have all signed COP26 and have to meet Net Zero
commitments to save planet.

03
 SHOULD THE CEO COME FROM
03 MARKETING /FINANCE/IT/HR OR LAW?

Finance people most often head companies, some by

marketing people, and now in the truly digital world, when
Fintech & Martech are in play. We see that IT is gaining
importance. Post-Covid we find with phenomena of “The
Great Resignations”, I expect organisations to become more
marketised in the future with younger generations not
holding six positions in their life anymore but six jobs at the
same time, as workers offer their skills to different companies
in different projects. We now see that businesses that provide
their products or services independent of time and location,
like streaming services, online retailers, remote work service
providers, and other multisided platforms, are where talent is
moving to give their potential and their successful emergence
from the pandemic.

Overall, virtual and remote work is mostly here to stay. Hence

HR leaders, along with other business leaders, are also having
a chance now to lead Human-oriented businesses. Be careful
in today's time who will run the company. A leader or right
CEO is vital for accelerated growth.

04
 SHOULD COMPANIES SEEK GENDER
04 EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY?

Each generation grows up with different world events, music,

entertainment, and social movements. Each generation has
other preferences towards products, brands and services. Each
generation has a different attitude towards work. Millennials &
Centennials share three values

1. Work/Family/Friends Balance
2. Concern with the environment
3. Concern with social problems

05
 WHAT SHOULD CEO KNOW ABOUT
05 MARKETING?

We have four types of CEOs/boards who view marketing as:

Marketing is one P – Price (This type of CEO believes only one P
matters that Price. True marketing is about price. Very Limited
thinking.)

Marketing is 4 P’s – Who believes we do Marketing planning and

we do plan on 4 Ps- Product, Place, Price & Promotion.

Marketing is STP – He who accepts 4 P’s and does

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning rather than going for
the whole market.

Marketing is a whole company (Manufacturing/Finance all are

marketing; all have to make the best products for customers
and have to think that way)

06
 WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF MARKETING?
06

To create, communicate, and deliver value that satisfies a

target market’s need or desire at a profit. To serve the well-
being of customers.

THREE TYPES OF MARKETING

Marketing 1.0 Marketing 2.0 Marketing 3.0

MOVING TOWARDS PURPOSE MARKETING

MIND HEART SPIRIT

PRODUCT-CENTERED CUSTOMER-ORIENTED VALUE-DRIVEN

ECONOMIC-VALUE PEOPLE-VALUE ENVIRONMENT-VALUE

PROFITS SOCIAL PROGRESS HUMAN HAPPINESS

Where is your company now?

Where do you want it to be?

All marketing needs to be buyer-centric or customer-centric

rather than product-centric. We have ensured we follow all
seven steps of the marketing process – Market Research,
Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning, Target market, Value
Proposition, Marketing Plan, Implementation & Control.
Marketing has to move non-customers in five stages – Aware,
Appealing, Asking (Getting them to engage), Act and
Advocate. A salesperson's job in today's environment is
adherence to four mantras: Get, Keep, Grow (Upsell & Cross-
sell) & Win Back. Salespeople in B2B are now acquiring and
cultivating customers.

07
 IMPACT ON ADVERTISING,
SALESFORCE & RETAILING – GROWTH
07 OR DECLINE?

Advertising is moving from television media to other digital

platforms or social marketing. We now need to put money
into digital and find out what works for us and want doesn't.
Cut down on what is not working and put more on what's
working.

For salesforce, today, we cannot have sales guys who are

catalogue sellers or information providers. Salespeople need
to move from sample providers /demo guys to industry
experts and guys with authority and insights so that
customers value them. Buyers today get enough complete
information to help them decide from whom they buy.
Another critical area to work on is the size of the sales team
and how to measure and reward them.

Retailing, we all transformed during Covid as we didn't go into

stores and learned online shopping. The only things left out
were a test drive for a new vehicle or experiencing the sofa
before buying, now think with Metaverse, same happens
online. Stores/shops now need to create in-store effects so
that customers have a delightful store experience and are
excited to execute the purchase, and this can be managed
with a skillful and friendly sales team. Else running stores and
shops will become expensive in terms of ROI. Retailing has a
future but will face challenges from the new Virtual world –
Metaverse.

08
 WHICH NEW DIGITAL TOOLS WILL
08 COME INTO GREATER USE & IMPACT?

Tools like 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Algorithms,

Big data & machine learning, digital and social media, voice &
facial recognition, Chatbots, Augmented & Virtual reality,
Blockchains, Digital money, Customer Journey mapping,
Sensors (IoT), marketing automation, Bioscience, Self-driving
vehicles, neural science & brain, online & distance learning.

All the above technologies are impacting the way we do

business.

09
 WHAT IS THE RELATION BETWEEN
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT &
09 MARKETING?

We need to get the Product Development and Marketing

together as a mindset of marketers and product developers
are different sometimes; hence CMO's lead both marketing
and Product Development, as innovators are masters of the
possible and may not be masters of valuable. Marketers are
the masters of the valuable; hence marketers need to work
together in innovation as post innovation is more about
selling. Marketers need to help Product developers, as they
make great products which will sell.

10
 SHOULD THE COMPANY BRAND TAKE
10 A STAND ON THE PUBLIC ISSUE?

Companies brands describe product, performance, price, and

availability. Now companies which are environment-led share
their Environmental concerns. Covid, climate change, and
companies supporting SDG (Sustainable Development Goals)
goals by the UN for sustainable development have been
highlighted. Brand activism has moved from purpose to
action. Companies are adopting higher causes and working
towards the same. Some call this CSR.

11
 HOW CAN A COMPANY BE CREATIVE
11 & INNOVATIVE?

This is more of a culture; all employees thinking and acting to

make things better, faster and not essential can be removed,
always for improving attitude, how to improve all the time.
The four steps for the same culture to set in is to hire
employees who have new ideas and can think "out of the box".

Celebrate creative ideas by the employees, maybe give them

bonus so that they are given incentive for the right behaviour.

Invite customers to give ideas like Starbucks.

Diversify the board members so that new things are shared,

and fresh ideas come.

Disruption describes a process whereby a company with

fewer resources can successfully challenge established
incumbent businesses. Specifically, as incumbents focus on
improving their products and services for their most
demanding (and usually most profitable) customers, they
exceed some segments' needs and ignore others' needs.
Entrants that prove disruptive begin by successfully targeting
those overlooked segments, gaining a foothold by delivering
more-suitable functionality—frequently at a lower price.
Incumbents chasing higher profitability in more-demanding
segments tend not to respond vigorously. Entrants then move
upmarket, delivering the performance, incumbents'
mainstream customers require while preserving the
advantages that drove their early success. When mainstream
customers start adopting the entrants' offerings in volume,
disruption has occurred." The type of innovation most likely to
be disruptive in market-creating innovation.

12
In future and for accelerated growth in today's time, our
business success would depend on smart pricing, strong
branding and owning dominant channels. Marketers will need
to be entrepreneurial marketers. Use virtual reality to gauge
buyer interest for possible future products. Use neural
sciences to identify the best stimuli.

Every innovation spurs a complex chain of reactions, but

entrepreneurs push consistently toward lower costs and
larger markets. This saves known resources or creates new
ones, puts price pressures on existing products, and engages
more people in the economy.

I hope and believe many business leaders will now move away
from just making “Me too” products to creating more
meaningful products that would solve world problems. Happy
reading and helping Bharat transform with us in creating
more than 100 Unicorns in a year and Trillion $ corporations
from India, with global brands that which world respects and
looks up to. I am looking forward to the nation attaining the
days of glory "Sone ki Chideya"- A golden era with Bharat
being a Vishwa Guru and Economic Super Power in my
lifetime by 2030's decade.

If you need any coaching in this growth process, engage now -

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