Ambi Parameswaran is a Brand Strategist and founder of Brand-Building.com. An ad industry veteran, Parameswaran was till recently the CEO and ED of FCB Ulka Advertising. He now reads, writes, teaches and coaches leaders across multiple domains.
His ninth book, Sponge: Leadership Lessons I Learnt From My Clients was published recently. He presented the book at The BDB Book Club, Pune, in November 2018. He speaks to Manish Kulkarni, director, BDB India.
Manish Kulkarni.
Ambi Parameswaran.
What is the story behind the intriguing title Sponge?
After I completed my last book ‘Nawabs Nudes Noodles’ which was also presented to the BDB Book Club audience, my agent Anish Chandy and I were chatting about the changing world of advertising and marketing. One of the things that I thought was in short supply was the close bonding that existed between agency and client. As we got talking I told him that I can recount so many client stories where I learnt so much from them. From this came the idea for a book ‘What I learnt from my clients’. Since this was inward looking, we added ‘Leadership Lessons I Learnt From My Clients’; but then came the idea of calling the book SPONGE. In the book I have explained why I chose the sea creature as the name of my book. In short, Sponge lives in the deep seas and does not have a central nervous system or a digestive system. It just lets water flow in, absorbs the nutrients and lets the water remove the impurities.
We too can use our customers, vendors, dealers as sources of new ideas and absorb them, and allow them to remove wrong notions from our brain.
Sponge is an engrossing read. Tell us about your experience in reliving those days while converting them into stories.
Every book has its own story. My book ‘For God’s Sake’ came out of my Ph.D. thesis which was on ‘Religiosity and Consumer Behaviour’. The next book started out as an anthology of changing world of advertising.
I don’t have a rigid method, but like any author, I do have a broad method I have followed for my last few books. I put down the idea for the book and start collecting information that can fit into it. In the case of SPONGE, the idea was to have a collection of stories about learning from clients; it took me a year to compile 25 stories that could go into the book. I started linking each story with a management principle. The idea of creating a SPONGE Learning Framework was suggested by my friend R Sridhar and that got its rightful place in the beginning of the book.
Out of the 25 stories narrated in your book, which is your favourite one? Why?
It is difficult to pick one story but the one that I narrate often is the Indigo Marina launch story. I was surprised to see Ratan Tata arrive at NCPA to check the colour of the car that was to be used at the launch event. What does it take to be a leader who is so passionate about a project? What does it do to the team that is working with you? Many lessons learnt that day.
Would the SPONGE framework be helpful to executives in any profession, especially in the manufacturing sector?
The SPONGE Learning Framework is business and industry agnostic. It is all about how one can learn so much if we follow the S.P.O.N.G.E method which stands for Super Active Listening; Probing and Questioning; Observing and Noting; New Behaviour to Emulate; Getting the New Behaviour Internalised; and finally Expanding Enlarging and Sharing.
In B2B manufacturing, you get to meet many smart people. They could be your customers or vendors. Chances are they can teach you valuable lessons.
In this day of collaborative innovation it is all the more important that you don’t just end up selling to a customer; you have to listen to the customer and figure out what you can learn. Chances are you will also end up selling a lot more in the bargain.
Your advice to younger professionals to become active listeners. The issue is low attention span in this age of distraction.
We underestimate the capacity of this generation. They are a lot smarter than we were at their age. They have many options in front of them and difficult to hold their attention. In my talks to the younger audiences, I keep emphasising the importance of Super Active Listening; I tell them don’t just focus on selling, be ready to listen.
I am also asked what can be done if we don’t have smart clients like I had? My answer is every client/customer can teach you new things, but you have to develop the ability to become a SPONGE. If you approach each customer with the orientation of ‘How quickly can I make the sale’ then you will be underselling and definitely ‘under-learning’. You have to approach clients with the orientation of ‘what new can I learn’.
I hear lamentation from young executives that their mentors and bosses have no time to spend with them. I keep asking them, what about your customers, vendors, or dealers? Do you think they can spare you some time? If so grab them and listen to them Super Actively. You will end up learning a lot.