Downfall of AAP- A classic business case study

 Downfall of AAP- A classic business case study  

Six years ago on November 26th 2012, India witnessed the inception of the AAP or the common man's Party. Adorning white caps bearing the words 'self-rule', this ragtag bunch of professionals, academics, and politicians took the capital by storm by forming a govt at the center and then going on to a decent debut in the Lok Sabha polls. The party had a meteoric rise but soon was engulfed in Internal politics which eventually lead to its downfall.

What went wrong and why?

1.  Early Success can be misleading

AAP was formed in November'2012 and within one year in Dec'2013, they fought their first elections and formed government. This early success increased the ambitions of party to go national without having adequate resources, organisational structure , funding and all other things

Lesson for business: There is something called beginners luck. Don't ride on that luck to become too large too soon. May be , you are now ready to repeat your success at large scale. 

2. Leaving the positioning of the party

 Simple living, zero corruption, against all current and national parties

One of the principle reasons behind the failure of the party was because of the contradictory nature of their ideology and actions. Before coming into power, Kejriwal kept pointing out how politics had become a ' dirty business'. He also built his party as a clear alternative to BJP and Congress, Kejriwal and his leaders framed their party ideology along the lines of tyaag, or politics of sacrifice; it would mean complete devotion to the party for nation-building and public service. 

This positioning is what caught the attention of public across social stratas, religion , caste. It was coming out to be true national alternative with appeal across all voting segments. But then series of incorrect decisions

1. In quest to be part of united opposition, standing with convicted parties like RJD, SP, BSP and even Congress

2. Taking all government luxuries like Car, Bungalows and Foreign trips

3. Selection of one Rajya Sabha member in particular that even led to lot of internal opposition. 

4. No Internal democracy

5. Holding to two positions ( party and Delhi CM) by Mr Arvind 

All these decisions have led the main positioning of the party to be diluted or rather gone. Not, it is just another political party.

Lesson for Business: Your customers knows you for some value, high quality, lowest prices, value for money, great service. Never lost that core value else your customers would be confused

3.  Questioning the unquestionable

Be it demonetization or Air strikes, AAP stand was always to question . In India , we don't question Army actions in particular

Lessons: Don't try to change people perception too fast

4.  Top leader dictatorial style

I don't have any personal experience or personal anecdote but when you lose all the founding team members in 5 years ( Yogender Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh, Dr Kumar Vishwas) and many others, there is time to introspect

Lesson for Business: The top leadership and topmost leader has to be democratic for sustainability of business at large scale

5.   Blaming Union Government Everyday

On one side , AAP government claims day in and day out that they are not allowed to work on the other side , there full page advertisements everyday on achievements. This contrary stands are difficult to be understood by common man. If you have done so well, how come you blame center everyday on stopping you to work

Lesson for Business: Never have confusing communication

6. No Patience 

Patience is the key in anything in life. AAP was lucky to form a state government within first year if its formation. That prompted them to take huge national leap in 2014 elections. Not getting same results in 2014 general elections and then Punjab assembly elections, they lost patience and did all the above mistakes.

Lesson for Business: Patience is key in any business

Classic example of success is Imran Khan party in Pakistan. Starting in 1996, it took them 17 years to form first state government and 22 years to form national government in 2018.  During these 22 years, party was on brinks of closure for most years. Still keeping core values, positioning, team and communication intact, Imran Khan became PM in 22 years.

AAP and Arvind kejriwal could have done same if he was willing to wait till 2039 

Ideal time to start CAT preparation

Ideal time to start CAT preparation

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” ……….. Abraham Lincoln

There are two types of students

a) Who start the preparation long before the CAT, usually the first timers !!!

b) Who start the preparation six months before the CAT, usually the repeaters !!!

I have been training students for CAT for the last fifteen years and have enough examples of both types of students selected to the top b-schools over the years. I always find that one question appears time and again: Do I have sufficient time to crack CAT?

Can I do it in 6 - 7 months by studying 3 - 4 hours every day?
My answer to this question has always been “YES and NO both”.

It won’t be enough if you study as per your convenience. In short, random solving of few math’s questions, LRDI sets, RC passages and appearing for few free mocks here and there is not sufficient to crack CAT, even if you keep on doing it for couple of years.

6 – 7 months is enough, if you have a good plan to follow, and enough motivation to keep on following it for every single day for the next 6-7 months.

1) Chose the study time when you are at your best:-
most productive time in your study
is it late night?
Early morning?
Pre-lunch?
Post-lunch?
Identify those 2 - 3 hours that may matter the most for your career !!!

2) Get your basics right:- CAT has never been an exam to search for Math's genius. It doesn’t ask rocket science. The basics of CAT come from your high school syllabus of math’s and English. So, no excuses for getting the basics wrong !!!

3) Draft your daily targets:- 15 - 20 questions of QA , 2-3 sets of DI/LR and 2 passages of RC is the least you need to do every day. Anything more than this will be a bonus. On any single day, if this minimum target has not been achieved, you should not be able to sleep properly !!!

4) Resolve your doubts in no time:- one of the most important factors, which influence your overall preparations and motivation for the same !!!

5) Get in touch with your mentor:- extremely important at the time of your preparation, a good strategy can bring out the best from you !!!

6) Newspaper reading:- If you don’t find an hour to read and think about the newspaper editorials daily, you are doing severe damage to your intellectual discourse in the long run. MBA is a professional course and it needs you to be well aware of the issues of social, political and economic interest around the world. It is absolutely must when you prepare for CAT !!!

7) Set up a testing mechanism:- About 25 - 30 mock tests are enough, if you use them properly. Take one mock every week for at least 4 months without any break. Besides, it is equally important to analyse the mock within 3 - 4 days of taking it. Identify your mistakes, weak and strong areas, and formulate new strategies for the next mock. Every mock should be a stepping stone for the final CAT exam !!!

8) Avoid over-thinking:- Think less and act more, 3 - 4 hours a day is not a bad idea. It is the only thing that is in your control !!!

Remember, hours don't count. Your daily targets do !!!

He who makes most mistakes, wins

He who makes most mistakes, wins

by Debi Prasad

                                              

Failure, to most people, is a scary word. We have been conditioned to avoid failure at a very young age. There always is a "right" and a "wrong" way of doing things, and the reward only goes to those who do the "right" things.  In school, we are taught that there is no excuse for failure and the consequences of failure would be disastrous for your life. So, even as kids, we develop an aversion to it. We perceive the "experience of failing" as a negative aspect in our life.

Two world-renowned psychologists, Daniel Kahneman, and Amos Tversky, who won the Nobel Prize for their work, found that the effect of loss is twice as great as the gain from a win. The negative impact of a loss is greater than the positive impact of a win. In this subtle way, the idea that failure is not good for us becomes embedded in our minds and we try to avoid it.

The bitter truth, however, is that failure is inevitable. There is no map to success which isn't marked by a string of failures.

Some of the biggest tech giants of our century have a very different perception of failure: they are tolerant of it and embrace it. Both Jack Ma and Jeff Bezos believe that failure is a part of the process. Ma recounting his failures in an interview in the World Economic Forum reminisced how he couldn't get a job in KFC or not getting accepted into Harvard after applying many times.

What this teaches us is that failure isn't the end of the road. In many ways, it's a beginning. It's like making all the wrong turns in life only to find the right one. So, if there's one thing I'd like to say to others, it's that failure isn't as catastrophic as people believe it to be, giving up is.

It is simply a process of trial and error. Just like our physical body which calibrates itself to do a specific task with a gradual increase in performance over time, our mind also uses this method leaving us with clues to success.

Thomas Edison once said: " Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure."

It may seem negative at first, the act of failing and as we have learned, humans have an acute aversion to failure. Yet, if you move past the fears, failure is the ultimate roadmap to success. There are some of us that are quick to recover from our failures while some of us are not so fortunate. However, one must always remember that it's not failure that hinders the path of success, giving up does.

If you resign yourself to your fate or shy away from your fears, you will always be the victim of your fear, like author Paul Coelho aptly said:

"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."

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