Prof. Savarkar taught us maths in the XII Standard. While he laid out the procedure of solving a problem step by step, he constantly asked us to remind ourselves about the answer we were seeking. He gave us an analogy. We were like kids in a fair. It was easy to lose focus in the chaos. Therefore, that constant reminder was a way to prevent us from wagering. Many of us scored well in the exam because of this simple routine.
In business parlance, this is akin to remind ourselves of the Purpose. If we have clarity, we can derive meaning and identify patterns from any event or situation. Here are a few examples of how we can spot trends from things happening all around us.
A friend was looking to buy a resale apartment in Navi-Mumbai. I accompanied him and the agent on a Sunday. While my friend looked at the location, pricing, and other factors, I got free access to their homes. I looked at the type of Furniture and Fixtures, Toiletries, TV Models, Mobile Phones, Clothes, etc. In one day, I picked up a lot of information about the lifestyle of people in that area. This information is impossible to acquire through surveys and feedback forms.
Every night, I browse various TV Channels for 30-60 minutes. I check the latest on FTV, MTV, Netflix, and other OTT Channels. While MTV and FTV enable us to tap into the latest trends of younger people, the OTT Channels capture the latest social and political events. Without them, it would be impossible to understand why kids wear hoddies even in the sultry weather and the cuss words in vogue. They catch the trend way ahead of all of us.
I visit Vijay Jain's Cloth shop in Pen most Sundays. Kids buy underwears that have a large elastic that shows up from their low-waist jeans. Most of the girls are switching to Jeans. Community precedes commerce. It is critical to study this community to understand new products and services that this group will need now and in the future.
We need to be an active observer of the latest trends around us - Gay/LGBT Rights, Me Too Movement, Farm Law Protest, Arab Spring, Climate Change, etc. Following these movements, there are fundamental shifts in the economy and politics of the country. We already have men wearing skirts in Lakme Fashion Week in support of gender equality.
Reading books on diverse subjects, listening to the new experiments in music, traveling to distant places, and mingling with communities are other ways to spot the trends.
Subodh Gadgil
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