The ContraMinds Podcast

Ricky Afrianto is a Global Marketing Head/Director - Mayora Group. Previously he was Marketing Director and managed 21 brands across 5 categories: Biscuit, Candy, Wafer, Chocolate & Instant Food. Before joined Mayora, Ricky was Regional Marketing/Category Manager – Adult Category for Asia & Middle East Region of Fonterra Brands Singapore. For Show Notes, visit https://contraminds.com Connect with Ricky on LinkedIN Connect with Swami on LinkedIN 15 key takeaways from this conversation: 1. Mayora is an Indonesian food and beverage company with a wide range of products available in over 100 countries, with almost equal business split between domestic and international markets. 2. Local brands like Mayora can innovate and make decisions faster compared to large multinational companies due to their entrepreneurial mindset and connection with local markets. 3. CPG marketing has transformed significantly in the last decade with the rise of e-commerce, social commerce, and new digital platforms like TikTok. 4. Localization and customization are key advantages for local brands, allowing them to create products and campaigns tailored to specific markets. 5. Intuition backed by solid data is crucial in media buying decisions, especially for categories like CPG where e-commerce may not be as effective. 6. Digital marketing for CPG brands should focus on building brand equity and not just performance marketing. 7. Observing consumers directly is still the best way to gain insights, despite advancements in research technology. 8. Future agencies need to be open to leveraging creativity from clients, influencers, and embrace an ecosystem approach rather than being the sole creative source. 9. Successful CMOs need a balance of creativity, analytical skills, business acumen, and an entrepreneurial mindset. 10. CMOs must understand financial metrics and drive business results, not just focus on marketing outputs. 11. Entrepreneurial skills are essential for CMOs to bring new ideas, optimize processes, and drive business growth. 12. Key success metrics for CMOs include business performance, brand metrics, and creating a strong brand pull where consumers can't explain why they like the product. 13. Admired brands mentioned include Nike, Absolut Vodka, Apple, Coke, and Mayora's own Kopiko brand. 14. Innovative campaigns like Anlene's health movement and revamping the century-old Roma biscuit brand were sources of pride. 15. Advice for marketing students is to learn beyond just marketing - subjects like statistics, behavioral economics, and psychology to better understand consumers.

Holistic Living in this Stressful Modern World Modern living has wired us to overeat when we’re stressed. Nature on one hand has designed our body to live in scarcity, but on the other hand, we are also wired to be fat. Modern living exposes us to heavy, rich and sugary foods in abundance, so we have to fight that genetic gravity to live healthy. Therefore, a holistic approach to modern living comes with lot of self discipline and that self discipline comes with emotional wellbeing. Ayurveda aids emotional wellbeing. Balanced Diet, Balanced Life Success without fulfilment is worse than failure.What are you striving for if you have all the money and success but poor health, what’s the point? You have all the success and money and health but if you don't have good family and friends around you because you are not an easy person to get along with….how do you then build relationships and create memories? A balanced approach to personal and professional life lies in realising just focusing on one aspect in your life is not going to give you happiness and fulfilment. Physical wellbeing must go hand in hand with emotional wellbeing. About Dr. Vignesh Devraj Dr. Vignesh Devraj is a fourth generation Ayurvedic healer. He is the founder and chief physician of Sitaram Beach Retreat, Kerala – a space for authentic healing and transformation. Dr. Vignesh is a committed practitioner and researcher on Panchakarma, an ancient body purification method which activates the body’s innate healing energies, providing the foundation to true health. His expertise lies in explaining ancient healing concepts and making it more accessible to the modern world. He is an avid traveller who studies and explores the lesser known healing methods around the world. He is an international speaker on Natural Healing, Ayurveda, Meditation & Transformation. Connect with Dr. Devraj Connect with Swami For Selected Links, Show Notes and more insights This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless.Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

The AirAsia Media Playbook: Integrating Travel Experiences About The Guest: Mahek Shah is the Global Head of Media at Airasia (AirAsia Media & Airasia Ads). Mahek is an integrated marketing and communications professional with rich digital marketing and product development experience. She started her career in advertising with successful stints at Ogilvy, IPG Mediabrands, Lion & Lion and Wavemaker before AirAsia. Timestamps: 00:00 - 03:40 Cold Opening, Sponsor Message, Guest Intro 03:41 - 05:51 The Evolution of Marketing: A Marketer's Journey from Traditional to Digital 05.52 - 07:32 Shifting Skills for Modern Marketers: From Fragmented to Integrated Experts 07:33 - 09:52 A Two-Pronged Approach to Strategic Planning and Inventory Monetization 09:53 - 11:20 First-Party Data Monetization: Leveraging Brand Ecosystems for Partnerships 11:21 - 14:25 Redefining the Travel Experience: Building an Immersive End-to-End Ecosystem 14:26 - 18:34 The Insourcing Trend: Why Brands Are Bringing Marketing In-House 18:35 - 25:54 Redefining Agency Value: From Execution to Consultative Problem-Solving 25:55 - 30:47 AirAsia Move: Redefining Travel as a Seamless End-to-End Experience 30:48 - 36:45 Redefining Travel Marketing: Working with Endemic and Non-Endemic Brands 36:46 - 40:30 First-Party Data and Ad Tech: Building Seamless Customer Experiences 40:31 - 41:51 Marketing Campaigns that Inspired Mahek 41:52 - 43:00 Why Mahek Admires Amazon’s Business Model 43:01 - 44.53 Marketers who Inspired Mahek 44.54 - 47:26 Mahek Shah’s Book Recommendations 47:27 - 50:36 Dynamic Digital Out-of-Home: AirAsia's Campaign to sell 7 Million Tickets 50:38 - 53:30 Advice to a Marketing Student at University Key takeaways from this conversation Watch the full episode on YouTube For Show Notes, visit https://contraminds.com Connect with Mahek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maheks/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ This episode was made possible by the great folks at MovingWalls. Moving Walls provides a global Adtech platform built by Out-of-home advertising experts, automating the process of planning, buying, executing and measuring OOH campaigns, with a presence across four continents and seven markets. Moving Walls processes more than 10 billion data points and measures more than 100,000 media sites across the globe. In 2017, APAC CIO Outlook listed us as one of the “10 Most Promising Digital Technology Solutions Providers”. Moving Walls is also a Tie50 winner, a listing of 50 most enterprising startups globally. Visit www.movingwalls.com to learn more.

Prof. Vasant Dhar is an AI researcher who pioneered machine learning applications in finance. His research examines how innovations like AI impact society, focusing on issues of trust, ethics, and the future of work. Dhar is host of the podcast "Brave New World" exploring technology's transformation of humanity. Prof. Dhar is a professor at the Stern School of Business and the Center for Data Science at New York University, former editor-in-chief of the journal Big Data and the founder of SCT Capital, one of the first machine-learning-based hedge funds in New York City in the 1990s. Connect with Prof Dhar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasant-dhar-931175/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ For Show Notes, visit https://contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless.Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

From Disability to Ability: How Enable India Unlocks Potential About The Guest: Moses Gorrepati has over 15 years of experience championing inclusion and empowerment for people with disabilities. As a leader at Enable India, he heads programs transforming lives through digital literacy, livelihoods, and social platforms. A catalyst for change, his mission is to build an ecosystem that unlocks the potential of people with disabilities as active citizens and nation builders. About Enable India: Enable India is a non-profit organisation that empowers people with disabilities as active citizens and nation builders through dignified livelihoods. Their vision is a world where people with disabilities are seen as change agents and taxpayers with full potential when included in society. Enable India serves 14 disability types across India, impacting over two lakh individuals and families by collaborating with companies to open up new career opportunities. Over 20 years they have opened 291 roles across 22 sectors, advancing inclusion and agency for people with disabilities. 15 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE CONVERSATION 1. Enable India's mission is to enable economic independence and dignity for people with disabilities through livelihoods and employment. 2. They focus on ability rather than disability, providing workplace solutions to unlock potential. 3. Marketing campaigns are designed as collectives, bringing stakeholders together around a shared vision. 4. Language and framing is critical - they promote positive narratives about disability. 5. Solutions should be co-created, giving agency to contributors rather than just consumers. 6. Grassroots community platforms like EnableVani spread awareness and information. 7. Employers are pitched on the strong business case for hiring people with disabilities. 8. Workshops build inclusivity skills and break down barriers with personalized stories. 9. People are transformed through nurturing potential and setting high expectations. 10. Life skills and attitude development ready people for opportunities beyond just a job. 11. Alignment on purpose and values matters more than money with donors. 12. Fair compensation enables dignity but purpose drives staff passion. 13. Marketing success requires collaboration across stakeholders. 14. Solutions should focus on the larger context not just the immediate need. 15. A positive, empowering narrative uplifts and brings people together. Watch the full episode on YouTube For Show Notes, visit https://contraminds.com Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ This episode was made possible by the great folks at MovingWalls. Moving Walls is a media technology group with a presence across four continents and seven markets. Moving Walls processes more than 10 billion data points and measures more than 100,000 media sites across the globe. In 2017, APAC CIO Outlook listed us as one of the “10 Most Promising Digital Technology Solutions Providers”. Moving Walls is also a Tie50 winner, a listing of 50 most enterprising startups globally. Visit www.movingwalls.com to learn more.

From Disability to Ability: How Enable India Unlocks Potential About The Guest: Moses Gorrepati has over 15 years of experience championing inclusion and empowerment for people with disabilities. As a leader at Enable India, he heads programs transforming lives through digital literacy, livelihoods, and social platforms. A catalyst for change, his mission is to build an ecosystem that unlocks the potential of people with disabilities as active citizens and nation builders. About Enable India: Enable India is a non-profit organisation that empowers people with disabilities as active citizens and nation builders through dignified livelihoods. Their vision is a world where people with disabilities are seen as change agents and taxpayers with full potential when included in society. Enable India serves 14 disability types across India, impacting over two lakh individuals and families by collaborating with companies to open up new career opportunities. Over 20 years they have opened 291 roles across 22 sectors, advancing inclusion and agency for people with disabilities. 15 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE CONVERSATION 1. Enable India's mission is to enable economic independence and dignity for people with disabilities through livelihoods and employment. 2. They focus on ability rather than disability, providing workplace solutions to unlock potential. 3. Marketing campaigns are designed as collectives, bringing stakeholders together around a shared vision. 4. Language and framing is critical - they promote positive narratives about disability. 5. Solutions should be co-created, giving agency to contributors rather than just consumers. 6. Grassroots community platforms like EnableVani spread awareness and information. 7. Employers are pitched on the strong business case for hiring people with disabilities. 8. Workshops build inclusivity skills and break down barriers with personalized stories. 9. People are transformed through nurturing potential and setting high expectations. 10. Life skills and attitude development ready people for opportunities beyond just a job. 11. Alignment on purpose and values matters more than money with donors. 12. Fair compensation enables dignity but purpose drives staff passion. 13. Marketing success requires collaboration across stakeholders. 14. Solutions should focus on the larger context not just the immediate need. 15. A positive, empowering narrative uplifts and brings people together. Watch the full episode on YouTube For Show Notes, visit https://contraminds.com Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ This episode was made possible by the great folks at MovingWalls. Moving Walls is a media technology group with a presence across four continents and seven markets. Moving Walls processes more than 10 billion data points and measures more than 100,000 media sites across the globe. In 2017, APAC CIO Outlook listed us as one of the “10 Most Promising Digital Technology Solutions Providers”. Moving Walls is also a Tie50 winner, a listing of 50 most enterprising startups globally. Visit www.movingwalls.com to learn more.

Khyati Bhatt is the Founder, Senior Coach, and Head Consultant at Simply Body Talk specializing in nonverbal communication, helping business heads sharpen leadership and communication skills. Trained under former FBI Agent, Author and Public Speaker Joe Navarro and guided by scientifically crafted models, Khyati has collaborated with elite military forces and top-tier global corporations like Google, Deloitte, Discovery, Adani, Capgemini, Wipro and Panasonic. In this engaging conversation, Swami and Khyati discuss the importance of body language, the power of observation, visual cues and strategies to make connections, how to read a room in a few seconds, simple and effective tips to master verbal and nonverbal interactions in crucial situations like board meetings, interviews and negotiations. We are available on all leading platforms - Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music For show notes and past episodes, visit www.contraminds.com ⁠Connect with Khyati: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khyati-bhatt/?originalSubdomain=in ⁠⁠Connect with Swami⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Anton Howes (www.antonhowes.com) is the Head of Innovation Research at the UK-based think-tank, The Entrepreneurs Network. Anton also serves as the Historian in Residence at the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. In this engaging conversation, Swami and Anton explore the fascinating role the Royal Society of Arts played in fostering innovation and invention during the late 17th and 18th centuries. Delving into the roots of the industrial revolution, they discuss the historical spread of innovation and the pivotal shift from Britain to the US in the early 19th century. Anton shares valuable insights into the significance of interdisciplinary learning as a catalyst for innovation. The discussion extends to pondering the future, exploring where the centre of gravity for innovation and invention might shift over the next decade or two. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music For show notes and past episodes, visit www.contraminds.com ⁠Connect with Anton⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonhowes/ ⁠⁠Connect with Swami⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Welcome to a very special year-end episode of the Contra Minds Podcast. In 2023, we had a phenomenal line-up of guests who were achievers in their own profession. They all stood for the ContraMinds philosophy of having the conviction in what they were doing irrespective of what the world around them wanted them to do or believed in. This episode is a curation of their thoughts, ideas, and insights. Rajesh Jain shared the idea of ProfiCorn and how profits need to be at the core of any business. Pooja Jauhari spoke about the leadership lessons that she learnt while building a marketing services firm. Rajat Agarwal spoke about how health tech platforms need to focus on patients, nurses, and hospital support staff that can deliver exceptional experience for patients. Matt Abrahams spoke to about spontaneity of communication. Sridhar Ramaswamy spoke to about the digital factories and how the digital factories are changing the world of marketing. Dr. Aniruddha Malpani emphasized the need to rewire education so that education can build curiosity in kids. James Bellerjeau talked about how great performers look beyond job descriptions. Ravishankar spoke about storytelling and he shared great frameworks to be better storytellers. Roger Forsgren, the ex-Chief Knowledge Officer of NASA, spoke to about the importance of learning history and how history can help improve critical thinking skills. And this is something that he said is so very important for engineers. Finally, Prem Kumar Gokuladasan, shared the phenomenal work that he was doing using technology in transforming rural education in India. --- You can access the full episodes on www.contraminds.com. We are also available on all leading podcast platforms and on YouTube as well. Here’s wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year! ----- Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com ----- This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Welcome to a very special year-end episode of the Contra Minds Podcast. In 2023, we had a phenomenal line-up of guests who were achievers in their own profession. They all stood for the ContraMinds philosophy of having the conviction in what they were doing irrespective of what the world around them wanted them to do or believed in. This episode is a curation of their thoughts, ideas, and insights. Rajesh Jain shared the idea of ProfiCorn and how profits need to be at the core of any business. Pooja Jauhari spoke about the leadership lessons that she learnt while building a marketing services firm. Rajat Agarwal spoke about how health tech platforms need to focus on patients, nurses, and hospital support staff that can deliver exceptional experience for patients. Matt Abrahams spoke to about spontaneity of communication. Sridhar Ramaswamy spoke to about the digital factories and how the digital factories are changing the world of marketing. Dr. Aniruddha Malpani emphasized the need to rewire education so that education can build curiosity in kids. James Bellerjeau talked about how great performers look beyond job descriptions. Ravishankar spoke about storytelling and he shared great frameworks to be better storytellers. Roger Forsgren, the ex-Chief Knowledge Officer of NASA, spoke to about the importance of learning history and how history can help improve critical thinking skills. And this is something that he said is so very important for engineers. Finally, Prem Kumar Gokuladasan, shared the phenomenal work that he was doing using technology in transforming rural education in India. --- You can access the full episodes on www.contraminds.com. We are also available on all leading podcast platforms and on YouTube as well. Here’s wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year! ----- Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com ----- This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

We launched The Super CMO Show in January this year and it has been a truly rewarding journey so far. This episode is a curation of the top marketing moments we’ve had with our esteemed guests on the show... moments from our conversations with Unilever veteran Marc de Swaan talking about Humanized Growth and the Da Vinci CMO Model, to Prof Tanvi Gupta of IIM Jaipur on Visual Semiotics in marketing. From prolific author and Prof, Peter Fader on the Customer Base Audit to marketing leader Sukumar Muthya on the need for technology-driven marketers. Amit Tiwari of TCS’s Global Demand Centre talked about why marketers need to recalibrate. reskill and reboot…while Prof Venky Shankar, a Ford Chair Professor shared insights on the role of the CMO in today’s marketing world. We had the privilege of talking to the one and only David Fradin on Product Design and Management…and the Out of Home Pioneer Srikanth Ramachandran on how app data can influence Out of Home Experiences. Eight Enlightening Episodes! It’s been a truly enriching experience talking to the best minds in the industry and we look forward to bringing you much more in 2024. ----- You can access the full episodes on www.contraminds.com. We are also available on all leading podcast platforms and on YouTube as well. Here’s wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year! ----- Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com ----- The Super CMO Show attempts to find answers to all these questions through conversations with the best minds in marketing: - How should the CEO and Company Boards take strategic advantage of marketing to improve the value of their firms? - What do CMOs and Marketers worry about, and what issues or problems make them lose their sleep? - Why is it important to understand customer behaviour if you are involved in marketing as a technologist or a marketer? - What impact does 800-Pound Gorilla – Technology have on the marketing world, and how can it be leveraged for a company’s product or brands? - Why is the power of data, analytics, and technology on creative is here to stay? - Why are financial skills as essential for marketers as marketing skills? ----- This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Bharath MS is an accomplished IP litigator and strategist, slated to become the INTA Board of Director for 2024-2026. With over two decades of legal experience and 12 years leading a regional office, he founded KRIA Law in March 2021. Bharath is recognized for his expertise in IP litigation, advising clients across diverse industries, and mediating complex conflicts. His notable achievements include securing the protection of the Tirupati Laddu GI and registering national and international GIs in India, such as Tequila and Scotch. Madhura Shanthini is a Senior Associate at KRIA Law. Madhura talks about technology laws, intellectual property and commercial contracts. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts. Click here for full access to earlier guest interviews and show notes Sign up for our weekly newsletter Connect with Bharath MS Connect with Madhura Shanthini Connect with Swami Connect with us ⁠LinkedIN⁠⁠ Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook ⁠⁠Website⁠ This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit ⁠www.goeffortless.ai⁠ to learn more.

Building Digital Out-Of-Home Experiences using Data, Automation and Algorithms Srikanth Ramachandran is the Founder of Moving Walls, a world-renowned AdTech company that specializes in innovative out of home (OOH) media solutions. With 2000 campaigns Moving Walls helps businesses launch audience-based OOH plans, programmatic DOOH campaigns, and generate billboard reports. Their ecosystem spans over 120,000 digital, static, indoor, and outdoor media sites across the globe. In conversation with Swami, Srikanth discusses: - His foray into the media business - How Moving Walls is transforming the fragmented OOH media industry - How billboards influence the sub-conscious mind - Building the customer journey with omni-media - Frameworks for CMOs to deliver contextual experiences - Using first-party data for a real world experience - Building connected marketing, dynamic content and contextual data frameworks - Learnings from his entrepreneurial journey - The future of Moving Walls and what has Srikanth excited about the future. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Srikanth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srikanth-ramachandran-b7a105/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

James Bellerjeau is a researcher, lecturer and he is the ACC docket career path columnist. In this episode, @jamesbellerjeau talks to @sivaramanswaminathan4406 about what he believes is career success and how career success is about having internal benchmarks and being satisfied with what you want to do rather than what the world wants you to do. He talks about how to achieve excellence in small incremental steps, the fact that you need to look at contemplative questions about how to balance your personal values and beliefs with company philosophy and the importance of having personal benchmarks and being satisfied with doing a good job and achieving mastery and excellence in what you need to do and being convinced that you have given your best in the job. And that is really key to achieving personal and professional success. James draws upon his two-decade experience as an S&P 500 General Counsel, as well as his earlier studies in psychology, law, and business. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with James Connect with Swami Connect with Vignesh Connect with us LinkedIN Instagram Facebook Website This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Matt Abrahams is a Larsen Lam Family Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at the renowned Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. As an expert in the field of organizational behavior, he has become a sought-after figure, offering his insights and wisdom to Fortune 100 companies as both a keynote speaker and a communication consultant. In his new book “Think Faster, Talk Smarter" Matt distills his wealth of knowledge and experience into a comprehensive guide that helps readers sharpen their communication skills and excel in both their personal and professional lives. Matt also hosts a widely admired podcast called Think Fast, Talk Smart. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maabrahams/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit ⁠⁠www.goeffortless.ai⁠⁠ to learn more.

Rajesh Jain is a technology entrepreneur based out of Mumbai, India. Rajesh was a pioneer in Asia's dot-com revolution, creating India's first internet portals in the late 1990s. Today, he's the founder of Netcore Cloud, a bootstrap, SaaS company that helps B2C brands and marketers create AI-powered new age customer experiences at every touch point of a customer's journey. Netcore Cloud is a very successful global marketing technology company and what they offer is an AI-powered marketing automation and analytics solutions for customers globally. Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Rajesh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajesh-jain-b941/ Rajesh Jain's Blog: www.rajeshjain.com Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit ⁠www.goeffortless.ai⁠ to learn more.

Building a Toolkit for Product Success Management David Fradin is the president of Spice Catalyst. He's a product management and product marketing consultant. David is a mentor, professor, and one of the world's foremost authorities on product management. He is an author of two incredibly great books - Successful Product Design & Management Toolkit and Building Insanely Great Products. David has trained thousands of people on product management. He talks on product management, product strategy, product success management, and his belief is product managers need to be called product success managers. He also believes that the product managers of today need to be given all the authority and responsibility to build great products. In this episode, he talks to Swami and Vignesh about the fundamentals of product management. What does it take to build great products? His experience at Apple and HP. What did he learn there? And what are the key tenets of product management? Listen now. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfradin/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless has been designed to be user-friendly, aiding you in your journey to streamline financial tasks. Experience the convenience of achieving e-Invoicing and E-way Bill Generation in just a couple of clicks, simplifying your business processes. Visit www.goeffortless.ai to learn more.

Roger Forsgren is a retired Chief Knowledge Officer of NASA. He was a director of Academy of Program, Project and Engineering Leadership at NASA. Roger is also an undergraduate with a liberal arts degree, a mechanical engineering degree and a masters in industrial engineering. Roger is also the author of two books and the most recent being “When Graduation is Over, Learning Begins - Lessons for STEM Students and Professionals”. In this episode, Swami & Roger discuss the importance of having a liberal arts background for an engineer, foundational skills needed for successful engineers, how communication skills, decision-making skills, and working with people are as important as number crunching, and where empathy can help achieve efficiency in an imperfect world filled with vulnerable people. This is Roger’s second episode with Swami & Contraminds. We had the privilege of playing host to Roger in episode 23, released on Jan 22, 2022 - Roger Forsgren on Knowledge Management Lessons from NASA. Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts Watch the full video episode on YouTube To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Roger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-forsgren-b5a20a166/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com This episode was made possible by the great folks at Effortless. Effortless is a Neo-Banking business application built for handling Bookkeeping, Compliance, Payroll, and Funding. Today entrepreneurs are struggling to track the cash inflows, outflows and forecasting of cashflow with the current broken finance stack. Lot of founders and core team time is spent to manually track collections, vendor bills and make payments, and in various spreadsheets, saved in mails, laptops and some physically and different banking app and sending the same to the accountants and consultants for compliance filings leading to poor financial planning, lack of finance data and non-compliances leading to penalties and interests. Effortless has made e-invoicing compliant invoicing simple for anyone to make, reduces 90% effort to collect, with all banking integration stay on the top of your cashflow. Secured UPI like business payment directly from effortless ensures all expenses are tracked including expenses you make from your personal credit card and UPI apps. Realtime insights, reports, alerts and notifications to enable you to thrive in your business. For further details, visit: www.goeffortless.ai

Sridhar Ramasamy is an industry veteran with interdisciplinary knowledge across the pharmaceutical and manufacturing domains. Sridhar leads digital transformation, engineering, automation and data analytics. In this episode, Swami and Sridhar delve deep into -The Importance of an Engineer Understanding a Business Problem - Asking Stupid Questions - How to Handle Ambiguity - Having an Open Mind and Looking at Data - Doing Your Boss’s Job - Mindset For Digital Transformation - Industry Economy to Knowledge Economy Factories - Mixing Pragmatism with Innovative Thinking & Business Reality for Digital Transformation - Mixing Engineering Skills and Business Strategy - Key to Building Digital Factories - KPI Requires Business Understanding and Knowledge - Specs and Siloed Processes - Digital Twins and Applying it to the Digital Knowledge Factories of Tomorrow - Multi-functional-multi-disciplinary Knowledge - Automation does not Reduce Jobs - Learnings from other Industries - How to Solve for a Problem not Invented as yet #digitalfactories #smartmanufacturing #reliabilityengineering, #lightsoutmanufacturing#dataanalytics #justintimeproduction #leanmanufacturing #pharma #sanofi #plantautomation #sixsigma #digitalmaturity #automation #industryeconomy #knowledgeeconomy #businessstrategy #digitaltwins #multidisciplinaryknowledge #multifunctional You can watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit ⁠www.contraminds.com⁠ To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit ⁠https://contraminds.substack.com/⁠ Connect with Sridhar: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/sriramasamy/⁠ Connect with Swami: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/⁠ Connect with Vignesh: ⁠https://twitter.com/hrorq⁠ Connect with us: LinkedIN: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/⁠ Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/contraminds⁠ Website: ⁠www.contraminds.com

Sridhar Ramasamy is an industry veteran with interdisciplinary knowledge across the pharmaceutical and manufacturing domains. Sridhar leads digital transformation, engineering, automation and data analytics. In this episode, Swami and Sridhar delve deep into #digitalfactories, #smartmanufacturing, #reliabilityengineering, #lightsoutmanufacturing, #dataanalytics, the power of #domainknowledge in problem solving and much more. Watch the full video episode on YouTube For show notes and earlier guest interviews, please visit www.contraminds.com To sign up for our weekly newsletter, please visit https://contraminds.substack.com/ Connect with Sridhar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sriramasamy/ Connect with Swami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivaraman-swaminathan-9856501/ Connect with Vignesh: https://twitter.com/hrorq Connect with us: LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contraminds/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contraminds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contraminds Website: www.contraminds.com