Random Musings 😏, Part-4
Soul Letter #18
Hi folks, Shubham here.
I am back with another edition of Random Musings.
SonoSite’s Unique Problem
SonoSite was founded in 1986 to make handheld ultrasound equipment.
SonoSite had two families of handheld products. Its main product was called the Titan. It was about as big as a laptop computer.
The other, branded the iLook, was less than half the size of the Titan and one-third the price.
Both machines had enormous potential.
The key thing was that the iLook was not as complex as the Titan, nor as profitable, but it was a lot more portable.
Kevin Goodwin was the CEO of the company. He expected that iLook will be a big hit due to its portability and affordability. He wanted to conquer the market before any company launched a similar device.
However, that wasn’t the case.
To dig deeper Goodwin participated in one of the sales calls. He observed while talking to the customer SonoSite’s salesman primarily pitched Titan instead of iLook. Goodwin intentionally told them to speak about iLook but they ignored him.
In fact, it is said Goodwin asked his salespeople three times to sell iLook in front of the customer, and they blandly dismissed him.
Were the employees deliberately trying to defy Goodwin?
No, they were just doing their jobs.
The salespeople were instructed to make maximum profits. Selling a Titan reaped more returns than an iLook.
It’s an intriguing case study where SonoSite wanted to promote its new revolutionary product iLook but the sales team was being judged by their numbers for which selling Titan made more sense.
A similar conflict of interests may be a reason why some companies may struggle. The management has a unique vision, but the employees are veered in another direction.
No one can afford to be dumb anymore
This is one of my recent epiphanies.
Each one of us has a social media presence. Unfortunately, if you post a wrong info or a stat, you will be mocked for eternity.
It’s even harder for celebrities because of the number of eyeballs glued on them.
One mistake can ruin their careers.
Any controversial statement or a derogatory remark can flip their fans to cynics.
Celebrities can’t risk their credibility. To avoid any embarrassments they have a dedicated team to manage their social media handles. Plus they are groomed to tackle any tricky conversations.
On the other hand, we normal people can’t afford experts to train us. It’s normal not to know everything occurring in this world.
Don’t be ashamed if you mess up. Acknowledge your fault and move on.
One tip, before getting in an argument or posting something please get your facts checked.
I was very dumb when I was 14, see, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram when I was 14, so I was dumb but I was dumb in Private. - Will Smith
Delhi Trip, accepting the inevitable :(
My Delhi trip was good. It felt nice catching up with college friends.
Coincidentally we met at the same venue a few months ago, therefore it felt like a quarterly update meeting 😂
Frankly, it’s strange seeing so many of my friends going abroad for masters.
Just a while back during the pre-Covid times most of us were living together in Bangalore, rejoicing the prime days of our bachelorhood. The majority of us had started with our first job, savoring the freedom which came along with it.
The independence of living in our own house (rented but still), managing our own expenses, staying out late at night without worries, going on ad-hoc vacations, and much more.
And now most of us live in different time zones. We may need to plan beforehand to have a successful video call.
Nobody can tell when all of us will be in the same room again. I guess that’s life. People move on which makes us realize the value of those small moments.
For me personally, one of the best things about that life was the unpredictability.
You would begin a normal monotonous day by going to the office but you wouldn’t be sure how your day might end.
You may be at a movie, or go for a badminton match, or be chilling at a pub, or go for a spontaneous trek, or you might end up at a friend’s house or a friend might come to yours to relive the old college memories.
I guess we would have loved to continue with our Bangalore lives at least for a few more months. But deep down we knew this was coming, we can’t live like this forever.
Hard decisions related to our lives, careers, higher-studies, relationships had to be made, which we were stalling.
Pandemic gave us the nudge in the back to deal with these inevitable dilemmas.
Anyways, all the best to everyone who has moved abroad.
Don’t worry guys I still have a decent number of friends here in India. Moreover, I have Soul Letter to keep myself occupied.
Poll Results
This is a new addition to Random Musings.
For conversation threads, I have started weekly polls on LinkedIn and will be sharing the results.
Approx 40% of people sleep with mobile data on, I wonder why? 🤔
🐔🚗
The Choice
One of my favorite short films. It’s just 3 minutes, do watch it.
How small changes can make a significant difference.
Final Words
Remember the bicycle I bought?
I have ridden it only once, and already my family members have started taunting me 🙄
One minor update, most of our proofreaders are busy nowadays due to which they can’t allocate time to review the drafts. In case there are errors please ignore them :)
Anyways have a great weekend everyone 🤘
See you on Tuesday at 5:30 pm, Houdoe! 🙋♂️
In case you missed last week’s conversation thread, click the below link.
In case you missed the previous newsletters, we have got you covered.
Soul Letter #17 - Life Hacks, Part-1
Soul Letter #16 - Random Musings 😏, Part-3
Soul Letter #15 - Let's Rethink Technology 📱, A coin has two sides.
PS: If you would like to share anything, mail us at lettercallsoul@gmail.com.