And now... Trump University!

I registered with the Trump University today, which I had accidentally discovered yesterday. I want to take the entrepreneurship course there. Trump University is using the Learning by Doing method, which is what I am also practicing in the entrepreneurship course I am teaching at a university. Rather than make them read backward-looking textbooks, I want the students to choose their assignments and investigate the future opportunities in their own region.

There are a few things one can learn at the Trump University.

How do you rate on nine success factors on the Trump Success Profile? What do you need to know before buying or selling real estate? Who are the "bottom of the pyramid" and why are they a hot market?

Most of this is old for me, but I am interested in learning how they execute the entrepreneurship course, and I may learn a thing or two. At any rate, it's not bad to learn a little from The Donald. I already found my weak areas on the Trump Success Profile, and though the test is pretty simplistic, it's a good way of red-marking the areas of improvement.

Trump's reality show, "The Apprentice," is already my hot favorite TV show. What I enjoy most is how you can always tell which candidate is going to get fired - and how they could have saved themselves were they able to see themselves objectively. Eerie. There's a reason why people see SUCCESS/FAILURE written on your forehead. And how it's upto you to pull that label off!

Already got a home on Mars in 2076? Tell the MIT'ians...

Time travel has fascinated many of us, and I am not exception. But why hadn't it crossed our mind to invite a future traveler in time back to our home, right now? Amal Dorai of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) thought of just that.

He's invited any one from the future to a Time Traveler Convention - if they have a cure for cancer, a home on Mars, or anything to prove they really are back from the future!

Location: MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) East Campus Courtyard (42:21:36.025 degrees north, 71:05:16.332 degrees west)
Date: Saturday, May 07, 2005
Time: 10 P.M. sharp for the time travelers

I can't wait to hear about any guest who turns up!

Flexibility Key to Retaining Women (HBS Working Knowledge)

I recently negotiated a work-from-home arrangement at my job. This was how I could balance my life and work - and avoid the hectic and tiring commuting routine of Karachi. And this would give me time to focus on things that I love, such as writing this blog!

This, I realized through conversations with friends and through research on the Net, is a common issue with today's economic-participative females. I was surprised to see McKinsey's Quarterly talk about work-life balance, and now here is a Harvard Business School Working Knowledge article. This will help many an organization reconsider their flexibility for females (and for that matter even men in workforce who need more quality time at home).

Happy reading!

In the workplace, employers need to take into account women who take a temporary "off-ramp" from their careers. Here is how to keep them connected to your company. An excerpt from Harvard Business Review.

Oops! + Coming up NEXT>

Dear readers: The God of blogging must be preventing me from writing NEXT>
I have been losing the last few posts that answered many of the quetions sent my way.

Let me make a mental note here: I HAVE to give you blogs on:

- Basic Instinct [Aha! No funny eye-gymnastics!]

- The Importance of Being in Context - Consumer Context Planning (tm)

- Seth Saab vs. the MBA

- Broadcast Industry: Where to?

Also, can anyone help me find a great looking (PURPLE-colored!) blog template? I'd love to give you a better look. It's about time NEXT> kicks some designer a**!

Dude, where's your b-equity?

1/ Not Using Your Brand's Full Value?

It's insane how many brand managers just don't turn their brand's equity into maximum profits. It's a COMPLETE, DEAD - WEIGHT - LOSS to the economy. The areas not served by these brands are their domains. They remain unserved, creating gaps in the market.

Underdeveloped economies like those of Pakistan particularly suffer from this.

2/ Leverage the Brand Equity!

What, exactly, is leveraging brand equity? The very simple definition, to me, would be to use the core product in a 100 different ways. Bring about variations in:

• price
• points of sales
• add-ons
• packaging
• applications and uses
• markets served
• times served
• a million other things! [Imagination wanted!]

and sell to all the different markets. When you variate, you create a new market. And this age is about creating exciting new markets rapidly. If you don't you are grossly underusing your brand.

I think the Nestlé coffee dispenser is cool: it's got everything from 8 types of coffee, to hot chocolate milk and hot water for tea drinkers. I think Google (the love of my marketing life!) is the prime example. Google uses its PageRank and search technology to create new products everyday: from Froogle, to AdWords, AdSense, and what not. (Google labs are sahksy!)

3/ Wanted: Crazy Lateral Thinkers

Clearly, we need more than folks whose expertise does not range beyond creating ads and "360-degree/ integrated marketing plans." We need product developers. Designers. Category developers.

We need brash, crazy, genius marketers. Smart, self-assured people who can look at the core need they are satisfying (not even the product, unless it's something as godly as PageRank), and ask: Where do I want to go today? And get there.