Rahul Gandhi: Lessons as a PM
PM ! = Prime Minister :)
[Okay, this is a bit of a cringe post - so before you hear more cringe from others, here goes mine 😂]
India elections results are in and what's clear is that Rahul Gandhi + coalition has given a tough fight to PM Modi led ruling party.
That too, when odds were against the opposition parties - frozen bank accounts to a whole lot of politicians being jailed et al.
Now without going into yours and mine political bias, here are a few things that stand out clearly in an incumbent vs. an about-to-lose-entity story.
Customer connect matters
In fact, it's probably the only thing that matters.
Let me share some perspective here: last election (2019), Smriti Irani spent weeks/months in Amethi, met people, really established a very good rapport with them.. and the result? Well, she won by a great margin.
What happened this time? Well, she did sound arrogant and over-confident in all her interviews and you can check the result of that.
What about Congress / Rahul Gandhi?
Well, one thing is clear - Rahul Gandhi has matured as a politician and is’t that ‘Pappu’ anymore.
The transformation and largely the junta connect came during his 3500+ Kms of Bharat Jodo Yatra - an iconic move that brought him closer to the people, especially when the ruling party was getting disconnected from people’s daily problems.
What explains BJP’s entry in South?
Same. Customer Connect.
Mr Modi and his team focused on South Indian states and finally, managed to make a dent in these states.
This is what happens with any high growth startup, right?
The (product) teams that stay connected to customer wins, while the ones who write user stories without talking to users (hello, ZIRP PMs) have no clue of what the customers need and why they do what they do.
The dope of consistent winning makes everyone believe that the customer is in their pocket and then one day, you see yourself becoming Blackberry!
At the end of the day, country like a great company needs PM who believes in the long term story and his/her actions speak the same.
I hope we get one soon ! :)