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Business Trends

Overall, what am I seeing as the trend in this year from where I see it?

The big thing which I see is the reduction of age. Let me explain. Earlier, why, even 10 years ago, an average manager was in his or her early 30s, the average director at about 40 and so on it went...

What I see now, is a far younger corporate India. People in their early 30s are handling entire businesses, people in their 20s are handling functions and people in their 40s are consultants (heh - that last one is a joke). And I also see average CEO age come down - mostly due to the startup rage I suppose, but then again why not.

The second trend which I see as more pronounced is that many of these new companies - the hires are top class. In terms of their skills, confidence and sheer technical (or business) ability - they are second to none.

What does this mean? It means a few things. If you are on the older side, you have to shape up to match these whizkids. If you are a consultant, you better add value. They have no time for nonsense.

What it means for established companies is that if they need to attract top talent and retain them, they have to do more. It also means that routine jobs are more and more 'unpreferred'. If the company still has such jobs, the people who do them will be the bottom-most pile - not motivated and not interested in anything except shooting the breeze and making money. This pile will disappear in due course.

I also see a large segment open and willing to take risks. Both in jobs and in business. And I see this in the unconventional choices that people are willing to make.

The IT services has lost its charm - it is running on borrowed time. And as they transition into ugly ducklings or beautiful swans, it will create both despair and opportunity.

And as the country matures, there are newer and newer problems to solve and I think that will give rise to newer, untapped, very diverse kinds of businesses and ideas...


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