Cases of Desperation

Some people might say, that desperate situations demand desperate measures. But i would like to offer a counterpoint : Desperate situations, need a quiet and a well thought out measures. Acting in haste, always seem to be a half baked solution. But reacting at your own charmed time means...well the time has passed, and the solution might seem to be a little out of context.

So the balance of well thought out course of action, and at the same time reacting/responding in time to the situation has to be achieved. For e.g. if the teacher has complaints regarding your child's behaviour in the classroom, one must react positively, firmly and in time. No need to rush in and scream at the child, nor is it appropriate for us to wear velvet gloves and act like the 'friend' of your child. An all around assesment of your child's hidden motivations for the behaviour needs to be unearthed. It's easier said than done..!

For e.g, if a client calls for an emergency meeting, since his TV advertising campaign is not making his sales graph zoom northwards. I guess most of the communication experts will blame the creatives, the schedules of the TV plan, the sudden drop of TV viewership etc. But do we look inwards at our own distribution strengths, our pricing strategies, our timing of entering into a campaign (is there a seasonal purchase downturn)? There is a problem somewhere...Hence we do the easiest thing that's possible. Pump in more investments into media, re-jig the TV plan, create shorter edits of the creatives and achieve more frequency..But the real problem is somewhere else..! Did we investigate enough?

Sometimes, we don't have time for well thought out responses. Look at how our powers-that-be react to a natural disasters that hits our country from time to time. In Bihar, recently, the government machinery swung into action, only after 10-15 days of twiddling their thumbs. But at the other extreme are the NGOs, private enterprises which start donating, collecting and distributing at the very whiff of a disaster. Which course of action do we subscribe to?

There is a subtle difference between a Reaction and a Response. Medical emergencies, natural or manmade disasters require reactions. The other so called serious/emergency situations require a response. But this is my take on this topic. What's yours?

Have Faith ; Rewards will follow...