THE Y-AXIS by Rajesh Kumar

Last fortnight was a joy, as we came to the launch of Metis Talent Management's website. Metis is a Singapore based organisation that advises clients on Talent Management with a primary focus on Talent Development and Organisation Design . Best wishes to team Metis! The other great thing is how folks at Metis approached this by going in for a full overhaul, including getting a new logo and brand colours. Do leave your comments on what you feel about the website and the logo!!

Of late I have found myself very obsessed with Alex Osterwalder's business model canvas. It seems to be all over the place - in workshops, training sessions, CEO talks in B-Schools and in generally every intellectually sounding talk! Having heard this turn business model at the turn of the century when all sort of logic-defying business ideas were bandied about as unique business models, I had become programmed to turn an instant sceptic whenever this term was used in presentations. Thanks to this refreshing new approach, which appears as smooth as Swiss Chocolate, I found myself forced to look at the 9 blocks of Osterwalder's business model which seem to present a more complete picture. Of late, I have been part of few envisioning exercises myself and found this model very handy, though I do add my own spice to it, such as using colour code in that box which reflects significant innovation and is critical for the value proposition.

For generations of MBA students who have grown up on the staple of the Marketing Management that so lovingly called just 'Kotler', the book, yet another one bearing Kotler's name, brings in a bagful of fresh air. Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital If management or business books can be classified as instructional, conceptual, feel good and general read, this book qualifies as all four. Add to that keen observation skills of the authors as well as intellectual intrigue present in the book, the combination of which makes it a must-read for anyone who wants to be informed of the evolutionary directions in marketing. This book follows (not succeeds) “Marketing 3.0”, published by the same authors(Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiwan) in the year 2010. Perhaps the fact that Kotler is an academician and researcher par-excellence and Kartajaya and Setiwan happen to be practicing marketers, provides this book a unique perspective, one that is neither too academic in na