Both Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi are salesmen out to lure the voter as customer. Who is the better oneIJ
Running a political party is like running a business: You have a defined product (an ideology, policy etc.) and you are expected to sell this product to your customer (the voter base). When your customer is happy you are elected to office. Today, two CEOs are competing to sell their product: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is selling the vision of a Government that promises to deliver development, while Mr Rahul Gandhi (the most visible Opposition leader) is selling the idea of a unsuccessful Government in office. Though their products are relatable they are both failing in some aspects of their business.
Mr Modi’s product has the largest market share we have seen in years. As a CEO, he is a brilliant brand manager and communicator. He has travelled across the country and sold his vision of a developed and progressive India. As a CEO, he is also terrific in driving his team members. For example, all Ministers report directly to the Prime Minister on key initiatives and he closely tracks their performance. However, the last few months have seen major operational issues and miscalculations from his end. The result has been that the rural consumer is far from being happy.
Specifically, the ‘cutting’ of the rural employment guarantee programmes (with allocations now focussing on materials rather human capital) means that fewer people are getting employed in States like Bihar. The situation has become worse for those at the base of the pyramid, with bad weather conditions leaving very little for small land-owning farmers. The Prime Minister’s product of a better future with the aid of a strong Government no longer seems like its on the shelf for some of its consumers.
As a CEO, if the Prime Minister wants to maintain his product’s market share, then he needs to reconsider internal operations and evaluate why the final product is not coming out as expected. For example, in a technology company, when the finished product does not deliver the service it promises, the technical team looks in to reasons for the error. Similarly, senior policymakers need to take a step back and try to understand: If they have promised development to their consumers, why isn’t it reaching themIJ
Rahul Gandhi, the CEO of another noticeable company, has a different product and strength.He has inherited his position within the company. Therefore, an immediate strength is the power he holds within the firm. In most family-run organisations, family members often yield a lot of influence, and most people have heard the same of Mr Gandhi in the Congress. This provides him the opportunity to structure the firm as he wishes. A restructuring is desperately needed, since this past election has shown that his product has been valued lowly and that the only way to go is up.
As Mr Gandhi becomes increasingly visible, his employees (party workers) are starting to feel more confident about the revival of the company. However, a major weakness that continues to haunt him is his inability to define the product he is selling and subsequently create an industry around it. Since having returned from his sabbatical, the company leader has attacked every alleged aspect of the existing Government: from its corporate-heavy approach to its apathy toward farmers to the disregard for the sanitation worker. Yet, in this marketing bid, he has been unable to define his own product. What is the one defined good that the Congress is offering that the BJP or the Aam Aadmi Party or the other is notIJ Why should I believe that the Congress’s product would be any better than it was beforeIJ
Only when he pulls together a concrete product offering will there be a company to grow and a strong marketing strategy to follow. Till then everything will appear disconnected.Open markets and competition bring out the best and most affordable products. It is surprising that in a country with close to 1,800 political parties, we haven’t gotten a more polished product. But as a CEO of a company, I feel like we are getting there.
(The writer is the CEO of Swaniti Initiative, which is a non-profit that delivers development solutions to elected officials)