Life of a Consultant

 Monday musings. 

This one cracked me up, cartoon by Sunil Agarwal in The Times Of India  newspaper dt 29 Sep. ‘25  

While it was my B-School dream to work for one of the top Consulting firms, destiny had other plans for me even as I run my owm firm on its 11th year, quite successfully. 

Till date, several employees of our Clients feel that we are really NOT required for their Organisation and that they could do well by themselves 

How could they be told, I wonder that Consultants (and not just us) are brought in for a purpose and not because Business Owners or Boards of Directors are floating with extra cash! 

In fact, we are the last to be paid, after their Bankers, external Creditors, employees, themselves, key Vendors, etc. in that order. 

NO - this cartoon is NOT funny. 

Whether it is McKinsey & Company or Miles2Go Consulting Services  - we are hired for a reason. And with a conviction by Business Owners. 

And Clients mostly hire us for interventional Consulting, to solve specific, short-term business challenges and not to hang around like employees and office furniture for a lifetime.  

So, whether you work for Accenture or Bain & Company or Boston Consulting Group (BCG) , EY-Parthenon or KPMG India or run your own little boutique Consulting firm - we stand together on our purpose to bring a visible, measurable and positive change for our Clients within a defined timeframe. 

Proud to be a living, working and running my firm as a Consultant with a sizeable team, notwithstanding this admonishment that is supposedly (not so) humourous!

Time (and Luxury) come at a cost

I was intrigued when I saw this ad in the latest issue of Fortune magazine featuring a first of its kind Omega + Swatch Moonstar Speedmaster. Usually, the luxury brand Omega does not make references of its parent company SWATCH, which many common people around the world may not know about.

The luxury of Omega, combined with the affordable Swatch label, makes it an interesting combo after all to buy, which costs approximately USD 1,000. 

It is also that time of the year – September – when Apple launches its newest model and claims to be the best iPhone ever, with pricing starting at USD 1,000.

Apple aficionados queue up outside retail stores when the new smartphones launch, even as Android Warriors criticise the over-priced jewel, claiming several features are already on their devices.

While the Earth is divided between those who wish to take a bite of their beloved Apple, Economists and Financial Advisors – qualified specialists as well as self-learned ones offer unsolicited sermons all over social media, how investing INR 85,000 on a depreciating asset is such a waste.

In a way, yes. Especially, when youngsters as well as parents buy an iPhone on EMI, hoping on future earnings. Luxury comes at a cost, after all.

However, what we seldom correlate is the good-old Maslow’s Theory where consumers wish to seek higher-priced products as a way to celebrate their status – current as well as projected one. 

For Ex., someone in the media industry as a Creator or as an Influencer, would not just want to flaunt the latest iPhone that they use for their work, but may also put it to great use.

A friend of mine once told me, whether it is a Timex or a Rolex, they show the same time, however where and when they are used matters.

If an Alto and an Audi are just meant to transport people from one point to another, then the whole world would remain with just the basic necessities, with NO interest in “wants and desires”. For some, a new iPhone or a MoonSwatch could be a need, or a want or a desire.

Consumer brands always build aspirations in the mind of prospective buyers so they don’t just use the said product, rather live the product as well.

The entire argument of why to own expensive stuff, while people in countries like Japan and Germany are moving towards Minimalism, is quite true. However, the cost of luxury is embedded in the human psyche and only humans crave for a step-up.

One would rarely or rather never find a Tiger say, I wish to hunt for a premium variety of Deer! Call it the animal instinct or the feeling of “survival of the fittest."

Humans, read: Consumers, always wish to upgrade themselves and look younger, cooler and more desirable to their intended audience.

Another example is why most people in India “dye” their hair – pitch black, when half their hair on the head is grey (or even silky white). It is just the aspiration to look “not-so-old” and stay relevant to their friends, family members and colleagues at workplace.

Several brands have made a killing with this simple desire (or a basic need if you would call it so) to ensure the hair on their head looks pitch black.

Coming back to acquiring luxury – it is a sin to borrow money to buy such products, even though one may know reasonably that they can pay back their debts.

Dr. Vijay Mallya / Mr. Anil Ambani / Mr. Venugopal Dhoot are striking examples too. They simply tried every trick in the playbook that any other businessman would do. Just that they over-leveraged their future income over the present.

Reiterating the same point, Time and Luxury come at a cost. It is perfectly fine to spend using credit cards to acquire luxury, except that one should ensure they do not over-spend than they can ever pay. Or repay, rather.

Made in Madras 2025

On 4 June 2001, I formally began my first job as a Retail Management Trainee with India’s first organised retail chain, the RPG Group. 

On the first day at work, I recall vividly riding in my humble TVS Max 100 R motorcycle from home to Spencers Plaza, where the HQ was located. 

I had been there before, countless times, but as an onlooker, as a consumer business enthusiast and a window shopper at best. Little did I know, that I would end up working in the same building one day.

.

25 years later, on 31 Aug. ’25, I had the chance to host an interesting evening with a handful of doyens of the Indian Retail Industry’s eponymous journey – spanning as late as 1859.

Miles2Go Consulting Services, the Management Advisory firm that I founded in 2014, hosted its first ever event on Retail, as well as to celebrate “Madras Day” – the date of 22 Aug. when the city of Madras was officially created.

What began as a seed of an idea, grew into a full-fledged, power packed event, with 8 powerful speakers spanning over 150 mins, with just 3 weeks of preparation.

Mr.Mahalingam Balasubramaniam and Ashwin Balasubramaniam, Directors of Mangathirth Estates, the promoters of Spencers Plaza spoke about the glory of the place and how it all started.

The connection between Retailing and the erstwhile Madras that is called Chennai today, dates back almost two centuries behind us.

The first ever full-fledged Department Store – “Spencers”, offering Food & Grocery products once upon a time stood here – where the mall is now located, as early as 1859. 

This was a time when the gloried Harrods was not even in existence in London, the seat of the Queen and the East India Company!

Mr. Balasubramaniam spoke about how the mall was once upon a time, the largest building in India and was also the largest mall in all of Asia, during the late 90s.

In the next session, Mafoi Mr. K. Pandiarajan, Chairman & Managing Director CIEL HR, spoke about the hiring trends during the 90s and early 2000s in a candid chat with Prof. Giridhar Ramachandran, Ph. D., Associate Dean at XLRI Jamshedpur. 

He also stressed about the great opportunity ahead of us for young professionals in the Indian Retail Industry.

During the Panel Discussion about the great transition of retailers and customers from the 20th Century Madras to 21st Century Chennai, Ms. Thangamalar Jaganath, Managing Partner, Vasanth & Co., spoke in detail about her Late father, Mr. Vasanth, the founder of the Consumer Durables chain and the discipline that he instilled and the processes he brought in to the business, due to which the company has not just scaled over the years, but also grown leaps and bounds.

Mr. Harris Abdulla MK, the Founder of Fruit Shop on Greams Road shared about the first organised and formal juice shop of Madras during the early 90s, the hardships that he faced and what it was to convince consumers to pay for high quality, fresh fruit juices.

Mr. Balachander R, Director of the Biriyani chain Junior Kupanna spoke about team management, retaining and hiring staff, ensuring operational SoPs and most importantly, how Chennai remains the Biriyani Capital of India.

In the final session of the day, a tetè-á-tete with MS Bharath, Lawyer, Supreme Court of India and Founder, KRIA Law, Vummidi Mr. Balaji, Managing Partner of VBC Jewellery spoke about transitioning legacy over 125 years, ever since the Vummidi House of Jewellery came in to existence in the year 1900. 

In the grand finale of his chat, he spoke about how the glory of the SENGOL was discovered by well wishers two years ago, the interesting tid-bit that was passed on to the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and eventually, the new Sengol – a device passed on from one ruler to the other during the days of the Chola reign in Southern India – was placed at the new Parliament building in New Delhi last year.

We were humbled and honoured to present our first “Lifetime Achievement Award” to the House of Vummidi at this event, as a mark of respect to salute the brand which has been a stupendous inspiration for over 4 generations of entrepreneurs. 

It was a momentous occassion for me, even as I stood in surprise, silence and satisfaction that a young boy who went about buying his first ever pair of denims from the Levis Store that once operated from this mall, with money earned from part-time gigs during the college days of 90s, was now grown up enough professionally to organise such an event of yore!

Interestingly, not only my first professional role, managing operations at RPG Retail’s Musicworld Kolkata & later at Foodworld stores across Chennai originated here, but also the interview and the confirmation for my second job with Pantaloon Retail (later The Future Group) also happened at the same building at the Pantaloons Store.

As I always say, even as I germinated in my mother’s womb over 4 decades back, my professional life began at Spencers Plaza, which for me is as sacred.

Cannot thank my Almighty, my parents, my family, my friends, former and current professional colleagues and well-wishers, without who’s support I would not have been standing on this stage today to celebrate Retail and my lovely city, Madras aka Chennai.

I would like to sincerely thank M/s Mangalthirth Estates, BESPOKE, a premium gent’s salon from Naturals, Brown Tree, Kesar Gifts, IBC Tamil and KRIA Law for their unstinted support in conducting this event. A special mention to all the staff of M/s Mangalthirth who gave their best for the sake of the event’s success. 

This is the first of many more events to come. 

Do visit www.MilestoGo.in, even as we aspire to become the first ever Management Consulting Firm in India to go public by 2030. 

We have, after all, Miles to Go…