Into 2014 and beyond!

2013 has been a great learning year at Last-Bench! We’ve had our shares of ups and downs, successes and failures, good days and bad days and busy days to extremely busy days but with all this we fought all odds and are now moving into our third year of existence – 2014.

From a team perspective, we’ve had many interns coming in and continuing on with their journey but towards the end our team size increased by 1. Though it’s just one but the importance of adding that ONE right person in your team is probably one of the best things that could’ve happened that will help us towards achieving our goals.

As we move into 2014, the LB team will focus on two major areas, which we do with passion, possess the right skills to execute and can make substantial progress from a business perspective.

• Educational content production
• Learning platform

Our content production projects are already rolling and we’re looking to scale it big time. We’ve already got multiple projects ranging from Kindergarten content to K-12 and corporate skill development content production in the pipeline for execution and will be scaling our team by 200% to support development activities. Overall, we’re seeing this as a big potential this year and in the future too. All I can say for now is, content production is not easy and we’ve mastered the art to bring creativity and smooth execution to the madness in this method.

On the other front, we’re very close on getting our learning platform MVP ready and are planning a soft launch sometime in Jan 2014 itself. Our JV partners and us have put a lot of thought into planning the strategy, technology, content and sales and finally in the last quarter of 2013, we began the development from all angles. We’re very excited about this learning solution and will be competing against the biggies in this space but in a very niche area. To give you’ll a gist, we’re building an expert driven skill development community for working professionals and are already seeing interest from our potential target customers.

To reach to this point today, I can proudly say that we’ve done it without external funding and are able to sustain our operations ourselves without having to put in more money after the initial capital. Like I’ve always said, it’s the team that matters and the team that can execute matters even more and at Last-Bench! we’ve got the team that can execute.

Keep a lookout on all the exciting stuff that we’re going to showcase in 2014. It’s the year where you’ll be hearing a lot about our work and us!

Lastly, would like to thank all our stakeholders for helping us to get to where we are today! We need your continued support.

Signing off from Munich! See you in 2014. Happy New Year!

-Rajeev (#LifeOfAnEntrepreneur)

End of year celebrations at Last-Bench!

Yet another exciting, eventful and jam-packed year draws to a close and, as a tradition, it marks the return of the annual Last-Bench festivities. This year we got everyone together for a nice sit-down dinner with loads of delicious food, fun, frolic and conversation, not to forget the collective reflection on a year that has been momentous for the company. This year we didn't just welcome business growth, new team members, new strategic partnerships and new services and offerings but also two adorable babies - Hanika Chhajer and Alishka Mehra - into the Last-Bench fam-fam. As you can see, a truly encouraging year and the dawn of an even more exciting future. 

Here are some pics from the night:

Thanks to the entire team, their families, our advisors who came out to celebrate this fantastic year and to all our fans and well-wishers who were present in spirit :) Looking forward to an even better 2014!!!

Leading Today's Business Organizations

The current business environment is extraordinarily challenging, competitive and dynamic. Companies need young professionals who can make an immediate impact on their organizations and also individually grow as the company is growing. Business knowledge, management & leadership skills are critical assets for success in almost any career. 

A lot of students entering the workforce or people already in the workforce are from non-business backgrounds such as engineering, science, medicine, arts or the finance streams and now find themselves on career tracks where they need to understand and “speak” the language of business fluently. Others are entrepreneurs who need to stay ahead of the curve in order for their business to succeed and grow. In any case, you need the business, management & leadership skills to advance your career to the next level.

In the past, when organizations followed a more pyramid-type structure, leaders were invested with far more formal authority. These leaders could issue directives, which would be funneled down through the various organizational ranks.  As such, the edicts issued by the leadership carried an enormous amount of organizational weight. Today’s organizations, however, are flatter. The degree of formal authority invested with leaders is much lower than before, and, given the modern-day organizational structure, many leaders do not particularly this authority particularly useful. Instead, they have learned to rely more on their own mastery of certain skills, and focus on learning and developing the same.

While different leaders follow different styles of leadership, there are certain common traits that every leader must possess. These include:

• Communication skills: To speak and write persuasively
• Interpersonal skills: To listen and hear what people are saying and react in constructive ways (active listening)
• Conflict-resolution skills: To handle friction and inevitable tensions
• Negotiation skills: To bring different groups together in order to reach mutually agreeable goals
• Motivational skills: To align people who may not report to you toward a goal'
• Decision-making skills: To take decisions in case of deadlock situations or move towards the larger goal

One of the biggest reasons why most people are so intimidated by the prospect of being a great leader is that only a few truly dare to lead. Indeed, taking up the mantle of leading a team of individuals, many of whom are talented, capable and opinionated, may seem like a daunting task for someone with little or no leadership experience. However, it is this willingness to take on a role and responsibility that others shy away from that sets the stage for a effective, powerful and admirable leader.

Most organizations today are desperately seeking such leaders who will not be afraid to act as pathfinders, visionaries and motivators, creating new avenues for growth for themselves, their teams and their organizations. More than ever, the need for good leaders is large and the opportunity great. To capitalize on this opportunity, however, you must first embrace the fact that leadership comprises multiple dimensions. It is a combination of personal characteristics and transformational behaviors that influence positive action in others. 

If you have any questions, comments or would like to learn more about any of the tools or techniques to improve your soft skills please write to us at chalktalk@last-bench.com

For more information on our skill development programs please click here.

Abode, Amiable Abode!

Please forgive us if the title sounds a little fancy. It simply means: Home, Sweet Home. And before you judge us for being condescending, ostentatious, arrogant or pompous, let us explain. We have this ailment called 'Vocabititis'. (Symptoms include: bouts of using fancy words, being the go-to dictionary in your friend circle and suddenly being able to read Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor minus the constant word searches on Google). Simply put, since the inception of Easy Vocab, our vocabulary has become ... err... supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! (Darn, again!)

Corporate Training Video (demo): 'Giving Effective Feedback'

Check out our brand new corporate training video - 'Giving Effective Feedback'. 

(This video is a demo and we appreciate your feedback and comments. Look out for more such videos. Soon!)

Last-Bench! - from an entrepreneurial perspective

How do recognise the potential in an idea? How do you convert your idea into a business? What is the entrepreneurial journey like? What are the challenges faced by most entrepreneurs? What do you need to 'learn' to be an entrepreneur?