I heard some college students in a Mumbai local train discussing the Tim Cook visit. They were wondering why a top executive on a tight schedule was visiting a religious place.
One of them said, "My father bought a laptop and my mother did a pooja (Prayer ritual). She even sprinkled some rice and vermillion on it. I was laughing. Why do a traditional pooja for a gadget which means modernity to us?...But today this guy from Apple himself is visiting the temple!"
The other one chipped in, "I don't think it is an either-or situation. Buddy, I read somewhere that Steve Jobs was staying in a remote temple for many days, that's where he got the direction of his life!"
Now, I don't know if there are any personal reasons for Tim Cook to visit the shrine. But it sure is a great rapport building thing. These symbolic gestures connect well with the masses. In recent
Religion
Let me share an example with you. I was at Ujjain Kumbh recently. There I met volunteers of a non-profit initiative called 'Earth & Us'. These people are campaigning against the use of polythene bags. They were struggling. people were already exposed to many campaigns talking about the problem. In a sense, it is a kind of blind-spot in their mental shelf.
But then, the youngsters got a great religious connect. They collected stories and pictures of cows who died after eating polythene bags. They cited medical authorities, postmortem reports that corroborated the same.
And the people understood! They said, "Using Plastic is like killing the cow! The mother!"
It worked like a charm. Thousands of people have taken a pledge that they will not use plastic now.
The religious connect is deep. Great communicators use it to build their message. Mostly it is the political leaders who are master this art. Great business leaders use it to get the mass connect.
The ROI from this visit will be huge for Tim Cook!
