Asif Khan Inc.

Discreet discretion

I think I got a bit carried away by emotion last night. It was after all a feeling reserved for Massa, something which he did mention with an overwhelming sense of candidness at the ensuing press conference at the end of the race.

“We need to be proud of our race and our championship. It’s one more day of our life when I will learn a lot but for sure I’m very emotional.”

Lot to learn for sure:

- For starters, never be sure of the finish till you have the last man in. History is filled with epithets which rattle the same story, and we now have this being ratified in the most modern of settings known to humankind today. The last laugh, anyone? Surely does ring in your ears loud and clear now.

- If its a team you are working with while winning, the team should save the skin on your back. This would definitely sound very outrageous, but consider for a moment if Raikkonen would have slid back from his third position and just blocked Hamilton’s entry into the Top 5. He didn’t stand a chance at the title (although I know I would have been happiest to see him do an encore this year too), but his act in ‘good’ faith could have propelled his team mate to clinch the championship. Yeah yeah, I know I was talking about ethics last night, but like I said I got a bit emotional. And since we do operate in a cut throat world where the result is what matters, I think this should be acceptable. After all, this isn’t exactly ‘unethical’ in the sense of the word. In a team sport, team mates are supposed to watch each other’s back. Might sound preposterous, but yes.

- The final lesson (at least of whatever I could think of till now), is the power of exercising your discretion in the most discreet of matters in the most discreet manner. Till last night, I had been having thoughts rambling through my head about what possible promises would Glock have got from Team McLaren for forgoing his fourth position just inches away from the chequered flag. The most obvious leanings being towards the millions which might have been transferred to some unnamed account in some tax haven. What I forgot in the flow of my emotion was the fact that at times, there are things which are much more subtle and cost you next to nothing, and at the same time guarantee you with the most powerful impact to drive home the desired results. Yes, I was reminded this by a status message while randomly wading through Facebook (‘xxx’ is wondering what Nicole promised Glock?), and though this was probably the wackiest status messages I would have seen in some time, it got me thinking. Marketers could possibly take a cue from this episode. After all, exercising your discretion in discreetness could open tremendous opportunities.