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By:

Divyaa Advaani 

2 November 2024 at 8:58:38 am

Your First Impression Is Delegated

A prospective partner called your office last week. You do not know his name. You were not told he called. The phone rang four times before it was answered, he was asked to repeat himself, and he was promised a callback that arrived two days later as a message with no greeting. He formed an opinion of you in under three minutes. You were not in the room, and you will never know that opinion existed. Most founders believe their personal brand begins when they walk into a meeting. It does not....

Your First Impression Is Delegated

A prospective partner called your office last week. You do not know his name. You were not told he called. The phone rang four times before it was answered, he was asked to repeat himself, and he was promised a callback that arrived two days later as a message with no greeting. He formed an opinion of you in under three minutes. You were not in the room, and you will never know that opinion existed. Most founders believe their personal brand begins when they walk into a meeting. It does not. It begins at the first point of contact, and in any business of real size, that point is almost never the founder. It is the assistant who manages your calendar. The sales executive who sends the first proposal. The person who handles your WhatsApp, the receptionist, the coordinator who confirms the meeting. These people speak for you every day, in your name, using your reputation, and most of them have never been told what that reputation is supposed to feel like. Many are loyal, hardworking and capable. That is not the issue. The issue is that nobody ever showed them what a first impression of this founder should feel like. Here is what a prospective client experiences. They do not separate you from your team. They cannot. To them, the speed of a reply is how seriously you take them. The tone of the first email is the tone of your leadership. A proposal with a spelling error, a late response, a careless "will check and let you know" becomes evidence about the person at the top. If this is how the organisation presents itself while trying to win my business, they reason, this is how it will treat me once I have signed. And they never tell you. They simply go quiet. The deal that stalls after a promising first call. The partner who becomes "busy". The client who chooses a competitor and offers a reason that has nothing to do with the real one. Across a year, that is every enquiry that stalled, every proposal left unanswered, every introduction that never became a meeting. This is a personal brand problem, not a staffing one. A founder can spend years refining how they present in a room and still lose the room before they enter it, because the impression was formed by someone else, in a conversation the founder was never part of and never heard about. The founders who avoid this are not the ones with the most polished staff. They are the ones who have made their brand legible to the people around them. Their team knows how the founder speaks, what the business stands for, what warmth looks like in a reply, how a delay should be explained and how a client should feel in the first thirty seconds. The team is not following a script. They are carrying a standard, because someone took the time to define it. When did you last experience your own business the way a stranger does? Not a test call arranged with your team's knowledge. A real one. Send a first enquiry from a number nobody recognises. Notice how long it takes to be answered, what the tone is, and whether you would want to do business with whoever replied. Then ask yourself honestly whether that person sounds like you, and whether you would be proud to be represented that way. If the answer is uncomfortable, it is worth acting on now. Every week of that experience is a week someone forms a verdict about you without your knowledge. Your personal brand is not only what you say. It is everything said on your behalf. If you have a suspicion about how your business is being experienced before you ever walk in, that suspicion deserves a direct, focused brand consultation, not a casual chat. Book yours here: https://www.calendly.com/divyaaadvaani/founder-brand-audit — Divyaa Advaani, Personal Branding Strategist (The author is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries. Views personal.)

Dividends: The Santa Claus

Writer: Kaustubh Kale
Kaustubh Kale
Dec 20, 2025
2 min read

Every year, investors eagerly anticipate dividends, much like children waiting for Santa Claus. These distributions of corporate profits, paid to shareholders, are one of the most rewarding aspects of owning stocks. While stock price appreciation is a major driver of returns, dividends often act as a reliable and consistent gift that keeps on giving.


A Seasonal Surprise

Just as Santa delivers presents annually, many companies reward their shareholders with periodic dividends. This predictable payout can be especially comforting during periods of market volatility, making regular dividend payments feel like receiving a holiday bonus throughout the year.


The Gift That Keeps Giving

What makes dividends truly special is their ability to compound over time. As profitability of companies grows, the dividends steadily increase. This creates a snowball effect, where our income grows year after year. Like Santa’s seemingly endless sack of presents, a well-chosen dividend-paying stock can continue rewarding investors far into the future.


In many ways, dividends are similar to rental income from real estate. They provide a steady cash flow that helps investors stay committed, even when market conditions fluctuate. Dividends add stability to a portfolio.


For example, companies in sectors such as consumer-facing industries, information technology, pharmaceuticals, government-owned enterprises, and multinational corporations are known for their steady and generous dividend payments. 


A Sign of Financial Health

Dividends also serve as an important indicator of a company’s financial health. A regular dividend payout suggests that a company is generating sufficient profits and is confident about its future. Strong dividend payouts reflect not just accounting profits, but healthy cash flows, which indicate robust business operations. Investors often view dividends as a sign of sound management and fiscal discipline.


That said, dividends should never be evaluated in isolation. It is equally important to assess other fundamentals such as growth rates, return ratios, cash flow generation, and the debt-to-equity ratio. These metrics help determine whether a company is genuinely growing, efficiently converting profits into cash, and capable of sustaining dividend payments over the long term.


Growth and Dividends Both Matter

Broadly speaking, there are three types of companies investors can choose from. First are companies that offer strong growth but pay little or no dividends. Second are companies that offer high dividends but limited growth prospects. Third are companies that strike a healthy balance between growth and dividends.


Many investors make the common mistake of focusing only on growth stocks or only on dividend stocks. The real opportunity lies in identifying companies that offer a thoughtful combination of both, using sound fundamental analysis and multiple formulae.


Not Every Stock Is Santa

However, not every company can play Santa Claus. This is why research is critical. A well-educated, full-time entrepreneur acting as your advisor brings the education, experience, expertise, and wisdom required to identify quality stocks.


In short, dividends are the stock market’s Santa Claus, bringing joy, discipline, and long-term wealth to investors who remain patient, informed, and wise.


(The author is a Chartered Accountant and CFA (USA). Financial Advisor.  Views personal. He could be reached on 9833133605.)


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