Thought Leadership thru ideas

hindsight from foresight

2005-09-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

It seems I have a lot of divergent thoughts in the Strategic analysis of IT course. Today we had discussion in class on two subjects by study groups. One was on value appropriation in the IT industry and the other on competing with Dell. The group presentations were very good and insightful. After these presentations our prof. talked about various issues including the destruction of value for players in the computer sector and value appropriation by Intel and Microsoft. His whole analysis was that had IBM not made it’s standards of microprocessor and operating system open by giving them out to INTEL and MICROSOFT then perhaps the computer industry might have been more profitable for all players. He went on to explain that, in some sense the reason for IBM to open up it’s standards was that it wanted to win the battle of standards in the PC industry against Apple which was the preferred brand at that point in time. Using it’s tactics in three years IBM was able to gain 42% of the market share in this industry. The reason for IBM to come into this industry , even though the overall market size was extremely small as compared to it’s forte the mainframes was that Apple was very profitable and any rapid growth of the market would make it strong to compete with it in it’s domain. The question raised by the professor was that was it inevitable or was it because of IBM that the industry overall is less profitable today. The base being the figures of low margins for assemblers and component manufacturers and huge profits for chip makers and software makers.

His view was that It was because of IBM. My take on this is different.

Looking forward into the future, I see the scenario somewhat like this. The computers possessed by businesses and general public would evolve to be just a thin client making do with very little processor power. The major computing power will lie on the internet servers. So the cost of computers as we see them today would drop like no bottom. Intel stands to loose most as people would no longer be willing to shell out more money, more often for upgrades. Secondly, with the growing concept of software rentals, we would probably be renting only the software we need for the time we need. This would hit Microsoft extremely hard, since people would have much more choice in what they buy and how the buy and at what frequency without worrying about the switching costs involved.

Now on integrating these scenarios we see a whole new structure of the PC or the computing industry. Lots and lots of competitors in the chip industry as the complexity of the chips required for mass market would be low enough to enable lots more companies to enter the space. More competition would lead to lower margins and benefiting customers more. Secondly the hegemony of Microsoft would come under serious threat as once the customer has a choice the market will become fragmented and competitive lowering prices and benefiting consumers. If Microsoft has to make money at all it will have to share it’s source code, or be left behind. If it does share it’s source code it will loose the monopoly it has today over the desktop and loose pricing power. Overall the profitability of this exponential growth industry would go down.

So do we say it is inevitable or is it because of some actions of INTEL and MICROSOFT today. Tieing this very notion into the argument I am of the opinion that what happened was inevitable and not because of some actions of IBM.

Building sustainable competitive advantage

2005-09-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

We have an interesting subject this term called strategic analysis of IT. This subject is probably unique to ISB in India. The subject is interesting to me because it helps us to get the basics of applying IT in business right. The evidence over last few years of IT revolution in business has been eye-opening and holds a lot of lessons for business going forward.

As part of our reading assignments before the first class we had related articles by Nicholas Carr and Michael Porter ( of 5 forces fame) . The crux of their articles is that a “business model “ based solely on IT like pure play internet driven businesses are not of sustainable models of business over long term. They say this because : one the technology is easily replicable . Two it has benefited the customers more than the companies themselves, since because of easy imitation the pioneering companies have been unable to “appropriate the value” created by this model. Once the competitors are able to replicate the original model the only differentiator is the price. We all know price competition is most beneficial to the customers.

Here I will try and use some fundas learnt in the courses of Micro-economics and competitive strategy. The way I see it is . Any business is able to make money/ profits only if there exist inefficiencies in the market place. For example there could be inefficiency in the market in transporting goods from one place to another and hence the trucking business exists. What IT and internet have done in some sense through new business models has been to remove completely these in-efficiencies like selling music directly to end consumer etc. Now since the entry barriers are low theoretically there may be ‘n’ no. of competitors who come in. We learnt in our eco- course that in a perfectly competitive market the price the consumer is willing to pay is equal exactly to what it costs to produce the goods. In essence marginal cost = price or MC=P. In this type of scenario none of the players make any money and hence destroy the value created through eliminating inefficiencies for the industry as a whole. And hence the longer term unsustainibility of such a business model.

One of the lessons we learnt in competitive strategy course is that for businesses to be able to appropriate value through strategy is to build a unique model of integrated systems in which you cater to only some specific customer needs and deliberately leave out some inefficiencies. In some sense the right understanding of business should come from “ you cannot please all the people all the time”. Our strategy prof. said the simplest form of strategy is to manage trade-offs well in order to appropriate value created by discovering markets.

Discovering markets ? well, there is a market for different types of goods and services with their constituents giving more weightage to some aspects and lesser to others. The way to manage these markets would be to deliberately leave out some aspect of their needs and concentrate your energies on satisfying the critical demands. This way you make sure that you discover and keep a market to yourself. Your potential competitors in their quest to out do you would have to improve on overall delivery, that is your system and that something extra, they will automatically be destroying the value they look to appropriate. And viola you have a long-term success strategy.

Companies who have adapted and integrated the internet and IT in their basic strategy have benefited more than companies which were a result of the emergence of this technology.

I have personally found this model robust enough to explain success and failures of organizations through time. It is imperative that a longer time frame is used to evaluate this frame-work.

Comments and criticisms invited whole-heartedly !!!

The final decision

2005-07-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday night our group submitted the final decision to our marketing simulation game " MARKSTRAT". It was the last decision in the game of 7 periods each representing 1 year in real world. Other fellow bloggers have written about the actual mechanics of the game.
This game was a learning to all of us real world marketing background guys. Almost 100 % of us did badly in our first 2 decisions as we tended to rely more on our real world experiences. Alas! this was a different ball game altogether. We had started with a contribution net of all expences of M$ 34 million. In the 2 following periods our group went all the way down to 12 million. But then I took over the whole analysis portion and were happy to note our results, we went from 12 million in 2nd period to 22mill. in the next to 48 million to 69 million . We made a strong come back. Industry wide from being the last we climbed to 2nd position. However we had lost a lot of ground initially in the firm wide rankings.We had gone all the way to 10 position out of 12 and at the end of 6th period were placed 5th or 6th. We hope to improve our rankings to 4-5th place overall. We cannot hope to catch up the leading firms as they have been way way ahead from the begining.
Some important lessons I learnt were
Natural intuition and facts might not complement.
Learn the rules of any new game and them compete within the rules of the game.
Strategies that work elsewhere may or may not work in a changed environment.
It is exteremly important to keep tabs of competitor action and startegies to maximize own profits.
Learn to adapt to changing environment.
Think ahead like chess by taking into considerations the various scenarios that might emerge.
Apart from all this we were able to use our theoritical learnings in action.

The whole experience has been very very good. It had become an addiction for me as i felt very competitive. I felt passionate about the success of the virtual firm. In the end it was not about marks but about competeing and winning.

I feel these learnings will go a loong way in helping me become a better marketing person in the real world.

2005-07-10T00:19:00.000-07:00

Ziv : “But how do you make your skill transferable”
This made me think a lot and has had a profound impact of my understanding of an MBA education. I had been cribbing for the last few months that there is too much focus on quantitative skills in an MBA and it does not necessarily help in real life situations. How wrong I was.

During one of our classes in decision models and optimization(DMO) with ZIV KATALAN from Wharton, he was telling us about the application of Monte-Carlo simulation in the retail trade. He had built a small simulated program where we were supposed to optimize the revenues through management of discounts and inventory in a store. We had a class competition where various groups reported their scores and winners were decided by the maximum contribution from the simulation.
Our group came on top of the class. The objective was to use ( DMO) processes to be able to take a decision. Since our group came out on top. I was asked what strategy I had used. What I had done was to play a few practice games and then developed an intuition guided model through which I maximized the earnings. This is exactly what I told him. Other groups had built mathematical models for the same.
And guess what, he commented as above.
This comment which might seem to be innocuous changed my whole view of an MBA program.
Rather than making you indispensable, a special skill of yours could make your growth prospects limited. If over a period of time you are unable to pass on your job skill to someone else you might be stuck at that place and limiting your chances of growth.
MBA is all about quantitative methods of decision making and I feel I can do a much better job left to my qualitative skills. This is what I used to believe. But now things are making much more sense. By reducing everything around us a set of numbers what researchers have done is to make these personality dependent intangibles into tangible equations with precise relationships, to enable knowledge transfer. I always though some of the best managers need not be necessarily be comfortable number crunchers. But I guess if you have crunched no.s long enough you will develop an intuition for the outcomes. This is as natural as knowing what is going to happen next in the market through experience even though we are not capable of defining the reasons for the outcome.
There have been several instances of ‘ Déjà vu’ during my first and second terms where I understood why some communities do better in business than others. One such case is the concept of ‘sunk costs’. All through my life it has intrigued me how the marwari business men are able to work with such low margins in trade and business. It turns out they are excellent economists. Once they have incurred the costs of setting up a business, they do not consider the start up costs for decision making. The economic term for the same is "sunk costs" and should not cloud your business decisions going forward.
After the 1st term and almost ¾ of the second term, I am able to relate much better between real life business scenarios and MBA education. Looking back I realize that it was extremely useful to have come here after spending 7 years in business, I can now relate to the reasons of my various failures, successes and successes of competitors to the underlying reasons and decisions that might have effected the various outcomes.
I feel that now I am able to attach much more value to the way MBA is designed, to impart business education.

Back in action

2005-06-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

HUge apologies to my reagular readers for being out of action for soooo long. Actually it was all unintentional. After lightning and showers one night my network card just stopped working and I was cutoof from the network for good, for past about 20 days. There have been numerous times that I felt like blogging about this and that but was constrained by circumstances. Anywayz I have not got my laptop problem rectified and will be blogging regularly from now on.In fact the Compaq guys had to change the complete motherboard for this problem of mine, seems to be working fine for now. Even though Saturday was an off day for their service centre, understanding the importance of my Laptop at ISB they especially opened the service centre for me and finished their job. Kudos to HP India service centre... and it definately helped that one of their engineers had been at ISB for 2 and 1/2 years before he joined there.
Lots of us ( bloggers ) have written loads and loads about our exams and term 1 and term 2 etc. so just thinking how and what I would like to put down. Will be back with some ideas soon.

The week end that was.....

2005-05-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

Didn't have much to do this weekend and had decided to pursue other interests here. The student club activities are getting organized attended a few.
The EVC - club ( entrepreneural and venture capitalist club). This club meeting had organized an intenal speaker session for the entrepreneurs and wud be entrepreneurs amongst us. There were two who talked about their ventures and what they were doing in them. The third was interesting a guy who already has a business plan ready and is eagerly waiting to meet up the VC's ( through our WCED) in the VC conclave in JUNE. Wanted to speak but then my attendence was not planned so it didn't push the matter. Had insights about entrepreneural ventures and pitfalls by Prof. Scott Ward.He goaded us to make solid business plans and work more on writing and presenting and then participate in international level competitions. Turns out he had guided a winning team from Thailand last time around.
My impression ...... well no major take-aways for me.
Consulting club.
This club meeting also had angenda similar to EVC with internal speakers giving us general gyaan about the segement as such. Lots of good presentations ( hall marks of consultants). This was a well atttended meeting with the lecture hall overflowing with enthsiatic people. Around 150 is my guess.Students got to know about the various types and segements in the consultancy domain.I guess this club will keep up it's high turn out in future too. As I guess ISB wants to known for giving a big chunk of students as consultants. Makes sense to me at least.
My take..... not a bad start by no take aways for me.
The media and entertainment club.
This is a new club which a few of us are trying to get official recognition for...
We met to discuss vision and mission statement and how to harness the potential of job opportunities in the media sector.Strategy,ad sales,programming etc.. and where MBA's might fit in etc.
We decided on a plan of action and were working on it. However officials here want us to be a part of the more mature and all encompassing marketing club. Let's see....
My opinion...... good start and good co-ordination since it was just 11 of us (potentially 20). Let's hope for the best.
Marketing club;
I missed this one. But i guess i might attend the next one.
Then there is this club called business and lifestyle club. Here people are planning to learn about the finer things in life like golf, snooker, handling 11 course meals, art appreciation,wine tasting etc.. Interesting agenda, hope they find time to indulge in such things. will wait for some time b4 deciding to become a part of it.
Toastmaster's club: Basically for people who want to learn art of public speaking , presentations etc. affiliated to a worldwide organization.Intrestd here too, but it comes at a price, so yet to take a final call on it...
Business technology club:
Did not attend coz i guess it's for more of the techie types( read IT-Junta)
Operations and engineering club:
Basically for people interested in joining the operations part of business.They had elections I guess for the office bearers. Most got elected unopposed is what i heard.
Emerging markets club: Attended the first meeting. Trying to decide the way forward.Looks a little unclear what it was set up to do and what it wants to do. So finally just decided to do and share our reaserch for markets in BRIC( Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries.
My take .....ummmmmmmm.... need good mission and viosn statements.
Finance club:
It is there i know but i guess is a closed user group. will try to get some dope on their activities.
Guess I have covered most clubs, but there might a few more lurking round the corner
will write about them as and when i get newz abt them.
This week-end I was feeling a little low, so decided to go to the city, decided to go alone. Did some shopping and had a solitary PIzza at pizza hut.
Sunday brought anxiousness, I had not started working on my assignment.However at the end of the day finished it and submitted it by 10 p.m. looks OK to me. don't know abt grades. Had a volleyball match today, was hopeing to play but i guess ... anywayz to cut the long story short, we sec A lost. This was the second drubbing in 3 days after the football match on Friday.
My study group mates and the general population is studying hard, and I am falling behind.But I have decided to have a holistic development of personality view, so am taking it a little easy. Don't know what will pay off more whenit actually counts most. Keepingmy fingers crossed.

Wow a pretty looooong post i guess, thanks to all the readers dropping by..

The week end that never was

2005-05-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

I had never felt so good on a Monday and looking forward to classes. Over the week-end we had loads and loads of work to do. We had a case-write-up to submit for Marketing one of the first assignments in a group. Over the week-end we have all literally spent 20hrs a day together working out strategies and plans and learning new aspects of our group mates’ natures. The whole thing would be a very interesting study in group dynamics. …
Anywayz we had another individual in Economics to be done over the weekend and submitted online.
After just one week into the course you really feel like u have been doing for much longer. It is just amazing to note the amount of ground we have covered in terms of studies.
I am starting to enjoy the classes, baring statistics as I am not a “quantitative” guy, but a “qualitative” guy. Very soon into the course I realized MBA is a good way to build all round perspectives in business scenario. For example what would typically be an “asset“ in accounting class would turn out to be a sunk “cost” in the economics class. And since these subjects are being taught at the same time , you need to be very very careful about not mixing the fundas being bombarded at you .
Promise a saner post sometime soon ...

MBTI rejoinder

2005-04-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have done my own small research on MBTI profile and uses. The research has been very very limited to I guess my conclusions may be wrong. One thing I clearly noticed was that entrepreneurs as such have their scores placed very close by or equal for that matter on atleast three of the four parameters. This set me thinking about entrepreneurs and myself. I guess as a breed entrepreneurs are much more adaptable in terms of their attitudes and behaviour,their thought process is more of situation based and dependent on frame of mind. However good managers or dedicated and comitted people of organizations have a distinct profile either way. Guess they are in an organization and/or position due to thier "FIT" with the MBTI of the organization.
Yes! organizations also display MBTI preferences and so do various groups of people. In our group dynamics class today we indentified MBTI profile of our group which turned out, not to be a factor of collective individual MBTI preferences, but different.That was a surprise for the moderator as well as all of us .
As a corollary to my earlier observation about MBTI preferences of entrepreneurs , I feel people who have their scores placed near each other would make good entrepreneurs. I hope to test this hypothesis some time in future.

Attended another party today hosted for farewell of alums who have comedown for our orientation. The music was good and the party took a lot of time to get off as I guess, people were fatigued with 3 parties in one week. Anywayz I took it lightly and danced just a little was generally on the sidelines.
The ghost of studies has started troubling "Junta" and people are seen making effort with their study groups. Guess all want to start on the right footing in the first classes. Although CP( class participation) marks are out, they might still face cold calls.
Waiting for the term classes to start on Monday........

Learning ......

2005-04-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

Going through the learning to listen workshop and team building activities yesterday I realized a few things.
1. Each day here is going to be a step in self-understanding.
2. To make effective use of the tools I have to learn to “unlearn” a lot of things from past experiences and open my mind to possibilities.
3. It is all about becoming more and more effective in what you do and how you do, by co-relating your past experiences and learning ways to re-look at it.

I realized that after about 7 years of working I have already developed a certain style of functioning to achieve results. If there could be a hindrance in my learning it would most certainly be the one. There is an urgent need to “let go” and observe and learn and ingrain.
Some of the things I learnt during the team building activities was
1. In a team situation it does not help to suppress your basic nature, the sooner the group understands the nature and ability of each individual the better it can perform overall.
2. Over time the group dynamics would automatically get to work.
3. It takes a lot more when you are trying to work with your similarly experienced peers than working in a team where you are the most experienced one.
4. Also I need to work to my strengths and not get carried away by time and work constraints. I makes me less effective.
5. I realized how I have got used to the idea of solving problems alone rather than think collectively. I really need to make a focused effort on solving problems in the group.

The “Junta” here is slowly but definitely gearing up for the term ahead. I can feel a general sobering down of the collective mood, after hectic partying, and excitement of meeting new people some of them new friends for life.

Even I have this small knot of anticipation building up in my stomach, looking forward to the REAL term to begin …..

MBTI

2005-04-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

We ahd one of our first classes on personality development today.Interesting concepts and course as such. At ISB this a flagship course. Today we attempted the MBTI( broggs-meyer type indicator) tests. Basically it is a test which is used to catagorise all the available personality types in the world into 16 types.
The key take aways were,
your peronality type is developed by the time you are seven years old, that means the die is cast as to what your basic nature will be in life.
you can basically be trained and conditioned to respond in a certain way but what you are remains the same.There is a need for your basic nature to be aligned to your work to achieve exceptionalism in your work.
If we dont do it, it will be difficult to become exceptional in your work.
Lot of companies use this techniques to qualify or disqualify a candidate for jobs. In a way they are looking at your MBTI to be aligned to them. Even though you might be competant for the jobm the employers might decide not to hire you, because you would probably not be able to perform your best with your MBTI nature. Also it seems the MBTI of a lot of people at the top is generally aligned in a company.
One of the things pointed out was that a good mix of candidates would be 70-30 in favour of similar MBTI's in a company especially at the top.Similar for smooth functioning and dissimilar for introduction of new ideas and challenging common perceptions.

MBTI also seems to be helpful in self-discovery. Also it is a useful tool for achieveing goals of people interactions( meetings, negotiations etc.)

Looking forward to more on this....

party time

2005-04-24T00:44:00.000-07:00

Attended one of the first general parties yesterday in Sv-2 mirror pool.This was organized by alums who have come down for the orientation week.I said general parties because people have been having their own small parties right from the first day ... So this particular party was for "junta" in general. HAd good fun met a lot of people danced crazily for over 2 hrs and retired by 2:30 at night even when he party was in full swing.
Eralier we had dunking sessions in the pool. The first ones that i have attended and also was witness to a bystander casualty. After the birthday guys they just decided to dunk one of the guys even tho it was not his birthday.
Earlier i nthe evening had "Gyaan sessions" by alums. This was basically to pass on the section spirit to the next batch. Our section was supposed to be populated by toppers and out of a total of 15 guys in th deans list 7 (yeah) almost 50% belonged to our section.
The T- shirt colour for our section is Black.
Had small ice-breaking activity amongst groups( study) members. Basically we were supposed to make a small caricature to depict the theme of our group and each member had to introduce somebody else form the group to the others in the class and tell a crazy thing the other had done. Was good fun and nice ice-breaker....
Collected course packs and then realized that the term stats shortly so am a lttle confused wether to spend the last few days partying or preparing ......

Things Change

2005-04-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

I read Somewhere " The more things change the more they remain the same." And this is being personified at ISB. Our acco/ food etc. is all supposed to be like hassel free et all ... And here I am daily dealing with one uncertainity/ decision after another. The food options and prices have been watered down from last year, but the quality needs to be looked out for... Presently having waht students in the last batches were having at same rates.... but there are decisions to be taken with regard meal plans being offered the minimum would be in the region of 45000 per year..paid upfront ....
I have been alloted a room in the newly coming up Students Village and am not happy with the experience.. I have had to constatntly chase either ISB guys or Sarovar( service provider for acco.) for various things... The common area in our village is still not ready , we are yet to get the area wi-fi enabled. The laundromat has just got operaional but without any drying facilities, so u need to carry the clothes from ur room to the laundromat and carry the wet ones back.

On top of all this there seems to be a new ceiling imposed on the use of electricity usage in our rooms 1000 units for shared flat and 400 units for family acco. A lot of us are furious abt it .... since you hit the ceiling at just 3-3.5 hrs usage of A/c per day in this sweltering heat... Lets see what happens...

So all in all I seem to be dealing with all the normal problems of living in a hostel that I dealt with when I was doing my engg. ,Just that I expected the exp. @ISB to be a little different.
Anywayz ..................

Campus activity

2005-04-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

The campus is abuzz with activity now... Today being the first day of pre-term classes for a few ( rather most ) . People are reacting differently again to this ...some were found in the LRC( library ) making notes and studying....
Some were back to their rooms buried in thier books trying to make sense of what they learnt in the class... Some others just taking the opportunity to get to know their class mates of opposite sex a little better....
Overall The campus is seeing some kind of pre-take off hectic activity.... people getting things and themselves ready getting into the groove etc....
As for me I have found hidden treasures in the LRC which I would be exploring at my leisure( which I am not sure I would get enough of....). The palpable feeling in the air is that people have heard a lot abt the tough course and know what to expect, people are doing thier best to expect the unexpected lets see how things turn out .....

Reached....

2005-04-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

This is my first post form ISB. Reached here yesterday night with four other guys.. Been temporarily alloted a room in the executive housing since the room alloted for me is not ready and will be available tommorow.
Been here b4 so it's not new kind of .....

Waiting for the bank guys to arrive and formalize the loan requirements...

Few thoughts....
PPL have started arriving here slowly.. a lot of guys have come with their parents to show them around , coz I guess for a lot of them spending 15 lacs for education must be overwhelming....
Met a few guys and gals , everybody seems to be reacting to this place diffrently..
A few think they have to show style and seem to be a part of the atmosphere .. They are failing miserably at least to me...
A few are used to this kind of lifestyle and are trying to show it to others...
and lastly few who know where they have come from and what they are , so no need for any cover -ups...

Will keep you guys posted....

Going going gone

2005-04-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

Leaving for ISB tommorrow by train. The mind is fickle right now , so I guess I wont be able to write anything sensible. The journey will begin in earnest tommorrow. Will keep u guys posted .......

ISB graduation day for '05 batch

2005-04-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

Just read the speech delivered by Chief Guest, Daniel Vasella, MD., Chairman and CEO of Novartis AG at ISB graduation ceremony, And the I have atleast not heard(read actually) a more relevant and thought provoking speech.
You can see it at ISB-website

Outstanding in the way he has built it all up while using analogies and metaphors all along.

I have placed his words in quotes and my take below it …..

" You are entering a wonderful land full of pastures, creeks, fields of crops and fruit trees, and in some places one may – with some luck - even find some minerals and gold. What you discover and learn and how you master the terrain will depend on you. It is a hilly region and the horizon often limits the view, so when you cross the bridge today, you will not be able to see it all, and the best may be neither visible nor close. Some of you may find your personal field close by and you will spend a life time on it. Others among you may have to walk and search for a long time, working on the way, improving your skills and gaining experience."

These thoughts best describe the path for the new batch of ‘06. There are so many treasures and rewards hidden in the year ahead, in various forms like personal development, friends , self-discovery , increased horizons and of course monetary rewards. Some people will with a little bit of luck start with stratospherical salaries becoming an object of envy of all others. Some things which we all might actually gain out of it all may not be visible form outside and hence unexpected. What we will become out of the experience will definitely depend on each of us as an individual.

“As you continue on your path, start to work and you will discover and learn how to best cut the grain, your arms will become stronger and your movements more agile and faster. “

And that is what we all should expect. We all cannot be expected to master the situation as soon as we enter the hallowed portals of ISB. It is only as we spend time and learn that we will become good at it . At first it might feel tough and difficult, but with self- confidence everybody who wishes will be able to do it.

“ When you chose a place look to the sky and check the elements, as this will influence your performance. Work will be easier when the conditions are right – more productive during mild days, more limited when it is hot and humid. There are days and weeks with glaring sun at which time vulgar stones may shine like diamonds. Hours and money may be spent to get a claim -- just to find out in the evening, after a hectic day that you have filled your pockets with gravel.”

How true. Students have been seen working or spending time on trivial and useless pursuits, which at the time of reckoning ( placements) do not give any advantage.

“As Nehru said, “Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you is determinism, the way you play it is free will…There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.””

There is no way that you will not end up a winner if you sincerely decide it to be so in whatever way it might be.

“But what are your views on ethics and values? With all the corporate scandals ranging from Enron to Worldcom, Tyco and so many others, every business school today must also talk about laws, regulations, ethics and integrity, personal values, right and wrong. I am sure that you have developed a perspective of your own about these matters.”

This is something I have tried to discuss in my earlier posts :-) ....

“As you know there is often a lack of clarity in life, and a tension which pulls into opposing directions. Ambiguity is something we have to learn to live with, without its creating discomfort for us.”

I know a lot of us including me are apprehensive , about how things will be and how we will cope with it and where we will be after all this……. Well we all will have to deal with it and forge ahead.

“Be comfortable with seemingly contradictory situations, feelings and actions. You will of course encounter many people who can not deal with ambiguity, people who always want simplicity and clarity. So, you as leaders will have to create the clear direction for them. This is an act of will and part of leadership. Your instinct and judgment will indicate the right actions and timing for you, as Alexander the Great knew when he cut the Gordon Knot, finding a stunningly simple solution for a complex problem. “

Definitely this ability to deal with ambiguity best will separate the leaders from the followers of tomorrow, amongst the students.

“Finally, I’d like to share with you some thoughts that are very important, but which you probably won’t hear a lot about in your career. There will be days when you feel the pleasure of accomplishment. But the truth is, there will be times when you are disappointed, angry or sad. This is normal. Have the confidence to accept these feelings, trust your self, be genuine, and also transparent with others. Be yourself and don’t try to play a role. Tough days never last forever and after follow the good days. Your family and friends will support you in difficult times, therefore understand and respect also their needs and strike the right balance for yourself and for them.”

How true! We all ( the batch of ‘06) can just cut paste this statement for the one year of our life going forward.

All the mantras of success for the year ahead have been listed , so whenever I feel tired , disappointed let down, I will just look at this post of mine for encouragement…

“The new land is yours – at least for some time – make the best out of it, it’s up to you. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world. Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty, it is its own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.”

The year ahead will be full of joys, challenges and hard-work, Here’s wishing all my future batch mates all the best for the coming year. It is now just a short while, before we all start our journey to the top………..

About hairs......... ??

2005-03-30T07:31:00.000-08:00

One of the most essential skills in business is the ability to correctly asses the nature of person sitting opposite you. It could be your junior, your employee, your boss, your competitor or your client. The importance of this assessment cannot be emphasized enough. It could be the most important step in success or failure of your intended action.

When people in industry talk of experience, this is probably the skill they are looking for more than anything else. For most people it is instinctive, developed over a period of time . I can say I am comfortable with my skill level in this field. In fact I have trained extensively on this through practical guidance form my father. I can now judge the basic nature characteristics of people from their facial features. Over some years I realized I have an uncanny ability to understand a persons nature from a rough simple drawing made by a person. The only things I need in the scenery would be a sun/moon , river, house, tree and mountains. This I practiced extensively in my engineering years and had some proficiency at. I am looking forward to start it again given the diversity in students that will be available at ISB and hope to see my skills retained ( It might be quite rusty though).

I have been trying something else also ….. To develop a theory of relationship between a person’s hair and his/her nature. Ok I know it sounds a little crazy at first , but then I have been trying. It is difficult given that the type and texture of hair is largely dependent on our genes, but then aren’t our facial features also……

A few observations I have been able to make .
People with straight hair - These people are of simple nature, and emotional up to a certain limit only, beyond which they become unattached to circumstances.
People with curly, wavy and thin hair - These people always live with a boyish charm, their basic nature will be youthful. Peer group experience effects their thinking a lot.
People with normally straight hair but curved at or near ends - These people though have a straight forward nature , are adaptable to circumstances.
People with bald on top of their forehead are generally great thinkers, analytic and more imaginative.
People with a bald patch in the centre of their crown are people who are worrisome and never relax in any situation , pessimistic in most situations also, these are people who cannot think clearly of solutions in fit of anger.
People with a bald patch on the back ( top) of their head - these people are good planners and are able to think ahead, however they are not meticulous implementers.
People with thick hair - are less likely to be frustrated by circumstances.
People with medium hair - are likely to be the easiest to work with.
People with thin and messy hair - are generally dis-organized in their daily lives and live under constant stress and pretences, these people when placed in a competitive atmosphere are the most likely to result in a burn-out.

Nowadays I find it extremely difficult to correctly judge the person’s hair , what with all the shampoos, gels, coatings, colours , dyes and of- course the pollution around us. But none the less an idea.

Do send in your comments and any references if you have come across any. …..

pre- admit jobs query

2005-03-29T08:15:00.000-08:00

Been going thru the CAS form today and am unable to make a decision as to what 5 companies I wish to work with. Actually I have always felt that it is not the companies or compensation that matter to me , but the kind of roles I would like to be in. Though I have an experience of 7 + yrs in running a business it will be for the !st time post- ISB I will be in the job market, and I really am not able to take even a wild guess as to my suitability for any particular company.

Personally I would like to be in a strategic planning role. It could be any of the consultancies like marakon,bain etc. ( not Mckinsey though as they have a lot of IIm attitude guys, no offence meant though), or it could be challanging role in market development in ITC probably, or EA role with some desi multinatinal( or "wanna be") for that matter or a job in a VC or a leadership development A la GE/BP. In fact because of my diverse background and experience I could almost fit into all kinds of jobs ( or none) like finance, sales,marketing, entrepreneurship, business development,general management etc...

Tough choice... Infact I had been asked about my post ISB goals by Mr. Menon and I had clearly said I will be exploring a lot of opportunities at ISB not limited by anything, and here I am being asked to put it all in black and white even b4 I start to discover my most marketable traits...
In fact Mr. Menon suggested I might want to return back to business and I had told him that option is ruled out immidietly post-ISB since I want to widen my horizons and outlook before I plan my next venture, eventually though I will get back to entrepreneurship and venture incubation services.

Well .... will keep you all updated ..

some money ideas .......

2005-03-24T07:46:00.000-08:00

In the latest budget Mr. Chidambaram has allowed gold to be traded through exchanges via Gold denominated bonds/shares. The funda being each unit equal to the value of 1 gm of gold and multiples thereof. This in my view is to reduce the overall import of gold and save us a considerable amount of forex. Since long Indians have been the largest consumers of Gold in the world almost to the tune of 800 tonnes per year. Indians are said to be traditionally interested in the yellow metal as a safety option and safe investment. However every time we buy jewelry made of gold we loose about 5-6% value immediately. Secondly even if we have gold stored as ginnis, biscuits or bars in times of need it is hard to sell/dispose off at market value. Thirdly gold and jewelry is generally bought in cash.

Based on this an idea struck me. Why not have real estate mutual funds. Meaning mutual fund units having particular denominations and completely focused in their approach towards real estate. These funds would collect money from public and invest in land , building and virtual spaces. In the long term for a developing country like India real estate as an asset class will consistently give more returns then equity markets. Just look at the returns for people around you have got from properties invested by them 5-10-15 yrs ago. A compounded rate of return of 30% would not be a novelty .

Some things that might need to be taken care of would be. The valuation and potential of properties being acquired and future business cycles. It is for these reasons that a strong regulation framework with a professional setup would be a good idea.

I have more ideas on it’s execution but would like to save it for a better occasion/platform where I can interact personally . I don’t know if my ideas are pioneering….. , it may be being practiced in the more developed markets . I would definitely like to know more about it if any body has a first hand info about it.

All kinds of comments invited …….

Ethics in business a compulsion or choice??

2005-03-22T02:21:00.000-08:00

This above question is one which I have been following for some time, and have made some conclusions
of my own.

The traits of ethics and integrity are valued highly for a manager or rather anyone entering the corporate world.
However I have seen life and business closely and deeply enough to come to the conclusion that "Ethical " behaviour amongst corporates is a "compulsion" rather than a choice. All big corporations of the world started out as a small entrepreural business, where - to become big you did what it took. Since the business was small and the responsibility rest with the owner, he could mostly sleep with the decision. As The business becomes bigger, you have to hire outside people, people apart from aquantainces and friends, and here it starts......
99 % of the people if asked to make a choice between money/growth and continued struggle for survival would opt for the 1st option.

In the corporate world, employees are expected to behave extremely ethically, whereas actually the board or CEo or other top level management may be implementing some schemes bordering on unethical in most and absolutely unethical in some
cases. It is my personal conviction and experience that you have to cheat/ act unethically atleast once to make it to the big league. I know some people may find it preposterous , but look closely and you will have BIG skeletons in invariably
all the big businesses. It is only the good that gets told about corporations and work culture and not vice-versa, because this is exactly what will let it remain big.

Now imagine a corporation where the staff are allowed to emulate the top-management blindly. There will be leakages in the whole system
the total cost of producing goods and services will rise abnormally and hence ultimately lead to demise of the corporations.

Actually, I guess some people keep redefining rules of ethical behaviour as they climb each step of corporate ladder.
I sincerely feel there are actually only a handful of good people at the top anywhere. Anybody who has become somebody had to do it, sometime.
Some of the biggest names have indulged in it, though they may choose to whitewash away their sins once they achieve the SIZE
which enable them to do so.

Think about it,and leave your comments.

Resolutions for ISB

2005-03-21T23:18:00.000-08:00

1. See sunrise at least 4 times a week.
2. Spend at least 4 hrs a week in gym/ swimmming.
3. Have at least 1/2 hrs everyday for collecting thoughts.
4. Have atleast 4 hrs/ week for browing through Business journals and magazines.
5. Prepare proper documenentation of learnings.
6. Spend at least 6 hrs/ week for partying/networking.
7. Promote the cause of "Thought Leadership" and form an informal group on the same.
8. Try to concentrate on personality development rather than grades.
9. Since I have no prior experience of job, work towards the requirements through CAS and Alums.
10. Enjoy my time since a Management course is something I always wanted to do, instead of getting into any competitive rat race.

getting ready

2005-03-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

Back from a tiring but succesful visit to Nepal.The situation in Nepal seems to be " TENSE BUT UNDER CONTROL" however businesses are looking to shift base to India at least textile ones,only because of uncertain outlook for next 5 yrs and flight of top Indian technitians from there.Actually this might also be happening due to opportunities that are coming up in India in textile sector. Anywayz..

Lots of things happening at the moment. Called up Andhra Bank local branch. The chief manager happens to be the one who was involved in initial tie-up of andhra bank with ISB, very enthu person he will be visitng me ( and not vice-versa:-)) today. Hope to finish all formalities by today evening.
Laptop: will be taking delivery of Compaq model 2201 AP for Rs54000/- net today.
Have worked out the fin pre-term questionaire , I seem to be OK with fin altough I am with Engineering background. Infact I feel I will have to take both quant cources beginers and intermidiate along with intermidiate stats.
Have to hunt for books. Hope to find atleast some in my city lets see.....
Have to finalize my lense no.s with the doc. Looks like I will have to wear specs.... Ahem hope it makes me look more distinguished..:-)

I have decided to make some resolutions for ISB and will post the same in my next post.

changing track

2005-03-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

The info on the ISB micro-site about courses and readings and profs has literally jolted me out of complacency. It has reminded me that a year of blood and tears lies ahead, where personal transformation through interaction will be the key for me .

Lots and lots of work to wind-up/ hand over at work. Actually Am finding it extremely to extract myself from my business. I had been looking after our business solely, and now to hand-over it back to my father, is proving to be a tough task. I mean with most of outstanding issues as long as six months old in my head..... , dont know what to do . Taxes - sales tax , income tax , service tax , personal taxes lots of them and the fiscal year ending March 31 st , have to finish / Finalize all the above , also put into place next year's annual sales contracts. service teams . Finish visiting major clients in U.P and Nepal ........ Tough job, but then what is to be done is to be done.

Had expected to study some before landing up at ISB , but guess it's out of question at the moment.. Lets see.....

Am going out for 5 days for work.

I guess I will be posting in the diary form for few days.

Got to run .....

musings as a blogger

2005-03-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

"Blogging is an art form" this I have come to understand in my few days as a blogger.
I had always believed myself good at putting across my ideas through writing.
However blogging is proving to be a different experience altogether.Here I do not have the luxury to write an initial rough draft, and then keep editing and adding new ideas that keep occuring to me along the way.
Blogging is instant.That is why lot of people find it convinient to write it in a diary form,and some people find it a convinient place to aggragate intersting information.

However I for one had started blogging for a different reason altogether. Actually I am somewhat of a thinker, some one who tries to juxtapose ideas form different fields and think about possible outcomes.Am a strong believer in result oriented innovation in an unerlated arenas.

I love ideating. Infact sometimes I have so many ideas in my mind that i tend to forget the last one I had.I try to find a deeper meaning in things around me, for example I try to judge the strategy of various corporates from newspaper articles and news. I try to think through their possible future plan of action and future strategy , how they might face problems and what they can do better etc.

My mind is continuously playing around with things and experiences I have around me.Since I am in business , i have had some of the most varied experiences possible.
It is only because I feel I can make a difference to the Indian corporate world that I decided to do a management course at ISB. I just felt I needed to expand my canvass and horizons of knowledge, and ISB being the platform it has become would definately fit in with my goals.

Amongst all this , I will have to confess that most of the times, I don't end up implementing my ideas as I envision them. This is because I am not too meticulous with details, though I can pick up winning ideas( ISB being one of them) and people with some consistency, I don't like to spend my energy in mundane work. This is a short-coming I wish I can sincerely address going through rigors at ISB.

At Ist sight my credentials look pedestrian when compared to the highly talented group of people who have been selected into ISB. Average schooling, coupled with average college grades from an unknown private engineering college in Bangalore, No work-ex in any big firms/ companies, running a small business in a forsaken place like kanpur in Ulta Pradesh ( U.P.), no big achievements in public fields etc.

But after my reject the first time( R2 for 04), I had decided that the only way I can redeem myself for the average kind of life is to go through ISB and stake a claim on "thought leadership" in the business world.

And I am sure if something I did right this time in my aplication for ISB , it was my essays.Once I had finished my last draft of them ,in my heart I was through, baring the interview, which I again expected to be based on my essays( though it didn't happen as expected).A little secret I will let out is that I had sent two extra pages of write-up about two innovative ideas of mine which are close to my heart..( and not 1 question about them !!!!)

Anywayz getting back to blogging.... I guess I will have to really work hard to live upto my expectations as a blogger. Seeing the no. of bloggers coming out of woodwork, i sincerely hope all of them keep blogging through the year ahead and disseminate "GYAN" to enlighten souls like me.

As "Bharani" said I am probably much better of blogging infrequently with original ideas.Been a long post but I guess gives you all a glimse into the person thats me, and the transformation in personality that I wish to achieve on my way to fame through ISB. So ppl please keep up with your comments, suggestions and of course new ideas and fads. Infact I would love to have insights into workings of a lot more industries, and share ideas on an other forums inclusing mails...

ideas for ISB sessions

2005-03-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

The yahoo groups have been of immense help , through out the process of application to now that is almost till we actually land up at ISB.
Judging by the response, help and guidance received through Yahoo! groups has set me thinking on the follwoing lines.

Present Scenario : ISB admits once a year.
The course duration is 1 year.( 11 months actually)

The problem : No student seniors on campus for new batches,
which actually means robbing the new admits of essential guidance and mentorship. Also networking and learning opportunities.I believe networking with seniors will be much better if we have known them for some time instead of through alumini meets etc.

The solution that I think would take care of the problem:
ISB should have admits twice a year ( April and OCtober). I guess major programs have such options abroad.
There are loads of benefits I percieve in this :

Benefits:
1. Less seasonal workload for admissions office.( I dunno what they do when not whetting the applications and formulating next year's process)
2. Less seasonal workload for CAS office.( I don't know much abt their working though)
3. a.)Companies can recruit throughout the year as per requirement instead of waiting
for placement season.
( b.) have advantage over other Indian B-Schools in this respect.
4. More convinience for visiting professors, and students as they can plan better the cources and time better.
5. Well spaced out utilization of quality infrastructure.
6. Better attendance for guest speakers ( oweing to "enthusiasm" of new and "need" of senior students.)
6. Round the year income for associated businesses ( ex. food mess etc.)
7. Will help keep interest in ISB alive through out the year, amongst prospects , industry and media. ( though for media it might work the other way round too.)

Student benefits:

1. Opportunity to interact with seniors at ISB.
2. More networking and closer associations possible.
3. Help build quality of students passing out, because of senior student's insights.
4. Help students continuously monitor and revisit career goals based on current alumini feedback of job markets.
5. Help build a culture and traditions ( like the dunking one on one's birthday) .
6. Make the whole experience a more learning one in the sense that knowledge and tradtions may be passed down from batch to batch.

Comments invited !!!

Countdown has begun

2005-03-03T01:30:00.000-08:00

The count down to ISB has begun. I need to concentrate more on finishng tasks on hand .
I have finally decided to take a loan form Andhra bank in two installments for the full amount. I have missed the bus on the IBM laptop deal from ISB, waiting for concession in the budget. There have been some concessions but will be applicable on models sold after 1st April . Infact since I dont own a laptop just now I was hoping to get used to using it .......
Lets see.

I had started my blog to put my ideas and my thinking in writing, coz I do feel that my mind comes up with all types of ideas which I later fail to follow up on, or forget.
I did not want my blog to be a place which would draw people to useful trivia/ newz articles etc. on the net. But then I now understand it needs some time commitment, and quality time is what is in short supply at the moment. Basically I wanted my blog to reflect my true personality and get feed back on my ideas abt various things.
Going by my present experience the quality of my postings is deteriorating, I guess i could either of the two options,
1. Blog infrequently but with solid ideas.
2. Blog as often as possible and keep it going even though it would mean sacrfice of quality.

Dunno , guess regular readers might be able to help ...

exams@ ISB tidbits

2005-03-01T06:08:00.000-08:00

Some tidbits abt exams at ISb that I had come to know while on my visit there. It is interesting. Depending on your prof and ur course content it could be any of the following
1. No exams only assignment submission.
2. A take home exam.
3. An open book exam.
4. An exam with cheat sheets allowed( what ever you can fot in one sheet)
5. Completely objective type.
6. Completely mind- numbing.

What say fellas, inetersting isn't it . For me at least it will be very very interesting.

With the R2 admits out looks like lot of ppl have had to face disappointments, but then life has to go on. Different people will tread diff. paths to their success in life. My feeling is ppl who did not make it were good too. Atleast it would have made my life tougher if they had applied in R1. I guess that was the reason I had applied in R1 this time :-)

personality types

2005-02-28T06:04:00.000-08:00

Came across excellent post by bharani on personality types.
http://way2top.blogsome.com/2005/02/27/personality-types/#more-77

My results It says I am a strategist. what it implies
Dominant Extraverted Intuition
ENTP & ENFP What is it like?

By Danielle Poirier www.RebelEagle.com
© copyright Rebel Eagle Productions
Words, ideas and possibilities spew effortlessly from them. Words are their best friends. They dance around ideas, the more, the merrier. Imaginative, spontaneous, original and enthusiastic, they have a knack for seeing other possibilities, other dreams and options. The world is never as it is but as it could be, as if it were but an artists sketch begging for colour. They initiate change and often are prone to trespassing a few known boundaries to take themselves and others where no one has been before. The status quo tends to lack inspiration.
When inspired, they are fearless and tireless. Their energy will know no limits unless red tape takes over. Routine drags them down. Their faith in possibilities and belief in the benefit of change often inspire others to follow. They are challenging, ingenious and innovative. They will give their best to what appears to be an impossible challenge, a place unknown to man or beast.
They use metaphors, stories, images and analogies to make their point.They love theories and often shape their own. They see patterns emerging. Keen improvisers, they are rarely caught off guard, there is always something up their sleeve. The sky is the only limit.
They are sometimes entertainers, artists or otherwise engaged in public demonstrations that allow their ideas to bloom. Their greatest difficulty is not in initiating projects but in choosing among so many possibilities, setting realistic boundaries, establishing priorities and correctly assessing resources.

my results for BBC test
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/whatamilike/index_5.shtml?personality_type=strategist

I guess it re-inforces my belief about the kind of job I visualize myself taking up .

R2 results are out today. As usual new admits were euphoric ...

more on thought leadership ....

2005-02-26T05:07:00.000-08:00

Thought leadership is radically different from traditional top-down leadership.

* It can be directed up as well as down or sideways.
* It has nothing to do with position or managing people.
* It is the basis of innovative change.
* It is egalitarian because it can shift rapidly from one person to another.
* It cannot be monopolized. It has nothing to do with climbing a hierarchy.
* It changes how people think, hence no action is necessarily implied.
* Implementation is a separate phase - a managerial undertaking.

Thought leaders are ideas people. They originate new ideas or are quick to champion the creative ideas of others.

What is thought leadership?

Whenever you offer a new idea to your colleagues or boss, you are showing thought leadership. It isn't necessary to have inspirational influencing skills to show thought leadership. Being inspirational is necessary for senior executives because they need to win over the entire organization and beat off their internal competitors for top jobs. Also, to initiate organization-wide change, it helps to be inspirational. But a thought leader focuses on smaller scale changes - ideas for a new product or changes to an existing one. Thought leaders can persuade others using logic, evidence or an actual demonstration of a prototype to win support.

To be a thought leader, you need to immerse yourself in your professional domain and search for new things to say that add value to your organization's objectives. Traditional, top-down leadership depends on personal credibility or character because such leaders are asking people to join them on a difficult journey and they have a great deal of power over their followers. Hence, we need to trust them. Conversely, the thought leader could have weak interpersonal skills and an indifferent character. They could be loners or eccentrics. All that counts is the credibility of their new idea. This is why we can buy innovations offered by odd creative types who we would not entrust to manage any part of an organization. If you can demonstrate the value of your idea and explain it with conviction, you might not need inspirational influencing skills.

Thought leadership is based on youthful rebelliousness - the willingness to risk group rejection in the pursuit of a better way of doing things. Hence, thought leadership is not a learned skill. Only the content of your discipline or field is learned. Traditional, top-down leadership is portrayed as a collaborative effort between leaders and followers to achieve shared goals. But thought leadership has a more competitive edge. Thought leaders are saying, essentially, that they know of a better product or way of doing things than anyone else in the team or organization. Thought leadership ends when the target audience accepts the idea. It may be that you are using hard evidence to persuade others to avoid dumping a current process for a passing fad. In this case, your leadership does not result in any action taken. This is an important point because it enables us to define leadership as the initiation of new directions and categorize the implementation of newideas as a managerial activity. This is important because we tend, traditionally, to focus on the PERSON in charge of a group as the leader who may both champion a new direction and implement it. Hence we think that leadership is about managing change. The real value of examining thought leadership is that it helps us to see that there is a critically important distinction between leadership and management. When executives move from championing a new idea to its implementation, therefore, they are switching hats from leadership to management. The bottom line is that leadership is about the initiation of new directions. Implementing them is a managerial undertaking.

Source : http://www.leadersdirect.com/thoughtleadership.htm

Taxes ????

2005-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

With the Indian Union budget supposed to be tabled in parliament on the 28th of FEB, the media has been covering aspirations of industry and man on street.....

Seeing all this I had an idea. Why not abolish income tax altogether? Yes really why not. What we can have in it's place is an expenditure tax. Income earnings should be totally delinked from Income tax. With it's millions of rules and regulations which actually benefit people in the top most bracket.

An expenditure tax in my view would be the best idea possible. You can earn as much as you want without the thought of losing the same to taxes... You can save as you want, plan your future.. etc. Only when you decide to spend the money should the goverment have any say. This will resolve a lot of issues, like black money, underdeclaration of income, over declaration of expenses by corporates. The reason goverments would not like the idea is that with income tax they collect the money in present. In fact the rule should be that anytime you decided to spend/ withdraw money you will be taxed 20% right from your account with the banks depositing the same with the goverment in our name. This will reduce a lot many procedural hassels and expenses both from the goverment side and general public. With the banks having the IT infrastructure and money to implement it while levying a small fee to the goverment. They inturn get to keep money with their bank.

All tarnsactions between individuals/ Businesses etc should be recorded by some form of smart card. We may not need papaer money at all . Think about it ........
If you have any concrete ideas I' am all ears and mail ...

Leadership lessons..... from top 25

2005-02-24T02:32:00.000-08:00

Here is something I liked about business leaders who were actually thought leaders..

The 25 most influential business leaders of the past 25 years.

Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics; Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com; John Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group; Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group; Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; James Burke, former CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computers; Peter Drucker, the educator and author; Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft; William George, former CEO of Medtronics; Louis Gerstner, former CEO of IBM; Alan Greenspan, Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve; Andy Grove, chairman of Intel; Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler; Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers; Herb Kelleher, CEO of Southwest Airlines; Peter Lynch, former manager of Fidelity's Magellan Fund; Charles Schwab, founder of Charles Schwab Inc.; Frederick Smith, CEO of Federal Express; George Soros, founder and chairman of Open Society Institute; Ted Turner, founder of CNN; Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart; Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric; Oprah Winfrey, chairman of the Harpo group of companies; and Mohammed Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank.

These business leaders have created new and profitable ideas; affected political, civic or social change through achievement in the business/economic world; created new business opportunities or more fully exploited existing ones; caused or influenced dramatic change in a company or industry; and/or inspired and transformed others.

Learning from Leaders

Understanding what made these people stand out could help others to become better leaders in their own organizations.

In Grove's case, his ability to be open to unconventional ideas was a critical factor. In his or her own way.

Consider Warren Buffett, "a man for all seasons." Not only is Buffett "an investor extraordinaire" ,but he was also highly successful as the hands-on CEO of Salomon Brothers, helping restore confidence in the Wall Street firm when it faced a severe management crisis. These days "Buffett has become the conscience of the Street, offering great wisdom on contentious topics like expensing stock options,". In other words, in addition to his genius at spotting good investment opportunities, Buffett's influence derives from his moral stature and integrity. In the aftermath of scandals that have rocked U.S. companies in the past few years, it is difficult to overemphasize the importance of ethics as a factor in leadership.

Bogle, owes his influence to having delivered great value to investors -- though his approach was strikingly different. The former CEO of the Vanguard Group has long argued that "owning the entire stock market at very low cost is the ultimate investment strategy." This belief led him to launch the Vanguard Group in 1975. Bogle was a pioneer in introducing and helping popularize index funds -- which kept fees extremely low for investors. Says Peter Cappelli: "One of the reasons why Bogle is on this list is because of the enormous impact he had on the average person."

Sam Walton's approach to Wal-Mart's customers was similar.The goal of making a wide range of products available to average people at the lowest possible price enabled him to take the retail company from a single store to a megacorp that is now ranked No. 1 on the Fortune 500. "Walton's legacy is that a single person can make a huge difference in an industry. It doesn't happen overnight, especially in an industry like retail, but it can happen over a period of years. Walton believed in delivering great value at low prices to his customers."

Welch's leadership, delivered great value to GE's shareholders. One measure is that Welch took GE from being a "$13 billion company in 1981 to a $550 billion company in 2001 in terms of market capitalization." GE's stock price saw a 40-fold increase during Welch's tenure, consistently outpacing the S&P 500. But Welch's greatest strength, was spotting and nurturing other leaders. "Welch has written the textbook on leadership. He has often said that he doesn't know how to make jet engines or produce Tuesday night television shows at NBC, the GE subsidiary. But he does know how to pick people with leadership potential, give them the resources to meet their goals, and get rid of them if they cannot. As a result, Welch has built one of the best leadership teams anywhere."

Team-building also counts among Bill Gates's strengths as a leader. Gates saw the potential of the PC to transform the world, and he built Microsoft into a software powerhouse. In addition, though, he is among those rare entrepreneurs whose abilities have expanded to keep pace with the growth of his enterprise. "Very few successful people who have started as entrepreneurs have led their companies until they grew to a very big size." Gates's has had the vision to bring in people and then let them serve the company. "Gates has done this in a way that most entrepreneurs are not capable of doing."

Each leader on the list offers similar leadership lessons. While most of them are recognizable names, a few are less well known or are simply no longer in the public eye. James Burke, for example, was J&J's CEO when the company faced its well-known Tylenol crisis in 1982. Seven people died after taking the pain-killer, and it turned out that someone had introduced cyanide in the pills as an act of sabotage. Burke's handling of that has become a textbook case for companies facing crises for more than two decades. Bill George, the former CEO of Medtronic, has recently written a book about Authentic Leadership drawing upon his experiences. Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, has been a pioneer in the field of micro-finance, providing loans as small as $10 to impoverished people. His great innovation was to recognize that lending could be separated from collateral -- and still be the basis for operating a sound financing business. Micro-lending programs modeled after Grameen's have now spread to more than 100 countries.

If there is one trait that each of these leaders shares, it is tenacity. Unlike so-called serial entrepreneurs who cash out of their companies after a few years and move on to their next venture, these leaders have had a long-term vision. They have been willing to ride out the lows with the highs. This willingness to slog it out and stay in the game for the long haul has been reflected as much in the success of their enterprises as in the endurance of their own influence as leaders. Asked why he never left Intel to start another company, Grove recently replied: "Intel is like a river. It changes every day and behind every bend there is a new start, a new challenge. I cannot think of any place where I would rather have worked."

Busy days...

2005-02-21T08:14:00.000-08:00

Things have started moving at a fast clip now. The mind is cluttered trying to figure out loans,laptop, other expenses, things to do b4 getting to ISB........
Lot of work to wrap up . Have to visit Nepal, Rjasthan , GUjarat all work related before I get ready to land up in ISB. Mean while send application for loan , send money for laptop ......

Mind is clutterred to write anything of note.....

what or who is a thought leader

2005-02-17T06:31:00.000-08:00

Apart from other things that I wish to transform into. The most important for me will to be recognized as a thought leader.
Got some tips from another blog:( with some changes from me)

What’s a thought leader?
A thought leader is a recognized leader in one’s field. What differentiates a thought leader from any other knowledgeable person, is the recognition from the outside world that the person deeply understands his business, the needs of its audience, and the broader population in which he operates.

Trust is built on reputation and reputation is generally NOT built on advertising. It is built on what others say about you. Become a thought leader in your field and it won’t matter as much as where you work. Companies will look to you for insight and vision. Journalists will quote you, analysts will call you, websites will link to you.

How does one become a thought leader?
Before one takes the first actionable step, a fundamental shift in mindset is needed. Thought leadership requires a spirit of generosity - generosity of one's time, intelligence and knowledge. It requires a trust that by being open with what you know, and by sharing your time and knowledge, the world will reward your efforts. With that in mind, here are steps that will help you on your way to being a thought leader:

To become a thought leader you need three basic things
1. write.
2. spread the word.
3.use your website.

And guess what when you blog you do all three!!

The great debate...... part 2 and how to at ISB

2005-02-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

well some more gyan that I could gather from my visit.

The objective of one year course is to make you realize that the days of lazing and learning at your own pace as past. The business world and situation on the ground is changing at a frantic pace and you have to attune yourself with the pace to make best use of available opportunities in the market.

How to make the best use of your time at ISB

1. Basically the key to making full use of facilities at ISB is being effective.
There are hundreds of opportunities , suitable infrastructure available for everyone . Probably it would take you more than 2 yrs to do everything that you want to do. But then You dont have the time...
So, you need to be focussed from day 1 at what do you actually want to gain from ISB.You obviously cannot do everything, so priortize from the start . Be very very clear what is most important to your career. Try and identify gaps in your resume that prevent you from applying for that dream role, and work towards it.

2. Some important activities that you will need to take decision on early into the course are
a.) GCP
b.) ELP
c.) club activities.
d.) posts in various commitees ( adcom, placom, comm.. etc.)

The students ( all of them) said over and over again, take only as much on your plate as you will be comfortable with.( lesser is better) But focus on effectiveness of your actions.

Some hard Facts

There are cases of burn-outs at ISB. People get stressed early into the course try very hard to keep up or top the class. These are the people who feel tired and let down by the time of placements. SO keep checking yourself for signs of stress. Learn to manage stress.Have a support group early on( need not be friends actually)

Some people find it very difficult to get jobs, since they are stuck up on a particular role, salary, company etc.. Actually ISB is just a platform to launch you in middle management role. How you perform there will decide your future. ( so don't be too focussed on the exact job.The focus on learning at ISB is to learn the skills to do well and not the course.

There are all kinds of distractions at ISB ( including hep gals and guys!), but you need to fix your limits early on . You have to be careful not to go over the top with any activity.

There are all sorts of people as students, with diffrent goals ! so basically u will do well if you are focussed.

The pace of work is dfinately hectic , so be prepared ! PACE your self for the entire course ( not one term at a time).

All the talk about 4-5 hrs sleep is not true. If you are careful enough you will find time to sleep and enjoy.

DON'T follow your alums. I know it sounds to be too harsh, but the general feeling is alums experiences tend to colour your vision. Be open to opportunities and have faith in your self-assesment.

From the reports on the campus, the incoming batch( our's!) is very higly talented and far better in terms of quality.So the only way we can go will be UP UP UP.

The best thing abt ISB is the curriculum and faculty for the next batch is decided by the students. So each progressive batch will have better facilities.

ISB will rock and it will be a leader in management education in time to come...
ISBians will rule!!!!!!!

The great debate is settled.......

2005-02-16T02:39:00.000-08:00

The debate is settled at least for me .

I have finally been able to gather some of my thoughts for this post. I guess I need to start from the beginning

Criteria for admit into ISB

1. Reasonably strong academic background
2. Demonstrated Leadership Potential.
3. Diversity in background and work-ex.
4. Quality of work -experience.

One visit to ISB has made me realize how important the above four criteria really are .
My point of view is based specifically on the inputs and personal interview of students of the current batch.

1. ISB one-year course is intense and MBA curriculum is numbers driven, a lot of it involves number crunching and data interpretation. In fact you are trained to make decisions on solid facts. Although different people may interpret the same data differently. So it is important to have some level of comfort with numbers and written English.

2. ISB is looking to create corporate world-leaders, so you need at least something to start with. It is really a very strong platform for the leap you might be intending to take. The kinds of roles and job-offers this year's students have got is mind-boggling to say the least. They have some of the world-leading and up-coming corporates lining up at their doors. Quality is the key word here. Though in pursuit of quality some of it has become a little "GLAM" but then it is another USP for which the corporates are ready to pay that little extra in terms of higher salary.

3. Diversity in student body helps in a number of ways.
a) you can have a larger variety of corporates coming in with job offers.
b.) You are able to reach a wider audience in terms of industries and roles covered.( this helps in terms of alumni network).
c.) Helps a lot in learning through case studies, as you will have atleast one person with practical knowledge of the industry being talked about.
d.) As a manager you are supposed to manage all kinds of people and talent with different goals and different motivations.
e.) You learn to get less and less distracted by what others are doing.You learn to become focused and forge your own path.

Work- ex is important in a no. of ways too…

You will need to have lot of maturity in handling team situations here. This is because everybody here does come with some "EGO". Though, you later realize that there are always others better than you at Everything!

Initially there will be lot of self-centered thinking,selfish behaviours, scheming & plotting , secretive studies, strategy, politics only because you feel highly competitive and want to get ahead of the rest. But, this will all be in vain as all yes ALL the activities at ISB are team based. Basically you swim with your team or you sink with your team. Individually you will not be able to survive (literally). Sometimes you may be able to choose your team at others you will have to make do with what you have been assigned. The whole key to success will be managing people or rather team mates effectively.( isn't that what managers are supposed to do effectively).
There are bound to be lot of emotional pressures also, which will need lot of maturity on your part to cope up with. (Hope fully your work-ex helps here too).

Quality of work-ex is also another factor in landing right jobs. There is no shortcut to the top, so it is essential to have done hard-work and ground work before you become capable of leading people or organization.

More in my next post so keep visiting …………….

ISB visit 10 and 11th feb.

2005-02-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

Returned from Hyderabad yesterday after a nice visit. Nice in the sense got good insights into working at ISB from the students, general placement scenario etc. Been busy since haven't really been able to collect my thoughts , there is such a lot of data and things to be shared with u all. Will take another day or 2 to get my thoughts organized and place it here......

But one thing stands out about all ISb students ( at least all that I met) they are all genuinely helpful.

Will keep u all posted on my takes at what I saw and heard.....

Indian money GYMing

2005-02-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking , with the advent of computerization in our neighbourhood banks how simple handling money in business has become. Even if we assume that the goverment will not print any new money. Money in Indian business and economy is being made to sweat like never before.
For illustration :

Scenario in 1990's

When you had to send money from say Delhi to Mumbai.The normal procedure used to be
you submit an application for a D.D. in the morning get your D.D. ( demand draft) made the next day. Send it by registered post to Mumbai.Reaches Mumbai 7-10 days later is deposited in the local bank takes anywhere between 3-5 days for the money to be credited in your account.

That means a cycle time of about 15 days !!!!

Scenario 2005 :
Want to send money from Delhi to Mumbai ? Deposit a cheque in a corresponding bank in your city and it reaches it's destination on the 2nd day ( same day in case of high value cheques) . Total cycle time of 2 days max . That is a revolution for financial markets and commerce in general.

Actually you are making the same amount of money work 7fold !!!!!!!
So in general people and business have a faster turnaround for their money and doing business becomes more and more convinient.

This I would say is just one example of technology helping people work more efficiently .

Leaving for ISB tommorrow. Really looking forward to go there since it gives me my only real chance to prove myself as a thought leader going forward in life.

My thoughts

2005-02-07T01:06:00.000-08:00

My thoughts nowadays are running ahead of me for topics to add to my blog. There seems to be so much I wush to share , but due to lot of work pressure am unable to organize my thoughts. Lets see hope to write about a few topics soon.

ISB Visit

2005-02-04T05:19:00.000-08:00

Have planned a visit to ISB on the 10th and 11th of Feb. Going to just have a look around. It's been >2 yrs since I visited it for an information session. Will also be doing some ground work for applying to loans etc. Will keep u all posted. BTW thanks for spending ur time on my amateur blog :-)

equity as investment avenue then and now

2005-02-03T04:21:00.000-08:00

1985:
you want to invest in shares! you are totally at the mercy of the broker. They have no system, they just stnd in the trading room shout on the top of their voices, wave hands making some ununderstandable actions and the deal is struck ! what price ? you are not supposed to know, you wanted the shares na , you got it. Now suppose you want to sell them. You are ain at the mercy of your broker, and you will be happy if you received your money in 45 days. Setlemnt is on fridays. Then you have to send your physical shares to the buyer duly signed. It reaches the buyer, he sends it to the company office to be registered ion his name. sends you the payment, which will be credited to your account in 10 days.

2005
You want to buy shares. Get online. A few clicks and the transaction is complete. No broker interferance, completely transparent market value truly reflected. You get shares in your D-mat Account in 4 days flat.
You want to sell the shares. A few clicks will do the trick again. No need to worry. Your money will reach your bank account in 3-4 days.

We dont seem to realize this but, Indians have technologically adapted very well to the changing scenario. Today you can see even 70 yr old Gujju's clicking away at computer terminals.

What this has done is brought equity as a direct competitor to the traditionally avenue of saving for rainy day "GOLD". why gold has held it's place in our culture.It is considered as the safest investment option. It has not lost it's value over decades and decades. It is easy to sell and provides instant liquidity. Similarly Shares today are trying to offer the same benefits to us. Think about it safety( atleast blue chip stocks) , liquidity and long term returns. No wonder our markets are bullish and will tend to remain so.

Send me your comments for my post as I am new to blogging and dont know how my posts sound. Actually I start with a different idea and when I post it comes out differently. Fellow bloggers will appreciate some tips from you guys.

ISB vs IIM's

2005-01-29T02:24:00.000-08:00

There is a big debate going on about which MBA institutes are better the IIM's or ISB in the yahoo groups
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/isb-pgp
I have deliberately not taken part in the debate. It is not because I did not have any thing to offer but it is the whole concept of ISB that I am thoroughly convinced about that I just don’t want to compare it to any other institute.
The more I think about ISB the more I marvel at the thought process of the founders. There may be some benefits they would have thought about and some others they wouldn't have at the time of inception. Here I will be talking about a few of those.

Diversity in student pool - For being successful in business you have to learn to manage and work with people with different degrees of knowledge, attitude and skills.
One year course and accelerated learning - Life and business is changing fast and you have to learn to keep pace with it.
Long hours, constant time constraint and stress (as evident form student blogs) - There is only so much a person can do in life, it teaches you to prioritize and manage your time for things you love to do, and things you don't. While learning to manage stress is a part and parcel of today's corporate life. Whatever you do, should be done effectively.
International outlook and facilities- "World as a global village" a concept whose time has come, what better way to get prepared?
Infrastructure and facilities incomparable to any other in India- Business leaders have to learn to get used to such environments. This is required for Indians as many of us have come up from small towns and limited resources and our exposure to such a lifestyle is still limited.( not talking abt myself though)
High fees- if you feel committed to a task, you should be ready to take a call on the stakes involved. Pay top dollar and expect the best.
Leadership development programs- Leaders are born! no doubt about it. But you can always learn leadership skills.

All in all, tangible and intangible results will be that there will be immense amount of learning in a very very short time frame. Really looking forward to ISB now. I expect one year of blood and tears, but know and expect it to transform my boundaries of thought and action.

Focus @ ISB

2005-01-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

Since the time I have comeback from the alums meet. My mind is working overtime as to how I can make best use of my time at ISB. As per the alums you need to be exteremely focussed and committed to achive what you have set out to achieve.
I have decided to focus on non-IT consultancy post ISB as first option. 2nd option is marketing.
Why I need to have second option is , because I donot consider myself too good at studies, you need good grades to get into consultancy, and also I am not from IIT's so i need to have a backup option.
I am now looking at gaps in my resume that I need to fill by making special efforts at ISB, to get me what I want post-ISB.
Another thing I am worried about is getting used to 4hrs of sleep for the next 1yr. I have never felt good with less than 8 hrs of sleep , I dont know how I will manage. Even if I manage I will need to train myself to be mentally alert. Let's see.
After the Alums meet I have stopped worrying about Funds for ISB education. It seems it is responsibility of ISB once you apply for it.... so I am a little more relaxed on that fornt.

Inverted marketing Fundas

2005-01-24T01:31:00.001-08:00

As I am going in for am MBA I guess I will start sharing my ideas about startegies adopted by various corporates for businesses. This will only be from my obesrvation of the market place and press clippings no insider information. Lets see what u guys think abt it.

Lets take the case of Reliance Infocomm. They decided to invert the conventional marketing funda that a brand progresses to become a commodity towards the end of its product life cycle. this happens when the brand has achived a lot of useage and does not have any specific advantages over other rivals. The brand loses its pricing power , and survives on volumes and little else.

Reliance has used this principal to gather the largest amount of subscribers in the shortest amount of time possible, early in its market entry strategy. It entred the market with a standard product with a no- choice instrument with least amount of margins. And now slowly it has started giving its customers various options in terms of mobile handsets and customized plans etc...

What it has done is it has shortened the total time -to- market, and time- to- profitability of it's venture. My guess is it chose the CDMA platform just so that it could squeeze out the maximum possible discount from the vendors of technology, by being the largest buyer and largest user of this technology to showcase.

Think about it guys !!!!!!!!!!!!! out standing out of box thinking.
Will love to hear from u . Will talk abt similar corporate strategies that stand out for their idea and execution.

Meet the ISB alums

2005-01-24T01:31:00.000-08:00

Had gone to Delhi to attend a " meet the alums" organized by some ISB alums to welcome new admits and help in answering their queries. Had a chance to catch up with the new admits as well as meet alums . All in all it was a good interaction. Immidietly you come to realize the diversity that ISB keeps talking abt. There were admits of all ages right from 42 yrs to 22 yrs ! Gmat scores form 610 to 770. Except for abt 7 of us other new admits were really concerened about themselves, just talked abt themselves clarified their aprehensions and left. No intros.. no networking with others etc... Anywayz it just proves ISB is really serious abt diversity in class..

The first thing that struck me abt alums was that they were indeed very very helpful. To be doing what they were doing , they really must respect the ISB. Some of the take- aways that i had were

1. The first month is really gruelling, once you cope up with that with about 4 hrs of sleep per day! the rest of it seems easy. Basically you get into the grind and get used it .
2. The toughest part is to work as a team in study groups assigned by ISB, you have absolutely no say in choosing your team members. Going by my yesterdays experience, it definately would be tough to work with people with whom your frequency doesn't match. But who knows I may get lucky.
3. When asked about any thing that they wish they had done differently at ISB, the general answer was they wish they were more focussed in the first few months. You really have to be very very sure what you want to do after ISB so you can plan accordingly.
4. Jobs! If you want one you will definately get one. ISB it seems has a good reputation in the market.
5. If you are thinking about business plan competitions then it is better to complete research and groundwork before you come to ISB.ummmm something i have to plan lets see.
6. You have to make a habit of using the health and fitness infrastructure available on the campus as you cannot afford to fall ill even for a day.
7. The Visiting profs are like "GODS" in their own fields, so make special efforts to keep up with them, and use their time to learn as much as you can.
8. Lastly your learnings will be more from your peers than actual books.

Met an alum who got into business immidietly after ISB, he is I guess finding the going tough. I guess because he doesn't have anybackground in business. He says it took him one whole year to unlearn what he had learnt in ISB and then learn how gujjus and marwaris do business.... ha ha ha on top of it he was telling it to me a Gujju in business. Anywayz to each his own.

The bottom line was ISB has amazing facilities make full use of them and you will definately be able to imbibe some leardership traits if not all .

MBA journey for an Entrepreneur

2005-01-19T23:10:00.000-08:00

Hi !
This is my first attempt at blogging. Through this blog of mine I will take you through the journey of my MBA at ISB. I have just been accepted at ISB-hyderabad-India. My attempt will be to publish my ideas and concepts in relation to my MBA experience and my spirit of entrepreneurship. So keep coming back .

ISB fees

2005-01-19T21:22:00.000-08:00

Well ! It is hell of a time for me and my family figuring out how to arrange for funds for the entire course when it is expected to be around 16lacs INR. Getting in is one part but looking at the future, it is still uncertain what can be expected.

Talked to a present student yesterday. He gave me a diff. perpective of things right away. Although a majority of guys have atleast one job offer in hand. He says there will be atleast 20-25 students who will not get placed immidietly for various reasons.Well that is something to be kept in mind.
There is no doubt in mind that the course will be very very challenging. Itis supposed to test ur limits on all fronts. Including your drive , commitment and focus. People all around are warning me to be reasonable in expectations from ISB. But heck with my background of business and upbringing in a business environment, risk is part and parcel of life. So i have decided to take the plunge.
Money Money Money well will keep u all posted onthis front as soon as i am able to decide.