My blogging inspiration

I did not know what a blog really was till Oct ’08 and it took a while before I started penning my thoughts and reflections online.

Nicholas Bate is an immense source of inspiration who initiated me to blogging and his lectures at Warwick have made a considerable positive impact on me. Time management, presentation, project management and articulation are some skills that Nick has imparted. He has definitely enriched lives of executives and students round the world. His books are great and are an easy read. His blog is thought provoking and provides simple solutions to seemingly complex issues of life.

On his birthday today, I would like to thank him very much.

‘Happy Birthday Nick’.

Strategy of academic convenience

Academicians have a habit of mutating well established theories, changing a few words, mutating the shape of models and reintroducing the old wine in a self styled bottle.

Google (verb.) ESCO – it means nothing to anyone on this planet (not an iota of connection with strategy) yet students who did not believe in the ESCO model were allegedly the lesser mortals in the world of strategy.

No one really knows what was in Soichiro Honda’s mind when he changed course in the US. The decision to market small Supercub bikes after the dismal performance of Honda’s larger ones has been conveniently described as an emergent strategy. It has been discussed with great vehemence that Honda Motor Co. did not really know what it was doing and therefore it was an emergent strategy.

Can the confines of a classroom discredit the decisions of a great man or a great company?

I spoke to many colleagues in leading business schools and while HONDA is a popular case study no one associates the success of HONDA to an accident a.k.a emergent strategy.

Some believe that HONDA deserves credit only for abiding by the allegedly Japanese ‘belief that corporate direction evolves from an incremental adjustment to unfolding events’. If HONDA had just been incrementing along, it probably would not have moved so early into the US market in the first place. Even while HONDA sold through trading companies in all of SE Asia, it chose to sell directly in the US because of its founder’s strong belief that for a product to have a global acceptance it must succeed in the leading market.

A realm of strategy that has been little discussed is Commitment. HONDA was committed to being successful. The decisions that it took between 1952 and 1960 were irreversible. Capital investments, R&D in cleaner and fuel efficient engine technology put all other development on hold for several years.

This is commitment.

This is strategy.

"Lock yourself into a commitment or you will lock yourself out of success forever."

And let’s not take the credit away from Mr. Honda by nomenclating his decisions as emergent strategy.

Being Awesome!

During an engaging discussion with a fellow colleague, I was taken back to the memories of some wonderful motivational and self development sessions where Nick Bate advised us with clinical sharpness – ‘one way to succeed and to be happy is by being awesome in whatever you do’

The same discussion happens year after year. Nick says just be awesome. Students say, its just not possible because political correctness and ability to keep ones boss happy is of far greater consequence than just being awesome.

Nick’s absolutely right but students have a point.

Every process has a gestation period. Employees take a while before they establish their brand equity in an environment. It may be a new job, an academic cohort or just amongst friends. Till such time that this brand equity is established you have to be ‘correct’. At this point do not be tempted to assume that once the brand equity is established, you needn’t be correct.

Is it difficult to be awesome? – No it isn’t
Be a good human being.
Treat others (employees, customers, friends and relations) as you would want to be treated by others.
Assume that you are the CEO of the company and its 100% shareholder too (to ensure best intent).
Have knowledge of your domain.

It takes a while before you can establish yourself as an awesome human being (gestation period) and once you have done so, simply maintain it and don’t be bothered about anything else.

Success, brand equity, growth, money, happiness, confidence which is all so superfluously relative would then be incidental. And don’t get too busy being awesome!

My first week at school a year ago!

Just as the new set of students on the MBA ‘conveyor’ start their year long journey tomorrow, my memories go back to my first week at Warwick. Excitement levels to their hilt. It was an amazing amalgam of excitement and nervousness. Many amongst us were getting back to books after over 10 years.

Fellow students were regaling the groups with their past achievements. The class seemed infinitely large because of the urgency to speak to each one of the fellow students and make friends. Some were loud, some were muted, some were interesting and some……..

The first week was action packed. While we coped with the schedules of introductory classes, alumni meets and tried to make our airplanes to take a flight of success and achievement, some stumbling blocks came our way in the form of settling-in blues.

Bank Accounts – It’s a struggle, we needed to get a letter from the University house that we were registered students - to open a bank account. And this needed to be done fairly early on as the first instalment of fees was due soon. HSBC and Barclays charged 6 pounds a month just to keep our money with them. NatWest didn’t charge anything like this and was happy to give you a connect card (more easily acceptable in most establishments and online transactions) if your balance was over 5000 pounds.

Mobile phones – We were required to give our mobile numbers for the talent book that had an alleged life of a year and beyond. Most mobile companies have arduous procedures of giving out contracts. The least requirement is a proof of address in the form of bank statement and the first statement can take about 2 months to arrive. A pay as you go card can be as expensive as 20p for a minute’s call and 10p for a sms but a contract gave us almost 600 mins and unlimited texts in under 20 pounds. My advice – do not worry. Take a pre-paid card and convert it into a contract at a later date and retain your number.

Lunch – University house that is 5 mins of walk gave us a lunch in under 5 pounds and Rootes (Ist floor behind bar fusion) that is 8 mins of walk from the school served an elaborate buffet that costed less than 4 pounds. Needless to say – if we did justice to the buffet, it helped us better in catching up with our sleep during the afternoon class. Else for the benefit of pocket and weight watchers, the school – kindly and appreciably, served a splendid variety of fruits and muffins at the coffee lounge.

Grocery – Cost cutter (next to Rootes) was really a pocket cutter. It took many of us a month to realise this. Tesco is 30% cheaper. Is open 24 hrs Monday to Friday, till 2200 hrs on Saturdays and 1600 hrs on Sundays. Residents of Claycroft had an advantage here. Its 2 mins away. Residents of Heron Bank and Lakeside struggled a bit more as they stacked up their freezers etc in the initial weeks. But 2 or 3 of us always enjoyed our walk from lakeside to Tesco and took a taxi back in 5 pounds.

Extracurricular – Warwick has over a hundred societies to suit every enthusiast. Polo, salsa, golf, cricket, sailing and many more. This we could figure out only in the 3rd or the 4th week as we began to settle down.

Hostels – Computers took a while to adjust to the new environment. A data cable could be purchased at Tesco or Costcutter. Irrespective of our previous attachments with our old IP settings we had to let our computers find their new IP. The accommodation service was fast and efficient. If at all we had an issue with our accommodation we used our login starting with bs….. and logged in an online complaint. We only realised much later that all the spiders that we found in our rooms were pets. But if there was a strong aversion we could politely request their removal.

A high point of the first week was Nicholas Bate and his introduction to discipline and self development.

In retrospect I feel academics were a miniscule part of this amazing experience that we lived. Work smart and party hard was the mantra. This was an opportunity of a lifetime to make new friends and nurture relationships. Some amongst us made the most of it, some faded away into oblivion.

Creation - Preservation - Destruction - Creation (CPDC)

Strategy Module has been intriguing. Many of my dear friends were punished with abysmally low marks. I only have one question to ask – is the marker’s belief in his connotation of strategy the final word in the subject? If yes, why can’t his/her ideas be utilized to strategise about dozens of things that are of immensely improvable order in an otherwise excellent school. (This isn’t a forum to ejaculate my frustrations) but strategy is neither about past nor present.

It’s about future. And to comment on future as mortal human beings is assuming oneself to be GOD.

We aren’t GOD!!

Companies continue to be cosy in their streak of luck or past achievements yet very few lessons can be learnt from the past. Past teaches you nothing. It only opens your eyes a bit more. The basic tenet of life is defined by CPDC. The three Hindu deities personify CPDC. Creation (Brahma), Preservation (Vishnu) and Destruction (Shiva). This applies not only to life form but also to product lifecycle, inventions, management styles and strategy.

The dynamic nature of every atom that makes this planet and millions of others ensures that life form keeps travelling to a higher plane (evolution) before it dies and paves way for new one. Strategy is dynamic too. It’s about future. It’s about the constant change in the state of things.

Companies can only ‘hope’ to address the following to survive:
What can we do to address future challenges and capture future opportunities?
What kind of leadership and culture we need to develop to tackle the unknown future?
What can we do to retain present customers to sell future products?

Are there any companies that have seemingly achieved this? Well if I was to say anything against Apple; half a dozen of my friends esp. Kasmira would put my life in danger because of their unflinching love and adulation for Apple products. So I suspect Apple has achieved customer retention for future products.

Leaders should continuously strive to define their future while addressing their present and believe in the CPDC cycle.

That’s all there is to it.

My last musing – Can strategy be theorised?

Dissertation Blues

One of the hot topics of discussion these days is the pending dissertation to be submitted by the ides of September. A paper comprising of some 15000 words.

I am convinced that this dissertation is a ‘high quality’ and ‘thoughtful’ – cut copy and paste. And people have been vehemently disagreeing with me. Some have made library their home. Some have become insomniacs and some are just too nervous.

Well if dissertation was to be a fruit of one’s intellectual or academic prowess then we don’t need literature review. Just sign off the dissertation confidently under your signature - no references required. I would love to do something like that. But won’t risk it. And if we could actually submit an original paper that gets accepted by the supervisor, doesn’t it qualify to be a theory?

If all we are doing is reading, mutating and reproducing the literature that already exists and referencing it with pages and pages of bibliography, why are we loosing sleep?

It’s an interesting thing that I observed recently. Every subject has thousands of books written on it and each paragraph has a reference to another journal or a book. Can I therefore assume that 99% of books are just clever mutations and reproduction of someone else’s work?

I would be happy to come across 1/1000th the number of theories or masterpieces as the number of books that have been written in the last 40 years.

Investments and Risk Management

The last of my academic modules at Warwick Business School ended at an absolute high.

The Investments and Risk management was a great module. Prof. Ron Watson of Rutgers Business School took us through the finer nuances of valuations of bonds and shares and gave an interesting view about the world economy.

Prof Watson has an enviable experience in the Government (Sr. VP Federal Reserve bank of Philadelphia), Private Sector (CEO of the Custodial Trust Company – Bear Stearns), and is now an academician since the last 7 years.

The wealth of his knowledge helped us understand Risk Management and the variables through which risk can be assessed and mitigated. Diversification is the key to successful investing as no one can either predict the markets nor has anyone ever been able to avoid the troughs that keep recurring at an amazing regularity.

But there are two simple rules that have stood the test of time and can ensure that investments grow and outperform the government bonds over a period of time - Discipline and Diversification.

That’s the only way every investor can achieve one’s ultimate quest to generate positive ‘Alpha’….

Doing your best and a bit more..

This is a pleasant and a welcome week while we are attending Prof. Robert (Bob) Johnston’s Service Management. Having spent a bit of time managing luxury hotels, I wondered what all and how much I will be able to take from this module.

But

Prof. Johnston (a senior hotelier himself) has put together one of the most interesting modules using more than 30 different models in which managers can reflect upon, assess and improve service standards in their organisations. Prof. Johnston shared his amazing life experiences and peppered the week with some fantastic humour.

His passion for the subject is an inspiration. And he gives his best to the class. The seemingly endless supply of chocolates that strategically start flying around the classroom like UFO’s whenever the afternoon begins to take its toll on our attention span keeps us well engaged.

Excellent service is a consequence of a few simple decisions and initiatives that managers can take.

· Articulate and communicate the service standards and service aspirations to employees - Remove ambiguity.
· Connect with your employees. Customer delight and profitability is incidental to your employee satisfaction and motivation.
· Empower (through adequate training and behavioural change) employees to solve issues right there and then. Immediate disposal of issues saves enormous time and money.
· Benchmark yourself against the best – AND ACHIEVE IT.
· Manage customer expectations and match those expectations.
· Treat your customer as you would treat your family member.

AND

Do a bit more!! That’s what delights the customer.

MBA is almost over and the goodbyes are going to be killing

I have seldom had a sinking feeling. Today as I think that it is just a few more months before we go our separate ways, my stomach churns. Because the opportunity for the 78 of us to get together under a single roof might not come again.

I cannot begin to express how delighted I am to be here with wonderful set of people from such diverse and rich backgrounds. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and there is a purpose for which each one of us is here. Some of us are here for just the piece of paper, some of us – to prove a point, some of us – to have a good time. Whatever be the purpose, I have no doubt that each one of us will achieve it with flying colours.

We are all having a great time, we are all here on a steep learning curve, and these experiences and memories are worth billions. This experience will be vouchsafed with us for the rest of our life. We always try and take a big leap but small steps make a difference and these steps would define what we will make of our life. We need to move step by step in our lives. And these steps will make a giant leap. And these small steps are not just about us. These are about others. These are about the difference that we can make in the lives of others and in everything that we do. Great moments are born from great opportunities and that’s what we have here. The opportunity to make a difference. We are here to win. And we shall win. And this bloody recession be damned.

Some of us are already basking in the glory of momentary success that we have achieved with our internships or our jobs. Life is about being a member of a team because all great victories have been achieved by teams and effective groups. Believe you me just the 78 of us are enough to push and pull each other towards achieving our objectives. We don’t need the support of professional networking sites, the effectiveness of which is questionable . We just have to start lending a hand. This group has an opportunity to become the greatest group and that is OUR choice or we will all fade away into the recesses of oblivion.

Chance seems to form the surface of reality. But deep down other forces are at work. The moving finger writes and having writ moves on. If the universe is a living one, if it is spiritually alive, nothing in it is merely accidental. Our presence here is not a chance it’s an opportunity. Let’s grab it.

I am sick and tired of hearing what a great school Harvard is, what a great school Stanford is. F@#$ them. We are the greatest and this we shall go on to prove during the course of our lifetime. Because we must and not only because we must, but also because We CAN.

Let us become the brand ambassadors of our school and help it achieve the seemingly insurmountable task of becoming one of the top schools in the world.

I refuse to believe that any moment can be tough enough. Because I have a dream that I have protected all my life. We all have dreams that we must protect and eventually achieve.

Hold on to your dreams; Just believe that you can
Nothing s gonna stop you; That’s the story of man
If you should ever loose your faith; And stumble in your stride
Remember that the dream you hold; Is your purpose is your pride
Never think of loosing; Your place is in the sun
To have the courage – to have a dream
Is to have already won.

Strategy – a fallacy?

Much has been said and written about strategy and how companies rise or fall as a consequence of decisions taken (accidentally or intentionally) over a period of time.

If strategy was a science it could easily be taught and cracked and theorised and as a consequence of this no company would ever falter because enough evidence and data are available to learn from. Yet – companies continue to make mistakes over and over again and I am yet to find a strategic model that is generic enough to follow that solicits enough attention.

The fact remains that our spectrum of study encompasses the study of a few companies that business schools have tried to analyse over a period of time, and have marred the hypotheses with the use of jargon that very few understand. The environment is ever changing and every successful strategy has a hundred failed that are embedded in the recesses of that success.

Porter and Barney have only reiterated what has been the tenet of business over thousands of centuries. As early as 3000 years ago, Chinese were believed to be businessmen of commendable calibre.

If corporations worldwide just follow 5 simple rules – study of strategy could perhaps become more meaningful.

1. Keep costs in check consistently. Irrespective or good or bad quarterly results. (read: let prudent judgement not be eclipsed by a temporary success).
2. Treat your customers like God.
3. Treat your employees like you treat your family members or your children.
4. Develop a culture in your company where every employee asks himself a question before spending every single penny. ‘Would I spend it if this was my own company’?
5. Strive for a fair share of profits that are sustainable. Remember markets are efficient.

Thank you Professor Cockrum

We had only heard some tales about Prof. Cockrum and Entrepreneurial Finance, before taking on this module.

Some said you need balls of steel to survive this. Some said he is a devil, some said he is GOD of his subject.

But having worked 16 hours a day for 5 straight days, I can say this with a degree of confidence that this is the best thing that not only happened to me at Warwick, but in life too.

The passion and excellence with which Prof Cockrum delivers his lectures is indeed exemplary.

We are all senior managers and hundreds of people report to us. Leadership is not a consequence of one’s position. Leadership is a consequence of superiority of knowledge, intent and discipline.

So while we learnt a lot about financing and entrepreneurship, one holistic message that we have taken and that will stay with us for the rest of our life is that if you know what you are doing and adding value to the life of the person who looks up to you, no matter how hard or demanding you are people will revere you.

As we revere Prof. Cockrum today.

A week to remember

What an amazing learning curve !!

As students of MBA each one of us strives to be an entrepreneur and some of us will actually make the cut some day. Prof. Bill Cockrum’s module on Entrepreneurial Finance has been the high point of this MBA.

One seldom comes across teachers who have a passion to make each class/lecture the best that they ever delivered and have the wealth of knowledge that is unparalleled. A fine and successful entrepreneur himself, Prof. Cockrum brings real life into the classroom.

And rightly so – perhaps that’s the reason why he has been judged the best faculty member at UCLA for 23 straight years.

Teaching is an art that has been fine tuned to perfection by Prof. Cockrum.

Warwick – A great value

“Small courtesies sweeten life – The greater ones ennoble it”

More than often we ignore small courtesies in life because we fail to identify them. While discussing my MBA with a fellow friend who is reading at a top business school in London, I was pleasantly surprised at the great value Warwick offers.

Value is not only in money. Value is in value addition, value addition thru small courtesies - but of course, money matters!!

More than often I have seen many of us printing hundreds of sheets of paper only to find out that a wrong document has been printed and the bunch gets submitted to the paper bin without hesitation. All this is in addition to the 10000 print credits that we have.
There they pay 5p per copy/print-out.

We often change our mind about the choice of our hot drink, midway, after pressing the button and change our drink without hesitation.
There they pay £1.5 for a cuppa.

The unlimited fruits cookies buns and tarts can keep us going throughout the day.
There a set of 2 cookies costs 30p.

The morning dose of FT and WSJ is almost an addiction.
This addiction costs £3.5/day there.

All the books for elective modules are free for us.
There it isn’t so.

We might assume these to be very small courtesies, the greater one on our part would be to respect all this.

That’s how we shall ennoble our lives.

I miss my coffee lounge

I am longing to get back to the class on the 14th for Entrepreneurial Finance.

I regret I could not capture every single moment of my life at Warwick and this blog should have been started six months ago. Actually I did not even know what a blog really was - Till recently when I almost paid a fairly large sum to get one going and was rescued just in time (JIT).

Life at Warwick has been fun. 2 terms have slipped away successfully. How I wish time could perhaps move a bit slower and recession a bit faster, so that I could live Warwick a bit more.

Mornings are exciting. Coffee cookies and newspaper, and a chance to catch up with friends. Being outside the class is as much of an education as being inside. Being a part of so many diverse groups (polo, beer, movies, varsity). This is fun. This is life.

Work hard and party harder – that’s the essence of a MBA…..