Open Book by Vishal Goel

2012-01-19T17:11:00.000-06:00

Slightly late but not too much. Trends in mobile and social media. Data upto 2011 but very relevant in spotting where things will go:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/18/mary-meekers-2011-presentation-on-internet-trends-slides/

Another report on social media:
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/report-details-rise-of-social-media/#h[]

Three Early Lessons From My Dad by Brad Feld

2011-10-26T01:10:00.000-05:00

Three Early Lessons From My Dad:

by Brad Feld

Last night I had the pleasure of talking at a dinner at Emily White’s house. Emily is on the board of the National Center of Women & Information Technology with me, is ex-Google, currently at Facebook, and with her husband Brian are amazing hosts. We had a fascinating group of NCWIT board members as well as a bunch of local entrepreneurs and members of the bay area entrepreneurial ecosystem who had a connection either to Emily or to me. The environment, food, and evening was delightful, and I led a discussion about a wide variety of topics after doing a 30 minute space jam in answer to Emily’s lead off question of “So Brad, what’s on your mind?”

We covered a lot of stuff around entrepreneurship, creators, the magic of doing things, the importance of asking “why”, and my belief that we are in the midst of a massive societal behavior shift. One of the questions that a long time friend asked was something like “My daughter is in high school and worries about the path she needs to be on to make sure when she gets out of college that she gets a good job. If you were me, what would you tell her?”

I don’t have kids so I don’t really feel qualified to answer this from a parents perspective, but I answered it with a story of three key things my dad said to me between the ages of 10 and 17 that had a profound impact on what I’ve done and how I live my life.

Age 10: You can do anything you want: My dad is a doctor. He came home for dinner every night but would often go back to the hospital in the evening (and on weekend) to do rounds and visit patients. Until I was 10 I’d often go with him. I loved hanging out with him, would bring a book, and plop down at the nurses station and read while I waited for him to go about his business. At 10, I decided I had no interest in being a doctor. I didn’t like the way hospitals smelled, I didn’t like the noise and the chaos, and I lost interest in all the doctors I was meeting. I remember telling my dad that I didn’t want to be a doctor. I blurted it out – think of a very nervous 10 year old just spitting out “Dad – I don’t want to be a doctor.” I remember my dad looking me in the eye and saying very clearly, “Brad – that’s ok – you can do anything you want to do.”

Age 13: We didn’t want to discourage you so we were supportive: When I was 10 – 13 I was a serious tennis play. I played all the time and was on the Texas junior tennis circuit. I was pretty good – consistently getting to the quarterfinals in singles and occasionally the semifinals. When I turned 13 I bought a computer for my bar mitzvah. I also hit puberty and discovered girls. I lost interest in tennis. Recently I was talking to dad about this and wondered what he thought at the time. He said that he and my mom were supportive of my tennis, but were relieved when I decided to quit playing. They were sick of schlepping me around Highway 80 and other places in Texas to spend the whole weekend watching me play, scream and yell, throw my racket, and then mope when I eventually lost. He said “I didn’t want to discourage you, so we were supportive, but we were relieved when you went down a different path.”

Age 17: Give it a year: My first two months at MIT were awful. I was homesick – all my friends, including my girlfriend, had gone to UT Austin. I got a 20 on my first physics test and went in my room for an hour and cried. I was completely overwhelmed by Cambridge and Boston – the people, the dirt, and the hustle of the city. The fraternity I lived in was filthy. The early winter chill startled me. And I thought Dallas, where I grew up, was the greatest place on early. My parents came and visited me in mid-October for a weekend. We were walking around on a crisp fall day in Concord, MA when I told them I hated MIT and wanted to drop out and go to UT with all of my friends. We talked to for a while – with my parents mostly listening – and then my dad said “You’ve only been here two months. Give it a year. If you still hate it after a year, switch to UT. But give it enough time to really understand it.” I ended up staying at MIT, getting two degrees, dropping out of a PhD program (I finally got to achieve my desire to drop out), and – while many of my days at MIT were brutal, I ended up loving the experience and treasure the impact it has had on my life.

I’m really lucky to have parents who have been awesome and incredibly supportive of me. When I reflect on the things that shaped the path I’ve taken, it was often short little one liners like these at a critical moment. My dad was just magical with his timing and his message. I can only hope I can be as good as he is.

Giving Feedback - By Prof Craig Wortmann

2011-10-26T00:23:00.000-05:00

1. Be ‘present’ to every interaction you have with people

2. Square your shoulders toward the person you are talking to

3. Make eye contact

4. Don’t think it’s weird to touch someone’s shoulder or arm when interacting

5. Speak in concise sentences that you’ve thought through

How Convertible Debt Works by Brad Feld

2011-10-17T09:43:00.000-05:00

How Convertible Debt Works:

Last night I gave a talk hosted by SVB at their Palo Alto office. It was part of the “Never Ending All Old Is New Again Venture Deals Book Tour.” I had a ton of fun talking to and answering questions from about 75 entrepreneurs who – at the minimum – enjoyed eating the great food and wine that SVB provided on a luscious evening in Palo Alto. Oh – and I signed a bunch of copies of Venture Deals.

Several questions came up about Convertible Debt. We touch on it in Venture Deals but realized that we didn’t cover it in enough depth so Jason recently wrote a Convertible Debt series on Ask the VC. The series is now complete – here are the links to the posts in order.

Convertible Debt Series

Convertible Debt – The Discount

Convertible Debt – Valuation Caps

Convertible Debt – Conversion Mechanics

Convertible Debt – Conversion In A Sale Of The Company

Convertible Debt – Other Terms

Convertible Debt – Warrants

Convertible Debt – Early Versus Late Stage Dynamics

Convertible Debt – Wrap Up

If you feel like we missed anything, or got anything wrong, or were confusing in our explanation, please chime in on the comments on the post. If you want to see an actual convertible debt term sheet or the actual legal documents, take a look at the TechStars Open Sourced Model Seed Financing Documents.

As a bonus to the evening, I got some direct, constructive feedback from one of the attendees via email later that night. While the “thank you” and “good job” notes are nice, I only learn when someone criticizes me (hopefully constructively, but I can handle it in any form.) The feedback was:

May I make a constructive criticism regarding your talk tonight? Your answers to audience questions tend to be overly long and rambling…..you “overanswer,” to invent a word. You start strong and respond right to the essence, but then your focus blurs and you keep taking verbal baby steps away from the thought stream. If you trim a minute or two off each answer, you can call on more people and hear more questions, which sends more people home happy. I think if you self-critique a video of yourself in a Q&A session, you’ll arrive at the same conclusion.

It’s a good suggestion. I often try to provide additional context to the question, but it sounds like – at least for one person – I went off on a few space jams that weren’t additive. I love the phrase “overanswer” – it’s a lesson from TV interviews 101 (e.g. just answer a question – any question – quickly). Something to ponder as I continue the Never Ending All Old Is New Again Venture Deals Book Tour.

Oct 9, 2011 (yesterday) Building A Company vs Building A Business from A VC by Fred

2011-10-10T08:32:00.000-05:00

Matt Blumberg, CEO of our portfolio company Return Path, wrote an interesting post last week about the differences between building a company and building a business.

I've been an investor and board member of Return Path for over a decade and I've witnessed the company fail with its first product/business and then through a series of acquisitions build a very strong business and company. Matt and his team built the company first then the business, which is backwards, but it worked.

Matt is right that most of our portfolio companies build the product first, then the business, then the company. And building a company is often difficult for founders because they are so focused on the product.

Roelof Botha, a leading VC with Sequoia, once gave me a great piece of advice in helping founders start to focus on company building. He said founders should think of their company as a product and build it and shape it with the same passion and care. I've taken that to heart and passed it on a few times.

No matter how or when you do it, building a company is a required step to sustainability. Positive cash flow is not enough to keep the company independent and solvent. You need a culture, systems, and processes to keep everyone happy and functioning well. That is company building and Matt and his team are among the best I've seen at it.

2011-09-30T11:03:00.000-05:00

The rules for building a cloud commerce community

September 29, 2011 | Kent Parker

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Amazon.com. eBay. Facebook. LinkedIn. Many of us rely on these online communities to manage our personal commerce, relationships and finances. Now, with increasing frequency, companies are demanding similar tools to manage their business.

A decade ago, the Internet was viewed primarily as a consumer application, with limited viability for critical business processes. Today, nearly every company is using it to help run their business in some significant way.

What brought about the shift?

Certainly, the Internet has evolved — it’s faster, more secure and proven. But the business world is also a much different place today. As business has become more global, the traditional enterprise as we know it has morphed into something new called the extraprise.

In the extraprise, it’s not just about executing a process within a company, but also across the entire value chain — especially outside the four walls of the enterprise. It’s not just about the intelligence within an organization, but also the extended intelligence networks that are developed through communities.

This new approach to business commerce won’t be driven by enterprise applications. Companies have invested billions in such technologies to simplify tasks like developing proposals or taking orders. Why? Because commerce happens between companies. And the closed systems and processes that have long been the domain of installed enterprise applications aren’t designed to accommodate this fluid company-to-company, extraprise activity.

How do you build the cloud community?

So what does it take to build these networks and communities to drive and support collaborative commerce? A whole new way of thinking and operating. Performing as a cloud commerce community requires a whole new set of rules:

Break down application silos: Participants in business commerce networks want to acquire capabilities – not purchase tools or application models as they did in the legacy software era. To enable this, vendors must break down product-oriented boundaries among applications and make development a more intertwined process.

Make innovation a constant: Innovation and capabilities are now expected as part of business commerce networks, not as a product tool to be purchased and installed. The concept of innovation extends to reporting, hosting, monitoring and security and must be frequently streamed.

Focus on quality: While innovation is key, quality trumps all other considerations when it comes to business networks. Remember the Golden Rule: “Thou shall not break anything.” And when it comes to business commerce, buyers and sellers demand greater integrity. They expect to be able to conduct complete transactions without disruption or any compromise of their data. This also means scrapping traditional notions of software availability in favor of a more comprehensive definition of business commerce availability.

Stay agile: Constantly evolving needs and shifting priorities, dictated by a more connected, globally engaged business environment, have made speed the new market requirement for success. And this means organizing to operate in a more nimble and flexible manner than ever before.

Overhaul customer support: Participants in business commerce communities have outsourced much of what used to be the function of their internal IT departments to the network provider. As a result, assistance with software and non-software challenges as well as process enablement to drive more efficient and effective business commerce is not only expected, but required. And in an always-on community, customers demand immediate, proactive responses.

Redefine customer relationships: In the legacy software product world, customer relationships were episodic. Upon “go-live,” the relationship was essentially considered complete. In a network-driven cloud community, customers and other participants require more continuous, ongoing assistance.

Lots of companies are reaching for the cloud. It’s a more scalable, efficient way to do business on a global basis. It requires no software, hardware or resources to deploy. Time to value is near immediate, and results can be astounding.

But to reap these rewards, organizations must transform in ways that enable them to deliver products and services that meet a completely new set of business challenges and customer needs. Otherwise, the benefit of the cloud will remain nothing more than a dream.

Kent Parker is chief operating officer of Ariba. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.

[Image via Jozsef Bagota/Shutterstock]

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Finding Your Focus: Self-Discipline vs. Passion

2011-09-22T15:59:00.000-05:00

Finding Your Focus: Self-Discipline vs. Passion

2011-09-22T15:13:00.002-05:00

(Thomas Jefferson)
“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American
Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of
lending institutions and moneyed corporations."

2011-09-19T00:44:00.000-05:00

Raising trillion dollars by taxing the rich is the solution? Think about which one is sustainable - increase money inflow or decrease governments operational inefficiency? I wonder what Mr President's advisers are thinking.

Who is ahead of the game? - Chinese War for No. 1 Spot

2011-03-24T13:15:00.002-05:00

I read an article recently that claimed that that USA is more than No. 1 economy in this world and there is no comparison between China and USA. He cited China's medical system, which is at a stage today that USA passed 30 years back. I agree with his hypothesis and I not only think that US did it 30 years back, but USA is still moving in a big way. Recent disruption in Japan raised questions on USA's capabilities for evacuation in the advent of a similar event. Well, look at China. They have only 11 reactors operating and they are constructing an additional 10 each year. Who is overseeing that?

As you can testify using gazillion trivial examples, that USA has taught innovation and governance lessons to this world. Its core strength is the constant infusion of super-brains from all over the world. USA encourages that brain to think and act ahead of time and build innovative systems when the rest of the world is adopting 10 year old technologies and criticizing most technology evangelists.

This should be noted that total no. of nuclear plants in most Asian countries are less than what USA has in one state. USA has adopted nuclear power years back and controlled it well so far in a much broader geography. We should audit those countries first that have almost no experience and trying to do it in one shot. These countries need to first build the credibility that they "care" for human beings more than their reputation by relaying correct information and asking for help when needed.

Seven steps to better brainstorming

2011-03-11T10:38:00.001-06:00

A. Plan

1. Know your organization’s decision-making criteria

Likewise, what constitutes an acceptable idea? At a different, smarter bank, workshop planners collaborated with senior managers on a highly specific (and therefore highly valuable) definition tailored to meet immediate needs. Good ideas would require no more than $5,000 per branch in investment and would generate incremental profits quickly. Further, while three categories of ideas—new products, new sales approaches, and pricing changes—were welcome, senior management would balk at ideas that required new regulatory approvals.

2. Ask the right questions

Decades of academic research shows that traditional, loosely structured brainstorming techniques (“Go for quantity—the greater the number of ideas, the greater the likelihood of winners!”) are inferior to approaches that provide more structure.¹ The best way we’ve found to provide it is to use questions as the platform for idea generation.

It’s easier to show such questions in practice than to describe them in theory. A consumer electronics company looking to develop new products might start with questions such as “What’s the biggest avoidable hassle our customers endure?” and “Who uses our product in ways we never expected?” By contrast, a health insurance provider looking to cut costs might ask, “What complexity do we plan for daily that, if eliminated, would change the way we operate?” and “In which areas is the efficiency of a given department ‘trapped’ by outdated restrictions placed on it by company policies?”²

3. Choose the right people

choose participants with firsthand, “in the trenches” knowledge.

B. Execute

1. Divide and conquer - The real action

To ensure fruitful discussions like the one the catalog retailer generated, don’t have your participants hold one continuous, rambling discussion among the entire group for several hours. Instead, have them conduct multiple, discrete, highly focused idea generation sessions among subgroups of three to five people—no fewer, no more. Each subgroup should focus on a single question for a full 30 minutes. Why three to five people? The social norm in groups of this size is to speak up, whereas the norm in a larger group is to stay quiet.

When you assign people to subgroups, it’s important to isolate “idea crushers” in their own subgroup. These people are otherwise suitable for the workshop but, intentionally or not, prevent others from suggesting good ideas. They come in three varieties: bosses, “big mouths,” and subject matter experts.

The boss’s presence, which often makes people hesitant to express unproven ideas, is particularly damaging if participants span multiple organizational levels. (“Speak up in front of my boss’s boss? No, thanks!”) Big mouths take up air time, intimidate the less confident, and give everyone else an excuse to be lazy. Subject matter experts can squelch new ideas because everyone defers to their presumed superior wisdom, even if they are biased or have incomplete knowledge of the issue at hand.

By quarantining the idea crushers—and violating the old brainstorming adage that a melting pot of personalities is ideal—you’ll free the other subgroups to think more creatively. Your idea crushers will still be productive; after all, they won’t stop each other from speaking up.

Finally, take the 15 to 20 questions you prepared earlier and divide them among the subgroups—about 5 questions each, since it’s unproductive and too time consuming to have all subgroups answer every question. Whenever possible, assign a specific question to the subgroup you consider best equipped to handle it.

2. On your mark, get set, go!

After your participants arrive, but before the division into subgroups, orient them so that your expectations about what they will—and won’t—accomplish are clear. Remember, your team is accustomed to traditional brainstorming, where the flow of ideas is fast, furious, and ultimately shallow.

Today, however, each subgroup will thoughtfully consider and discuss a single question for a half hour. No other idea from any source—no matter how good—should be mentioned during a subgroup’s individual session. Tell participants that if anyone thinks of a “silver bullet” solution that’s outside the scope of discussion, they should write it down and share it later.

Prepare your participants for the likelihood that when a subgroup attacks a question, it might generate only two or three worthy ideas. Knowing that probability in advance will prevent participants from becoming discouraged as they build up the creative muscles necessary to think in this new way. The going can feel slow at first, so reassure participants that by the end of the day, after all the subgroups have met several times, there will be no shortage of good ideas.

Also, whenever possible, share “signpost examples” before the start of each session—real questions previous groups used, along with success stories, to motivate participants and show them how a question-based approach can help.

One last warning: no matter how clever your participants, no matter how insightful your questions, the first five minutes of any subgroup’s brainsteering session may feel like typical brainstorming as people test their pet ideas or rattle off superficial new ones. But participants should persevere. Better thinking soon emerges as the subgroups try to improve shallow ideas while sticking to the assigned questions.

3. Wrap it up

By day’s end, a typical subgroup has produced perhaps 15 interesting ideas for further exploration. You’ve been running multiple subgroups simultaneously, so your 20-person team has collectively generated up to 60 ideas. What now?

One thing not to do is have the full group choose the best ideas from the pile, as is common in traditional brainstorming. In our experience, your attendees won’t always have an executive-level understanding of the criteria and considerations that must go into prioritizing ideas for actual investment. The experience of picking winners can also be demotivating, particularly if the real decision makers overrule the group’s favorite choices later.

Instead, have each subgroup privately narrow its own list of ideas to a top few and then share all the leading ideas with the full group to motivate and inspire participants. But the full group shouldn’t pick a winner. Rather, close the workshop on a high note that participants won’t expect if they’re veterans of traditional brainstorming: describe to them exactly what steps will be taken to choose the winning ideas and how they will learn about the final decisions.

C. Close

1. Follow up quickly

Decisions and other follow-up activities should be quick and thorough. But the odds that concrete action will result from an idea generation exercise tend to decline quickly as time passes and momentum fades. communicate the results of the decisions quickly to everyone involved, even when an idea was rejected. While it might seem demoralizing to share bad news with a team, we find that doing so actually has the opposite effect. Participants are often desperate for feedback and eager for indications that they have at least been heard. By respectfully explaining why certain ideas were rejected, you can help team members produce better ideas next time. In our experience, they will participate next time, often more eagerly than ever.

Courtesy McKinsey & Company:. Read full article here:

https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Strategy_in_Practice/Seven_steps_to_better_brainstorming_2767

How Great Entrepreneurs Think

2011-02-25T19:54:00.001-06:00

How Great Entrepreneurs Think

What distinguishes great entrepreneurs? Discussions of entrepreneurial psychology typically focus on creativity, tolerance for risk, and the desire for achievement—enviable traits that, unfortunately, are not very teachable. So Saras Sarasvathy, a professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, set out to determine how expert entrepreneurs think, with the goal of transferring that knowledge to aspiring founders. While still a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon, Sarasvathy—with the guidance of her thesis supervisor, the Nobel laureate Herbert Simon—embarked on an audacious project: to eavesdrop on the thinking of the country's most successful entrepreneurs as they grappled with business problems. She required that her subjects have at least 15 years of entrepreneurial experience, have started multiple companies—both successes and failures—and have taken at least one company public.

Sarasvathy identified 245 U.S. entrepreneurs who met her criteria, and 45 of them agreed to participate. (Responses from 27 appeared in her conclusions; the rest were reserved for subsequent studies. Thirty more helped shape the questionnaire.) Revenue at the subjects' companies—all run by the founders at that time—ranged from $200 million to $6.5 billion, in industries as diverse as toys and railroads. Sarasvathy met personally with all of her subjects, including such luminaries as Dennis Bakke, founder of energy giant AES; Earl Bakken of Medtronic; and T.J. Rodgers of Cypress Semiconductor. She presented each with a case study about a hypothetical start-up and 10 decisions that the founder of such a company would have to make in building the venture. Then she switched on a tape recorder and let the entrepreneur talk through the problems for two hours. Sarasvathy later collaborated with Stuart Read, of the IMD business school in Switzerland, to conduct the same experiment with professional managers at large corporations—the likes of Nestlé, Philip Morris, and Shell. Sarasvathy and her colleagues are now extending their research to novice entrepreneurs and both novice and experienced professional investors.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/how-great-entrepreneurs-think.html

Basics of wines

2011-01-15T02:24:00.000-06:00

White wines for sweetness and red for tennics. In order of sweet to dry for white:

Ice Wine
Muscat or Muscato
Gewurtztraminer
Sancerre
Reisling
Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris
Sauvignon Blanc
Chardonnay

For red wine, I wouldn't classify it as sweet - maybe more fruit forward and/or less tannic, but because the grape skins come into contact with the liquid during the fermentation process, this is why reds are drier than sweet:

Beaujolais
Grenache
Pinot Noir
Shiraz
Zinfandel
Merlot
Cabernet
Petite Sirah
Nebbiolo

Which industries will florish in 2011 - CEOs say all but VCs are cautious

2010-12-29T10:56:00.002-06:00

An excerpt from a trusted source...

The VCs' cautious tone changes when it comes to certain investment sectors. They overwhelmingly expect dollars to increase for consumer Internet and cloud-computing software companies (82% and 80%, respectively). Those sectors also happen to be the two that VCs labeled as most likely to see investment "froth," meaning over-funded.

Likewise, a majority expects investment to rise in health-care IT, mobile and software-as-a-service. But they were much less optimistic about more capital-intensive industries such as energy, medical devices, biopharmaceuticals, financial services and hardware.

So, which industry do you belong to?

Courtesy - McKinsey & Company

2010-12-29T10:37:00.000-06:00

In this, our final Top Ten Newsletter of 2010, we've rounded up the most popular articles among readers this year. Topics they were most interested in include decision-making biases, digital marketing, and management in uncertain times.

	1. STRATEGY Global forces: An introduction Five crucibles of change will restructure the world economy for the foreseeable future. Companies that understand them will stand the best chance of shaping it. A related video highlights the value of tracking global forces and how to build them into corporate strategy.
	2. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY Clouds, big data, and smart assets: Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch Advancing technologies and their swift adoption are upending traditional business models. Senior executives need to think strategically about how to prepare their organizations for the challenging new environment. In a set of accompanying podcasts, leading experts offer their views on how these trends will evolve and change business models.
	3. MARKETING A new way to measure word-of-mouth marketing Assessing its impact as well as its volume will help companies take better advantage of buzz. An accompanying podcast focuses on how marketers can use word of mouth to influence consumer behavior.

4. STRATEGY
The case for behavioral strategy
Left unchecked, subconscious biases will undermine strategic decision making. Learn how to counter them and improve corporate performance, and explore an accompanying interactive showing the biases most pertinent to business and the ways they can combine to create dysfunctional patterns in corporate cultures.

Plus, take this brief survey on how you make decisions, and we'll send you feedback on how your decision-making style compares with those of other respondents and on how to avoid any biases you may be prone to.
5. GOVERNANCE
Why good bosses tune in to their people
Know how to project power, counsels Stanford management professor Bob Sutton, since those you lead need to believe you have it for it to be effective. And to lock in your team’s loyalty, boldly defend their backs.
6. ORGANIZATION
How centered leaders achieve extraordinary results
Executives can thrive at work and in life by adopting a leadership model that revolves around finding their strengths and connecting with others.

7. CORPORATE FINANCE
Creating value: An interactive tutorial
In this video presentation, McKinsey partner Tim Koller explores the four guiding principles of corporate finance that all executives can use to home in on value creation when they make strategic decisions.
8. ORGANIZATION
Retaining key employees in times of change
Many companies throw financial incentives at senior executives and star performers during times of change. There is a better and less costly solution.
9. MARKETING
Unlocking the elusive potential of social networks
To realize the marketing potential of virtual activities, you have to make them truly useful for consumers.
10. ORGANIZATION
Boosting the productivity of knowledge workers
The key is identifying and addressing the barriers workers face i

Five new roads to look into

2010-07-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

Five forces, or crucibles, where the stresses and tensions will be greatest and thus offer the richest opportunities for companies to innovate and change:

The great rebalancing. The coming decade will be the first in 200 years when emerging-market countries contribute more growth than the developed ones. This growth will not only create a wave of new middle-class consumers but also drive profound innovations in product design, market infrastructure, and value chains.
The productivity imperative. Developed-world economies will need to generate pronounced gains in productivity to power continued economic growth. The most dramatic innovations in the Western world are likely to be those that accelerate economic productivity.
The global grid. The global economy is growing ever more connected. Complex flows of capital, goods, information, and people are creating an interlinked network that spans geographies, social groups, and economies in ways that permit large-scale interactions at any moment. This expanding grid is seeding new business models and accelerating the pace of innovation. It also makes destabilizing cycles of volatility more likely.
Pricing the planet. A collision is shaping up among the rising demand for resources, constrained supplies, and changing social attitudes toward environmental protection. The next decade will see an increased focus on resource productivity, the emergence of substantial clean-tech industries, and regulatory initiatives.
The market state. The often contradictory demands of driving economic growth and providing the necessary safety nets to maintain social stability have put governments under extraordinary pressure. Globalization applies additional heat: how will distinctly national entities govern in an increasingly globalized world?

Movies and pork bellies

2010-06-16T18:16:00.000-05:00

Working for Options Clearing Corp taught me many things. Among those was an introduction to the history of Chicago's top exchanges. CME or Merc, originally started with futures contracts on frozen pork bellies, will soon see its first intangible commodity trading. Movies, will soon become the first intangible commodity to be traded on exchanges that allow future contract trading. Thinking of them as high risk commodities (is it really a commodity?), our Govt. is structuring regulations for these newly recognized commodities.

Why regulation? This commodity can be "manufactured" by two bound to doom Mr. Joes and the buyers of futures would lose all their money. To ensure that does not happen, we need regulation. But, how many times have we been able to capture all exceptions under regulations? Alright, no producer/director intends to make flop movies, BUT, only until there is no indirect payoff. And who suffers at the end of the day? Consumer - with potentially more flops shows than before and futures buyer whose money is snatched by the banker selling that security.

Delhi Airport to Chandigarh or Amritsar/Jalandhar

2010-01-12T14:55:00.001-06:00

You can get the latest time table of haryana roadways volvo (and other buses) for all routes here

The enquiry numbers for the volvo services are :
Gurgaon Roadways Enquiry No. 0124-2320222
1) Punjab Roadways : 0172 - 2704023
2) Himachal Roadways : 0172 - 2704015
3) Haryana Roadways : 0172 - 2704014

http://sushubh.net/856-chandigarh-to-delhi-in-volvo-bus

INFLUENCE: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

2010-01-09T13:24:00.001-06:00

Answer the following before moving forward.
1. If you have to present two products to a client, which product will you present first - costlier or cheaper?
2. Is it better to tell you client what they stand to gain by moving in your direction or what they will lose if they do not?
3. If you have a new piece of informaiton, when will you tell that its new, before or after delivering information.
4. If your product has strengths and weaknesses, will you present weaknesses early or late?
5. If someone praised your product/service, what do you do immediately after you have said Thankyou?
6. If you want someone to cooperate with you, what is the single most important thing you can do before you influence that person.

The principles:
1. Reciprocation - Give and take - You give so that the other person is obligated to say yes to you.
a) There is a moment of power after someone says THANKYOU: When you do a favor and someone says thankyou....you say....No problem, I know if the situation will ever reverse you will do the same for me (Gaining the credit for future basically).

· Another consequence of the rule, however, is an obligation to make a concession to someone who has made a concession to us.

b) Within the situation, provide concessions. There is a moment of power after someone says NO to you. at that time you need to provide concessions and DO NOT RETREAT.

2. Scarcity - People want to have more of what you cant have.
3. Authority - If an authority or an expert says it, it must be true.
4. Consistency / Commitment : People are likely to follow what they have said i.e. committed to in public. Restaurant example.

5. Consensus - People follow others. So, people respond to something that everyone is doing.
6. Liking - People tend to follow others who are like them - look, actions, culture etc.
· People simply like to have reasons for what they do

SOME EXAMPLES
· The point is that the same thing – for instance, room-temperature water – can be made to seem very different, depending on the nature of the event that precedes it.
· Sell the suit first, because when it comes time to look at sweaters, even expensive ones, their prices will not seem as high in comparison.
· “The house I’ve got them spotted for looks really great after they’ve first looked at a couple of dumps.”
· The technique is a simple one that we can call the rejection-then-retreat technique. Suppose you want me to agree to a certain request. One way to increase your chances would be first to make a larger request of me, one that I will most likely turn down. Then, after I have refused, you would make the smaller request that you were really interested in all along. Provided that you have structured your request skilfully, I should view your second request as a concession to me and should feel inclined to respond with a concession of my own, the only one I would have immediately open to me – compliance with your second request.· For a variety of reasons the percentage of successful door-to-door sales
increases impressively when the sales operator is able to mention the name
of a familiar person who “recommended” the sales visit.
· If a customer refuses a purchase ask for referrals
· Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal
and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment.
· For the salesperson, the strategy is to obtain a large purchase by starting with
a small one. Almost any small sale will do, because the purpose of that small
transaction is not profit. It is commitment.
· Look at it his way – when a person has signed an order for your merchandise,
even though the profit is so small it hardly compensates for the time and effort
of making the call, he is no longer a prospect – he is a customer.
· The tactic of starting small with a little request in order to gain eventual
compliance with related larger requests has a name: the foor-in-the-door
technique.
· Once you’ve got a man’s self-image where you want it, he should comply
naturally with a whole range of your requests that are consistent with this view
of himself.
· Apparently the mere knowledge that someone viewed them as charitable
caused these women to make their actions consistent with another’s
perception of them.
· The enormously successful Amway Corporation, for instance, has hit upon a
way to spur their sales personnel to greater and greater accomplishments.
Members of the staff are asked to set individual sales goals and commit
themselves to those goals by personally recording them on paper.
· Something special happens when people personally put their commitments on
paper: They live up to what they have written down.
· “25-, 50-, or 100 words or less” testimonial contests
· ...express their opinions with a visible show of hands rather than by secret
ballot. Once jurors had stated their initial views publicly, they were reluctant to
allow themselves to change publicly, either.
· “persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort”
· During this time, the dealer knows, customers automatically develop a range of new reasons to support the choice they have now made.
· We can learn, from the way the other witnesses are reacting, whether the
event is or is not an emergency.
· We will use the actions of others to decide on proper behaviour for ourselves,
especially when we view those others as similar to ourselves.
· Thus the most influential leaders are those who know how to arrange group
conditions to allow the principle of social proof to work maximally in their
favour.
· As a result, the Indian realised, it was possible to kill tremendous numbers of
buffalo by starting a herd running toward a cliff. The animals, responding to
thundering social proof around them – and never looking up to see what lay
ahead – did the rest.
· Once again we can see that social proof is most powerful for those who feel
unfamiliar or unsure in a specific situation and who, consequently, must look
outside of themselves for evidence of how best to behave there.
· Each new prospect is visited by a salesperson armed with the name of a
friend “who suggested I call on you.” Turning the salesperson away under
those circumstances is difficult; it’s almost like rejecting the friend. The
Shaklee sales manual insists that employees use this system without fail: “It
would be impossible to overestimate its value. Phoning or calling on a
prospect and being able to say that Mr. So-and-so, a friend of his, felt he
would benefit by giving you a few moments of his time is virtually as good as a
sale 50 percent made before you enter.”
· Research has shown that we automatically assign to good-looking individuals
such favourable traits as talent, kindness, honesty, and intelligence.
· Several studies have demonstrated that we are more likely to help those who
dress like us.
· Another way requesters can manipulate similarity to increase liking and
compliance is to claim that they have backgrounds and interests similar to
ours.
· Many sales training programs now urge trainees to “mirror and match” the
customer’s body posture, mood, and verbal style, as similarities along each of
these dimensions have been shown to lead to positive results.
· Conjoint efforts toward common goals steadily bridged the rancorous rift
between the groups.
· Compliance professionals are forever attempting to establish that we and they
are working for the same goals, that we must “pull together” for mutual
benefit, that they are, in essence, our teammates.
· ...like the new-car salesman who takes our side and “does battle” with his
boss to secure us a good deal.
· “known by the company we keep”
· Research has shown that an attractive model posing with an automobile will
make the car appear more desirable. Some advertisers apparently believe
that the same holds true for all sorts of items
· It is the extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the
command of an authority that constitutes the chief finding of the study
· It was found that with each increase in status, the same man grew in
perceived height by an average of a half inch, so that as the “professor” he
was seen as two and a half inches taller than as the “student”
· The percentage of compliance when he was in uniform – 92%
· Three and a half times as many people swept into traffic behind the suited
jaywalker.
· Finely styled and expensive clothes carry an aura of status and position, as
do trappings such as jewellery and cars
· People seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by
the thought of gaining something of equal value
· The “deadline” tactic
· ...invoke the scarcity principle three separate times in just five words that
read, “Exclusive, limited engagement ends soon!”
· The advertising copy included the statement, “a book for adults only,
restricted to those 21 years and over”
· Those who learned of the age restriction (1) wanted to read the book more
and (2) believed that they would like the book more than did those who
thought their access to the book was unlimited
· The customers who received this last sales presentation learned that not only
was the availability of the product limited, so also was the news concerning it
– the scarcity double whammy
· The fact that the news carrying the scarcity of information was itself scare
made it especially persuasive
· As we have seen in the case of political freedoms and (especially pertinent to
the present discussion) chocolate-chip cookies, people see a thing as more
desirable when it has recently become less available than when it has been
scarce all along
· The results showed that those whose cookies became scare through the
process of social demand liked them significantly more than those whose
cookies became scare by mistake. In fact, the cookies made less available
through social demand were rated the most desirable of any in the study
· The feeling of being in competition for scarce resources has powerfully
motivating properties
· Scarcity plus rivalry
· The joy is not in experiencing a scare commodity but in possessing it

A word of advice: grammar is not math

2010-01-06T12:44:00.000-06:00

Univ. of Chicago: We've selected the sites on this list because on the whole, we think they're pretty good. But "rules" in writing -- unlike, say, rules in Newtonian physics -- are not written in stone. They are established by agreement among experienced writers, even though experienced writers can and do disagree all the time. You'll find, then, that grammar books and sites can offer conflicting advice. Sometimes a source's advice may even conflict with your professor's or boss's favorite grammatical beliefs. But although we cannot endorse any single source, on-line or off, as the last word on words, the sites we've chosen here do offer solid grammatical advice -- and some of them manage to be pretty amusing as well. So surf away, but arm yourself first with your native skepticism and common sense.

http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/resources/grammar.htm

Articles on Corporate Strategy and General Management Roles

2010-01-06T01:44:00.000-06:00

http://www.chicagobooth.edu/parttime/groups/csmg/resources.aspx

Articles on Corporate Strategy and General Management Roles

Creating a Résumé That Sells

2009-12-30T21:56:00.000-06:00

WSJ posted a well thought summary of what should your resume have (and not have) if you are looking for a leadership position.

Excellent example of Dawn Jordan, a 39-year-old marketing professional from Laguna Beach, Calif. Ms. Jordan, also a blogger for WSJ.com's Laid Off & Looking blog, has been job hunting since her position as an operations vice president at Bank of America Corp. was eliminated in October 2008.

Creating a Résumé That Sells

41 Questions and 1 Personality

2009-12-30T17:31:00.001-06:00

A good personality finder:

http://www.41q.com/

MY RESULTS: http://www.41q.com/type.41q?p=13677636

Your personality type: "Social Realist"

Warm-hearted, popular and conscientious. Tend to put the needs of others over their own needs. Feel strong sense of responsibility and duty. Value traditions and security. Interested in serving others. Need positive reinforcement to feel good about themselves. Well-developed sense of space and function.

Careers that could fit you include:

Home economics, nursing, teaching, administrators, child care, family practice physician, clergy, office managers, counselors, social workers, bookkeeping, accounting, secretaries, organization leaders, dental assistants, homemakers, radiological technologists, receptionists, religious educators, speech pathologists.

Top Ten Newsletter | McKinsey

2009-12-30T13:26:00.003-06:00

Link at the end

1. GOVERNANCE
Leadership lessons for hard times
A series of interviews with 14 CEOs and chairmen of major companies sheds light on the foundations of corporate leadership.

2. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
Five trends that will shape business technology in 2009
The year 2009 will be challenging for CIOs. Here’s how to play your hand.

3. FINANCIAL SERVICES
A better way to fix the banks
Here’s a plan that could solve the toxic-asset pricing problem voluntarily—without requiring Uncle Sam to nationalize the whole industry—and make (pretty much) everyone a winner.

4. HIGH TECH
Hal Varian on how the Web challenges managers
Google’s chief economist says executives in wired organizations need a sharper understanding of how technology empowers innovation. [includes interactive]

5. STRATEGY
Leading through uncertainty
The range of possible futures confronting business is great. Companies that nurture flexibility, awareness, and resiliency are more likely to survive the crisis, and even to prosper.

6. ECONOMIC STUDIES
The crisis—one year on: McKinsey Global Economic Conditions Survey results, September 2009
A year after the global economic system nearly collapsed, many companies are finally finding ways to increase profits under the new conditions. But almost as many expect profits to continue falling, and executives also indicate that their broader financial hopes remain fragile. Many expect more government involvement in economies and industries over the long term.

7. MARKETING
Enduring Ideas: The industry cost curve
In this interactive presentation—one in a series of multimedia frameworks—McKinsey director Rob Latoff offers insight into the industry cost curve, a business school classic for understanding pricing. By bringing discipline and a practical set of definitions to bear, this framework can be applied to real-world, competitive markets. [includes interactive]

8. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0: McKinsey Global Survey Results
The heaviest users of Web 2.0 applications are also enjoying benefits such as increased knowledge sharing and more effective marketing. These benefits often have a measurable effect on the business.

(Premium membership required)

9. ORGANIZATION
Good boss, bad times
Management expert Robert Sutton shares lessons on handling layoffs and teams in crisis. [includes video]

10. CORPORATE FINANCE
What next? Ten questions for CFOs
As companies shift their attention from fighting the crisis to getting the most from the recovery, CFOs must keep them focused.

Read : McKinsey's best of the year

Real Estate Investor Insights

2009-12-30T02:22:00.000-06:00

I attended a real estate investor seminar and thought of putting together some thoughts. Above all, what I really liked in the whole conversation was how they described fear and ignorance to be the sole determinant of success vs frustration. Gist of that was, if you do not look into the details of something that you are unclear about... you would probably refrain from looking into opportunities that exist. For example, I fear from buying something that is a foreclosure or a REO as I do not know what fixing of a property entails. Well, I realized that its usually not a big deal and most of the properties can be fixed for $5k to $25K (depending upon the property).

So, here are the four strategies that were discussed in the seminar. Please pay attention to changing numbers in each case.

Short Sale: When a buyer or investor can not make mortgage payments on a property, the property is put for sale by a owner. Bank basically agrees to accept less than they lended. Here is a brief on how this works out:

Home original purchase price: 260,000
-------------------------------------------------
Home current retail price:    240,000 (Value went down)
Owner Sale Price               200,000
Morgage and Tax Backlog   10,000
Closing Costs                        5,000
Total Cost to buyer             215,000

Approximate equity on purchase date: $25,000

Now, if you want to live in this house for 3 years, then you get $8000 credit as well. If you put in "green" appliances, some more credit ($5,000 or so?).

Was the effort worth 25K? you decide for yourself!

Foreclosure: When a buyer or investor can not make mortgage payments on a property, the property is foreclosed by bank (Morgage Comapany). Now, bank tries to sell it. Here is a brief on how this works out:

Home original purchase price: 260,000
-------------------------------------------------
Home current retail price:       240,000 (Value went down)

Bank Sale Price                     170,000
Morgage and Tax Backlog       10,000
Closing Costs                            5,000
Cost to Fix the property           15,000
Total Cost to buyer                200,000

Approximate equity on purchase date: $40,000
Now, if you want to live in this house for 3 years, then you get $8000 credit as well. If you put in "green" appliances, some more credit ($5,000 or so?).

Was the effort worth 40K? you decide for yourself!
Please Note: A property may sell in short sale, if it attaracts appropriate number of buyers and they feel its worth 215K. So, it may not ever be foreclosed.

Auctions: a) When a buyer or investor can not make mortgage payments on a property b) Property was not sold during short sale and c) the property was not sold when foreclosed by bank (Morgage Comapany).

Now, government body tries to auction it to recover taxes etc. Here is a brief on how this works out:

Home original purchase price: 260,000
-------------------------------------------------
Home current retail price:        240,000 (Value went down)

Auction Sale Price                  140,000
Tax Backlog                             10,000
Closing Costs                             3.000
Cost to Fix                               30,000
Total Cost to buyer                183,000

Approximate equity on purchase date: $57,000

Now, if you want to live in this house for 3 years, then you get $8000 credit as well. If you put in "green" appliances, some more credit ($5,000 or so?).

Was the effort worth 57K? you decide for yourself!

Please Note: A property may sell in short sale, if it attaracts appropriate number of buyers and they feel its worth 215K. Most properties sell during foreclosure. So, it may not ever be auctioned. Also, think of the property that did not attract buyers on two major price reductions.

REO (Real Estate Owned): a) When a buyer or investor can not make mortgage payments on a property b) Property was not sold during short sale c) the property was not sold when foreclosed by bank (Morgage Comapany) and d) Property was not sold during auction

Now, bank again tries to auction it to recover as much as possible and take it off their books. Here is a brief on how this works out:

Home original purchase price: 260,000
-------------------------------------------------
Home current retail price: 240,000 (Value went down)

Sale Price                        115,000
Closing Costs                      3,000
Cost to Fix                        30,000
Total Cost to buyer         148,000

Approximate equity on purchase date: $92,000

Now, if you want to live in this house for 3 years, then you get $8000 credit as well. If you put in "green" appliances, some more credit ($5,000 or so?).

Was the effort worth 92K? you decide for yourself!

Please Note: A property may sell in short sale, if it attaracts appropriate number of buyers and they feel its worth 215K. Most properties sell during foreclosure. So, it may not ever be auctioned. Also, think of the property that did not attract buyers on three major price reductions. However, REOs are pretty much as good as auctions because during auction you must pay in cash within 24hrs. Bank can lend you money to purchase REOs from them.

Remember, you must negotiate with bank to have them accept as low as possible. Numbers above are just representative. For every dollar bank has on a morgage, they have to set aside seven dollars that they can not touch. so, for a 200K house, there is 1.4M that they have on hold. They want to release that money asap by selling 200K property asap.

Schools with MS in Finance Program Sorted by Lenght (US Only)

2009-12-18T02:48:00.001-06:00

School name	Country	Name of programme	Prior work experience required	Intakes per year	Enrolment months	Study mode	Length of programme - full-time (months)	Employed at 3 months - full-time programme (%)	Numbers enrolled 2008/9 - full-time
Purdue University: Krannert	US	Master of Science degree in Finance	No	1	July	F / T	10	n/a	25
Tulane University: Freeman	US	Master of Finance	No	1	July	F / T	10	92	73
University of Florida: Hough	US	Master of Science in Finance	No	1	July	Both	10	79	23
Washington University: Olin	US	Master of Science in Finance	Preferred	1	Aug	Both	10 or 17	87	37
Temple University: Fox	US	MS in Financial Engineering	Preferred	1	Sep	Both	11	n/a	12
Brandeis University	US	Master of Science in Finance	Yes	3	Aug, Jan, May	Both	12	n/a	11
UCLA: Anderson	US	Master of Financial Engineering	Preferred	1	Jan	F / T	12	n/a	39
George Washington University	US	The Master of Science in Finance Program	Preferred	1	Sep	Both	12	100	43
University of California at Berkeley: Haas	US	Master's in Financial Engineering	Preferred	1	Mar	F / T	12	97	64
Boston College: Carroll (GMAT Needed)	US	Master of Science in Finance	Preferred	2	Jan, Sep	Both	12	82	41
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	US	Master of Science in Finance	Preferred	1	June	F / T	12	71	101
Villanova School of Business	US	Master of Science in Finance	No	1	May	F / T	12	63	22
Illinois Institute of Technology: Stuart	US	Master of Science in Finance	Yes	3	Jan, May, Aug	Both	12-16	n/a	110
Drexel University: LeBow	US	Master of Science in Finance	Preferred	3	Sep, Jan, Mar	Both	12-24	72	18
Saint Joseph's University	US	Master of Science in Financial Services	No	3	Sep, Jan, May	Both	15	100	8
Claremont Graduate University	US	Financial Engineering Program	Preferred	1	Aug	Both	16	72	18
Temple University: Fox	US	MS in Finance	Preferred	2	Sep, Jan	Both	18	n/a	22
Louisiana State University: Ourso	US	Master of Science in Finance	No	2	Jan, Aug	Both	18	100	14
DePaul University: Kellstadt	US	Master of Science in Finance	Preferred	4	Sep, Jan, Apr, July	Both	21	n/a	24
University of Houston: Bauer	US	Masters of Science in Finance	Preferred	2	Jan, Aug	Both	24	n/a	n/a
Georgia State University: Robinson	US	Master of Science in Finance	Preferred	3	Aug, Jan, June	Both	24	90	15
University of Utah: Eccles	US	Master of Science in Finance	No	1	Aug	Both	9	87	18
Vanderbilt University: Owen	US	Masters in Finance	No	1	Aug	F / T	9	64	28
Case Western Reserve University: Weatherhead	US	Master of Science in Management - Finance	No	2	June, Aug	Both	9-15	n/a	26

A Practical Guide To Finding Your Passion

2009-11-09T01:30:00.010-06:00

We frequently hear the prophesy - follow what matters to you most or do what you love. However, I always wondered (like most of us) that how important it is for me to follow what I love. I grew up with a thought that stabilizing my family is the sole purpose of my life. What that meant to me was getting into top engineering school to get a well paying job. What could be better than not having them worry about their child's future? So I relentlessly and quite successfully did that and frequently experienced the pleasure of providing them the best. But, within seven years of professional career, I begin to question myself - now what? I had accomplished what I wanted and my accentuated career progression curve started to flatten. The energy inside was anxiously telling me to make the next stride. Spot check at job satisfaction clearly exposed a feeling of emptiness even though I was doing the best throughout the day. I begin to wonder "what is it that I want" and in quest for finding that "what", i came across a book - success build to last.

A very few are fortunate to know what they are passionate about and little out of those follow what they love. This small elite group of people comprise of leaders who enjoy eternal sense of satisfaction and often they shape this world. However phony this statement sounds, this is the ground reality. I am not saying that I am following what I am passionate about, but, with the help of this book, I have started to pave the way for that. Some of the things I liked about this book and that have already helped me shape my thoughts are:

A Practical Way of Finding What You Love: Often, we are already following what we love, but, in a mild and suppressed form. We just have to clear the haze and shine that piece of our life. For example one can say I am passionate about basketball. I practice and watch the game every day, read news, follow it more than anything else. Well, you could very well be a basketball fan, but, think again. What is it that can energize you to get up and do something even after a tiring practice session of basketball. Is it a discussion about new venture? Is it acting in a play? Or is it playing with children? Your passion can very well be one of these. What can you do for a stranger for free? Is it researching a business idea, designing a house or clubbing with him to paint a wall? When you look for your passion ask these questions to yourself , look for signs and you will get it. One last thing, you passion could very well be left behind with your childhood. But, there is always be a thought of that thing still living in some remote room of your heart which is locked by everyday life. Dig deeper and do not deny yourself. Consider and eliminate everything before you get down to just ONE thing.
Urgency to Follow What You Love: The author said one statement that stick in my mind. If you don't love your job then someone who is passionate about that job will snatch it from you. Brutal example of that is the current spree of layoffs. If you do not follow what you really love, you are bound to fail and the reason is simple. A person who loves his job will put earnest efforts to chisel his skills to perform the best on this job. On the other hand, you would merely be making it through the day. Result...catastrophic!
Finding a Propeller: Recall the pleasure you experienced when you last time did what you love. Use a collection of such memories as the primary driver to make this transition. It could be a drastic change, but, chances of your failing in making this change are extremely rare. Remember, when you follow your passion, work becomes leisure and you do not even realize how quickly you become successful. Money, recognition, popularity -they all come with time. They do come in abundance, but, you have to be patient and persistent - irrespective what people around you think of you.

Here is the link to this book: http://www.amazon.com/Success-Built-Last-Creating-Matters/dp/013228751X

GRE Scores and Schools

2009-11-08T22:15:00.000-06:00

Free GRE admissions resources:

1. Testmagic forum
2. University Research: http://www.edulix.com/infobank/login.php
3. Programs and profile of people getting into your choice of university:
http://www.edulix.com/infobank/login.php
4. US News graduate ranking for science
5. Financial Times (FT) ranking for 1 year finance programs

Test Post Via Email

2009-11-06T14:56:00.001-06:00

Good?
--

Thanks
Vishal Goel

Motivating Employees

2009-11-06T14:30:00.001-06:00

Mckenzie quarterly recently published an article about motivating employees in this economy. I think its by chance that the article was published in this economy and it became so important to understand. With all the companies in dearth of cash and depleted reserves, following were cited as three main ideas that can help manage employees anxiety and motivate them to do their jobs enthusiastically:

1. Appraisal from immediate manager - works wonder in any situation irrespective if economy. Important to get things done in the right way.
2. Interaction with senior leadership - Senior leadership has to be immensely sensitive to employees anxiety and keep in touch with them via emails, regular (weekly / bi-weekly) updates, personal meetings and appraise etc.
3. Opportunity to lead tasks if not projects - This brings the sense of worth in any employee as he gets energized to accomplish the assigned task / project.

Traditional motivation comes from (in sequence):
1. Cash Bonus
2. Basic Salary Hike
3. Stock and Stock Options

With traditions in jeopardy right now, follow the modern trends and get the most out of your organization. Here is the full story: https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Talent/Motivating_people_Getting_beyond_money_2460

Which MBA?

2009-11-06T12:55:00.000-06:00

After months of struggle with a trivial question, Part Time or Full Time MBA, I have decided to utilize some of my learning from prior posts. But, let me first analyze what the real deal is. The points below are things I understood by talking to many full time and part time current students and alums.

Further, I am thinking from the standpoint of a guy who is 30, with minimal business background at best, not an executive already and needs MBA to learn finance, strategy and running a sizable organization. This may not be relevant for an executive, who just need a degree to climb the ladder.

Why Full Time MBA?
After talking to many current part time students, some common pain points expressed were:

No time for a detailed study of subjects - Each subject requires atleast five hours and up to 10 hrs of reading outside the three hour class. If you are taking 2 subjects per quarter then you are already engaged for two evenings for classes. Rest of the three evenings are insufficient to complete outside classroom reading/learning.
No time for club and social activities - Well, most of the people have work related things going on in the evening. Tough to schedule group meetings / dinners / socials etc.
Fatigue - Initial enthusiasm is soon (within 3 quarters) overshadowed by fatigue. With slight lack of enthusiasm playing people tend to miss events, avoid group meetings. After all, a minimum of 12 Hrs workday schedule is fixed. Surprisingly, everybody mentioned family commitments as well. I did not think that would be a concern as (most of the) partners understand. But, who knows how things shape-up.
Implement B-School Lessons- I can't say alot on this, but, most of the Indian IT guys are working as some sort of programmer or team leader. There is hardly any opportunity to contribute to business side of your org. If you are in consulting, it makes your life further difficult as company is billing you for a project. So, you may not be the most appropriate guy to participate in corporate strategy development or marketing. Remember, your day is already stretched, its not going to be easy to find extra time to contribute to any organization wide initiatives or start your own business. But, this is all very personal and your org. dependent.
Recruitment - probably the most important aspect for most of us. People said that recruitment events are mostly during the day, when you are in office. So, most of the part timers can't attend. Huge advantage for full timers. With so much going on in life, its tough to maintain contact and network with industry guys.
Credibility and Network - FT definitely has more credibility. But, I am certain now that it is very slightly more, of not equal. You have a lot more time to network, write to people, meet with them etc.
Super fun and not Burden- FT is fun as well - many many events, traveling, interaction points, a lot of alcohol etc. After all ya all will be together for two years FULL TIME.

Seems like everything is going wrong with part time MBA. So, why go Part Time?

Finances - Most of the people who are in this dilemma have 5+ years of experience and are near 30 years of age. It is a high time to get settled, start a family, have kids, take care of your parents, move out of an apartment and buy a decent house and what not! At this point imagine the cost of full time MBA - huge! Life is short, and there is so little time to fulfill all the responsibilities and lead a comfortable life. Taking the plunge of full time MBA at this point would mean shifting life events by minimum 4-5 years. 2 years of MBA and 2 Y of residual loan pay off before you can commence what you would have at the age of 29-30.
Poor job scene for visa seekers - Well, its not a huge concern as such but with this economy and protective govt. policies, it has become a concern. If you wanna go to Mckinsey, BCG, Bain - fine, no visa issues there for full timers. But, if you plan to say start a new business, go into IB or corporate functions like strategy, finance etc. or industry jobs say in JnJ, its tough to get visa sponsorship. Again, very personal decision and also depends on how much time you have left on your H1B. BUT, the very fact that you can continue pursuing your GC and MBA parallel makes a huge difference. When you graduate out of a PT MBA program and your are a GC holder, you can easily crack one of those corporate and industry jobs.
You can overcome everything I said about full time - The more your stretch yourself the better you become. No extra explanation needed, but, you have to be reeeaaaly... committed.

In the next post, i will apply lessons from Prof. Thaler (Chicago Booth) lecture on behavioral economics and decide on which way to go. After all, I am a consumer and need to decide what to buy.

Consumer Behavior Analysis - Part - 2

2009-10-30T14:09:00.000-05:00

In the second lecture, Mr Thaler, progenitor of behavior economics and esteemed professor at Chicago Booth decision research center, opened-up the discussion with a concept. He orchestrated a website (conceptually) that would read disclosures from various companies like credit cards and cell phone companies. The website will be a hub to research and select best service or product per individualized needs. His assumption was that every company should provide two electronic files as a part of disclosure. One that would enlist under what conditions will the fees be charged and give all the formulas for how fees will be calculated. The second would enlist all the charges levied on that customer's account. These files together will be crunched by the website to analyze customer's usage. Further, a compiled list of disclosures from various companies would allow the website to suggest which company would better fit a particular customer's needs. cool, isn't it? But, wait a minute...

Who is going to enforce that companies provide this disclosure? Even if government regulates this, who will ensure that disclosures are comprehensive and meet a particular standard. Fine, these problems are easy. But, why companies would not try to obscure? After all, they are there to make profits!

To this, Mr Thaler argued that market will ultimately regulate these companies. Citing example of Amazon and eBay, he stressed that if this website's CEO is smart and a company tries to camouflage information or refuse to cooperate, then this website can put a black spot against this company. Nobody wants to lose customers that way. But, questions were raised about brand reputation and trust that a brand builds over the years. Why would someone believe this website when he has 4 to 5 years of experience with this company. Mr Thaler then took the discussion into a broader arena stating, its interesting when is it in the interest of companies to obscure information and does that help or hurt customer. Companies are driven by repeat business. After several discussion around why hotels do not state parking charges etc the discussion took a different direction.

What is perceived value of a product and how to evaluate historic value of a product? Historic value is the value of the product at the time of purchase when it has been experienced by customer for some time. This is where all the reviews on a company or products come into picture. Imagine a genuine customer goes to Bestbuy to buy a digital camera. He is flooded with options that he do not even know how to comprehend, bar compare. It is often seen that consumer would buy a product that has more options than the one with less. He uses them or not is a separate story. There were other examples of how consumer creates a translation of features that can't be valued and everyone has his own translation. Further, it was demonstrated that the sequence in which the features (choices as well) are presented to the customer decides if he is going to chose this product or not.

The gist of the story was that when you buy products, you should look for options that matters to you most and then compare them and that is it. You should try to eliminate products one by one and not zero down to few and then chose one. Make a list of your must haves in sequence. Then, if you want something and this product is less in that feature than the other, drop it!

Sway - Irresistibly Irrational Behavior

2009-10-25T23:33:00.001-05:00

We all get swayed by our beliefs, prejudices and the way we perceive situations around us. We form believes from our life experiences and use those believes to assess our surrounding. For example, we often leave items on sale just because the price is too low. This is driven by our inner feeling that reduced items are often defective or not liked by many.We sometimes even pick the item, like it, but then get swayed thinking that it on sale so there has to be something wrong with it. I myself value clothing based on its brand. A CK shirt has to be good but Aeropostale...I tend to wear it at home. This is an irrational behavior as there are plenty of companies who manufacture equally good products as known brands and tag them much lower. The end result is that I usually pass those items paying extra for the same quality to CK.

Other situations that sway us frequently relates to avoiding short term loss. We frequently cross road on yellow light or change lane quickly to save few seconds. This results in getting a ticket, higher insurance for few years and in some cases collision and loss of life. A similar situation is sticking to a sinking stock that you recently purchased. We all tend to wait for it to re-bounce to atleast the original purchase price. In this chase, we disregard pieces of information that are clearly indicating that this is a loser stock now. As the stock goes down further, we think that its going to come back to the value it was sitting when you made the nasty decision of keeping it for now. The desire to recover loss does not end until no value is left in the stock.

In all the examples above, the point is that we form instincts that become hindrance to our rational thinking. We take decisions in the influence of such instincts, disregarding facts and information that may be indicating otherwise. Such a behavior leads to making wrong choices. When we have to decide, we should take a long term view and see how the decision/choice that you are about to make fits into the long term view. Imagine you had sold the stock when it lost $2 to purchase something that gained $3 in next couple of weeks when your stock lost another $4.

Checkout this book: Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior

Consumer Behavior Analysis - Behavioral Economics?

2009-10-23T03:39:00.000-05:00

Prof Richard Thaler from Booth school of business gave a very good lecture on why study of consumer behavior is important to understand economics. He further explained how feedback and choice architecture streamlines what consumers choose. Some of his examples, such as a thermostat that tells you how much more it is going to cost per degree change in temperature or a glowing bulb that tells you how much energy you are using, are intriguing. I also liked the idea of credit card machines. I think these examples provoke thoughts around general problems around us and economically viable solutions for them.

The basic idea is to understand the best interest of consumers and markets together and develop policies (choice architecture) around it. Consider the choice of donating organs example. If you provide a choice to the survivors of a person, they are likely to override the default option beating the whole purpose of default (of having more donations). Making a decision clear at some point (at the time of issuing drivers license for organ donation example) helps.

I was not very convinced with the solutions provided for dealing with compliance with medication. Even though non-adherence to some treatment schedules could be impacting all of us (like antibiotic or TB treatments), I don't think a lottery or false alert alone are the solutions. I think a pill box that can learn patient's behavior and present a combination of these (i.e. false alert, incentive or just a reminder) could be one expensive solution. Another way could be that the doctor enforce a choice when patient is diagnosed i.e. a box with particular attribute is given to the patient based on doctor's perception of the patient behavior. I think making doctor a choice architect may work.

Read the full story here: http://edge.org/3rd_culture/thaler_sendhil08/class1.html

Free MBA Application Resources

2009-10-22T01:08:00.000-05:00

1. A collections of comments (in order) on essays from Stacy Blackman, Adam Markus, Clearadmit, veritas prep, accepted.com
2. Readability Check with http://www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp
3. Improve your bschool essays with http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp.
4. School Visits and Interview Sections on above mentioned websites
5. Gmatclub

Most Importantly, school's student body / alums. Contact them early and request them to review your crap...

Decision Theory

2009-10-21T23:42:00.000-05:00

So, how do you feel about this: If you are an atheist, you are at loss.

According to Pascal, if God exist then the rewards of believing in God are numerous (contrary to not believing). If he does not exist, then neither theist nor atheist lost or gained anything.

Confused? Well, I was more confused when I started to read about decision theory. I am not going to get into lecture on decision theory (I'll not be able to anyway). But, I learned that decision theory is about making a choice (Decision!) under uncertainty.

Today I felt as if I usually make wrong judgment calls - joining a start-up right before economy started to doom or selling dollars after $ moved from its 52 week high! When I look at the other side of it, benefits from joining start-up (not going into personal details) were huge too. But that good feeling that comes when benefits are availed has passed. Now, challenges of a start-up (bench time, furlough days) are beefing up and throwing me back to the days when I made that choice.

As per veterans, decisions should be well informed. However, most of the times decisions are to be made in uncertain circumstances. I recently read Micheal Useem's book "The go point". The book clearly delineated the process of making decisions with illustrations and practical examples and is a must read. However, now I am looking for something that can tell me how to evaluate decisions you took five or ten years back. Lets see what decision theory has in its kitty...

This worm will not go!

2007-07-15T17:00:00.000-05:00

Once again the thought of starting my own business is haunting my mind. Last year, I had an unsuccessfully started my business which went no where after I realized that I am too late to submit my first proposal. Things doomed and I lost track.

But, one thing that I learned, and that I'll not repeat, is to select right partner in crime. I need a guy who is motivated, ambitious, have less household duties and and pull me into his ambitions.

This all started with the recent application for my immigration. I realized how small businesses have emerged since last 3-4 years and have turned into at least multi million dollar companies. I was sitting home completely missing this opportunity.

I have delved into the information of my old registered company 'Ascent Consultancy Services' to revive a part of it and at least make a website for it. Lets see where I go this time. Though, an excerpt on Columbia website has helped me shape my thoughts today. It was a great read about your personality type and I realized that I am a strong maximizer. Hope I maximize my business this time.

Should you apply to ISB - Indian School of Business

2007-06-11T23:15:00.000-05:00

Many Indian professionals, working in US, think of taking MBA at some point in their career. The first reaction of this thought is USD 120K! This is what a typical MBA from a top tier school in US will cost you. Still many of us break the ice and start looking into options. Of course there are benefits of MBA from a US school that can not be compared with other Asian top schools. But, lets look at it from a different perspective.

Choice of your school will largely depend on your goal of staying in US or India after MBA. Though route from US to India is way easier than reverse.

We should not underestimate India for its potential and growth. Investment banks are hiring people with fat packages! That is why I think ISB is an emerging institute with high return on investment. Think of spending just one year and $35,000 and end up in a $100K job in India. Isn't that a good trade? Not only that, but you still have options (though few) to head back to US. Now you are an MBA with no debt on your head.

But, remember that ISB will not fetch you a $150K job in US. Moreover, you will have to struggle as you were struggling before MBA to end up in a good front office job of your choice. Further, most of the states in US, where you may want to finally settle down, do not even know ISB. So, more struggle!

Lets take the other case now. If you do your MBA in US from a top tier school. Your debt at the end is around $100K. It Doesn't make sense to go back to India and join a $100K job in India at this time! You will keep paying your loans for life. So, you stay back for 5 years until you pay your debt. By that time you also secure a high profile position. Now, when you try to move back to India, you will probably have even higher profile and possibly equal, if not more, salary than what you would have had if you were an ISB grad. Sounds excellent, right? Wait...

You have assumed that you will get a chance to go back to India which was at your discretion initially when you decided to stay in US for MBA. Moreover, you are hoping that you will not have home and a car debt when you decide to leave for India after five years. Not only that, your kids may no longer want to go. But, these are all future risks and may not hold true. You can also mitigate them.

So, In my opinion, If you want to go back to India now then ISB is a good choice. But, if you want to and can stay in US for a while or forever, MBA from a US school is certainly a better choice. Again, the route from US to India is easier than reverse.

The comments above are strictly my opinion and you are the better judge of your needs.......

2007-06-11T22:45:00.000-05:00

I am back again! Things have changed since my last post. Changed Job, Moved to NYC, Entered into stock trading... one of my favorite pass time. Moreover, now I have started thinking about MBA seriously. Though many questions still remain to be answered, but, I am ready to venture.

First, lets begin with foreign language. With some research and more of my hunch, I decided to learn french. Europe is opening up to the rest of the world and I hope to have good use of french by the time I complete my MBA. Sounds interesting? Lets see...

Next, my English language skills. Man! I really need to get back to my dictionary and start referring and using the words I use to use often. I think I have really lost the touch of writing skills as well. lets see how much I can revive.

Humm... community service! This something that I really have to think about. I am not sure If there is much to back me up. Trying to do something innovative. Lets hope it works out and helps in my application.

I think I can also start looking onto some old MBA essays and start writing something about myself. After all, its so difficult to articulate your five years of achievements and work-ex.

2006-09-26T22:33:00.000-05:00

Lets Begin

2006-09-26T21:19:00.000-05:00

Since last couple of weeks I was feeling extremely annoyed with whatever was going around me. If something went against my will, I was getting mad and a heat wave was blazing into my mind. Everything seemed to be so convoluted and every task labyrinth.

I talked to meenu and we found that since I have tied myself to a schedule, I am feeling irritated. I was deviating from the schedule and that was causing all this mess in my mind. We decided that I am not making any schedule for myself until meenu gets her residency. After all I should remain calm in this tensed situation.

I also thought that probably I am getting weak (not thin!) and that is why I am crumbling in front of heavy stress of meenu's admission. As was advised by one of my friend on an earlier similar problem some time back, I decided to have an apple a day. This advice did come from meenu earlier, but you know, she is wifi...

I started to have an apple in the morning and milk at night and voila! Today, when I encountered a similar evidence of "things not going the way I want them to", I remained composed and did not even think about it again.

Now what does that mean to me:
1. Listen to doctors advice
2. Fruits keep your spine straight.
3. Even if you are mad at something, realize that its a problem with you! Take it easy and resolve the issue at hand.

TOP MBA - Basis of Comparison

2006-09-18T10:29:00.000-05:00

A lot of websites like business week, wall street journal, US news etc publish their ranking of business schools every year. However, no one actually publishes anything that exactly suits your specific needs. You will find ample text on how to choose a school and what matter while making a choice. But, what you don't get is a comparison of factors that matter to you.

All of us at the back of our mind know how to select the business school which best fit our needs. Even though we are computer savvy, most of us don't try to put it in a structured way. To analyze the strengths and focus areas of a business school is very necessary. But, how many of us actually try to enlist these in a way that suits our way of evaluation?

As an example, if you are a business man and your goal of MBA is to open up new ventures, then you are probably more interested in networking. But, again, it depends on what kind of network you are looking at. Automobile business? Consider Michigan university! Finance? May be Columbia or Wharton school. Remember, these are my thoughts. Similarly, when you read a standard ranking on a website there might be some assumptions made in the survey which may not apply to you. So, do not just follow them blindly. You would need a blend of inputs from various available resources configured in your way.

One of the easy solutions is to grab a computer and engage a standard utility/software like MS Word or excel to start putting points that matter to you most. Provide some standard headings to your baseline document. Using a standard questionnaire, note down what things are important to you. Then derive things that apply to you specifically. Start exploring the standard websites and their data. You know the rest of it....

Don't forget that the standard websites are invaluable sources of data to be channeled into a valuable information database.