Irony – YouTube incident
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My first Advertisement – eaZyKILL
Now this is exciting. This is the first time I have tried my hands on anything creative like this. I think I have been able to come up with a decent ad. I simply love it!!
Watch it for yourself and leave your comments on how you find it.
Life after MBA
Good video on Life After MBA:
A look at Banking/Marketing/Consulting/Non-Profit
The saga called "Placements"
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Think!!
Have you ever realised how loosely this word is being used in today’s environment? I think you should do this. I think you should not do that. I think this might have happened. I think you think. So what were you thinking? What do you think about it? And for that matter IBM claims its pads to be thinking(ThinkPad) as well.
How much do we actually think? and how much do we claim it?
Anyways that was just a passing thought. I saw this funny (or rather sarcastic) Fedex advertisement a few back, where this MBA guy has just joined the company and a lady comes to him on the first day to get something done. She takes him to a terminal and says that he needs to do some admin-staff work but it is all very simple. The guy retaliates back saying. “I am an MBA” and the lady looks a bit worried commenting, “Ohh! you have an MBA, in that case I have to show you how to do it.”.
The message is loud and clear- “FedEx.com makes shipping so fast and easy- even an MBA can do it”
I think this is not something to laugh at but is a warning to act before it gets too late.
My first Consulting assignment
I really appreciate the fact that generally I know in advance my priorities. Same was the case when I had applied for clubs @ IIM-C.
I did not want to get into organising things, building Knowledge Management(loosely used for Database updations), etc. and wanted to do some real work. I stated this clearly to the club-recruiters at the time of interviews and was probably the reason that no club had accepted my applications till INCA found me worthy.
Day before yesterday, I went to the organisation “Sundarika Bartika” where I (as a part of team of 4) would be providing consultancy services (another fancy name for helping organisations expand/grow/ solve their problems). It was around 40 K.m.s from the campus and frankly the drive to that place was really painful, with potholes of different shapes and sizes covering around 40% of the road. But the excitement of being involved with something big (not organisationwise but rolewise) was enough to keep me focussed.
We were received pretty nicely. Although we were on time, the founder of the organisation was waiting for us. The treatment we received there cannot be explained in words. We were treated as experts in every field, especially the one that was discussed and I must confess that I had no clue of the topic under discussion for more than half of the discussion. At times, he talked of certain personalities and expected us to know all about them, when both of us were sitting wondering whether we have heard the name or not. I remember ‘rephrasing his words and telling that as answer to him’ had to be done a number of times.
I must also confess that although it was good to have such a recognition and respect, I felt guilty at times. A person who is running an organisation for past 25 years is treating me as if I am his boss!! Sounds good but is intimidating at times.
Anyways I think it qualifies well as an experience to cherish and I am proud of having made correct decision of being choosy w.r.t. joining clubs
Since the time I visited the organisation, I only have one question bothering me…Do I really deserve so much respect? Lets see, time will surely provide an answer.
Enlightenment by Prof. Sunil Handa
Prof. Sunil Handa(SH) from IIM-Ahmedabad visited IIM-Calcutta recently and I had an opportunity to attend one of his sessions. Considering the fact that I am myself a bit oriented to start something of my own, I liked the session. One may argue that most of the points these people (entrepreneurs) talk about are just the same .. hmm.. may be.. but there is a lot to make a difference. One good point may change your outlook drastically and something similar happened to me after this session.
On Exit options:
The session started with example of one of his student from IIM-Ahmedabad who had started a company of his own but had recently decided to sell it off!! Prof. claimed that this guy sold his soul.
As per SH, there is no exit option for an entrepreneur and he outrightly rejected the idea of selling a venture after say 5 years of establishing it. I had been fascinated by the idea of creating and selling off a business before restructuring period (I believe after some 5-6 years, processes etc. in a business need to be restructured coz by this time others also find it worthy to get into it..so selling off at this point would mean avoiding the restructuring cost and efforts, which can be further used in setting up something else, plus you get a healthy deal for current business at such a time). Although SH was of different opinion and he commented that
1.) One tends to get an emotional bonding with the current business,
2.) Rarely do people start a second venture as they get too old by the time they plan to sell off first one
3.) Even is one gets past the emotional bonding and timing factor, one tends to lose good people. You may plan to switch over your business (coz that is your business) but the employees may not be ready to take that risk and would be resistant to change.
This made me think of the establish-and-sell philosophy again, especially the third point which is most crucial as what i think. Anyways, I need to evaluate that well.
On VCs:
“So, what would you do once you sell off your venture?”
“I would start a new one” is a typical answer. How many do you think do that? Hardly anyone, SH claimed. The factors include the social pressures and the family responsibilities. Add to it reduced appetite for risk as you grow old.
“If you quit your own child(company), you will end up being only an uncle(Venture Capitalist), where you will just guide and help and wish other’s children(ventures you fund) do well. Most of their(VC’s) days go in praying for other’s ventures to get successful”
On Diluting Equity:
“If you wish to start a business, do you need a lot of money or you may as well get it from Venture Capitalists?”
If you think you may start a business by borrowing money from VCs, you probably need to relook at the mathematics of doing so. If you succeed, you will end up paying hefty premiums and if you fail, you may still end up paying more than the Principal amount!! Then how does it make any economic sense..
Those who still might be thinking of it being useful, I suggest reading the post on session by Mahesh Murthy.
Assertiveness, Struggle, No shy factor:
“When I used to travel in Public roadways buses, I used to end up traveling most of the times standing. Then I realised this is not how it gonna work and I learnt the art of finding and making space to sit. I started asking people to shift even if there was no place and most of the times ended up getting some place to sit.- That was my first lesson into entrepreneurship” I learned to be assertive. I struggled and I was no longer shy of asking for place.
This is what is required to establish a business. If you think everything will just go right, it wont.. you need to make it right.
Impact of Contacts in Initial Phase:
Another way of getting initial success is a shortcut- to use your contacts. But as soon as you use contacts to get any favour, you lose the race. Nothing comes for free in this world!! If you ask for a favour today, you’ll be asked to repay in some form or other tomorrow and it wont end there. Since you got a favour in initial days of struggle, you would feel indebted for long and you would have to make compromises at some point due to these favours/contacts/people/..
Struggle in Initial Phase:
So the alternate way is to struggle!! People, if given option, would love to skip this part but this is most important phase one goes through and this is the phase that basically lays the foundation for rest of the career.
There was a bird, which was trying to come out of the egg-shell. She was fluttering her wings and trying desperately to break the shell. A man walking beside saw this and out of his genuine concern and care, broke the egg-shell with a knife. The man was happy as he thought he had done a good job, helping the bird out of the shell. The bird, on the other hand, could never fly in her life coz her wings were just not strong enough to fly.
It is not difficult to understand why the bird could never fly!! So you decide by yourself whether you want to break the shell yourself or do you want an external support!!
Upto-date Info of Related and Unrelated streams:
It is not uncommon in people to stop reading/analysing once they get success. However, SH suggested that one should always keep the habit of reading and be knowledgeable about things related directly or indirectly or not even related to his/her business. This is helpful when one needs to adopt methodologies/techniques/benefits from outside the business. He took an example of his own venture which in no way related to plastic industry, and he could make a benefit of a few lakhs using that. I dont remember the example exactly and it would not be appropriate to quote it wrong but it was something on the lines that huge amount of excise and tax could be saved by purchasing a machinery in parts due to differential tax rates for plastic and other material.
The essence of the point was that one must keep himself up-to date on different topics, regardless of whether they are directly influencing your business or not. Who knows when they come handy!!
On Consultants:
To keep it short, I just quote his words,”Consultants are people who wont tell you anything unless asked, even if they know something is going wrong!!”
Without having any first hand knowledge of this, I think it is difficult for me to make up any perception based on this point.
On Ethics:
Everyone claims ethics in business are very important but no one spells it so clearly!! Everyone talks of setting an example in front of juniors but no one says how exactly it makes a difference. He took example of a manufacturer trying to save some tax amount by manipulating accounts and stealthily selling some of the goods. The same person ends up pursuing his employees so that the news is not leaked publicly and in case that happens..Brand Image tarnishes!!
Precisely why people do not feel proud in saying that they work in Reliance!!
Skills One must Learn at IIMs:
Leadership skills
Negotiating skills
Delegating skills
On Partnership:
Reiterating what MM said, SH also said it is better to have partners for the moral and support and better to start in smaller teams. A larger team is bound to fail. Although, he discarded that the two partners need to be good friends from college days and things like that. According to him, a better team would have people with only some understanding of each other. More understanding may result in you taking other for granted, which might not be the case always. But still, more the understanding between partners the better it is.
Idea or partner?
An idea is worth nothing unless implemented, said MM.
Unless you have a good partner, it is difficult to succeed in a venture, said SH.
Clearly both of them had an emphasis of a good partner first, someone who is equally, if not more, passionate about the venture.
Moreover, SH made a claim that no one would be working on their first idea for long, no matter how attractive it may seem to them in starting. It is only the third or fourth idea that people end up doing!
Not to forget,
Irrespective of what you may think, the partnership doesnt last forever and which sometimes may be an emotionally testing times but that is how it is!!
To end with a globe statement, you need ‘Midas touch‘ to succeed in a business more than anything else.
“To get an extraordinary person is difficult but to make ordinary people extraordinary is simple.“: Some great philosopher.
Losing and Gaining motivation
Another session on entrepreneurship and another time I lose motivation to do the ‘zombie thing’ (as Sunil Handa puts it). I started hating “the zombie” jobs as soon as I came to the campus but the hate grew stronger when I attended Mahesh Murthy’s talk. Today it just grew more stronger.
With the declining motivation to these, the motivation to set out on my own strengthens a lot.
Lets see what future has in store for me.
A detailed analysis from Sunil Handa’s talk to follow soon.
Consulting – Perceptions Refined
They teach about Selective Perceptions in the classroom and I though what rubbish!! It was all common sense!! forgetting the fact that common sense is not so common as well.
Yesterday, we had another session with a consulting firm(fourth in the season so far) and it totally changed my perception of consultancy. I wrote about Consultancy and Entrepreneurship sometime back but yesterday’s session made me think over certain aspects again.
The session was simple, yet powerful. The people were not pseud as one would expect, still they were impressive. They spoke with clarity. Their thinking was structured, or at least looked like. They articulated impressively. One special thing about this session was that they never seemed to have said ‘Globe’(Global statements) and got away with it, which apparently was the case in most of the sessions till date. Probably, this is what answers why this firm is arguably the No.1 Consultancy firm.
Some of the impressions from yesterday’s session:
1. Consultants not necessarily have to be pseud.
2. It is more about problem solving than to make fool of others.
3. Consulting and travelling may not be synonymous always.
4. Each of the consulting firm appears to have a different working culture.
5. Also, different career paths.
6. Success in consulting career is directly proportional to the passion that drives it.
..Many more
And Last but most important,
They are looking for humans and not Super-humans, as some of the earlier ones indicated, to join them. 
Make a choice- Run or Run
Fridays usually mark start of a weekend. Usually!!
But sometimes they don’t.
Sometimes you wait for weekdays to get over but sometimes you wish there were no weekends.
Sometimes Fridays mark startline to run which ends on Mondays.
Run for classes.
Run for crashers.
Run to your mentors.
Run to various Reps.
Run for Company Presentations.
Run for PEAs.
Run to the hostel and Run to the Acad Block.
Run to take printouts.
Run to catch some food.
Run to catch some rest.
Run Run and Run.
Run to survive.
Run till you survive and run after that.
Run to run and Run to crawl.
Run for your life and Run for your death.
Run for all you can have and Run for all you can’t.
Run for you like it and Run for you don’t.
Run Run & Run, Run coz that’s the only option.
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