Rahul Dravid

A lot of things happening around me . MBA getting over , farewell is over and the job search is on ..but one thing that has made me nostalgic is the news of "The Wall" will retire . Along with Sachin , Rahul was my reason for watching cricket . I remember those days when I wake up from bed and switch on my tv to find India batting at 28/2 and on crease two men still playing . 

You sit back and watch the beauty , when 6 balls in a over and each ball will be sent to each one of the in-circles fielders sequentially . The joke is "arey tu bhi le ek ball , fielding kar le " then one super shot and its boundary . 

The straight-bat became a lexicon in my life ..when ever the things are not doing right , dig it out and wait , wait and wait to show the straight bat . 

I still do that . play a straight bat defensive shot like Dravid to wind me up . Dravid on the field and off has been a perfect gentleman and a role-model for me . 

And as they say all good things come to an end  .Some part of me ..my childhood .. died today ..I will  miss you Rahul Dravid . 

Strategic Reflection

The word strategy is probably the most used term in my MBA career. However, starting from the more generic marketing/operation strategy to specific Strategic Management class the word imbibes one central idea: a roadmap to win among all kinds of favourable opportunities to unfavourable threats while leveraging the individual/organizational core competence.

The idea of formulating a strategy though seemed quite generic routine for any organization, the thing which has dreaded me is the “strategy execution and implementation “. How can the idea or the roadmap envisioned by some ten persons sitting in board meeting will be “bought in” by the lowest level of worker in the organization? As formulating a strategy can mean walking a tight rope and making some tough decisions for the overall organization, how to ensure that the intended message is delivered?  How to make a balance of both delivering QoQ profit and long-term stakeholder benefit?

The course has been designed in a fair enough way to provide us a theoretical overview about the whole gamut of Strategic management .But now as the course is coming to an end, I feel, I have been left with more questions than the answers about the “strategy” .If everyone knows the same Porter’s forces and everyone uses the same BCG matrix, then how come some corporations in Fortune 500 of one decade ceases to exist in another decade. What makes it a GE and an IBM to speak a successful corporate history of decades while another multiple corporations ceases to exist?

Perhaps the most paradoxical statement for me is the “Change is constant” .I can try to change, but how to make sure others will change and me being the leader how to identify the bottlenecks?

Though my reflections till now might portray a confused side of my state of affairs, but the silver lining is the my realisation that a successful strategy  formulation and implementation is an affair like riding a bicycle or may be swimming in a pool . Unless and until I fall, rise, learn and then again unlearn the art can never be mastered.  So perhaps the best medicine for me will be to wait till I get a chance in the near future to burn my hand in the “game of strategy “. 

Indian Railways

During my train journey I keep on engaging with fellow passengers with various issues . This time I had a chance to interact with the coach attendant of my B-1 3-tier ac coach . He was a man from my home town , so it took little time to start a conversation . I asked him about the way things are happening , about their salaries , the penalties for loosing the blankets and bed-sheets while in a journey . And his answers were quite eye-opener for me .

He showed me his white shirt , which he was wearing at that time and asked what do you think about the shirt ? I shook my hand saying it looks nice . He said that shirt's cloth is the stolen bed-sheet from train . I was quite surprised as the penalty for a pair of bed-sheets are Rs 200/- . He said that the cost of buying a cloth for his shirts were higher , so he was happy to pay that amount of fine .

Then he said the penalty for loosing the blanket is Rs 900/- and there is also a business model to benefit from this . I asked how and he said steal a blanket from a train and give it to another train attendant who has lost it for Rs 500/- . Obviously this stealing is done by pantry managers . And the benefit that the pantry manager gets is Rs 500/-and the train attendant is benefited by 900-500 = Rs 400 .

So long I was listening . Then I asked how did he get this job ? He said one of the local politician is the chief of a group who is responsible for their sourcing . He takes Rs 10000 - 15000 from these poor souls and gives them a job of monthly remuneration Rs 3000/- . And if the guy keeps on indulging these above mentioned activities then he can very well collect the principal money in 6 months time .

So as my train was approaching next big station and I was getting ready to sleep , I once again thanked the jugaad .

Jugaad leads to corruption

Lots of management gurus have been saying that jugaad is the face of Indian innovation . They say we Indians can manage with very little resource , and with jugaad mindset we innovate in our every walk of life . Fair enough , I also believe the same way .But I would like to put another side of this coin .

It is the mindset of jugaad which wakes up to do fulfill objectives at the last moment . The deadline is there , but who cares ? Only when the deadline becomes a sword on our head , we feel it is the time to go . On our endeavor to access the goal in the last minute , we try to overcome any single rule in the society through any means . Be it bribing the traffic police , be it braking queue or be it putting ourselves in danger . What I believe that  with the virtue of jugaad we have also the vice of challega (it's ok mindset ) .No need to improve upon the process , no need to benchmark ourselves and no need to take the onus on ourselves . Take the example of CWG game , the shoddy work is the result of the mindset jugaad . We were just able to showcase the world the  grand show of CWG game . But  underneath the vice of "challega" has made us corrupted .

Take the 1991 economic reform . It was forced by the time to partially open our economy . But after that we have never felt the force against us and so we have never proceeded . And the mix of licencse raj (control of 51%) tells us to do a "jugaad " with politicians and leads to 2G scam .

What we need to believe is that jugaad cann't be the solution to everything . Jugaad can come and help us in disruptive invention . But we need to belive that invention as a process needs much more discipline than we show . IST or Indain Standard time of 30 min late to everything is the by product of jugaad mentality and we need to overcome this .

I may be wrong at this but I sincerely believe it ...

Nothing to say

My previous post on the news being black seems so irrelevant today .. after the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai .. we are really helpless to do anything , except to blame our neighbors and Diggy Raja again saying hands of saffron terror . I think the way these attacks are being done , after 20-25 years our yearly calendar would have been filled with 365 memorial days of bomb blasts .. and nothing more  can be said  as anything being said will seem hypocrisy of highest order .. Hope is the only thing still remains .. Lets see ..

Why our newspapers have become dark ?

It has been a long 2-3 months or I'll say more than a year from the day of 2G scam . I have been growing with a feeling that not a single good thing is happening in our country . Now today  I saw a video in youtube , which is a clip of a video from Russia channel , which showcases India's budding entrepreneurs and the growing aspiration of Indians . Believe me , I felt I have heard a good news after a long time . When a foreign news channel showcases our positive attitude , we have been cribbing about everything .   

Charles Dickens said "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times "  and I feel at any moment we are living , the above idioms stays true .. No time can be the worst time than present and no time can be the best time than present .But unfortunately our newspapers have decided to not focus on the latter part . Is it our need to be fed on the black , sad news that they are trying to fulfill ? If the answer to above statement is true , then god help us . 

This is the time to believe in India and play a constructive role for the society . There are two ways to deal , simply dismiss Indian democracy as a sham but negativism and cynicism are not the way we have lived for last 3000 years 

If we are waiting for that day , when all our problems and sufferings will vanish automatically and then we will  start making good news our headline news , then we are destined to wait for ever . 

Second year begins @ IMT ,Ghaziabad

So it has turned a full circle . One year of MBA is over . Campus is filled with anxious looking parents and to-be student managers . The vendor for selling pillows , beds and coolers are ready to suck the blood out of them with their highly overpriced items and as always eager seniors ready to 'interact ' with juniors .So nothing has changed , though the hot and dry Ghaziabad of last year has become humid and sweating Ghaziabad this time .

For me , the second year has begun and with it the count-down to jump into the action of life which will start after March 15 , 2012 . So what do I wish for next 3 term ? Nothing really .. a good ending to this wonderful MBA ... a decent enough job to start with and the continued bliss with these wonderful 420 IMTians of batch 2010 - 2012 . So let the game begin ...