Found a nice flat at Bandra in Mumbai. Will be moving there on 30th. Way back in 1996, I started my career in Mumbai and now I will start my second career from there. Mumbai never lets one down as far as learning, opportunities and growth are concerned. But when it comes to quality of life in terms of roads, traffic, cleanliness, a decent place to live, et al, Mumbai quite disappoints.

Any new thing is always exciting because of the unanticipated twists and opportunities it can bring in life. Only as things get old that they tend to get too predictible and many times quite boring.

Let’s see where this new journey takes me…

PS: My next post will be after I join my employer…

Relocating is usually easy for me because I generally belong nowhere. But moving to Mumbai is always pain because finding the right house is not easy. Another one week and I will move to Mumbai.

I went to ISB today – played squash and bought more ISB t-shirts, which I feel like wearing every other day. Spoke with a few guys from the Class of 2007. The initial hype and mania associated with the first term and first mid-term exams seem to have gone away. Business is as usual there. The school or the people there do not miss us – because none of them exists to miss us. Many of us will, however, continue to have this ISB hangover………

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill has been a major influence in my life. A book of about 100 pages but a very difficult read. Mill’s message is simple – the individual and his liberty are absolute and unquestionable. Of course, a person’s liberty ends where someone else’s starts.

Capitalism and Democracy, as proclaimed by Fukuyama in his influential book, The End of History and the last man, in conjuction with individualism make the highest form of social evolution.

However, capitalism and democracy do not regard individualism. Capitalism is a non-starter but for collaboration and democracy disregards any form of individualism. Right to Franchise is about individualism but it can hardly influence the way we can elect our representatives. So much for individualism as the third dimension of the new society.

In a society driven by capitalism, supported by globalization and information revolution, I am not sure if individualism will thrive or die.

Nothing much to write. Just scribbling down some thoughts – some mine and some someone else’s

1. People’s representative? Who can represent me; I am myself. I do not intend anybody to represent me – D H Lawrence

2. If it could have been done, it would have been done, provided it was tried. Since it is not done, either conclusion is possible. It cannot be done or it has not been tried

3. Knowledge is built on the edifice of leisure

4. Fedora complex – the fear of ageing. All will succumb to it

5. As many people so many minds/kinds

6. I want to live in the world on my terms – Hemmingway. That Hemmingway later committed suicide is a different matter

7. Happiness must be produced not merely consumed – G B Shaw

8. With the possible exception of equator everything begins somewhere

9. A great bliss is that the innermost thought CAN remain undivulged

10. ………..Physical comfort, indeed, is a precondition for further thought

11. I keep six honest serving men. They taught me all I know. Their names are what and why and when and how and where and who ….rudyard kipling

12. Style begins with imitation (dont know who said it)

13. Conscience is mostly a matter of convenience. On things convenient to us we can be moralistic. On things otherwise a little licence is always possible.

14. Of course, I do not believe in it. But I understand it brings luck whether you believe in it or not – N Bohr

15. We will do all that is possible now. The impossible will take a little longer – Anonymous

16. The idea of an agreeable person is one who agrees with me – Samuel Johnson

17. Success covers a multitude of blunders – Shaw

18. Our faults irritate us most when see them in others – A Dutch proverb

19. To a friend’s house, the road is never long – anonymous

20. What is common need not be simple

21. A rebel destroys the system; a revolutionary transforms it

Nothing much to write. Just scribbling down some thoughts – some mine and some someone else’s

1. People’s representative? Who can represent me; I am myself. I do not intend anybody to represent me – D H Lawrence

2. If it could have been done, it would have been done, provided it was tried. Since it is not done, either conclusion is possible. It cannot be done or it has not been tried

3. Knowledge is built on the edifice of leisure

4. Fedora complex – the fear of ageing. All will succumb to it

5. As many people so many minds/kinds

6. I want to live in the world on my terms – Hemmingway. That Hemmingway later committed suicide is a different matter

7. Happiness must be produced not merely consumed – G B Shaw

8. With the possible exception of equator everything begins somewhere

9. A great bliss is that the innermost thought CAN remain undivulged

10. ………..Physical comfort, indeed, is a precondition for further thought

11. I keep six honest serving men. They taught me all I know. Their names are what and why and when and how and where and who ….rudyard kipling

12. Style begins with imitation (dont know who said it)

13. Conscience is mostly a matter of convenience. On things convenient to us we can be moralistic. On things otherwise a little licence is always possible.

14. Of course, I do not believe in it. But I understand it brings luck whether you believe in it or not – N Bohr

15. We will do all that is possible now. The impossible will take a little longer – Anonymous

16. The idea of an agreeable person is one who agrees with me – Samuel Johnson

17. Success covers a multitude of blunders – Shaw

18. Our faults irritate us most when see them in others – A Dutch proverb

19. To a friend’s house, the road is never long – anonymous

20. What is common need not be simple

21. A rebel destroys the system; a revolutionary transforms it

Nothing much to write. Just scribbling down some thoughts – some mine and some someone else’s

1. People’s representative? Who can represent me; I am myself. I do not intend anybody to represent me – D H Lawrence

2. If it could have been done, it would have been done, provided it was tried. Since it is not done, either conclusion is possible. It cannot be done or it has not been tried

3. Knowledge is built on the edifice of leisure

4. Fedora complex – the fear of ageing. All will succumb to it

5. As many people so many minds/kinds

6. I want to live in the world on my terms – Hemmingway. That Hemmingway later committed suicide is a different matter

7. Happiness must be produced not merely consumed – G B Shaw

8. With the possible exception of equator everything begins somewhere

9. A great bliss is that the innermost thought CAN remain undivulged

10. ………..Physical comfort, indeed, is a precondition for further thought

11. I keep six honest serving men. They taught me all I know. Their names are what and why and when and how and where and who ….rudyard kipling

12. Style begins with imitation (dont know who said it)

13. Conscience is mostly a matter of convenience. On things convenient to us we can be moralistic. On things otherwise a little licence is always possible.

14. Of course, I do not believe in it. But I understand it brings luck whether you believe in it or not – N Bohr

15. We will do all that is possible now. The impossible will take a little longer – Anonymous

16. The idea of an agreeable person is one who agrees with me – Samuel Johnson

17. Success covers a multitude of blunders – Shaw

18. Our faults irritate us most when see them in others – A Dutch proverb

19. To a friend’s house, the road is never long – anonymous

20. What is common need not be simple

21. A rebel destroys the system; a revolutionary transforms it

Entropy is a dangerous reality of life. Any system unattended for sometime (for maintenance or improvement) will inevitably but steadily deteriorate.

Often times, it is said – well begun is half done. But most of the poeple do begin well. It is only a little later that people cannot cope with the pace or quantity or difficulty. Energy and Focus are required for two purposes – one to keep entropy away and two to improve things. Many times, the energy and focus given are not enough even to keep entropy away.

I had seen this happening during later stages of my course at ISB. Believe me, I had begun well. I was as organized as the word organized. But, the quantum and the rigor of the work made it harder and harder to keep abreast. Managing it and improving it was possible only after expanding time (by waking more hours), by moving away from my desk and routine to take a macro view of what i was doing (so that i could develop a perspective of the task at hand), and by sticking religiously to the purpose I had set.

Being purpose driven and developing a perspective about the task can go a long way in keeping entropy away.

Ideas are not the prerogative of the b-school graduates. Anyone who can think or has time to think or even a ‘need’ to think can be as creative in generating solutions to the business problems he faces. The only issue is that if he is not a b-school grad, then he may not know that what he has thought about is nothing but, say, a Porter framework or his marketing plan is nothing but , say, 4Ps in action. He knows what margins he needs and how much cash he needs to generate to breakeven; but he may not know that what he is actually doing is an NPV assessment of his business.

A conspicuous differentiator between a b-school grad and any other person (assuming he is not into too much of reading) is that a b-school grad thinks about his problems in frameworks and explains his thoughts in jargon. But often times the jargon, instead of being a mere point of communication, becomes a source of showoff leading to confounding and miscommunication.

Here are a few of my ‘favorite’ pieces (not necessarily exhaustive)

Information asymmetry
Sustainable competitive advantage
Network externalities
Capability ownership (really don’t know what it means)
(Of course) core competence
Competitive market dynamics
Cost inefficiencies
Game theoretic
(The triplets) LBO, MBO and Mezzanine financing
(The ubiquitous) DCF
Value chain analysis
Porter’s five forces
Moral hazard