Thank you my teacher

Many were celebrating Guru Poornima while I was thinking why people are so much into that as for me September 5th is Teachers day. We all play a role of teachers at some point in life. We also are students most of the time; be it parents, friends, mentors, our kids, people you observe and learn, people that cross your life and leave a lesson, and even the nature around you.

On this Teachers day, I will start from present to past in thanking all the people that helped me to be who I am today.

After leaving my last corporate job, while wanting to do many things, there are many people who gave their time to educate me on what the finer details are about what I was researching. I met young and old alike and learned from every one of them. I also made a lot of connections in the process who even today share with me new lessons that I learn.

Many of managers that I worked in IBM and Microsoft, taught me adding human perspective to the job, goes a long way to be a successful leader. If an employee is not in office as someone in his family is sick or unwell, when they come back, check with them how the family is? I followed it and Still feel happy when people call me for advice or direction.

My professors from masters in IIT Roorkee, who always taught me to explore research opportunities in Canada or US than in India so I will have a great exposure. This pat on the back lead to live in US for 15 years where I learnt a lot in research, working in start-ups and also working for great BIG BLUE

My Professors from SVU College of Engineering, Tirupati where I survived in English medium coming from Telugu medium. Had most fun. Made lifelong friends, started developing my network that only started expanding. This is the place where I learnt spirituality while college taught analytics, logic and rationalisation.

Plus two in a small town called Venkatagiri in Visvodaya College; the lecturers taught me basics in Maths, and physical sciences. I am happy I still can remember some of these concepts and the words in Telugu Medium. A temple where we used to spend long hours chatting about everything and anything which taught me to appreciate the culture in a small town

The three years I spent in my HOME called AP Residential School Kodigenahalli, are the best formative years I went thru; values, ethics, helping each other, working hard, can do nature and being a social person with everyone. I owe so much to these three years and the school and its first principal and the staff, anything I can do will not complete the giving back.

My schooling in early life in Small village Zilla Parishad Elementary and high schools, under the trees where we co-existed with snakes and birds, taught me how to respect each other’s space. The teachers that taught me here are selfless people and one of them is the reason for me to join the AP Residential School.

Finally my parents and siblings who taught me sharing, living happily with what means we have and how to be dependent on each other’s.

Now both my lovely daughters teach me a lot to be more humble and not to harm others every day. They are the kindest humans that I know. Of course my 25 years of partner in crime after marriage is something that taught me patience and looking things in a very different perspective.

When I have so many people that are my teachers, how can I forget them on Sep 5^th. Thanking all these people in my life including many good friends for being there always..

Finance Prudence in Start-ups for Success

A lazy Saturday morning, sipping my fresh coffee and lost in thoughts with the success (??) of TheAugustFest behind all of a great team, I was pouring over the many tiny teeny things that could have gone better. One thing I am not able to get over is sitting thru the pitches, thinking we should have done a better job. Then my mind travelled back to few months back to a Sunday evening in ISB listening to people sharing their ideas. A few shortlisted groups shared ideas. While watching these kids present and during TheAugustFest one thing I noticed commonly is that not many of these Wannabe Entrepreneurs know what it takes to go another mile than many have travelled.

Two points every one misses for a successful journey in the start-ups world in my mind is – managing finances and pricing the product /services right. I will run by two scenarios (one for each) and write what to consider in these situations.

Managing Finances:

Investor:  how much money did u put so far and what’s the source?

Start-up:  about 20 lakhs – raised thru friends and family

Investor: Do they have stake in company? and what percent?

Start-up:  no no they don’t want anything.  They are helping me.

Investor:  What did you use this mosey for?

Start-up:  Spent it in last year

Think for a minute not as company owner but a person or organization investing in your start-up. Every penny that was ever put in a company MUST have a stakeholder; be it your parents, friends, family. RK from Uttistha a private incubator says “Most of these people do not understand finances. They don’t keep record of the money invested and money spent which is key to raise money in next rounds”.

Lesson: Be prudent about your money; whether someone helping you or the money you are spending.

Price is Right:

I have come across many youngsters who are using the money in their start-ups without thinking of ROI.

Me: How much are you charging for your services?

Start-up: I am using AMC model where I charge Rs 4,000 to Rs 1,00,000.00

Me:  Does it work for you to make money?

Start-up:  No not necessarily

“most of the people I meet do not have a concept of ROI and break-even” says Praveen of Kauphy Talkies. They don’t understand the break-even point and profit.?

Lesson:  You as a start-up person must have an idea of what and how to fix a price. Are you making money at the end of year or you still losing money

“In Valley (Sa Francisco valley) people expect to fail, but fail fast and move on. They don’t bet on Living dead” a quote from a CEO visiting us from US. Find your exit soon instead of becoming Living dead

Product design: Art or Engineering???

If you watch James Bond movies like me many times and try to remember every dialogue I will bring your attention to a situational dialogue in Die Another Day. The villain gets on plane after show casing ICARUS and tells the person who is working on the machine, “This is still a suitcase, make it small – have you not heard about ergonomics”. I draw your attention to the word Ergonomics here which means “Ergonomics is about designing for people, wherever they interact with products, systems or processes. We usually don’t notice good design (unless perhaps, it’s exceptional) because it gives us no cause to, but we do notice poor design.” (Ref: http://www.ergonomics.org.uk/learning/what-ergonomics/)

We want our phones to look fancy and cute. How does a phone manufacturer or for that matter a product seller know what sells best and why? That is where design of product comes into picture. Have you ever heard of a man named “Sir Jonathan Paul "Jony" Ive”?? I never heard of him too.. but wondered the famous Apple Inc that become a iconic company& how was Apple designing products. Naturally I typed in Google Apple Designer and Voilà came up with a wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive ) about Jonathan Ivy, the Man behind the Apple’s Industrial Design Group.

For an IT person in me the products’ software capabilities are amazing, , however the engineer in me is pleased by their gorgeous looks and the joy of handling them and using them..

Human body is a marvellous engineering model. Anything I see right from a cooking utensil to a chair or any product is designed by someone. This is where I started thinking – So product designing is it an art or engineering?

In our daily life we use so many things from morning till evening -- a toothbrush, bucket, towel, shoes, a  vehicle, office desks, laptops, stairs, elevators, and finally the bed we sleep  -- In every one of them a design principle is used.  

 A friend shared the knowledge with me recently that designers use a grid and align everything during the process of ‘designing’ a product.

When a developer does not code that exactly the way the designer envisioned, the Designer might get upset. This is where my confusion started, as usually only artists get upset when their vision is not fully presented; like a dance master when the disciple do not perform the mudra perfectly, an artist when the painting is not making sense to him, or a sculpture when he/she cannot make a stone come alive.

Here is what finally I ended up with:  for any product be it in Software or in physical world, it is important to bring together art and engineering. It’s a natural confluence to make best products.

With Engineering comes innovation and with innovation you can become an entrepreneur. How do you bring both of them together??  That is where we from Eat Sleep Drink Start-ups (ESD) present The August Fest 2014 celebrating art and entrepreneurship. The dates: August 30^th and 31^st 2014. Venue: ISB Hyderabad. See you all there (http://www.theaugustfest.com/ ) 

Learning from one CMs Leadersip

Disclaimer:
This blog is mainly intended to draw similarities between how to be successful in corporate and is there anything we can learn from one person. This does not mean any other intention or thought. Please treat and read this as a case study like than anything else..

I do not have any political affiliations and I do not endorse any party but I am totally impressed the way one CM is functioning in the state here. For a few years we are experiencing a unfamiliar situation in the state after 9 years rule that put AP on map and another 6 plus years that was also quite good...(stable government) what ever people say...one year after a leader passed away...the state was in quite disturbed condition as if we did have a head of the state in place. Then comes this unknown person as had of a great the state.  When he took over many including me felt will he be able to bring a change? Today after the latest news article (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/kiran-kumar-reddy-not-ready-to-tow-congress-line-telangana-bifurcate-andhra-pradesh-india-today/1/291072.html ), I decided to write this blog about his leadership style looking more like corporate re-structuring and consolidating...

THE DECISION:

The gentleman who is a sportsman, seen everyday in KBR takes office as a real surprise candidate to head the state. Many people started talking, how, why, where and when sort of questions... Still he probably worked under the hood; a lot of relation building, a lot of strategy how and when to make the move, and finally staying in the good books of power center. With all his efforts he was made a choice by the center to head the state. THE DECISION was made.

One scene that comes into my mind when CM candidate name was announced is from Disclosure. Towards the end of the movie, after everything is settled Garvin (Donald Southerland) will have to make an announcement of corporate decision on to who will head the company (DegiCom) in Seattle. Every one roots and thinks the guy who went thru all crap Tom Sanders (Micheal Douglass) will be made head to lead. However Garvin announces that Stephanie Kaplan (Rosemary Forsyth) to head the group. This announcement was also came as a surprise to many of Sanders freinds in the movie. However they do not show in the movie how she performed but we see our CM doing good job.

In corporate one thing I learnt is that as you grow higher in the ladder, you need to be connected to some one  that believes in you, trusts you, and makes you take the position. For this you need to do same relation building, staying on radar of the senior people heading the organization and keeping them informed of your capability. If you want to be successful in corporate you need to be aligned to your leaders and not opposing them at every turn. They will make a decision at right time

THE SITUATION:

When he took office there were problems galore; there were cabinet colleagues who did not like him,the people who are planning to get a small state were making noise, he did not have many trusted people whom he can confide in, a deputy that was not playing game with him, state of affairs in much disarray and finally he was alone (to some extent) at top. He resolved all of them slowly with an excellent strategy. I do not know who are his inner circle (like many others) who advise him, mentors him, coaches him but I have to admit they are really good. He got most of his cabinet colleagues gain his confidence and play with him, he is working well despite differences with his first lieutenant, he probably earned more trust from THE POWER Center in Delhi, he might have still having his core group to advice and mentor and finally the did a great job and consolidated his position at last taking a great stand with supporting numbers and data on his view of creating small states.

Usually when there is leadership changes in corporate also similar situation arises; some people that are passed for your position may not like you, there may be a lot of issues in the group or team that needs your attention to resolve, people not liking you for your group (empire) becoming big and might want to divide (small state), and you are alone when you step into the shoes. Not knowing how the CM consolidated his position I can not give any GYAN but definitely I see a lot of similarity in successful leaders from journey.

When you see the situation today it is more better than what it was some time back. Less bandhs (Bandh is a call for non-violent form of protest that happens a lot in India to protest about a problem). There are still a few major issues that needs addressing such as the water shortage, power shortage and price hike but that is for a different blog and different time as that needs long term planning.

THE OUTCOME:
Today if I have to measure how he performed for these two plus years, I would say he has done a decent job. A teacher in me would definitely grade him as a B plus though not A yet. I have my reason why I feel he deserves a B plus:

• He successfully stabilized the state to a large extent. I would never have written anything similar to this if I did not read the article I quoted in top section.
• He streamlined his team. He even stood and fought for some of his colleagues despite not having confidence in their loyalty to him.
• He took a stand so strong knowing his job could be at risk. This is key for any corporate leader as sometimes you just have to stand up to what you believe. I see very few such leaders in corporate today
• He stole the show pretty much in Delhi knowing the other two presenters might not like what he said with facts and figures. If India Today featured an article that is something. I only wish the headline read more like "CM did a good job" than giving any color to it.
• Most of the points he made in the presentation are so true: one that I can think of is about increasing security issues is a fact proven with other small states.

In the corporate world I see many just following the orders than questioning them. A corporate leader also sometimes must take a stand against his wishes and under the sword hanging on his neck to stand up and make his mind clear.. To quote an example that was shared in a management training course when I was working is: when the entire senior most leadership are having an off site with CEO, one Vice President completely changed the train of thought by asking one question that " Why are we not looking at how to retain the customers in long run than worrying about products that help customers" which changed the corporate strategy and the company became customer friendly now than charging for a call you put in for support :). 

We need more leaders like our CM in corporate and we need more leaders like the Vice President in our politics . The Game Changers..

Elevator Pitch

What came to my mind when I thought of Elevator pitch is that a story my juniors shared on how they got a Bollywood banner accepting to produce the story; a first of its kind ZomCom (Zombie Comedy) called Go Goa Gone. ... just under 10 mins... In first week from news reports it made 12.3 crores. Not bad for 10 mins pitch eh!!!

That is the power of pitch. Earlier I used to tell everyone, any pitch for a sale, for investment, for a job are just like a first date.. How do you impress your date in first 60 seconds.. That is what is elevator pitch is all about...How do you make sure some one can buy your product or write a check for investment or offer you job?  

WHY?

Why did I chose this topic to write today? I attended a start-up event over weekend and what I noticed is this: When you present before an audience at least one in the crowd should not their head agreeing with you. You should have a presence, voice, right body posture that shows your confidence (a little attitude) and above all a cheerful face. Many lacked this in the event. I thought is there anything that I can offer to them from my experience... and hence this effort.

I will share my thoughts in 3 sections below...THE JOB, THE SALE, THE PITCH..

THE JOB:

During any interview first question is typically "Tell me about your self". You must be so fortunate when some one ask you this as if you are truly prepared you can tell about you in 60 seconds and win the interviewer. You must have done this before walking into the interview. How about these few sound :

"I am a 20 years experienced IT leader in working with on-shore off shore models successfully in delivering solutions. Working with IBM and Microsoft has given me greater perspective on how big companies do offshore model successfully, efficiently and saving cost"

"I am a fresh graduate looking for working in Java as developer to build my career as a Individual contributor . I want to be a SOA architect in 5 years"  

"I am Mechanical Engineering student who completed B Tech with 85%. My major interest is to work in shop floor to manage the manufacturing process and possibly optimize to save for the company"

If you look at the top three of these statements they dont provide your history of your native, parents etc.. The interviewer really do not care where you come from and what your parents do or how many siblings you have and what they are doing. All the person worries is will you be able to join the firm and be useful for its growth and will the firm meet your needs... 

My Suggested reading: 

The First 60 Seconds: Win the Job Interview before It Begin  By Dan Burns

60 Seconds and You're Hired                                                By Robin Ryan (I used this)

THE SALE:

One common sense aspect of selling is know your product, know your competition and pitch right; why people should spend money in your product. You have to figure out whats your sales pitch is about.. also known as Unique Selling Point (USP). Of course if you have a brand name that sells it self. We are not talking about selling brands here but creating your own brand. 

What comes to my mind here is the fruit vendors before KBR park where many around my neighborhood go for walk. 80% of this population are people who are health conscious  When they come out and see fresh fruit many buy them. For these fruit vendors they sell for 2-3 hours in the morning what they probably take whole day to sell. Here the key is location for selling

Another example that comes to mind is selling fish on Sunday morning around here. There are few places where they set up shop on road side. The people come and sell everything in 4-5 hours.. Its about demand vs supply. These are basics of the economics. 

My suggested reading:

Sixty-Seconds to Yes!: A power Method of Mastering Sales and Influence by Don Spini

THE PITCH:

I call this as The Pitch as impressing some one to invest in you and your idea is the top of the pitching. Your idea should be special, you should be THE right person to take that idea to market and over all you must paint a mental picture for the investor to see your dream as their vision. 

While I was working in a start up in US, our CEO is the ultimate pitch man I know of.. If you listen to him talk you will feel so absorbed .. we used to joke that "people sign contracts not knowing why they did". The point I am making here is you have to be THE BEST sales person as an entrepreneur. Here also watching at least 20 people pitch the ideas last Saturday  I am sure many of them did not even practice once what they want to share...

One person surely has caught my eye during this event.  This is a young  girl just out of college. She was talking about a shoe store for women... I did not truly understand what she her USP or idea is but for sure know what she means.. with 3 girls in house and the way they buy shoes. Not knowing much about this girl, not knowing much about the idea, if I were looking to invest I would spend time to know more about the pitch she was trying for one fact that she knows her USP but not able toe explain well. If I were to sell her store idea not a investment pitching but selling her product I would go with this..

"Are you tired of looking in stores spending hours to shop designer footwear delivered at your door step  We provide all answers at one sop; Visit us in show room, pick your brand and model give us your size and we deliver" May be not exactly the but similar on these lines..

There are a number of books and articles on internet on how to pitch right with videos. However I feel this is all about common sense. Are you able to to show in your body, talk and expression your passion - you are a sure winner

THE D-DAY TIPS:

I will take a shot here on what I think will make you better in pitching by just thinking of these little things.

• Have Have to studied your audience where you are going? 
• Have you prepared your best the day before?
• Did you make sure all your collateral material is readily available?
• Is your mind in clear state to start?
• Are you dressed right not the best? 
• Take a deep breath before your walk into that room to face your destiny and imagine you are going to come out smiling with a win - Self Confidence...

If you notice I am not answering these question but making you think...So for all those who are trying to go out today to win a job, sale and investment, I hope this will help a little... All the best

Seek and Share....

In the last year I came across a few instances where all the person needed was some one just to make them think what is the direction they should take.... They wanted to share the problem they are looking at or thoughts that are not clear for them..In these situations my suggestion is to share as you dont know where you get a  solution or suggestions to solution or make you think clearly. I will just share what happened in each case...I write you decide (ABN Phrase copy here- We report you Decide)

About 6 months back.
..

There is a general fear among many students that UPSC Civil Services is very tough... What I learnt talking to working IAS, IPS and others who prepared for that is: the exams and preparation is not tough, but it is a test for your sincerity and dedication for a couple of years. Choosing right topics and finally a peaceful environment to prepare are key too. I was chatting with some one from our college about 6 months back.. I was really happy she was clear in her mind she wants to attempt UPSC Civil Services. All I told her was that is right decision. After that a couple of times a few encouraging words why she should take UPSC seriously and work for few years to clear them. Now she is in Delhi preparing for the exams. I wish her all the best and pray she clears... UPSC... However the point is I never realized till I started talking to another student in college in same lines that - what she told me made me think of this topic... the 2nd student preparing for Civil Service in Hyderabad told me that when every one in college - professors, students and others were discouraging students that they can not clear UPSC Civil Services what I told one student that with time and effort she can do it.,. made many think in that direction...I felt all I did was just a pat on her back that she is in right direction... thats all. A clarity of thinking is the direction here

About 2 months back...

A friend and student of mine who is working in SP Mahila University called me up and asked me to talk to a person who moved back from UK to council him. Yes it is a big word...counselling as I do not have necessary educational qualifications to be a shrink nor counsel  however I try to use my life lessons and teach out of them...so having faith in me this friend sent this guy from UK to me. He came to our office one day... and wanted to talk for 30 mins... So we started talking... I was surprised that he was holding a very good job in UK and his mom asked him to come back to India.. No problems there as parents wants their children to come back to be before their eyes. This person landed from UK not knowing the Indian market for what he is looking for jobs. Any ways while talking to him I learnt of certain advantages he has to attempt Civil Services. After talking to him for late into evening hours. We spoke for an hour about preparing for civil services .. while he was planning to leave.. he made a comment... "Sir you are the first person to encourage me to take up UPSC Civil services while my own family told me I can not do it...you made it sound so simple ..." Again all I did was make him realize his advantage that he can take the exam a few more times to clear it, if needed... I felt I did it again... just a tap on his shoulder. I did not hear back from him so far.. but I hope he is in right track...
Here also I did not give a solution but asked him to look for various options that will eventually lead him to a solution possibly

About a week back:

I started using Face Book actively to to network with SVUCE and APRSK alumni... I keep adding a lot of SVUCE / APRSK folks and accept a lot of requests from them too..A few days back I came back from my morning walk and was on FB as the news paper guys did not show up yet.. Some one pinged me wishing me.. I checked that he is from SVUCE... I started talking to him. He is working in core engineering in a  very reputable firm that is fast growing. All of a sudden he asked me out of blue in first conversation that he wanted to move to software job...Of late one thing I am asking all students is not to move to IT Jobs if they can avoid while they are from Core Engineering branches: Civil, Mech, EEE, ECE and Chem Engg. I keep clearly telling them, it is not that they wont be successful in IT/Software but they have to plan and grow well otherwise they might get frustrated after 5 years...

So back to our story... this guy wanted move to software jobs. After a couple of mins of chat, I asked him to give his number or call me. Later that afternoon in lunch time we connected. The first question I asked him was why is he planning to change. He was also pretty open and told me he wants to change for financial benefit. It took me just 5-10 mins to make him think why he should not leave the existing job and what are his options... Also asked him to connect with our alumni in his company. That is all I spoke to him...I was not sure at the end what and how he received the whole topic. Around night 10 pm I got a message in FB thanking me for helping him. Boooooom it hit me that there are many in this world who just needs someone they can trust and share the problem. It is not that everyone is looking for solution... but a path that they can take I felt  that might possibly lead to a solution...
Finally I spoke to a friend of mine where his brother is going to college (to support him this student felt his money is not enough) who is willing to help..
I think all I did here is to give him a process to think himself to come out of his situation and to improve his own position in his present job..

Ohhhh... I am sounding like a swamijeee... Umm not sure good or bad... but at the end I felt all people need, anyone, is a pat on the back to assure some one is always there... to show them right path ...

I remember one quote from one of very famous author from AP... the quote is in Telugu "Penchukonte perigedi sneham, panchikonte tarigedi baadha" meaning in English translates to " Friendship grows by nourishing it and pain is relieved by sharing" 

Management lessons from Hollywood movies

Most of us from AP are having three things we are very fond of: Politics, Cricket and Movies. We grew up watching so many movies. We watch Telugu movies produced by Tollywood depending so many factors: be it the hero we like, the heroine we like, might have liked the story , might have liked the director or just a song to see the movie a number of times.. Most of my generation we remember all epics, ramayanam, mahabharatam, etc etc, that we watched in movies. Now our kids watch them in cartoons and learn.

After going to US and working for a start-up called Viacore that was acquired by IBM, I learnt a lot from our CEO Fadi. He is an Egyptian who can speak fluently about 6 or 7 languages; Arabic, Italian, French, English, Farsi, Spanish and some more. 

I remember at one of his all hands meeting that he conducted when we won Cisco account for a five year contract. He showed a clip of Gladiator and spoke about sieging the opportunity at right time, called Carpe Diem. He explained like many of us he watched so many movies as a kid but when he grew up he started analysing the movies. He started thinking how a scene was shot or what the scene teaches for people. From then on I started looking at movies in a different perspective. I looked for what is learning in some good movies and many good scenes. I always use cinema references in my conversations with students.

These I noted some time back… Wanted to share with others… Knowledge shared is better.. right???

June 13^th 2012

Movie:                                 My Cousin Vinny

Scene:                 Court scene in the end where Marisa Tomei is a Hostile witness. She and Joe Pesci are in love.  She is on stand and Joe shows her pics and asks her questions. She acts very hostile to answer and finally she shows her expertise in automobiles which makes the Judge, Jury and the whole courtroom accept her version. The kids arrested for are released based on her expert witness

Management Lesson:    You dont know which corner you get help from by impressing everyone around you. You have to seek help and sometimes bring the best in people around you even though they dont like to be helping. Its all about playing to the other person strength and using the same.. Who said watching movies is waste of time.

June 16^th 2012

Movie:                 Notting Hill

Scene:                  Caught the end of “Notting hill” Julia Roberts who is a famous film star in movie and Huge Grant who is a book shop owner in UK. Anna Scott (Mrs Roberts name in movie) walks into Huge Grant book shop... She says after some dialogues “I'm a just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her"

Management Lesson:    Watching this I thought of a 2nd management lesson: During performance review time every employee acts like a girl asking for love (rise and benefits) from his/her manager irrespective of their work if they did really well or really horrible during the year

July 6^th 2012

Movie:                                 Scarface (Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer)

No scenes here but overall movie teaches something.. Being a huge fan of mafia movies, I love the discipline and the commitment in most of them

Management Lesson No: 3

Tony Montana (Al Pacino) moves from Cuba to US... He believes he can become what he wants to. Pursues the goal and becomes top in his area of expertise that is being a mafia don. Everyone has a talent that they are good at. First know what your talent is. Look for that inner strength and go for it. You will excel in your area of specialization.

Management Lesson No: 4

Tony Montana would not hurt family and kids and asks all of the people working for him to follow the same. He fights serious enemies and kills the assassin Roberto when he does not listen to him (Montana). Similarly you also should believe in what you stand for and ready to face worst enemy for it. Live by principles you believe in – good or bad…No one cannot judge you but for your own

June 16^th 2013:

Movie                   Ocean Eleven

Scene:                  Entire movie

Management lesson:

Given right team you can deliver any project can be completed.. You need a good executive sponsor (Rubein), Great team leads (George Clooney and Brad Pitt), right team… who fits everything like the small Japanese guy to experts like Matt D. If you execute everything with precision and planning you can deliver any project with success on schedule and in budget …