If the glass is half empty, at least you can't drown Monday, November 09, 2009

The best week in Darden so far. And all because it had less of Darden in it. Don't get me wrong. I like the intensity. It makes me stretch myself. But once in a while, you do need that break. To explore and experience some other things. To sit back and relax and just enjoy doing nothing. Black November as it is turning out, already happened in October.

It can get a little intimidating at times. Case studies, class participation. exam grades, cover letters, networking calls. It's a lot to handle when you have never done it before. And that's why this week was so special. So needed.

Monday and Tuesday went as usual with inventory management trying to match up to Capital Asset Pricing Model and the IS/LM curve. From Wednesday, however, things started getting really good. First, we had this Operations filed trip to MicroAire. Seeing the push-pull strategies of marketing and the lean manufacturing principles of operations actually being used in real life was quite a kick. And since MicroAire was into manufacturing surgical instruments like those used in Carpal Tunnel and Knee Replacement surgeries, there was the ethics angle to it too when it came to how much should the market be driven by the manufacturers and not by the doctors.

The rest of the week was easy and didn't involve case preparation. This meant that the entire evening was free. I spent the afternoons playing Racquetball; had Thai food one evening and just enjoyed being relaxed. Wednesday night, in particular was great not only because of the dinner but also because of the fact that it was one of those rare nights, when unwinding did not mean getting high on alcohol and being with hundred other first years in a bar. We walked down to Tara Thai at Barracks, had dinner and then came back chatting about first year and our expectations from this whole MBA experience.

The Virginia Film Festival was in progress and so some of us decided to catch a few films. Meet John Doe, Departures & Wonderful World. Three very different movies. But three very satisfying experiences.

Meet John Doe is a classic about the power of press and how it can create and destroy public figures. My friend had told me that there was a Hindi movie - Main Azaad Hoon which was inspired by this one.

Departures (last year's Foreign Language Film winner at the Oscar) is as unique a movie as I have ever seen. An unemployed cellist takes on the job of 'preparing' dead bodies for the funeral. It's a beautiful commentary on life and death and the emotions the death of near and dear ones can evoke in us. There's a lot of dry humor and drama in the script but I particularly loved the closure that the ending brought which seemed to reconcile all the different threads - the main character's tension with his wife regarding his not so glamorous job and his memories of his father who had left when he was a six year old.

I could talk about Wonderful World but it's better if you watch the trailer. Matthew Broderick puts in a controlled and powerful understated performance as the pessimist who would start believing in the general goodness in the world once he sees "fish falling from the sky". The dialogues are crisp and even though I would have liked the script to be less abstract and more explicit; this works.

And in both these movies, the soundtrack is really melodious. Loved both the classical (even haunting) cello pieces in Departures and the acoustic guitar pieces in Wonderful World.

And yes, we went bowling last night and played a First Year Vs Second Year cricket match today which we narrowly lost.

Quite a week.

By the way, the title of this post is from the movie Wonderful World.

From Engineering to Economics Monday, November 02, 2009

Stack means LIFO and Queue means FIFO. The most basic data structures in computer science.

Well, apparently, they are also inventory costing methods used in Financial Accounting.

So what's the best thing about coming to a B-School from an engineering background?

Quant skills? Structured thinking? A sense of confidence that you would be able to survive it? Knowing the equation of a normal distribution and being able to handle probability?

No. If you ask me that is.

The best thing is that none of the courses are a repeat of what you did in undergrad. Which means that the balance sheets and the bond pricing and the supply, demand, interest rate graphs are all new for me. Yes, for some of the things, (and this is mostly in economics) Wikipedia had already given me a foundation to build on, but learning about how the Fed might lower interest rates to bolster investment in a formal setting is certainly helping me get a stronger grasp on it. Suddenly the articles in the WSJ have started to make sense. Like when they talked about Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target not being able to discount price books in Europe or when they analyzed various industries on the basis of cash as percentage of assets.

It's tiring and frustrating at times. Being asked to do so much in so little time. But at least so far, it takes just a moment to sit down, take a few steps and realize the tremendous potential these two years have. And I'm not talking about getting a great job and walking out with a fat paycheck. I'm simply talking about the perspective a B-School can (and already is) give to someone who hasn't studied about business before.

After The Rain Sunday, October 25, 2009

I finally found some time to go out with my camera and take some pictures of the place I live in. As has become the norm here, the weekdays are generally gorgeous and it rains all day during the weekends. Today was not all that bad though. The rain stopped during the late afternoon. The sun came out in bursts in between drizzles and an overcast sky. At times, a gust of wind would shake off the water droplets from the leaves giving an impression that it had started to rain again. The weather was pleasant without being cold. There was a section party coming up in the evening. Could you blame me for completely wasting my day and doing nothing?

Green & Yellow

Leaves on the grass

Wooden stubs

Rain droplets on the leaves

Inside Ivy Gardens. The road that leads to my apartment

Against a cloudy sky

The road that runs between Darden and Ivy Gardens

Exam Week Tuesday, October 13, 2009

It's so different. 5 hours, open notes, take home, honor code and the least stressful week of the entire quarter - exam week in Darden is a whole new experience. Maybe it was planned that way. After all aren't we supposed to 'Trust the process'? I mean, the week before it was hell! Consulting conference, GMO conference, company briefings, networking dinners and of course, cases. Cases which ran for 30 pages and had scores of Exhibits. Cases which were supposed to be cracked without the aid of the learning teams. And then suddenly it's Friday night and you almost feel a void. You study because others are. You go through the review notes and try and organize all the stuff in folders for easy reference. You say to yourself that you havent been slacking off during the last 2 months so you will be okay even without studying for the last 2 days. No. Don't get me wrong. I'm no rock star and I'm solidly in the middle when it comes to the unique Darden phenomenon called class participation (trust me, other B Schoolers - it's different here!). It's just that studying before exams is not my thing. Till high school, I was supposedly a smart kid and didn't need to study before exams. In undergrad, I was way too screwed up to make any significant improvements by studying in the last week (though the night outs made sure I never got an F! and over years I learned the art of optimizing my study hours to just make that mark). Here, its neither of the two. And yet. I cant sit down and study. So, it's not my thing. QED!

The marketing exam was a mix of emotions. I used my old strategy to start off with the last question. It helped that it was an easy one so I felt good after the first 15 minutes. Couldn't say the same for the rest of the 4 hours and 45 minutes though. So at the end, I had a lot of margins and percentages and numbers and dollars floating around the word doc and I was hoping that at least half of it made sense to the professor. Hope, like they say, is a strategy.

Accounting tomorrow. And then 3 more papers. And then the 100 case party. And then Metallica. And then Quarter 2 from Monday. I love Darden.

of potato chips and tomato ketchups Saturday, September 26, 2009

"Even if you are not interested in marketing, go to the Marketing Forum. The Frito Lay guy is a terrific speaker."

He indeed was. For an hour, as Dave Skena (VP Marketing) spoke about the latest Potato Chips ad campaign, I sat in amazement - somewhat in awe of the art of marketing.

He started with how they set about reaching out to the consumer with a very simple strategy. That the chips are made of three things - potato, vegetable oil and a dash of salt. To dispense the image of an unhealthy, junk, fat filled diet, they launched ads which showed the farmers from across the country who supplied potatoes to the Frito Lay plants. The simplicity and uniqueness of the whole exercise took the audience by surprise and yes, revenues started showing positive trends. So there I was - an Indian, listening to an American talk about a snack which I'm not particularly crazy about, watching ads which showed farmers from Florida and Texas and Michigan - and yet I could somewhat identify with it. As much as there are numbers and market share and consumer lifetime value, maybe marketing is indeed a lot about knowing the pulse of the consumer.

Heinz followed next, carrying on the theme of Ketchup = Tomatoes. Noel Geoffroy, Director of Consumer Products Ketchup and a Darden alum, talked about changing the label in front of the bottle. About how replacing the pickle with the tomato and increasing the font size of Tomato had so much research going into it whereas the consumer was not really bothered about it that much. As a guy who has almost zero brand loyalty when it comes to CPGs, it was a revelation to get a peek into the minds of people who have and what goes into deciding what to buy and how much to buy. Like mothers who want to give their 10 year olds a 'healthy' ketchup and thus need to be absolutely sure what the ketchup is made of.

The DuPont presentation, to me, was the least exciting of the lot. It might have got a little to do with the fact that I was feeling sleepy by that time but apart from the bit where he talked about how Teflon sticks to the pan, I was bored.

MarketBridge was next and Katrina Lowes, SVP Marketing Services talked about Social Media and how Humana was using its social media portal to foster collaboration among users. She pointed out how, everybody, in the race to capture the youth population (25-35) have forgotten about the Baby Boomers aged around 50-65 who form the bulk of the world population. Never ever in the history of mankind have there been more people of this age and that represents a huge market if you are ready for it. She talked about how these are people who are nearing their retirement. About how these are people who are sustaining their families and have, in a lot of cases, both parents and children to take care of. She talked about how, they want to talk to others about things ranging from sex to healthcare, from emotional stresses to the changing world around them. It was funny that Katrina mentioned the stupid war that CNN had with Ashton Kutcher in Twitterland and how Social Media is Not about getting a million people to follow your tweet or blog. On the other hand, if you are FlyLady, you do have control over the minds of millions of people!

4:00 P.M. and it was time for Dan Holler, Product Director - Johnson's Baby to talk about the "Olympics Campaign - Thanks Mom". Particularly engaging was the bit where he talked about how they signed in Cullen Jones even before he was a part of the US Olympic Swimming team. A shortage of funds meant that they couldn't sign in big names like Phelps so they decided on this approach and shot the ads in very less time, using the training grounds of the athletes as the backdrop as they talked about how their mothers have influenced them throughout their life. Novel, inexpensive concept. But here's the magic that happened after it. Jones made it to the Olympic team. He then somehow made it to the six who formed the relay team. But only four were to make the finals. Against all odds, he makes it and is the last man in the relay. If you haven't already, dig out the YouTube link and watch how he beats the French guy to win the Gold (thus helping Phelps get his 8 medals). The story doesn't end here. By a rare mix of luck, forecast, science and add what you want, the first TV ad slot after the 4x100 relay is the Johnson & Johnson one where Jones says "Thanks Mom".

General Mills came up next and with no disrespect to them, the emotional high of Johnson & Johnson was tough to better. I listened to them talk about targeting the Hispanic market even though none of the guys presenting spoke Spanish. We laughed out loud at the part where they talked about how Latina women only want slim waists and don't really care about anything else!

After more than 4 hours of sitting in Classroom 50, I came out of the 2009 Marketing Forum feeling good and a lot more informed about the science (& arts) of marketing. The speakers were great. The subject matter was even better. And although I still don't want to get into marketing, yet, I feel I more than had my time's worth.

What are you going to do about the wrist, Doctor Dorsey Tuesday, September 22, 2009

In our management communications class today, about 15 of us told their 2 minute leadership story. Some talked about people who had inspired them while others narrated instances from their own lives. We had Paul Farmer's example of how leadership is about empowering people and bringing hope. Then there was the ex Indian Army grandfather who packed up his business in India and went to the US so that his grandson could get his VISA. There were stories of coaches and mentors; of a Mohammed who had immigrated from Pakistan to Canada; of a 29 year old millionaire who went shirtless to office, and of the moment when The Dalai Lama told someone that her opinion mattered.

It was amazing how each story was so unique and yet so powerful. But what made the session special was the story the Doctor said. As somebody pointed out later, the fact that nobody said a word or raised their hand even after he had gone back to his seat bore testimony to the impact it had had on us. I wont even try to talk about it here. If you were there in the class you would have felt its power.

It's a humbling experience. To be sharing the class with these guys. Hopefully someday I'll have a story which blows your mind!

Only The Boy Can Go Wednesday, September 16, 2009

And he did.

Today I went to the first of Darden Leadership Speaker Series and heard Ralph de la Vega talk. About things ranging from the story of a 10 year old who had to leave behind his parents in Cuba to come to the US, to iPhone apps and how the Apple - AT&T collaboration happened. It was enthralling. He told us about his meeting with Steve Jobs during the pre launch days of the iPhone and how he couldn't even talk about the design of the phone to his boss. Then there was his take on the ubiquity of the wireless network and how its making ways for the cellular company to collaborate with Beer manufacturers. I did my Masters Thesis on Sensor Networks (although the amount of work I put in it could be debated!) so it was quite exciting to listen to him talk about it briefly.

Woven in between all this was his personal story of making it big in the land of opportunities. Of struggles coping with language, culture and food. Of his love for Miami and not so much for Chicago. He was a really good story teller - as our Management Communications professor would say. It helped though, that he had one heck of a story. He ended with a piece of advice which I have often heard. But this time around, it felt a lot more powerful. Maybe it was him. Or maybe its the energy you feel when you are at Darden!

He said never to let anyone place limitations on what we can do. Somebody had dissuaded him from being an engineer. And he was on his way to becoming a mechanic instead. His grandmother, however, believed otherwise.

It's a wonderful place. Darden. All that they said about the intensity, energy, people, professors has been true. And beyond.

Let the games begin Monday, August 10, 2009

I saw him sitting next to me at the Division of Motor Vehicles Office. He had the distinctive Darden School of Business black folder with him. 'So are you attending Darden', I asked.

That's how I met one of my classmates.

My first 2 weeks here have been really good. Meeting new people has been fun. The fact that almost everybody seems to have such a different (read as hugely interesting) background makes it that much more exciting. We've already had about 3-4 get togethers and the group seems to be growing each day. People have been posting on Facebook, meet-ups are being planned everyday, some just turn up at your door and ask 'Are you darden guys', some you met at the Ivy Garden Office (Ivy Garden is the name of our Apartment complex) as they are moving in - I love the spontaneity of it all. All the buzz words that I had seen on the brochures and the websites while applying - diversity, small town feel, close knit community, high energy - are gradually beginning to make sense.

School starts tomorrow. Well it's actually the orientation. So there would be more people to meet. And judging from the ones I have met so far, the good times are just beginning.

Playing with my new toy

It's really worth all the hype. Ive not been able to stop tapping it ever since I got it a few days ago. In fact, I'm writing this from my phone! Just wanted to check if it really works.

Drinking Hot Chocolate & Reading Pamuk at the JFK airport Sunday, August 02, 2009

A week ago I left Kolkata for Charlottesville - ending what was a very satisfying, transitory, eventful and relaxed phase of my life. One which was also characterized by anticipation mixed with some amount of uneasiness. An uneasiness which, I guess, a change of this proportion in anybody's life is bound to bring. I got my errands done, kept myself very busy, enjoyed the extended stay with my parents, savoured the brilliant sunsets our ninth floor apartment offered everyday, and was cheered up by the weather which was somewhere between an all out monsoon and the heat that preceeds it.

Charlottesville has been fun so far. And school hasnt even started yet. From an ex army who served in Iraq and knows about Sachin Tendulkar to an NFL quarterback - meeting people from all over the US has been a totally new experience. We've already had a couple of get togethers and as far as first impressions go, people seem to be nice. Last night we went to the famous Downtown Mall in C'Ville and it really was unique. I didnt have my camera along so can't post pictures but the pebbled road and the solo artists playing flute and violin lent a very old world, arty feel to the place. The band which was playing (Alligator, I think, they're called) was good to listen to in the background.

It helps that my house is a little less than a 5 minute walk from my school. More so because at 11 o' clock today, I felt like taking a picture of the Saunders building at night. It's a very majestic building and has a certain aura to it. And by night as well as by day, it looks gorgeous.

And about the title of the post - it makes for an interesting title (a little snooty maybe), right. But then again, last Sunday at the JFK International airport, I was indeed reading Pamuk's Other Colors while waiting for my flight to DC and not just because of the book, life felt really good.