Experience Trap

There is a recent article by a prof from INSEAD. They tend to quantify what we have been knowing since a long time but haven't been able to prove yet! In fact, sometime back I had heard a saying, you can prove anything if you have enough data. So, we did not have the data and I assume that the prof in question and his colleague, are relying on data for this disclosure.

They call it the 'Experience Trap'.

They have tried to remove the belief that experience of senior managers helps in taking better decisions. In fact, as we would have already seen, there have been many instances when the wrong lessons learnt will really be slowing down the project pace than helping anyone.

How many times does this happen and can anything be done until the damage really occurs?

Well, the word is 'relevant' experience is something that will help in such cases. Just because a person has more than two decades of experience may not always help. And many a times, a fresh approach of a relatively less experienced person might be a better way to solutions.

As I said in the beginning, its all about data. To quote the site that details this, "Sengupta says it’s not as though companies don’t have the information or they don’t want to give it to managers, but “they don’t give it in a way that the managers can understand what’s going on and draw conclusions that can help them in this and future projects.”"

Well, this is quite true, isn't it?

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YAFO

(This is from another older post of mine, here.)

Samir told entrepreneurs suffer from a YAFO mentality. They see opportunities anywhere and everywhere. (By the if you didn't know this, YAFO stands for Yet Another F****** Opportunity). And all opportunities need not be taken up by the VCs he said. There are places where angel investors are more happy to contribute than an exit-seeking VC.

There was another fellow who quoted a well known author while saying that entrepreneurs also have the B-HAG syndrome - (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).

A series of interviews were conducted with distinguished entrepreneurs. They were asked what characteristics they felt were essential to success as an entrepreneur. Good health was a characteristic mentioned by every entrepreneur interviewed. Entrepreneurs are physically resilient and in good health. They can work for extended periods of time, and while they are in the process of building their business, they refuse to get sick.

Emotional Stability: Entrepreneurs have a considerable amount of self-control and can handle business pressures. They are comfortable in stress situations and are challenged rather than discouraged by setbacks or failures.

I could summarize the following from some websites:

Most important for success as an entrepreneur:

* Perseverance
* Desire and willingness to take the initiative
* Competitiveness
* Self-reliance
* A strong need to achieve
* Self-confidence
* Good physical health


Important for success as an entrepreneur:

* A willingness to take risks
* A high level of energy
* An ability to get along with employees
* Versatility
* A desire to create
* Innovation


Other traits of success as an entrepreneur:

* Ability to lead effectively
* A willingness to tolerate uncertainty
* A strong desire for money
* Patience
* Being well organized
* A need for power
* A need to closely associate with others

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Who wants to be an entrepreneur?

Well, the answer is too simple. Almost everybody.
The key word is 'wants'. Almost everybody 'wants' to be an entrepreneur, whether they go ahead to become one or not is something different. There is something in all of us that will make us nod in agreement that we want to start something of our own and damn the whole of gang of managers that are hell-bent on not allowing us to be one. And the other question with a similar answer is, who hates his/her manager? Well,...
Once you are on the field, all the steam condenses.
Management is not something which is that easy once you are in the chair. Almost everybody in the beginning of their careers will be ready to join the band wagon of 'manager sucks'-shouters. But once you are put in charge of 'everything', you will know the taste. Saying that your manager is really a sick person shows your immaturity in oneself - and also in seeing the picture outside from a smaller hole in the wall. People who become good entrepreneurs are folks who know the in-and-out of handling people.
Entrepreneurship shows a good amount of maturity in handling judgments in life. (You can read more about characteristics of a good entrepreneur in my other post). What you learn in one year of being on your own is more than what you get in about half a decade of the conventional management. As a manager for some company, you still work for someone else, and you don't really lose everything when you do a mistake. But a an entrepreneur, you can lose everything just because of one wrong decision.

Everybody wants, but how many dare, to be an entrepreneur?

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The Wiki Story

There is an old story in which a man had to carry a lakh* rupees in a public bus without any protection. He was worried that he might be robbed. As he kept his bag on the shelf overhead, he announced to all that the bag had a lakh rupees. Almost everyone looked at the bag and kept an eye on it till the journey got over. This way, the man was able to make the whole bus take care of his money and not lose it. But what if the all the folks in the bus had decided to loot him?

*(A lakh is one-tenth of a million and is a big amount of money, to carry openly, specially in the earlier days.)

It took me quite some time before I really dug out the meaning of the word Wiki. I have been referring to Wikipedia since my engineering days, way back in 2003. I find it one of the greatest ways of distributing authentic (or almost authentic) knowledge.

The relation between the story above and the idea of wikipedia seem to be similar. The whole world ensures that the knowledge disseminated on the site is correct. This really applies to places where ambiguity is less - such as definitions of technical or financial terms. Even historical and geographical terms are explained to a good degree of accuracy. And I feel that's what matters for places where education is not able to reach everywhere. I was amazed to talk to boy from a rural school in India, who simply looked up Wikipedia to tell me about piezoelectricity. See, we are not competing at the Nobel prize level to go really deep into the topic but basic knowledge transfer really happens in a very practical way.

But what if the whole bus wants to rob the man? This, though very less probable, is not improbable.

For wikipedia, this happens when people write about controversial issues such as political fights. Just look at the page that describes Bush! Well, when it is something which is like this, folks put on the banner that 'this is controversial'. Now, its up to you how you understand what is put forth to you.

But overall, in innumerable ways, Wikipedia has brought in university professors' thoughts into my study place. It really solves a need that is there in developing countries (and in developed countries as well)! And there are millions of folks who would benefit more from it than from any other text they read.

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Narayanmurthy on Leadership

This is an article on leadership by Narayanmurthy, on Rediff.com.(Click on the link above.)

MIMO SISO Strategic planning

A 'Strategy' is an elaborate and systematic plan of action. Strategy and planning are often used interchangeably, though strategy is used in a more serious manner. In my opinion, strategy is similar to a MIMO problem in control systems - Multiple Input Multiple Output. In MIMO, the simplest way to approach the situation is to divide it into a number of SISO (Single Input Single Output) problems. Assume that the final output is being affected solely by one of the inputs and analyze the situation. Repeat the same approach in a systematic way for all the inputs and all the outputs, and then assign priority numbers or any other measurable way to see which will be the best way to attack the problem.

 

I do not want to do a complete mapping of MIMO approach as it is too complex - but it does make sense in having this kind of a comparison.

 

(...)

Branding - 1

Its all in a name for many of the items that we use in our daily lives. A deep psychological impact is generated by brand names, which is the reason for either opting again for or avoiding completely, one particular brand.

 

Basically, branding is a feature that got really high in the twentieth century. Earlier, you used to have something like Indian spices being a brand all over the world, but now you have a deeper penetration within the same categories. You just do not have Indian spices but a variety of spice brands inside India itself.

 

There is a subtle strategy in branding that makes a indelible mark on the consumer's mindset. How many times have we preferred using a branded watch rather than a locally made one, even though the experience with both of them is almost same? In fact, branded products give an extra sense of being in the 'edge-of-the-times' and a greater acceptance/appreciation, which you tend to miss with locally made or not so popular brands.

 

A brand is a collection of a variety of things - experiences, stories, fables, etc that tell you a characteristic of the product. It is something that you can relate to and will add value to your personage.

 

(Post Being edited..)

NGO and money

Some people assume that managing teams where money is not the major motive, such as in NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), is simpler. Things are quite different, in the real world. In fact, where money is the major motive, goals and objectives become more measurable than in places where money is not the aim. There have been instances where a non-performing NGO has been transformed into a performing one, after its objectives were quantified by the amount of dollar savings it brings in into the common man's life. (To be edited further..)