Life Spiral - A new life post INSEAD !

Reinventing myself

2011-07-20T03:48:00.001+02:00

Today is 20.Jul.2011 and I would like to reinvent myself.

I want to redefine what I standfor and where I am headed and be more certain about it.

A Proud August

2010-09-05T21:19:00.002+02:00

I am proud of the way I finished August 2010.

I finished 4 books this August. They are Super Crunchers, Buyology, A better India, A better World, and 3 Cups of Tea. I had such a blast racing against time with my books.

My Portfolio was worth EUR 8718 (incl. EUR 317 cash) on 1-Aug-2010 and it was worth EUR 9,708 (incl. 522.89 cash)on the 31st of August 2010. I made EUR 1000.

I spent three weekends with the family visiting the constance summer festival, Mainau the island in bodensee and the gorgeous Neuschweinstein castle

The one thing I wished I did a little better on was my relationship with my boss that is starting to deteriorate.

Change - Drive it / Never be driven

2010-08-02T13:58:00.001+02:00

When the changes around you seem rapid sometimes it is better to slow down, take it easy and start understanding.

I re-read "Your iceberg is melting" a few days back.

Not Urgent: That is waht email is for.

2009-01-29T09:57:00.004+01:00

I hired someone a few months back because I was convinced the guy was the best I could find in the market. I went on my christmas holiday (long one) and came back to only find that he had quit even before I returned from holidays (although we promised each other to wait for action). After about 2 weeks of analysis, I have understood the root cause. It is EMAIL. Yes, you read it right, it is the outright bastardization of one of the most marvellous tools of our generation, Email. Ok, to release the puzzled look on your face let me explain.

During my holidays there were some exchanges between the gentleman and some individuals who I would not hire even to do janitorial work (in some scarily senior positions)and the man got disillusioned by the attitude (rightfully so in my opinion). The exchanges show that there were not much of a face to face conversation, maybe some phone calls and possibly one real meeting. It is too late. Unfortunately for us, this gentleman brings over 15 years of expertise in the market under consideration and is one of the most respected figures across the industry (which models after the Italian Gomorrah)circles.

When I negotiate for my next role, I plan to add a 20% Blackberry tax to my compensation if I am expected to stay connected. Different from Barack Obama? Well if I choose to change the world, I will not let others intrude my life through the tool meant for the "maybe important but certainly not urgent" communication. If it is really urgent and important, call me - DO NOT send me an email or post a comment on this blog ;)

Blackberry (or email) is certainly addictive, but I wonder if Steven Covey, Michael Brimm (the INSEAD OB God) or John Maxwell (21 irrefutable laws of leadership) will approve of the current surrender of human brain to technology. It will take us another decade in my opinion to understand the power of getting things done in the real world is more important than technology ever will be. Stop hiding behind your computer and please get to work.

Negotiating with people without values

2009-01-28T15:08:00.002+01:00

I am involved now in a big multi-party negotiation. There is nothing more frustrating than negotiating with people without values. It is much worse than people without authority. I have both kind of parties in my negotiation. Most of these people do not like setting ground rules (Italians grrr). I am inches away from walking away simply because of values. My BATNA is scarily low, but hey those negotiation instructors in INSEAD need to learn a thing or two about assigning scores in the BATNA value for human pride and values.

Leadership

2009-01-14T12:42:00.002+01:00

A day when I am learning more about leadership than any other day in this company. I am in the middle of an organizational storm and everyone around me has been touched. Some have been touched positively and some have been touched negatively. I do not think it is right for me to judge especially the negative touches. But I am convinced, the power of °ahimsa° (Martin Luther King + Mahatma Gandhi) using non-violence to achieve victories over the more powerful does work.

Strong values and strong belief in self does take you places. I have seen it today more than any other day in my life. A smile is glowing in my face although I do think there is huge potential in the ones that lost and hope they are able to move forward in peace with themselves.

Bad times test one's character

2008-12-03T10:16:00.004+01:00

It is incredible how much one is put to test in a crisis. I have not seen a Crisis this close from an industry that is right in the heart of the crisis. Demand in November for what we make is down 30% on the median. That is notorious in an industry with razor thin margins and very high capacity costs and full of excess capacity. Everything about the business model is value destroying (strategy 101) in the industry I am passionate about.

The sad part is how people react in the crisis. The key phenomenon I am seeing around me today is called "Grab the chair". People have clearly stopped acting in the best interest of the company. People have stopped acting to cut costs. People have stopped acting to improve morale of people down the chain. Instead people have chosen as their number one priority "Saving their chairs". Everyone will do anything and everything just to ensure that they maintain the status-quo with their jobs. No one around me sees this crisis as an opportunity to redefine the way business is done. To think how to capitalize on the opportunities when we get out of the crisis. How we can build capacity in our networks to ensure that we reduce failures and do things right first time. It is painful. Today more than ever I want to be an entrepreneur rather than an employee.

5 Year Reunion

2008-05-27T17:44:00.002+02:00

When I was told by a colleague that he was returning to INSEAD for his five year reunion my heart missed a beat. I am almost racing towards 2 years since graduation and guess what???? I am uncertain about everything about life. Uncertain about what I want out of life. How I can make career a less risky marathon and not a daily dose of "100 meter dash". Its all frightening. But then I look at my job and I say. "Wow, I work with those 3 markets that are growing exponentially and we are starting from scratch, I also work for this company that is doing so spectacularly well right?"...there is still 3 years to do something to be proud of. I am not sure if I want to be proud there or not. I certainly want to be happy.

New Life, New Role, New Results, New News.

2008-04-21T14:41:00.000+02:00

Hello all,
It is incredible how much life has changed in the last four months. Things have been looking up, up and up. My role changed into something I was looking to do. A line role, where my results can be measured. I also seem to enjoy the travelling (100K miles in the last 3 months) and the numerous people I meet. I have lot several weekends on flights but the effort has been well worthit.

In the meantime the markets have been crashing and things are getting a little yucky with the markets and we are unsure if things will stay as good. We will wait and watch.

Hilarious Italian Laws !

2007-12-27T14:02:00.001+01:00

Non-EU citizen staying with you - inform police authorities
Published 2007.07.04

As of April 12, 2007, Law no. 46, dated April 11, 2007 reinstates the obligation to inform police authorities if you have a non-EU citizen staying with you.

This must be done within 48 hours of the person arriving.

Anyone not respecting this obligation risks a fine of between 160 and 1,100 euros.

Employers employing a non-EU worker are not required to do so.

This is compulsory for all those who, for any reason, give lodgings to, or host foreign or displaced citizens (even relatives or similar), or allow said persons to use property in Italy.

The communication must be detailed and include all the hosted person’s document details and exact location of the property.

If accommodation was provided for non-EU citizens between February 20 and April 12 (the period in which this requirement was not in force, given that the law has now been reinstated), you are simply required to communicate this information to the authorities as soon as possible.

A week gone

2007-11-14T16:41:00.000+01:00

A week after 2 weeks of vacation has never been so free. I have talked to three people that matter on potential roles for me working with emerging markets. One role seems near concrete. Do not want to get excited about things yet. Conversation with HR is scheduled shortly after a couple of reschedulings.

Ho finito un anno in Italia.

2007-10-16T17:32:00.000+02:00

Io ho finito un anno in Italia. Adesso non-parlo molto Italiano pero e un buono tiempo per communiciare il mio Italiano con questo blog. Chi puo dire? lol. Io penso che ho imparato mai. Pero proviamo.

Il mio anno sono andato uneventful. Il mia vita e in una grande-fili di bureaucrazia. Io ho una bella casa, una bella machina e una bella moglie. (non che niente un anno fa). Pero non ho "peace of mind". Non lo so perche. La bella vita esterno non e buono per una bella vita interno.

Ok jokes apart let me try blogging once in English...

I have spent a year. Here is a review of the year that passed. What has changed.

I have a new house, car, and a wife. That is nice. Am not sure if any of that brings me peace. But it is all there. The stress of working here and the bureaucracy at times is extremely overwhelming. (well when I had to face the french - who happen certainly to be better than Italians). I love the warmth the people here hold in their hearts and how everything is extremely emotional (just like me), I feel right at home in this place. My dress sense has changed marginally (and I still am the worst dressed at work by far) but enough for non-Italians like my family to take notice. I enjoy the food more than any other food type I know.

Nissan - The Scare !

2007-06-22T15:44:00.001+02:00

I know I am not writing a whole lot but then here is a quick update about life

(1) Married life is fabulous - Trips to Barcelona, Milan, Venice, Florence - can anyone complain? I am going to upload pictures, maybe rome is soon.

(2) Italian is a disaster - Ever since I returned I haven't done anything about my Italian despite promises to myself every single day

(3) Work is worse ...well depends on the perspective I take...based on the current perspective its awesome - Well I have been trying to persuade people with a couple of cool ideas but no one is inspired...So I decided I will just blog and browse the net, book tickets, plan weekends and watch videos at work :). Its not worse, its awesome.

Ok now back to the subject of the blog. I barely finished the book on Nissan and I already said skeptical things about him but after the news on FT in the last few days about Nissan I thought I will search blogs to see what people are saying and here is Citizen Carrie's view.

Changing the World the Penguin Way !

2007-06-14T17:38:00.001+02:00

It is incredible to relate to a fable when you are frighteningly old is it? Maybe not, I loved every single thing about the fable I am going through at the moment - Anyone reading "Our Iceberg is melting"?. It has to be the creation of a genius. I am loving it. Get to www.ouricebergismelting.com if you get a chance.

Book Review: Inside Nissan

2007-06-06T08:43:00.000+02:00

Although I read this book nearly a couple of months back and a lot has happenned in life between then and now, I choose to write a brief review of whatever I can remember. I found the book interesting because it exposes one to both the personality of someone significantly global and still primarily European (there is a little irony in there isn't it?) and the automotive industry in Japan, and how it is seen by an outsider. Both these subjects are close to my heart.

About the turn-around of Nissan, I still do not know if the things done were right. I still don't know if the things done are sustainable. The whole idea of the 20 billion plan (which got him the top job in nissan) seems fascinating. But then he seems not to be the kind of guy who can explain execution. He sounds like it is quite simple to execute if you are in the top and you have the right people. Infact execution seems to be the simpler thing for him once you have a goal (even if it sounds ridiculously unrealistic) and the strategy to achieve it. I have seen several strategies made in some of the best companies in the world and not executed well enough or the way it was intended to be.

The low productivity syndrome

2007-04-16T15:44:00.000+02:00

I have been reading a lot about productivity in the various countries and have realized the mistake people do with the concept of productivity. Individually people believe that putting in a lot of hours is good. But it is not the same as results (output). Hence if enough $ is not generated based on over-working it all goes waste. Infact it hurts the productivity of the company or country. Japan always has this problem. Italy (Although I haven't seen data) is a lot like that.

I feel bad about my personal productivity. I have spent more time postponing meetings because people don't want to meet you :) rather than getting things done. Many people think meetings suck and meetings kill productivity. Working in isolation hurts even more. Thats precisely what a lot of my colleagues choose to do. It is one of those low days.

I guess I should get off the depressing subject to the book review.

Clock forward, moving a gear ahead !

2007-03-25T19:24:00.000+02:00

This is a very unique week in several ways. When in the last few weeks I have been talking to colleagues and some senior executives around me on what they think are the important issues that need to be addressed over the next year from my role. I have also put together a "story" bringing together all these perspectives and adding my own experience to it. The end result has given me good confidence to go ahead and start selling the story. FW 12/Fw 13 have actually been important. As europe starts to turn its clock forward, I am symbollically starting to accelerate in my job.

This week when I saw significant "neutral" views from several senior quarters (read: boss) on the proposal, I was quite impressed that someone in my group was briefed with my "ideas" with the suggestion that "this is important for us". Ironically my boss came back to me and started pushing me on a proposal. That is great sign because I get to do what I passionately believe in.

I also had a very eventful weekend with the clock moving forward, Parties, dinner at friends, squash and roller-blading, no wonder the social life starts falling in place the moment you start feeling happy. Wedding preparations are in full swing too !

The day trip, the roller-blades, wedding panics and proactivity

2007-03-18T19:50:00.000+01:00

There seems to have been a sudden splurge in activity in my life for some unknown reasons. Activity and "busy-ness" make me happy if you are following my other blog http://theideasbook.blogspot.com/ (sigh am I an attention freak or a marketing guru?) and hence I am in one of my better moods today. It has been a while since I have been as much in peace with myself. I think the fundamental reason today for my cheerfulness is the one hour I spent roller-blading around 4 kms perhaps the longest I have done in a long long time (that I could possibly measure atleast)

When you roller-blade (atleast with a slightly-above-beginner like myself) the perspective you have on the surface is quite different from the one you might have when you walk or cycle the same route! Its incredible. I infact walked through the same places I went to yesterday but then when the surface gets rough, my blades get stuck a lot and I have to dance around before I can get control of myself...kind of funny to watch the cyclists around look out for me. The weather in this part of the world is beautiful at this time and I am taking advantage of it. I need a picture of the street I roller-bladed in today - maybe I will get that picture in next weekend.

Last weekend a friend of mine and I drove down to Italian Alps on the French border. It was a small roman city with a few ski resorts. Although I was very excited about my first attempt at skiing in the alps, my friend was quite nervous about the roughness of the snow. We chose to walk around the roman town and click some pictures in typical touristy fashion and return home. It was a long day but fun. I ended it with a self-treat of buying the roller blades ! My life now is turning into a pursuit of "happiness". Roller-blades is just one means to achieve it.

In the other continents, the wedding preparation is in full swing, as I blog I am roughly 40 days from getting married. Thats very little time everyone says and they are right. The nervousness is yet to hit me.

At work, I have not been as proud and happy as I have been about my accomplishments in the last 3-4 weeks. The fruits of my labor is in the form of a PPT document :) trying to explain what I want to do over the next year. I think I am setting myself goals, when I don't see others setting it for me atleast clearly enough for me :).

Prodi Resigns !!!

2007-02-23T18:20:00.000+01:00

Politics in Italy is incredible. I was surprised that the man resigned from his job when he dared say the right things in the face of people. Amazing how much the opinion of a noisy minority is depressing the future of an extremely talented bunch of people. I am truly disappointed the man is leaving office ! Lets see what happens over the next few days...

Another Incredible View !

2007-02-16T13:24:00.000+01:00

It is incredible indeed to see another INSEADer. I visited someone who returned to his home country after the MBA and what did I find? A very very disillusioned MBA who feels everything around him does not work. The system is inefficient. People don't have initiative. People are not driven enough. I was amazed first. Then I kind of understood where he came from.

INSEAD did have an incredible group of high energy people roughly in the same age bracket with fire in the belly. When you get into the real world "fire" is indeed missing. Infact over the last few weeks, I have enjoyed being a little bit of a bully to get things done at work. I even dared calling it a "strength" to my INSEAD friend. "We have the fire they don't too bad for them" I meant (didn't say it) in an arrogant MBA tone.

The Roller Coaster January !!

2007-01-31T14:04:00.000+01:00

Besides some serious frustrations with the Italian Bureaucracy and some "breakthrough" progress with the wedding preparations, there is not much to report about January.

Unfortunately I have had 7 comments that had to be "approved" because of a new process I had set up and completely forgotten about after all the SPAM that got in. Infact of the 7 messages there indeed were 2 "make more money" SPAM. All came in nearly a month back. Sorry about it people. A couple of comments were important. RSM business school?- never heard of it sorry (to anonymous). But living in Italy I also hadn't heard of the popular school called Bocconi or something of that sort and people took some serious offense when I said that. I should be the one offended by my own ignorance :).

Laws of Leadership - John C. Maxwell

2007-01-08T12:55:00.000+01:00

Although I promised myself, I will finish all my half read books before moving on with my "new book", I opened yet another book without completing my previous one. Atleast I reduced my two half read books to one by finishing "Freakonomics". Although Freakonomics does deserve review, I think I will start with what is fresh in my head, "Laws of Leadership" my first full book for the year 2007: The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership by John Maxwell.

The book has a lot of principles. Effectiveness and Success were attributed to leadership rather than IQ (Ring...ring...isn't that Goleman called EQ?). When a lot of what was said was insightful, I felt the book was more than a handful and lead one to believe that "leadership" is absolutely acquirable although difficult. I remember the first time I read the book emotional intelligence, I believed it would change my world. But then, I have come to realize that "knowing is not doing" and the biggest challenge is in "practicing what you learn". To gain leadership (or EQ), the absolute pre-requisite seems to be "being a learner". Maxwell argues in a subtle way that "Leadership" also involves 20 other things making it way too idealistic. It does not do any way to score yourself and plan on becoming a better leader except for stating the axioms. An idealistic viewpoint is given and occassionally he even mentions that it is extremely difficult to absorb certain principles in daily life. Anyways, it is a good perspective and was certainly not a waste of time.

I certainly made a couple of points for myself that I am trying to follow.

(1) Leadership is more about influencing than about position. So anyone can be a leader. Make people listen to you and you become a leader. (I have some serious work to do in this area seeing even how many loyal readers we have on this blog :))
(2) There are a few imperatives for leadership like trust. Character is uncompromisable

The shadiest leadership law in the book leadership through reproduction. The theory is that instead of leading "followers", if you lead "leaders" they will inturn lead more followers and hence there is a lot more "following". This is where I wanted to say "Come on now John" but then I didn't. The man is a great communicator. Whether it is his "leadership lid" or the story of a "20 year old leader" he knows the way to express himself.

I wish he covered "role models" as comprehensively as he should have. He does not even talk about his own role-models and difficulties in understanding "behavior" and incorporating. In short a great book but with little help to act.

The Introspection Begins....

2006-12-25T14:04:00.000+01:00

2006 has as I already mentioned been by far the best year of my life so far. Best because of serveral reasons:
1. I have spent a month or more in five countries
2. I have visited a total of 10 countries just this year
3. I successfully graduated from INSEAD (the one thing about the year I was certain about)
4. I found three jobs that I actually felt like doing
5. I spent quality time with Family and Fiancee despite the uncertainities 2006 held.
6. I have read about 7-8 books and have left a few unfinished (even if its short of my 'book a month' target)
7. I started exploring a journey least explored in my life till date: Entrepreneurship

But there is more to this year than the seven "bullets" above suggest. I for the first time feel like there is no pressure to climb to the top of a hill. Its like a year where I have reached atop a small hill-lock and can afford to enjoy the view before I move on. I think the impact of the decisions I made this year is to come for several years to follow. The industry, location and role choice I made had some surprising elements to myself as much as to people who knew me well. I made my trade-off decisions rather quickly. I was quite decisive and did not follow the crowd. I did discover my strengths in a pattern of qualitiative subjects like Organizational Behavior and managing my emotional intelligence.

And about the definition of achievement has been redefined. For over 5 years now, the one thing I wanted to do most was an MBA. When I think about it now, it feels like I have "crossed the river" and "crossing the river" itself cannot be a goal. So I am starting 2007 with a great degree of excitement about the year that got over. My priorities for 2007 are likely to be very different from what they were all these years. I have never thought beyond jobs (career occassionally) and travelling to far off exotic countries. 2005 and 2006 were two completely different years. When I started 2005, I knew exactly how life would look until mid 2006. The uncertainity was beyond 2006 June (INSEAD graduation). I was right on that, but the stress started around March 2006 and I am proud of the way I handled the year. I did make a couple of blunders on personal finance (right after some intensive finance training) but it was well worth it considering the family and relationship priorities that got handled because of the shift in priorities. I start 2007 knowing well a race has begun. A race in life where the peers are very different from the peers I had 2 years back. It is my MBA classmates. It is the guy who was a pilot that is doing investment banking today. The ex-nike employee who will run a football club starting this year. The steel company employee who switched to consulting and the guy who returned home to run his Father's business. 2011 is not far away. When I am quite jealous of some of those who have a head start in the race, I am glad I am not starting where some others are. But the question that bothers me most is not where we are starting the race but should I choose to run it. I am opening 2007 with an open mind about the race. I am undecided. However, knowing myself - running the race and not winning it will break my heart.

Running the race on my own terms (pretty much the way I handled INSEAD) will ensure both 'victory' and personal gratification. So I started brainstorming some ideas on what can possibly be my personal priorities over the years.

(1) Family
I think this one time, I am letting this take precedence over my "Professional life". This is not because I think professional life is unimportant but it is important to have a few cheerleaders for what i do. I also think, thanks to my exposure to things over the last few years, I am in a position of "power" within the family. I can infact leverage the newly created power to ensure that things remain happy in the family and the priorities are right. Of course the new addition to the family will be an asset (a wife) and integrating her in mine and integrating as well as I can within hers is going to be a key focus for the year to come.

(2) Finances
As unfashionable as this sounds, I think money management (although I have none now) is a key part of the way I look at 2007 and beyond. I need to start on a portfolio of investments (sigh b-school did get this into my head) including the entire spectrum of risk. It should consist atleast the following
(a) Emergency funds - Able to buy me expensive airtickets for "immediate travel home" and take care of home expenses atleast for 2 months without a job.
(b) Essential Investments Planning - A house (or more) and a dog and what it takes to keep them fed.
(c) Pension Allocation - Systematic investment plans with an annuity return after retirement. I hope also to allocate a large part of this to "Risky assets" atleast until I hit 40 after which I would move a large chunk to non-risk class.
(d) The Entrepreneurship Fund - Need to start allocating funds for possible investments in start-ups and any idea that is worth exploring. Who knows, maybe this will help me turn an angel one day.

Apart from this I want to make atleast a small "investment" in society. I want to set aside some money to help community organizations that I believe in. This indeed will give some meaning to life and will truly define "Running the race in my own terms".

(3) Active Professional Relationships
I think this is more important than ever. I seem to have more clarity on likes and dislikes than ever before and I am starting to get inspired by some thoughts of "never eat alone". Although I don't think I can ever be a super extrovert in every party I think I need to start building a network to which I can give and take. This is a weakness for me currently because I don't seem to "Plan" relationships or put in as much time as it deserves. Although I do end up with a reasonable number of friends and accomplices, I think I need to get a little more organized about it and the theme here is going to come from "Never eat alone".

(4) Self- Development
I think this is something I am good at and sustain. I have improved dramatically with the INSEAD exposure. I need to continue this aggressively. The key areas I need to continue are
(a) Credibility Building - Build credibility through research and rigor. Although I do research, my impatience does not allow rigor. This is a key area to improve over the year.
(b) Listen more - You can never listen "enough" and I seem to be missing this occassionally.
(c) Speak less - When you speak, you are not listening. So these are related :)
(d) Be Decisive - This is something I have heard from colleagues (Thank you 360 degree survey) that surprised me - I have portrayed myself as terribly indecisive. I need to start changing this. Let us see how this turns out.

Seasons Greetings Everyone !

2006-12-22T12:54:00.000+01:00

I have been on flights for 24 hours thanks to bad connections and the noname city to noname city I am travelling. Its good to be home eating home-food and doing nothing. Well I don't think that will last for long. Anyways...life is good.

Happy Holidays Everyone !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Week that Went by ?

2006-12-18T14:27:00.000+01:00

I think my review was so biased I even chased loyal wannabe away :). Anyways, I have generally been a little euphoric about things here. Partly because it is christmas season, partly because I know I will get to see family for a little while later this year and partly because I have taken stock of a year that has actually given me a lot more than the last three decades ! (Sigh I am old).

Last week was generally good. Caught up with a few INSEADers on the phone. I also got a chance to see some hot chicks in the Bologna Motor Show. Spent a ton more time than I am used to doing powerpoint presentations myself. Househunt is on as usual, no confirmations. Packing up gradually and lazily.

Consulting Career - A Balanced Review.

2006-12-09T13:10:00.000+01:00

Let me try to do an objective assessment of consulting as a career as I have gone through the entire "Consider,Interesting,Not-for-me" Cycle. Luckily for me, I did go through it long before recruitment season started unlike for some who did it well after spending a couple of years in the career. Consulting is meant for a an elite group of individuals. In the words of a McKinsey senior partner it is "Individuals who are always aspiring to improve and are EXTREMELY INSECURE" about themselves. Consultants are also individuals with extreme political savvyness. They are "happy go lucky", eternal optimists, outside in (always receptive to feedback), and risk averse (on a relative note lets say compared to the other end of the spectrum of entrepreneurs). Now that is a lot of personality traits. As you rightly guessed that is a very detailed "Personality profile". Now there are a lot of individuals who disguise to be this person and make it into consulting. Please note that a business school like INSEAD has as many personality types as there are as there are MBA participants. So when the consultants come with a template to verify the number of people that fit, everyone squeezes and begs and acts attempting to fit the template. Very few naturally fit. The consulting companies add an "artificial barrier" to the individuals by adding "uniqueness factors" about themselves (That in reality is very marginal compared to the overall personality required) to make it even more difficult for the "aspirant". But some beat the system, some naturally fit in. Either ways, both parties are happy with the combination as the business model revolves around "churn".

So now, what does one have to take into account? Personality. If you have the personality, you will end up in consulting without trying (because in all liklihood others would hate you and you won't care about why mediocrity hates you). If you don't, you can try (if you are smart enough to get into a top school, it means you have already pretended enough ;).

Hope that answers your question wannabe. But remember I am an outsider talking about consulting. Thats a consultants job not mine :)

My first Picture Posting.

2006-12-09T12:42:00.000+01:00

Although I have not been as big a geek as some people who do all sorts of things in their blogs with technology, I am starting to find a few things that make the blog entries special. One for certain is pictures. So I thought with this visit to one of the wonders I will begin posting pictures. Being in Europe, I think it is also my responsibility to enjoy it and preserve some memories and the beauty around Italy certainly has me trigger happy (not as much as olivier mineau from INSEAD) who seems to be busier clicking pictures than enjoying great moments but still ;-).

For pictures to be qualified to be a part of my blog, they need to be clicked with my own trigger happy fingers ! Lets see if that rule remains for the rest of my blog's life

Now to the trip, it was a day trip thanks to "Journe di immatriculation" or the day Virgin Mary conceived Jesus. I promptly saluted christianity by visiting the cathedral next to the leaning tower !

So to my weekend, it is a longer than usual weekend and the last real one perhaps before I pack my bags to leave the country for christmas. I really don't know when I will be back in Italy as I have some visa issues to address. So with the uncertainity looming in the air, I thought I will take a day off to get out of the small industrial town I live in. I was amazed how different the Italian regions are. I have so much to discover in this country.

I met a guy today at the breakfast table in the hotel I am staying in and he is from the "Indian" entity of my company. It was interesting to have some small talk ! He had visited Venice and felt the "place was not worth visiting alone" as it is too romantic. Well so I have one more reason to wait until next year to visit Venice. Venice, Florence and Rome certainly wait until the girl makes it here. They are her favorite places to visit as well. Maybe I will try doing trips to Milan and the alps the relatively "lower status" they enjoy in the tourist hierarchy of THIS country. (ok ski fans no offense, its just not a country that is popular for skiing).

Dinner with classmates !

2006-12-07T02:06:00.000+01:00

A couple of classmates working for a consulting company in a city nearby are consulting with companies in town and were nice enough to drop a note. We had dinner together after their 9:30 close of business. It was kind of sad that they "never leave work before 9". It seems to be an important metric in the job ! Anyways, I was quite embarassed to talk about the fact that I actually got into work an hour late in the morning because of an appointment with a house broker and yet got out at 6 in Punto. Eeks, does that mean I never get a chance to be CEO of any company ever? I guess. But cruel ! It was fun how lives have taken different trajectories. I have noticed that the consultant is always a "scarce resource" within the company and the partners always are pushing you to come back and work in the middle of your vacations. I have heard this like 20 times so far in my INSEAD year and heard it one more time. I was however suprised to hear M2 (one of my ex-housemate consultant) was actually sticking to her vacation plans. Knowing her (and where she comes from), I would think atleast 5 senior partners have called her so far to tell her she should consider coming back from south america to work on a "Sexy project" they have. Atleast when I last heard, she hadn't returned.

But all that apart - I loooooooooooved being back with INSEADers. There is indeed a bond. It is even more amazing to hear the stories following graduation than it was when we were all together.

Else not much happenned. There was a party last weekend of my class in London and guess what ?????????? There were crazy people I knew who flew in from Dubai, Boston, and Some God knows where south east asian country :) !!http://picasaweb.google.com/dimitrios.stratakis/SaturdayParty
And all that for drinking and saying "how is it going in the "Abu Dhabi Office"????". I guess, network effect is starting to take effect :). I don't think I am thaaaat social. Maybe I will travel if there is a wedding or not, for drinking I have the local italian hangouts! But I will certainly set time aside for guys who care to say hello to me when they stop by my little town and there have been three in the last 2 months!

Drunk Drunk Drunk !

2006-12-03T12:19:00.000+01:00

Hello All - I got drunk drunk drunk last night ! I was at a dinner with 59 italians all speaking Italian, so I decided to speak the INSEAD global language that works like a clock :). Well to be fair, I am starting to cherish the company of a great Italian friend who does not happen to work for Fiat but I know from INSEAD. He still calls me by the first half of my last name after knowing me for a month and a half and is one of the 5 nicest italians I have ever met. Ok, I am digressing as always with my rambling. Now back to the weekend.

Friday night we had a work party and I ended up seeing a lot more diversity than I can handle. The women outnumbered men in the party and I met a couple of interesting ones (French, German and Italian) but none to scare Ms. Fiancee who seems to be clicking from a unique geography (finally) around here :). (That clustermap has got me addicted). But that evening was fun. Had a few vodkas and had a very sociable evening and ended in bed. That was friday.

Saturday night had to be different. I ended up at the birthday party of three italian friends (college friends of "the" INSEAD friend) in a very very very italian place. We went to Bagna e Caoda. If you know that place, you probably know me as the ONLY "non-italian" that ever went there and got drunk on a couple of bottles of wine in a "Competition". Well the place had this spicy food I kind of enjoyed and oranges that I looooooved and finally wine that I kept drinking. I did not realize how strong the wine was until I first went to the bathroom about 2 hours into the long dinner. But the 80 house bottles finished and me and a newfound friend (who spoke no english and wine was our language of choice) ended up finishing EVERY half bottle on every TABLE in the small and cozy restaurant. (talk about politeness). Result? - Well I puked all around the restaurant, all around the "Residence" I am staying in and all around my room. Well I am cleaning most of the damage to the room myself today and don't have any hang-over because of the overeating.

I think I still feel a sense of the wine in my throat but no hangover ! Ciao people !

Last year this time - Chao ?

2006-12-01T16:29:00.000+01:00

Well, I couldn't help but notice, last year this time I spelt Ciao as Chao and I barely knew it was Italian. Today my blog is called "Vita Zingaro". Talk about evolution !

European Visitors / Invitations Christmas Break and Quotable Quotes.

2006-12-01T16:07:00.000+01:00

Well, although I did not have a story to tell for today, I think its a good time to actually do an inventory of the many things going on. Work is going pretty well. Social life sucks (vaccum created by INSEAD is unfilled yet) and blood alcohol content is at an all-adulthood-low ! With blogging (read rambling to self) becoming a key entertainer, (sigh, my life sucks), I thought why not do a quick inventory on things going on.

(1) As you all might have noticed, I have this little "origin" of the "visitors" to my blogs and I was surprised I have more than 50% of my visitors from Europe, and absolutely no visitors from emerging markets :) (with the exception of Malaysia and we all know who visits here from Malaysia). Lets see if I get ideas on how to promote my ramblings to such exciting countries like India and China because as analysts say "if you need to survive, you need to be there".

(2) Invitations for wedding. Well there is a huge controversy around the number of invitees and the way the ceremonies should be conducted etc., especially in a cross-cultural wedding. Wannabe - if you can foot the bills of travelling half the world to a wedding, let me know - maybe I will consider inviting you as the only regular visitor around here :). But the subject of wedding is not a great topic because everyone who is helping me get ready for it thinks I am contributing nothing...and thats true :). As long as I don't see a dot on my clustermap of a "wierd" country, I can make such bold comments :)

(3) Christmas break - As the italians now frequently say - I am "going back to mama". Hopefully I will view my blog and keep clicking "Refresh" and claim some "home visitors actually have visited me". Thinking about the extent to which both my job and family requires me to travel, I think I can paint a large part of the world map red with dots :). But I still need the japanese and american visitor to keep clicking refresh. Sigh I can't believe KV (the LBS blogger) has got me all obsessed about the clustermap.

(4) Quotable Quotes

"Career is a marathon, stamina is all that matters"

"Leadership is not about leading extra-ordinary people. Its about leading ordinary individuals to achieve extra-ordinary things"

Well, for some reason both these are the most impressive "management quotes" I have heard in a while and I just thought I should put them together here today.

I guess I will sign off now ! Its a friday evening, I don't think no one is working around me :)

Emotional Intelligence !

2006-11-28T22:18:00.000+01:00

It is unbelievable how many great theories there are about human behavior. It is unbelievable how unpredictable my own behavior has been. Two weeks back, I was the one who was to a large extent disillusioned. Today I was the one giving a colleague a motivational speech for well over an hour on how she can make a difference. Why do things change? The only thing that changed between last "instance of helplessness" and the "cautious optimism" is simply some deep thinking. Well you do have time for that in this less busy non-INSEAD world ! Well did I say the INSEAD world was busy? If it was, it could not have been busy for these "instances of self-actualization". I did incidentally got to the the book on emotional intelligence and got through a few lines that had missed me the first time. It helped. I don't think I am emotionally more intelligent than I was a couple of weeks back, but I certainly am a little more "self-controlled" and "self-confident" compared to where I found myself 2 weeks back.

One thing is for certain. When I finish 2006, I am proud of what I have accomplished this year. I had three jobs on graduation. I have zero debts six months into graduation. I am "well settled in a new town and have started learning two new languages this year. I have a wedding date (yes, Wannabe, getting married next summer) !

This reminds me of a remarkable quote from the CEO of a company (that my friend used last weekend)...."Career is like a marathon, not a 100m dash. Don't use up all your energy early on and lose the race. You need a lot of energy to finish, finishing first has to do with stamina rather than heroics"

Things of the week: Visit to Germany. Visited a friend who got recently married ! Forgot a gift for him but will make it up next time. Thrashed people (well not really) - in Bowling. Scored an average of 130 (well my usual average is around 120) with a top score of 146 ! Anyone better than that around here?

Hello Social Life

2006-11-19T18:42:00.000+01:00

It has been a month since I started working. That is an important milestone. Next time I speak about the time I have spent here, in all liklihood it is going to be in a year, unless things nosedive.

Let me see what I have to say about my job so far.
(1) Challenging - Tons of things to get done
(2) I bring the right knowledge / Skills for the job - Both my background in previous jobs and passions "Seem to be designed" for this job.
(3) I still have no social life and might have to start building relationships from scratch.

I think to be fair to my boss, I have arrived here after a couple of years of having a fabulous boss I had an incredible chemistry with. I did not have to persuade people or be nice always. I drew credibility in my job from my boss and his leadership style. The chemistry did I think set the platform for success in my previous job. I was also a little adventurous because of my chemistry with my ex-boss. I used to take risk and occassionally when I screwed up was ready to face it. That honesty is now gone and I am surprised (when I should be working on building that credibility all over again). Well, I think I need to build trust and be trustworthy. When I am not understood, I will have to try building stories that are persuasive. I have accepted it as something I need to do over the next few months. I have realized it through the week and am going to precisely do that. Infact as a colleague told me, I need to be looking for the "kind of reactions I draw" from people and understand them. I am going to be a lot more open with my boss and his leadership style and see where it takes us. After all, this is a job that is a "no-risk experiment for me" thanks to some degree as there are some very very good back-up plans in place.

And yes, Social life, alcohol is trickling in slowly. Yes, nothing compared to what INSEAD offered but INSEAD was life in fast-forward. This is real life. So I am enjoying life even in "slow motion" once in a while....

The Good Boss and Bad Boss

2006-11-11T14:09:00.000+01:00

I guess, I need a blog more than ever before. I have tried to convince myself in the last week or so that I am not the "Arrogant MBA" recruiters and HR managers often talk about. Recruiters always talk about individuals who join their companies and then start looking at colleagues as "inferiors". As an MBA starting in this company after about 3 weeks I feel the following

(1) I am overpaid for what I do (on relative terms of course)
(2) I do not speak the language in which business is done here (For the most part)
(3) Expectations are much higher in terms of what I can achieve compared to peers in the same "age bracket" with a strong background who have been within the company for years.
(4) I learnt last year that incentives work on me (just like on everyone else) and I am starting all over again on the food-chain and I have no reason to feel like "I have achieved anything at all so far in the context I am in" and have a ton of incentives to go behind (including a fancy ROI calculator I got introduced to in my Finance 101 and am under more pressure than the peer group because of this "discovery" and "self-(destructive)-analysis" capabilities.
(5) My social network was so incredible when I was in INSEAD (as we fed each others egos 100% of the time and suddenly it has disappeared)

Now, lets start working with this assumption. I start with a handicap of 5 (borrowing Golf terminology for once) in this job compared to the regular employees here (Point 4 but the blissfully unawareness about responses to incentives can be good). In this context I am going to bring in an important B-School learning. Interestingly enough, without my Blog I would have actually forgotten that we discussed Incentives PASSIONATELY. I mean everyone had something to say about it when we discussed it in P2. Now that we know its an interestingly subject (or animal called the BOSS)

My OB professor about 1 year 2 months back said "People Join Companies and Leave Bosses". It was confirmed by a book I had read on the subject. The best business book of all times in my view "First break all the rules" describes the best manager of all times. They claim to have information about millions of employees and their behavior at work place thanks to being a "Survey company". Well, good for them. But it gave them some scary levels of credibility...now to what they have to say on the subject.

Great Managers
(1) Treat Individuals Differently, based on their strengths not weaknesses.
(2) Care about outcomes and not about the process followed (remember ethical behavior of course is a given).
(3) Is always there when he or she is needed by his team and coaches them NOT manages.
(4) Positivity is another trait, a great manager is an eternal optimist.
(5) Values life long learning for himself and the team.

And sadly, I do not see even one of the above traits in my current manager. He seems to be more interested in "Process" than "Results". Infact the way our groups goals are designed the "Result" seems almost certain with no risk. It pains me because I also think even after achieving the results "he does not see" there is almost a high risk of failure for the company and he does not see it at all as "its not our job".

Am I going to be one of those people who leaves within a year of joining because I didn't fit? Maybe not. I know I can end up with exactly the same kind of a boss again. So instead of running away from this, I think I am going to face it. Then why am I speaking about all this? Well, if I do see this a year later and see if I actually ran away from this, I know the material I am made out of ;-). I am most likely to have a "smart justification" that my future recruiter will buy for my running away...something a year in business school certainly does to people. Be eternally optimistic atleast about one's own career choices even if they are extremely-reactive ;-).

2006-11-09T22:47:00.000+01:00

Same time last year?

Well, I have been thinking about slowly and gradually reading my blogs and guess what? I read this post not far from Nov 9th 2006 and I had written something to the tune of "The heart of Europe" demonstrates an amazing degree of unity and discipline" (I think the countries involved then were Germany, Switzerland, Austria) and guess what? Today I am working in the very heart with atleast 2 of the countries in the three along with a couple of countries whose national weeks followed. Life has changed so much and yet has not changed at all?Well I do think working in an industry of choice is fun. I am working in a messy messy industry in one of the messiest of companies. I do work "WITH" consultants instead of working "AS A" consultant. I don't work with the tier 1, so not all the tricks from "House of Lies" is used but a substantial number is being used. What I ran away from all my life is what I think I am getting into. I think I committed some serious mistakes at work this week and I feel sadly out of touch with complexities of work (and relationships at work) despite my "rigorous training" last year. Interestingly I feel the place I work is NOT AT ALL different as my colleagues do think from the "World class companies" that I had worked for earlier. Its the same rules that need to be followed.
(1) Relationships are the best way to get things done at work quickly.
(2) Respect people to get respect back.
(3) Stereotyping is never healthy.

Yet, I seem to be listening and even accepting some violations on the above three areas. I have ignored some requests from "less important people" and have spent too much time feeding into "the customer" or the "more important people"And this is different from INSEAD simply because "Everyone in INSEAD is equal" or we are lead to believe it (even when our GMAT scores, GPAs, Color of skin/eyes, "Ending salary before INSEAD", "Starting salary after INSEAD" were as diverse as the colors in the Rainbow).So now I commit to myself, I will go back to work tomorrow morning with an open mind, accept the mistakes I committed earlier this week and try to fix as many of them as possible !

To my blog readers....I can't believe atleast a couple of you keep track of me even when I get lost in my own world way too often...(Well atleast the wannabe I think, should stop blogging and commenting until he finishes GMAT ;-). Good luck).

2006-11-02T20:29:00.000+01:00

Phase 2 Begins...

Blogging is addictive. Well it has been. I have actually taken to smoking and quit at will atleast in 2 instances. Maybe I am strong willed or maybe I was not given the same set of neurons everyone was blessed with. Life in the last three months has been with a lot of eerie silence. It has been less packed than ever before. After 10 months of partying the silence has disturbed me a lot. But then the silence has given me time to think. Time when I have realized certain things have changed forever. Yes forever. My CV no more looks the same. I am no more one of the "most underpaid employee around". Infact I need to admit, I feel "terribly overpaid" for my skills, competencies and potential I hold. I am also in a geography that is considered "much better" than I came from. INSEAD was fun, but it should not have changed my valuation so much. Ok before I continue with my random ramblings (of course I can't control it too much), here is a quick intro what has happenned in my life so far.

I graduated from INSEAD on a relatively "un-emotional day" (I am an aberration) thanks to all the logistics ahead of me. The same weekend, I left for this tiny central american country where I spent a month with my Fiancee even if it meant missing the France-Italy Final. Italy's win that evening was symbolic as I was over the atlantic. It meant, I told myself, my future was brighter than Past. The month that followed was so relaxing. Learning spanish for a couple of hours a day, picking and dropping off the girl at work and socializing with family and spending weekends at the lake and the ancient city around. It was paradise until Fiancee decided to do some community work in some noname village. Before I knew it it was time to leave. After a 10 day internship with a start-up (yes very brief, I did it for charity) and meeting up with a couple of INSEAD friends, I spent a month and half with my parents. Then I am here in Italy for the last 2 weeks, working for a company that did succeed in persuading me to join them.

About this blog, One of my friends from INSEAD asked me if I still blogged (well one of the 5 who knew I blogged during INSEAD) and I thought why not. After about 25 hours of Italian classes, I knew how to use Google translation and dictionary and so after some research decided to name this blog whatever it is named essentially trying to imply "Gypsy Life" as Gypsy was already taken (well the Italians blog too). Life is feminine and Gypsy is masculine, now before getting all judgemental about my name picking abilities, remember that the name deathspiral was picked for me by finance monkey and INSEAD alum. So with no guidance and spoonfeeding I have decided to title this blog Life Spiral because this in many ways is called "Real Life" following the MBA. Ok enough of explanations, now to the real Blog. Thats it for today.

Cheers