Monthly Archives: February 2012

A friend you wish you made…

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We travelled together for two years by the same train, everyday. Speechless, our exchanges were pleasant smiles. The appreciation for each other grew day by day, it at least seemed to me. The day had come when we were separated; I was transferred to a far off location on an official appointment. Commute to office was part of routine, and so was my silent friend on the commute. Commute was still there, but the friend missed. It felt inside deep that I at least should have attempted to know who he was. The niggle remained!

Time gives us the power to procrastinate. I did not develop many friends on the new commute, and two years passed with the rut of work occupying the active part of my head. The heart, as always, wanted to do things, but time never gave itself to me. Not an excuse for not making friends, but that is the nature of time. It binds us all in one string and keeps moving us at its will, whence we meet others and leave some others, thinking we are getting into relationships at our will. Alas! If only there was one who could show not in time how time operated.

Another transfer now, and this became usual. Job role has changed, life has moved on, responsibilities have grown, relationships complicated, friends who were were far, and still work went on. Wallet and warmth decide our value in society, or so I headed to fill wallet. Warmth was a delta in that equation. But then time has its game and I became a pawn to realize the value of delta.

That day, I needed to bring business from a prospective client. Unlike other deals, this was a make or break situation for getting on to the next step in my career. With lots of preparation I went in. Heart pounding, I knew that to be successful everyone needs a bit of luck. If you think otherwise, read history books again! I wished luck to come my way for today. I was at the office waiting to meet the prospect…

Two hours passed, and here he came and went. In a moment of confusion, surprise, thrill, I recall it was that speechless friend I made on my commute years back. The questions in my mind seemed to be of huge magnitude:

Will he recognize me? Even if he does, will he help me? Ah, how I wish I made him a friend then? First real interaction with him, how does he start it?

Minute seemed longer, probably because time is controlled by questions we ask ourselves, at least relatively. And I got a call to meet him and discuss the deal…

The Bold and The Blind

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Confederation of Indian Industry conducts useful meetings. As such, it is a very large organization that advocates on policy issues and has a significant influence on how the industry is shaping up. One of the meetings they have conducted, I attended, was the investors meet on 22nd February, 2012. The agenda was to bring the investors and borrowers together to see if there can be a match making exercise (as Dr. Harish Patnaik put it).

As an assistant professor my interest in attending the meeting was only too academic. To the most part of the day, it was what was expected: the cry of the small business owners that banks and other investors don’t support them as much as they should. But when Mr. Ramesh Kumar (CII MSME Committee) took over, the picture started changing to a more balanced perspective. With a panel that represented banks, nonbanking financial corporations, venture capitalists, angel investors, private equity consultants and other governmental bodies who raise funds, he tried placing a few points in the heads of the borrowers (fund seekers). I found reasons why it was important.

Four presentations caught my attention for four different reasons:

  1. Presentation One: The fund seeker was in the business of training different IT Courses, and had a revenue of INR 18 Lacs, with an annual profit of INR 1.5 Lacs. His fund request was about INR 1 Crore that was supplemented with what he alleges to be a business plan (an excel sheet that shows how he can pay back). The venture capitalist on stage had just one question to this proposal! “Can you give it all to me in one page stating why you think you will be successful?“. The answers to that were lame; I thought it was waste of time.
  2. Presentation Two: The man who presented looked firm, confident and explained their business, dairy. The annual turnover was at INR 64 Crore, and they were seeking another INR 30 Crore to expand their business. Again, the question was same from the panel of investors. Only this time, the man gave an answer that was as firm as he looked. He said, “We are the one of the first players in the business. Our growth projections are reasonable. We offer an exciting exit plan for the investors“. It was sufficient to create a discussion among the panel. Just as I thought this man would get the fund he sought, he murmured during lunch with me that their business may be expanded even without this funding assistance, and that he found alternative ways to do it. Amazed I am with his confidence, and more with his preparation!
  3. Presentation Three: The man looked professional in his approach. And before I saw him on stage, I found him networking actively. He probably won half the game there! When he was done presenting his set of slides, he convinced the panel that it was a business in which he faces no competition, and that there is a high entry barrier. What I am surprised is the ease with which he could drive his point through! I think he got a cheque before he left the meet. By the way, he was selling fish.
  4. Presentation Four: The man was an experienced engineer, looked like a bureaucrat too. His idea was genuine, offers exceptional operational gains, though I must say it is not a ground-breaking innovation. His presentation did not really seek funds, but sought assistance on identifying the prospective investors (wonder if he thought there was a difference, at least on this stage!). That he was a technical man (if that makes sense), and not a finance man (excuse me again) was his point that prompted him to make that kind of a request. I pity his understanding of the meet, but can’t resist admiring his ideas and the magnitude of gains that he showed are possible. Indian railways has a lesson to learn from him, and they can save upto INR 600 Crore at least every year.

It was all business upto this point. There were seekers meeting the investors; some got washed away in questions, and some ended discussing. But here comes another man, an alumni of IIM, white haired and with wrinkles on his face, to talk about executive coaching and how it can help the businessmen to get the best out of themselves. I appreciate his points, but on the forum I must admit, it looked out of place. When it was business all through, talk of coaching seemed like a rat trying to find a piece of cheese in a prince’s ball.

Another CII Meet today, this time on Doing business with UK, at Green Park, Vizag. Let me see if I find something better here…

Meeting malady

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A call at 10:40 AM on a well-planned day called me in for a meeting at 11:30 AM that is chaired by the top person of my organization. And that made things pretty sure that the plan was getting killed beyond lunch! Problem with planning is we need information to do it. On some occasions like this, there is only one plan that comes even in absence of real information (there is meta message always, a few physicists could argue, like say “It is a meeting with the boss, idiot“). The call hadn’t made the agenda of the meeting clear, so all I could go in was with a set of vague ideas about what it could be and how I can respond to situations if there are any to be observed.

11:50 PM it is before everyone comes in, and waits for the boss to join. Chatter begins and speculation ends as the agenda of the meeting is about deciding (did we have a choice?) to spend a couple of lacs on purchasing a shallow idea that adds a delta benefit if all goes well; perhaps it is that delta which comes freely if really all goes well. The guest from GHOST, an organization that has a fortune 500 client base with an overall client base of 20000 plus organizations, is given the opportunity to present his proposal. And he took off!

The idea is…we give you…you would get…there are benefits…we brand…provide visibility…many others have bought…we are the best…

What is funny in all this is that GHOST did not have a product they owned. What they came in is with a service they were piloting on us (oops, did I bluntly spell it out?). And the wise men chairing the meeting asked a valid question!

Is there a commitment?

The response to that from representative of GHOST was heard as,

I respect…I truly agree… you are right…I appreciate…you should be critical…company doesn’t allow us to commit, but… we deliver…

I understand, like all others in that meeting, that GHOST has proved that it is a leader in its line of busyness. What I did not know till then was that bargaining and business meeting is still the same, no matter whether the organization is a GHOST or a GORILLA or for that matter even a GOAT. I see that almost all business meetings have same type of language used; curse my work on communication if you are a marketer or a business developer. So discussing, the representative from GHOST suddenly jumped out of conversation claiming that he had a flight to catch–after all, playing big is one trick of selling dodos.

And then, there was an open forum for members to share their views on what can be concluded. I recall Bernard Shaw saying, God is a comedian who performs to an audience too afraid to laugh. There were views all lined up in support (or sucked into the shallowness) of GHOST’s proposal. I played fool to not be the one with an eye. And so the meeting concluded at 13:10 PM!

Just as I want to say Thank God for giving such fun and opportunity to learn, here comes another call for a meeting. What awaits thee now!?

Little funny things

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Has there ever been a moment when you felt embarrassed? Are you shy of admitting it? I am yet to research the reactions of people when one admits those little funny moments when one was embarrassed, but I like to keep a record of them, so that I can look back and laugh at myself in leisure. Here we go with incidents from yesterday and upto now today:

Early Morning, Today:

“Sir, Wake up. We are at the college” were the words I had to hear from a student who himself was feeling uncomfortable to disturb me from my deep sleep in the college bus. I hope I did not snore.

Late Evening, Yesterday:

“I can suggest you exercises to get rid of cramps. All you have to do is stretch like this..” and as I was demonstrating, I fell victim to those untimely cramps. With who and where did it happen? It happened when I was talking with my wife, and we were amidst all my family members. Lucky thing, I had my dad attend to me immediately!

Afternoon, Yesterday — Business meeting:

Him: What do you do at MVGR?

Me: I teach.

Him: May I know what you teach?

Me: Statistics, Operations Research, Research Methodology

Him: ….. (confused look, because I was talking “finance” in the meeting)

Me: I teach any math based subject. :)

…a minute later, we were discussing the cost details of the training they might be able to provide to our students, and…

Me: Can you give me the basis of costing  your training program?

Him: It is on a per hour basis; we pay the trainers about INR 1500 per hour.

Me: How many hours do you think the training would stretch to?

Him: We suggest a 30-hour program.

Me: So, approximately we are talking INR 4.5 Lacs, correct?

Him: ….. (confused again..), at that price, I can deploy the original software in your entire college, Sir!?

Me: *&!?$@#