Is there really any difference between a true leader and a good manager?

I do not happen to be a person from the OB/HR management domain. But in spite of that there are certain areas outside finance which have always fascinated me as a reader and follower. I have come across many discussions wherein a lot of interesting thoughts have been put into finding out the difference between a true leader and a good manager. Here I have made an attempt to make an effort.

The biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way they motivate people who work or follow them. This sets the tone for most other aspects of what they do.

Many people, by the way, are both. They have management jobs, but they realize that you cannot buy hearts, especially to follow them down a difficult path, and so act as leaders too.

Managers have subordinates. They have a position of authority vested in them by the company, and their subordinates work for them as they are told to. Management style is transactional in that the manager tells the subordinates what to do. They do this as they have been promised a reward (at minimum their salary) for doing so.

Managers are paid to get things done, as they are subordinates too, often within tight constraints of time and money. They thus naturally pass on this work focus to their subordinates.

An interesting research finding about managers is that they tend to come from stable home backgrounds and led relatively normal and comfortable lives. This leads them to be relatively risk-averse and they will seek to avoid conflict where possible. In terms of people, they generally like to run a 'happy ship'.

Leaders have followers and do not have subordinates when they are leading. Those who do have subordinates are because they are also managers. But when they want to lead, they have to give up formal authoritarian control. To lead is to have followers and following is always a voluntary activity.

Telling people what to do does not inspire them to follow you. You have to appeal to them, showing how following them will lead to their hearts' desire. They must want to follow you enough to stop what they are doing and perhaps walk into danger and situations that they would not normally consider risking.

Leaders with a stronger charisma find it easier to attract people to their cause. As a part of their persuasion they typically promise transformational benefits, such that their followers will not just receive extrinsic rewards but will somehow become better people.

Although many leaders have a charismatic style to some extent, this does not require a loud personality. They are always good with people, and quiet styles that give credit to others (and take blame on themselves) are very effective at creating the loyalty that great leaders engender.

Although leaders are good with people, this does not mean they are friendly with them. In order to keep the mystique of leadership, they often retain a degree of separation and aloofness.

This does not mean that leaders do not pay attention to tasks - in fact they are often very achievement-focused. What they do realize, however, is the importance of enthusing others to work towards their vision.

In the same study that showed managers as risk-averse, leaders appeared as risk-seeking, although they are not blind thrill-seekers. When pursuing their vision, they consider it natural to encounter problems and hurdles that must be overcome along the way. They are thus comfortable with risk and will see routes that others avoid as potential opportunities for advantage and will happily break rules in order to get things done.

A surprising number of these leaders had some form of handicap in their lives which they had to overcome. Some had traumatic childhoods, some had problems such as dyslexia, others were shorter than average. This perhaps taught them the independence of mind that is needed to go out on a limb and not worry about what others are thinking about you.

Why Existing Companies Do Not Launch New Products

Mark Johnson, in his new book Seizing the White Space: Business Model Innovation For Growth and Renewal uses several case studies to explain business model innovation as a stepping stone to growth.

Xerox, the company that gave the world the photocopy machine, could have given the world a whole lot of other products as well. "Just think of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Centre, which famously owned the technologies that helped catapult Apple (the graphical user interface, the mouse), Adobe (post script graphical tehcnology) and 3Com (Ethernet technology) to success. Why didn't Xerox exploit them? asks Mark Johnson in his book.

Over time successful companies become good at what they do at. But any new product or opportunity requires the company to operate very differently with a different formula for making money, a new set of resources and processes, different expertise, and may be a new way to co-ordinate and control activities. Given this, most companies give these new opportunities a miss.

Now take the case of the now ubiquitous Apple iPod, which wrapped a good technology in a great business model. As Johnson writes, "Apples genuis lay in its realisation that making it easy and convenient to download music to the iPod would fuel demand for its high-priced music player. Eighteen months after introducing the iPod, Apples launched the iTunes Store, a service component that tightly locked hardware, software and digital music into one user-friendly package. This move recalled one of the great business model innovations of all time: King Gillette revolutionising men's shaving by choosing to give away the razor handle - a durable - in order to lock customers in to pucrhaisng his consumable, high-margin blades. Apple reversed Gillette's  model, essentially giving away the blades - low margin, consumable iTunes music - to lock in purchase of the handle - the iPod - whose margin returned high profits."

The bigger question is which company should have logically captured the market for a product like iPod? The answer, of course, is Sony whose "Walkman line had dominated the portable music market since the early 1980s." But the trouble was Sony was also a music company with all the expensive music artists bringing out their music albums on the Sony music label. By supporting a product with MP3 technology like iPod the company would risk its entire music business given that MP3 songs can easily be copied. "In fact, the muisc industry was deeply suspicious of the MP3 technology, which it correctly thought would cannibalise the CD market," writes Johnson.

Sony would have logically captured the market for the MP3 player market, but it remained stuck to its existing way of doing things and lost out on a huge opportunity.

An example similar to that of Sony is Kodak, which remained so obsessed with an existing way od doing business, that it couldn't see that the world around it was changing. "In 1975, Kodak engineer, Steve Sasson invented the first camera, which captured low-resolution black-and-white images and transferred them to a TV. Perhaps fatally, he dubbed it "filmless photography" when he demonstrated the device for various leaders at the company," writes Johnson.

Kodak at that point of time was the number one producer of photo film in the world. And given that, why would it want to even think of a product that would compete with it. As Johnson writes, "Later Sasson recalled management's overall assessment of the development. It was filmless photography, he said. so management'e reaction was, that's cute, but don't tell anyone about it. It took more than twenty-five years for Kodak to find success in the digital camera market with its Easyshare brand."

Moral of the story: "Rarely do incumbent companies make the leap to reinvent their existing business model or create new ones in response to the opportunity or threat presented by a new customer value proposition," writes Johnson.

The amazing Infosys Story

The amazing Infosys story and how it was born

Infosys Technologies is one of the few Indian companies that has changed the way the world looks at India. No longer is India a land of snake charmers and beggars. It is now perceived as an economic giant to reckon with, bursting with brilliant software engineers and ambitious entrepreneurs. And Infosys is an symbol of India's information technology glory.

Infosys has many firsts to its name: The first Indian firm to list on Nasdaq; the first to offer stock options to its employees. . . The company crossed $1 billion in revenues for the first time in 2004. TCS, however, was the first Indian IT firm to top $1-bn in revenues. Infosys is an organisation that inspires awe and respect, globally. On July 2, Infosys completed 25 years in existence. This is its amazing success story.

The idea of Infosys was born on a morning in January 1981. That fateful day, N R Narayana Murthy and six software engineers sat in his apartment debating how they could create a company to write software codes. Six months later, Infosys was registered as a private limited company on July 2, 1981. Infosys co-founder N S Raghavan's house in Matunga, north central Mumbai, was its registered office. It was then known as Infosys Consultants Pvt Ltd.

What was the company's starting capital?

US $250. Murthy borrowed $250 from his wife Sudha to start the company. The front room of Murthy's home was Infosys' first office, although the registered office was Raghavan's home.

Who were Murthy's six friends who joined hands to launch Infosys?

Nandan Nilekani, N S Raghavan, S Gopalakrishnan, S D Shibulal, K Dinesh and Ashok Arora.

Are all of them still the founding directors?

Murthy is currently chief mentor and chairman while Nilekani is the chief executive officer and managing director. Gopalakrishnan, Shibulal and Dinesh are directors. Raghavan retired as joint managing director in 2000. He is currently the chairman of the advisory council of the N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Ashok Arora worked for the company till 1988 and left after selling his shares in the then unlisted company back to the other promoters. He moved to the United States where he now works as a consultant.

'Murthy was always broke'

'Murthy was always broke. He always owed me money. We used to go for dinner and he would say, 'I don't have money with me, you pay my share, will return it to you later.' For three years, I maintained a book of Murthy's debts to me. No, he never returned the money and I finally tore it up after our wedding. The amount was a little over Rs 4,000.' An excerpt from Sudha Murthy's reminiscences. She is the wife of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy.

Those days, Murthy wanted to do something with his life, but he had no money. Murthy was married to Sudha on February 10, 1978, while he was working with Patni Computers.

In 1981, it was Murthy's idea to start Infosys. Murthy had a dream, and no money. So Sudha gave him Rs 10,000, which she had saved without his knowledge. Murthy and his six colleagues started Infosys in 1981.No, it was not in Bangalore, but in Pune that Infosys set up its first office, in 1981. The house that Murthy and Sudha bought with a loan became the first Infosys office. As Murthy ran Infosys, Sudha took up a job as a systems analyst with the Walchand Group of Industries to support their household.

In 1983, Infosys moved to Bangalore when it got its first client, Data Basics Corporation from the United States. The first mini computer arrived at Infosys in 1983. It was a Data General 32-bit MV8000. The very next year Infosys switched from mini to main frames with a CAMP application for a Data Basics customer.

A huge struggle, day in and day out.

When they began moving ahead with Infosys, the founders -- Murthy, Nilekani, Shibulal and the others -- took a firm decision -- that their wives would not be involved in the running of the company.So after Murthy, it was Nilekani and his wife Rohini who moved to Bangalore. But they had no house to stay. So the Nilekanis stayed with the Murthys at their Jayanagar home in Bangalore. Rohini took care of Murthy's son as Sudha helped write software programmes for Infosys. There was no luxury, only struggle, day and night. They had no car, no phone. Murthy later recalled that it was not the luxuries of life, but the passion to create something new and innovative that made them keep going on and on and on. Despite the struggles, the Murthys, the Nilekanis and the other partners took time out for picnics in Bangalore.

The crisis, and how Infosys began to grow

The first years of Infosys were not smooth. Most of the founders -- Murthy, Nilekani, Dinesh, Shibulal and Gopalkrishnan -- were into writing codes. And they wanted to make an impact in the American market.

So Infosys got its first joint venture partners in Kurt Salmon Associates. Gopalakrishnan, who had spent time working in the United States, was the public face of the KSA-Infosys venture in America. But the joint venture collapsed in 1989, leaving Infosys in the lurch. Gopalakrishnan relives the memories of those days. "We had nothing after eight years of trying to bring up a company. Those who studied with us had cars and houses," he says.The collapse of the KSA joint venture led Infosys to its first crisis. The company was on the verge of collapse. One of the founder-partners -- Ashok Arora -- was dejected with the way the company was going, and decided to quit.The others did not know what to do. But Murthy had the courage of conviction. 'If you all want to leave, you can. But I am going to stick (with it) and make it,' Murthy told them.The other partners -- Nilekani, Gopalakrishnan, Shibulal, Dinesh and Raghavan -- decided to stay. And thus began to germinate the seeds of Infosys' enormous growth.

The Nasdaq listing

It is said that Infosys began getting big breakthroughs from the US market. How? The initial foray of Infosys into the US market was through a company called Data Basics Corp as a 'body-shop' or on-site developer of software for US customers. Later, Infosys formed a joint venture with Kurt Salmon Associates to handle marketing in the United States.Even today, Infosys derives about two-thirds of its revenue from the United States, serving corporate clients like Reebok, Visa, Boeing, Cisco Systems, Nordstrom and New York Life. Infosys is the largest publicly traded IT services exporter in India, providing services to 315 large corporations, such as GE and Nortel, predominantly in the USA. It was the first Indian company to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 1999.

And the other Infosys group companies?

Progeon Ltd: The Infosys BPO arm.

Infosys Technologies (Shanghai) Company Limited: The company's base in China.

Infosys Australia Pty Ltd: Infosys' Australian venture.

Infosys Consulting Inc: The company's foray into the consulting business.

25 years sheer determination, and growth

In the last 25 years, Infosys has been growing and growing.Today, Infosys is India's second largest software exporter. It now enjoys a strong liquidity position with over Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) in assets, including surplus cash. During 2005-2006, the Infosys internal cash accruals more adequately covered working capital requirements, capital expenditure and dividend payments leaving a surplus of Rs 1,612 crore (Rs 16.12 billion).As on March 2006, the company had liquid assets including investments in liquid mutual funds of Rs 4,463 crore (Rs 44.63 billion). This collectively makes the liquidity strength of Infosys at Rs 6,078 crore (Rs 60.78 billion).

Where are these funds parked?

These funds have been deposited with banks, highly rated financial institutions and in liquid mutual funds. Infosys last year derived an average yield of 4.48 per cent (tax free) from these investments.The company received Rs 647 crore (Rs 6.47 billion) on exercise of stock options by employees and cash equivalents including liquid mutual funds increased by Rs 1,612 crore during 2005-06.

Current Price: Rs. 2770 after many bonus issues and dividends

Key milestones

Year of Incorporation : 1981

Became a public limited company in India : 1992

ISO 9001/TickIT Certification : 1993

Attained SEI-CMM Level 4 : 1997

Listed on NASDAQ : 1999

Crossed $100 million in annual revenues : 1999

Attained SEI-CMM Level 5 : 1999

Crossed $400 million in revenues : 2001

Crossed $ half a billion in revenues : 2002

Crossed $ billion in revenues : 2004

Crossed $ 2 billion in revenues : 2006

The sprawling Infosys campus in Bangalore is the symbol of India's infotech growth. It is a campus where a company's beliefs are unique: 'We want to create wealth legally and ethically.' 'We believe a good night's sleep is worth a billion dollars.' 'A small percentage of a growing pie is better than a large part of a shrinking pie.'

These are the tenets that have helped India's largest software company grow into a well respected organisation.

What is the Kashmir issue, which is repeatedly raised by Pakistan, in every forum? Why doesn't our country settle it once and for all? Then, may be Pakistan will be forced to stop exporting terror into India.

This is too small a place to answer this. But I will make an attempt.

The problem is Pakistan wanted to annex Kashmir in 1948 as it happened to be a Muslim-ruled monarchy ruled by a Hindu king till our independence from British rule. They thought that the division of India was not proper. Kashmir happens to be a bordering state and geographically a very important location bordering Pakistan and China. They failed in their first attempt. Then the 1965, 1971 and 1999 wars which they lost. The attempts continued. Kargil happened. China has become their closest ally. They have given 5000 sq.km. of land they were occupying to China to build the Karakoram highway in 1963. You can drive from Beijing to Islamabad without anyone knowing. That highway is hidden from the world. Now Pakistan has maintained the policy of bleeding India through a war with a thousand cuts.

Is it next to impossible for entrepreneurs to do meaningful non-trading business between India and China, because of the long-standing political mistrust?

This question has been asked by one of my friends in China.

A lot has been said here already about the long standing mistrust between the two countries. As far as we are concerned it would be to the advantage of both to do business. But we share a long and  fractured history.

Let me take you back to 1962. The Chinese army sang the "Hindi Chini bhai bhai" song when they attacked Arunachal Pradesh and defeated us in the only war we have lost so humiliatingly since our independence. Time has passed over the next 48 years. But the scars remain. How can you trust and do business with a country who happens to be the closest ally of Pakistan - who have vowed to see a thousand cuts on India till they take Kasmir in its entirety.

I give you an update on what is happening to Indians in 2010 doing business in China. 21 diamond traders from Gujarat have been jailed in China's Shenzen SEZ for offences that are yet to be specified. They are in jail for two and a half months with no charges being framed against them. The 100 diamond polishing units owned by Gujaratis in China have now been shut down. The merchants have moved to Hong Kong, leaving behind millions of dollars that they invested in Shenzen SEZ. The diamond traders are accused of smuggling but no case has been filed against them.

China was only interested in learning diamond cutting and polishing skills from Gujaratis and cut into their monopoly over the business. That aim has been achieved. Now they are bent on driving the Indians out of the SEZ. Corruption is rampant there and local businessmen and officials are part of the racket.

A theory doing the rounds in Surat is that the Chinese actions stems from envy. The Shenzen SEZ was dominated by Gujaratis, who made rapid progress there, and local Chinese traders did not take kindly to this success story. The traders are systematically targeted by the authorities.

May be readers can now draw their conclusions. I remember our earlier defence minister, George Fernandes had referred to China as India's "potential threat number one."

Is the rise in IIM or IIT batch size taking a toll on teaching quality?

The fact remains that not only the students who have passed out from IIT or IIM, but no body wants to come back to the campus and teach. The reason. Poor pay. What else? When asked why, most of them try to convince that they do not have the knack to teach. Teaching is an art. And lots of other very convinicng stuff.

As far as b-schools in India are concerned, the majority of industry returned people who teach full-time here were a failure in the corporate. Hence they decide to teach as a better alternative. Or they join after retirement or taking a VRS. The reason why they are here also is similar. Why will a successful person in the industry leave his or her job in India and want to teach in the 30-s and 40-s or even 50-s?  

This is very unlike the US or Europe where there is a 2-way flow from industry-campus-industry. Hence the salaries in the campus have never been a permanent roadblock to attract the best from the industry. And once you are branded a teacher in India after leaving the industry you had it. You would be unwelcome back. So at the most you will see the successful people in the industry who have an inclination to teach prefer a subject mostly on weekends to keep in touch with academia.

Unless the salaries are brought at par with the industry why will a IIT/ IIM/good b-school topper stay back at the campus to teach? The VIth Pay Commission is not an answer to this.

 

I am happy to find so many success stories of Indian managers, both men and women, working in India and abroad. But not one who taught and became famous here.

Do we need so many management graduates? Why not include key management subjects to improve basic education rather than forcing professional qualification?

I think the more appropriate question would be are so many management graduates worth their degree? I have seen many who really aren't. They study MBA only to get a placement from the campus with good pay. Not to become good managers. No other course provides this. You have to fight with so many in written tests, interviews to get a job. But not here. So even the very mediocre student opts to do MBA.

The heart of change by John Kotler

Successful large-scale change is a complex affair that happens in eight stages. The flow is this: push urgency up, put together a guiding team, create the vision and strategies, effectively communicate the vision and strategies, remove barriers to action, accomplish short-term wins, keep pushing for wave after wave of change until the work is done, and, finally, create a new culture to make new behaviour stick.

The central challenge in all eight stages is changing people's behaviour. The central challenge is not strategy, not systems, not culture. These elements and many others can be very important, but the core problem without question is behaviour — what people do, and the need for significant shifts in what people do.

Changing behaviour is less a matter of giving people analysis to influence their thoughts than helping them to see a truth to influence their feelings. Both thinking and feeling are essential, and both are found in successful organisations, but the heart of change is in the emotions.

The flow of see-feelchange is more powerful than that of analysis-thinkchange. These distinctions between seeing and analysing, between feeling and thinking, are critical because, for the most part, we use the latter much more frequently, competently, and comfortably than the former.

When we are frustrated, we sometimes try to convince ourselves there is a decreasing need for large-scale change... Yet some handle large-scale change remarkably well.

Why do people find knowledge sharing so difficult in professional life?

My post “Why Do People Find Knowledge Sharing So Difficult in Their Professional Life” has been published by Gina Abudi in her blog. I would like to thank her for taking my writing to her readers in different parts of the world.

Do have a look on:
http://www.ginaabudi.com/why-do-people-find-knowledge-sharing-so-difficult-in-their-professional-life/

If you are interested to know a little bit about myself you can check out on:
http://www.ginaabudi.com/authors/user/Suprio

Insecurity is the reason. If humans are insecure they would like to conceal whatever little they have. This is true not only in the professional scenario but in all walks of life. Large organizations know a lot of things, but they don’t always know what they know. Everyone benefits by sharing information.

It is the reason for the development of a concept known as knowledge management. It is the process of capturing and sharing a community’s collective expertise to fulfill its mission. It takes advantage of an organization’s most valuable asset — the collective expertise of its employees and partners. To implement knowledge management, how much does an organization need to change its culture?

Some people believe that a wholesale transformation is required in the way people work and act, but this is largely a myth. The fact is that successful knowledge management programs work with organizational cultures and behaviors, not against them. That is one reason people involved in knowledge management efforts prefer the term knowledge sharing.

One of the challenges of knowledge management is that of getting people to share their knowledge. Why should people give up their hard-won knowledge, when it is one of their key sources of personal advantage? In some organizations, sharing is natural. In others the old dictum "knowledge is power" reigns.

Do some people perform and function better in certain places than in other places?

Yes they do. The work place brings with it a lot of things around you. Corporate credo, job content, your boss and his or her attitude, peers, subordinates, culture, a down to earth approach, accountability, proper appraisal, rewards over and above your pay if you excel, etc.

I have seen in many cases where these things go far beyond what you would have expected when you joined. These make or mar your performance and growth up the corporate ladder. Productivity as a consequence will not be the same for any person whatever be the work place.

Example: A professionally qualified person was not so successful in the corporate world in spite of his vast knowledge, very good spoken and English writing skills and a flair for the language. But when he changed his job and took up teaching in a b-school his entire world changed for the better. Not only did success follow him, he had the opportunity to hone his spoken and writing skills so much that he also made a name for himself as a writer.

Business Case vs Business Plan

A business case is a business-related concept that is both practical and profitable, while a business plan gives the details and elucidates the financial steps necessary to create or grow a successful business. Its purpose is to examine the business dynamics of a proposed project as part of the evaluation and selection process. It shows how the project along with its lifecycle is a complete business venture that will contribute to its results. Thus it also shows how the project will align with and support the strategy of the organization. Finally, it demonstrates how the project will contribute to the company’s economic value.

For example, you could make a business case for investing in billboard advertising for your motel. You would cite the success stories of other motels that have had from such advertising.

A business plan will do two things. First, it will be your guide to creating or growing your business. It will address every major aspect, especially those related to expenses and income over a period of time. Second, it will show you and to other stake holders, such as probable investors, the value or profitability of your idea and your approach.

News on "China calls U.S. a hypocrite over human rights" made me ponder...

This is my answer to this question asked by a Chinese friend.

I take this opprtunity to share some thoughts with you. May be by doing this we will become wiser and look to the future with the right strategy that our nations need to take for our common good.

There are many things for which I adore China a country which became independent 2 years after India. Though it has been portrayed to the world that we are sworn enemies but there is no iota of doubt that the way China has marched ahead of India particularly over the last two decades makes us look at it in awe. As an after thought I often think may be India would have been far better if it had become a Communist country then. Democracy brings with it a lot of unwanted baggage for nations who have been ruled for centuries.

Without being distracted further I would like to say that in spite of the success China has enjoyed it has not been a good neighbour. There have been a lot of mistakes we have done in the past and still continuing like hosting the Dalai Lama since 1959 and not building a very good infrastructure along our borders with China, Nepal and Bangladesh. At the same time we have a few similar problems.

Taiwan in China. Kashmir in India. The two problems continue to simmer together. Pakistan being a close and trusted ally of China has distorted the balance in the region. China does not agree on the McMahon Line as its border with us even now saying it was not a signatory to the treaty in 1914. As a result its claim on Arunachal Pradesh in general and Tawang in particular continues and is never letting our ties smoothen. As far as human rights is concerned vis-a-vis USA there will be many contributions by our friends who are better aware. 

Good is not good enough when better is expected.........

"Good is not good enough when better is expected." This is a quote of Vin Scully. He is an American sportscaster, known mainly as the play-by-play voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team on Prime Ticket, KCAL-TV and KABC radio. He was named both Broadcaster of the Century by the American Sportscasters Association (2000) and top sportscaster of all-time on its Top 50 list (2009). Baseball Almanac has presented an unprecedented collection of baseball related quotations spoken by Vin Scully. Did you know that Vin Scully has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? It was placed there on June 9, 1982 — the same year he was enshrined at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Let us look at an old story. A strong woodcutter wanted a job with a timber merchant and he got it. His pay was good as were the working conditions. So he was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the place where he was to knock down the trees. On the first day he brought 15 trees. His boss was happy and told him to carry on with his work. He became highly motivated and tried harder the next day but could only bring 10 trees. On the third day he tried even harder but he was able to bring 7 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees. He thought he must be losing his strength. He went to his boss and apologized saying that he could not understand what was going on.

"When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked. "Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees..."

Most of us never update our skills. We think that whatever we have learned is enough. But good is not good when better is expected. This reminds me of a funny quote from Rosie Perez' character in "White Men Can't Jump" a good movie starring Wesley Snipes.

"Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win, and sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose."”

Would you find it beneficial to be part of a small group of business leaders who would share their faith and business principles monthly?

If we share our faith and business principles with each other I think all of us would benefit. Generally most people know nothing about other faiths and that is a cause for all the bitterness brewing all over the world. As long as it does not turn out to be a sermon I wouldn't mind. But the reason for me being in such a group would be to learn about the business principles which made them true business leaders. Not religion.

If you could state the most important aspect(s) of communication in one sentence, what would it say?

If communication dies, everything dies. Each word has an impact and value in communication. One word used or emphasised wrongly or if paused at a wrong place will change your entire communication altogether.

Is it worthwhile for Governments to widen the Roads in major cities?

This question is India centric. For a bigger cause a few have to suffer and they are always compensated. Hence, widening of roads in major cities is a step taken by the government in the right direction. Parking of vehicles at the proper place, removing unauthorised vendors and movement of traffic are the responsibilities of the municipal corporation and the traffic police respectively. They are also a part of the government.

From the question it seems they have not their homework well and have a lot of catching up to do. The ministry of urban development and home are here at fault. The concerned chief minister needs to take a background check of these two very important departments.

Things That India Can Learn From China

What is it that China has and India does not? “In China, there is a very clear set of objectives. They ask, “What are the binding constraints on our growth?” and focus on them. In India, when I ask a group of elites what the priorities for the 12th Five Year Plan are? Silence. And then a very long explanation about how we have to do all these things and have all these things running and maybe something will happen,” says Wendy Dobson, one of Canada’s leading economists. Dobson is the author of Gravity Shift: How Asia’s New Economic Powerhouse will Shape the Twenty-first Century and co-director of the Institute for International Business in the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Recently she had been interviewed by DNA Money. Excerpts from what she has said is given below with necessary modifications

Can you take us through how China, from being a communist economy, became what it is today? They are still a communist country, but they are probably more capitalist than the capitalist themselves.

Wild west capitalism. Essentially there was a demographic crisis. After the Cultural Revolution, production was very low because of all the disorder and the population was growing. They were outstripping the production. That was great trouble.

Den Xiaoping, to his credit, was curious as well as ambitious. He looked at what was going on in Korea, in Japan, in Taiwan. And said why are they doing better than us? That was part of the opening up to allow the diaspora to come in.

At the same time, experiments in which agricultural collectives were given to individual farmers to manage and they were allowed to pocket the proceeds from selling whatever they could produce over and above government quotas and taxes, were on. With the introduction of such incentives, production increased dramatically.

I have a picture on my wall of peasants in China in 1978 as Lushan, a hilltop town in Jiangxi province. On a sunlit street, a small group of peasants dressed in heavily patched blue shirts and trousers are engaged in intense discussion. At their feet are an assortment of produce and carrying baskets, and they hold simple scales with which to weigh the produce they have brought to trade. They have little scrips in their hand and they were exchanging produce fro promissory notes and using those notes to buy fertilizer or toothpaste. This was a market – hitherto banned since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It just happened that the communist party boss in that province said, “Let this go on and see what happens.” He was promoted in one of the changes of leadership and he rolled out what became the change in arrangement that built on innovations.

So that is how it all started?

Yes. They realized that if we can do this in agriculture, let’s try this in industry as well. Hey set up special economic zones (SEZs) and found that yes, they are very attractive to foreign investors. And that one thing led to another. In the late 1990s, they realized that the state-owned production wasn’t working. They had a two-track system and basically concluded that the market system works better than the state-owned system. So they went through what was a very risky restructuring of the state-owned system. And the wheels almost came off. There were millions of people laid off as they closed down the small state-owned enterprises in rural areas. They closed the least efficient of these money-losing propositions; merged others into some of these huge state conglomerates that we see today. Those days, the state sector is only about 25% of industrial production. Non-state – private and hybrid sets of ownership – accounts for well over 75%.

What are the main reasons behind them being able to grow at such a fast rate?

It is the changes in institutions – from repressive ones where the government controlled everything to government withdrawing and freeing up large parts of the economy but keeping political control. The change in the use of land from agriculture to industrial areas, housing around the cities, huge investments in infrastructure, etc. at the same time, it was lubricated by huge capital inflows. There was also a transformation of industrial production to a very heavy emphasis on labour-intensive manufacturing. Those are the sources of growth.

China has allowed labour market flexibility where people can move even though there is a household registration system that denies them rights to social services when they move from the countryside to the city. There is a big debate going on right now that they have to remove that household responsibility system so that people can move freely like they in India. But beyond that, people can seek jobs at prevailing wages and employers can build up a labour force and adjust the labour forces if they need to. The flexibility in China’s labour markets has pulled tens of millions of people out of subsistence agriculture.

But there is a line that you cannot cross inter-bank China, everybody knows that. You don’t criticize the party. You don’t call for the downfall of the party or the public security people turn up and engage you one way or another. The party knows that it needs to create million jobs a year, preferably in the urban areas, moving people living in the rural areas of China into the urban areas or allowing villages and tows to grow into urban areas. That has led to all sorts of disturbances and protests because land is still owned by the state. So farmers have had to give it up without question and take whatever compensation is offered. But what’s interesting is Beijing is listening to them.

It is interesting that you mention the communist party. I was listening to a presentation made by an Indian bureaucrat five months back and he was trying to make a comparison between China and India on the infrastructure side. And he concluded by saying “India has democracy, China has everything else.” Would you agree with something like that?

No, I don’t. And as I write in the book, India has all the institutions that China does not. But they don’t work. India is in a sort of gridlock. At the very top, India has absolutely first-rate managers. But in China, there is a very clear set of objectives. They ask, “What are the binding constraints on our growth?” and focus on them. This is despite the fact that there are all sorts of vested interests in China. Like is the case dealing with rebalancing that they are talking about where they will rely less on export-led growth and more on domestic demand and imports. Now that is creeping along in incremental Indian fashion because there are vested interests. But everybody knows what the priorities are. In India, when I ask, as I did yesterday, of a group of elites what are the priorities for the 12th Five Year Plan, there’s silence. Silence. And then a very long explanation about how we have to do all these things and have all these things running and maybe something will happen.

That is a very interesting comparison.

An outsider looks at it and says; surely the labour market rigidities in India trap hundreds of millions in subsistence agriculture. If there is one lesson to learn, it’s focusing on that binding constraint in the way the Chinese did. I talked to Kaushik Basu who wrote Chater-2 of the Economic Survey where there are actually three paragraphs on labour market institutions. And when I read it, I asked people, who wrote such wonderful economic prose? They said it was Kaushik Basu. And when I met him, he said yes. But he said it was almost removed. And all he is saying is that we should have a debate in India. We should have discourse on this issue what to do about labour market reform. Nobody wants to talk about it because they will be labeled anti-poor. And if there is ever an anti-poor policy that I have seen, this is it.

Restrictive labour laws are not unique to India. They exist in Italy, and in Brazil, to some extent in South Africa. And they are anti-poor because they prevent demand from blossoming.

China till now has primarily been an export-driven economy for a while.

Not entirely. What drives growth in China? Investment in infrastructure and manufacturing capacity for exports. Consumption has been declining as a share of GDP because that investment and government spending on infrastructure mainly has been so dynamic. They have been investing almost 50% of their GDP. The reason for that is because capital is very cheap. Their financial system is basically run by the state council, the chief administrative authority. Interest rates are set by the state council. They have kept rates low for a very long time. And so capital has been cheap.

Energy has been cheap because it has been subsidized. Not unusual to China. Labour has been cheap. Land has been cheap, owned by the state, and all sorts of shenanigans have been used to bring land into industrial production. This is all unsustainable. This means manufacturers in China who run on razor-thin profit margins are going to look for other sites. And it’s a huge opportunity for India because you have got abundance of labour and, of course with the right policies. But in India there are 39,000 reasons, starting with labour laws, that can’t be changed because you will appear anti-poor.

This is from a recent column by the economist Bill Bonner. “There are about five times as many rivers in the US and five times as many cars…but China now has nearly as many bridges…three quarters as much road surface. But with easy credit, the connivance of local officials, and the blessing of the central government, it builds more.”

I agree.

I wouldn’t say that US is going to go broke. But I would say that they should be worrying about gradually declining interest in the dollar continuing to be the global reserve currency. As renminbi becomes more regionally used in Asia, if the Euro survives current stresses, we are gong to move into a world of several reserve currencies.

How long do you see this manufacturing-led growth continuing? I mean there are only so many numbers of bridges and roads that can be built. Or are they going the Japanese way, by building bridges to nowhere and so on……

There are all sorts of interest groups in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which ruled Japan for 75 years before being booted out last year. There was an incentive system where, as long as construction companies were doing well, the election campaigns of LDP did well because they were financed by the firms who did the projects, the bridges to nowhere and so on.

In China, the local and municipal governments are well aware of that old saying about China – the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. So they are pursuing their own ambitions. They are evaluated every five years or so and get promoted or not according to what they did for growth. Lending has been directed with local governments having guaranteed loans for infrastructure. With lending almost doubling lat year, there will be all sorts of non-performing loans coming out that are guaranteed by local governments. So that again is a chicken that is going to come home to roost because eventually, it is a contingent liability at the Centre. And what will they do? That creates all sorts of incentives at the Centre to make reforms to raise the cost of capital because it has been too cheap and has been wasted.

China is largely a stimulus story. Their stimulus last year as a percentage of GDP was the biggest in the world, four times the size of the US……..

But they can afford it.

Absolutely. But keeping this background in mind, and the fact that interest rates have been low, credit has been easy and the bank lending has almost doubled in the last one year. Do you think that there is a bubble there?

I think it’s possible. But I’m not a forecaster with all the data at the fingertips to say, yes it is a bubble. The work I have done in the financial system I feel more comfortable saying there will be new crop of non-performing loans and like they were half a decade back. These loans will be shuffled back into asset management corporations and the government will inject capital into the banks again. They can afford to do it.

If there are three things India can learn from China what can those be according to you?

I am tempted to say labour market reform, labour market reform, and labour market reform. I would say in general, the return to my remarks about at the very top you have got equally competent and knowledgeable and dedicated political leadership and administrators, but in India, you have got a lack of focus and perhaps for the leadership if they are more focused to bring about some large changes in the binding constraints.

Do you see that happening?

No….But that’s one of the lessons to learn.

Investment Banking

This article has been sent by my student, Shivan Bakshi, who wants to make a career in equity research. Here I wish him all the best and pray to God to make his dreams come true. 

An investment bank is a financial institution that assists corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and acting as the agent in the issuance of securities. An investment bank also assists companies involved in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, etc. Further to provide ancillary services such as market making and the trading of derivatives, fixed income instruments, foreign exchange, commodity, and equity securities. To provide investment banking services in the United States an advisor must be a licensed broker-dealer. The advisor is subject to Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) (FINRA) regulation.

Salaries in Investment Banking (with bonus)

Job Level                       Salary RangeTypical All-in Comp  Prerequisite

                                                                                           (degree/yrs experience)

First Year Analyst            $60K - 150K$90K                        Bachelor's

Third Year Analyst           $120K - 300K$150K                    Bachelor's

First Year Associate         $150K - 250K$170K                    MBA

Third Year Associate        $250 - 450K$300K                       MBA

Vice President                  $350K - 1MM$500K                    3-6 years

Director / Principal           $400K - 1.5MM$700K                 5-10 years

Managing Director /

Partner                            $500K - 20MM$800K                  7-10 years

Department head             $800K - 70MM$2MM                  10+ years

Starting salaries in investment banking positions with a bachelors degree after bonus (assistant or junior analyst position) range from $60,000 to $70,000. Starting salaries with an MBA degree range after bonus (associate position) range from $80,000 to $150,000.

Investment Banking: Top Firms

Leading Firms / 2008 M&A Volume League Table

Rank

1                              Goldman Sachs & Co

2                              J.P. Morgan & Co., Inc.

3                              Citigroup

4                              UBS

5                              Morgan Stanley

6                              Bank of America / Merrill Lynch

7                              Credit Suisse

8                              Deutsche Bank

9                              Barclays Capital

10                            Lazard

Source: New York Times, January 2009 citing Dealogic

Investment Banking: Skill and Talent Requirements

Investment banks want employees with a combination of strong analytical and interpersonal skills. Some jobs lean more towards one skill set than another (e.g. brokers need to be mainly sales people). A typical job of an equities analyst requires both analytic and interpersonal skills. The skills involved include:

 

Key Skill Area                     Requirement

People skills:                         High

Sales skills:                            Medium

Communication skills:            High

Analytical skills:                     High

Ability to synthesize:              High

Creative ability:                     High

Initiative:                               Medium

Work hours:50-120/week

Investment Banking: Life as an Analyst

Analysts are typically recent undergraduates who work long hours and do a fair bit of grunt work. A good analyst helps his or her boss get their job done and done well. Analysts are not normally expected to contribute in meetings but often can. Many analysts return to the business. Others choose to try other opportunities. During recruiting out of an MBA program, former analysts will be at a significant advantage over others without experience.

Key analyst skills include:

the ability to work with Excel spreadsheets, write macros in VBA, track and generate weekly newsletters (weeklies), keep schedules, generate prospectuses, get burgers, put in and retrieve pitch books from the copy center, and answer client phone calls.

Success Factors

Key success factors include (i) getting your job done well and without friction, (ii) getting things done on time, (iii) asking for help when you need it, (iv) dressing neatly, (v) not complaining, gossiping or whining, (vi) learning to use the library and the web to do research, (vii) become a whiz-kid with Bloomberg, Excel, Word and Powerpoint, (viii) always give your boss credit, (ix) know when to cheer up your boss and (x) know when to stay out of the way.

A good analyst also networks, observes and thinks. You want to be genuine yet make it clear that you like your boss. Excessive posterior kissing is a negative. It's always good to have a little hobby as well like following stocks, playing Liars Poker or following currencies. You can do this when things get quiet in August.

Assessment

It's a tiring life but gives you a good chance to learn the investment banking field and bond with people whom you will work with later. Being an analyst is one of the best ways to break into a very good field. The return on investment from being a good analyst can be over 50 times what they actually pay you. After two years, most analysts leave to get their MBA or pursue other positions. It all depends on the firm. Some places have a pretty strict policy of getting rid of you. Others are more mellow. It makes sense, after all, to try to keep very good people who can get a job done. If you don't go back and get an MBA you might benefit from going out and getting a CFA.

Recommended Books

Fundamentals of Corporate Finance By Brealey, Myers and Marcus. An excellent, detailed book on topics in corporate finance. If you want to study what the field is about, this is a good book to start with. Keep this at your desk. An alternative finance reference book to use is Fundamentals of Corporate Finance by Ross Westerfield and Jordan.

Will uncorrupt leaders ever exist ?

The answer to this question depends on the place and the system you are referring to. Corruption in the system directly varies with the place we are talking about. In a more corrupt country/system leaders happen to be automatically corrupt.

Transparency International has released their annual 2009 listing of countries ranked by level of perceived corruption.

The five least corrupt countries: 1. New Zealand 2. Denmark 3. Singapore 3. Sweden (tie) 5. Switzerland

The five most corrupt countries: 1. Somalia 2. Afghanistan 3. Myanmar 4. Sudan 4. Iraq (tie)

It is most likely that even if some of the leaders in New Zealand are corrupt the degree would be so less it would not compare with a place like Somaila where corruption is a way of life. This does not mean that corruption has ceased to exist in New Zealand, But if found anywhere in that country we can expect very strict measures to be taken by the authorities to weed it out.

An important characteristic of human beings is that society influences them a lot. If the society is free of corruption we would always see leaders free of corruption.

Anarchy and Mayhem in Darjeeling: The Call for Gorkhaland Grows Louder

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM)’s offer for an interim administration does not mean it is giving up on its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. It is in reality a step forward towards its eventual goal. That is what their general secretary, Roshan Giri, said on March 16.

Taking into consideration the assembly elections in West Bengal in 2011, GJM president Bimal Gurung, had scaled down their demand. He read out a proposal at a rally in Kalimpong, one of the three sub-divisions of Darjeeling district, saying GJM was prepared for an interim arrangement till the end of 2011. They have sent it to the Union Home Ministry looking for necessary arrangements saying that there was no question of retracing their steps from the demand for a separate state. They prefer an interim set-up as a provisional answer to the statehood problem till the assembly polls.

They expect legislative, administrative and financial powers for the proposed hill body. GJM has also demanded replacement of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DJHC) of 1988. It has recommended the new body be named the Gorkhaland Regional Authority (GRA) or Darjeeling Dooars Regional Authority. They have not received anything from the Centre but would be discussing the issue in New Delhi on March 18. At the tripartite meeting in the capital they are going to press for an interim set-up till 2011 besides a separate Gorkhaland state.

Honesty, Integrity, Hardwork or Looks? What matters the most in an Indian job?

The first three matter the most. Looks to a lesser extent unless it involves continuous interaction like with the customer in a sales job. But as always it strengthens your personality. Now it isn't clear from the question as to whether these things matter if at all in getting the job, continuing with it or going beyond the company's benchmark of performance. So I am trying to answer in the three different perspectives. As far as getting the job is concerned looks play a very important part. The other three are irrelevant. For continuation and promotion there is no alternative to success without being honest, having integrity and doing tons of hard work.

What occupations do you feel should be licensed which are not?

In India, licensing needs to be looked into by the government and the mechanism of appropriate regulation is a must in many walks of life. For example, creativity is abused in Hindi films as well as television serials. We come across films when after half an hour or so we vaguely remember it to have been "lifted" from a Bengali classic or a Hollywood blockbuster of the 1970s or 80s. Now is ir possible for the dead author to file a law suit or the original film maker to take any action? Very few cases come up for litigation in this part of the world.

In your experience, is too much emphasis being placed on "Talk the Talk" vs. "Walk the Walk"?

If communication dies, everything dies. Each word has impact and value to the listener in communication. One word if used wrongly or emphasized wrongly or paused at a wrong place in communication causes havoc. So you should know what exactly you are talking about and the listener understands it very well. Otherwise do your home work first before you come to a business meeting or talk to a client over phone.

Is the business of selling bottled-water more about selling the bottle or the water?

In Inda, like selling most things in life, it's about selling the bottle. What percentage of the population know about the 'ISI' mark of quality issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for bottled water? In a country where just over two decades ago people would frown at the idea of selling as basic a commodity as water, it is quite astounding that so many bottled water brands actually thrive today. Some time back legalised pesticide residues in bottled water were being sold in the market. The norms for regulating pesticide levels in these bottles were so designed that it would not be detected.

How will the entry of foreign universities in India affect the country's education system?

The Indian government (read Cabinet) has cleared the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, which will now be tabled in Parliament. Although it is still a long way before we see campuses of foreign universities in India, heated debate is on over the merits of the entry of foreign universities. They key questions are:

1. Will this prod Indian institutions of higher education to become more competitive?

2. Will the foreign universities become islands of education where wards of only the super-rich (a miniscule of Indian population) get to study?

3. Will the Indian institutions of excellence such as the IITs and IIMs lose its sheen, and in turn their best faculty and students to foreign universities?

4. Will this further commercialize the education system without adding any value to it?

1. Yes it will make the better Indian institutions of higher education more competitive.

2. It depends. The fly by night operators will make a fast buck and disappear. But the government must see to their credibility and rating in their home country. I would suggest, like China where it is a law, they have to tie up with regular univesrities (not deemed ones) to operate in India.

3. IITs and IIMs are the best engineering and management insitutions in our country and recognised all over the world. So losing their sheen sounds like a poor joke. But yes, the better foreign universities would be targetting their faculties. This would result in more competition, better employment opportunities and and a boon for Indian students. So a win win situation is in the offing.

4.This is a foregone conclusion and points to the defects in our system. Education is big business here. But value addition has to be there for the institutions to make money. And, hopefully, if there are no reservations for any category and where merit will rule, the standard of education will be of the highest order.

Accountability is it a positive or negative connotation?

This is a very general management question. The answer to this question on Change Management would be better appreciated if it pertains to a specific case. I am attempting to answer this with respect to India and the public sector where we see accountability sadly lacking.

The area where this has severely deteriorated is India's public sector. Lack of the will to work, absenteeism, incompetence, inefficiency and corruption largely exists in every public service that the governmenet, central or state, is expected to render. Systemic failures of accountability lie at the root of the problem. Whether it is state government departments, ministries, municipal corporations, et al.

The primary reason seems to be security of service come what may. Accountability is something that people avoid in India in all matters pertaining to areas where the government is involved. Cases are filed, judgements which takes years to be delivered are pronounced but never the guilty are punished. But the scenario in the private sector is just the opposite where with the drop of a hat you may lose your job. There targets are stiff but they get better people, perform more and contribute a lot to national wealth.

Self awareness is the first step towards excellence. How to do it ?

You should understand what are your dreams. What would you like to do in life. Not what others have told you to do. What you think you are best at. Follow it in the right way. Achieve it. Bring excellence into that to such a level that no one can match you. It will be like playing a game as you love it so much. Not out of compulsion but love for it.

An example. If you teach in a b-school and you love your job and your students you should have the feeling that the next class will be your best. No one in the campus can teach it the way you can. Be modest and humble. They are divine qualities. Few people today have it. Sachin has it. That is why he is the best the world has ever seen.

Your Dream B-School?

1. Admission: It has been my experience from teaching that many students who do MBA should not have studied it. So the first step would be not to consdier the marks that they score in the entrance exams but to find out whether they can be managers first and good managers next. For this to happen the mode of admission should be streamlined to admit those who should and not those who scored.

2. Specialisation: The b-school should play an important role in determinig and helping the students to select the specialisation in the third semester or fourth trimester in a full-time 2 year course.

3. Subjects: As far as the subjects are concerned the major areas of Finance, OB/HR. Marketing to be continued. The subjects and the course curriculum should be more industry oriented with case studies of recent stories of success and failure to make the learning complete. Teaching just the concepts with a minor industry reference as is done in many places would not be enough.

4. Industry Interface: A lot of activity should be continued to bring people from the corporate so that students have the feel of what they are going to do two years hence.

Anarchy and Mayhem in Darjeeling Part II - ‘Fulfil demand’ rider for evaluation - Class X answer sheets lie unclaimed

More than 100 teachers supporting a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) union have refused to collect the answer scripts of the Madhyamik exams for evaluation to pressure the government into fulfilling their demands.

Members of the Janmukti Secondary Teachers’ Organisation (JSTO) had decided not to evaluate the Madhyamik answer papers and threatened to abstain from invigilation in the Higher Secondary exams, starting on March 17, if the Bengal government did not fulfil their demands.

They want the formation of an adhoc board to recommend the regularisation of contract teachers, appointment of headmasters and recognition and upgradation of junior high schools.

The WBSE, which conducts the Madhyamik exams, had asked 102 teachers from the Darjeeling hills to collect the answer sheets from its regional office in Siliguri.

"About 1.94 lakh candidates appeared for Madhyamik exams in north Bengal this year. The distribution of answer scripts to the teachers for evaluation had started. We had asked 102 teachers from the hills to come to our office and collect the answer papers,” said Debasis Dutta, the regional officer of the board. “However, none of them turned up. We have informed our superiors in Calcutta about the boycott and are waiting for necessary instructions.”

Around 350 to 400 teachers from the three hill subdivisions, Dajeeling, Kursepong and Kalimpong, are examiners supposed to check the Madhyamik papers. “If all of them refrain from the evaluation, it would definitely be a problem for us as we need to find other teachers to fill the gap.”

Officials of the West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education are also scratching their heads over how to tackle the JSTO’s threat to abstain from supervising the exams.

The council had already sent a letter to the union through the Darjeeling District Magistrate, requesting it to reconsider the decision.

“I would like to appeal to the teachers with folded hands that they should think of the students and change the decision. It is not possible to conduct the exams without the help of teachers.”

Asked if the council would depute teachers from the plains to the exam centres in the hills, Adhikari said: “We cannot think of such arrangements right now as there are a number of issues associated with them. The exam process is elaborate and altering it all of a sudden is not easy.”

An official at the council said they feared that the teachers might refuse to check the HS answer scripts also.

JSTO sources claimed school education minister Partha Dey had sent the union a fax in the evening, requesting it to refrain from any activity that would hamper the interest of the students. Dey said many of the demands had been attended to by the government and the rest would also be looked into soon.

The HS exams will be conducted at five centres in the three subdivisions of Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling from where 5,802 candidates will appear this year.

The JSTO leaders sounded undeterred even today. “We have been harping on a number of longstanding issues but the state government or the DGHC have never paid any attention. So, we have decided to boycott the exams. We are ready to sit across the table and discuss our demands,” said Bijay Pradhan, the secretary of the JSTO.

Asked whether the union would protest if the teachers from the plains were deputed as invigilators at the HS centres in hills, Pradhan said: “It is for the government and the council to decide. However, none of our members will work as supervisors.”

Anarchy and Mayhem in Darjeeling

I recently visited Siliguri and nearby places and had the shock of my life.

People from Darjeeling (Nepalis) who are agitating for a separate state of Gorkhaland have written it on stone at the places from where you drive towards Darjeeling. They do not like the suffix WB (West Bengal) on vehicles bearing the registration number. It should be GL. Otherwsie you are not allowed to drive. Our taxi driver told us that he is afraid to drive to Darjeeling or park there overnight as wheels or the engine may disappear.

Siliguri happens to be a sub-division of Darjeeling district but situated on the plains. It is the second most important city in the state economically after Kolkata. There are a lot of Nepalis living there peacefully. Many are quite wealthy. I found an officer speaking in Nepali to a client at State Bank of India. No problems. After all you have to absorb everything if you want peace. And that is what the state government has been doing for years together. It seems the ruling Left Front and its constituent parties are more interested in the assembly election next year and have learnt no lessons from Subhash Ghishing and Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) which took many lives. The second part of the same story is continuing with Bimal Gurung, once his deputy, now leading from the front through Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). But it seems the end this time will be much worse.

I felt very sad. My formative years were spent in Darjeeling which was known as the queen of all the hill stations in our country then. I studied in Mount Hermon School upto Class-VI. Just memories keep creeping from the shadows of the past.

The Maoist Fear

The slaughter of policemen by Maoists in the Midnapore district of West Bengal points once again to the obvious failure of the government in the state. Not only were they ambushed but were without adequate means to defend themselves. This is unpardonable. The larger question for the Left Front government is why and how the Naxal menace has come back in West Bengal more than three decades after it was apparently not just wiped out but solid reforms were undertaken. This is what they have been telling and have made us believe so long. When they came to power in 1977, it was the state’s rural areas that they concentrated on, while neglecting Kolkata and other cities. The message at that time was clear: fair distribution of land was needed to correct the class and caste discriminations of the past. The other concerns of society were of no great concern and left best ignored.

But exposure of the past few years since the protests of Nandigram and Singur only suggest that 33 years of communist rule not only drove industry out of Bengal but also neglected the villages. Self-satisfaction and arrogance became the hallmarks of the communist cadre as election after election seemed to prove that the Left was sacrosanct in Bengal. They took their prolonged existence and stability as an excuse for lack of action. They started to believe that it was greater than the country itself. It took a few electoral shocks for the party to get back on track.

It was the protest by farmers against industrial takeover of their lands – with the full involvement of the government – which turned our eye to the actual story of the years of neglect and apathy that the people of Bengal have suffered from. The state has not done too well on many social and human development indicators. This Maoist resurrection comes from general social discontent and despair. In its arrogance or even its apathy, the government has not managed to join the counter attack on Maoists launched by the Centre, even though it has faced the violent impact of their attacks. For years, the refrain in Bengal was that although its own village of Naxalbari started the movement, Naxalites had no footing in that state. That is no longer no true. And a government under attack does not seem to have the answers or the purpose to deal with this renewed threat.

The Genius - Sachin

This has been sent to me by one of my students, James George. A lot of interesting things said about the maestro, Sachin Tendulkar, by different players the world over.

"Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it."

- Hashim Amla, the South African batsman, reassures himself as he boards a flight.

"Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job."

- Yaseer Hameed in Pakistani newspaper.

"To Sachin, the man we all want to be"

- Andrew Symonds wrote on an Aussie t-shirt he autographed specially for Sachin.

“Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their TV sets and switch off their lives."

- BBC on Sachin

"Tujhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?"

- Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq when the latter dropped Sachin's catch in 2003 WC.

Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal.

- Brian Charles Lara

"We did not lose to a team called India...we lost to a man called Sachin."

- Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997)

"The more I see of him the more confused I'm getting to which is his best knock."

- M. L. Jaisimha

The joy he brings to the millions of his countrymen, the grace with which he handles all the adulation and the expectations and his innate humility - all make for a one-in-a-billion individual,"

- Glen McGrath

"I can be hundred per cent sure that Sachin will not play for a minute longer when he is not enjoying himself. He is still so eager to go out there and play. He will play as long as he feels he can play,"

- Anjali Tendulkar

Question: Who do you think as the most important celebrity ?

Shah Rukh Khan: There was a big party where stars from bollywood and cricket were invited. Suddenly, there was a big noise, all wanted to see approaching Amitabh Bachhan. Then Sachin entered the hall and Amitabh was leading the queue to get a grab of the GENIUS!!

- Shah Rukh Khan in an interview.

“India me aap PrimeMinister ko ek baar katghare me khada kar sakte hain..Par Sachin Tendulkar par ungli nahi utha sakte.. “

- Navjot Singh Sidhu on TV

He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also.

- Waqar Younis

Sachin Tendulkar has often reminded me of a veteran army colonel who has many medals on his chest to show how he has conquered bowlers all over the world. I was bowling to Sachin and he hit me for two fours in a row. One from point and the other in between point and gully. That was the last two balls of the over and the over after that we (SA) took a wicket and during the group meeting I told Jonty (Rhodes) to be alert and I know a way to pin Sachin. And I delivered the first ball of my next over and it was a fuller length delevery outside offstump. And I shouted catch. To my astonishment the ball was hit to the cover boundary. Such was the brilliance of Sachin. His reflex time is the best I have ever seen. Its like 1/20th of a sec. To get his wicket better not prepare. At least you wont regret if he hits you for boundaries.

- Allan Donald

On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This Genius can stop time in India!!

- Peter Rebouck - Aussie journalist

"Sachin cannot cheat. He is to cricket what (Mahatma) Gandhiji was to politics. It's clear discrimination. "

- NKP Salve, former Union Minister when Sachin was accused of ball tempering

There are 2 kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the others.

- Andy Flower

"I have seen god, he bats at no.4 for India"

- Mathew Hayden

"Commit all your sins when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed coz even the GOD is watching"

- A hoarding in England

NOW THIS ONE IS PROBABLY THE BEST AND MOST CUTEST OF THE LOT – the best:

"Even my father's name is Sachin Tendulkar."

- Tendulkar's daughter, Sara, tells her class her father's name after the teacher informs them of a restaurant of the same name in Mumbai.

Previous Year Interview Questions of Icfai Business School (IBS)

This has been sent to me by one of my students, Shivan Bakshi. It is an eye opener for those who are preparing for interviews at the campus and beyond.

Hi this should be the bible of evry student from 2008 batch right now .Guys interviw is an art and science - master the science atleast these questions are rfepeated evry year and are ver comon but needs lot of introspection to answer...think think and share your answers with your friends !

ICICI Securities Finance, Pay-5.5-8.5 lacs p.a.

· ·

· How would you go about checking a customer's credibility? · 2006 ·

· What does the bank statements indicative ? · ·

· How is forgery checked and identified? · ·

· What is ELSS and alpha,beta? · ·

· How does NCDEX work and how do you become a member of it? · ·

· We say that numbers and figures are important,but in practical scenario if you have to judge an organization would you refer to it's number's or no and why? · ·

· What ratios would you use if you need to undergo the financial approval of the company? · ·

· What are the term loans that bank's offer to it's corporate client base? · ·

· What is DSCR,what is the formula for the same? · ·

A What impact does negative cash flows have on the company?

A How to analyze a company?

A What are financial strategies to make a loss making company into a profit making company? Give example

A What do you think about the Indian economy in terms of its GDP growth?Comment

A Does India require technological solutions?If yes or no, then why?

A. What impact recession has on the Indian economy?

· ·

ICICI Bank Finance / Marketing , Pay-5-7 lacs p.a

· ·

· Questions were based on future deravatives and options? · 2006 ·

· Situation based questions? · ·

· Five things that you dislike about ICICI Bank? · ·

· What is the full form of IRR? · ·

· How would you do the complete analysis of a security? · ·

· What is the difference between marketing and selling? · ·

· What is the credit apprassial procedure? · ·

· What is the difference between ADR and ADS? · ·

· What is the limit of the reach in marketing terminology? · ·

· How would you go about selling fans in winters,what would be your marketing strategies? · ·

· What profile are you looking for? · ·

HDFC Finance / Marketing, Pay-5.6-7.25 lacs p.a

· ·

· There is a similarity between life and F1 racing and what do you learn from F1 racing? · 2006 ·

· What is the difference between traditional channels and multi level marketing? · ·

· What is CAPM model and what are it's assumptions? · ·

· What do you understand by flat rate and reducing rate? · ·

· What do you know about insurance premium and ROI? · ·

· How will you convince someone that you have the ability to sell a particular bank products? · · DE Shaw

· SIP

· Sensex is touching new highs what are the reasons and whats your view

· Which factor is most emphasizing in bringing FII inflows

· Which is better technical analysis or fundamental analysis

· Problem with Arvind mills

· Current market price of the script of AM

· How dollar depreciation is going to effect Indian equity market

· How much do you think the oil prices are having impact on Indian markets

Bajaj Allainz , Pay-4.5-6.25 lacs p.a

· My driving force

· Choice of position

· Application of Keynes theory

· Educational background

TCS Pay-5-6 lacs p.a

· SIP

· About yourself

· Difference b/w accounts and finance

· Basic theme of time value of money

· How does rate of interest in the economy effects growth rate

· Why TCS

· Any questions

· Capital expenditure and revenue expenditure

· Events affected you in life

· It is said that consultants create confusion? What do you want to say

· Who is better experienced guy with MBA or a fresher? How you are better than experienced person

· If as a consultant you are not allowed for implementation then are you comfortable

· 5year goals

· Values in work place

· Difference b/w smart work and hard work

· If there is a conflict b/w a corporate and a peer then what will you do

· What are 8085,8086 and fiber optics

· What is telecommunication , FM , AM

· What is international finance

· Software tools in which you are comfortable with

· Why US $ is declining

· What are the recent trends in textile industry

IndiaBulls , Pay-4.25-6.5 lacs p.a

SIP

· Family

· Why India Bulls

· Which scheme is better for investment

· What is your favorite dish

· Do you have a girl friend and how many so far

· Why we should take you

· Is background knowledge important for selling

· Make an advertisement for nokia and hutch

· Tell me something about computer science

· What are your likes and dislikes

· How adaptable are you

· Derivate and hedging risk

· Call option and put option

· What does your name means

· Would you be able to cope up with the work pressure

· Why career in management

· Given choice b/w job in educational field and india bulls

· Do u smoke or drink

· Have you ever proposed

· Derivatives

· What is better future market of cash market

· If you have an open position in reliance what would you do

· Location preference

· How many funds have you generated

· About city you belong

Aztec Exim Pvt. Ltd., Pay-5.00-7.65 lacs p.a

· Cash flow statement , income statement or balance sheet which out of three is most important for stakeholder

· Why government is promoting exports or why RBI is keen to maintain so much of $ balance

· What is good for organization +ive or –ive working capital

· Financial accounting and management enables the organization comment

· Some numerical on basic concepts of accounting and financial management

· How much are you interested in joining this organization and why

· If you are a girl after marriage will you go to the place where your husband is placed

· Difference b/w cash flow statement and funds flow statement

· Questions relating to CV domain knowledge and connecting it with economy

· Justify CGPA

· Why emphasis on ethics

· Long term aim

· Family background

EICHER GROUP Pay-4.6-5.6 lacs p.a

· FAMILY BACKGROUND?

· WHY COMBNATION OF MARKETING WHY EICHER?

· WHY NOT HAVE A CAREER IN COMPUTER FIELD?

· DID YOU SIT FOR COMPANIES WITH SYSTEM PROFILE?

· 2 QUESTONS BASED ON CUSTOMER DEALING?

· WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE PROFILE BEING OFFERED?

· CAREER OBJECTIVE?

· GENERAL TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE INDUSTRY AND THE PRODUCT LCV?

IMRS Pay-6.00-7.5 lacs p.a

· WHY MBA AFTER B.COM?

· WHAT IS YOUR SPECIALIZATION AND WHAT SUBJECTS YOU LIKED MOST?

· YOU SAID YOU LINKED MARKETING RESEARCH AS YOUR FAVOURITE SUBJECT –WHY?

· WHAT DID YOU DID IN BHARTI INFOTEL LTD?

· WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FUNTIME?

· SUPPOSE YOU ARE GOING TO CONDUCT AN INTERVIEW WHICH WOULD BE COMPLETED IN 1.5 HOURS ATLEAST AND THE INTERVIEWEE HAS 30 MINS TO SPARE THEN HOW WILL YOU GO ABOUT IT?

HCL INFINET Pay-4.25-5.5 lacs p.a

· SIP BOTH ENGG AND MBA BENEFITS OF THE PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN?

· VPN & VOLP PRESENTATION?

· HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF 5 YRS DOWN THE LIFE IN PROFFESIONAL AND PERSONAL LIFE?

· WHAT IS VPN EXPLAIN?

· SETTING UP CONNECTION IN A REMOTE LOCATION?

· ABOUT WORK EXPERIENCE?

· WHAT CAN HCL DO IN VIEW OF PRESENT COMPETITION?

Standard Charted Bank Pay-6.00-7.5 lacs p.a

· What makes you smile? 2006

· Are you open to relocation?

· Anything about you that we are unaware of?

· What is your idea and perspective towards sales?

· Why Banking?

· What is NAV?

· What would be your reaction if HSBC offers you double the package and promtion 5yrs down the line?

· Why should we go about hiring you?

· Do you have the ability to understand our executive training program?

· If a customer is going in for a loan is it a asset or a liabilty for the bank?

·

· Are women better at sales,what is your take on it? · 2006 ·

· How would you go about managing married life and office together and balance the same? · ·

· Why was there a shortfall in the percentage scored after std 10th? · ·

GE Money Pay-4.5-800 lacs p.a · ·

· What is operations? · 2006 ·

· SIP Details? · ·

· Project oriented questions? · ·

· What is the ratio that we use to find out the financial feasebility? · ·

· What do we understand by fixed asset turnover ratio? · ·

MetLife Insurance Finance Pay-5.00-7.5 lacs p.a

· Why CFA and then going about switching over to sales? · ·

· How would you rate yourself? · ·

MetLife Insurance Marketing Pay-5.00-6.7 lacs p.a

· ·

· Why didn't you go ahead and joined your father's busisness? · 2006 ·

· What is the basic difference between advertising and sales promotion? · ·

· How can you go about helping and enhancing the companies current state? · ·

· ·

Kotak Mahindra Bank Finance Pay-6.5-8.8 lacs p.a

· ·

· Why would you want to join Kotak? · 2006 ·

· What is your take on Mutual Funds? · ·

· What are those qualities,on the basis of which you could call yourself a good leader? · ·

· A particular customer of your bank,has been charged some particular amount by mistake,would you go ahead and reverse the entry or close the account if the customer is irrate? · ·

· ·

· ·

Kotak Mahindra Bank Marketing Pay-6-8 lacs p.a

· Do you have any close friends? · ·

· What do you know about the designation of relationship officer? · ·

· Certifications,AMFI,NCFM? · ·

· ·