Anurag Singal's Life Insurance day Special

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Anurag 06:16  2 comments

A long winding day finally comes to a pause. Student life rocks

For the past 6 months, on umpteen occasions, I have made my mind to chronicle a day in this PGPX journey at IIMA. But so frenzied gets the pace of events during the day that by the time it ends, you are almost dead :) . Happiness zooms to infinity the moment you get into bed

Even today, I have not yet touched my favorite part of the house i.e. the bed. The reason is that I am baby sitting with Ms. Dhwani Singal as Sonia applies Mehendi for tomorrow (feeling special). It should be turn out to be special.

So the  day (10th Oct'14) started at 6 AM. Slave of the electronics life, you check the whatsapp status and the emails . Even Moodle as the placement season has kicked in and Placecom is working 24*7 to get new jobs.

Visualising the  face of Prof and his RA waiting for your written assignments on Siebel case unsettle you. They are already due past 5 days.

Then take a a bit of calculation and realise that if you start reading the pre-class material stipulated by each professor for the day ahead, you might collapse in MSH 901 itself

So you decide to take yet another round of skim reads and prepare for the worst. (Kind of play on probability of being caught on the wrong foot in the class)

Classes start at 845. Its time for Bank of Bihar vs. State of Bihar, Supreme Court of India, 1971 (Bailment Case) and  Vimal Chand Grover v. Bank of India, Supreme Court of India, 2000 (Pledge Case). Legalities of any issue are always interesting. The open book format shifts focus from memory to understanding. There's animated discussion, something that I really used to miss during my PE-2 days ten yrs ago ( P.S. Oct'04 was when I was trying to mug up provisions of Indian Contracts Act 1872,and Sale of Goods Act 1930 sitting all alone. The classroom experience was a complete different ball game)

Next we had a guest lecture by Mr Smaeer Walia; CEO, Smart Cube. To your utter happiness, you find that he is CA a who cleared in the early 90s and spent a decade or so with Accenture before deciding to plunge into the proverbial entrepreneurial waters and today runs a successful KPO by the name SmartCube. (Deal). We also dream to be like that at some point of our lives. But he told unequivocally that its not an esay journey, best with anxiety, frustation and loneliness. But by contuining to focus on domain knowledge and the quality dimensions of business, the sustainability would start trickling in slowly.

"No Battle Plan survives the first contact with the Enemy" - Russian

"Perfection is the ENEMY of Good" 

"There has to be BALANCE between Listening, Knowing and Doing"

"Failure is a FEEDBACK mechanism" 

"Be wary of CLIENT concentration RISK" 

"its NEVER 2 companies working together, its ALWAYS is 2 INDIVIDUALS working together"

"Horizontal Growth is very important than Vertical growth"

Scroll Google Search for large 500 companies and look for word "Xformational" 

"You Cannot Learn to Command if You Cannot Learn to Obey"

"Agree to Disagree" 

"Company is a LIVING organism with 10,100,10000, or few 100,000 hearts beating together" towards a mission or vision

" Luck CAN be Turned to your side"

"Success and Adversity are friends that walk together - learn from both"

"No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time"

"We don't need to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.  100 small things, 100 small improvements - collectively creates a Huge Impact"

Invaluable snippets

You get an opprtunity to discuss your journey of cajobportal.com. he gives some really insightful tips on market commodization, angel investing, client acquistion, long term perspectives.

Good

Time to move on as the Google Calendar takes you to SR-8 where you started the intellectual discussion on auction mechanisms

You learn about amazing platforms of auctions , of how the Vickrey Groove model failed in New Zealand but works fantastic in Google Adwords. (Public Policy Vs Pvt Sector).(Read more)

Break for 60 minutes where you inadvertently compose your first ever JD for a freelance position of VP-Content and Creativity. (Link). One good thing about working on your own is that you can have a fancy designation for yourself.  CEO, COO, CFO, VPs :)

Strategy and Innovation start at 230 PM

(Reliance Industries). 

The agility he brought with a Complexity Index of 11.3 (as defined by the Nelson Complexity Index) RIL's refinery at Jamnagar is able to process 80 types of heavy and sour crude oils to produce high value products. Thats flexibility. Thats scale. 

AirAsia - Southeast Asia's Most Successful Low-cost Airline

I got partcularly intrigued by the ethical issues surrounding their campaign. further research on the Internet led me to this (Article)

"The new girl has finally arrived. She's twice the fun and half the price"

The price war with Singapore Airlines

The Reliance and Air Asia related help you brainstorm the strategy layers which have been dormant since years. Fascinating insights. 

Interesting Cases

  

Narayan Bhaiya, an inspiration, was on campus for an MDP and we had the privilege of having dinner with him

So how would the goverment go for course correction after the telecom sector fiasco was discussed from 915 to 1045 PM

All tiredness goes away as your little one says this

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Anurag 11:33  No comment

Rudyard Kipling's If (with shades of Kalyug) with Anurag Singal

If you can spontaneously find out a scapegoat and wriggle yourself out of the blame game
when men around have lost their cool and started propagating that it was you

If you can factor in constructive feedback. But keep trusting yourself when you can clearly see that the guy across is insecure/jealous and is indulging in negative criticism

If you can wait but also smarly decipher when its NOT working and exit without wasting any more time
On being lied around, either pay back upfront (bluntly/diplomatically) or just forget it (ensure that you don't take it to heart as you also aren't saint)

On being hated, understand the various vested interests at play and just forget it (else BP/Sugar may rise)
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: but also know how to market your efforts and create an aura of knowledge; basically don't tom tom about it ( why inspire jealously and antagonise the others on a daily basis)

If you can dream and not make dreams your master but dupe a PE/VC investor about future prospects like Flipkart does

If you can strategise well within the abundant strategic models around or hire Mckinseys/BCGs if its getting too hectic on your grey cells

If you can treat treat success/failure with equanimity but at least be able to fake sadness in front of shareholders when its been a lacklustre quarter (else hire a smart Chartered Accountant and do some legal/illegal accounting jugglery)

If you can see each word spoken by you twisted by insecure men; either get immune or start acting tough and  making the morons around fall into the trap of their own words. Its simple dude: when you get on the defensive, they would get offensive and vice versa; choose what you like better

If you bear losses in the material world or even a hard disk crashing and yet chill as you realise that in the long run we are all dead and those GBs of photos/music was anways junk. For the ego satisfaction, try to retrieve but don't be too fussy

If you have a strong heart, play the leveraged games of speculation and risk it all. Buy Nifty Calls and Puts but avoid Nifty Futures as the risk is unlimited. Better apply Markowitz's Portfolio Theory and diversify ; Else check on opportunities to arbitage. If you can't , bundle the risks into exotic derivatives (CDOs and CDSs) and pass the tremors of your loss onto a third party; their prayers would work for you.Why should the rest of world alone have all the fun? :)

Its a zero sum game. If one wins, you have to lose. Don't get so emotional. Its shareholder's money which he has already written off or PSU bank's money you obtained by bribing those CXOs. They would give you a CDR once you default

If you can push beyond your perceived physical limitations, its good, you lazy bum (Bingo) but be careful also,you haven't exericsed a bit in the last umpteen years, you couch potato. take the treadmill test first

Persevere if the inner voice says that the idea is good but don't get over emotional please

If you can be humble ( or at least fake humility) while dealing with external people but also throw attitude ocassionally to show your class else they may take you for granted. If you've got an I-Phone, flaunt it. if you've been on a vacation to Europe, upload hundreds of pics on FB and keep writing " feeling awesome; its so amazing". Else why the heck did you shell out that much of money!!

Insulate yourself from the emotional melodrama when it comes to dealing with non-family members. It is a trade in emotions. Don't waste your tears on strangers.

If you can work hard yourself, its good in the initial stages till you create a reputation for yourself in the company. Once you get promoted, be a smart boss and exploit the haemoglobin of juniors. Being on stress hormones for too-long can be counter-productive. Just learn to let them do the work and take the credit.

Can't guarantee the global GDP for you but you will live a happy man. At least won't have to live on those multiple pills till you anyways would die.

A far cry from the original one by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you  

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,  

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;  

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;  

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;  

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;  

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,  

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,  

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,  

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,  

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

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Anurag 19:40  1 comment