Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Hi Friends,

I just wrote a guest post on my friend Pranav's blog in memory of Stephen Covey. Please do read it when you are free.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Habit Of Reading-Key Advantages.

There is a famous adage that 'People who read are the people who lead'. Looking at my previous blogs, I will try to make this blog a short one. Moving forward I will share the main advantages of reading. Why is it important?
If you feel it is not important it's fine but before freezing your opinion do go through these points below:
1. Increase in perception: In professional and personal life majority of the things, situations e.t.c. has to be understood by yourself and no one is going to tell you the correct method. So the main advantage of diversified reading is that it improves your perception levels. You better understand situations and things quickly and correctly. And friends you will agree on this that in life it is a sharp skill and a competitive advantage to understand and anticipate things quickly and correctly.
2. Increases in the level of self-disclosure: Here self-disclosure does not mean to disclose your embarrassing secrets but to have a better way of explaining things. Ability to more easily relate and simplify things improves your communication skills and brings in clarity about what you want to say.
3. You become creative: Just because you are exposed to versatile information, you will have multiple solutions and ideas for a given problem or situation. Also, the ideas gathered from extensive reading can be further tweaked and customized to provide creative solution to a given situation, problem or opportunity.
4. Start to have an opinion: If you desire to be a person who get's attention in class, friend circle or social group then you need to have a unique opinion on things being discussed and if you are reading regularly then you will soon start having your opinion on everything which is being discussed as on first place you are aware about the topic and secondly by using your thinking process you are able to create a unique opinion which separates you from the rest of the crowd and thus makes you interesting and who does not want attention :).

In the end I will close this blog with these amazing lines“The difference between who you are now and who you are five years from now, comes down to the people you meet and the books you read.” 

                         So friends keep reading and hence keep growing in life :)


Cheers,
Deepak.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Indian Aviation Industry Debacle- Is Indian Demography or govt policy responsible?

My first job with TajSATS air-catering brought me very close to aviation industry as I use to be the coordinator for American Airlines catering operations. During this time I saw metamorphisis of Air Deccan into LCC giant and also Jet Airways taking over Sahara Airlines. But during that time I was just seeing with no opinion as in two years I saw (100 meters away from main Airstrip) countless jet take-offs' but not even once I felt bored.
After 6 years seeing the pity condition of UB's Kingfisher airlines, I would like to bring your attention on two not so visible variables pivotally affecting the Indian Aviation Industry.

I. Government Policy not favorable to Indian Aviation industry.
-- I will not go into details as I am not specialist for this but the most important part ie fuel tax ATF in India is highest with 30% which makes the air fuel very costly in India. Globally the average tax on ATF is ~14%-15%.
--I will again not state the government policies but will try to correlate the same with the condition of private airlines in India. After open skies policy in 1993, Jet Airways, Sahara Airlines, Damania Airlines, ModiLuft came into existence. Damania and Modiluft got closed by end of 21st century. Sahara Airlines due to accumulated losses was took over by Jet Airways in 2006 end but since then Jet Airways balance sheet is bleeding red.
--In 2002-03  South-west Airlines business model was replicated by Air-Deccan. In the same time and lines many other airlines namely spice jet, go air,indigo, paramount came into existence. But except for Indigo (is the profit worth discussed below) all are posting losses year on year. Currently, the depressing status of Kingfisher airlines is continuing the story stated from day 1of open sky policy by Indian government.
-- So key point I want to put across is that there is certainly a big magnitude correlation between Government policy for aviation industry and state of Private airlines. Government must certainly frame salubrious policies to ensure that airlines in Indian sky survive and do well in terms of revenues and growth.

II. Indian Demographics:
--India is the second largest populated country with 85% of population with $2 income per day. It is a country with internet penetration of <5%. Just think market avaialble for cost intensive airline travel. I think these numbers were more acute when air-deccan started (2002-03) and they tried to a replicate a model of south-west airlines. In the same time,  herd follow approach was followed by more airlines . But South-west airlines was successful in an economy which is 20 times more than India.
--I think low-cost carrier does not actually exist in India.probably after few years things will improve---> A prime reason fo the debacle of the LCC airlines.

III. Indigo success
--Without raising questions on excellent management of Indigo, I want to share this data:
Airbus A320--Lease rate--Minimum monthly lease rate: $2,750 * 250hrs = US$687,500*12 per year.
Cost of A320 = $70 million dollar.
Indigo has more than 50+ of these aircrafts operating.
--Net Profit posted by Indigo last year= INR 550crore. So relatively the numbers are not impressive when you are investing so much. It will take longer to reach break-even (we have not taken ATF, airport service cost, employess cost etc into consideration) and in a business cycle having recession period will only increase the number of years to break-even.

In a nut-shell I want to say that Aviation industry is glamorous and larger than life but the risk attached in terms of business success is very high. So the success here is the mutual responsibility of the government and airline management.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Eduation Loan-Is Financial Crisis Brimming In India

After completing my MBA I got a gap of 4 months before joining my company. In this gap I got the opportunity to travel several parts of India by Road. There were two things common all over India. Firstly, it was WIP construction of roads and flyovers all over India. Second common feature was mushrooming of private colleges giving degrees in engineering and management. Each course costs >6Lakhs Rupees and I have just experienced that how tough it is to get a job in these tough recessionary times even after having professional degrees from good college.

I. Overview
Currently 35% of the population in India is <20years in age. Approximately, 420.5 millions of India Population will look for courses for UG and PG courses in coming years. I know most of them will even not reach 12th std due to poverty, financial constraints and other family commitments. But if we assume even pessimistically that 100 millions of the population decides to take a loan then also there is a big financial problem brimming in India. One assumption is that these 100 millions students belongs to middle class families with average academic record as they could not make into premier Government colleges.

II. Education Loan Provision in India
1. In all banks a student can avail a loan of INR ~4 Lakhs (3.96 Lakhs to be exact) without pledging any collateral. He/she needs a guarantor but it's not even guarantor responsibility to repay the loan if the main recipient defaults the repayment of loan.
2. If they don't land up with a job then after few years they can declare themselves bankrupt and then they do not need to repay there loans.
3. Currently India's unemployment rate is 9.4%.
4. And out of 10cr it seems difficult even if we will have 10% jobs opportunity in coming times.

III. Total value of loans given by banks
3.96 Lakhs* 100000000= 396000000000000 ie Rs 3.96 Trillion= $88 billion dollars. The Indian GDP value is just above $1 trillion dollar and if close to ~10% of that money slowly gets converted into Non-performing assets then in coming times it is signs of deep financial crisis for India as the defaulter list of education loans increased rapidly after 2008 recession.

IV. Smelling a Collusion
I personally believe that our bankers are always proactive in decision making since they managed well the 2008 financial global crisis or 2001 dot com recession or 1997 south-east Asia financial crisis. But here the problem is not from external world but it is because of few greedy men of our country.
It is a collusion between politicians, corporates and bankers in order to create personal wealth in least time. In the last 10 years more than 90% of private colleges opened are associated to politicians either by owning the colleges or taking bribes in clearing the licenses for colleges. Public money first goes to banks for savings and same is dispensed in form of education loan to the pockets of politicians and businessmen which never comes back to banks and then categorized into non-performing assets(NPA's). Bank is just a catalyst as the bankers are not able to visualize this crisis in coming times.

In the end, I hope that this nexus is deciphered soon by bankers and policy makers and avoids drifting the country into unmanageable financial crisis with millions of unemployed young professionals whose family money saved in banks is written off due to bad debts.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Book Review-NARCISSISTIC LEADERS: WHO SUCCEEDS AND WHO FAILS

NARCISSISTIC LEADERS: WHO SUCCEEDS AND WHO FAILS
By Michael Maccoby; Harvard Business School Press, Boston; 2007. 300 pages, Paperback

About The Book:
The book explains Narcissistic Leaders, a personality type which has both advantages and disadvantages. It presents how Narcissistic leaders excel at defining a compelling vision and infusing their followers with the courage to take their company in new directions. But they also tend to ignore sound advice and warnings coming from their peers and supervisors – which can cause them to sabotage their own careers and jeopardize their firm’s survival. The second half of the book explains in detail that, how can narcissistic leaders avoid the downslides of this complex personality types by becoming a productive narcissist. Here the author challenges the stereotype that people with this personality are best suited to lead only during times of rapid social and economic change. And a productive narcissistic leader redefines the way we understand and relate to today’s larger-than-life leaders.

NARCISSISTIC LEADERS: WHO SUCCEEDS AND WHO FAILS

The book in its 6 chapters and 300 pages elaborates and elucidates about those people who say that, their personal goal is to change the world. These people believe that through their ideas and the force of their own personality will bring about the changes that affect how people live and work. As it turns out, it takes a very unusual person to do this. These unusual people are called Narcissistic Leaders and to name a few of these kinds are Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockfeller, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Jack Welch. Given the current dynamic business environment, this book is targeted for students, managers, leaders, e.t.c. who aspires for leadership positions and will find this book instructive and inspirational.

In chapter 1, the author has made an effective process to identify various personality types. To help us understand personality type the author has provided a comprehensive questionnaire to evaluate our own type and those of our colleague and boss.

Putting things into perspective the focus has been shifted to explain elaborately on what is narcissism in chapter 2. The remainder of this chapter is devoted in explaining late Freudian sense of personality type. There are 4 normal personality types which are as follows:-
1.Marketing personality- For people who adapt their personalities to the demands of the market.
2.The erotic (which is not a sexual term) - He is a person for whom loving and being loved are the most important thing.
3.The Obsessive- He is the conservative character who preserves order and maintains moral values.
4.The Narcissists- The type of person who impresses us as a personality, who disrupts the status quo and brings about change.

In chapter 3, the author has made a commendable effort to analyze and explain narcissism in each dimension possible. Initially, explaining contrasts between productive and unproductive personality. The chapter further explains in detail about strength ( independent thinking/ Risk taking, passion, Charisma, Voracious Learning, Perseverance, alertness to threats, sense of humor) & weaknesses ( Not listening , Over sensitivity to criticism, Paranoia, anger and put- downs, over competitiveness & over control, Isolation, Grandiosity) of narcissistic personality.

In chapter 4, Michael Maccoby has highlighted that a narcissist who is productive can make it to top of a company, but to stay on top, a productive narcissist has to overcome his weakness and also require to develop a crucial set of inter-related skill called ‘strategic intelligence’. In second half of the chapter author discusses the five elements of strategic intelligence in detail which are as follows:
•Foresight
•Systems thinking
•Visioning
•Motivating
•Partnering

In the subsequent chapter 5, the author has provided a picture other way around i.e. how to work with a productive narcissist. He has explained five principles for working with a productive narcissist which are as follows:
•Know yourself and your type.
•Acquire deep knowledge in your field.
•Learn how to partner effectively.
•Don’t invest your own ego.
•Protect the narcissistic images.
Also, in the end of the chapter the author highlights on how to handle the weaknesses of a productive narcissist.

In chapter 6, Michael Maccoby, presents his defense against public opinion which pointedly says that, is there a future in today’s world for productive narcissist, or has their time of prominence and glory gone the way of the internet bubble and irrational exuberance? The author explains with many examples and case studies and finally emphasizes with full conviction that there is a future for the productive narcissist; in fact our progress as a society depends on them and how well they use their abilities.

The strengths of the book lie in the narrative structure of the book chronicles. Each chapter is organized around a question or series of question, which gives clarity in the concepts given by the author. This book encourages that productive narcissistic are not only born, but can be made. Also, this book is one of the best catalyst for a narcissistic person to transform himself into a productive narcissist.
On the other hand narcissism is primarily a negative word as it is derived from a classic story of a boy named narcissus who can’t stop staring at his reflection in a pond, and as a result dies. Here the book predominantly focuses on narcissistic attributes and doesn’t lay’s emphasis on the pivotal features of leadership such as one-on-one relationships between leaders and individual, such as the ability to connect to others with emotional support and listening skills.

While comparing Narcissistic leaders with a similar framed book named ‘The wizard and the warrior – leading with passion and power’ by Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal has few elements which could have been added to make the book more valuable in terms of making narcissistic leaders a complete book. The book by which it is being compared has laid emphasis on an important dimension that great leadership does not happen without addressing political and cultural head on. It also, throws light by coining broad terms like wizard and warrior to explain effective leadership. Wizard’s strength lies in wisdom, foresight and the ability to see below and beyond appearances. Wizard relies on values, icons, rituals, ceremonies and stories and the author’s state that an enterprise without wizard is sterile and often toxic. And a warrior attribute is required because combat and conflict are endemic in and between organization and organizations that has no warriors runs the risk of being overrun by another that has.
Therefore, if these attributes would have been added to strategic intelligence then the magnitude of productive narcissist would have tremendously increased.


To conclude this review, the book is inspirational and leaves the readers interested in quick fix solutions dismayed. But the many anecdotes rendered by the author serve as food for thought. By opening the eyes and minds of readers in leadership positions, the book gives them the courage to take risks on behalf of the values they cherish and the people they lead. An engaging, simple, down to earth style enables better understanding of the author’s suggestions. Seeing the current dynamic business environment, management students who aspire for leadership positions will find the book instructive and inspirational. This book can help managers, entrepreneurs and leaders learn how to reduce the baneful effect of toxic side of narcissism and benefit from the positive side of narcissism.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Why Sharukh and not Salman and Aamir

In my friend circle I am known for a hard core fan for Sharukh Khan and I do not admire the point of view of my friends who try to put across Salman, Aamir or even Akshay better than Sharukh. Because:

1. Aamir Khan- His Father and Uncle were well known movie producers of 80's and 90's.
Salman Khan- His Father, Salim Khan was well established story and script writer in bollywood.
SRK- Self made man.

2. SRK's first solid hit movie, Baazigar came after long 8 yrs of struggle in theatre, TV and bollywood. Interestingly this same movie before falling to SRK's kitty was first offered to Anil Kappor, Sanjay Dutt, Aaamir and Salman. But nobody has the vision or risk taking ability as SRK had. Also in the same time(1994) Salman and Aamir were already established actor in bollywood with hits like maine pyar kiya and dil respectively. So SRK entry was relatively very late.

3. Filmfare wards:In last 18 years SRK has won 14 filmfare awards in different categories. You know Aamir was present last in a Filmfare award ceremony in 1998 and was expecting best actor award for Raja Hindustani but Dil Toh Pagal lead actor(SRK) released in 1997 year end won this award. Same happened for Aamir when he was expecting same award for Rangeela but it fell into SRK's kitty for DDLJ in 1995. After this Aamir was never seen in an award ceremony. He just can't take heart breaks multiple times.
4. One woman man: Salman had affairs with Sangeeta Bijlani to Somi ALi to Aishwarya Rai to Katrina and many more which did not came into media's radar.But let him enjoy!!!! Talking about Aamir- He was married before he debuted into bollywood and it was a love marriage same as SRK. But his illicit child with Jessica Hines and then marrying Kiran Rao in 2005 raises question on his commitments. Do I have to say anything about SRK on this.
5. Assets creation: I will not say much but want to share that valuation of SRK's IPL franchise KKR is greater than assets combined of Aamir and Salman.
6. History of Performance:I can talk a lot about this but in brief. SRK has been giving consistent hits starting from 1994 with very few flops. But Salman with a number of flops before Wanted and Aamir's policy of one film per year policy since 1997 ensures that they don't have bandwidth and courage to be in SRK's consistent and high frequency trail.
8. Also Sharukh's consistence success and dominance has inspired and motivated Aamir and Salman to do some exceptional work in last few years.

I have still more things to add but will do it in some other blog. Maybe part 2 of this blog some time. But SRK's one thing which I don't admire is making fun of people and claiming that he is number one. But Still nobody is near to SRK. I am not just a fan of him but he is role model for me, who inspires me to give your best and be the best.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Manage Your Energy Levels.

Sleeping is one thing that sets the tempo for the pattern you will set for your energy levels in a day. I know most of my friends will agree with this, but very very few of the folks will have details about the reason for this statement I have mentioned in the first line of this blog. Energy levels are like Sine curves, and it's not that people have to capitalize only high point of their energy level curves but also ensure that lows of energy level curves are managed well. And it should be so perfect that the turnaround time to go towards higher point is faster and remains for longer period of time. I will circumscribe this topic on on one variable that is body of our temperature.
Temperature of the body matters: This is very interesting and I must tell you the reasons for people not able to wake up early morning or why they feel dizzy after lunch. People feel sleepy when their body temperature is down from normal. To validate my statement in winters most of us feel more sleepy as our body temperature is low. Likewise in the morning when the body is at rest since night you don't feel so active and don't want to wake up. When you indulge in some physical activity like morning exercise or normal morning activity like having tea or taking a bath increase your body temperature and makes you more active and alert for next few hours.
So a key learning is that you have to increase your body temperature asap in the morning to make the day more productive.
As I have mentioned earlier after lunch you will see that there is a dip in energy levels. This is because you had a heavy lunch and body energy is being used to digest the food and in turn is again making your body temperature low and makes you feel sleepy and lazy. If you want to make this cycle a short one you must involve in some physical exercise like walking, drinking water and eating smartly in lunch with small portion size.
Generally you will observe that your energy levels will be back on a higher magnitude after 3:30-4:00 PM. Here key action item for you is to make efforts that the turnaround time is much faster and you must be back with high energy level by 2:45-3:00 PM.
So main message of my current blog is that you have to manage your body temperature. If you want to have a good sleep. Firstly, ensure that your sleeping room is cool, quite and well ventilated, which instantly lowers down the body temperature and helps you in taking good night sleep and makes you energetic and fresh in the morning and in the morning make sure that you take adequate steps and precautions by doing physical activity and diet selection in such a way which promotes higher body temperature hence making you more efficient, proactive and alert throughout the day.
I will share more insights about how to have better sleep in less time and sleeping patterns and science behind it in coming blogs.

Cheers,
Deepak.