F1 Commercial Chief Bernie Ecclestone returned the multi-million Dollar Cheque to Bahrain in a refund of the license fees the Gulf State paid in hosting the annual event and this is what he said, “I want to be loyal to the King (Of Bahrain), because he is doing everything he can to put things right with his people. He doesn’t need people like me stabbing him in the back. Right from the start, we talked about the problems there, and he was straight with me. I am not there and I do not know properly what problems they are having. But the King was concerned about Formula One and our Safety, which is why he took the decision to call off the race”
This few lines are not something a die hard Formula 1 fan like me would want to hear and that too the host being my 2nd home “Bahrain”. It’s just too unfortunate that the event will not happen as scheduled but sources say that once the civil unrest in the Kingdom comes to an end the race will happen in the month of November provided the racers and the teams are agreeing to it. Formula1 governing body in its part is estimated to be loosing $100 million from the cancellation in revenues and being the season opener it’s considered to be a very important affair. The news came in the early hours on Monday, the 21st of February just 3 weeks before the green signal in the Sakhir Circuit was lit.
The last 10 days in Bahrain has not been the typical Bahrain I had known for years and it was reported that people came on to the streets and have gripped the country. Several protesters have been killed in the anti-government demonstrations. Some of the protesters has protested telling that the government was trying to defuse the situation only to ensure that the race can go ahead but the Crown Prince on behalf of the King cleared the allegations and announced the cancellation of the big event. The Crown Prince stressed on the importance of Political stability in the country and having the Sport a secondary concern. The whole issue revolving Bahrain started in 1999 when the then Aamir of Bahrain Sk.Isa passed away and Sh Hamad took charge as the Aamir of Bahrain. A referendum poll was held the next year as to the need of Bahrain to be a Kingdom and Sh. Hamad became King Hamad of the Kingdom of Bahrain in 2001 with the referendum poll 97% YES in favor of the King. What I don’t understand is that very percentage of people are now against him putting charges that he has not been loyal to the Shia’s who comprise of the majority of the population of Bahrain. How much Bahrain loses from the cancellation of the race depends on whether it can stage the race later in the year or not. If it can, presumably the race fee takes care of itself and the only expense Bahrain would have to incur the $20 million for the inconvenience of moving the calendar around. It is understood that the already issued tickets online and other media will be reimbursed by the organisers. (Its obvious that they have to do itas Formula1 being an expensive sport) Now as far as tourism is concerned it could loose atleast $700m in revenues and this is because of the civil unrest in the Kingdom. Hotels, travel agents and toursim operators in the country stand to lose millions during this period and this is evident from the drastic drop in the number of foreigners coming into the country over the last 2 weeks and this will continue if the situation remains the same. The whole country’s economy is affected & Bahrain being a small country it cannot afford to loose this share of the Nations Income. Things get worse for small time vendors like restaurants where the weekend business is stopped from people coming from other neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The civil unrest has to stop and for the benefit of the country they need to come to terms and negotiations have to happen in full swing to keep the spirits of “Long Live Bahrain” alive.
OK!! This title will be confusing to many but after you read this post you might as well agree to it. It all started on the 3rd of September 2009, having left the Job at McKinsey & Co. my only intention at that point of time was to pursue my higher education and I had nothing else in mind but to do my Masters in Management a.k.a MBA or for that matter what I did was a Post Graduate Program in Management. SMOT School of Business was not selected by choice but then it was my cousin and a few friends who had suggested this growing Business School which I thought is the best place to enhance my skills in the field of Management. Started off the campaign to become a hard core Management Graduate with the Out Bound Training where we a bunch of young management aspirants were taken to this place called “Deenabandapuram” – A place in the middle of a forest in the borders of Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh. We were asked to leave behind our Mobile Phones and Laptops so that you are disconnected from the outside world. At first it was pretty weird but then got used to it and made me realize that even without gadgets we could live. Essentials of management were learnt in the 1st few months and I was able to relate to the hands on experience which I had gained during my work life to the actual theories in books. Library was something which was untouched by me and I mostly depended on the internet and felt that you get almost the same information or more as compared to the Library. The entire 16 months went in a flash with modules like the Six Sigma, Essentials of Management Consulting etc topping my interest list. So many events to remember especially the inter-college competitions which we took part. Quiz was something of interest to me since childhood and I transferred that into taking part in Business Quizzes in various colleges and winning a few certificates as well to my name. Management as we all know is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objective and this was evident from all the activities we did at SMOT, starting with the Cultural Fest which we had to organize for the seniors, that was when we were only a week old in the Management learning arena. Now to the part of the title as to why I have it equal to 16 years, honestly speaking just to give it a good title and apart from that whatever I have gained by way of knowledge over the last 16 months was something I would take atleast 16 years to learn, that was the vastness of the amount of things I have learned over this period of time. When I now look at the reference books I have gone through for the entire course I look at myself in the mirror and ask myself “Did you really do that?” or was it the Entrepreneurship/Leadership motive inside me that led to putting in this much of effort which I have never done in my life. 16 months saw many challenges taken up in the right spirit and made it look very easy as the bigger challenges will happen in due course when we get to the real Corporate World. Chill Out’s happened almost every month and it was a day where we left all the books behind and relax amidst the tight schedules we were having. Being a fast-track program, long leaves/holidays were beyond questioning and at times we had classes for the next term before the exams of the current term ended. 16 months also helped us meet a lot of Industry people as the faculty coming into the campus were all from the corporate and it helped us in getting to know the live happenings in the work place instead of just getting the text book case scenarios. My interest in writing blogs was mainly with the motive of a few friends from SMOT and I cannot stop myself from thanking them for encouraging me in going forward with my blog. Overall a great experience of being a Management Graduate.
As we are nearing the completion of yet another year which was called "2010" i write this post for my mere reference in future as to what i had done (Only the major events though) and not for anything else!! 2010 had lots of things to offer from starting the year with the 2nd term of my MBA which was very much hyped by many as something to look forward to as the classes were hectic and we had a faculty from Canada who came to teach us the "Management Consulting" module for 10 days which i would say was the most hectic days i've had the whole year. Many hours of putting the 'Thinking Hats' happened for this module as it required to do so. The Finance Specialization as part of the MBA programme was something i loved as Finance being my area of interest i was really happy in getting to know a lot of sought after questions which were pondering me for a long time. This might sound really weird or funny as i keep writing this post, i remember the events generally while sliding the Images in my phone as i have this habit of capturing atleast one snap from each occasion so that the dates are even stored for any reference in future and even this post. I wonder what would i have done if we were not in this Era. 2010 was a year where i was fortunate to take part in various Business quiz events in various colleges and it was indeed a great exposure, it also had this instinct in me to read more World and Business affairs instead of reading the sports pages and other film magazines, to enhance the knowledge in business which i continued for some time. Feb 24th is the day which no one can forget especially if you are a follower of the Bat & Ball game called cricket, this was the day Sachin hit his double 100, the 1st one of that sort in ODI and we watched the match live in the college as we couldnt afford to miss this historic moment. Lots of get togethers here and there happened and each moment is something which i will cherish for a long time to come. This was the year i took my hobby/passion 'Photography' very seriously of course with the help of many who made it possible and also this very platform in the form of "Blogging" which i was not very fond of and later became my favorite platform to raise my opinions. Twitter happened last year but again the extensive usage of this media came into lime light in this very year and i managed to (Somehow) get past 1000 followers and also cross 20000 tweets which showed that my competency of 'Openness' has been invented by myself. Got lots of friends via Twitter and even though being strangers this platform proved a lesson that even strangers can become friends for the mere objective of sharing information and nothing above that (And YES, i meant that). I believe all users in Twitter do that and i'm glad that i'm part of this rather a small platform as compared to other social networking sites. All in all a great year and i hope to have a great 2011, well that is going to be a crucial year indeed as i'll be stepping my foot into the shoes of 'Worklife' again after a gap of almost 2 years. Looking forward to it!!
N.T Arun Kumar is the Ex-CEO with Dun & Bradstreet and i was fortunate to interview him during his tenure as the CEO talking about the various challenges and the setbacks which has to be taken into consideration as a Leader. Below is the extract from the interview
1)*What are the biggest challenges you have faced to reach this position?
[ARUN]: I have had to move away from comfort zones, ‘maintenance’ roles. You see, it gets very cozy in senior roles in MNC’s and then you tend to start compromising on your ambitions and vision. I stayed focused on becoming a unique business leader, in breaking at some time soon my ‘technology-profile’ and shifting to a business profile – and to do that I’ve had to leave some cushy jobs! I believed in my unique strengths at each such change and pursued assignments that would leverage them. I joined D&B as a CIO and successfully transitioned to a business leader – thanks mostly to the opportunities I had to develop new products, meet customers (rather than do an internal technology job!), explore new geographies & markets and to participate in the business strategy rather than just execute the IT part of it! So I had to work extra, extra hard to get business’ acceptance as a leader, to get a seat at the Board as an equal as against a supporting executive. I learnt to speak the customer’s language, learnt to put business first before my department or function and finally, changed my leadership style to change my team’s attitude to business. The critical change I internalized is to be a business enabler and a customer champion and to lead from the front; to take risks that others shy away from. I also learnt the importance of trust: to trust and to earn trust – nothing is more important to a CEO than this!
2)What do you think are the pros and cons of having a situation in which there are two core CEOs rather than a single CEO?
[ARUN]: You know when I was in Citibank and Citi got acquired by Traveler’s to create Citigroup, they initially had two CEO’s. It was amusing although there was a time-bound reason for such a context – transition in the biggest M&A in the Banking world, bringing together two cultures, multiple business lines, global impact etc etc. Closer home Wipro now has two CEO’s. SAP too now has two CEOs. There are reasons for such situations that are unique to that specific organization and it cannot be generalized as good or bad. As long as the customers win, whatever works is fine! But nevertheless, internally for such organizations, it is extremely important to clarify focus areas for each CEO (geography or industry or products or business lines or skill sets based) and to draw clear boundaries so as to avoid internal confusion among employees.
3)How will you maintain a high margin at a time when clients want better prices?
[ARUN]: Innovation, Price led costing (most important) and driving efficiencies through re-usability and productivity enhancements.
4)When you look at the portfolio of businesses which you have, and you look into the future, what do you see?
[ARUN]: Lots of growth J and lots of opportunities for innovation, improvisation, market creation. We are a niche business, niche business model: we integrate 4 business lines – Credit Bureaus, Risk Management, Predictive Analytics and Information Technology – very exciting combination!
5)*Tell me something about the "new image" that your Organization is seeking.
[ARUN]: Our organization itself is new and young (setup in 2005 as a captive and became a company in 2007) so there is no need for a “new” image. We pride ourselves on our phenomenal heritage: 170 years old Dun & Bradstreet which employed 4 USA Presidents and TransUnion a leading US based Credit Information provider. Our image is one of juxtaposition of the traditional & ultra-modern, combination of global and startup and an interesting mix of very niche talent. We are agile, we are caring, we are small in size but huge in impact & value! These attributes of our “image” will continue to get strengthened.
6)What is your current assessment of the Indian economy?
[ARUN]:
7)*What was your plan of action when you took over as CEO?
[ARUN]: To create a globally successful and profitable business in the areas of Risk, Analytics and Technology, carved out of an existing captive organization. To script the vision, mission, strategy and to build a team & the organization to execute it. To infuse social responsibility in our organization’s ethos & strategy. To create a winning culture and to define our leadership agenda. And finally, to win customers! Quite a handful, right?! J I am happy to look back and see all of them achieved – thanks to my team. My Board and our shareholders have been most encouraging, empowering and supportive! I have had a dream run, so to say J
8)Where do you get your ideas, your management ideas?
[ARUN]: Everywhere J - from books that I read voraciously (and increasing eclectically!), from my colleagues (some of whom are so brilliant and daring!), from my 11 year old son (whose imagination is absolutely amazing & enviable), from invisible netizens on Twitter….I can go on and on. But mostly, to tell you the truth, I believe the best is deep inside you and being silent with yourself is the best idea generation machine one can ever get! I am learning to practice intense silence for a few hours daily…now, that’s a great idea, isn’t it?! J
9)*So what's the plan in the future? What would you like to see D & B become in the next five to ten years?
[ARUN]: Our vision is to be the most trusted partner for our stakeholders, in being able to bring together risk management, predictive analytics and technology & consulting skills to help our customers become the best for themselves and their customers. Growth in alignment of such a vision is what we are aiming at, retaining our niche.
10)In your opinion, what are the most urgent ethical issues in business today?
[ARUN]: Financial integrity and transparency of governance.
11)Why are ethical business practices so important in today's society?
AND
12)*Is ethics training just as important for working professionals? How can working professionals make better decisions on a daily basis?
[ARUN]: Absolutely important, more important than anything else. Ethical business practices are the only ones that sustain long-term. It is critical to look at our stakeholders holistically and not just at our shareholders. You know, we worked with a leading University in it’s doctoral research program in defining our model of strategic stakeholder management! Society and community development are cornerstones to a meaningful organizational & business strategy and you can’t do that without being absolutely ethical. Ethics training must be made mandatory. I remember in XLRI where I graduated from, this was given a lot of importance and the Tatas contributed actively to it. I learnt a lot from there and it left a deep impression. At D&B we have a very well defined and propagated ‘Code of Conduct’ that is our Ethics-DNA.
13)How do you think about social responsibility of the company in management decision?
[ARUN]: The two must be practiced in an inter-dependant manner. There is no alternative.
14)*As it turns out, doing good is good for business, and more companies are realizing the benefits of Socially Responsible Investments (SRIs). How is your company engaged in SRIs?
[ARUN]: We believe in – and pioneered the concept of – “Individual Social Responsibility” or ISR as against conventional model of CSR. Because we believe every individual employee MUST contribute to community service. Because, as Peter Drucker said, that’s what makes for better managers, better professionals. Human Values are the baseline for becoming good professionals too. We have seen that empathetic and socially-sensitive employees go longer miles in their commitment to work, to customers and to the organization – without being incentivized to do so! We are probably the only organization that mandates a minimum of 2 hours per month community work for our employees (it’s a HR Policy in the company and employees are assigned a performance appraisal weightage against this metric!). Please see www.dnbtransunion.com and www.idotrust.org and www.techsai.org for some interesting details J
15)*How can one find the middle path between CSR and profit maximization?
[ARUN]: As I said the two are inter-dependent and have a mutual force-multiplier effect. I believe in ISR rather than companies issuing large cheques / donations in the name of CSR. And to me quality and long-term sustainability of profits are more important than the conventional definition of “profit maximization”: social service adds those two elements to the financial health of the business.
16)In which geographical markets do you see the most growth potential for D & B?
[ARUN]: The US continues to be a huge market for us for IT and analytics. We see Asia & Africa as strong emerging potential growth areas for Credit and Risk solutions.
17)What kind of traction do you see from sectors that have been affected due to the recession?
[ARUN]: Banks & Financial Services are beginning to recover and Gartner predicts a higher IT spend in 2010-11 in this sector compared with last year. Healthcare will be big too. I also believe high-value, specialized education / learning will be a big area of growth.
18)*What do you think about recruiting Freshers? How much of importance do you give to freshers? Do you think the new blood would have something to contribute to the firm?
[ARUN]: Absolutely. Freshers do bring in energy and the perspectives of ‘next-gen’! But we are selective since we are a niche business and a niche business model – our current growth imperative calls for highly experienced specialists. We do want to create more specialists in our niche domains (Credit Bureau, Predictive Risk Analytics etc) and hence the occasional need for bright freshers – but it takes time, patience and a lot of commitment from folks beginning their careers to become credible in these fields. And that’s a huge challenge for us!
19)*Could you tell us how you are ensuring the financials stay healthy?
[ARUN]: We are a fusion of two of the best global brands in the Information Industry: Dun & Bradstreet and TransUnion. So while we have a start-up culture, in terms of our independence and agility, we enjoy the benefit of being a subsidiary of these two global organizations. Our business is captive i.e. we only serve our parent companies and their customers so our financials are predictable and extremely healthy. We have been profitable and cash-positive from the very beginning and that is a testimony to our delivery capability and our business model. Our valuation has reached 5x in less than 3 years since inception! We have a healthy business pipeline and commitment from our parent organizations.
20)*Do you think the world economy is on a way to recovery? Or is it just a temporary phase? How about in India? Is the worst over?
[ARUN]: Yes certainly (on way to recovery), though the recovery will be a slow, painful process. We are already seeing turn-around especially in export oriented sectors in India (e.g. IT/ITeS Services). What is happening in the US and specifically in the Banking/Financial Services industry is more long-drawn out and no, the worst is not yet over, it is just pulling along slowly upwards. India, I believe, is strong – our economy is growing in a robust manner and by & large the financial sector was immune to the blows from the US. A lot of companies, across different sectors, are now seriously looking at India as a growth market. Telecom, Healthcare and Technology will lead the boom.
21)How do you zero in on the investments that will fit the kinds of priorities that will work towards the kinds of goals you have?
[ARUN]:
22)*How do you balance your personal and work life?
[ARUN]: In my experience (and existence!), the term “work-life-balance” is a bit anachronistic! To me, it is about work-life integration. We live in a global, all-time-zones, competitive professional milieu and increasingly find personal & professional life always inter-twining! We have to constantly straddle interests, ambitions and multiple priorities so delineating the two worlds is becoming impossible. I stay connected always both at work and to my family; I have come to realize that these two need not be mutually exclusive: as long as the common themes are passion and purpose. So I am equally at ease tweeting with my son about Pokemons while at work and responding to urgent customer/employee emails while at his music concert or reading my books! I take frequent short breaks and I give myself fully to whatever I do. Makes all the difference I guess to the word ‘balance’…. J
23)*Just out of curiosity, who is your role model, We did see you the other day in the MSSW event held last month where you had come dressed similar to Steve Jobs, Is he an inspiration to you?
[ARUN]: Ha ha ha! Yes, I do admire him (Steve Jobs) more than anyone else in the business world but that’s where any attempt at resemblance stops! Jobs, to me, epitomizes resilience, grit to innovate and simply do what none has done before! Similar dress was unintentional! I don’t dare even think of imitating him! Coming to your question, I did have some terrific bosses and worked with some world-class business managers: Achal Agarwal and Ram Ramsundar of PepsiCo, Arun Jain of Polaris come immediately to my mind.
My role models are varied according to my different interests: Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is my Spiritual Guru, my God. Amongst world leaders, I admire H.H. Dalai Lama, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, and Mikhail Gorbachev.
What I really get a kick out of is to see and experience leadership in everyday life, from ordinary people: Nammalvar - a simple villager who has revolutionized organic farming against all odds, some of my colleagues at work who defy time-zones and customer demands taking commitment to new heights and finally, my mother who at 62 is the most energetic multi-tasker I will ever know in my life!
24)What is your message to aspiring managers like us?
[ARUN]: Internalize Richard Bach’s message through Jonathan Livingston Seagull: Passion, Purpose and Perfection. If I may take the liberty of adding the 4th P, it would be – Plan. Management and leadership are all about – and only about – People (hey! That’s your 5th P!!). So focus on developing the soft skills and continuously improving upon them.
PS: This was done as part of the 'What CEO says' project from SMOT School of Business
Dakshina Chitra - Situated in the outskirts of Chennai, Tamil Nadu is one place where you can bring back memories of the past especially in my case, My Childhood. You can call this place an entire town/village in the 70's or 80's and will indeed take you back in time. The Rich Heritage of India is shown here in Dakshina Chitra (DC) and not only did it impress me a lot in the Architecture of the old India but also the living traditions of Art. I was told by one of the guides at DC that some of the houses were made into pieces from the respective states where they were taken and then restored here in Chennai. DC focuses mostly on the South Indian Folk performing arts, crafts and the rich heritage and architecture. Having been here in Chennai for almost 7 years it was really unfortunate that i have not had a chance to visit DC, who opened its gates in 1996. Infact i wasnt aware of such a thing, maybe it was the lack of publicity or else would have gone there long back. Thanks to a close friend of mine who
shared her experience going there and i was so tempted to go there that when i got a chance i flew down there. Pictures will say for itself as any photo taken inside happens to come out well and in short i can call it a Photographers paradise. Lots of "Click" opportunities and the uniqueness of each houses inside make you feel like you have travelled to a lot of
places even though you are stuck inside the 10 acre land facing the Bay of Bengal. There were exhibits from the 4 South Indian States viz Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and all of them put together had around 12 houses each one different from another which was mind blowing. My Formula/Suggestion to all reading this here in Chennai, Please go and visit this place, atleast that way you know how our ancestors lived!! :P
