Unknowns and Managers

There are known Unknowns and then there are unknown Unknowns. Those that can be seen on the horizon but not yet comprehended, and those that are beyond the horizon and not known until the moment to even exist.

A good manager, I believe, is someone who spends a considerable portion of time in guiding and encouraging employees to explore and understand the known Unknowns on the horizon, and eventually helps convert those into known entities.

On the other hand, a great manager in my view is someone who focuses efforts in introducing and/or exposing the unknown Unknowns to the employees and challenges them to take the leap in exploring beyond the horizon - in the process encouraging them to take risks without the fear of failure.

Needless to say, a bad manager is someone who gets entangled in driving the employees to continue working on the known Knowns, and in the process likely becoming a micro-manager himself.

The Goal And The Journey

We all aspire for success, though it can vary in its kind and degree for each one of us, and work our way towards it. For me, though reaching the goal successfully is often a cause for celebration, it is most important to ensure that the integrity of such a success can withstand the test of the time. One of the greatest realizations I have had in my life is to pay as much attention to the means of reaching the goal as to the goal itself, to ensure that the success lives longer with its integrity intact forever. When one focuses on the means and details of the process to ensure that a true and genuine success is achieved, it will also incessantly put one’s honesty, ethics, and values to test, which ultimately will define the strength of one’s character. 

I strongly believe that the desire for a true and life-long success is even more important in the current world, given the numerous instances we see of people trying to reach their goals be it in sports, business, politics, and various other fields, with such short-sighted approach that it eventually brings them dishonor and significant losses to many others. The ancient wise sages have proclaimed that the secret of the real success and its longevity lies in paying as much attention to the means as to the end. For us humans, a great drawback in life is that we are so much drawn to the end result, the goal is so much more enchanting, so much more alluring, and so much bigger in our mental horizon, that we lose sight of the details altogether. Analysis of disintegrated successes often reveals that the means of achieving the success were not paid enough attention. Proper attention to the strengthening of the means is what is required, since with the means alright, the result will eventually come. Once the goal is chosen and the means determined, we may almost let go of the goal from our mind, because the success will come when the means are perfected. The realization of the goal is the effect, while the means are the cause, and the attention to the means, therefore, is the great secret of real success in life.

When one makes a right decision at every junction in the path, not worrying much about any possible outcome and undaunted about the resulting challenges, it may lead to a longer and harder path but will invariably lead to the true success. This is the belief that matters to me most, and this is what the kind of person my kids should know and understand about me when they grow up, so that they can forever be proud of their dad.

Minds or Guns? Give Me Liberty (From Fear) or Give Me Death.

With great sadness I read this week's news that the Texas State Senate has approved a bill that allows anyone above 21 to carry a concealed gun (licensed) in the university campus. The bill is all but passed, pending approval from the State Texas State congress and the governor's office. It is already known that Gov.Perry has openly expressed his support for the bill (so far 23 other states rejected the bill, including Arizona where the governor rejected with a veto even after the state senate and congress passed the bill).

Apparently, the argument in favor of the bill is that it can provide the students an ability to defend themselves in case of any campus shootings similar to those happened at Virginia Tech (VT) and other universities. I just wonder who in the world came up with that logic! Do they really think, when pointed at with a gun and about to be shot, these untrained inexperienced young students have the time and the audacity to pull out a gun and shoot back?

Now, do I know anything about such situations? Oh yeah...absolutely! Within a few months of my first coming to USA as a graduate student, I was robbed at gunpoint on the university campus in that dark misty night of the Thanksgiving week. Even as a professor in my last job, more than a few times I did encounter students with an aggravated mind. One time when the final grades were out, a student called me on phone and gave enough abuse with some good expletives to remember for a lifetime. I don't know what the student would have done if he were in my office at that moment! My then colleagues too shared with me similar experiences. Just during the 2008-2009 academic year, there were more than a few attacks on women in the engineering building there. I am sure many remember the incidents of disgruntled researchers killing their committee members for reasons pertaining to tenure or doctoral defense decisions. When shootings happened at VT and other universities, there was a lighter discussion that working at the university has made the professor's job most dangerous, only after the soldier's situation in Iraq that time.

But then, are the above incidents reason to support carrying guns at universities? Even after extensive training, practice, and experience in handling the weapons, police and military personnel occasionally mishandle the guns and in that process injure or kill their colleagues. Then, what can we expect of these twenty-some young individuals just into college, feeling macho and proud of carrying guns?

We have a tough "zero-tolerance" policy at K-12 schools when it comes to weapons, even in Texas. Imagine what happens to the thinking of these kids when we go from zero-tolerance to 100% freedom in carrying guns. Can we expect these young kids to suddenly grow mature and highly professional in those couple of years and know how to handle a great responsibility. Remember, with great power comes the great responsibility. Did these lawmakers bother to consult the sociologists and psychologists in this regard? This brings up another interesting possibility - gun becoming one more show-off gadget! It is well known that we humans try to gain social stature among peers by showing off the best possessions. Modern youngsters use their latest cool mobile phones, laptops, and other electronic gadgets as those "proud" possessions. With this new law, add the gun to that list. And after that, it is easy to envision a scenario in which young guys in a group trying to show of their "cool" guns to each other and possibly mishandle the weapon.

And the statisticians - where are you? What is the probability of a single gun going off accidentally on a random day in an year at a university with say 20,000 population of which 20% (or may be more) carry guns; and now add into that an "uncontrollable" variable called rumor - a rumor suddenly floating around that a mad man with a gun is roaming on the campus. Imagine the mad rush to be the first one to shoot anyone resembling the suspect, however remotely, and become the hero. And, imagine the nightmare of the campus security personnel in handling this rush.

Oh! by the way, with thousands of guns on campus, are we not making it easier for that mad nut job who might have had the intention of shooting somebody but did not have access to a gun? Earlier, you needed both the intention and the weapon....now, you just need the intention and can sneak up on an unsuspecting student, steal his/her gun and take care of the business...how about that? Also, are we not making the university security personnel's job tougher? Earlier someone with a gun on campus could have been arrested suspecting his/her intentions and possibly prevent the crime from happening. Now with good and bad guys both carrying guns, it is hard to detect who is good and who is bad, until the crime is committed. And, that Mr. Lawmaker, is too late for those victims and their loved ones.

Again, do these lawmakers really take these young students to be well-trained SEALS or other military/FBI/police personnel to quickly react in an act of self-defense? When will they realize that those old wild west days were gone when the hero on the street was shown to have the skill and the deft to successfully shoot first even after the villain had drawn the gun earlier? Did they not see that the master western story teller John Ford himself had already depicted the times changing from the "gun power of the old west" to the "mind power of the modern era" in his 1962 masterpiece "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", through those two great legends, John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, truly portraying the roles?

Rabindranath Tagore's famous poem comes to my mind: "where the mind is without fear"; when in a classroom with 50 people, the mind is constantly under fear when one of those at least 10 guns will go off!! When the mind is constantly under that fear, what purpose will universities achieve in imparting fearlessness in young minds to pursue greater ideas?

There is a reason universities are built with an open environment, unlike business offices, and you don't need a security badge to enter the buildings in the university (the exception I have seen is the EE building at UC-Berkeley, where you will be escorted inside as a visitor until you leave the building). They want universities to be abodes for free flow of great ideas and be birth places for reforms and movements, and eventually have a greater impact on the society. It is a shame to use that structural existence to promote the free flow of guns, under the pretext of self-defense.

No, this is not an argument about your right to possess weapons. You can possess all the weapons you want at home and use them in self-defense. The Second Amendment to the American Constitution protects your rights in that regard. This debate is about the sanity in bringing those weapons en masse into those temples of education and endanger the lives of your fellow men and women everyday to just give yourself a very small chance of self-defense once in a lifetime.

Regarding that self-defense, if I may make a statement, however extreme it may sound, "I would rather live with that rare possibility of getting shot by a mad man, than carry the gun everyday to accidentally shoot someone one day and live a miserable life for the rest".

I wonder what Patrick Henry (whose speech galvanized the American revolution and inspired the title), James Madison, George Mason, and Alexander Hamilton, some of the great founding fathers of this country and also the proponents of the Bill of Rights, have to say on this matter, if they will.

Long Live The King!

Now that eight months have already elapsed in one more calendar year, and one full academic year at Kellogg went in a fast-forward mode, may be it is time to pause, reflect, and make another five-year plan for life. Hmmm....but then....may be it is not. Why the worry and what's the hurry? It seems I have all the time in the world. No, I mean literally.....

A few weeks ago, an astrologer foretold that I will live for 92 years! Yes, ninety two, the six did not get inverted. The first time I heard it, I almost had my heart in my mouth and was scared to death! I thought, what the heck am I going to do for that long (a quick thought was to go get a law degree in my 40s and a medical degree in 50s, to balance an engineering PhD in my 20s and MBA in 30s).

I had to endure that mental agony for one full week, until the same astrologer came back and predicted that Neelima will live for 93 years! Hurray.....that was a big respite!! Knowing that there will be someone to bear my eccentrities to the last is a great relief (there will always be someone to listen to my babble, but if that some one is the same one throughout, it makes it less painful for both!). It is also a joy to know that she too will get to spend at least three years without me...she always wanted to have sometime of her own after I am gone (you can understand how painful it is to be married to me!). No wonder, Chris Shields, my good friend at Kellogg, could not resist saying, "WHO married you dude???", to my face in one of our recent case discussion meetings. And a few weeks later when I introduced Neelima and told Chris that "SHE married me", I could read the deep sympathy for her written all over his face!

By the way, we have not yet discussed the span of our lives with Vedant and Aadya. We do not want to scare them yet.....it will be too much pressure too early on Vedant for him to plan and include the eccentric parents in his retirement fund.......(Aadya will precisely be 60 years plus 1 day when Neelima departs, and so no worries there...but, yeah.....no escape for the brother....)

On second thought, may be we will tell them; Aadya seems to be borrowing the words of Robert (from Everybody Loves Raymond) and already conveying in her own sign language to the big brother, "If dad goes first, mom will be fine; if mom leaves dad behind, God save us all!" So, it will at least be a silver lining in the clouds for them to know that I have the shorter span of the two!

When I told my mom about the astrologer's "deadly" prediction, her first reaction was, "Thank God, you will certainly be there to perfom my last rites and read the eulogy"! I always had an inkling that she had her own concerns - someone told her a long time ago that she will live for 83 years - and I am glad that I put them to rest. Now, it is an impossible feat (putting the mother's concerns to rest without raising the wife's concerns) and I too failed at it....or rather God failed me in this test.

Whenever Latha, my sister and my best friend, tells me about the milestones she is achieving in her fitness levels (and of course, I can see that more and more she is looking like an elder sister of her own kids), I feel guilty of not making any efforts in that domain. Ha...now I don't have to worry yet; I have a very long time ahead to plan and work on it. For now, it is time again to start eating ice creams, my favorite food that I gave up a few years ago, all thanks to that astrologer.

Finance-101: The Early Start Advantage

From our personal experiences and from what I read so far, there are two key things to realize and follow to grow rich (of course, honestly!): start early and invest smartly.

While the second part seems obvious (but then, the challenge is in knowing how and where to invest smartly), most often the first essential thing to success - gaining early start advantage - is ignored. Analysis shows that if you start investing at age 22, say $500 each month, and get an annual return of 12%, you will make around $4.6 Million by the time you are sixty (click on chart for larger view). Compare that to the final amount of $3.25 Million if you start at age 25; and, the paltry sum of $1.82 Million if you start at age 30.

The advantage of starting early appears even more striking when observing that to finally catchup with age-22 start, you need to save and invest $1260 each month for the entire duration instead of just $500 if the start is made at age 30 (or $708 each month for the entire duration if start at 27).

It is also seen that, while it takes a staggering 25 years time after the start to reach the first million, it takes only six more years after that for the second million, and then just a little over three years to get the third million, and then less than two years for the fourth, and so on.

So, if you start late it is true that you are missing the initial years of aggregation; but most importantly you are missing the crucial last few years of significant acceleration. Most people, when started late, often think that they are behind by just $50,000 or so and can somehow make it up. But the wisdom lies in starting early to give enough time at the end, and let the aggregated money do the work for you rather than you working hard for the money.

If at all you have a question what difference it makes if you have $4 Million or $5 Million and why even make efforts to aggregate larger sums of money, I am sure the 99 others will not find it hard to convince you with their own valid arguments. Inflation is just one of my many views on it. Even with just 3% annual inflation rate, the $4.6 Million nominal amount accumulated by the time you are sixty is worth only $1.49 Million of real money (i.e., today's money) (see the chart). With 5% annual inflation rate, the nominal amount will be only $0.72 Million of real money. You don't want to end up living through the old age with a small amount of real money, after working hard the entire life, just because the inflation sucked the value out.

So, hurry up. Start now and beat the inflation. Of course, you can always beat the inflation by getting higher rate of returns (may be 14% or 15% or even higher) with smarter investing strategies. But, the higher returns are never guaranteed, involve higher risks, and are often not in your hands (remember, recent market collapse). The one thing that you can control is your start time, and so earlier the better.

There are many other early start advantages - some tangible and others not. For example, when investing it is necessary to experiment with small amounts at the begin and learn from the experience. An early start will give enough time to learn the tricks before it is too late. Also, any risks taken and losses incurred in early stages can be recovered with enough time later.

Also, it gets harder and harder to invest later in life as responsibilities grow. It is easier to save money and invest when you are young; you will be surprised how much money you will spend just on diapers later on!! And, even if you miss investing for a few years in second half of the period, it will not hurt as much as it does if the initial investments were missed.

For example, if you do not add any amount to your portfolio for five years during the age 46-50, you will still make $4.46 Million instead of the $4.6 Million; if not add during age 36-40 you will make $4.18 Million, and if not add during age 22-26 (that is start at 27) you will make $2.58 Million. The reason for such stark difference is that, as a critical mass of money is already aggregated and it is compounding itself, the smaller amounts you add to it in later years will make only a small difference. On the other hand, the money you add during the early years is a significant chunk of small sums in the portfolio.

Some points to note. Above numbers are for illustration of relative performance only. You can extrapolate that to any amounts you are capable of saving and investing. So, do your math for your own settings; the relation and inferences stay the same. Also, the above arguments need to be taken purely in a financial context; an argument for early start in saving and investing should not be construed as an argument against pursuing advanced degrees or other ventures. The above is only to argue for starting sooner than later. In fact the returns on investment in education, human relations, and the society tend to be highly valuable, and money is an essential component to make those other investments possible.

The above is not taught in any school or in any class -- somethings are realized just from analysis of one's own experiences as well as that of others. Next time, more on the power of higher rates of return, and how to catch those elusive higher returns while minimizing the risk through portfolio diversification (things that are taught at B-School).

Born or made?

The stepping stone across the door at the temple entrance complained to the idol inside,"What sins have I committed that the visitors always trample upon me and cause pain, and what great deeds have you done that they apply scent and flowers to you? Is it not that we both were born just the same and of same color?"

The idol inside the temple replied, "well, it is not by fortune of birth that I am here; in fact, it was you who was first chosen to be seated in my place. When the sculptor placed his chisel on you to carve you into a beautiful idol, you were reluctant to bear the pain and screamed. You felt that why should it be you who should suffer while others were not caused any pain. The sculptor got scared with all sorts of strange noises from the stone and abandoned you. Instead, he then started working on me. I endured silently the great pain from the constant chiseling. I believed that the suffering was only temporary and that it had some greater purpose. My enduring of that suffering with courage and patience now led me here".

I read this small story in Chandamama when I was a kid, and it somehow remained with me forever.

My Son Reveals My Father in Me

It was 20 years ago; but, I still remember vividly. It was the first day of my Class 10th Board exams. My father came to drop me at the examination center on his scooter. But then, I was surprised when he started walking with me into the examination room; and then, more than being surprised, I felt shy and embarrassed when he walked all the way to my desk, sat on the chair, and checked if the desk and chair were comfortable enough for me to write the exam!! Imagine the situation of a 16-year old boy, being stared at him and his father by all his teen aged friends and peers for the unusual action of a concerned father just before an important exam.

Until recently, whenever I remembered that incident I told myself that I will never get over-excited or do "funny things" when it comes to my kids and put them in awkward situations!! But, now what do I do when in this week we took Vedant to write the Kumon evaluation test (perhaps, the first of a very long series of exams in his life!)?

As I went home from work to pick up the family and go to the Kumon center, Vedant was yet to get ready. We had to push him a bit to get ready quickly, but then I was trying not to "annoy" or "disturb" his mood before going for his "big exam"!! As I was driving, he fell asleep in the car and I was trying frantically to keep him awake so that he will be "fresh" for the test!! As we were a bit delayed, and as we missed the right exit that Austin being a new place for all of us, I was getting more anxious to reach the test center in time.

When he and other kids were taken to another room for the test, I could not stop myself from going and sitting next to him (I just had to make up some excuse that he is too young and may feel scared!!). During the test, when Vedant was finding it difficult to understand a question because of  the way it was asked, I was thinking to myself (we were not allowed to speak) "why is the teacher repeating the question the same way; if the kid did not understand it the first few times, why can't she rephrase it in a different way? c'mon lady, he knows the answer, just that he is not understanding the way you asked it!!!"

At the end, I was not happy with the score he got; No, I was not unhappy with Vedant, I was unhappy with the teacher!! Because, I felt he knows the stuff, just that the test was not administered properly!!! All through the process, Neelima and her cousin Sushmith (my best-match-on-humor-levels buddy, visiting us this week from Dallas) were amused at my fatherly anxiety and had a field day teasing me.

Whenever I narrated that incident with my father, Neelima always supported his perspective saying that he was sweet and "innocently concerned", and that not many fathers can do that. I was not agreeing much with her on that. But now, after observing myself recently with the way I do things around Vedant, may be I am not that different. And in fact, may be I want to be like my father in being "innocently concerned" and unmindful of the people and surroundings when it comes to the success of my son. May be Vedant will feel a bit awkward in front of his friends with my actions sometimes; but may be 20 years later he will be glad that I was like that, the same way I feel about my father now.

The (2) Million Dollar Legacy

When I was leaving my job as a professor at UT-Dallas, I was pretty happy that I gave my best in research and teaching. The usual question asked in interviews is about the legacy you left behind in your last job. Well, I was not asked about that in my recent conversations, but two recent instances greatly excited me to share with the readers. Particularly, as the events unfolded with my contributions playing a significant role even almost an year after I left the job, made me feel even more proud.

In Spring 2005, the initial years I was trying to build my contacts in the industry, I gave a talk at Texas Instruments on my research in special purpose architectures for multimedia computing. At the end of the talk, a gentleman from the audience walked up to me and asked, "so, what do you want to do with your research now?" As I was thoughtful for a moment in search of an answer, he continued, "would you like to work with us on developing technologies for our application in video surveillance?" He was the co-founder and CTO of AgileMesh, a startup company in the Dallas area, and wanted me to take a look at what they were doing.

In subsequent years, as the collaboration built up, I worked hard, involved my research students in some discussions, and eventually put together a proposal in Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 for raising funds for the company and the university from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF). In late Spring 2009 (I had a glimpse then of possibility of my leaving, but was not sure) we submitted the final proposal and I  brought two other professors on board as the project expanded and required the expertise in other related areas. But then, I left the job in July as the proposal was still in review.

Recently in May 2010, I was greatly elated when I heard from my ex-colleague that the proposal was funded to the tune of $2 Million (pheww!!!!!) to be shared by the company and the university to conduct research in relevant areas. I am glad that my hard work and immense efforts paid-off, and that the significantly large grant will fund the other researchers in their work to add to the scientific knowledge.

In response to my students' who felt bad that I am not there at the university to celebrate the success, here is what I wrote to them, "I have no regrets. Given a choice to stay back at UT-Dallas and celebrate that AgileMesh-TETF success or be at Kellogg to enjoy the current successes as well as look forward for bigger successes in future, I will choose the current status any given day."

The other incident that made me feel proud about my contributions in teaching is when a past student wrote to me recently, "Dear Professor, I got an internship at Intel. I wanted to thank you having been a wonderful teacher. The interview with Intel was over 1.5 to 2 hrs and was mostly on Computer Architecture and system programming. I had gone through a lot of cache stuff but forgot to study cache coherence... I was questioned quite a bit on cache coherence and I was just recollecting what you had done in class (Fall 2008) and I was able to answer most of it... Thank you sir. If I am able to remember a concept for 1.5 years that means I might never forget it and kudos to you for imbibing it into us."

Well, I am glad I did my part to the best of my abilities and helped others in whatever small way I can in achieving success. I moved on from the past in search of brighter horizons, and hope to eventually leave behind a greater legacy of clock-building, not just time-telling (from "Built to Last").

Spring & Sustainability

Was I crazy or what, to register for five courses for the spring term? Was my mind frozen in the winter when I was registering for the spring? These were the thoughts that overcame me as I landed back in Chicago after a great but short (only 2.5 weeks) and hectic trip to India, and had to hit the ground running immediately to catch up on the material, as I already missed one week of classes.

Even as I tried to recover from the jet lag and handle the ton of course work in that week, the time for the case competition by the Aspen Institute arrived, and then there was no time to even rest for a moment.

As the competition opened on Friday morning, we had mixed feelings as we read the case assigned. It was on the Tata Group from India which provided me a little familiarity, while the expected solution to the case seemed to be very open-ended and challenging. We were asked to recommend a ten-year sustainability strategy for the Tata Group taking into consideration its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in the past 100 years and the now changing global business conditions and social & economic trends.

It was a great brain-storming activity for more than two days, starting from understanding what exactly is sustainability and what our recommendations for the strategy must be that the Tata Group should adopt. It was also a great fun working on the team with people from diverse backgrounds. Before coming to Kellogg, Chris worked on the Capitol Hill as Press Secretary to a US Congresswoman, Jose Ochoa worked at Chicago Hope Academy, Rajiv had a semiconductor technology industry background, and I came with academic research credentials.

Well, what is sustainability? As we learnt many things ourselves the first time, the term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development "as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

As the case expected us to read through a ton of material and dig through several video, printed, and online resources on CSR, and what the Tata Group has specifically been trying to achieve in the past several decades, it was one enlightening weekend.

I will post later more on the strategy we proposed and the recommended implementation process for the next ten years. While the 1st round at Kellogg is done in this week, the final round (if we are selected, will be end of this month); so can't reveal much until then.

Postscript: As I started writing this, we just got the email today that our team won the first place (out of 16 or so teams) at Kellogg !!!!!! That calls for a celebration.

Slow Dance

The following poem was recently sent to me by one of our friends in Dallas after reading my earlier postings.
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Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

Do you run through each day on the fly
When you ask "How are you?" do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die
'Cause you never had time to call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....Thrown away...

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Man of Action

KVACHIT PRITHVISHAYAH
KVACHIDAPI CHA PARYANKSHAINAHAH
KVACHIT CHHAKAAHAARAH
KVACHIDAPI CHA SHALYODANARUCHIH
KVACHIT KANTHAADHAARI
KVACHIDAPI CHA DIVYAAMBARADHARO
MANASVI KAARYAARTHI
NA GANAYATI DUKHAM NA CHA SUKHAM

On the way to achieving his goal, if the need arises a man of action is not deterred to sleep on bare floor as against a cozy bed, to eat raw vegetables and herbs as against delicious food, and to wear rags as against silken clothes. While pursuing the objective, he is neither deterred by the hardships nor distracted by the comforts.

From Bhartrihari Subhashita, this is one of my favorite slokas.

The Reward of Being at Kellogg

What has been your most rewarding experience at Kellogg? While looking through various potential questions as I started preparation for interviews with various firms in the next few weeks weeks, the above question made me pause and think.

While, there have been several gains and lifetime experiences for me in this short span of time at Kellogg (such as a peek into the world of Finance, a bunch of great friends, etc.), it made me wonder what can be that one great experience that might have had a significant impact on me.

Well, as it turns out I did step out of the box and took a step back and am now seeing better the bigger picture. All my life and career, I had been among engineers; I have been trained to think like one and view the world through an engineer's eyes. Not that it is bad (in fact, it is one of the most successful professions/perceptions out there in the world), but my realization that there are other dimensions to view helped me to better see the diversity and its purpose.

As an engineer, perhaps I was just focused on the working of the engine and its parts, and the relentless efforts have been to perfect it. But, when I stepped back I could see that while the engine is the heart, there is more to the automobile that we can find fascinating. I even see that a soft cushion added to the seat, though may not add any functionality to the automobile's working, still adds comfort to make the drive smooth and enjoyable.

At the business school, everyday I keep meeting and interacting with fascinating people from varied backgrounds and professions - not just banking, consulting, and engineering/tech industries, but also social service, community organizing, public/government service, law, military, non-profit, journalism, and so on.

I learnt to respect more the existence of all ways and professions, however small or big their contributions are to the smooth running of the world; everything that exists has a purpose - if there was none, it would not have even existed in the first place, isn't it?

And the respect multiplies when we see that there is always something new to learn from them, especially when the time at Kellogg is so limited.

Hoping For A Perfect Ten

Wish you a very happy new year. May the year Twenty Ten bring you joy and success.

So, the Cowboys have made it into the playoffs with style, shutting out the Eagles all through the four quarters. Now, the hope is that the Cowboys do not repeat their playoff performance in recent years - losing the first playoff game itself!!

The second quarter at Kellogg is beginning on Monday. Most first year students hope to close the recruitment deal in this quarter. So, may all our hopes for this quarter be fulfilled.

I just returned from Portland, Oregon, which is my 32nd US state to visit in the past 12 years. I hope to travel to at least two more new states in 2010. All it requires is just some money (not so difficult) and find some time (not so easy).

As I walk 2.5 miles daily between my apartment and Kellogg, I only hope that the winter in Chicago this quarter will not be too harsh on us. And, the only positive side I see in walking in these egregious temperatures is the chance to burn fat at a faster rate!!

As we all begin the year 2010 with great hope, I want to share with you the quote (that I recently read in the book "Built to Last", and which I think captures to some extent my attitude in many things I do):

Far better to dare mighty things,
to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure,
than to take rank with those poor spirits
who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the
gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat.
-- Theodore Roosevelt, 1899

So, try even if the success seems doubtful; because, not even trying for the fear of defeat is a crime. Success can be stumbled upon only if we keep trying and moving.

The Certainty of Life's Uncertainty

The only certain thing in life is the uncertainty of life.

Anirban Chakrabarti started his PhD program in Electrical & Computer Engineering at the same time as I did in August 1999. He graduated in December 2003, a few months after me. Soon after we started the program, we became good peer PhD students frequently engaging in discussions/debates on our research, sports, and other interesting topics. That both our advisers too worked closely with each other also often brought us together for joint seminars and collaborations.

He came with a B.Tech degree from Jadavpur University (one of the top engineering programs in India) and was a bright researcher. And more than for anything else, I always remembered him for his deeply sensitive heart filled to the brim with compassion. Perhaps, his poignant personal life and the brought-up made him so.

Anirban's father passed away even when he was very small. His mother and grandfather brought him up, and he was closely attached to them. He always used to say that he would go back to India right after his PhD and will take up the job there to stay close to the family. His grandfather passed away, I think in 2002, not long before we were due to complete our doctoral program. He was concerned that his mother was now lonely back in India and so became much more eager to get back to India right after the graduation.

After I graduated and moved onto my new job, we corresponded over emails occasionally. He graduated with a solid publication record and could have landed a lucrative job in USA for his well-recognized research in Networking and Grid Computing. However, he took up a job in the Infosys Research Labs, Bangalore, and was actively involved in the research conferences in India.

Later again we exchanged emails over the news of his wedding. And then, for over two years we were not in direct contact, but I was hearing about him occasionally from other friends.

In December 2008, it was the shock of of my life when I heard that he died tragically in September 2008 as he accidentally fell from his apartment in the top floor. It was heart wrenching to hear that he then had an 8-month old son, and that he fell down right in front of the eyes of his mother and wife.

What greater tragedy can there be for anyone than that seen by Anirban's mother, who lost her husband early in life, brought up her only child with hardships to see him succeed and do well but only for a short period, then lose him right in front of her eyes and see her daughter-in-law and grandson left with a similar agony for the rest of the life.

What a game the nature played, for Anirban did what all he could to alleviate his mother's agony, which only increased many folds because of the cruel fate.

Since I heard the news, almost every day I remember the family and say to myself that we do not have any right to complain for any small misfortunes we may face in our daily lives. There is no bigger loss than that and there is no bruise deeper. Any short lived loss or agony is not to be brooded over even for a moment.

The odyssey of Anirban's family and those great untold tragedies of many others constantly remind me that there is not a moment to lose over trivial troubles; there is so much to do, but there is only a little time left in the journey.

Because, the only certain thing in life is the uncertainty of life.

Here is the tribute to Anirban by the scientific community in India.

Postscript: I began writing this while waiting for my yesterday's evening flight from Dallas to Portland. The flight was constantly delayed and eventually cancelled, forcing me to spend the entire night in the Dallas airport. On the Christmas eve, today all the flights were over booked and the airline has routed me to Phoenix and then from there to Portland. Now, as I wait for my next flight in the Phoenix airport and am due to reach Portland 33 hours after my trip began (assuming the rest of the trip will go as per scheduled), I complete the writing.

Though the thought to write Anirban's story was only incidental, it again reminded me of my fortune and helped me to stay cheerful even as I am currently stuck in the airports for long hours far away from family and friends.

Decisions and Payoffs

The Fall 2009 quarter has finally come to an end with four exams in the last four days. The two math intensive courses - Finance-1 and "Decision Making Under Uncertainty" (mostly probability-based) - had relatively more intense exams this time, contrary to what we saw in the midterm. After a long time I saw a heavily mathematical and analytical challenge in the form of the Finance-1, and I am registered to study the Finance-2 (an elective) course in the winter quarter; just for Finance-2, if not for anything else, I am eagerly looking forward for the starting of the winter quarter in the first week of January.

Speaking of the course "Decision Making under Uncertainty", the subject was not that difficult. It is all about making informed decisions, when concrete information is unavailable, with the help of the probabilistic models. It is imperative for all managers (of people and/or situations) to face frequent challenges that require critical decisions but with not much information in hand. The decision trees and other concepts learned in the course do help one to better formulate the solutions to the challenges and help minimize the risk involved in the managerial decisions.

But then, what about the decision making under uncertainty in real life? As I look back and trace the every critical decision I made and each step I took since I graduated from NITW with my B.Tech degree, most decisions seemed to have paid off handsomely while some strayed me from the path. I am fortunate that those few wrong turns did not prove too costly for me, and more importantly I think I took right decisions when it really mattered the most.

Soon after I joined in a full-time job in Chennai, right after my B.Tech degree, I realized that my ambition lied in my higher education and I was not supposed to be working so early in life. That led me to decide to apply for graduate studies. But then, improper guidance and lack of Internet resources those days in India made me to apply to a few low-rated schools; I was also desperate to get some sort of financial aid due to the meagre financial situation back home - I entered US with just $800 in hand and without any upfront financial aid promise. A bit of a luck and more of perseverance helped as I staggered through my MS studies. At the end of it, all my efforts felt empty with no accomplishment to show on my record (except for a handsome credit-card debt), and I was gravely disappointed.

As I applied to the PhD program at a top school, almost all among family and friends were surprised and opposed the idea as if it were a trek to the top of the Mount Everest!! But, I was keen to prove myself (not to anyone but to my own self) at any cost - even the credit card debt and only a few dollars in the bank account did not deter me. All it required was a gentle nudge and encouraging words from Latha, the only one to believe in me, for the necessary thrust to take off. My determination (stemmed from my desperation and restlessness - plus my continuous self reminder that I only have a worse place to go if not this) and occasional financial help from Srinivas did see me through the first two years of the PhD program, the toughest years of my life so far (I think for most PhD students the first two will be the r(t)oughest during which majority quit).

Things did not help much as I could not pass the PhD qualifying exam in the first attempt. The desperation was so strong that not a moment was spared to even feel the anguish. And, the determination was so strong that I did not even blink before saying no to the lucrative full-time job offer from TI at the end of my summer internship after the first year in the PhD. I still remember the surprise look on the manager's face when I answered without even looking into the offer letter she handed to me saying that the terms were very attractive !!

It was tough winning the confidence of the PhD adviser; it was a long and hard journey, which seemed eternal through that dark passages to find the right research problem to work on while watching peer PhD students publishing and graduating one after the other. As the light at the end of that tunnel was seen in the middle of the third year, the confidence returned and with it the smile. I think the decisions made to enter and to continue in the PhD program, in spite of the stumbles and bruises, were so crucial that the attainment of the PhD degree transformed my personality entirely. The achievement of the PhD was the pinnacle and the Research Excellence Award was only an incing on the cake! I cannot even imagine myself existing at peace without such a milestone in my career, and I count each and every small and big decision in that process to be a crucial brick in the skyscraper I have been trying to build.

The walk through that fire also taught me the importance of a life partner who will only work to remove the last traces of self-doubt, and never deter or discourage or suck the time in lesser squabbles, and who can only augment the mental strength required to even pass through the hell if required. More than a few marriage alliances came to me (some with handsome financial "offers"!!) when I was about to graduate with my MS degree (assuming that I will take up a job) and then in the last stages of my PhD. But, the prospect of money and riches never excited me as much as the chance to be in the company of the smart and intelligent people did. The fortune of the continuous company of a well-read, deeply-aware, thoughtful, and intellectually-stimulating person is irreplaceable, at least for me.

When I first became acquainted with Neelima, I ensured several long conversations even before any preliminary decision was made. Neelima and my friends now make fun of me sometimes (in a lighter vein!!) that I quietly slipped in a puzzle in one of those long conversations for her to solve. The puzzle was, "say, you are given a rope with enough length to tightly bind around the earth at the equator; how much additional length of the rope has to be extended to you if you have to bind around the earth at the equator but now one foot above the ground throughout?" (I first heard this from my then peer PhD student Srini, who is now a professor at University of Arizona). I was delighted that Neelima solved it much faster than I did earlier; and my decision after that was only automatic!! Her awareness about the opportunities and challenges really showed me new paths to success, and her courage and support did allow me to take up the implausible adventures; without her the actions could have just been words and thoughts.

Marrying her was the last and the best crucial decision I made; once it was made, taking the rest of the turns was relatively easy as if the best GPS was guiding me!!

POSTSCRIPT: For those applying for MBA at top schools, remember that the admissions committee invariably looks to find in your essays, regarding your decisions, "why you did what you did" than just "what you did".

At Kellogg so far

It is now almost three months that my MBA program at Kellogg has begun. So far, things have been very exciting with so much gained. In the midterm exams I scored 100% in two courses (Finance and "Decision Making under Uncertainty") and 90% in the other two courses (Business Strategy and Accounting); but then, it is no big deal - about 50% students in the class score more than 90% in the subject !! So, my performance itself did not excite me much; but, the new concepts I learned and the distinct perspectives and insights I gained in these subjects did enthrall me.

Particularly, the concepts in Finance instantaneously appealed to the natural quantitative and analytical person inside me, and did increase my appetite for more advanced Finance. As I sat through the Finance-1 course and discussed/debated many concepts with the professor, the question that continuously recurred in my mind was "why did I not take up this fascinating subject of Finance earlier?". And, no wonder the Career-Leader assessment (which I took as part of the requirement before the program started at Kellogg) came up with the "Corporate Finance Analysis" as one of the highly recommended post-MBA career paths for me!!

Perhaps, the "Finance guy" was always in me - albeit in a more informal away; as Neelima and I assessed numerous times the finance involved when buying our home - later refinancing the mortgage - and eventually selling the home, when diversifying our investment portfolios in stocks, real estate, and in other resources, when buying or selling our cars, an so on, it was me who raised the capital and did the budgeting while Neelima identified and picked suitable portfolios to invest !!

I won my first three rounds of tennis matches in the Kellogg Tennis club ladder tournament and am due to play the fourth round soon. More than winning, it is always fun playing and meeting new people and making friends as part of this tennis club; I am thrilled to be one in the student community at Kellogg that is ever enthusiastic and ever ready to be part of something that is fun and competitive.

I got elected as my section's academic representative to the Kellogg Student Association (KSA). The secret ballot election did get me majority of votes over my good friend Orlando after a competitive campaigning. While the work as the representative consumes time, I am deeply excited to be part of the body that can make a significant contribution to the academics at Kellogg. While I tried, I did not get selected to positions in the Finance club and one other group. And anyway, my non-selection was a blessing in disguise as I eventually saw the course work and recruiting activities amassed and also found myself somewhat occupied with Aadya's birth and the sale of our home in October.

In a few weeks time, the Fall quarter is coming to an end with our final exams scheduled a week after the Thanksgiving break. I am gearing up to deal with the final exams (I am at the receiving end now, after until more recently being on the other side of the aisle!).

As I travel to Dallas right after the last exam on December 10th, I will have only four days to spend with Vedant before Neelima and kids go to India on 14th to stay there for a while. The thought that I will not be seeing them again until at least March is a bit daunting to me. And it is even more dejecting that the Chicago's insanely egregious temperatures in winter will freeze the time as well!! I only hope that the intense recruiting months of January and February at Kellogg will melt the time faster.

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?

Rarely do we find good friends who make a significant difference in our lives and careers. Even rare are bright friends who give us great books, which can deeply enrich our knowledge and thinking. I am fortunate to find both categories of friends at various stages in my life so far. Most recently Durga Prasad, Mangesh, and Nag gave me three good books to read as I left Dallas and embarked on my journey at Kellogg. The first book I read was "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?" by Louis V. Gerstner.

Lou Gerstner was the Chairman and CEO of IBM from 1993 to 2002, and led its turnaround from the brink of insolvency to the leader in the IT business. Gerstner starts the book with the discussion on how he came about to be chosen as the CEO to lead in the spring of 1993 when most business pundits had written off IBM as one of those fading giants whose time has long passed in the business world. He then discusses a series of critical management and fiscal decisions he had to make to first stem the decline of IBM and then how he had to strategize IBM's revival.

The book provides wonderful insights into the leadership challenges and hard resistance one encounters when trying to transform the culture and thinking and to shift the direction of an institution. Especially, since IBM was perceived to be that huge elephant moving slowly in the technology business world, where the likes of Microsoft, Intel, and other companies were fast changing the rules of the game.

One of the profound questions that the book addresses was, "when the culture at IBM was responsible for its immense growth and unchallenged leadership position in the decades of 50s, 60s, 70s, and in the early 80s, why was the same culture and management style leading to its recent decline?". The book extensively discusses how IBM was founded and built by the legendary Thomas J. Watson Sr., and how his equally legendary son Thomas J. Watson Jr. propelled IBM to the top through the making of mainframe computers. The success of the mainframes made IBM the technology company without a competitor and brought the major share of its revenue. The technological contribution of IBM to the growth of America (and also the world) made people recognize it as a "national treasure". How many non-governmental and/or for-profit institutions can really find themselves being called the pride and treasure of a nation?

But then what happened? Why did IBM start to decline even while it was unarguably still the leading supplier of the mainframes and other technology products. The book provides an astute analysis on how the perception, thinking, and the approach on the customer needs did not adapt to the changes in the market conditions and competitive forces; how the school of thought "build the technologies and the customers will come", which worked during the no-alternative era of mainframes, was continued to be believed at IBM even after the advent of vigorous campaign by Microsoft and Intel (jointly called Wintel!!) that the future is all about desktop computing. While CTOs and technologists at the most of the customer companies of IBM at that time understood and believed that the campaign about desktop computing is not completely true and that the backend computing has much more to offer in the future, IBM's lackadaisical approach to counter the Wintel's campaign did not help things much and eroded its customer base.

Gerstner talks about how he set out to transform the culture to make it more customer centric and orient the thinking to "understand what the customer needs and then build the technologies"; the book provides a detailed account of all the external challenges and internal resistance he faced in trying to bring this change - this is a must read for all of us who know that the most difficult thing for a leader is to bring change in people and in their thinking (but mostly don't know how to achieve that).

Personally, I could also make a connection with the above discussion in the book with my chronic belief that to attain success it is imperative to adapt to one's continuously evolving surroundings and be prepared for any sudden and significant shift in one's situation (in fact, this is the theme of the other book "Who Moved My Cheese" that I recently read on Neelima's behest).

The book also discusses how IBM came about coining the term "e-business", and talks in detail about the future of the e-business. "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?" is a must read for all the technologists as well as the managers. And, no wonder I found it very engaging and enriching as it appealed to both the technologist and the MBA candidate in me.