Pre-Baby Fun
14 years ago
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Friday, May 30, Miami
La Carreta, the Cuban restaurant in the Miami airport, has mediocre food, but phenomenally flavorful habanero hot sauce. It was still tingling warm in my gut the realization hit, "I'm not sure what I'm doing here." I'm confident of God and His presence, but I'm curious what I can do in Peru without Spanish. I am also fearful of how spiritual warfare could materialize on this trip. My eyes are getting heavy and I hope I can sleep refreshingly on the plane, which would be a first. I will need to rely on God for everything on this trip, yet I feel remarkably comfortable about that.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
January 17, 2008
India Trip Summary
At the majority of the meetings we have attended, we have been told that India is no longer a land of snake charmers and elephants. This comment moved from slightly humorous to an overdone cliche in no time. As a side note, I was slightly disappointed that we saw neither. While I think this perception of the outside world's view is inaccurate, I do believe that American business owners generally do not grasp the extent of what globalization means and need to reevaluate their strategies in order to compete successfully in the long term.
Some significant considerations include:
-There are many more similarities between business in India and the US than I anticipated.
-Managers talk about the same strategic concepts, value relationships similarly, and need to invest time to understand their target market's needs.
-The top two buzzwords were innovation and scalability. Innovation refers not to an R&D lab as part of a company, but a mindset whereby any and all strategies, products, and processes need to be constantly updated to meet changing market needs and competitive dynamics. In a market of 1 billion people, including a vast low-income consumer market, scalability means bringing solutions to the individual level through cost-effective technology and easily replicable delivery methods.
-Outsourced services have become very sophisticated. Call centers are just scratching the surface. To be competitive in the changing business environment, managers need to understand the opportunities and embrace them.
-Low average ages of 26-28 at Wipro and Infosys reflect the general shift of valuing KSAO's over experience. Learnability is a valued trait and popular buzzword.
-The IT infrastructure at top companies in India is on par with the top US companies. Sometimes Indian subsidiaries teach their foreign parents how to use IT.
-The pace of change is so fast that disruptive technologies need to be searched for and exploited quickly.
-India is very diverse, so generalities are meaningless, and local market research is key. Companies that learn this will likely also succeed in the next major growth region: Africa.
-Indians are ambitious and proud of their progress. Businesspeople tend to be resourceful and have a can-do attitude. Companies have become more acquisitive, but still prefer partnering with targets (ex. Tata Steel and Corus).
-Venture capital is flowing from all over the globe to support economic growth in India. Entrepreneurship is valued and respected. Still, the lackluster expected returns for developed economy equity markets has overheated Indian stocks.
-Possibly due to the obvious social needs, companies frequently undertake social causes and divert significant cash flows to charity.
-Bureacracy burdens many interactions from retail purchases to starting a business, but this is changing. "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" taught me that villages are riding the IT wave to improve efficiency of everyday transactions, boosting productivity one person at a time.
-High demand for talented labor means turnover and wage inflation of 50% are common. HR managers say it cannot continue, but global demand continues to stoke the fire.
The big question is "Can the growth continue?" We have heard multiple overwhelmingly bullish perspectives, but uncertainties about price and wage inflation, government intervention, and infrastructure constraints remain. Most major consultancies and research institutions are predicting Indian Real GDP Growth of 7-10% over the next several years. In order for this to materialize, educational institutions need to improve starting at the primary level to build the knowledge workers of tomorrow, the government needs to improve efficiency to promote business activity, the business landscape will need to decouple from developed economies to avoid following the US into recession, and companies will need to continue to innovate to improve productivity of existing human capital and infrastructure resources.
At the majority of the meetings we have attended, we have been told that India is no longer a land of snake charmers and elephants. This comment moved from slightly humorous to an overdone cliche in no time. As a side note, I was slightly disappointed that we saw neither. While I think this perception of the outside world's view is inaccurate, I do believe that American business owners generally do not grasp the extent of what globalization means and need to reevaluate their strategies in order to compete successfully in the long term.
Some significant considerations include:
-There are many more similarities between business in India and the US than I anticipated.
-Managers talk about the same strategic concepts, value relationships similarly, and need to invest time to understand their target market's needs.
-The top two buzzwords were innovation and scalability. Innovation refers not to an R&D lab as part of a company, but a mindset whereby any and all strategies, products, and processes need to be constantly updated to meet changing market needs and competitive dynamics. In a market of 1 billion people, including a vast low-income consumer market, scalability means bringing solutions to the individual level through cost-effective technology and easily replicable delivery methods.
-Outsourced services have become very sophisticated. Call centers are just scratching the surface. To be competitive in the changing business environment, managers need to understand the opportunities and embrace them.
-Low average ages of 26-28 at Wipro and Infosys reflect the general shift of valuing KSAO's over experience. Learnability is a valued trait and popular buzzword.
-The IT infrastructure at top companies in India is on par with the top US companies. Sometimes Indian subsidiaries teach their foreign parents how to use IT.
-The pace of change is so fast that disruptive technologies need to be searched for and exploited quickly.
-India is very diverse, so generalities are meaningless, and local market research is key. Companies that learn this will likely also succeed in the next major growth region: Africa.
-Indians are ambitious and proud of their progress. Businesspeople tend to be resourceful and have a can-do attitude. Companies have become more acquisitive, but still prefer partnering with targets (ex. Tata Steel and Corus).
-Venture capital is flowing from all over the globe to support economic growth in India. Entrepreneurship is valued and respected. Still, the lackluster expected returns for developed economy equity markets has overheated Indian stocks.
-Possibly due to the obvious social needs, companies frequently undertake social causes and divert significant cash flows to charity.
-Bureacracy burdens many interactions from retail purchases to starting a business, but this is changing. "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" taught me that villages are riding the IT wave to improve efficiency of everyday transactions, boosting productivity one person at a time.
-High demand for talented labor means turnover and wage inflation of 50% are common. HR managers say it cannot continue, but global demand continues to stoke the fire.
The big question is "Can the growth continue?" We have heard multiple overwhelmingly bullish perspectives, but uncertainties about price and wage inflation, government intervention, and infrastructure constraints remain. Most major consultancies and research institutions are predicting Indian Real GDP Growth of 7-10% over the next several years. In order for this to materialize, educational institutions need to improve starting at the primary level to build the knowledge workers of tomorrow, the government needs to improve efficiency to promote business activity, the business landscape will need to decouple from developed economies to avoid following the US into recession, and companies will need to continue to innovate to improve productivity of existing human capital and infrastructure resources.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
January 16, 2008
I woke and joined Dr. Mithas, Ali Cherry, and Anthony Cain for breakfast. The three of us stayed later than others due to an airline billing quirk whereby we saved a few hundred dollars to stay an extra day. Drs. Ritu Agarwal and Kislaya Prasad had provided a few sightseeing tips the night before, so we hired a driver for the day. We visited a few markets including Dalli Haat as well as a beautiful park filled with exotic plants and birds. At Raghomull's in Connaught Place I bought a T-shirt emblazoned with "Keep Walking," resembling the Johnny Walker logo, with an outline of Gandhi. I felt that the slogan was much more fitting to Gandhi's hike across the country to protest the salt tax, a passionate demonstration of purposeful revolution, than a brand of whiskey.
We were also treated as guests by one of Dr. Mithas' friends, who lived in a gorgeous and spacious home with huge marble tiled floors, stunning artwork, and a dance and music studio in the basement. The diminutive "helper" served us beverages, several dishes of hot and cold appetizers, and velvety spiced tea with milk. The two sons of our host family spoke of their ambitions to either work up to their father's position or go into an IT-related field. They were clearly bright, took their studies seriously, and planned to work in India based on their preference over the US lifestyle. We parted with an exchange of gifts; the hospitality would blow American Southerners away.
I was dropped off at the airport with three hours to spare; my first time alone in India. It took a while to navigate through crowds to find Continental, but the process was a breeze and I was through customs and security within an hour. I grabbed a quick paneer masala sandwich and settled in to read a spell. Boarding began an hour prior to takeoff, which took me by surprise. The preponderance of Americans meant that lines were orderly, but after having my boarding pass scanned I simply moved into another line for airline specific security. Some passengers moaned, but I appreciated the added measure.
As I sat down on the plane, I noticed that my TV screen was scrambled and asked a flight attendant if I could change seats. The fact that I had a middle seat directly in front of a bathroom served as additional motivation to raise a fuss. Meanwhile, I struck up a conversation with my neighbor, a Christian missionary from Puerto Rico working through Maranatha [1]. She reported that she had worked alongside Hindus, Moslems, and other Christians to build a school for villagers in Uttar Pradesh, and was humbled by the joy and hospitality of the impoverished villagers.
A flight attendant tapped my shoulder and showed me to an aisle seat with a functional TV screen (and no one in the middle seat, Hallelujah!). I noticed Praphul Kumar, a classmate, across the other aisle and shouted over jubilantly. The man that we were talking over entered our conversation; he turned out to be Dr. Gerald Zeitz, a professor of HRM at Temple University, who had coincidentally been staying at MDI as well. His trip had been focused on classroom learning with just a few company visits, and his greatest takeaways were that the theories discussed in US business schools are implemented rigorously in Indian companies, oftentimes better than in US companies and that the acceptance of rapid change and innovation is cutting edge in Indian companies.
The flight seemed quicker on the way home, likely due to a combination of longer in-flight sleep, less anxiety about the coming days, and accustomization to the long trip. I read the lion's share of 'The Fortune at the Bottom of the Period' by C. K. Prahalad on the way home, and ironically did not use the TV screen. The flight touched down at 4:30 AM and I was amazed that I was through security, customs, and immigration in about an hour, with three hours to spare before my final flight home. I grabbed a huge coffee and set down to plow through some more of the book.
We were also treated as guests by one of Dr. Mithas' friends, who lived in a gorgeous and spacious home with huge marble tiled floors, stunning artwork, and a dance and music studio in the basement. The diminutive "helper" served us beverages, several dishes of hot and cold appetizers, and velvety spiced tea with milk. The two sons of our host family spoke of their ambitions to either work up to their father's position or go into an IT-related field. They were clearly bright, took their studies seriously, and planned to work in India based on their preference over the US lifestyle. We parted with an exchange of gifts; the hospitality would blow American Southerners away.
I was dropped off at the airport with three hours to spare; my first time alone in India. It took a while to navigate through crowds to find Continental, but the process was a breeze and I was through customs and security within an hour. I grabbed a quick paneer masala sandwich and settled in to read a spell. Boarding began an hour prior to takeoff, which took me by surprise. The preponderance of Americans meant that lines were orderly, but after having my boarding pass scanned I simply moved into another line for airline specific security. Some passengers moaned, but I appreciated the added measure.
As I sat down on the plane, I noticed that my TV screen was scrambled and asked a flight attendant if I could change seats. The fact that I had a middle seat directly in front of a bathroom served as additional motivation to raise a fuss. Meanwhile, I struck up a conversation with my neighbor, a Christian missionary from Puerto Rico working through Maranatha [1]. She reported that she had worked alongside Hindus, Moslems, and other Christians to build a school for villagers in Uttar Pradesh, and was humbled by the joy and hospitality of the impoverished villagers.
A flight attendant tapped my shoulder and showed me to an aisle seat with a functional TV screen (and no one in the middle seat, Hallelujah!). I noticed Praphul Kumar, a classmate, across the other aisle and shouted over jubilantly. The man that we were talking over entered our conversation; he turned out to be Dr. Gerald Zeitz, a professor of HRM at Temple University, who had coincidentally been staying at MDI as well. His trip had been focused on classroom learning with just a few company visits, and his greatest takeaways were that the theories discussed in US business schools are implemented rigorously in Indian companies, oftentimes better than in US companies and that the acceptance of rapid change and innovation is cutting edge in Indian companies.
The flight seemed quicker on the way home, likely due to a combination of longer in-flight sleep, less anxiety about the coming days, and accustomization to the long trip. I read the lion's share of 'The Fortune at the Bottom of the Period' by C. K. Prahalad on the way home, and ironically did not use the TV screen. The flight touched down at 4:30 AM and I was amazed that I was through security, customs, and immigration in about an hour, with three hours to spare before my final flight home. I grabbed a huge coffee and set down to plow through some more of the book.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
January 15, 2008
Day Eleven: Course Wrap-up and Convergys
After breakfast our class joined at 9:30 to summarize our learnings and evaluate the course. The major learning points will be summarized in a separate section. We presented business plans that we had developed as a side project. I was impressed with the ingenuity despite limited preparation time.
After lunch we met with Sanjit Singh Bal, Director of Business Development for Convergys in India. We discussed the prospects of business process outsourcing (BPO) in India and competing countries and how companies are partnering with Convergys to improve efficiency. Click here for the Convergys transcript.
After our meeting, about eight students and our professor reconvened by the front gate to head to a local shopping mall featuring a store called Fabindia, reportedly a great place to get authentic Indian clothing for fair prices without bargaining. We were not able to secure a driver from MDI, taxis were occupied, and rickshaws seemed full. To our rescue came Rahul, a student at MDI that offered to drive us pro bono. He was a first year from Chandigarh and very friendly. We got to the large mall, plastered with advertisements, but I was amazed at how empty the mall was and how many stores were closed. We grabbed dinner at a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the trip with our professor.
A few interesting notes after a few days in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi: The power outages are so routine here that business as usual proceeds without interruption. Cars dodge cows but edge each other to near collisions. Poverty is everywhere, but taxi drivers will not pick us up for short trips because the standard payment is insufficient.
I wrote and packed until about 1 AM, attempting to push my circadian rhythms slowly back into US time zones.
After breakfast our class joined at 9:30 to summarize our learnings and evaluate the course. The major learning points will be summarized in a separate section. We presented business plans that we had developed as a side project. I was impressed with the ingenuity despite limited preparation time.
After lunch we met with Sanjit Singh Bal, Director of Business Development for Convergys in India. We discussed the prospects of business process outsourcing (BPO) in India and competing countries and how companies are partnering with Convergys to improve efficiency. Click here for the Convergys transcript.
After our meeting, about eight students and our professor reconvened by the front gate to head to a local shopping mall featuring a store called Fabindia, reportedly a great place to get authentic Indian clothing for fair prices without bargaining. We were not able to secure a driver from MDI, taxis were occupied, and rickshaws seemed full. To our rescue came Rahul, a student at MDI that offered to drive us pro bono. He was a first year from Chandigarh and very friendly. We got to the large mall, plastered with advertisements, but I was amazed at how empty the mall was and how many stores were closed. We grabbed dinner at a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the trip with our professor.
A few interesting notes after a few days in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi: The power outages are so routine here that business as usual proceeds without interruption. Cars dodge cows but edge each other to near collisions. Poverty is everywhere, but taxi drivers will not pick us up for short trips because the standard payment is insufficient.
I wrote and packed until about 1 AM, attempting to push my circadian rhythms slowly back into US time zones.
Monday, January 14, 2008
January 14, 2008
Day Ten: MDI and Eli Lilly
No yoga this morning. I enjoyed sleeping until 7:15, having a cup of tea while writing briefly, and moved to the dining hall. We convened at 9:30 to discuss our upcoming schedule, followed by two presentations and interactions with MDI professors, one finance and one human resource management. Both were extremely informative and I was encouraged to know the vast similarities between the US systems and India's.
Following a quick dining hall lunch, we ventured to Eli Lilly's India office, which was located in arguably the most impoverished area I had seen, a campground of tarps and rags. Two girls greeted us off the bus with what looked like a petition, but we couldn't make sense of what they wanted. The Lilly office, a three-story building inside a guardhouse, was very nice. We met with a senior HR manager and training facilitator that had been with the company since its India presence began. Our discussion moved from the broad economy to the pharma industry to specific challenges and opportunities for Lilly India. Turnover of roughly 40% is the biggest HR issue, but the rising middle class offers huge opportunities for drug companies, especially given the proliferation of lifestyle ailments like diabetes and heart disease. Click here for the Eli Lilly notes.
After returning from Lilly, I met with two group members to prepare a business plan presentation for tomorrow morning. We then met as a class for a cultural presentation of traditional dance as performed by a regional expert. It was informative and fun to watch. We had dinner at a nearby country club, which was well appointed but dramatically different stylistically than American counterparts which tend to be classic in appearance. This club was more "New York chic" than "classy conservative," with a dance club downstairs cranking out bass that shook through our dinner. I couldn't imagine justifying a country club membership in India given the in-your-face poverty. We ended dinner with a toast to Hugo and Susan, our two classmates that will complete their degrees with the conclusion of this course. Cheers!
I need to add that while I miss my wife and home, the comraderie built on this trip has been very unique and has added a lot to the experience.
No yoga this morning. I enjoyed sleeping until 7:15, having a cup of tea while writing briefly, and moved to the dining hall. We convened at 9:30 to discuss our upcoming schedule, followed by two presentations and interactions with MDI professors, one finance and one human resource management. Both were extremely informative and I was encouraged to know the vast similarities between the US systems and India's.
Following a quick dining hall lunch, we ventured to Eli Lilly's India office, which was located in arguably the most impoverished area I had seen, a campground of tarps and rags. Two girls greeted us off the bus with what looked like a petition, but we couldn't make sense of what they wanted. The Lilly office, a three-story building inside a guardhouse, was very nice. We met with a senior HR manager and training facilitator that had been with the company since its India presence began. Our discussion moved from the broad economy to the pharma industry to specific challenges and opportunities for Lilly India. Turnover of roughly 40% is the biggest HR issue, but the rising middle class offers huge opportunities for drug companies, especially given the proliferation of lifestyle ailments like diabetes and heart disease. Click here for the Eli Lilly notes.
After returning from Lilly, I met with two group members to prepare a business plan presentation for tomorrow morning. We then met as a class for a cultural presentation of traditional dance as performed by a regional expert. It was informative and fun to watch. We had dinner at a nearby country club, which was well appointed but dramatically different stylistically than American counterparts which tend to be classic in appearance. This club was more "New York chic" than "classy conservative," with a dance club downstairs cranking out bass that shook through our dinner. I couldn't imagine justifying a country club membership in India given the in-your-face poverty. We ended dinner with a toast to Hugo and Susan, our two classmates that will complete their degrees with the conclusion of this course. Cheers!
I need to add that while I miss my wife and home, the comraderie built on this trip has been very unique and has added a lot to the experience.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
January 13, 2008
Day Nine: Agra and Lohri
At 8:30 we travelled to the Taj Mahal with our tour guide who provided a solid historical narrative. Upon reaching the Taj, we were read an extensive list of no-no's and frisked prior to entry. The first view was dramatic and upon closer inspection I was amazed at the intricacy of design and skilled craftsmanship not captured in most photographs. An interesting note is that the pillars by the main building are leaning slightly outwards by design, so that if they ever fall, they will not damage the primary structure. The Taj was built from 1631 to 1653 and required moving huge blocks of marble 400 miles from Rajasthan via camel cars. A Turkish architect developed the design of remarkable symmetry combining Moslem and Hindu influences. Inside the mausoleum visitors find a perfect replica of tombs, with the actual tombs in the floor below. This was done at the time of completion, anticipating the visitor demand. After leaving, we drove by the Red Fort, a 2.5 Km circumference fort built over a period of 80 years by the Mughals. The fort included a 30 foot outer wall and a 70 foot inner wall, each originally surrounded by a moat, one with crocodiles and one with wild land animals. Next we visited a specialty cottage industry shop where we saw skilled craftsmen shaping semi-precious stones for inlay into white marble. I was given three tiny pieces as a souvenir. The shopkeeper then led us into the store to see the finished goods, which were remarkably intricate and commensurately expensive. 3" by 5" jewelry boxes exceeded $100 and I was barely able to count the number of digits on the larger statues and tables. I passed.
On the way back we stopped just once to use restrooms and held a relay race to break the monotony. The farmland was remarkably lush, which we had missed in the darkness of our bus trip to Agra. Other sights included small villages of grass and mud huts, a group of five partially clothed children standing outside a set of tents by a railroad track, shepherds with sheep, and some of the ugliest dogs known to man.
The trip back was much faster due to a lack of traffic, and we arrived at the cultural celebration of Lohri just after the prescribed time of 7PM. Lohri is a traditional festival of great social significance that celebrates the winter crop with thanksgiving and a renunciation of poverty. Upon entry, I saw several Indian males in traditional festive garb as I ran to the restroom. When I took my seat, music was blaring as they were jumping, waving, and smiling in time on the dance floor. Dances were separated by drum solos. Following the dancing were two separate multi-religious groups performing traditional folk music. We were treated to an outstanding buffet and warmed our hands by several small wood fires and our bodies around a huge central bonfire. Towards the end of the night, our professor led the charge to get our group to dance. After three or four were on the floor, I joined other classmates, and a very Malcolm Gladwell-esque charge followed. Soon the area was filled and an older woman danced into our circle weaving her hands in rhythm. A middle-aged man in a turban jumped in the ring and began to perform as we did our best to mimick. The music was fast and lively and we had a blast. We returned to MDI full and exhausted, and I made tentative plans to join some classmates for on-campus yoga at 5:30 AM, but yearned for a full night's sleep. I hit the hay at 1 AM.
At 8:30 we travelled to the Taj Mahal with our tour guide who provided a solid historical narrative. Upon reaching the Taj, we were read an extensive list of no-no's and frisked prior to entry. The first view was dramatic and upon closer inspection I was amazed at the intricacy of design and skilled craftsmanship not captured in most photographs. An interesting note is that the pillars by the main building are leaning slightly outwards by design, so that if they ever fall, they will not damage the primary structure. The Taj was built from 1631 to 1653 and required moving huge blocks of marble 400 miles from Rajasthan via camel cars. A Turkish architect developed the design of remarkable symmetry combining Moslem and Hindu influences. Inside the mausoleum visitors find a perfect replica of tombs, with the actual tombs in the floor below. This was done at the time of completion, anticipating the visitor demand. After leaving, we drove by the Red Fort, a 2.5 Km circumference fort built over a period of 80 years by the Mughals. The fort included a 30 foot outer wall and a 70 foot inner wall, each originally surrounded by a moat, one with crocodiles and one with wild land animals. Next we visited a specialty cottage industry shop where we saw skilled craftsmen shaping semi-precious stones for inlay into white marble. I was given three tiny pieces as a souvenir. The shopkeeper then led us into the store to see the finished goods, which were remarkably intricate and commensurately expensive. 3" by 5" jewelry boxes exceeded $100 and I was barely able to count the number of digits on the larger statues and tables. I passed.
On the way back we stopped just once to use restrooms and held a relay race to break the monotony. The farmland was remarkably lush, which we had missed in the darkness of our bus trip to Agra. Other sights included small villages of grass and mud huts, a group of five partially clothed children standing outside a set of tents by a railroad track, shepherds with sheep, and some of the ugliest dogs known to man.
The trip back was much faster due to a lack of traffic, and we arrived at the cultural celebration of Lohri just after the prescribed time of 7PM. Lohri is a traditional festival of great social significance that celebrates the winter crop with thanksgiving and a renunciation of poverty. Upon entry, I saw several Indian males in traditional festive garb as I ran to the restroom. When I took my seat, music was blaring as they were jumping, waving, and smiling in time on the dance floor. Dances were separated by drum solos. Following the dancing were two separate multi-religious groups performing traditional folk music. We were treated to an outstanding buffet and warmed our hands by several small wood fires and our bodies around a huge central bonfire. Towards the end of the night, our professor led the charge to get our group to dance. After three or four were on the floor, I joined other classmates, and a very Malcolm Gladwell-esque charge followed. Soon the area was filled and an older woman danced into our circle weaving her hands in rhythm. A middle-aged man in a turban jumped in the ring and began to perform as we did our best to mimick. The music was fast and lively and we had a blast. We returned to MDI full and exhausted, and I made tentative plans to join some classmates for on-campus yoga at 5:30 AM, but yearned for a full night's sleep. I hit the hay at 1 AM.
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