After a long break

The last blog I wrote was in February '09. Today I felt the urge to start writing again. Having moved to Hyderabad the office-home-office routine had set in. Visits to Bangalore were the only departure from this ritual. This time around I plan to stick to writing without (major) breaks. I realised that the other blog which I used to write to, the Yi-Net is also dormant and has to be revived.

What has turned interesting now is that I am based in Hyderabd, a very vibrant city with a lot of variety. This, I expect to provide a lot of ammunition to my writing.

Last Official Day at IBS Bangalore

The Last Official Day at College.... Phew!!. Needless to saw everybody breathed a sigh of relief. The fact of the matter was that the two years seemed to have just gone as a swift breeze. Before we could have got into the act, the course was complete. Anyways, all had some take-aways and at the end of it all, it seemed that it was worth it.

With many having to report to different organisations in the coming months, their journey into the corporate world will just be begining. For many others who are looking for placement the next few weeks will be hectic ... GD and interviews. For the very few experienced chaps like me,.. it was probably another course and another set of experiences to take home. We have to now put many acts together ...having come from different backgrounds.

With only the MRP remaining and the very short relief before reporting tentatively by the first week of March, I feel that my stay at IBS Bangalore has been fulfilling and has served my requirements atleast for the short run.

Wishing my batchmates the Very Best in their lives !!

Panel discussion at IIM Bangalore

Last week I attended a panel discussion at IIM Bangalore along with some of my friends. It was hosted by the PGSEM group and Nasscom. This was the first IIMB-NASSCOM Leadership Summit.

The panelists consisted of Dr Ganesh Natarajan (Chairman of Nasscom), Mr. Sharad Sharma (CEO Yahoo India), Mr. Aravind Sitaraman (MD Cisco India), Dr. G Venkatesh (Exec Dir CTO&CSO), Dr. Kamlesh Bajaj (CEO DSCI) and Mr. Sridhar Jayanthi (Head McAfee India).

It was an enlightening experience with the speakers giving loads of insights on "Risk Mangement in the Emerging Business Environment". Though the dicussions went about two and half hours nobody wanted it to end.

One new term that emerged was of "Reputation Risk" that a company might face in the present scenario. The Satyam case was quoted in this context.

Mr Sharma gave his interpretation in terms of Chaos Theory . He said that minor disasters are actually good because the rot in the system gets exposed and they do not accumulate underneath. More like a forest fire that gets out-of-hand when vunerable dry tracts get created over long periods of time, major business vulnerabilities leading to large disasters what one needs to guard against.

Mr Aravind Sitaraman gave a new management take away : "Don't see whether the glass is Half full or half empty. ...... See how big the glass is".

Appropriate ! ... one cannot swallow more than one can chew.

Dr.Natarajan answering to a question said that what is important for companies, is to worry about EPS rather than P/E . Market price may not give clear and accurate valuation.

All-in-all the session was a great experience....hearing from the captains of industry.

Which are your favourite Management Books ?

I personally feel that autobiographies are the best. They give practical insights into a person's circumstances and happenings. Other than that "Arthashastra" should be a recommended book to B-schools like "Art of War".
Recently I have heard that "Our iceberg is melting" and "Black Swan" are popular management reads.
What are your favourites ?

Hi Everybody

I have started my blog today, 26 January 2009 - which happens to be the 60th Republic Day of India.
I wish to use this blog to exchange views and opinons with friends. I believe that the internet is a great tool to network and wish to use it well - meaningfully.