Monday, April 16, 2007

Thinkin of a master plan...

This post has been a long time coming, but I'm finally getting around to it. I wish to pay my respects today to one of hip-hop greatest songs: Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid In Full" from the eponymously named 1987 album (don't worry, '87 was a long time ago for me too!).

At the cost of sounding random, let me provide you with some background to put this post into context: One of the few luxuries I've had in my year off has been to work out at my gym during off-peak hours. Seriously people, there's no telling how nice it is not having to deal with the throngs of people sweating and grunting around you , or having to wait in the bread line--U.S.S.R style--for the right equipment or set of weights. In the last couple of months, I've been able to just zone out, listen to my tunes and do my thing at my leisure... and yeah, those abercrombie abs are coming along just fine, why do you ask?

At any rate, almost every time I hit the gym my iPod will shuffle through 12.29 GB of hip-hop and start bumping "Paid in Full", and it just gets me pumped. Whether it's the LP version, or the masterpiece "Mini Madness - The Coldcut Remix" version, the song is off the hook.

I'm pasting the lyrics below, and if part of it sounds familiar, well it should. Know that the song, beats and lyrics have been continuously cribbed by other artists, even to this day. That scene in Old School where Snoop kicks off the houseparty? Paid in Full, baby. That beat Biggie uses during his solo on Get Money? All Paid in Full. Why? Because when this song came out it was a manifesto of rap's ethic, and the album itself went on to be one of hip-hop's greatest.


Thinkin of a master plan
Cuz ain't nuthin but sweat inside my hand
So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent
So I dig deeper but still comin up with lint
So I start my mission- leave my residence
Thinkin how could I get some dead presidents
I need money, I used to be a stick-up kid
So I think of all the devious things I did
I used to roll up, this is a hold up, ain't nuthin funny
Stop smiling, be still, don't nuthin move but the money
But now I learned to earn cos I'm righteous
I feel great! so maybe I might just
Search for a 9 to 5, if I strive
Then maybe I'll stay alive
So I walk up the street whistlin this
Feelin out of place cos, man, do I miss
A pen and a paper, a stereo, a tape of
Me and Eric B, and a nice big plate of
Fish, which is my favorite dish
But without no money it's still a wish
Cos I don't like to dream about gettin paid
So I dig into the books of the rhymes that I made
To now test to see if I got pull
Hit the studio, cos I'm paid in full


Tightness. As an aside, my Bengali-half particularly relates to that "plate of fish line". Yummy.

Seriously though, why is it that rappers nowadays have to tell you why they're hot more than 8 times in the chorus to make it stick?? As Rakim says: "It ain't where you from, it's where you're at".

Bonus: I found the Coldcut Remix on YouTube. Take 3:46 minutes and take it all in.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Jack: American Badass

I'll forgive you if you thought this post was about Jack Bauer. I just hope Jack Bauer will forgive me for not writing about him this one time. I'd hate to be the one to disappoint Jack because bad things happen when you cross Jack... things far worse than if you cross Chuck Norris.

No, the Jack I'm talking about is none other than Jack Welch, the retired chairman and CEO of General Electric. My brother and I went to see him speak on Thursday in front of a full capacity crowd at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

To say that Jack Welch is a legendary figure in the business world would be like saying that Ron Burgundy is kind of a big deal. During Welch's tenure (1981-2001) at GE, the company's market value grew from $13 billion to $400 billion. His management innovations in those 20 years indisputably made him one of the most influential CEOs of his era.

So what was it like to sit in the presence of such an icon?

Amazingly instructive. At 72, Mr. Welch exuded the authority and charisma one would expect of someone of his stature. But what genuinely surprised me was his candour and passion before the audience, and how he just let loose when broaching several topics. During the Q&A session, for example, he'd focus his laser like eyes on the audience members who asked him a question and give them rapid-fire answers that were blunt, and straight from the gut. There was no grandstanding. Mr. Welch--in his unreservedness--addressed audience members in the auditorium just as he would have been addressing them in his own office or, more appropriately, at a sports bar in front of a couple of beers, watching the Sox.

Mr. Welch was asked to opine on many things during the session. I'll try and do justice to some of his answers by paraphrasing:

On leadership: According to Jack Welch, a good business leader is someone who can excite people, and motivate them while making expectations very clear. Candour rates very high. He rebuked the notion of hands-off approaches when grooming talent, and reiterated that good leadership distinguishes itself by letting people know where they stand, at all times. Famous for instituting a policy at GE of rewarding the top 20% and weeding out the bottom 10% performers--and perhaps more famous for having made more severe cutbacks during his tenure, earning him the name "Neutron Jack" in the process--Mr. Welch claimed that a leader "has no right to leave his people in the dark". So whether you reward someone or can them, it should come as no surprise.

On motivation and organizational change: Mr. Welch famously championed Six Sigma at GE, way before it became an industry standard. In passing such initiatives, or any future ones, he commented that you have to back them up with passion to achieve buy in, saying that if you wanted to "move the needle of your company's [gauge] a certain way, you have to be a raving lunatic on the far end" and constantly fight for it.

On private equity: According to Jack Welch, private equity is the new "brain drain" when it comes to business talent. Much like consulting was a decade or so ago, private equity seems to be offering exceptional rewards for those who are able to pierce the field. Citing an average figure of $289,000 for first year take-home pay (base + bonus) made by recent b-school grads in PE, Welch drew audible gasps from an audience comprised of financially starved students... at which point it seemed like very few would mind getting sucked into PE's Death Star-like tractor beam.

On work/life balance, telecommuting and lifestyle firms: Welch made no concessions as to where he came down on these general trends. To him, work/life "balance" is a misnomer, because it really comes down to work/life "choices". Telecommuting is well accepted in the modern business age, and well effective in terms of results, but you shouldn't kid yourself on the potential costs, he argues. In most organizations, your "promotability" will depend on face time, no matter what. In what was another astute observation, Mr. Welch reminded the audience that so-called lifestyle firms are often so during their monopolistic stage... and that can change with the wind.

On rumours that he is in talks of becoming the new dean of Sloan: Without missing a beat, Mr. Welch said he'd have a "hard time dealing inside an organization that offers tenure".

And there you have it.

After the talk, Jack and Suzy Welch were kind enough to stay back and conduct book signings. Yours truly got his copy of Jack: Straight from the Gut signed in due form. The autographed book now holds a place of choice on my bookshelf, dethroning my previously signed copy of N. Gregory Mankiw's "Macroeconomics".

Sorry N. Gregory, but you're no Jack.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Never Eat Alone and why "networking" is not a bad word

There's an old Italian proverb that says "don't mess with Tony Soprano". There's an even older one that says "he who eats alone, dies alone". A book I recently read that reaffirms the latter is the business bestseller Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. It's all about networking and I couldn't recommend it highly enough. Not just for people in business mind you, but for anybody really. It's a fast read and stands out in my mind as one of the few "business" books I read in recent times that provides you with simple, actionable insights you can start implementing in your personal and professional life right away. In fact, if I had a children, I would make them read this before all the classics... possibly even before Frank Miller's Batman: Year One... possibly...

For the uninitiated, "networking" is basically a catch-all phrase for: let me try and meet the right people so I can find the right x, where x is what you want or need to improve your personal bottom line.

Sounds unnatural or self-serving? That's what I thought too. But as someone headed to business school, I felt like had little choice but to educate myself on the matter. B-school is all about networking. You either do it or you die (yes, that is an exaggeration). Before picking up this book, it was not without a certain measure of apprehension that I was counting the days to when, I too, would have to "network"... simply because I didn't think I was any good at it. The act of networking or being an actual "networker" always carried pejorative associations in my mind. The whole thing felt phony. At career fairs, recruiting events, or even the simple dinner party I would spot "networkers" with mild revulsion from a mile away. You probably would recognize them too: the smarmy, eye-darting, loud, fake Stradlater types who work their way around the crowd, making it their business to meet people, size them up and move on–if they figure they're not worth knowing (you included).

In Never Eat Alone, Mr. Ferrazzi reassuringly makes a point to single those type of people out as the "networking jerks" --i.e. the precise example of those who suck at networking because they're doing precisely what they shouldn't be doing: sucking... or to be more serious, wearing their phoniness on their sleeve.

Phoniness does not work. What does work, the author argues, is being yourself, transparent and passionate when you first meet someone because networking is an everyday process. Much like all speaking is public speaking, the book does a great job convincing you that networking is not a chore but a vital life skill you ought to master. If you are a shy individual or are afraid of public speaking, the book offers useful tips on how to overcome those areas.

At the most granular level (money, job, and success talk aside), the book posits the following: if you think your life is enriched by having and cultivating great people around you (and why wouldn't you?) then networking should be a conscious activity. And if you already have great circle of friends and acquaintances, then guess what: you're already a networker. But you could still benefit from enlarging your network.

Check Never Eat Alone for yourself. It obviously does not have all the answers, and often engages in too much gratuitous name-dropping for my taste, but you gotta give it to the guy. He does really know a lot of people. The book is a great start for someone who may not have much experience in the field, and definitely a must-read for anybody going into b-school.

Below, are a few ideas from the book that personally stuck with me:

  • Networking is about building relationships and certainly not just about your bottom line. You have to proceed with a generous mindset: helping friends meet other friends and not keeping score or hoarding your own resources. By helping others, you will in turn make the sort of connections that will help you.

  • Invisibility is a fate far worse than failure. If you don't put yourself out there, you will not succeed. At my old job, I was surrounded by people with stellar academic credentials. They were smart smart but stereotypically a little reclusive. As a result they missed out on the kind of bonds that are developed when people get to know each other outside of their work, the bonds that sometimes lead to more meaningful responsibilities. So don't be an imbecile, get to know the people you work with... but stay away from politics, don't be a gossip and don't be a phony.

  • Don't be a phony. People will see right through you, so don't be that guy/girl. The one who everyone hates and that people throw a goodbye party for the day she leaves–ice cream cake, champagne and all–without actually inviting her. True story.

  • Ping constantly. In this marvelous age of constant connectivity, you have no excuse not to "ping" the people in your network on a regular basis. For professionals, Ferrazzi claims this to be a must. The worst thing you could do is contact somebody only when you need a favour from them. That's the "networking" kiss of death. So ping away. Build it before you need it. On the personal level, pinging is important too. You *know* your grandma loves it when you call her. So why don't you just take a minute, and do it right now.