Belfast trip for the India-SA match

It was all worth it: getting up at 4.30, running after a bus as tubes don’t start early on Sunday, waiting for the bus in gloomy conditions at Belfast Airport, waiting 3.5 hours for the match to start after continuous inspections: a great 31-over a side match, and one that India won by showing one thing they have not shown often in the past: character.

Yuvraj and Dravid engineered a perfect victory: in two very distinct phases. After losing 3 early wickets, the partnership almost decided that runs are immaterial. However frustrating that was as a spectator, the cricketing minds in them said that the required run-rate was not too high anyway; so taking 5-7 overs off the pedal won’t ruin things. I mean they hardly scored a run every 10 balls in this phase – and this was a rain-reduced shorter match. But the conditions were really tough as was shown during the SA innings earlier. And when they decided they were well-set, what an exhibition of cricketing shots: the exquisite straight drive from yuvi, the 3 fours in an over from Dravid showing aggression and most of all the effortless straight six by Yuvi off Steyn. Had to leave the last 4 overs as would have missed the flight otherwise, but man such matches are rare

Btw, am on TV now: the courtside Wimbledon seats last Friday got coverage, and at least BBC has me showing in the highlights

Just submitted my last MBA assignment – the longest time taking by far – such an outlier that its not even funny – did a dynamic model of a social networking service market leader – how it grows explosively and what factors will slow that growth  – phew

 

Sports: All about angles; and the b-school unwinding period

While playing online tennis today, I remembered a statement I had once made while playing actually: almost all sports are about skillful geometry. I mean think about it: tennis, billiards, soccer (especially scoring), golf (putting), cricket batting. It’s not a great insight or something, but I do wonder how natural athletes, those who adapt easily to any sport, have a great mental geometry mind!

As b-school unwinds, it really is a lazy period, especially in this gorgeous London weather!! Only lasts for a few months, but man its worth it. Now I understand why 1-year MBAs came into vogue, the second year at LBS has been as different from the 1st year as black is from white.

 

Gaurav’s commandments for a good b-school professor

In my 2 years at London Business School, I have seen a fair share of professors. I thought it would be interesting to put forward my views for what makes a good professor, and also what makes for a bad one:

1. Thou shalt spend time to select an appropriate title of the course. (I had this one course where many could argue (and did argue) that the title of the course had nothing to do with the actual contents.  We did read the course description, but for strategy courses, all course descriptions sound the same anyway!)

2. Thou shalt not have an assignment due on the first class of the term unless you have reminded the students at 2 different times before the start of term. (I had this one course which had an assignment due first class, and for most of us, the only way to know was to read the syllabus document of the course. No points for guessing how I turned up in class)

3 Thou shalt make the 2-3 learnings of each class clear at the start of the class, and follow them strictly. (Many professors don’t realise that it’s better to stick to 2-3 insights/learnings than give a 100 examples with no putting these together)

4. Thou shalt practice and perfect voice delivery (a 3-hour monotone just doesn’t cut it, with anyone in this one class from what I can gather)

5. Thou shalt use humor as you feel fit, but the class should have a lot more than just humor (self-explanatory)

6. Thou shalt ask for feedback mid-way as well, not only at the end (I had a prof who did this and tried to improve for the second half. This did two things: he did improve quite a bit, but also this endeared us to him)

7. Thou shalt understand that class discussion for the sake of discussion is useless (self-explanatory)

Notice that I am not asking them to take into consideration things like b-school students are busy networking, partying etc.  All that is not important.

I am sure I can think of 3 more in the coming days and make it Gaurav’s 10 commandments!

 

Contacting Alumni in business schools and refurbished computers

A lot of my classmates find it very surprising when I tell them that I regularly try to contact relevant alumni for discussion career opportunities in their companies. The first question is always “so what do you tell them”. I have found the school alumni very helpful; I tell them I like their company and would like to have a 5 minute phone discussion about exploring opportunities. And most of these people will get back within 2 days and give me a status check. I have initiated many discussions through these, and quite a few have gone somewhere.

Why are refurbished computers a much bigger business in US while they are only now becoming big in Europe? Can’t think of any relevant reasons, but I know from a reliable source that it is true.