The Diary of a B-Schooler

What I 'Became' in 2018: My Story of Meaning and Gratitude
Well, I did not plan to write a long post. I had intended to make a bullet pointed note for the things I was grateful for this year. But I guess Michelle Obama's writing had rubbed off on to me and I was driven to write a long narrative. But writing this felt satisfying. I needed to hear my own story. We all need to hear our respective stories.
https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/12/31/what-i-became-in-2018-my-story-of-meaning-and-gratitude/

What I ‘Became’ in 2018: My Story of Meaning and Gratitude I cherish solitude on the eve of a new year. Last night, I read Michelle Obama’s book ‘Becoming’ as I maneuvered my dinner – placing some spicy tandoori chicken onto the sof…

10 Commandments of Leadership: This is an attempt to extract ten actionable takeaways in ten sentences from our on-going leadership development course
You may find some of these relevant to you.
https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/12/30/10-commandments-of-leadership/

10 Commandments of Leadership This is an attempt to extract ten actionable takeaways in ten sentences from our on-going leadership development course: Be always aware if you’re exhibiting managerial attitude or leadership…

Humanity's need for better corporate organizations cannot be emphasized more. B-school is the best place to begin building the future managers who will create these better corporations. This term I've taken a course on Corporate Governance and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I've decided to serialize my class discussions and learnings into articles on corporate governance. I hope this would create awareness and educate more managers and common audience on corporate governance.

In this pilot episode, I reflect on the need and the reasons for studying corporate governance, explore the connection between b-schools and corporate scandals, understand the pitfalls of economics-oriented management theories, and wonder if we imagine an enlightened corporation.

https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/the-enlightened-corporation-episode-1-resolving-existential-questions/

The Enlightened Corporation | Episode 1: Resolving Existential Questions In this pilot episode, I reflect on the need and the reasons for studying corporate governance, explore the connection between b-schools and corporate scandals, understand the pitfalls of economics…

Attributing stories to objects enhances the perceived value of these objects!

"A talented, creative writer invents a story about an object. Invested with new significance by this fiction, the object should — according to our hypothesis — acquire not merely subjective but objective value. How to test our theory? Via eBay!"

What is the story of this 'Penguin Creamer'?

Penguin Creamer by Sari Wilson | Significant Objects [The auction for this Significant Object, with story by Sari Wilson, has ended. Original price: $3. Final price: $31.] It’s incongruous. The buttery finish, the fluted spout, the air hole in the back of its head offering a peek into … Continue reading →

No kid ever said, “I want to be a B2B marketer when I grow up.”

Some time ago, when deciding my choice of electives, I found this slide deck on the "WHY" of B2B marketing.

Insightful, funny, and real.

The Search for Meaning in B2B Marketing B2B isn't altruistic or glamorous. How can we spend our lives doing it and still feel good about ourselves?

"The ritual of cracking open a new case every day, be imported to a new place and new role, and be caught in a decision dilemma, will soon come to an end. The cold calls, the case discussions, the 'aha' moments in class, and the team presentations too. Now that I realize that only a little of this experience left, I want to savor it with more attention as one would relish the last few bites of one's favorite meal."
https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/savoring-every-bite-of-the-last-term/

Savoring every bite of the last term To begin, the term break was disastrously unproductive. I did not move beyond a page in the writing and editing work I had scheduled. Rather did I read much. But there were more revelations. I foun…

This winter, I will be writing and editing in solitude. Much like Daphne, who stayed back in the harsh winter of Sifnos to write One Hundred Days of Solitude. While she was in a Greek Island with a few people to talk and fewer commercial attractions, I’d be on the b-school island. I hope to take walks around the green campus in the warmth of the afternoon sun to shrug of my restlessness.

https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/winter-holidays-writing-solitude-reading/

Winter, Holidays, Writing, Solitude, Reading A Winter of Writing and Editing It’s the term vacation. Which means there are no assignments, no team meetings, and most importantly no deadlines for the next eight days. Eight days to do wha…

I read these papers with fervent devotion as one would read the revelations of God in a holy book for the very first time.
https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/the-cuban-affair-and-a-friend/

The Cuban Affair and a friend I read these papers with fervent devotion as one would read the revelations of God in a holy book for the very first time. Few nights have been more satisfying than the one I was fortunate to exper…

Been working on a Negotiations course assignment on the Cuban Missile Crisis. It has been fascinating to go through some of the declassified documents from the period in the NSA Archive: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/docs.htm

President Kennedy's letter to Premier Khrushchev:https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/621106jfkletter.pdf

Restaurants are interesting - whether you're a customer, or watching them on films, or even in a finance class in b-school.

And there are films that have restaurants as their primary setting. Big Night is a great restaurant movie and an all-time favorite of mine. Two Italian brothers run a struggling Italian restaurant in America.

Day 65: Pondering restaurant success, restaurant films, and returning back to writing For the last five days, I did not write here. This is the last week of our semester. There are projects, research reports, and presentations to be submitted. Sleep is squeezed thin. But these are …

"In the evenings, you'd see women seated on both sides of the road with fishes of different sizes and colors brought in from the sea by their menfolk only a little while earlier. You'd feel cool the breeze of the sea and your nose would tingle from the ocean smell of fresh fish. You'd hear the names of fishes crooned by the sellers to attract buyers. Just beside the sellers would be the other women who cleaned and sliced the fish that the customers had bought, an additional service that you have to pay for. People ambled from vendor to vendor, wide-eyed, and all along pregnant with the excitement of a delicious fish dinner later in the night."
https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/10/25/fishing-a-personal-reverie-systems-simulation-and-sustainability-challenges/

Fishing: A personal reverie, systems simulation, and sustainability challenges As we entered the lecture hall today, we saw ten placards spread around the class. The twin professors were already there to usher us in. They asked us to form teams of three and sit behind one of …

I've been quite a drag over the last couple of weeks. I shall jot down what I've been up to during this time. Maybe it'll help me feel better about them.
https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/10/19/this-is-what-ive-been-up-to/

This is what I’ve been up to I’ve been quite a drag over the last couple of weeks. I shall jot down what I’ve been up to over the last couple of weeks. Maybe it’ll help me feel better about them. Our merger a…

On October 15, the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) reviewed the U-2 photographs and identified objects that they interpreted as medium-range ballistic missiles. Thus, began the Cuban Missile Crisis - one of the most perilous periods in human history.

The Thirteen Days is a film that brings this episode to life. The film is a great study in leadership, decision-making, and internal negotiation - skills that all of us may benefit from.

Check out the film!

Thirteen Days (2000) Directed by Roger Donaldson. With Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Shawn Driscoll, Drake Cook. In October 1962, the Kennedy administration struggles to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The most amusing slide-deck!

I had a 'charts-phobia' when I entered b-school. But now, charts are 'my thing.' One slide deck has been instrumental in that transformation. I've linked it below. It is a consulting mock-up of analyzing a romantic relationship - stacked bar charts, bubble charts, and variable width column charts.

This might just be the best thing you might come across today. And who knows, like me, it might transform you forever!

Bcg Consultants Love Life Romance: A BCG Analysis Original by Andy Meyer June, 1996

The marketing simulation module has been a tough learning experience. Our team, 'Llamas,' put in so much thought and hours into our decision-making and at the end of it, we congratulate ourselves for having made a killer strategy. When the round's results are announced, the disappointment unfolds.

Stanford MBA Teaching Methods Simulation See how simulations are used as a teaching method in the Stanford MBA program. The video features noted entrepreneur Mark Leslie and Professor Jim Latttin.

Sometime back, I was introduced to a new perspective on entrepreneurial functioning - the concept of effectuation - by our International Business Strategy Prof. I've summarized it with a few resources on this blog. For people who are learning towards entrepreneurship, understanding the concept may prove quite useful.

Day 53: Entrpreneurship, effectuation, and the moral goodness of parties Today’s International Business Strategy class was unique and engaging for at least three major reasons: For the first time, we stay put in India, departing from the norm of globetrotting as i…

"Teaching is a performance art and a great teacher is an artist."

A note on what teaching taught me about teaching. A recollection of personal lessons from a recent experience.

https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/10/06/teaching-is-a-performance-art-experiences-and-lessons-from-a-teaching-session/

Teaching is a Performance Art: Experiences and Lessons from a Teaching Session A week ago, I experienced a most exhilarating moment in recent times. I had taught (co-created and led) a session on marketing. The participants seemed to have enjoyed and gained something from the…

How does a farm run by animals cope with as they face disruption due to the use of farm machinery in the large human farms?

I'm just half way through this spectacular and warm management parable. Will come out with a post on the lessons from this book soon.

Meanwhile, Check out this book on Goodreads: How Stella Saved the Farm: A Tale about Making Innovation Happen http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15793132-how-stella-saved-the-farm

It is seldom that management is characterized as a profession that serves the society. The "noble professionals" are the physicians, teachers, and human rights lawyers. No doubt, they're noble professions. But isn't the potential human and social impact of a manger equal if not more?

Here's HBS Prof Clayton Christensen's view of management as a noble profession.

A little gem from HBS classroom as the class pays their tribute to their Fin 1 Prof.

FIN 1 Final Class - Section A HBS 2015 Get to know the famous Prof Stafford in HBS

"As I write this, I feel a heavy loss inside me. I did not know that recording your life every day can be addictive and too absorbing to disengage. It is almost like a day not written about is not lived at all."
https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/10/02/closure-the-end-of-daily-blogging-and-thoughts-on-writing-daily/

Closure: The end of daily blogging and thoughts on writing daily I have not been writing here for the last ten days. In that time, I have been scripting new plans, working on some interesting class assignments and a few personal projects, agonizing over the lack…

I've put together a general minimalist reading list for a management professional.

Take a look at it. You may find one that you were looking for all along.

A range of authors from HBS Prof Clayton Christensen to a nineteenth-century Cornell English Prof William Strunk Jr.

Happy Reading!

Reading List These are some of the books oriented to a management career that I’ve read and gained from. I will update as I go. General How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen What They Teac…

"It's good to be a Wharton MBA, but don't act like one.."

"Growing up, I didn't have a high opinion of business.."

"When you start walking the way, the way appears.."

His story captures how businesses help build communities.

Start painting the wall soon..

Hamdi Ulukaya, Keynote Speaker | Wharton MBA Graduation 2018 Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder & CEO of Chobani addresses the Wharton MBA Class of 2018 on May 13, 2018.

What is a good brand?

Is it the popularity and recognition? Is it the revenues?

Comment below: Name a brand that you think is good and elaborate why

Here's a philosophical view of brands, a perspective often uncovered in business schools but hugely important in terms of human society.

What Is a Good Brand? Many people today instinctively recoil from the concept of a brand. The word brand brings with it some disturbing associations: heartless commercialism, crushing uniformity, blandness, a dumbed-down experience... A brand can be seen as a cynical way of cashing in on what might once have been a good

What is the mission of b-school grads?

Medical school grads are tasked with a mission to save lives and improve health. Law school grads are tasked with to ensure fairness and justice.

Is there such a mission for b-school grads? What is it that we're good at?

B-school grads are trained to create value.

This is a meaningful talk by HBS Prof Deepak Malhotra.

Prof Deepak Malhotra - HBS - 2012 Speech to Graduating Harvard MBA Students Prof. Malhotra's 2012 speech to graduating MBA students at Harvard Business School, entitled "Tragedy & Genius". His books: - Negotiating the Impossible: htt...

Found the diary of a Harvard B-Schooler!

The case studies, the cold calls, the learning teams, the stress, the section-bonding, and everything else that happens at HBS.

Just got my hands on this book by Philip Delves Broughton, HBS '06. As I move into the last quarter of my b-school years, this book helps me consolidate my own experience against the grander backdrop of HBS.

Read my thoughts on the book at my blog: https://thediaryofabschooler.wordpress.com/2018/09/21/day-107-what-they-teach-you-at-harvard-business-school/

Inspiration is present all around us. We just have to be open to it.

A shout out to Daphne Kapsali - Writer. Her book 100 Days of Solitude was the foremost inspiration behind my 100 Days project.

Check out her blog and book. Get inspired!

100 days of solitude where Daphne Kapsali keeps her blog