Month: January 2015

Invented divisions

The recent events in Paris have brought to light many tensions to the surface. Religion is a touchy and emotional subject. As a result, it makes for a difficult topic to write about. Everyone has an opinion that seems perfectly right and legitimate from their point of view.

The thought that repeatedly crosses my mind when I see these issues is that these divisions weren’t meant to be divisions at all. They have often been perpetuated by humans like you and me for purposes like power and wealth. And, we definitely have the choice to rise above them.

As the world becomes more global, we’re increasingly going to have relationships with customers, co-workers, and other stakeholders who have different beliefs and ways of thinking. What we need is more understanding, more patience and more openness to differences.

Different isn’t necessarily good or bad. It is just different. We can choose to have a discussion. And, we can choose to ignore these divisions. If they are invented anyway, we might as well invent something that increases our happiness.

Lines give us confidence, not dots

One of the ideas that has helped me understand the nature of confidence is that it is lines that give us confidence, not dots.  So, a single incredible game does not make anyone a great player. Greatness and confidence come from enduring consistency over a long period of time.

One powerful implication of this idea is that we should abandon the ‘one big win’ mentality. Many build careers around the assumption that a stint at a prestigious firm or business school will mean they’ve “made it.” Similarly, many try to build companies and become crest fallen when a prestigious venture capital firm turns down.

While all of these undoubtedly help, they are, at the end of the day, just dots. You don’t become a great presenter by giving one big speech. Instead, you notch a thousand speeches that build your confidence. So, in our search for confidence in what we do, it is critical we approach it as a long process where our focus is on notching small wins. It follows that making a big difference in our lifetime isn’t about making one big choice or one big turning point – it is often a result of many many small wins over the course of a lifetime.

This, then, leads to my key takeaway from the “lines, not dots” principle – true confidence comes from a great process. Great inventors and thinkers across time had a phenomenal learning process. Think Richard Feynman, Benjamin Franklin among many others.

And, similarly, true self confidence comes from a great life process. Great habits, a great process and a purpose driven approach to life, for example, are the dots that, when joined together, provide the foundation for self confidence. Mastery in one aspect isn’t enough. It is all about lines, not dots.

Introduce people by sharing what they mean to you

We often introduce friends and co-workers to others. There are many ways to do this – you can emphasize what is most amazing about them, you can share their official ‘bio’, you can explain how you met, etc.

An idea that I’m implementing more over the past couple of years is to introduce them by sharing what they mean to you. These days, if I have to introduce someone to an audience, I have begun doing an “official” version that I gloss over and an “unofficial” version where I share my ‘personal experience’ of the person and what they’ve meant to me.

The bio approach approaches every person as a collection of achievements. The meaning approach does tend to skip an achievement or two but hugely personalizes the process and, I think, leads to more impact.

After all, people don’t remember what you say or do as well as they remember how you made them feel.

 

Hat tip: Lifehacker for bringing this idea together in my head

Wish and want

We often spend parts of our days and lives wishing for things. “I wish.. this happened/that happened/I got this/I got that.”

As the quote goes from “Into the Woods” – ‘are you certain what you wish is what you want?’ Because what we wish isn’t necessarily what we want. And, what we want isn’t necessarily what we need.

Maybe the other approach is not to spend any time wishing. Just keep making decisions on the process, keep plugging away, and ignore wishes altogether. We all wish for good days (largely). But, who knows if a good day now will really be a good day in retrospect?

The enlightened approach is to not bother with wishes and wants and other proxies for results. I can see why it is the enlightened approach – it keeps us focused on the present, mindful about what is happening, and helps us get a tremendous amount done. We can’t all flip the switch to pursue the enlightened approach of course. But, perhaps, we could aim for a little more of it.

And, maybe, just maybe, when we catch ourselves wishing, we could ask ourselves  – “Are you certain what you wish is what you want?”

Why MBA – MBA Learnings

Since it is the new year, I thought I’d tackle the big question – “Why bother with an MBA?” At any given time, there is a fair amount of opinion in the press on the MBA. Some say it is useless, others warn us about possible pitfalls and a few dare to be bullish.

My view is that the truth, like most things, in life is somewhere in between. So, here are a collection of my thoughts based on what I’ve seen and learnt –

1. The biggest trouble with an MBA is that there is no single consistent academic experience. Most Masters in Computer Engineering programs teach the same core concepts. Yes, you sort of do that with an MBA. But, then again, not really. You have a lot of freedom and flexibility to learn things you care about. Then, the next problem is that practically every university has an MBA program. That’s where the rankings come in.

2. The rankings have all sorts of faults. Most of them don’t measure what a school should actually be measured on simply because the data isn’t easily available (or the publications just couldn’t bother). But, if you aggregate them together, there are consistent patterns in the schools that show up in the top ten, the top twenty and so on. This distinction matters for calculations on return-on-investment.

3. I know this seems like a really mercenary way to approach this. But, I’d like to get it out of the way because return-on-investment matters (ROI) a lot. Students spend roughly $200,000 in the two years and a lot more in the opportunity costs of missing out on two years worth of earnings. They’re also doing so in a high-growth phase of their careers. For a large proportion, this is an opportunity to level up and move to a career that’ll give them more opportunities and/or more income. ROI matters. I’m not clear what the ROI numbers are – but what I am clear about is that the degree is, unfortunately, not equal. Just as a Masters in Engineering at an MIT will always be valued much higher than most other places, similarly, being lucky and skilled enough to be able to get into a top school changes a lot.

4. Once we’ve got the financials out of the question, what is the experience really worth? We interviewed venture capitalist Brad Feld over Skype yesterday and one of my classmates asked him a similar question. He reflected on his own experience at MIT-Sloan and said – “An MBA is a nice two year vacation from reality. And, in many cases, such a vacation is very useful.” And, he went on to talk about the ability we have to think about our long term careers, switch career tracks, and make decisions that can alter the course of the life. And, it is true. It is not always we’re presented with opportunities to do that with so many options.

5. The other idea I will pick is a recent post from Seth’s blog. This post was shared by our Professor in our introductory Microeconomics class just two days ago.

Doing calculus with Roman numerals

Quick, what’s XIV squared?

You can’t do advanced math without the zero. And you can’t write precise prose without a well-developed vocabulary.

The magic of the alphabet is that twenty-six letters are all you need to spell every word. The beauty of Lego blocks is that you don’t need very many to build something extraordinary.

Imagine how hard it would be to get anything done, though, if you only knew 17 letters.

In most fields your work is hindered if you only have a few of the most basic tools. Understanding more of the building blocks of finance, or marketing or technology are essential if you want to get something important done.

Here’s my advice: Every time you hear an expert use a word or concept you don’t understand, stop her and ask to be taught. Every time. After just a few interactions, you’ll have a huge advantage over those who didn’t ask.

The way I see it – the bold-ed bit is what an MBA gives you. It doesn’t do enough in terms of explaining the building blocks of technology as yet. But, there’s already a fair bit of choice in many schools and it is on the rise. It always takes education a few years to catch up with change.

6. Does that mean everyone needs an MBA? Absolutely not. There are so many ways to get this sort of knowledge on the internet and in books. So, if you really wanted to get the knowledge, you can (you can just just follow Seth’s excellent advice). My view is the following – if you value learning about business (academics), if you value/need taking some time out to think about what you really want to do (career), and if you value working with, getting to know, and building relationships with peers from many different backgrounds,  many of whom also tend to have similar hopes and dreams as you, then I think you’ll really enjoy the MBA experience.

7. There are many reasons MBA grads get flak from employers – too much entitlement, not enough value added, etc. And, I daresay there are always going to be a few who will give others a bad name. But, on the whole, I do feel there is a lot of value the education brings. In my first quarter alone, I feel like I have gained insights that would have been very helpful in my jobs over the past few years. The nice thing about this learning is that it is all connected and reinforces each other. Accounting inter links with finance which inter links nicely with building companies which requires marketing and so on. I think it’ll help future entrepreneurs and business owners avoid a few fundamental mistakes and it’ll help anyone working in a company make better decisions (if they paid attention in class). And, who knows, maybe avoiding a mistake in giving out equity could save you half a million dollars as your business scales. That’s already the cost of the degree and more..

8. As you can tell, this is clearly a collection of my unstructured thoughts on the subject. I am, of course, biased. I can’t say much about whether this investment will lead to x or y result in 20 years. I honestly don’t care that much. I am here because I really wanted to learn, to think about what I really want to do, and to meet, work with and build relationships with some very interesting people. And, so far, the experience has stretched me, made me think, and given me an incredible amount of learning opportunity. And, the sheer intensity has kept me on my toes. In short, I’m loving it.

9. I do, however, think it helps keep perspective that this is just a wonderful way to spend 2 years of my life. It is learning geek paradise in some respects. It is not practical for many and definitely not a necessity. For this, I will go back to Hunter Walk’s brilliant post on “It’s fine to get an MBA, don’t be an MBA.” If you haven’t read it, please do. Here’s my favorite bit.

Getting an MBA means you’re curious to learn broadly about theories and explore how these techniques can be applied to various businesses. Being an MBA means you think you’re getting taught the one right answer to problems – to a hammer everything is a nail – and that only MBAs know these dark arts.
Getting an MBA means offering your perspectives and experiences to your classmates. Being an MBA means looking at your peers as networking targets.
Getting an MBA means thinking about your degree as just another attribute of who you are – I have brown hair, a wife, work at Google, enjoy citrus fruits and possess a Stanford degree. Being an MBA means you are “Hunter Walk, Stanford MBA,” elevating the matriculation to a level of undeserving primacy.

Getting an MBA means you shoot out of school wanting to prove yourself and see what you can contribute to others. Being an MBA means thinking the world owes you something and that your value 10x’ed just from spending two years on a campus.

At the end of the day, just be who you are, which is a collection of skills, abilities, successes, failures, fears, dreams and hopes. The most important degree you possess is Human University.

This, of course, applies to any accomplishment. Results happen to us due to good processes and a fair dose of luck (e.g. in this case, being born in the right place) – don’t let them define you. It is the same deal with this degree – if you think it’ll add value, it will. If you want to make it meaningful, it will be. Don’t do it for the tag. Do it because you’ll learn and get better. And, if you don’t do it, that’s okay too.

In either case, we’re on this planet for a short period of time, at least in the giant scheme of things. Let’s just focus on making it meaningful, making it count.

Connected home questions and its implications for tech

Samsung announced yesterday that, in 5 years, every device will connect to the internet. The “internet of things” is clearly going to be here soon. And, companies like Samsung and Google are better on the connected home and the connected life. The announcement raises a couple of interesting questions around the home of the future.

First, will every device also be connected to each other? Would our TV be connected to our refrigerator, for instance? Is there a need for that?

Next, will we head towards a smart device and dumb cloud model? Or will we just look at these devices as pieces of glass and expect the all-knowing cloud to stream or procure what we want?

Both these questions lead us to multiple possibilities that will have huge impact on the technology ecosystem. For example,
– In the everything is connected to everything model, companies like Dropbox and Google will vie to be the connector between the various displays. Google stands to prosper if this is the future (it certainly feels more likely) because Google does “cloud” better than its only other serious competitor at this point – Apple.

– Apple, in my opinion, stands to gain more from a model where everything need not be connected to everything. Instead, what we would care about would be having a really smart refrigerator that can do things I cannot currently imagine, a really smart TV, etc. They don’t all need to talk to each other. They just have to be easy, intuitive and well designed. Apple hasn’t done cloud and connectivity well yet. Its culture and DNA is built on outstanding hardware. It remains to be seen if they can develop good-enough software to be able to compete effectively.

– Companies that are poised to make a killing if they execute well are Amazon and Facebook. Amazon will have many many ways to sell you stuff. If your smart fridge detects that eggs are running low, Amazon Fresh will probably be 1-click away from delivering eggs at home. If Uber chooses to go this way, it could stake a claim to be the delivery service of the future..

– Facebook stands to gain most from this innovation because this future is a perfect scenario for the native ad. Similar to Amazon, these smart devices can provide more data for further ad tailoring. Running short of food in your refrigerator? No problem, here’s a McDonalds delivery ad for you. (sorry for the large number of food related points in this post, I am clearly hungry)

Either way, it is going to be very interesting. While Samsung has indicated this process will take 5 years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen in 3.

Talent spotters

Sometimes, I feel our most important role on the planet is spotting talent before it becomes obvious to the rest of the world.

Yes, there are professions built on talent spotting – venture capital, player agents and scouts in sports, hiring teams in companies. But, I think of it on a personal level. How good are we at spotting potential? Or, to phrase it differently, if we were to meet someone who had the potential to be the next Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates, would we know?

And, that leads to another intriguing question, do we even have what it takes to spot seeds of greatness in ourselves? Do we have a clear idea of what we are good at and what we aren’t? Logic would dictate that we might just be better at identifying special traits in others if we can do so in ourselves. Then again, maybe not.

If we care about making a dent on this planet, it is worth remembering that it need not only be due to what we directly do. If we can be of value to someone who goes on to build the Google of the next technology shift, that’s definitely another way to do it. But, that’s easier said than done. There always seems to be enough and more to deal with just to get our lives in order. Where do we find the time to look for others who’re making a difference and find the time to help them?

Maybe that’s where we start – by being available, by making the time and by being of help.

Training wheel systems

I started blogging here because I felt I was reacting very badly to failure. I wanted to build my confidence brick by brick and thought I’d do so by disciplining myself to write a learning every day.

That was easier said than done, of course. I simply lacked the discipline to do it consistently. Here’s how the process really unfolded –

Phase 1 – The struggle. In the first few months, the biggest challenge was just remembering to write a learning. Some days, all I would manage would be a quote.

Phase 2 – Training wheels. A year or so later, I came upon an idea – why not post a quote every day at the minimum and add something else if I could? So, I started posting a quote every morning on weekdays and also sent the “Good Morning Quote” to  a few friends, family and subscribers. Then, on Sundays, I began posting a “book learning” – simply a learning from a book I was reading. These structures were my blogger training wheels.

Phase 3 – Ready to bike. 3 years in, I moved the quotes out of the blog as I knew I was finally disciplined enough to write a long form post every day. Over time, I consolidated all the additional ideas (quotes, book learnings) to the 200 words project. The 200 words project is no longer a training wheel. I am well into biking solo now.

Call it training wheels, systems, process, or structure – it doesn’t really matter. The principle is, as we think of new year resolutions, we’re best served if we take the time to structure habits and systems that will help us get there.

It is always easier to do nothing

Every project you start will give you moments which will make you regret walking down that path. You will definitely second guess yourself and the impact you are making. The struggle will feel unnecessary and unrewarding.

The most important thing to remember at such points is – it is always easier to do nothing.

So, the questions that follow are –
1. Do you really want to do nothing and do what is easy?
2. If not, is there another project or method that would help you achieve better long term results?

Every once a while, you’ll realize that what you’re doing is not working. That is a useful realization and there is nothing wrong in quitting for the right reasons.

But, when the answer to the second question is no, it is just worth remembering that you signed up to make a difference. It was never meant to be easy. Maybe you’re not making the world-changing difference you envisioned. But, what you’re experiencing is making a difference to you.

And, that is definitely difference worth struggling for.

Measuring laundry

I have a recurring task on weekends to get laundry done. We’ve been living in university apartments/dorms and the laundry room is downstairs. So, I rewarded myself with a “done” on laundry once I ran the clothes on the washer and dryer and brought them back home. After that, I’d pass the baton to the wife.

Over time, I realized my wife doesn’t enjoy folding clothes (I don’t mind it all that much). So, I began folding mine and passing her clothes over.

Now, just as additional background, our share of the housework is about 30%-70% in my eyes. Given our propensity to overestimate our own contribution, I think it might be closer to 20%-80%. So, a few weeks back, I made a small mental switch – I wouldn’t take laundry out of my task list until I’d folder all our clothes in.

My wife loves the new arrangement and I feel I’ve definitely notched up an extra 5% on the contribution index.

Was that switch hard to do? Absolutely not. It just required me to measure a task a different way.

So, why did I not measure it this way when I started? I just never gave it much thought.

It made for a profound lesson, though. Give careful thought to what you measure.. because the behavior you measure and reward is the behavior you get.