Gurus of Chaos by Saurabh Mukherjea

We associate investment related books with authors from Western world and seek experience from best money managers from U.S. and U.K, however here the author has made an attempt to break this pattern. Gurus of Chaos by Saurabh Mukherjea is about ‘experiences’ of fund managers in India and his key learning’s on investments.  The author’s narrative is simple and the book is a quick read for the professionals in financial services industry.

I liked his opening research data point – In the past 20 years, over 80% of listed Indian companies have failed to give share price returns better than the rate of inflation (which is around 7%).  Certainly, there is an interesting story to narrate about our fund managers who have generated substantial returns. This book contains such stories of fund managers/investors.  It’s worth reading all of them; however my favorites are these two interviews.

a)      Sanjoy Bhattacharya , Founding CIO of HDFC Asset Management: his experience in the initial days at CRISIL are very insightful.  His principles on exiting a stock are intuitive.

b)      Akash Prakash, CEO of Amansa Capital: his perspective on mutual funds in India is a must read. He says funds sometimes act sub-optimally and don’t have freedom to invest.

Author’s case study approach on Asian Paints and TTK to decipher the quality of financial statements is a good read. I respect his viewpoint on giving importance to the promoter’s competence and integrity. His simple rules for successful investing are  

1. Only buy a stock if you understand the business model          

2. Only invest in companies which can generate cash flows and high return on capital employed for long periods of time.

3. Buy the franchises identified by rule 2 when they are available at prices which build in ‘margin of safety’.

 In the later part of book, author dwells on investor psychology.  He has referred to the most acclaimed book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and many psychologists. He drives the point that we all can rewire our brain and can become disciplined investors.

I felt that this book could have had a separate section for beginners or novice investors. It’s high time that successful investment professionals in India connect to the prospective investors by writing such books. This may motivate investors to relate to Indian context. 

David and Goliath-Malcolm Gladwell

Let’s look at disadvantage situations with a fresh perspective - this thought crossed my mind after reading David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.  Normally, we get deluded by advantages and avoid disadvantage positions, but if one reads this book it will encourage pursuing ‘desirable difficulties’.

Vivek Ranadive example sets the tone of the book. A businessman and techie, who digitized Wall Street, decide to coach his daughter in basket ball and her team goes on to win the national championships. Since he was an underdog and misfit he attempted something new. Certainly a must read chapter – the advantages of disadvantages (and the disadvantages of advantages)

I liked the author’s viewpoint on parenting, classroom size, children with dyslexia and upbringing in adverse conditions. As a parent, we all strive to provide resources – how much wealth is important to grow children? At what point wealth starts to negatively impact well-adjusted children. He gives many examples to explain- excess wealth goes against good parenting. These children may end up as Goliaths later in life.  Parents who have excess ought to ponder this point – how much less?

On a lighter side for an Indian middle class person – the answer to this question on how much wealth is important to grow children?  - It’s always more… J .  Five days of the week we expend all our time and energy to make ends meet. Wealth is very important to provide consistent love and attention for a healthy atmosphere at home. The key question the author is asking – at what point does money stops making a difference?

You wouldn't wish dyslexia on your child. Or would you? This chapter on theory of desirable difficulty is the best part of this book. An extraordinarily high number of successful entrepreneurs were dyslexic.  His interpretations as to why people with dyslexia thrive are remarkable. His example on Gary Cohn- President of Goldman Sachs is sharp. He goes on to explain geniuses are those who grow up in adverse conditions. After reading this section I felt – there are many talents in each one of us which we aren't aware, and some situations ignite these, but most of us don’t step-up.  

Author’s viewpoint on Big Fish-Little Pond, Little Fish-Big Pond is very energizing. His findings on relationship between number of children in a classroom and academic performance are insightful.  We all spend lot of time debating, pondering on student class size – too small doesn't help. I felt this theory can be extended to our corporate career. Which pond do we want to be in?

What’s missing in this book? – I would have loved to know author’s opinion on David vs. Goliath in the corporate world. 

GET to the TOP

I was little surprised when I saw Suhel Seth in Guzaarish (2010) movie - A corporate chief, moved into Bollywood. I am sure you will also recall watching Suhel in one of the news channels.

Naturally, I was curious to read his book ‘GET to the TOP’ – The ten rules for social success.

When I saw Vijay Mallya’s endorsement on this book cover, I thought author's timing has gone wrong.

Why did the Suhel Seth choose Mr.Mallya during the 'bad times' of Kingfisher Airlines?

But I got the answer after I completed reading this book.

Suhel ensured that you don't loose interest after reading few pages. It is largely divided into three parts
A) How to draw people to you?
B) How to make friends?
C) How to keep your friends?

A) How to draw people to you?

Suhel strikes the chord with the reader in the very first section by advising - 'be interested and interesting' and ‘have an opinion’.
These are his first two rules viz., self development and the impact.

It's so revealing!!!

We would have met many academically bright people in our career, but the successful is the one who is interesting & creates an impact.

B) How to make friends?

Suhel says the trick is to not judge people and accept them on their own terms. Judge their opinions, but not them as people. It's a great piece of counselling, as invariably we exclude people based on their idiosyncrasy.

Being non- judgemental opens up to engaging with all kinds of people and as a result more popularity.

He is critical the way we use Google, to know the background about people and jump to conclusions before we meet them. I agree, generally net savvy people deduce based on the postings in the social networking websites. It's artificial.

Suhel substantiates his views by giving several examples from his experience.
For instance, by being non-judgemental he has friends like Russi Mody, Ananda Shankar- musician, R.K.Laxman and Subhash Ghai.

I liked his trust rule - he says gossip and bitching are key factors of creating distrust among friends.

Networking rule- he says aim always to make friendship, not contacts. Networking should not be seen as transactional. He also suggests seeking for accomplished people, not important ones, as designations are transitory.

The work rule is a brilliant one - make friends out of clients, not clients out of friends. Work must be merit driven and friendship is often driven by values and emotions.

C) How to keep your friends?

He advises the readers to be loyal and consistent with friends.

I am impressed with Suhel, as he seems to be publicly defending Mr.Mallya during the bad times.

I found social success mantras in this book very pragmatic and useful as he substantiates with numerous examples.

This book will be very useful for those who manage HNI clients as he quotes various examples from his work life.

I have a Dream by Rashmi Bansal

Why isn’t Media reporting these types of articles in the cover stories?

This question crossed my mind after reading ‘I have a Dream’ by Rashmi Bansal.

‘I have a Dream’ is awe-inspiring. The author has narrated twenty social entrepreneurs stories who chose to follow their heart and made a substantial positive impact in our society.

Preview of a couple of sections.

a)Vineet Rai of Aavishkaar Social Venture Fund.

Vineet who failed getting into the Army, worked as sales rep. selling taxation books and later on worked in remote areas after completing Forest Management.
In a while Mr.Rai emerged with an idea of ‘micro-venture fund’ – sponsor business ventures between Rs.1 and Rs.20 lakh to rural entrepreneurs.

I believe, initiatives like these will bring a ray of hope to rural youth as 69% of total population stay in rural India.
Source: 2011 Census report.

b)Ms.Ishitha Khanna of Spiti Ecosphere

A back bencher in her school days and after completing her Masters, Ishitha fell in love with Nature. She started a NGO which harvested ‘orange berries’ in Spiti valley, Himachal Pradesh. Subsequently from harvesting these shrubs she got into eco-tourism as well. It’s inspiring to read that Ishitha’s venture is profitable and employs local youth.

After I read about Ishitha , I remembered Dr.Sudarshan* of BR Hills.

Just think about it – what if we had many entrepreneurs like Ishitha and Dr.Sudarshan?

Rural youth can be gainfully employed.

Author has prudently chosen 20 stories from different strata of society.

It’s pleasant surprise, that she has covered three stories in Spiritual domain as well- ISKCON and Belur Math. There are hardly few authors in India who appreciate social entrepreneurs in the Spiritual society.

May be the author’s dream has come true as her third book is also one of the ‘best selling’ in non-fiction category. Other two books are ‘Connect the Dots’ and ‘Stay Hungry Stay Foolish’

*
Relevant links which you make like to browse
http://www.aavishkaar.in/investee-portfolio/

http://www.spitiecosphere.com/index.htm

http://www.soligahoney.com/about/soliga.htm

The Art of Choosing

What is the relationship between how we choose and who we are? Do we have the ability to exercise control over ourselves and our environment?

‘The Art of Choosing’ by Sheena Iyengar explains the cause behind of our choices we make in our life through numerous research and examples. I found these below research findings very appealing.

Author sets the tone by highlighting the study conducted on animals; Curt Richter’s experiment on rats is very noteworthy. He placed dozens of rats into glass jars – one rodent per jar- and then filled the jars with water. The rats were left in a literal sink-or-swim situation. The researchers were puzzled when rats of equal fitness swam for markedly different lengths of time. Some rats were more convinced than others that if they continue to swim, they would eventually escape. The takeaway from this research is about the persistency they exhibited could well have paid off in the real world.

Experiments conducted by Professor Michael Marmot of University College London is very relevant for all of us. ‘The less control people had over their work, the higher their blood pressure during working hours’. Stress can be due to work related and daily grinds that are beyond our control, such as traffic jams, smog, noise et al. But we have the ability to create choice by altering our interpretations of the world – ‘learned optimism’.

Experiment on Children, the ‘the marshmallow studies’ is intuitive. It goes like this… the man asks a four year old little boy to point out the snack he would like to eat the most, and the boy chooses marshmallows (candy). But the deal with the little boy is - ‘he can have only one marshmallow or he can have two after the man is back’. The man gives a tiny bell to the kid and asks to ring the bell to call him. On an average, the children waited only three minutes. Follow-up studies found that the teenagers who had exercised self-control all those years ago went on to have stronger friendships, better coping skills and fewer behaviour problems. Though self-control may not be solely responsible for the positive outcomes, the co-relation suggests that we should not underestimate its impact on our lives.

Robert Goizeuta, CEO of Coca-Cola Company in 1980’s challenged their colleagues’ notions of growth. Since they owned 45% of market share in Soft drinks, they targeted 5 to 10% growth for next few years. Goizeuta asked them “What % of entire liquid market – not soft drinks market?” The answer was just 2% . He reframed the issue and encouraged his colleagues to broaden the vision. By 1997 the stock burgeoned from $4.3 billion to $152 billion. Author says, every time we encounter new information or re-examine old information, we are influenced by its presentation. We can use framing to our advantage, but sometimes it has a negative impact on the quality of our decisions.

She advises the reader to focus on things that really matter, than avoid running ourselves ragged over decisions that are simply not important in the long run. The cumulative results of the diverse array of studies revealed, that we have the power to reduce the exhausting effects of choice, not by expanding our options but by delegating parts of a decision to others or by limiting ourselves in ways that positively affect the choosing process. She says – science can assist us in becoming more skilful choosers, but at its core, choice remains an art. We must embrace uncertainty and contradiction.

My take –‘The Art of Choosing’ is a great compilation of psychological research; a book of self-discovery and must read for all Marketing professionals.

Author dwells on varied subjects like marriage, religion, faith, impact of advertisements on our choice and investor behaviour patterns.

Except initial chapters, the writing style is not very involving as the reader can drift away from the book. A mix of narrative and creative style would have been highly engaging as the subject is very abstract.

On the lighter side, since nobody can access our source code to undo our decisions, it is useful to be aware of our choices.

In case you missed The movie Sourcecode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm9eCIwiHkQ

Corporate Chanakya

Think of Chanakya... Wittiness, Intelligence and a great Strategist- these adjectives comes to one’s mind. Can we use Arthashastra in corporate world? This question came to my mind when I saw “Corporate Chankaya’ at ‘Crossword Best-Sellers bookshelf. I was inquisitive when I understood that Mr.Radhakrishnan Pillai (author) conducts workshops for students and corporates based on the teachings of Chanakya.

I found this author’s story very motivating. Mr.Pillai is like one of those successful new age entrepreneurs who venture into a unique business. He dares into realms of Spiritual Tourism- a soul fulfilling endeavor. I admire him because he diligently followed his clairvoyance at Lake Manasarovar and has dedicated his life in preaching Arthashastra. I can relate to author’s experience because I was also fortunate to visit Manasarovar last year and it is very overwhelming.

‘Corporate Chanakya’ dwells broadly on Leadership, Management and Training. Author quotes 175 verses from Arthashastra and explains the meaning and relevance to the respective field in Management.

I found few chapters well written for the corporate world but others are just useful to management graduates.

For instance a section on ‘Advice to Entrepreneurs’ is very apt for budding business executives. It starts with the importance of Entrepreneurship in the current business environment, then a relevant Chanakya’s verse along with Mr.Pillai's view. Examples of Bill Gates, Narayana Murthy and Madam C.J.Walker are quoted who displayed the attitude of ‘make it happen’.

But I did not find the same flow in most of the segments of this book.

The section on ‘Ethics in Business’ could have been scripted in a more appealing manner. Mr.Pillai could have quoted more examples to highlight the magnitude of ‘ethics’ in the corporate world. He just explains the meaning of Chanakya’s verse and his interpretation about it. He refers to Peter Drucker view on value system and subtly mentions about an successful Indian Company which has high score on ethics. (Reader has to guess the company!!!)

Author could have mentioned names from the most ethical companies in the corporate world and explained their value system.

http://ethisphere.com/2011-worlds-most-ethical-companies/

He could have taken examples of Enron and Bernard Madoff to substantiate the significance of Arthashastra in competitive business world.

But we need to applaud author’s effort to master Arthashastra and share this in a lucid style. Certainly after I read this book I was influenced that Arthashastra is pertinent in these times.

Man's Search For Meaning

I was very inquisitive to know more about Dr.Viktor Frankl on learning that he inspired Dr.Stephen Covey (author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) after Mahatma Gandhi.

There must be something about Dr.Frankl to have been placed in the same pedestal as Mahatma Gandhi.

‘Man’s Search For Meaning’ is mentioned in the first habit – ‘Be Proactive’ in Dr.Covey's book. The first edition of this book was published in German in 1946 and author was professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School.

He was imprisoned into Nazi concentration and extradition camp and was one among 1500captives in a shed where hardly 200 could be accommodated. After he clears the first selection at the camp for survival he is given a customary bath and full body shave, both in just 2 minutes!!!

This marked his induction into the camp.

The only way a captive can survive in the camp is to look fit to work. Even small blister can lead one to gas chambers. Dr.Frankl strives to survive in spite of all odds. The first part of this book is full of his spine chilling experiences and tactics to endure. The second is a summary about Logotherapy - a psychoanalysis method to help the dependent to find meaning his/her life

We cannot even perceive hostage’s life at Nazi camp; this book is a great insight to the humanity – ‘power of choice during horrific situations’. ‘An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is a normal behavior. Author displayed this attitude in an utter desolation.

Unlike other self-help books which are generally a well thought rhetoric, this is a factual incident. I realize that many self-help books are derived from this book and hence a classic.

Apart from his experiences these below maxims were energizing…
- ‘I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved’. The Salvation of man is through love and in love.
- Humor was another of soul’s weapons in the fight of self preservation.
- He who has a ‘why’ to live for can bear almost any ‘how’.
- Live as if you were living already for the second time

Author says meaning of one’s life is a like a movie: it consists of thousands of individual pictures, and each of them makes sense and carries a meaning, yet the meaning of the whole film cannot be seen before its last sequence is shown.