Life is such a blur at the moment – I am finding it extremely difficult to get a handle on things and this is not good news for someone who loves things in his control!

I look at people who have come here to business school with a single objective and I wonder why that is not me – I have too many ideas, and too many interests to be tied down to one narrow field. However, the time when I have to arrive at a decision is fast approaching. And as usual I am running out of time.

In this post, I want to talk about one of my favourite websites in recent times-  Zen Habits. As the website says it covers areas such as achieving goals, productivity, being organized and motivation. Not that I need any help with goals or motivation but some of the best articles on the site have dealt with issues such as getting organized and simplifying your life.  What is absolutely brilliant about Leo Babauta is that he never seems to try to sell anything that he hasn’t tried himself. The site’s template is simple and uncluttered and from time to time he has frequent guest authors with posts on different topics.

Have fun exploring! This is a good place to start.

In a gloomy economy and in an environment which finds the best automobile companies on their knees the Tata’s achievement in ensuring that the Nano was launched at the promised price of ~$2,500 is particularly commendable.

In terms of India’s business environment- the Nano could well represent a turning point for innovation. India has not really been known for producing innovative products and I cannot think of too many products that have caught the global attention. (although Indians have been working on cutting technology in the west and Indian engineers work on the R&D value chain in India). Here is a product that has been conceptualized and designed in India and by the looks of it will prove to be a disruptive product in the automotive industry.

Design and Innovation:

Achieving a price point of $2,500 takes so much more than just frugal engineering and by using one less wiper. Two things impress me the most – a) the continued focus on the customer:  for example, despite its low price- the Nano is large and roomy (to probably accommodate the quintessential dadima) and b) Tata’s efforts in working with global suppliers such as Bosch at a much earlier stage and challenging them to rethink their designs.

Interestingly, the big three in Detroit (Ford, GM and Chrysler) have been getting a lot of criticism for a) not focusing on the customer and b) not being more flexible with the supply chain. The Nano’s effort also truly puts the emphasis on design and not on say manufacturing – something that the auto companies in Detroit have been guilty of. Going forward its going to be very interesting to see the sales breakup for the Nano – between first time car buyers v/s Nano being the second car and of course the sales in rural areas.

Ultimately, the Nano might not have a big impact on Tata’s revenues considering that Tata needs to sell 5 million cars by 2015. It is the idea that this might just be the first step in a completely different global automotive industry that makes it more interesting. (some thing that the Economist fails to grasp spectacularly)

He maybe an early contender for man of the century and probably the most popular man in history (unless you count Jesus as a man but lets not get into that) but Obama definitely has to learn about the art of gifting.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a trip to the U.S. last month and handed the president

ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet. The unique present delighted Mr Obama because oak from the Gannet’s sister ship, HMS Resolute, was carved to make a desk that has sat in the Oval Office in the White House since 1880.

The gift was of course thoughtful and signified just how much blacks have progressed over the past 100 years. In addition to this gift, the Browns also gave the Obamas a  framed commission for HMS Resolute, a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert and books and clothes for the first girls Sasha and Malia.

For all their effort what did the Browns get in return? A boxed set of 25 DVDs of the best American movies- as thoughtful as a Hallmark card. And better still, it turns out that the Browns will probably not be able to enjoy the movies because of well… the blasted DVD coding system!

Seriously, what were the Obamas thinking! My guess is that some intern was given $100 and was given an executive order to get a gift of the Browns.

On a more serious note, It amazes me just how much Obama has lost his mojo since coming to the White House. I am not saying he is doing a bad job- heck he has only had the job for 2 months but the nominee blunders, the special Olympics gaffe, the whole AIG bonus issue just show that maybe Obama needs to get into that whole campaign mode where he was in absolute control for over two years.

Picture taken from Atlantic Council

But here is something I wont do – score a job especially in this terrible economy and then proceed to Tweet about how I am going hate it!

That is precisely what a person did after he had been hired by Cisco and the Tweet got the attention of a Cisco channel partner who promptly responded to that. Will be very interesting to see what happens to the original poster!

You can see more details here

So the next time you post something on Facebook/Orkut/Twitter/Linkedin- think twice about what exactly you are posting. Some of this can come and bite you.

In this scenario, any money would be welcome but what if the money came as a result of legalizing marijuana? Marijuana is a $14B market in California (dwarfing milk and cream which generate around $7B every year). Legalizing pot would mean an additional $1.3B every single year in taxes and of course there is a corresponding reduction in expenditure because state officials don’t have to go on too many crackdowns. Interestingly, nearly 42 percent of Americans polled in a survey admitted that they had experimented with drugs at some point of time. 

Obviously, there are many negatives to this plan – freely available drugs is going to make a lot of people very uneasy and the whole process of implementing this scheme may cost money.  Ultimately, I am sure that this is not going to happen (way too many opponents in the U.S.) but what is interesting is that the economic conditions are forcing people to look for any potential sources for revenue. 

You can read the detailed article here

Indian Railways was in trouble: in 2001, a report by the BJP—a government dominated by the Brahmins who are Lalu’s permanent foes—predicted it would hemorrhage cash at a rate of $12 billion annually by 2015. (The whole budget of the Indian government, by comparison, is $128 billion.) Indian Railways was barely managing to cover its daily operating costs, to say nothing of paying for the new equipment and strengthening bridges. The report concluded: “It is very likely that Indian Railways would be a heavily-loss-making entity—in fact one well on the path toward bankruptcy, if it were not state owned.” Outsiders whispered the word “privatization” but were hushed: Indian Railways has been a source of national pride since before independence, and statist sentimentalists could never let it fail.

Lalu’s term as railways minister has been shockingly successful. Instead of turning India’s most prized national institution into a basketcase and a ruin, Lalu has led one of most spectacular economic turnarounds in a country bursting with economic miracles. Indian Railways began raking in cash and posting surpluses in the billions. And the intelligentsia and technocracy, at first shocked and dismayed that a shameless populist had seized a fragile and unwieldy national institution, have largely come around to acknowledging that India Railways has been transformed into a respected institution—and so, possibly, has Lalu.

I have always wondered how exactly Lalu turned around the Railways but somehow never bothered to look it up. Turns out Lalu was smart enough to appoint a shrewd businessman (who idolized Jack Welch) as his deputy and getting out of his way.  That sounds pretty similar to what Michael  Dell had to say about leadership- identifying good leaders and letting them lead.

This is a very well researched and authored article on the Indian Railway King by Graeme Wood.

The answer? The Italian Mafia.

According to this study, Mafia income increased to $167 billion, up from about 90 billion euros in 2007. To put that in perspective Microsoft made about $60B in 2008. Revenues surged 40 percent in a year when many businesses suffered major losses.

Impressive Segment Results

According to the study, extortion and siphoning money from businesses is the largest source of revenues for the Mafia (an incredible $117B). Other sources of revenues include drug trafficking and selling arms. What is interesting is how the mafia continued to make money even in such terrible times! Maybe small businesses were using the mafia goons as a source of competitive advantage.  All this means that the Italian Mafia siphoned off nearly 10% of Italy’s total GDP.

I am wondering how really the researches carried out this study- and didn’t the Mafia try and derail them? Surely, they don’t want people knowing how much they make.  All this has gotten me wondering, how much money gets siphoned off in India thanks to bribes/kickbacks etc etc? Now that would be an impressive study.

Some quick thoughts on the Oscars:

1. How awesome was it to see AR Rahman up on stage? I know this sounds silly, but for me it was like seeing an old and dear friend celebrating the greatest night of his life. I cant think of too many other people who command as much as respect and receive as much adulation as he does from Indians all over the world. I don’t think too many people in the audience would have been aware of the significance when he spoke about his mother or about his choice between love and hate. Nevertheless, its fantastic to see AR Rahman get the recognition that he has been getting, Indians have always known just how brilliant he is. Now, the rest of the world will see the genius which we have known all along.

2. It was good to see the entire cast and crew of Slumdog Millionaire- from the little kids to the producers to the technicians and even Vikas Swarup up on stage for the best picture Oscar- It almost seeemed like one big fat Indian wedding! Totally opposite to the usual best picture acceptance speeches- which has one stereotypical white male producer thanking a bunch of studio heads. Kudos to the producers for getting all the kids to fly over for the ceremony.

3. I was happy to see that there were no cringe worthy moments such as Anil Kapoor doing the bhangra up on stage.

4. I thought Hugh Jackman did great but somehow missed the usual long opening- where the MC pokes fun at all the celebrities. Hopefully, the academy will go back to John Stewart next year.

5. Why wasn’t the Dark Knight up for Best Picture? I don’t think it was worthy of a best picture Oscar but it certainly merited a nomination.. No wonder the Oscars just don’t get good television ratings- the most successful movies of the year never seem to be up for any awards. As Tom Shone observes in his book, “Blockbuster”, Hollywood spends nearly all its money and energy working out what teenagers want and cravenly giving it to them. Then, once a year, it pauses to ask: “But is it art?”. It is hardly surprising that its conclusions are often so dismal.

 No wonder this ceremony had the third lowest rating of all time.