Thankful for Firsts

The point of this series of blog posts is to highlight some of the things I'm thankful for these past two years and hopefully find some reason/purpose/"so what" for all this gratitude.

When I think back to my London years, I generally remember all the new things I've seen, done, tasted, etc. And these "firsts" are memories I treasure.  Here's a sample...

First MBA rugby world championship tour.  This was one of the FUNNEST weeks I've had this year.  Here's a group of my stream (B)est teammates...love these girls.

First half marathon.  Ran the Edinburgh race with my AMAZING friend Joyce in 2:21:40.  We've worked together quite a bit here in London.  I feel like we've been through it all, to hell and back.  And, it was great to symbolically cross the finish line with her.  This was such a happy moment at the end of such a happy Scotland trip with friends.

First Pimms.  One of my new favorite pasttimes is meeting up with this awesome chick Phillipa at the Windsor for an afternoon Pimms.  So British.

First costume competition.  In our first year, a group of ~10 stream B classmates decided to dress up as Charlie Chaplins for a Halloween party where there was a group costume competition.   We chose this costume because it was relatively easy to put together.  And, it was the first of many costume parties in business school.  I don't know what I'm going to do with this suitcase full of random costumes and accessories if/when I move...

First time organizing a hen do (a.k.a. bachellorette party).  Our fearless captain Carolyn (a.k.a. de Vil) got hitched this year.  And the women's rugby team couldn't not celebrate with her before the big day.  Lynnie (a.k.a Casper) and I put together an...err..."special" post match social at the Windsor.   That was a day never to forget.  Like our tour motto, what happens on tour stays on tour, I've got to keep mum about the shenanigans.  However, I will say I haven't laughed so hard or much in a very very long time.

First trip to Paris.  In all my previous travels, I had always avoided Paris and really the whole country of France.  The truth is that I wanted a boy to take me there.  Well, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, and my dear friend Lis was working there in the fall of 2010 and invited me to spend a weekend with her.   And, it was love at first sight.  Any chance I get to go to this charming city, I'll jump at.  Here's a photo of us in front of one of the many gorgeous buildings and parks Paris has.  J'adore Paris!

First time to cut loose.  Our recent Scotland trip was one of my favorite trips I've had the past two years (and I've traveled alot).  I think it was because it was such a great group of people, and I decided to leave my work behind to enjoy the weather and company.  Boom.

First Thanksgiving abroad.  Even when you're away from home, you can find a group of people to celebrate the holidays with.

First Indian wedding abroad.  My mom recently came to London, and we traveled to a family friend's wedding in Birmingham.  It was good to get out of student mode and do some normal people activities.  This is a photo of us from one of the ceremonies.  First time I've worn a sari too.

First Aggie Muster abroad.  Who knew there was such a large Aggie community in London?!  I met some great folks, and it was great to see maroon, boots, and rings!

First TED conference.  I cannot believe I spoke at a TED conference (dream come true) with some amazing classmates and fellow speakers.  Such a happy day.

First Pride & Prejudice moment.  Like most girls, I have a thing for Jane Austen.  Our trip to Yorkshire / Derbyshire was one of the MANY great UK and international trips I've taken.  This photo is from Chatsworth House where Pride & Prejudice was filmed.  Aww.

First time leading a group of 35 students to India.  This India trek last December was a highlight of my time in school.  I met so many great people, worked with my awesome partner Sherene, and got to show others the greatness of India.

First time skiing.  The Swiss Alps aren't a bad place to learn.  Though I will need to take more lessons to truly pick this sport up.

First time bartending.  On Thursdays, we have a weekly (free) schoolwide happy hour.    I thought about taking bartending classes in Houston years ago, but I'm glad I didn't.  I picked it up here in London.  Here's a photo with Kieran (a.k.a. Moses) who taught me how to pour a beer and the fabulous Dina (a.k.a. Winner).

First alter ego.  Nicknames are a big deal here.  And mine is "Pi".   Long story of how I got it, and it's one of the more unique ones that's been given.  These nicknames that we give each other are a great way to quickly get to know each other and bond.   And some of them are SO funny.

Thankful for Interesting Conversations

I graduate from London Business School on Friday July 13 (yes, I'm wondering why that ominous date was chosen).  The most common question I've gotten over the past two years is along the lines of "what are you doing afterwards?"  And there's a subtle but overemphasized presumption in all of this that business school is solely a means to an end.  Yes, it is a great way to transition careers, advance in your current discipline, start a new venture later, etc.   But, for me, the point was rarely (close to never) about the afterwards part because I saw it as a truly transformational life experience.  One of my former clients (a great guy who got his MBA from Stanford) said this to me way back, and it's proven right (even for the cynical ones in my class).  I learned frameworks, how to articulate points, appreciate diversity and differences, question everything, realize there can be multiple "right" answers based on frame of "right", etc.   I also believe I'll be a better leader, manager, wife, mother, patron, volunteer, advisor, and friend because of this experience.

I go into nostalgic mode often these days as I'm sad to see these amazing two years end.  I am SO thankful for this experience that it brings me close to tears, and I don't know what to do with all of this thankfulness.  Since I've fallen off the cliff in blogging lately, I'm going to use this blog to explore that.  There has to be a "so what" or logical next step for me given abundance of gratitude.  I can give back to LBS with my time and resources later on.  But, is that it?

Reason #1 to be thankful: Interesting conversations

I was invited to a dinner at the Dean's home this evening and Terry Neill was one of the guests of honor.  Mr. Neill graduated from LBS in the 3rd MBA (formerly MSc) class and went on to join Anderson Consulting where he helped build the company from 300 people to +200,000 plus as Chairman of Anderson/Accenture.   He is a GREAT guy, and we had an interesting, interactive discussion with him + 10 students.  Some of the stickier things that I learned:

-Stanford professor Ray Levitt once said people don't change for rational reasons but rather emotional reasons (love, fear, hate, worry, etc.).  I don't quite agree with it completely but do think people are more likely to change and do so more quickly if there is an emotional hook.  Ideally, the rational arguments are packaged nicely with the emotional messaging.   There are so many examples I can think of that back this up from my Class Gift 2012 campaign...

-Accenture has two projects that are each worth +$1 billion.  One is helping the US Dept. of Homeland Security setup their systems and the other is with an energy company.  (Aside...hope my taxpayer dollars are  being used wisely.)   We now have organizations willing to spend a BILLION dollars to change systems/technology but not willing to make similar investments in people.  And people are infinitisimally more complex that binary computers.   Think about it.

-Notre Dame legendary coach Lou Holtz was giving a speech to business leaders at Harvard Business School once, and he was asked "How do you motivate your players each Saturday?"  Holtz thought a second and then replied, "My job is to not demotivate them on game day."   He then drove home the point to the corporate executives in the audience by asking them how many of their employees are motivated on day 1 of the job and whether they are still motivated.  Most aren't, and company leaders are responsible for this loss in motivation.  And, Terry argued (and I agree) that lack of trust is a driving force in this.

-A question to ponder:  Is human behavior predictable?   Some say yes...doesn't a stadium of football fans go crazy in sync when a goal is scored?  At the same time, I can think of so many situations where people react to situations in different ways based on their background, motivations, etc.   There's validity in both these points, and I feel the truth is in the middle.  I think there are certain universal human reactions to events and generalizations on how different people (ex. nationalities) will react to situations and make decisions.  Good managers can identify these broad buckets of predictable behavior.  Great managers are able to take this understanding a step further and can understand/read people within these categories.

-Employees must understand the customer and know "why" they are important.  Terry brought up an example of an Accenture client engagement with McDonald's many years ago.  The average tenure of a burger flipper in NYC was 32 days.  (Whoa.)   Some forward thinking McDonald's managers knew they had to bring some meaning to the daily task of burger flipping, so they invested in educating these employees on the customers - who they are, the economics of the business, best practices, etc.  Eventually, average burger flipper tenure rose to 4.5 years.  People (and customers) don't care about what you do as a company, they care about the why.

-There are 15 million Jews in the world.  That number seems surprisingly low to me given how strong, pervasive, and influential they are globally.   All over, most Jews have rich traditions, generally consistent behaviors, much recognition, etc.  Jewishness transcends the small (national) borders of Israel better than any other religion.  This factoid came up as we were discussing this trend of people identifying more with lifestyles than nationalities...call them glomads ("global nomads").

I had no idea what this evening was going to entail.  I thought it was just drinks but then found out it was a formal dinner event.  It was a lovely evening, and I came home energized after the interesting conversation with such an accomplished, curious, diverse, and helpful group of people that I feel blessed to have in my personal community.

Softly call the Muster...

January 1. February 14.  July 4. October 2.  November 29.  December 25. December 31.  These are important dates when it comes to holidays.  April 21 is another special day for all Aggies.  It's Muster.  

My good friend Merriam-Webster defines the word "muster" as "to cause to gather" or "convene".   It also is common in military speak.  I find the term to be elegantly perfect for this special Aggie tradition.   Here are a few photos from my first Muster in London.  It was good to see boots, rings, and maroon!

If I Had the Moolah...

I just finished taking a GREAT class called "Managing Sport & Entertainment" this spring.   Great guest speakers, topics, and cases that ran the gammut including Manchester United, Cirque du Soleil, Radiohead, NYC nightclubs, Broadway theater, YouTube, the book publishing industry, and much more.


If I had a couple hundred million dollars lying around, I'd invest in a sports franchise (though be a bit more price conscious than the likes of Magic Johnson recently).   Or an entertainment business (there is convergence). Sports franchises are full of passionate people who tend to make passionate decisions.  Take for example European football (whose revenues top those of the NFL, MLB, and NHL combined).  Even in the economic recession, there is no "revenue problem" for European football.  Fans will pinch pennies elsewhere before giving up on football.  Stadiums are sold out.  Lucrative media deals are struck year after year (plus you have new players like Al Jazeera who are just throwing money at it and driving up prices).  Teams have increasingly learned to monetize the brand with licensing deals.  And while all this money is coming in, there has been a wave of European football clubs going bankrupt (some are publicly listed) and others continuing to struggle financially year after year.   The virtuous cycle should be that money comes in, it's invested wisely on and off the pitch, more tickets sold, etc.  However, it's warped in the opposite direction for some clubs.  My hypothesis is that some of these football clubs (and other sports teams, in general) have passionate people making irrational decisions (record contracts given to players, bigger stadiums, etc.).   I feel there's a positive correlation between the sophistication of the team off the field and the sustainability of teams.    Seems ripe for some turnaround investors (and cash flows are more stable than you'd think).


Another story that stuck with me was that of Guy Lilberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil.  Around each big top touring show Cirque has, there is a white picket fence.  Guy calls this his world when customers walk through this fence.  If you've ever been to a Cirque show, you know that it's an emotional roller coaster where you leave on a high.  Guy's purpose for starting Cirque was so that when people entered his world, they would forget the troubles and torments of their life and let him entertain and educate them on what is possible.  And then maybe, when they walk out of the picket fence, they will take a piece of his world with them.  The best entertainment businesses are driven by something other than profit.  I personally respect them for that and think that applies to most businesses in general.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Yesterday, I attended a lunch & learn hosted by our London Business School Marketing Club (they do GREAT events).   The guest speaker was Rob Britton, a professor turned airline executive.  He spent over 20 years at American Airlines and left as Advisor to the Chairman.   In the 1970s, Rob helped launched AAdvantage, the first airline loyalty programme, and his seminar focused on the value of these frequent flyer programmes (the only marketing tactic that has really worked for airlines).

A few random factoids and musings I wrote down in my Moleskine about this challenging yet very interesting industry:
-There's significant spoilage by the very nature of the service.  Weak demand, stiff competition, overcapacity, etc. leads to empty seats.  A surprising 20% (!) of seats flew empty on flights last year in the United States.

-The airlines business has relatively low barriers to entry (not good from a firm standpoint).   And, on top of that there are high exit barriers.  New airlines seem to sprout up every year but think about how they don't go away as often.  Once an airline goes belly up, the assets (planes) are worth more cobbled together as a going concern than grounded separate planes.  And I don't imagine the secondary market for used (and many times old) aircraft is so great when the industry already has an overcapacity problem.

-The innovation in the industry has to come from customer experience (legroom, wifi, food, online distribution, etc.) and not the actual product or service (fast, long travel).  For over 30 years, most airplanes fly between 500-600 mph, which is slower than the speed of sound.  I don't quite understand all the physics behind it (need a Khan Academy talk!), but once a commercial jet breaks the speed of sound barrier, it becomes prohibitively expensive because of the amount of energy required.  More interesting info here: http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-173394.html

-Travelers prefer frequency to differentiation.  Boutique aspirants have tried to carve a niche in this space but fail every time.  Imagine a Goldman Sachs employee chooses to fly one of these high end airlines from NYC to London.   If and when a meeting runs over or there is bad weather, one of the legacy carriers could book him or her on the next flight out that day.  With a boutique airline, she or he may have to wait a day.  This resonated with me.  When I travel for work and return home, I want to get there NOW and will pay anything to make it happen.

-If you added up global airline profits throughout time, the sum is a loss.  That's not too surprising and could be used to call for shutdowns or thwarting of future investments.   However, I think airlines are similar to banks, they lubricate the rest of the global economy.  And thus, I foresee subsidization and loss minimizing policies for at least my lifetime.

Rob is a very entertaining and energetic speaker!   He is quite generous with his time too and does a circuit of top business schools each year.  Am going to solicit his help with an idea I came up with to see if British Airways or Lufthansa would be willing to give LBS Class Gift 2012 student donors the perk of airline status for a year.  I see it as a win-win-win marketing tactic for the airline, the school, and students.  Fingers crossed!

Don't be an Insider

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." -Marcel Proust

This French novelist was on to something with this quote.  One thing business school has taught me is that learning and problem solving aren't always necessarily about learning new things or seeing new problems.  Sometimes, it's about framing.  Or the content and delivery channel.  By this, I mean that alot of the learning in the past two years has come from cases (real experiences) and lively discussions.

One of the more interesting learning opportunities came about a week or so ago when convicted insider trader Garrett Bauer shared his story with students at London Business School and candidly took Q&A.   This event came from left field when Garrett contacted our PE & VC club and offered to do this.  I heard second-hand that the PE & VC club agreed to host this event because Garrett had similar other speaking engagements at US business schools and wanted to include us in the mix.

Essentially, Garrett was a day trader who used inside tips from a lawyer (his best friend) to make buy / sell decisions.  He did this for several years, and while it didn't always pay off, it doesn't change the fact that he acted on privileged and confidential information.

Garrett went into great detail on the information he got, the logistics of the scheme, how he got caught, and what it was like to be in prison.  He was tried in federal court, and it was there that he learned that his best friend ratted him out.  In a strategic move, Garrett plead guilty and was convicted.  He is now awaiting sentencing.  That is largely the decision of the federal judge who will give a sentence ranging from ~8-12 years based on the points accumulated from all the charges (insider trading, obstruction of justice from destroying a cell phone, and money laundering from using cash from an ATM to pay for insider tips).   Factors such as volunteer work, marital status and children, sickness, and amount of money recouped can influence the sentence given within the sentence guideline.   I don't believe Garrett is evil, and he's found an interesting way to use his time to teach others based on his experience and to also potentially lower his sentence.  He's also found the right audience with MBA students, and I believe he is sincere in his message of "it's just not worth it".   Not only for insider trading but also other "victimless crimes."

The Q&A lasted at least an hour.  The softball questions at first became a bit more candid and interesting as time passed.  I asked Garrett whether he had had a chance to talk to his best friend / insider trading accomplice since he was arrested.  He said that he had not and that his lawyer advised against it (because it would then lead to another type of charge added to his docket).  From what I could tell, he didn't show overt anger towards his friend for betraying him (surprising).  I certainly wouldn't be that forgiving.

The message of "it's not worth it" really came through.  (Not that I ever have or will user insider info).   From the way Garrett explained, I would never want to be the target of the federal prosecutors.  They make sure that they can win most cases they take to trial.  And many of the rules, precedents, and calculations are assymetric in favor of the feds.   He also did this for a decade, and didn't make that much (or any) money for many years at the beginning.   Plus, he made good money anyways.  Definitely not worth it.

Year of the Dragon

In January 2011, a few of my classmates decided to celebrate the New Year by jumping the fence and sneaking into Regents Park at night to light Chinese lanterns and toast with prosecco.

January 2012...we decide to make a tradition of it!  Our lanterns sailed much better this year given that it was much less windy (but equally cold!).   According to Chinese astrology, this is the year of the dragon, the mightiest of the signs.  Dragons are known for their dominance and ambition.  They live by their own rules and interestingly can feel unfilled and exhausted by their passions and enthusiasm.  I asked one of my Chinese friends how she traditionally celebrates Chinese New Year with her family.  Though different in specific traditions, there are striking similarities in how Western holidays are celebrated (great feasts, friends and family gathering, joyful greetings and optimism, parades, etc.).  I believe humans tend to overweigh the differences amongst cultures and discount the sameness.   This is an example.

I was curious to know what my Chinese zodiac sign is.  I was wanting some ferocious beast and was initially disappointed with the lackluster pig.  However, after actually reading about the character of pigs, I'm so happy I am one!!  Pigs are known for their diligence, compassion, and generosity.  They are giving souls (sometimes giving too much) and place a premium on honesty (which they expect to receive).  They have trouble asking for help (known pride issue), enjoy spending more than saving (ouch), and are astute bargain hunters (of course!).  Pigs can always be counted and are detail oriented.  And they enjoy opportunities that allow them to express their creativity.  I don't believe in astrology because I feel life circumstances and context (nurture) are as equally impactful as nature is in determining character.  However, it's hard for me to ignore how my Chinese zodiac sign perfectly nails qualities I aim for and am most proud of.   Just something to think about.

After our Chinese lanterns become specks of light in the distance and the bubbly was gone, we headed over to Berkeley Square.   My sweet friend Emily introduced me to this swanky area when we celebrated my birthday at Murano, an amazingly delicious Italian restaurant.  Another one of my friends ended up moving to this area and hosted a birthday gathering at The Only Running Footman (great pub on ground floor, two additional floors of fine dining, and an awesome chef's kitchen lounge on top floor).  If and when I land a job in London, I'm determined to settle in Berkeley Square :)

Pictures of the evening below.