Wk 2 - Day 2: at the Harvard Business School
More than eight days into the cold, bitterly icy world of Boston, running at close to -10 to -20 degree celcius, makes a tropical Indian wonder - how does the day to day work get managed in such extra-ordinary circumstances.
The tunnels - around 16kms of them - yes all within the campus have inspired many folk-lores, legends, history papers, fantasies and of-course mystery. It ought to - it is almost 83 yrs old. Some twenty years after the Harvard Business School was established, in 1908 - work completed for the first 6 kilometers that you see today. It carried, heating and food under the buildings. It even crossed the river to the 'other side'. Though, most of it is perfectly big (8feet high) for people to walk by, there are a few areas - not allowed to pedestrian students like us, only for the qualified maintenance staff, where the tunnel is no bigger than 3-4 feet in high.
Fascinating stories, about Political escapes, tracking the German spy, who escaped using these tunnels, a murder mystery - later converted into movie - abound, romance of the tunnels is really strong at the heart of each student here - under-graduate or old hogs like us.
Imagine my delight, when I noticed that the entrance to this intricate system was no more than 50 mtrs from my elevator. The cold, raining weather outside provided added incentive to remain indoors - within the tunnel.
The tunnels, that have been kept open for students (a large part is closed off - and thus added mystery) - are well lit with lots of security points throughout the same. I also realised, for the first time, that there are several vending machines placed, that can actually help alleviate the hunger pangs that you get over the night. Anyways, even though the tunnels carry loads of steam, gas - they seemed extremely well maintained and clean. There were obviously more closed doors in the tunnels (must be atleast 20 in a short distance of 1 km), than open - and that has perhaps inspired so many folklores. One door, with a sign "Custody Closets" was extremely interesting to me, and I wondered what it was... I looked over my soldier, peered ahead - and satisfied no one was looking, decided it might be a nice idea to determine first hand what the room/hall behind it was. Well, before I could action my plan, a very large shape of human being appeared from behind the doors - in security uniform - and I decided to leave the matter to rest and move on. Computer rooms, Harvard fiber optics, heating returns, temperature sinks, lines of student lockers, seem to line up the tunnels. Satisfied, that I had - had my round of daily walk - around 1km one way, I decided, to head back to more present world of today and tomorrow.
Back in the classes, one of the highlights of our day, was the negotiation role play - We were given the role of a buyer or seller, and paired with the other role person to negotiate a deal. While negotiation lies between art and science, it was interesting to see the break down of negotiation act into structured scientific analysis.
Our onslaught with Business Finance continued, and we learnt (or rather unlearnt a lot of common sense). e.g. if your TIE is less than 1, you are about to go bankrupt... !! - ah !! I sound so knowledgeable, fluently spamming out words likeTIE shie and all :)
Strategy class took us to depths and intricacies of the art of saying "no" .
So what did I learn today. (apart from fantastic form of Harvard tunnel system)
1. Strategy: It is important to say "NO" to some business and to learn to live with the consequence. A strategy that aspires to be good on all fronts is more likely to fail than the one with specifically documented 'out-of-scope' business.
2. Big bang strategies work, but a strategy that has many smaller things tied up into one big story has a higher chance to succeed, less chance of being mimiced, as it brings in a larger competitive differentiation.
3. BATNA, ZOPA, Reservation price are important to be established - BEFORE you enter your negotiation.
4. Your rate of growth of business CANNOT be more than your ROE - if it is, then you would be running out of cash very soon and trip over interest costs. Conversely, if your ROE is far higher than your rate of business growth, then you would be sitting on large piles of cash (case with most large corporations - Apple ($140bn), Microsoft ($100+ Bn), IBM, GE almost all the successful large corporations.
More than eight days into the cold, bitterly icy world of Boston, running at close to -10 to -20 degree celcius, makes a tropical Indian wonder - how does the day to day work get managed in such extra-ordinary circumstances.
The tunnels - around 16kms of them - yes all within the campus have inspired many folk-lores, legends, history papers, fantasies and of-course mystery. It ought to - it is almost 83 yrs old. Some twenty years after the Harvard Business School was established, in 1908 - work completed for the first 6 kilometers that you see today. It carried, heating and food under the buildings. It even crossed the river to the 'other side'. Though, most of it is perfectly big (8feet high) for people to walk by, there are a few areas - not allowed to pedestrian students like us, only for the qualified maintenance staff, where the tunnel is no bigger than 3-4 feet in high.
Fascinating stories, about Political escapes, tracking the German spy, who escaped using these tunnels, a murder mystery - later converted into movie - abound, romance of the tunnels is really strong at the heart of each student here - under-graduate or old hogs like us.
Imagine my delight, when I noticed that the entrance to this intricate system was no more than 50 mtrs from my elevator. The cold, raining weather outside provided added incentive to remain indoors - within the tunnel.
The tunnels, that have been kept open for students (a large part is closed off - and thus added mystery) - are well lit with lots of security points throughout the same. I also realised, for the first time, that there are several vending machines placed, that can actually help alleviate the hunger pangs that you get over the night. Anyways, even though the tunnels carry loads of steam, gas - they seemed extremely well maintained and clean. There were obviously more closed doors in the tunnels (must be atleast 20 in a short distance of 1 km), than open - and that has perhaps inspired so many folklores. One door, with a sign "Custody Closets" was extremely interesting to me, and I wondered what it was... I looked over my soldier, peered ahead - and satisfied no one was looking, decided it might be a nice idea to determine first hand what the room/hall behind it was. Well, before I could action my plan, a very large shape of human being appeared from behind the doors - in security uniform - and I decided to leave the matter to rest and move on. Computer rooms, Harvard fiber optics, heating returns, temperature sinks, lines of student lockers, seem to line up the tunnels. Satisfied, that I had - had my round of daily walk - around 1km one way, I decided, to head back to more present world of today and tomorrow.
Back in the classes, one of the highlights of our day, was the negotiation role play - We were given the role of a buyer or seller, and paired with the other role person to negotiate a deal. While negotiation lies between art and science, it was interesting to see the break down of negotiation act into structured scientific analysis.
Our onslaught with Business Finance continued, and we learnt (or rather unlearnt a lot of common sense). e.g. if your TIE is less than 1, you are about to go bankrupt... !! - ah !! I sound so knowledgeable, fluently spamming out words likeTIE shie and all :)
Strategy class took us to depths and intricacies of the art of saying "no" .
So what did I learn today. (apart from fantastic form of Harvard tunnel system)
1. Strategy: It is important to say "NO" to some business and to learn to live with the consequence. A strategy that aspires to be good on all fronts is more likely to fail than the one with specifically documented 'out-of-scope' business.
2. Big bang strategies work, but a strategy that has many smaller things tied up into one big story has a higher chance to succeed, less chance of being mimiced, as it brings in a larger competitive differentiation.
3. BATNA, ZOPA, Reservation price are important to be established - BEFORE you enter your negotiation.
4. Your rate of growth of business CANNOT be more than your ROE - if it is, then you would be running out of cash very soon and trip over interest costs. Conversely, if your ROE is far higher than your rate of business growth, then you would be sitting on large piles of cash (case with most large corporations - Apple ($140bn), Microsoft ($100+ Bn), IBM, GE almost all the successful large corporations.
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