An Unsung War Hero’s Management Lessons

This (http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/act_fast_not_first.html) was not just another article in HBR I just read and close every day; this made me read a biography.  I thought this would be one of the right daises to introduce to those of you who might not have come across the name of this US Air force pilot in your common management programs. His concepts of war proposed some decades ago not only changed the art of war but also hold perfect lessons of management in an era of rapidly declining time-frame for a management concept called Strategy. Before I start off with management aspects of his theories, let me introduce him to you.

This person could defeat any opponent in simulated air-to-air combat in less than “forty seconds”. Some of the best pilots in the air force challenged him at point or another, so did the best pilots in the Navy and the Marine Corps. But, no man could be found who was better in air than him. He was never defeated. In 1959, when he was just a young captain, He became the first man to codify the elusive and mysterious ways of air-to-air combat. He developed and wrote the ‘Aerial Attack Study’, a document that is now termed as Bible for air forces around the world. He has put forward his Energy- Maneuverability Theory from which the finest jets of their time the F-15’s and the F-16’s were engineered for which he was acknowledged father of those two aircrafts.

His work made him the most influential thinker since Sun Tzu wrote the art of war 2400 years ago. The results of his work were manifested in the Gulf war. Everything about the startling speed and decisive victory can be attributed not to the media heroes, not to struggling and bombastic generals, but to a lonely old man in South Florida, who thought he had been forgotten.

Popularly known as ‘Forty Second Boyd’ (remember the time in which he can defeat an opponent?) and a ‘Mad Major’, here is a person who changed not just the art of war but also that of management- John Boyd.

Now, keeping him aside let us take a look at the present business scenario, the ever changing business dynamics, the possible entry of disruptive technologies is giving sleepless nights to the top managements and R&D labs world over. The technology that you called superior one year ago is outdated now. I agree there were times when businesses enjoyed a near monopoly and devised strategies to consolidate their positions, not brushing aside the fact that they invested heavily in R&D. But if I tell you investing heavily in R&D combined with effective strategies to counter competition will not solely serve the purpose and you need to have that ‘extra eye’ to foresee future.

 What can be a better example than ‘Intel Corporation’, the company enjoyed a near monopoly and its nearest rival AMD was never even a concern for it. It was setting benchmarks only on its previous products. But blows came to Intel in some other form. Intel failed to realize the specifications that a mobile processor needs is very different from that a PC needs, because it failed to understand that sustaining success is much beyond benchmarking themselves. In a market space where Snapdragon and Qualcomm processors are the norm for every smart phone out in the market, the Intel’s ‘Atom’ processor meant for smart phones was dumped by every other smart phone manufacturer due to its power hungry nature. Intel still finds it tough to enter this space. Similarly many examples like the collapse of Sony digital music players with the entry of ipods, the competition Boeing is facing from Airbus can be observed from around us.

In other words, speed is killing our decisions. The crush of technology forces us to react in very less time. Not many understood the challenge of time pressured decision making like John Boyd. He developed a decision making framework which is gaining popularity among the business leaders worldwide. It is known by the acronym ‘OODA’(Observe, Orient, Decision, Action).

It analyses, synthesizes and defines most important critical component of performance- Reaction Time. ‘Observe’ the rapidly changing environment, ‘Orient’ yourself to the environment based on these observations, process the disorder and understand when your competitor might become confused. ‘Decide’ what to do and ‘Act’ at the right moment. The ultimate goal is ‘Act Fast but not First’.

This necessarily conflicts with our basic management lesson taught every other day -‘The First Mover Advantage’. Let’s see why this is obsolete at times. In the year 1983, a well known company introduced shampoo in sachets to make it affordable to the rural poor at cheap prices, a very good innovation inarguably. But, it is the other companies which gained from this innovation and The First mover actually stood at loss in terms of revenues. Apple introduced a really cheeky OS which is arguably the best one until then, but how much time did it take for Google to make an OS which is arguably better than iOS?

If only Intel would have observed what is happening around it, it would have grabbed the emerging market of smart phones and so is with the other companies.

This definitely raises doubts like what if the opponent also follows OODA loop? Answer: Get into his OODA loop.

Now don’t ask me, what if companies make OODA as a strategy since I mentioned strategy will pale into insignificance once we start using OODA. I do not know the answer.

And oh yeah, did I forget to mention why I described this Genius as ‘An sung war hero’? John Boyd was hated by every other US Air force personnel because of this straight forward nature and inability to accept corruption in an area where it was a norm.

                                                                                                                                                Signing Off,

                                                                                                                                                Tarak

The New Age Marketing Theme

Last week when Google blacked out its logo out of its internet search engine, Wikipedia has blanked out its web for 24 hours to protest against SOPA/PIPA did also arise a new age marketing theme- ‘Annoyvation’ as someone calls it. Though the point is debatable whether the companies can impose these (legitimate) concerns onto the customers is more important than serving the customers (legitimately) needs, it has been an eye opener on how badly can one get affected due to excessive dependence on these giants and how these Giants can virtually intrude into our lives (strictly speaking it is our mistake though).

Some of the customers are irked by these happenings while some others are though not that irked supported the cause; quite a few others genuinely supported it. We in India might not be so much accustomed to this technology and we might skip this topic saying ‘it is a free service and who cares giving a damn about this thing. After all Google blacked out its logo and Wiki has been shut only for a day’ But for the western world, this thing is as important as their meal. While I was browsing web last week, I found out this funny question in Yahoo from a mother ‘My baby is crying, what should I do?’ This is the level of dependence west has on these giants. We in the east are even fast catching up. Internet penetration is the core issue of the Indian Policy makers on this front creating a vast market for these giants.

Now let me come back to the original topic and ask you a common yet strange question ‘how many of us would really known about SOPA/PIPA had there not been a blackout in a coordinated manner from the best service providers. (Google, Facebook, Wikipedia etc). I call this a new marketing theme and someone might want to blame me saying ‘they are protesting for a genuine cause, so it’s fair doing all of this and after all it is their right to protest. Labor laws provide them the right to protest.’ Think of this situation when the GOI would want a new law of recruitment that would cause significant inconvenience for the bank employees and thereby they protest by withholding the accounts of a significant chunk of the population and create awareness. Will that not be a fire in your ass? Afterall the new age digital technology has laid path for this kind of protests. They too can emulate success right!!

Is it strategically wise and tactically stupid or vice-versa? Or wise both ways?? Keeping apart the arguments and debates of whether the name ‘CSR’ has become a lame duck used by these giants or is the point of failing to take a stand now might leave them without options in the future, remember how much we are and we will be affected by these actions and how prone are we to the technology (call it addiction too, I don’t mind). Also remember how much potentially we are the customers of their campaign even if we would not like to.

Think about it guyzzzz!!!

Am I Pessimistic??Oh!! Am I??Really??

Today, when I attempted to put a pen down to script ‘My Thoughts’, I never knew what point to start with. Some people may obviously judge after reading that I am in some sort of depression or anger while I am writing this down, but I have decided to share this after consistent research( in my day to day life). Even then if you feel the other way, just try answering these questions, and after that ask your conscience whether I am the only so called pessimist here.

1)      Do you ever think the (so) much Hyped Lokpal bill will be passed the way we intend it to pass?(whatever the Government is, NDA or UPA)

2)      Did you ever go to a MRO office and have got a work done without bribing even a peon?

3)      Did you ever happen to visit a Government Hospital and see it’s facilties?

And finally the final question

4)      Does this list not go unending??

When I was talking to someone the other day, he says implementation of technology can bring down corruption and add transparency to the system, try answering this question-

è Did you ever try to book a ticket online in Tatkal or at least at the reservation office?(If you think that you are not able to book them just because the server is slow, GROW UP)

The list goes unending.. Now let’s consider some words of an Optimist, Genius and a man who made this Nation proud- Abdul  Kalam.

“Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.---etc ., etc--I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is: She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.”

My answers to his questions-

When everything is negative here, why will the media not be?

So what are we doing with our strengths? Looting others…Ain’t it?

We are the first in Milk Production..True..but is the milk sufficient even for us?

Remote sensing is a joke in India..just used to loot all the minerals from this Land. (any doubts, refer KG BASIN SCAM)

Wheat, rice….are they sufficient for our own population?

For a nation whose boundary stretches from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, there will be some stories which will seem to be good. But is it not fact that there are exceptions for everything?

I will always remember the famous dialogue “if you donate a lakh to a beggar, he will beg in a golden bowl.”

I have to share an incident which happened in a city bus while I am commuting. I offered a seat to an elderly lady standing just beside me. After some stops, the one sitting beside the lady left. The lady started calling her son standing beside me to sit beside her. At that point of time, I could do nothing but ROFL. Let alone me, I can understand that lady. But if that ever happens to some other guy, will he ever help anyone else?  And to the core, are these people really fit to be helped?

Am I still trying to be pessimistic?? Ok..lemme narrate a few more examples. I pay 30% of my income as tax to ply on a pot holed road. For each and everything I buy, there is an indirect tax levied and so is the case with my cell phone. After I lost it, I complained it in the nearby police station, the reply was shocking, “we don’t take cell phone theft cases, there are enough already. You should take care of your cell” as if I have lost my phone just as a part of a game. Then why the bloody hell am I paying the taxes for?

The other day I had an argument with a friend on this topic and she says, “first be perfect yourself”. I said I follow the traffic rules, I always abide by the rules laid down, I pay my taxes, I vote. What else do you expect me to do??

TAKE SANYASA and Preach the nation??” like the so called Baba’s .

I will always vote, but am I not being given a choice between deaf, dumb and blind to rule us? Whom should I vote for now?

When I refer and read many blogs about tourism in India, the foreigners say that anyone from the west should visit India at least once, to respect their homeland and stop complaining about their own nation.

Perhaps, Churchill was right when he said that Indians are unfit to be independent. For us, democracy is just Alien. We are 60 odd years into democracy and still we fail to realize the intricacies of it. We are unfit to rule ourselves. We work at our best only when we are slaves.(Doubts??  Compare any Government sector with the Software Industry)

If it is anything that India had achieved over the past 60 years, it is only that it has managed to not rip itself apart successfully and become a 100 nations.

Finally, I always had a wish to do something for my Nation inspired by all the literature I read while growing up. But, practically are my efforts really worthy for these people, however small they are?

United or Divided!!!

By attempting to write this blog, I am fully aware that I might invite the wrath of my Telangana(geographically) friends as well as the Andhra &Seema Friends( Geographically Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema). The reason for which I have stated geographically specifically is we are all Andhra Pradesh(Geo-Politically)  atleast as of now. But please read it fully coz’ I have taken a dig at everyone.

When I first entered Hyderabad in 2005, I was amazed by its Cosmopolitan Culture and the warmth with which it absorbed me in itself.  What amazed me even more is that the make-over Hyderabad has been through in a short span of 10 years- from a city of pearls & nizams to a Hi-Tech city.Vizag was till then the most beautiful city with every film maker eyeing that city for any movie. We need not debate over who gave Hyderabad that ultra modern look because the answer is obviously  NCB Naidu (my favourite Leader)  who felt  that the Capital City of the State deserves to be so.

Those were the days, when political movement for a separate state was in a naïve stage. The one question that has been pondering in my mind since then is why do they invite all the industries right into the nose of  Hyderabad, when they quite clearly know that, the politicians from this region will claim a 100% share of the wealth created here as is happening now. Microsoft established its first R&D center  outside the U.S and in Asia in Hyderabad(leaving B’lore which already has a well established IT industry and HR by then in 1997) not because of the love they have for Telangana or Hyderabad, but because of extensive lobbying done by NCB Naidu so that it can act as an anchor for the rest of the IT industry. Situations further aggravated the tensions in my brain when a Fab City has been sanctioned to Hyderabad due to extensive lobbying done by YSR (My favourite Politician). But, thanks to background lobbying done by Tamil Nadu ministers for taking away the most important companies to their state, and now the project is only a solar power equipment  manufacturing  one, else it would have created even more wealth. Today the total wealth created by IT industry in Hyderabad alone is 38,000 crores, which is 38 % of the budget in the state.  I’ve heard many leaders from the T-region saying in many open debates that the development Andhra Leaders have done is for themselves and development is nothing but exploitation. Well, if they do not want to be exploited, then why do they not attack Hi-Tech city as a part of Telangana agitation which is exploiting big way? If they do not want to be deprived of their land, then why do they not ask the industries in Hi-Tech city to shift their bases from T to elsewhere?  Most probably, the people from the AR will be so happy to invite all of them to set up their bases in AR get exploited by these industries and also leave Hyderabad. T-people will then be a very happy bunch to get off from all the controversies and get Hyderabad with the status-quo of 1956 as they want ( both geographically and economically)(I seriously do not understand why status-quo 1956 and not 1947) and even without AR people. I forgot to mention a note of special thanks to my friends from TRS for the ruckus they have created in Hyderabad. Many of the exploiters who want to exploit the T-Region went away to exploit other states such as Tamil Nadu creating unwanted wealth for them.

But still, I fail to understand why the leaders from the AR-Region fail to implement the G.O 610 and the Gentlemen’s agreement made way back when T was united with AR?  Why the allocation of funds was very less for the T-region. May be, the leaders from the AR fail to realize that the process of give and take must be mutually acceptable.  Why did the leaders fail to address the concerns of T-people w.r.t water  which might be possible or might not be( the leaders from the A-region claim that the T-region is not very fit for canal irrigation. I am not so sound with the technical aspects of that. But, at least prove it to them if the land is not fit to be canalized.) If the lands are not fit to be canalized, then why do they not show them an alternative way to  agriculture such as drift irrigation which is so successful in Chittoor district. Why did they not solve the problem of Fluorosis  in Nalgonda and provide them with safe drinking water. In fact even the bid for supplying  entire Nalgonda with Reverse Osmosis treated   sea water from the coast has started in 2006 if my memory goes right. But I never knew what happened after that and why the project did not kick-start.

May be the people of T should decide their fate not others (at least they feel that AR are outsiders only and can never be insiders).  Revolutions don’t just come out of nothing. The sound of a clap is only when two palms gather momentum. Backwardness may not be a point of argument for T coz’ backwardness is everywhere.  Even if one of the above said problems was solved effectively, there would not have been a demand for a separate state.

But, the situation in the state has now come to a point of no-return, a separate state will lessen the tensions in T and people from the AR need not so much concerned about the water as the Central Government decides how much share should one get. Hyderabad be made mutual capital for a while and developing a separate capital for AR meanwhile. Building a separate capital is not just about building the Government infrastructure which can be done in a jiffy but also developing(exploiting in other sense ;-) ) it. If any leader from AR is seriously dedicated to developing AR, four such  Hyderabad’s or even bigger cities can be developed in AR alone. My choice of those 4 cities can be Kurnool, Tirupati, Vijayawada and Vizag considering the enormous HR and excellent prospects they have. But, while doing so, have a special focus on North Andhra with an inclusive development so that no further demand for states can arise.

Giving them the Respect they deserve..

26/11: The day each of us Indians can remember as a 'Black Day' in the history of the Post-Indian Independence, the day that left us with unbearable trauma, the day NSG commandos, popularly known as Black Cats stormed the terrorists and took the terrorists down. With a heavy heart, I also need to say that two of the commandos laid down their lives for the sake of our protection, our integrity and our honor. After the 'Operation Black Tornado' the elite force of country received sincere acclaim and praise from all the corners, but it is real disappointment for brave NSG commandos, who are still waiting for the deserving

honour and promises made by the government..The NSG commandos have been hoodwinked by the government agency and are facing apathy.When one NSG commando tried to raise the concern, he was transferred to another unit and also threatened by the senior officials.

NSG Jawan Sunil Kumar, who was adjudged best commando in 2008, is still waiting for the justice. He knocked the door of PMO and approached powerful Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to get the justice but result was zilch.  Interestingly, the NSG commandos, received a very small amount. Government of Maharashtra just offered Rs 50k while Central government announced Rs 1 lakh. NSG headquarter released Rs 78, 318. The amount was not released from the government account but it was deducted from the salaries of NSG commandos.  

Let alone NSG,  because they are recruited after and subject to intense psychological tests and provided with best psychological support. Now, take the case of Indian army, the largest in terms of active manpower in the world. They have just become toys in the hands of politicians because winning a war means getting votes. Even in this worst case, the apathy the army is facing is horrendous. After all they are humans too. They too have personal problems, have love and affection. According to a report there is a suicide once in three days in the defence forces. The reasons behind that are pretty simple to analyze, the trauma one has to face once the bullets just pass off them, the sadness when his comrade just dies in-front of him, the humiliation their higher officers make them pass through. Some unfaithful bastards who are siblings of army men, instead of being proud of the very siblings, exploit the opportunity of grabbing the share of his land. Such is the apathy the nation of India is in. The number of psychiatrists who are supposed to be in the ratio of 1000:1 is in the ratio of lesser than 10,000:1.

The information provided here are just stats, and concerned with the GOI to be very loose, but let us analyze our role in boosting the morale of our Men.

1) How many of us offered a seat in a bus to an army man standing right beside us?

If yes, will that not give them a feeling that they are not alone.

Why should there be no reservation in the buses or transportation systems if there can be a reservation for ladies, senior citizens and in the worst case politicians.

Why should we not forego some part of the reservations in the jobs to give the opportunity for those who retire from the armed forces?

Are the men who retire from the army the best suited for highest % of reservations (for they laid their lives to protect us) instead of providing it to some one else who is not even made accountable for the reservation he is using to the taxpayers.

Give it a thought guyz!!!!