Yet another book on what causes brilliant successes - statistical outliers. But this one is good, in that it gives credit where its due (that's at least what I think) - opportunity and luck. Most books talk about just hard work/leadership (Good to great, etc.) or just luck (The halo effect). This one distills it to a point that it quantifies the amount of hard work needed - 10000 hours+ before you get "going", and it ties it up with opportunity and luck. (Why are all top Canadian hockey players born in first quarter of the year? What difference does family background have on test scores of first and fifth graders? What the good time to be born if you are in software, law, etc)? Though I think that quantifying the "right year to be born" for a particular profession is stretching things a bit too far, as it suffers from the survivor ship bias (Influence by Cialdini; The Black Swan by Nicholas Nassim Taleb), its still interesting.
Most of the Asian anecdotes refer to China, it would have been good if the author had also considered India, because some of the deductions would/may not be true in the Indian context (related to maths prowess, IQ, holidays, etc.) In doing the generalisation for Asian community, India is an important part that I think has been overlooked.
Overall its an interesting read, a very well told story and stresses on the right things for success. I dont think we have cracked this puzzle yet but its definitely better than the general glorification of skills, leadership, charisma, etc.
Definitely recommended.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Predictably Irrational - the hidden forces that shape our decisions
Dan Ariely has written an excellent book on human behavior - Predictably Irrational.
This books researches the many cases where we behave irrational -- and Dan exposes why this irrational behavior is "predictable".
I specially enjoyed reading the part about social and professional costs and why social and professional things cannot be mixed; why people will do things for free but not when they are offered a small compensation instead. Interesting.
This book is similar to the book "Influence: the psychology of human persuasion" by Dr Cialdini. I would rate Influence better of the two, as it seemed more scientific and had a clearer chain of thought. In Predictably Irrational, there are quite a few parts, specially in the chapters in the beginning, that I felt that the author was not really scientific but was pushing through his personal opinions. This isn't expected from an author with such credentials as of Dan Ariely. But the later chapters do appear more scientific, with information about control cases, etc - exactly what I would expect throughout any book which delves into human behavior.
Overall, I think this book is definitely worth reading. It contains important lessons on pricing, expectations, influence of arousal, etc.
This books researches the many cases where we behave irrational -- and Dan exposes why this irrational behavior is "predictable".
I specially enjoyed reading the part about social and professional costs and why social and professional things cannot be mixed; why people will do things for free but not when they are offered a small compensation instead. Interesting.
This book is similar to the book "Influence: the psychology of human persuasion" by Dr Cialdini. I would rate Influence better of the two, as it seemed more scientific and had a clearer chain of thought. In Predictably Irrational, there are quite a few parts, specially in the chapters in the beginning, that I felt that the author was not really scientific but was pushing through his personal opinions. This isn't expected from an author with such credentials as of Dan Ariely. But the later chapters do appear more scientific, with information about control cases, etc - exactly what I would expect throughout any book which delves into human behavior.
Overall, I think this book is definitely worth reading. It contains important lessons on pricing, expectations, influence of arousal, etc.
Quotable Quotes from letters of Warren Buffet
While reading through the Letters of Warren Buffet, I had underlined some quotes - nuggets of wisdom - and I thought it will be a good idea to share them here:
-------
Put all your eggs in one basket - and watch that basket. (Mark Twain - Pudden'head Wilson)
To finish first, you must first finish. (Indianapolis 500 winner)
More money, it has been noted, has been stolen with the point of a pen than at the point of a gun.
If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. (David Ogilvy)
The intellect should be a servant of the heart, but not its slave.
Its probably true that hard work never killed anyone, but I figure why take the chance. (Ronald Reagan)
Managers eager to bet heavily on their abilities usually have plenty of ability to bet on.
As they say in poker "if you have been in the game for 30 minutes and you don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy".
In the short run the market is a voting machine but in the long run its a weighing machine. (Ben Graham)
Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you are old, people wont think that you are going ga-ga. (David Ogilvy)
You shape your houses and then they shape you. (Winston Churchill)
Every putt makes someone happy.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to arbitrage and you feed him forever.
If something cant go on forever, it will end. (Herb Stein)
Fools rush in where angels fear to trade. (Ray DeVoe)
If at first you do succeed, quit trying.
Fools give you reasons, wise men never try.
Most men would rather die than think. Most do. (Bertrand Russell)
I cant understand why more people aren't bi-sexual. It doubles your chance of a date on Saturday night. (Woody Allen)
Eating my words has never given me indigestion. (Winston Churchill)
We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.
Bull markets can obscure mathematical laws but they cannot repeal them.
If earnings have been unwisely retained, its likely that the managers too have been unwisely retained.
-------
Put all your eggs in one basket - and watch that basket. (Mark Twain - Pudden'head Wilson)
To finish first, you must first finish. (Indianapolis 500 winner)
More money, it has been noted, has been stolen with the point of a pen than at the point of a gun.
If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. (David Ogilvy)
The intellect should be a servant of the heart, but not its slave.
Its probably true that hard work never killed anyone, but I figure why take the chance. (Ronald Reagan)
Managers eager to bet heavily on their abilities usually have plenty of ability to bet on.
As they say in poker "if you have been in the game for 30 minutes and you don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy".
In the short run the market is a voting machine but in the long run its a weighing machine. (Ben Graham)
Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you are old, people wont think that you are going ga-ga. (David Ogilvy)
You shape your houses and then they shape you. (Winston Churchill)
Every putt makes someone happy.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to arbitrage and you feed him forever.
If something cant go on forever, it will end. (Herb Stein)
Fools rush in where angels fear to trade. (Ray DeVoe)
If at first you do succeed, quit trying.
Fools give you reasons, wise men never try.
Most men would rather die than think. Most do. (Bertrand Russell)
I cant understand why more people aren't bi-sexual. It doubles your chance of a date on Saturday night. (Woody Allen)
Eating my words has never given me indigestion. (Winston Churchill)
We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.
Bull markets can obscure mathematical laws but they cannot repeal them.
If earnings have been unwisely retained, its likely that the managers too have been unwisely retained.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Essays of Warren Buffet
I read this book last week - The essays of Warren Buffet : Lessons for investors and managers" by Lawerance A Cunningham. This book is basically a collection of essays written by the great investor Warren Buffet in the annual reports of Berkshire Hathaway. This book is a treasure trove on investing and a must read for any one who really wants to "invest".
While I was doing my MBA from MDI my professor Dr Sanjay Bakshi had told the class to read the annual reports. I think most of the class didnt, to thier loss. I just about got to the point of downloading them but didnt get started on reading them. This book is great for getting one started with the reports because it distills and collates stuff from across the essays and puts them in a more readable form.
So if you want to catch up on all those years of annual reports, get this book instead. I dont think I need to waste my energy talking about the essays or Mr Buffet, so I will end here.
While I was doing my MBA from MDI my professor Dr Sanjay Bakshi had told the class to read the annual reports. I think most of the class didnt, to thier loss. I just about got to the point of downloading them but didnt get started on reading them. This book is great for getting one started with the reports because it distills and collates stuff from across the essays and puts them in a more readable form.
So if you want to catch up on all those years of annual reports, get this book instead. I dont think I need to waste my energy talking about the essays or Mr Buffet, so I will end here.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Tata NEN startup list
I tried to summarise the TATA-NEN coolest startup list so that people can see at a glance what the new startups I doing.. I have done about 20% of the work. You can view the spread sheet here.
Hope this helps people.. volunteers to update this xls are welcome. Send me your email-id at adkumar at gmail.
Hope this helps people.. volunteers to update this xls are welcome. Send me your email-id at adkumar at gmail.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Startups in India
A lot of people, specially friends in South India (read Bangalore) and from US, keep asking me about what startups are there in India. Here is a blog with the most comprehensive list I have seen till date.
Direct link to the xls for the impatient folks...
Also, TATA-NEN has recently launched the coolest startup awards and this should also throw up a more recent list (specially pre-funded companies).
Direct link to the xls for the impatient folks...
Also, TATA-NEN has recently launched the coolest startup awards and this should also throw up a more recent list (specially pre-funded companies).
Blogging Buzz
Well well... Did anyone miss me ;-)
I just checked and I havnt written anything for the last 6 months but there has definately been lots going on... changed jobs (moved to Guavus Networks - a data mining startup based out of Gurgaon), son has started play school, termites ate up my closet, etc, etc. Amongst this, I also found time to read a couple of books: "Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid" (Prof C K Prahalad) and "First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently"
by Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman. More about these in later blogs... but both are definately must-reads.
I also re-read (read first during engineering college) "Internetworking with TCP/IP" by Douglas E. Comer but that would be uninteresting for most people :-)
Finally, coming to what triggered this blog -- a good friend finally started his blog.. this is something that I had thought would never happen, as he was very vocal about how useless blogs are... but finally the writing bug got to him. Here's the link to the blog. I am sure it would be make for intresting reading.. so do bookmark it! And well, if he does make good on his promise of "I plan to write about things related to technology - particularly systems stuff, puzzles, thinking, interviewing, hiring smart people, books etc." I am sure it would make for great reading.
I just checked and I havnt written anything for the last 6 months but there has definately been lots going on... changed jobs (moved to Guavus Networks - a data mining startup based out of Gurgaon), son has started play school, termites ate up my closet, etc, etc. Amongst this, I also found time to read a couple of books: "Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid" (Prof C K Prahalad) and "First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently"
by Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman. More about these in later blogs... but both are definately must-reads.
I also re-read (read first during engineering college) "Internetworking with TCP/IP" by Douglas E. Comer but that would be uninteresting for most people :-)
Finally, coming to what triggered this blog -- a good friend finally started his blog.. this is something that I had thought would never happen, as he was very vocal about how useless blogs are... but finally the writing bug got to him. Here's the link to the blog. I am sure it would be make for intresting reading.. so do bookmark it! And well, if he does make good on his promise of "I plan to write about things related to technology - particularly systems stuff, puzzles, thinking, interviewing, hiring smart people, books etc." I am sure it would make for great reading.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Impossible innovations
Joel Spolksy has something nice on the nature of innovations here.
It talks about great innovations are mostly looked at as impossibilities. The article also does warn that the reverse is not always true... Does this mean that the author doesnt believe in what he is writing, eh? Either way, this is worth a read.
Here's a snip from the article:
"The reason I love this story is that it's as stark an illustration as I can find that "seeming impossible" is practically a requirement for a truly great innovation. If something seems possible, that's probably because someone is already doing it. When something seems that it can't possibly work, nobody tries it. Real innovation happens when someone tries anyway, overlooking an obvious flaw, and finds a way to make an idea work."
It talks about great innovations are mostly looked at as impossibilities. The article also does warn that the reverse is not always true... Does this mean that the author doesnt believe in what he is writing, eh? Either way, this is worth a read.
Here's a snip from the article:
"The reason I love this story is that it's as stark an illustration as I can find that "seeming impossible" is practically a requirement for a truly great innovation. If something seems possible, that's probably because someone is already doing it. When something seems that it can't possibly work, nobody tries it. Real innovation happens when someone tries anyway, overlooking an obvious flaw, and finds a way to make an idea work."
Sunday, January 20, 2008
dot com bomb
Having read so many stories, anecdotes and news articles on the irrational exuberance, there was no reason for me to buy this book "dot.bomb" except that flipping through it, I thought it might be interesting enough to hold my attention. The back cover also promised a tale spun around a single company - ValueAmerica - and that made it look interesting.
Luckily, the book did turn out to be interesting. It takes you through a roller coaster ride and keeps your attention, like any good thriller. The story is about first hand experience of J David Kuo at ValueAmerica - a company that promised to change the face of retail marketplace with an inventory less model; a company that had the backing and investment of ULLICO (Union Labour life insurance company), Paul Allen of Microsoft and Frederick Smith of Fedex. The CEO was not a 20-something techie, but a seasoned CEO from the old econonmy. All of this together couldnt save ValueAmerica from the crash, and the book seems to place the blame squarely on its CEO, Criag Winn. For the full story do read the book. Its light reading and exciting.
I do feel that even though the author has tried to lay out facts, without drawing inferences of any kind, the book does suffer from hindsight bias. The facts may have twisted around to show certain people as the bad guys and certain as good. Also the contribution of the author himself, good or bad, does not come out clearly in the book. The book seems to suggest that this was a company that built and lost its fortune on the shoulders of its CEO, Craig Winn, rather than the dot.com optimism/lunacy.
Overall the author seems to have done his best to be honest and give the true story, and for that itself, the book is worth a read. You will probably not miss much, if you do skip this book, but learning from mistakes is a good way to help prevent those in future. Recommended reading for anyone with startup ideas/mindset.
Luckily, the book did turn out to be interesting. It takes you through a roller coaster ride and keeps your attention, like any good thriller. The story is about first hand experience of J David Kuo at ValueAmerica - a company that promised to change the face of retail marketplace with an inventory less model; a company that had the backing and investment of ULLICO (Union Labour life insurance company), Paul Allen of Microsoft and Frederick Smith of Fedex. The CEO was not a 20-something techie, but a seasoned CEO from the old econonmy. All of this together couldnt save ValueAmerica from the crash, and the book seems to place the blame squarely on its CEO, Criag Winn. For the full story do read the book. Its light reading and exciting.
I do feel that even though the author has tried to lay out facts, without drawing inferences of any kind, the book does suffer from hindsight bias. The facts may have twisted around to show certain people as the bad guys and certain as good. Also the contribution of the author himself, good or bad, does not come out clearly in the book. The book seems to suggest that this was a company that built and lost its fortune on the shoulders of its CEO, Craig Winn, rather than the dot.com optimism/lunacy.
Overall the author seems to have done his best to be honest and give the true story, and for that itself, the book is worth a read. You will probably not miss much, if you do skip this book, but learning from mistakes is a good way to help prevent those in future. Recommended reading for anyone with startup ideas/mindset.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Healthcare Innovations
I was searching online for an orthopedic doctor in gurgaon recently and was pleasantly surprised to see a number of sites show up. I remember that some time back I had done a similar search and not got any useful results. So I digged more and landed up at Health 2.0 website that has a neat classification of online health service providers here.(http://health20.org/wiki/Health_2.0_Companies)
The companies are classified as:
health portals
health communities
health advisories
health enablers
personal health records
comparison sites, etc
So there seems to be a lot of interesting activity happening in this area. I also did find the doctor I was looking for at this Indian site meraMD. (http://www.meraMD.com) All this information will hopefully help the consumers/patients.
The companies are classified as:
health portals
health communities
health advisories
health enablers
personal health records
comparison sites, etc
So there seems to be a lot of interesting activity happening in this area. I also did find the doctor I was looking for at this Indian site meraMD. (http://www.meraMD.com) All this information will hopefully help the consumers/patients.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
