Get a taste of your target business schools.  

Posted by Dino in

Be a hero. Make a bid on this ebay item to help the British Red Cross.

I've managed to collect quite a few brochures and documents of all kinds from various business schools. I am giving these all away in this eBay auction - with eBay giving all sale proceeds directly to charity:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200282427694

There are some highly interesting things in the bunch, including:
  • The Harbus (the Harvard Business School newspaper), April 7th 08 issue celebrating the school's centenary. Surely, a collectible/memorabilia item!
  • Chicago GSB Magazine, Winter '08/09 issue celebrating the landmark gift and renaming of the school to Chicago Booth. Another collectible/memorabilia item.
  • Vistor's Packs for the MIT Sloan Ambassadors Progam, Stanford GSB and more.
If you are starting to research business schools, these documents will help you get a real feel for these schools and what is going on in each of their campuses. The schools covered are Chicago Booth, Harvard, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Stanford and Wharton.

All sale proceeds will go to the British Red Cross, part of the International Red Cross and DEC. The charity's work ranges from training 150,000 first aiders every year in the UK to international emergences such as Congo, where people live homeless, hungry and in fear of their lives.

Check out the auction here.

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Negotiating to win from a position of weakness.  

Posted by Dino in ,

Deepak Malhotra is perhaps the world's foremost expert in getting himself out of situations such as this.

In the last few months I’ve changed jobs to a role where I am surrounded by high-powered individuals grappling for territory and at times stomping all over my work. It is not very pleasant as a working experience, but I am learning lots about office politics. Sometimes I find myself searching for solutions on the Internet. I have thus far thought most of my probelms were a communication related, but I am now wondering if they are related to value. This thought comes after my latest Google search brought up a series of videos of Prof. Deepak Malhotra's presentation at Nasscom 2007.

In his presentation, Deepak Malhotra (a Harvard Business School professor) raises some very insightful points and illustrates them with highly memorable stories from history. He also uses examples from business situations that he has worked on or come across, but they are not as memorable. He comes across as someone who has thought long, deep and hard about all aspects of negotiation, keeping a toolkit of tricks and techniques in his back pocket. His presentation certainly got me thinking about scenarios in different ways to how I might normally approach them. It was almost revelatory to hear him talk about mindset and that going into the negotiation feeling weak can be fatal. In a world of that urges you to ask "what if" questions and strengthen your BATNA, this kind of talk can be perceived more often as the realm of self-help literature. However, I completely agree with him because I know it to be true of the experiences I have had.

Going forward,
  • I'm really going to be thinking about the value I bring to the other parties I wrangle with at work. I've realized that I'm not actually seeing the weakness of their position, which is that they can't always carry out their work without my buy-in.
  • I think the point on changing the game by attacking the source of their power is also key and something I can work on. One person I work with gets all her power from the sensitive data in the IT systems she has access to; can I gain access to these systems?
  • I need to listen out for and learn more about the desires and problems of the people I work with. I'll never know when I might need to negotiate...

I'm looking forward to getting a hold of Deepak Malhotra's book, Negotiation Genius. The table of contents certianly gives the impression that the perspective on the subject is different. My notes on the presentation are below. Did he really manage to fit all the stuff below into one chapter of that book?

___
The slides can found in powerpoint and slideshare. The videos, in the correct order, are here:
  1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfARxr6r1HI
  2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AysMjtzlNk
  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhFYZUyqDC4
  4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrWZVYbIGRI
  5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTWAApu1lCM
  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCEV-uZLhI8
There are often situations when you are dealt a weak hand. How can you negotiate optimally in such situations? Here are the salient points Prof Deepak Malhotra raised.
What's the value that I bring to the other party?
  • Those that focus on solely on the weakness of their situation and ignore the value they bring to the other party tend to negotiate worse outcomes.
  • Story: Roosevelt was looking for election in 1912. The campaign manager had  printed 3 million brochures without the copyright permission of the photographer. They would have to pay a $1 a copy or $3 million dollars ($60 to $200 million in current prices) in royalties if they were sued. The brochures were already printed. What could the campaign manager? Well he did this: he sent a telegraph to the photographer: planning to print 3 million copies of campaign speech with your photograph. How much are you willing to pay for opportunity? The response came in: Appreciate opportunity, but can only afford $250.
  • Do not reveal your weakness to the other side; people do this accidentally all the time. e.g. when there is a potential client, they ask to meet and you say you can meet at any time - this action sends the signal that you have no other customers.
  • Having a weak alternative is ok if the other side weak as well... sometimes we are so obsessed with our own weakness that we don't see their weakness. Being weak is bad, but feeling weak can be fatal. Think about the negotiation analytically instead.
The person who defines the scope of the negotiation often wins the negotiation.
  • Can you change the focus of the negotiation to be about the weakness of their alternative and the value you bring to the table?
  • Start the negotiation by saying that there is a lot of uncertainty and that you'd like a go at framing the situation.
  • All of the advice only works if you can identify and leverage your distinct value proposition. If you are the same as your competitors, you will not be able provide no unique value so your margins in negotiation will be low.
  • You have to identify what they value and then monetize it.
What can you do about a party that seems to only value price? How can you make your distinct value count?
  • When people have to submit bids, do you submit the low value - low cost bid or the high value - high cost bid? What you can do is submit both. This will reveal whether your high value proposition is really a high value proposition.
  • Post-settlement settlement technique: Lower your offer to get the deal. Then once you are in the organisation, sell more services to the organisation (not the same as a bait-and-switch).
  • Communicate with your customers. Most people only communicate with their customers when there is money on the table. You should also be communicating with them all the time to discover what they value and need.
  • Lakhdar Brahimi, UN Envoy sent to post-war Afghanistan, notes that the function of diplomacy is this: you go into a country and learn as much as possible about the country because you never know when you might need to negotiate. Doing this, you can sometimes prempt opportunities before other competitors hear of them and sell your solution first.
  • Not everyone is your customer. Sometimes you have to have the honest conversation with them, "Is it the case that you will pick the lowest priced option, regardless of price?" You have to ask yourself: Are you willing to lose some business so that you can win other business to earn more? How much of your business would you lose if you doubled your margins? If you would lose less than 50%, may be better to just double the margin.
Winning because you are weak.
  • In 1919, during post World War 1 negotiation, the size of Romania doubled from the size it previously was. This was despite Romania not assisting much help to the allied cause in World War 1. After World War 1, the biggest threat to the West was Russia. Romania said that they were too small to defend the West from the communist threat. If they remained small, they would be taken over by Russia and become communist. If Romania becomes communist, then communism would be at the door of the West. So the West decided to give Romania what they needed to be strong.
  • We're weak. If you punch us too hard, you will lose a value generating partner.
Change the game.
  • Attack the source of their power.
  • Planned Parenthood had protesters lining up outside their clinical, making it difficult for women to come to the clinical to seek help. What could they do to reduce the number of protesters?
  • The clinics reached out to their supporters and asked for pledges of $10 for each protester that shows up at the clinic. Now, every time a protester shows up, the clinic makes money.
  • They figured out that the power of the other side was being able to show up and protest. They took away their power.
If you have no power, maybe you don't want to play the power game.
  • Princeton hires Einstein and ask him how much money he wants. He says '$3000/year, unless you think I can get by with less'. Princeton gives him $15000/year. 
  • Why did Princeton do this? There is an old adage: time reveals truth. What happens when other universities, Harvard or MIT, offer higher amounts later? In behaving in this way, Princeton have changed the game - they have bought trust and loyalty.
  • When you have only one job offer: accept the offer, then negotiate - 'I love this company, but here are some of my needs and concerns'.
Your power comes from your ability to create value for the other side. Instead of going into a negotiation thinking about what you want to get out if it, you should go in trying to figure out what their wants and needs are.
.
Even if none of what has been mentioned helps, the most important thing is believing that there are always things you can do to negotiate from a position of weakness, seeking out ways to negotiate from this position and generating value.

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Wharton Interview  

Posted by Dino in , ,

 
 How the Wharton interviewer responded on realizing I'm not a finance robot. (Yes folks, I am exaggerating a little).

I've had my Wharton interview. I won't go into some of the specifics, to keep some level of anonymity. In terms of content, What is your career goal, why an MBA, why Wharton? Really, that is all you get time for in the interview. At least, that is all I got time for.

There was a particular moment at which the interview came alive. It was when I mentioned that I had hired a team. I'd have thought this would be something pretty typical, but obviously not. Damn - I should have pressed that hot button in all my applications!

Reflecting on the interview, I'm sure I left a lasting impression. I could probably summerise the message I left the interviewer with as follows: I am going to start a company at Wharton. That is why I want an MBA. That is why I want Wharton. That is my career goal. The interviewer seemed to almost fall out of the chair at the depth and breadth of discussion on how this would happen. It surprised me that I could talk so much about it. My application previous to the interview might have read a little mixed up - so many different anecdotes from so many different parts of my life. I did not have the level of clarity then that I do now. Following this interview, the school will be in no doubt about my positioning. The only risk is that I might have scared the living daylights out of them. They may even think I am a nut case. That would not be good at all...

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Chicago Booth Continues To Impress  

Posted by Dino in ,

The event bared a slight resemblance to a British TV show (above) called Dragon's Den.

Chicago Booth held an event earlier this week, After the Pitch: Entrepreneurial Financing Insights. The event featured an entrepreneur making a fund raising pitch to a panel of investors, angels and VCs, followed by discussions.

While all the investors had interesting thoughts and the discussion was insightful, Chicago Professor Waverly Deutsch’s insights were by far the most impressive. Every quip and slight sentence she fed into the discussion had the feel of a heavyweight knockout punch that had me gasping for air. She spoke like someone who had seen the entrepreneurial process not just a few times before, but hundreds of times before. The whole experience left me thinking, "what am I doing not applying for this school!".

What I particularly liked was that as well as the main event there was plenty of time for networking before and after the main spectacle of the pitch and discussions / analysis. With perhaps over 200 people, there was standing room only for late comers during the pitch and discussions. The event itself was aimed at helping the school create a world-wide entrepreneurial network, and I think it certainly worked. There were entrepreneurs from every walk of life. Talking to one entrepreneur, who was building a chain of outlets selling Jamaican roti wraps, he shared with me his secret: figuring out what people will want in 3 years time and starting to build it now.

I've posted a full review of the event in a separate post, below (or here).

I've said this before and I'll say it again... With three campuses across the globe, innovative events such as this, a $300M funding boost and all the other innovations... you can almost see why Business Week ranks Chicago number one.

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Chicago Booth - After the Pitch: Entrepreneurial Financing Insights.  

Posted by Dino in ,

The event was held at the Woolgate Exchange, Chicago Booth's London campus. It looks even better on the inside.

Chicago Booth held an event earlier this week, After the Pitch: Entrepreneurial Financing Insights.

The event featured an entrepreneur making a pitch to a panel of investors for money. Following the 10 minute presentation from the entrepreneur, the entrepreneur was quizzed by the panel. The parts that followed were interesting. We were 'let in on' the kind of discussion such an investment panel would have after the entrepreneur had left. Chicago Professor Waverly Deutsch, who chaired the panel discussions, closed the  the evening with her summary.

Below are the highlighted insights that I noted...

The Entrepreneur: Riaz Agha, Founder, Greatswitch.com
GreatSwitch is a new price comparison site. The key differentiator between GreatSwitch and its competitors is that the site stores the details of the person using the site and then proactively later offers them opportunities to switch their mortgage / other financial product as better offers arise. This is in contrast to current sites, where you have to search for better deals periodically.

Investor Panel:

Ashish Patel, Managing Director for Europe, Israel, and the Middle East, Intel Capital
  • We always start assessing the venture by looking at the route to market. How will the venture get there? How will it achieve critical mass? What is the unique proposition?
  • Very few people make money using patents to prevent copycats.

Giuseppe Zocco, Co-founder and Partner, Index Ventures
  • Riaz needs more awareness of what he does not know. This is important for building the rest of the management team. There seems to be CTO experience missing. Should seek a former CTO from a competitor.
  • The venture needs to address how it will continue to innovate after the initial launch.
  • There needs to be an understanding of the financial needs of the firm for the next 7+ years.
  • A lot of ventures have approached the firm with the 15th iteration of their business plan, so keep iterating and refining to address concerns of the VC firm. Sometimes the venture does decide some of VC's concerns are not valid.

Sherry Coutu, Angel Investor
  • Everyone liked Riaz's energy in presenting his idea.
  • The business plan needs more work. e.g. I would expect to see more detailed cash flows.
  • Angels will typically come in and hone the financials, as well as put in a team to deliver the final product/service, and enter discussions with other angels to understand what other similar ventures are launching.
  • Angels will also look to identify who the venture can be passed on to for larger levels of funding in later rounds.
  • Usually there would be further sessions with the entrepenuer for the angel to determine how the entrepenuer thinks. The angel would also want to get view from other angels with other expertise.
  • A lot of investing is networking.

Keith Breslauer, Chicago MBA '88, Partner, Patron Capital
  • There needs to be more thought on the revenue model - how will this make money?
  • For internet models, think about this: is it a vitamin or a pain-killer? For the online world, the venture needs to be very disruptive.
  • Would expect the person making the pitch to
    • Find market data on all the competitors
    • Find out all their negatives
    • Give a presenation on how you would address these market issues.
Panel Chair: Waverly Deutsch, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship, Chicago GSB
  • Most entrepreneurs need to be more realistic with their expenses.
  • Entrepreneurs always underestimate the difficulty of creating behavioral change to make their product/service successful.
  • The most important thing is to get the investor excited, because you won't be able to answer all their questions.
  • Emphasise what is different about your business. What will get out the sizzle?
  • As an entrepreneur, you need to have knowledge available of the industry you are entering. This could be through advisors or others. This is particuarly important if you do not have knowledge of the industry.
  • People invest in people.
  • The investors talked about why they would invest - they want to invest more than money to ensure the business is successful; they want to bring in the expertise of their colleagues.
  • When you are pitching for money, you must have the correct investor profile. e.g. angels invest from £0 to £1M; VCs from £1M+.
  • For multiple rounds of dilution, the venture must have strong multiple returns.
  • Investors these days are thinking about the longer duration.
  • The angel investor is thinking about where the money will come from next (for further rounds); who can they bring in? Investing is a team sport - angels need to ensure their investments have enough money.
  • The newest money coming into a venture has the power. They will want to change the terms. This is why angels think about who can come in to fund the venture in later rounds.
  • In the current financial situation, VCs are withdrawing from earlier stage funding and angels are being looked at to fill the gap. It is therefore important that your venture can make money.

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Massacre on the Frontline  

Posted by Dino in , , ,

The question on every applicant's mind, following last week.

Wow, what a week last week was. It felt like the B-Schools were printing out 'dings' faster than the Zimbabwean government prints money. I would dare even say it was like an axe murderer had run rampant on all the applicants' dreams. With the thump of HBS making R1 admission only a vague possibility for the many, Wharton sliced and diced many of the blogosphere's finest. For one applicant, even her job was axed. Perhaps it is like this every year, but for me it was a shocking week.

Things started well for the blogosphere - Tieny and Max celebrated early admission to Columbia. Pretty soon afterwards, my first whiff that something odd was in the air occurred when HappyBunny's blog vanished into thin air. We soon heard that Columbia had started to send out a slew of denials. It sounded bad, but how bad could it be? After a few weeks of silence, last week hit us.

So what is going on? Are the bankers now applying in their droves to business schools? My brother works at one of the two remaining old time US investment banks. A few weeks back he told me that they've only axed the people with negative Proft/Loss in their net trading for the year (which is most of the people, but thankfully not him). I'd rather think the ones taking our places were the ones in profit, but I'm sure even those ones face the cut! I suggested to my brother that he should consider applying for B Schools. He said he doesn't have time - he is too busy practically running the desk. In hindsight, I'm all too glad to have one less competitor.

Maybe it is not all bankers rushing in... Perhaps the credit crunch has filtered into consulting? Perhaps there are now people applying in their droves from all parts of the economy? Whatever the case, I can see this crunch going on for a while. I'm glad I'm not applying next year.

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Wharton Interview Invite  

Posted by Dino in , ,

 
I got my foot in the door as the window for invites was closing.

My Wharton interview invite finally landed in my inbox. Not sure what else to say, other than that I am thrilled! I'm looking forward to describing a clearer version of my career goal to the interviewer. I have also accomplished a thing or two at work since I sent my application, so I'll also try to get that in too. I'm quite enthusiastic about the Wharton offering.

I have the option of alumni, hub or on-campus. Which shall I choose? On second thoughts, on-campus might be a bit too far...

Good luck to those still waiting.

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No Harvard Invite  

Posted by Dino in , ,

 
Wonder-woman did not get an invite either. It must be because she can't cook.

You have to applaud the HBS admissions team. They released application questions early. They have kept applicants informed of the process via their blog. They have now even sent out the bulk of their R1 interview invites earlier than expected. Unfortunately, though, I am not one of the 750 that Harvard have invited for interview. I flicked through my application submission to review what I had sent them. In hindsight, I was probably a little too honest in some areas - especially with a job title mix up. That, combined with the age thing, probably gave me enough rope in my application to hang myself. I am not very hopeful that I will be among the last 100 invites. My feet certainly feel like they have been pulled back on to the ground.

As disappointing as this all is, I remain absolutely convinced that I will achieve my career goal. In fact, this is a certainty that has been growing in the last few months as details have become clearer. Does it matter how you get there?... Hmm. It probably does, but it's probably more important that you get there ;-).

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The Real Reason you still ain't got an interview invite yet.  

Posted by Dino in ,

This is the student reader reviewing your application. Yes, seriously.

The R1 admissions process is well and truly entering the interview stages. My bet is that most of the B schools have maybe 20 or 70 or maybe more student readers right now giving the applications a first pass. This number will vary by the size of the school. Each student reader probably has 50 applications to read. Each application probably takes an hour of reading time. The student readers will also have been given a deadline to get their application reading done by. Some of the student readers will have done all their readings early. However, since student readers are first and foremost students, I reckon most of the kids will be getting their readings in at or near the deadline. Hence, if the school's interview invite policy is determined by early readings of an application, an early interview invite is probably just indicative of how proactive your application's student reader has been.

So I reckon the real worry is not that the your application is already read and rejected. Oh, no. Rather, I think the real worry is whether your application gets read at all. I mean, think of the deadline for the student readers... and all those 80 applications they have to get through (Yes, I've just given them another 30 on top of the 50). On top of these applications, they have school work, partying, clubs and recruitment to fit in. Plus, how many applications can a person read without getting bored and falling asleep. The questions we should be asking ourselves should not be about the quality of our applications. Instead, I think they should be along the lines of, is that career goals essay going to hold up to being skim read on the morning of the readers' deadline by someone completely hung over (and possibly still drunk) ?

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Thinking About Round Two  

Posted by Dino in , ,

I suspect my recommenders would beat me to a plup if they knew I was lining up five more schools...

When you are sitting around, bored and waiting for responses from your R1 applications... you can not help but let your mind wonder about what the other options are. Particularly when you look around and the applicant blog-pool from last year seems to be filled with with sorrow such as this and this.

The plan behind pushing five apps for R1 was so I would not have to dip into R2. Hopefully that will still be the case. If I do need to dip into R2, these are the schools I have been thinking about...

INSEAD - I like the continental European feel of the school. I've always wanted to learn Spanish as another language; their requirement to know a second language in some depth appeals to me for this reason. Perhaps the only true world class international school, with options to utilise their great links to Wharton in the US and the INSEAD Singapore campus.

Chicago Booth (GSB) - Probably the most flexible curriculum there is. You get what you want from this MBA. The facilities have great style and class. Would be a great place to study I think.

Columbia - A rising school in my opinion (yes Tieny, you heard that right), and set in New York, New York. What more is there to say?

LBS - A top business school in my back yard. The only deterrent is that I have been in London most of my life. I don't think I will gain as many new experiences here as at other schools.

Tuck- A strong sense of community. For some reason or other, I've met quite a few of alum from this school in various places. They have all been likable and the network seems very, very strong.

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The Others Applying For Admission  

Posted by Dino in ,

Even Dilbert is applying for an MBA.

I attended a few presentations for business schools during October. In each, I repeatedly came across some of the same people over and over again. You'd think everyone was applying to the same schools. I have got to know a few of these applicants since. I thought I would bemuse over some of their antics.

I was speaking to one such applicant applying for '09 admission just last night. We were talking about waiting for interviews. In his thickest French accent he said:
       "It is very stressing!
        Difficult period.
        They play with our nerves."
He says all of the above like he has applied to only three schools and has yet to hear from any of them. In reality, he has applied to six and already has an offer from Columbia. He has also received his Wharton interview invite. In my book - that puts him in a better place than most!

Then there is the Chinese girl. She has only applied to three schools, but she is utterly calm about it. It might be because she has CIMA accountancy exams in a few weeks and wants to get past those first. We've quizzed each other lots on each others' applications. Every time I rave about a bit of my application, she says:
       "There are lots of people that have done X.
        Why would they pick you?
        What's you X-Factor, man. What's your X-Factor!"
Speaking to her can be depressing.

Depressing, until I speak to a particular banker girl who starts every conversation with...
       "I'm so screwed..."
And then often continues with something like:
       "... my work recommender has told them my greatest strength is my basketball skills.
        Like, what has that go to do with anything."
She is one of these people who has jumped on the MBA bandwagon out of the financial crisis. She is applying to eight schools in R1 (at the last count). It's funny when you meet them. They are as flustered as I thought they would be. I hear that they are in particularly high numbers at the presentations for the New York schools.

Then there is the Reapplicant. He is serious about doing it properly next time around - so much so that he is not applying for '09 admission, but '10. He turns up for the presentations to do research on the schools. He applied for '08 and was interviewed by a couple of the schools, including Tuck, Chicago GSB and Wharton. In the end, they all denied him admission. Worse, he says he got on great with the interviewers and he is still in touch with some of them! Funnier still, he says that last year Wharton offered to provide feedback to some applicants. You had to apply for the feedback, but he was denied for that too!

The variety of people applying to business school, and their varying attitudes towards the process, is amazing.

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