BANKS RED QUEEN EFFECT

Mere survival in current recessionary times should be lauded. Year 2008-09 went down as one where 'Red Queen Effect' was in full force. The red queen advices Alice (from 'Alice in Wonderland') that "in this place it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place" i.e: work twice as hard just to maintain the current position, growing requires a different pace altogether. Further, it would be interesting to see how financial Industry will continue to face market correction, green shoots and recoveries, In a nutshell how will banks 'MANAGE THE CHAOS while maintaining THE SPEED' ?

According to me following should define the speed at which banks will run in the forthcoming year -

BRAND - At the time of recession, customers are looking for a extended support from banks. Trust on banks have taken a hit. More and better products for genuine customers (lost during the recession) is the single most important initiative that will help rebuild the brand. Efforts other than pure advertising are need of the hour for maintaining the brand equity. As Suntzu said "It is a great mistake to waste men in taking a town when the same expenditure of soldiers will gain a province."

BENCHMARK - Banks will have to study other more successful banks (if any) at a very micro level to understand what the successful banks are doing right (at the same time studies of banks which failed to learn from the mistakes should be conducted). Why did we have an NPA and others did not ? What are rival banks selling now to SME/MME vis-a-vis us? Have they been successful?

Every bank should indeed take a decision in isolation but as Suntzu said "If you know the opponent and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.If you know yourself but not the enemy,for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle"

STAKEHOLDERS - While external strategies are required, recession takes a toll on the most valuable resource of organisation - 'The Employees'. Transparency, continued career growth, belief etc will ensure the stakeholders put all pressure to support the bank in any future crisis. As Suntzu said - "A Moral ruler makes the people to be in complete accord with him, so that they will follow the ruler regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger"

Finally if we say the worst is over, i say it's just a beginning, where lot of gear shifts will be required. Running at controlled speed to grab the green shoots at the same time being vary of falling in same trap again should help to ward off the crisis. "In peace we prepare for war and in war we prepare for peace"

(This article of mine was published in HSBC Journal. I am currently preparing a research paper on this subject which will be sent to MBA business reviews & quarterlys)

BIGGER THAN THE GAME

“Why high performance shines even when the sun doesn’t?”, “It’s not a setback. It’s a test” – reads the advertisement of one of the major consultancy firms featuring Tiger Woods. The golf wizard dared to excel and showed the world anything is possible – a colored person beating the whites in their own game.

Scout boy Steven Spielberg in his early teens made an amateur movie and charged 25 cents per person to watch it while his sister sold popcorn. With his sheer ‘belief’ and a minimalistic US$ 500 budget, he made movie "Firelight". Firelight didn’t fire, but then the sparks were visible in the movies to follow – E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Schinder’s List, and Jurassic Park. It’s the constant urge to supersede earlier work and venture into never before crossed boundaries that lead to Spielberg choosing not to do the third sequel of Jurassic Park & focus on a world war epic film ‘Saving Private Ryan’. Saving Private Ryan garnered considerable critical acclaim, winning several awards. The film grossed US$480 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the year 1998. It's not over yet, the spark still lives on. Speilberg will try to appease millions of Tintin fans with the upcoming project 'The Adventures of Tintin', slated for a release in 2011.

It is also this spark that inspires a truck driver James Cameron to raise the bar for the entire entertainment industry on a whole, through films such as Terminator, Jaws, and Titanic. The visionary is now working on ‘Avator’, a revolutionary 3D movie made using photo-realistic computer-generated characters that will change the movie going experience altogether. The adrenaline Rush in few never dies. It’s inbuilt in their DNA. Only this can explain return of Michael Schumacher to F1 circuit after formally retiring in 2007. Earlier, Lance Armstrong came back strong from testicular cancer to win the prestigious Tour-de-France. ‘Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever’ is all that Lance Armstrong had to say after the win.

The ‘Yes we can’ Barack Obama, the “Make Mistakes & Learn” Albert Einstein, the “Failure is Opportunity” Henry Ford, the “Anything worth doing is worth 100%” Konosuke Matsushita, and the ‘Why not?’ Bernard Shaw are golden words of the few who DARED TO EXCEL. As the advertisement of that consultancy firm finally reads – “We know what it takes to be a Tiger”. The question is, do you?

(The article was published in the HSBC Corporate Journal)

AGGRESSIVE OPINION ON "THE TARANTINO WAY"

10th June 2009 - 9:00pm: All exhausted from work. A friend calls and asks me to come over to meet him for a bit, the fatigue takes over and I’m not even in a position to move a muscle, till the time he bribes me saying "I have a DVD of Quentin Tarantino movie - Hostel". The name Tarantino runs a cold chill in my body everytime I hear it. In my books, 'Tarantino' fetches the highest price. I still bow when i hear names like 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Kill Bill'.

9:15pm: I reached friend's apartment, made small talk, snatched the movie from his hand and left for home. I glance at the cover - all black and red with picture of a person tied to a chair - looks like lot of bloodshed!! I just hope it’s not a horror movie, as I have never watched one. My sheer paranoia with respect to horror movies is well known. As I begin to walk away, my friend shouted from behind "Don’t worry it’s not horror". I must say, what a sigh of relief that was!

10:15pm: Digging myself in popcorns & beer, I finally began watching the movie. It started with 3 friends Mike, Sam and Ed planning an East European vacation. They start their vacation in Slovakia, staying in a Youth Hostel for couple of days. The first night they have a good night out with their room mates staying at the hostel, happen to be two very gorgeous girls, so even better. In the morning Ed is gone. After several unanswered calls & lots of searching, help came in the way of Hostel Receptionist telling Mike & Sam about Ed checking out early morning. Party continues the second night - girls, dance and booze. This time Mike is missing. All this seems too strange to be happening for Sam "my friends just can’t abandon me", he said. On questioning one of the girls from the night-out, Sam is guided to a worn out building to find his missing friends. Reluctantly he walks inside through narrow corridors, nearly throwing up due to the filth and the pungent smell. By then, I have the pillow half covering my face already and could visualize my friend laughing on my plight of watching a horror flick alone.

11:15 pm: Sam opens one of the rooms and is shocked to see Mike lying dead in a pool of blood and a man drilling his stomach. The blood plethora was enough for me to part ways with the beer glass. Further, Sam is captured and tied to a chair and is approached by a man with chainsaw, all set to remove organs from his body. I was sick by this time, too much gore for my liking. Quentin Tarantino probably overdid this time, at least for me. After 60 minutes, my quota of watching this Tarantino flick is over. I quickly switched the movie off and tried to sleep, but the images just won't leave. After 5 episodes of the high on life show "Entourage", my mind was at peace (though, I had some dozen more sleepless nights later)

In retrospect, Quentin Tarantino actually didn’t disappoint. He just lived to his reputation. His films have large amounts of flowing blood that are graphically violent in an artistic sense. Tarantino violence is always full of tension and grit. Much as he wants to entertain audience, his primarily goal remains - 'To Leave a Mark', and mark he left with just first 60 minutes of 'Hostel'.

(The above is written jointly by me & one with comparatively non-aggressive opinions :)