Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Lucky is writing a five-page final paper for Power & Politics, whose purpose is to explore the power dynamics of a past or future job.  Reviewing the notes from the class, several possible themes arise.  The decision is to choose which ones would be relevant to the analysis.  Here are the salient areas: ·        Sources of power o       Personal §         competencies §         expertise §         reputation §         attractiveness §         energy/drive §         agenda §         network o       Positional §         relevance §         scarcity §         centrality §         autonomy §         visibility ·        Principled leadership vs Exchange (Thatcher vs. LBJ) ·        Calculating risks for challenges to power (Glucksman vs. Peterson at Lehman Brothers) ·        Cultures and power bases ·        Personal relationships with senior management ·        Strategy and tactics of power exercise in a group ·        The “Bilingual manager” - speaking the vocabulary of different constituencies ·        Network o       Internal o       External   9:23:16 PM    comment []

Today was the 14th and final lecture in Steve Monahan's class "Financial Statement Analysis".  This was a spectacular class that combined high-level discussions about the philosophy of financial statements with low-level instruction on how the numbers are actually generated.  Steve has incredible competence in both of these areas, a rare find indeed. The class covered three topics: shortcut valuation approaches (using analyst EPS numbers to estimate value), a discussion on the equity premium puzzle (at 8%, likely way too high and not predictive), and a final review. He reiterated the theme of the class: Measuring value creation Separating real value creation from accounting effects Forecasting future value creation Developing an estimate of value And in this, he was largely successful.  Lucky walks away without fear of financial statements, and can ask questions to fill in his still-large gaps in knowledge.  He can link strategy to reported numbers.  Even footnotes can be read to tell stories of a company's intentions. As today was the last lecture (the next two sessions are student presentations), he closed the session a couple minutes early, "And that's all that I have to say."  What followed was a full two minutes of thunderous applause, which probably took him a bit by surprise, as the class kept going way beyond what would normally be considered polite.  It's rare to hear that much applause for a professor, and for someone teaching this topic, all the more impressive. Thank you, Steve, for being a lucid, kind, and brilliant teacher.  Your reputation on campus is already burnished, and I wish you the brightest of careers. 7:11:37 PM    comment []

Today Lucky had lunch with the other anonymous Insead blogger, Finance Monkey.  Lucky always laughes when he types Finance Monkey.  He'll use FM henceforth to avoid bothering others in the library. What to say of the meeting?  It was a meeting of minds, so to speak.  FM is literate, bright, and articulate, much more so than Lucky, but was otherwise not at all what he expected.  Mostly this is because the mind constructs expectations even when there is no supporting data, and this happens even when you know you don't have any data, or, worse, when you have data that you know is biased.  Why does this happen?  Something to put on the research list. It was great to share stories, discuss the impact of our respective writing careers, and talk about the benefits for the writers and readers.  We talked a lot about the "writing objective", for lack of a better term; Lucky has a (subconcious?) tendency to write to his readership (raise your hands, all four of you) while FM is confident in writing as a means of introspection and reportage.  FM made the point that once a writer has released their work, they have no control over its impact on the reader.  Lucky will think further about what this means. We also discussed the need for more people to write about the Insead experience.  FM is going to Singapore, and will give readers an inside view of what it is like, but come January there won't be any bloggers left in Fontainebleau.  This should be remedied, though Lucky is not sure how to do it.  One idea: if you are a September or incoming January, please consider starting your own blog.  It's easy, low-maintenance, and high-impact.  Lucky (and FM) can provide ample encouragement and advice; your voice is unique and there is a tremendous thirst for information.  Personally, Lucky reports that writing has been one of the most satisfying activities in which he has engaged this year, and has added to his life in innumerable ways (ok, enumerable, stop quibbling). If only professors, staff, and administration would wake up and discover this new medium, what a difference it could make!  What a fantastic tool to market the school to a worldwide audience!  What better way to ensure that people know what they are getting into; it can only help raise awareness and make the institution stronger.  Alas, FM has already made inquiries and met with equivocal responses. Lucky salutes FM and wishes all the best for the Singapore experience.  Your voice is valuable, and I'm glad we met.  Lucky looks forward to reading your words in 2004 and beyond. 6:27:58 PM    comment []