To all of my loyal readers (maybe 3??). I'm off to the U.S. for 5 grueling and fun weeks of visiting friends, attending weddings and my 5th year college reunion . . . . 
This kind of question generally comes at the beginning of a conversation with a new person or at a lull in an ongoing conversation. It is both a way for somebody to get some context as well as find something familiar to talk about so the conversation can continue. Personally, I like to ask ridiculous questions like - “What is your SECOND-most passion in life?”
Now if somebody asks me “what do you do?” I tell them exactly what I am currently doing – “I’m retired” or “I’m searching for my soul” (those of you that know me understand why I can’t put my most favorite and third answer on this blog!). Generally the shock value of these statements is completely worth quitting my job over. What I am trying to do is create an answer that engages people in conversation and makes me the center of attention (which I really like). Most people I talk to think I’m lucky or want to know how/why.
The bottom line is – when you are having a conversation with somebody and are trying to keep them engaged. Don’t follow the standard patterns of conversation (“what do you do?”) but try to talk about something you are passionate about!
The reason I get into trouble is that I have a tendency to be bluntly honest. I say the EXACT truth instead of using strategies to mitigate the harshness of my honesty. Like any good Management Consultant, my father has tried to teach me two ways to avoid getting myself into trouble when speaking the truth:
I have noticed that in my personal life, being bluntly honest should be mitigated with the above two techniques because individuals tend to be more sensitive to their friend’s opinions (especially women – please please I know I'm generalizing so don’t get mad!). On the professional side, though, I have gained a lot of long-term good will from telling the precise truth, no matter how much it hurts. People will trust that I am giving them my full opinion instead of skirting around an issue or flat-out lying. Over the course of my career at NSR I definitely raised a lot of hell about certain issues I didn’t agree with but my relationship with my former colleagues actually grew rather then suffer. In fact, even if there was some sort of professional issue, my personal relationship with my colleague’s did not suffer – i.e. no awkwardness in grabbing some drinks even if we were in the middle of a professional spat. I think my father still finds this astounding because he knows how blunt I can be! My advice is to develop a reputation for blunt honestly so that people expect it.
Nitin Sacheti, a former Uchicago classmate of mine, says:
there’s definitely a smaller circle in India amongst which people more freely share ideas but I think the difference in comfort levels in sharing ideas is solely a function of the number of capital allocators in the financial world of a particular country. I think that if you look at it on a size basis---IE look at the total number of people in india that are in the 2-3 degree base and compare that to the same number of people in the US that are at the top of the financial stratosphere, you’ll see that information is just as easily disseminated, but the difference is in the US, it’s a lot harder to break into that small group of people bc it’s so much wealthier and older. I also think that because of the stricter government regulations and easier monitoring of the financial markets in the US, it makes people more guarded with information. I find that when many people who work for large public cos, find that I work for a hedge fund, they are much more guarded about work stories bc there’s a more concrete risk/consequence to sharing information so openly—ala Sarbanes oxley.
I fully agree with Nitin – SarbOx and the culture of litigation makes American business-types more likely to restrict information sharing. Furthermore, it is much easier to break into the financial / business community in India. I should say, though, that my aggressive personality does help – i.e. I have no qualms in repeatedly sending people emails until I get a meeting. At NSR and even with my parents sometimes, I send emails with “PLEASE READ AND RESPOND” tagged on to the end of the subject line.
Ravi Gurnani, a good friend and winetrepreneur, says:
try sharing or getting some information out of the any govt departments.. extracting info from the authorities is like drawing water out of a stone.. thats when you realise its the extreme opposite to this scenario
With my minimal amount of experience at dealing with the Indian government, I would have to agree. If you have a personal relationship (or are able to build a personal relationship) with these officials, though, I would imagine that extracting information would be easier.
I think that Investment Bankers are bred to ask the second question and furthermore, the “CYA” (cover your ass) mentality is drilled into you from the moment you start as an analyst or associate at any investment bank. That was the state I was in before I quit banking and ultimately ended up in Private Equity – I didn’t even know that being curious could add value! I very quickly learned from the NSR founding partners that “question number 2” and the general CYA mentality would not take me very far. Ironically, it really was our former Mckinsey senior associates who helped me fully understand how to add-value with questions rather then demonstrate knowledge. I say ironically because I found myself doing a bit of “CYA” towards the end of my tenure at NSR – obviously because once I decided to leave, my motivation level wasn’t all there (see! that is typical CYA). Truth be told, if you are generally interested in a subject or a project you will likely find yourself naturally more curious and willing to “dive deeper” to gain more knowledge. I’m just going to have to find something that I truly love doing to completely get rid of this banker mentality!
Let me preface this post by making two comments. When I refer to professional and social networks I am referring those in a specific strata of society – people who generally make what a NYC professional would make (no, not a banker) or live that lifestyle due to family wealth. There just aren’t that many people making / having that much money in India. Secondly, I am making generalizations to make a point but there are a lot of exceptions to the rule (not enough that I can’t make the generalization).
So this group of people who don’t have any problem with money are a small group that tend to socialize and do business with each other. This makes for a very small very interconnected network. The law of “six degrees of separation” becomes three at a maximum! It also creates an environment where it is very easy to reach people who have the knowledge that you are seeking – all it takes is a few phone calls.
The small network of people who are very interconnected is a large part of why information is disseminated so fast and effectively in India but is by no means the only one. I have found that the concept of “networking” – who you know and who you can connect to each other – commands a high amount of value in relationships in India. You can win a lot of business by knowing the right people vs. having the best product (I know, this is a BIG generalization). Furthermore, Indians in this strata of society are less guarded with their opinions and much more open to talking about themselves and their businesses – as compared to Americans. I have found that as soon as you demonstrate some small piece of knowledge on a relevant topic, the person you are trying to get information from will find your knowledge gratifying and really “open up.”
From learning about some random scoring system in Bridge to the number of telecom towers a small independent tower company has, I can get the information more quickly and with a lot more accuracy than I was able to in the U.S. The real dent in my argument is that I have been out of the U.S. for three years and have also grown personally and professionally. Well, I'm going back next month for a one month trip . . . Let’s see what I think when I get back . . . . .
- Conversational Hindi classes – three times a week for one hour
- Yoga classes – twice a week in the morning for one hour
- Cooking classes – 2-3 times a week for 1-1.5 hours
- Sailing classes – 2 times a week for 2-3 hours
- Bridge classes – 3 times a week for 1 hour
Only the Hindi and Yoga classes are actually paid for, fully scheduled classes. Cooking “class” is with our home cook, sailing classes is regular sailing with a “tindel” on-board who does not speak a work of English and bridge classes are, as of now, non-existent (though I am spending time reading and learning online). It has not been for a lack of trying though!
I am afraid that without having a set, committed, schedule with a teacher that i have paid for, it will be tough to maintain my motivation. Having that monetary pressure plus feeling of responsibility to another person makes it more likely that I will learn. Take bridge, for example – I started by scheduling an hour of time for myself at home. First lesson was easy but with all the distractions I have on my computer it is easy to slip.
If any of you have any other ideas of how to keep myself motivated please do let me know!
Forgive me, I have been trying to send out an email to everyone outside of NSR informing them of my new contact info but unfortunately the NSR server won’t let me send out so many emails at once. More importantly (for me) stupid Facebook won’t let me export the email addresses or at least send a mass fb message to all my friends. What a pain. Regardless below is the email I sent to NSR – I believe it has the right touch of humor and good will to maintain my bridges with them going forward. Look for an email from me with my new contacts as soon as I figure out a solution.
Dear All,
As my tenure at NSR comes to an end I have had the chance to reflect on the my past 2 years here; I am proud of the firm and how much progress we have made. I remember my initial few months with the firm in early 2007 when we had offices in the Hilton towers and were doing everything from looking for deals to designing offices (and in my case, buying the coffee machine – thank you very much!). Since then we have made significant progress in becoming a world-class private equity firm and have some of the smartest investing professionals in India. We have also established some great investment screening and monitoring processes (which we always strive to improve). Most importantly, we have developed great personal and professional relationships with all of our colleagues (from Mumbai to NYC to Dubai; from founding partners to Assistants).
I think I am a better person for having worked with you all both because I grew my professional skill set and because I have made some great friends. I will really miss this place and I hope that I get the chance to work together again with some of you in the future (I envision a future where I can boss Harsha and Nithin around!).
It is unclear what my plans are for the future but I intend to do a little bit of “soul searching” and obviously have some fun (re: bridge classes!) before I figure out what the next step is. Importantly, I plan to remain in India where I feel the maximum amount of opportunity lies.
I plan to keep in touch with all of you and insist that you be nice when I call you to ask for advice, introductions or most importantly cash!
So that got me thinking . . . what is it about these “engineering” and “construction” toys that I like. So, as a natural electrical or mechanical engineer (which I'm not which is why this is so nerdy), I started doing searches for PC games with good “physics engines.” As expected, Line Rider, a game we have all seen at one point (I hope!) came up fairly high on the search rankings. Two great games, though, also came up. The World of Goo and Crayon Physics Deluxe. They are absolutely stunning games and are even more phenomenal when played on a tablet PC.
The World of Goo is like a Meccano set where you have to build structures made of “goo” across bridges and fire-pits, etc to get them to the other side, as it were. There are a lot of twists and turns a long the way that change the properties of the “goo balls” which make it fun, also the graphics are quite good. If you play this game at work and nobody knows what it is, people will definitely think you are doing something NSFW just due to the name.
Crayon physics deluxe basically makes you draw structures (lines, levers, pulleys, etc) that help in moving one crayon drawn ball towards a crayon drawn star. You win each level by hitting the star with the ball. The items you draw follow the laws of gravity and that is what makes the game fun. The word “crayon” in the name of the name of the game should serve as a warning that the game looks like a piece of construction paper with crayon drawings on it. It is basic, it looks childish, but it is amazing.
Waiting in the Mumbai airport waiting to go to Dubai for an NSR offsite, I whipped out my tablet laptop and told my colleagues to check out CPD (what I call Crayon Physics Deluxe – I know, don’t say it). Now at first they were extremely skeptical and chided me on my childishness and nerdiness (when I explained how I found the game). Since they couldn’t go anywhere I had them watch me play a level. They were a bit skeptical but still saw how I could find it fun. When I put the tablet pen in their hands and told them to play they were absolutely addicted! It was so funny to see three grown men fighting and whining over who got to play the next level. I’ve beaten the entire game and the entire Analyst / Associate pool is not far behind me.
So that brings me to the moral of this story. Childishness is good? Well, I'm not sure what the moral is but hey, once you figure it out, tell me!
Interestingly, I realized that I enjoyed my first year at NSR a bit more then my second year. Being the only junior team member among five India partners (now four) and four “founding” partners put me in a very important position where my time and decisions were very valuable. My initial decisions helped to create our current processes and team; my visibility to the senior team was very high. This, I think, made me feel very important and valuable – that feeling decreased somewhat my second year.
Don’t get me wrong, my second year at NSR was great and I truly enjoyed it – just not as much as my first year. As our processes became more defined and our team grew bigger, my visibility decreased and thus I felt less important to the firm. This is natural since we hired some phenomenal senior associates who have much more experience at running processes, doing analyses and managing teams. I have learned a lot from them but the trust and interaction with the senior team increasingly flowed through the senior associates because they were smarter and more responsible!
The lesson,I think, is to convince them to elect me as a Partner! For now, I’ll just keep exploring what types of jobs / industries I could enjoy. My sense is that I am more suited for that “startup” type of environment.
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