The Shailesh-tival

Since Round 1 of the NHL playoffs are well underway this seemed like the most appropriate thing to talk about.

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

There’s no doubt that most people reading this have heard this quote in some sort of business context at some point, and I’m guessing the person repeating it really thought he/she was blowing your mind with insight when he/she said it. But honestly, I’m not sure if there’s a quote I hate more when it comes to corporate world. Read the rest of this entry →

In my line of work, I get to see and deal with a lot of clients trying to do something new, or trying to do something differently. Often times, despite the best of intentions, these companies fail miserably. They know where they are, they know where they want to be, and they even know what they need to do to get there, but they all forget about the dreaded bubble.

What’s the bubble? It’s basically the way you’ll operate while you’re midway between your starting point and your endpoint. When you’re at the starting point, you know how to function in your current state and you’re comfortable, and when you get to your endpoint, you’re enjoying the benefits of getting to the endpoint. But what do you do in the middle, when you have to behave differently but you’re still not seeing the benefits? Read the rest of this entry →

I thought I’d drop a quick note here about a guest piece I wrote for MBA-social, a business school blog run by Kellogg 2010 alumna, Jenn Yee. It’s about MORS 941, the sports management class I’m taking with Northwestern University’s Athletic Director Dr. Jim Phillips.

Without further adieu: What college and pro sports can teach you about management

Upon hearing about yesterday’s gorgeous weather in Chicago, Darren and I made plans to see the Cubs play last night. I bought the tickets on a ticket reselling website and other than the 30 minute rainstorm, the weather was gorgeous. The game itself turned out to be pretty good too.

Today, just by chance, I got an email from cubs.com thanking me for attending the game, which seemed kind of strange, given that I didn’t buy the tickets from the team. Of course, I’m not that naive … Read the rest of this entry →