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Subroto Bhagchi’s “Strategically Yours” by Ramki [email protected]

Strategically Yours

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Page 1: Strategically Yours

Subroto Bhagchi’s

“Strategically Yours”

by Ramki [email protected]

Page 2: Strategically Yours

About Subroto Bagchi

Subroto Bagchi is a co-founder of MindTree Ltd., an

international IT consulting company. In April 2008, he was

redesignated as the "gardener" and in this role he will "repot,

fertilize and (...) weed and clip the human resources. He is

the author of the books, Go kiss the World- Life lessons for

the young professional .The High Performance Entrepreneur

and The Professional.

Page 3: Strategically Yours

Acknowledgement

The contents of this PowerPoint are based on

article titled “ Strategically Yours’ of

Mr.Subroto Bagchi which appeared in his blog

.

This is my own interpretation of his article

&

easy understanding .

Page 4: Strategically Yours

Words of Subroto Bagchi During the last few weeks, I had the opportunity to sit-in with two leadership

groups, one from Mind Tree and the other from a leading organization in the

hospitality sector. Each group was huddling to discuss their “Strategy” for the next

year. While listening to them, I realized what the two teams were discussing, was

Plan and not Strategy.

They were looking at the current year‟s performance as a base and then building

plans to achieve better than industry growth in top-line, customer satisfaction, and

employee satisfaction and so on. Both the groups had thought through how they

would go about their purpose at an abstract level. The two groups did need to

discuss their plans on hand which was critical from an operational perspective; but

they also needed “Strategy” without which any organization‟s relevance would be

in question sooner than later. Thus, on one hand what they really needed was a

strategy which they did not have; on the other hand, they were using the term

without knowing its true import.

I am sure many amongst us have the same issue; hence this is dedicated to

the meaning and characteristics of strategy.

Page 5: Strategically Yours

Strategy The word strategy comes from the Greek

word strategia, office of a general: linked to

Strategos and means:

The science & art of using all the forces

of a nation to execute approved plans

as effectively as possible during peace

or war;

The science & art of military command

as applied to the overall planning &

conduct of large-scale combat

operations

A plan of action resulting from strategy or intended to accomplish a specific

goal

The art or skill of using stratagems in endeavors such as politics and

business

(Source: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)

Page 6: Strategically Yours

Strategy

What the dictionary really suggests is that

strategy is a matter of leadership priority.

It must engage leaders.

It is something that is “game-changing” in

nature.

It is part science and part art. It is about

“large scale” impact.

Much the same way, someone has 25% attrition among employees and wants to

reduce it to 20% the next year, all we need is efficiency. But the moment we want

to contain attrition to halve it, we would need a strategy and we would need to

make strategic choices.

Reasonable growth of business over what we have this year, doesn‟t really need a

strategy for it; what is required is efficiency.

Page 7: Strategically Yours

It is not about the data, Stupid !

Page 8: Strategically Yours

It is not about the data, Stupid !

Game-changing personal decisions

(remember, strategy is about game

changing stuff) are rarely really borne

out of data.

What is game-changing?

When something you choose to do, irretrievably changes the

subsequent five, ten, twenty steps of your life in a big way, it is

game-changing.

Because you studied law over medicine, you ended up becoming a

lawyer for the rest of your life. It became your profession. But it also

determined where you would spend your wakeful hours, who you

work with, who pays for your services and so on.

Similarly, who you chose to marry had huge downstream

implications; it settled the pattern of your joys and your grief, it

settled who your relatives and your enemies would be.

Page 9: Strategically Yours

It is not about the data, Stupid ! What is game-changing? ( Contd..)

When you decide to have a baby, it was similarly a game-

changing decision because it changes practically

everything downstream

From your sleep pattern,

To the choice of a job to one of the two of you actually

putting career on the backburner,

To renting a bigger house

To moving to a savings plan such that one day your

child may get better education than what you had.

If people were to write a business plan before they are

to have a baby, I suspect, there would be no babies.

Data is critical but swimming in it, does not get you strategy.

Data is about the past & future data is an oxymoron. It is a projection and sometimes, a prayer.

No data on past usage would have given Mr.Gopinath the confidence to get into the helicopter

business.

No data told Kiran to get into the enzyme business or to leave it.

In the case of Siddhartha, data actually suggested that the idea of a coffee retail business was

unviable because coffee consumption was going down.

Page 10: Strategically Yours

It is not about the data, Stupid ! Data. Analysis. Logic -These are about the left brain.

The right brain on the other hand, sees the inter-connected nature of things, the

big picture, the relationships.

Strategy is more about the big picture. Game changing decisions are matters of

strategy and they are seldom made because of “rational” and hence data driven,

logical reasons; most often they sprout from an emotional crevice. Just as game

changing decisions in the personal sphere are borne out of emotional reasons or

shall we say, non-rational reasons, the same is true in the workplace.

Mouthing spread sheets and spewing data does not make you strategic.

Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Infosys and Tata Steel were not born out

of laborious study of analyst reports.

If the analyst can get it, they would not be writing the reports! You may seek

validation and comfort in analyst reports but the decision to start a memorable

enterprise is invariably in the gut.

The gut is not all intuition and no logic as some may think. As we are beginning

to understand how the gut works, people are telling us that the synaptic ends

actually go beyond the brain and what you think of as gut feel is actually your

brain.

Page 11: Strategically Yours

You don‟t require a Strategy for

business as usual

Page 12: Strategically Yours

You don‟t require strategy for business as usual

Infosys

In the year 2000, they had 5389 employees.

In 2003, that number was 15,356.

In 2007, the number was 80,501 and this year, it touched 128,000.

When a company wants to raise its headcount three times in three years as we saw

between 2000 and 2003, mere efficiency would not deliver.

The organization must do things very differently.

The interesting part in the example of Infosys is that the management at the top

remained the same between 2000 and 2011 but the very same set of leaders could

deal with the complexity of locating, hiring, training, retaining, shedding, rewarding

and recognizing three, ten, twenty times the original number!

Someone had anticipated the need, thought through the game(plan), socialized the

strategic choice among others and got the entire engine revving and the system

moving in a direction consistent with an invisible will.

The way Infosys spun the headcount is a great example of strategy at work.

You may or may not agree with what they do and how they do it, but there is

absolutely no question of doubting the presence of real strategy at work there

Page 13: Strategically Yours

If what you are discussing sounds counter-

intuitive, you are probably about to take off

Page 14: Strategically Yours

If what you are discussing sounds counter-intuitive, you

are probably about to take off.

In his book Simply Fly, Gopi beautifully narrates how he and his buddy Sam

decided to get into the helicopter business and Gopi says even today, he would

have never gone into it (the helicopter business) if he knew the price of a

helicopter! For the simple reason, he did not have that kind of money nor could

he raise it! So what did he do? He and his friend Sam went to Singapore and

negotiated with a helicopter owner to give them his copter on long-term

rental. The man agreed, Gopi and Sam flew it back to India. The rest is history.

The moment you shift your focus from owning something to operating it, buying

property to leasing it, retaining talent to rotating it, you are beginning to think

strategy and are more likely to make strategic choices that may be game

changing.

Captain Gorur Gopinath‟s (Gopi) entry into the

helicopter business & subsequently, the low-cost airline

business (and in time, exiting that business) is about

strategy and strategic choices.

Page 15: Strategically Yours

Not required to giving up something?

Probably not looking at strategy

Page 16: Strategically Yours

Not required to giving up something? Probably not

looking at strategy

Founder and Chairman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw would tell you that she started

the company when her Irish partner asked her to make enzymes out of papaya

and rice.

At one stage, Unilever bought a stake into her company as she had become a

very important supplier.

Then one day, she decided she was going to do other things. Insulin for

example. And things like contract research and so on. Her customer and

stakeholder Unilever did not like that one bit.

Sometimes the choices leaders make as an outcome

of a strategy conversation, do not require them to

give up anything.

Look at this advertisement from India‟s bio-tech

darling Biocon. It is an ad for selling enzymes;

fervently telling you that Biocon is the leader in the

enzyme business. Well, that is how the company

started.

Page 17: Strategically Yours

Not required to giving up something? Probably not

looking at strategy

They lectured her about stuff like core competency and even threatened that

they would pull out if she did not stick to the enzyme business. What did she do?

She sold that business.

Unilever pulled out. But thanks to that decision, today, Biocon is synonymous

with oral insulin to cancer research.

Unless you physically vacate the space you are standing on, you cannot move to

someplace else.

You must let go to let come.

The decision to vacate the enzyme space and the act of vacating it are matters

of strategy and strategic choices.

If what you and I are obsessed with right now does not require giving up

something substantive, we are probably also not getting into something

substantively different either. Scale and strategy are twins.

Page 18: Strategically Yours

Strategy loves adjacency

Page 19: Strategically Yours

Strategy loves adjacency

Cafe Coffee Days are clean, friendly, affordable, air-conditioned & safe.

It is a place where a boy and a girl can spend some time together in a

pleasant atmosphere and they are willing to pay for it.

This is not about coffee. Remember the tagline? Anything can happen

over a cup of coffee.

VG Siddhartha as a great strategist

When he decided to get into the coffee business,

everyone advised him against it. But he

persisted.

People wondered why anyone would pay Rs. 40

for a cup of coffee when all it cost was Rs. 4 to

make it at home.

He was not looking for a substitute to home

brewed coffee.

It was getting into the boy-meets-girl business

Page 20: Strategically Yours

Strategy loves adjacency

If you think of Cafe Coffee Day, do look at the way Siddhartha has

explored and harvested the power of adjacency.

Though his company‟s name suggests that you would get a fresh brew

each time you go to a Cafe Coffee Day, he can actually serve you

everything that is adjacent to coffee that the boy and the girl might need:

Samosa, sandwiches, brownies, Snapples, branded water & in some outlets, beer and

more potent forms of alcohol!

God did not tell him that he can and should sell only coffee. He in turn, is

not whipping his boys and girls to sell more cups of mocha and

cappuccino, nor is he enticing his customer to keep drinking more coffee

per session so that his profitability and market share go up.

Siddhartha knows that in the boy meets girl business, the boy (usually

the lesser intelligent but more focused) ignores the right hand side of the

menu and pleads to the girl to try the black forest pastry or some equally

expensive thing on the menu so that she may linger longer.

Page 21: Strategically Yours

Strategy loves adjacency

Adjacency is common knowledge to store merchandisers who are

always doing what we call “market basket analysis”.

Simply put, it means that your grocer must place jams next to the bread

alley and gourmet cheese close to the wine rack.

Similarly, if you have gone shopping for a pretty dress, you may be

more open than usual to consider accessories that go with it. So they

are displayed next to each other.

That simple idea is lost on leaders sitting around a table to contemplate

strategy for growth and profitability.

Siddhartha probably makes more money from things he does not make

than his original offering of roasted, crushed beans in hot water

Page 22: Strategically Yours

If the doorman doesn‟t get it, it isn‟t strategy

So who do we see here and what is he doing?

It is perhaps quite easy for most to identify the man and with some effort,

the instrument for spinning thread from cotton; it is called the charkha.

Gandhi made the spinning wheel the symbol of self-reliance & rejection

of all things British. In the symbolism of the charkha was encapsulated

the demand of a slave nation for independence from foreign rule.

What does all that have to do with strategy?

Page 23: Strategically Yours

If the doorman doesn‟t get it, it isn‟t strategy

Strategy must be something people can understand without

having to read user manual or undertaking a laborious journey

through Excel sheets.

A strategist understands the power of the picture over words and

metaphor over pictures. That is why Martin Luther King, in his

famous speech, said “I have a dream” and not, “I have a plan”.

In opposing the British, Mahatma Gandhi used a simple strategy

that the average people could understand in an instant.

Corporate leaders think strategy must be sophisticated, complex

and beyond average comprehension so that it looks like the real

stuff.

If something is simple, apparent and easy to follow, how can it

be strategy? Nothing can be farther than the truth.

Page 24: Strategically Yours

Go in the direction of your opponent

Page 25: Strategically Yours

Go in the direction of your opponent

Strategy is sometimes not about clashing with an adversary.

It is about going with him.

This is the essence of what Harvard professor David Yoffie

calls the “judo strategy”. Winning in Judo is not about

superior strength, it is about superior strategy.

In judo, you do not overpower your opponent with force; you

actually go with the force of the opponent to pin him down.

There is a famous photograph in Yoffie‟s book “Judo

Strategy” that depicts black belt champion Vladimir Putin

being thrown to the ground by a 10-year-old Japanese

school girl who outwitted the visiting Russian head of state

by simply going in the direction Putin was pulling her.

Page 26: Strategically Yours

Go in the direction of your opponent

Congress President Sonia Gandhi did exactly that when opposition leaders raised

the issue of her citizenship and asked how could a “foreigner” like her become

the prime minister of India?

Page 27: Strategically Yours

Go in the direction of your opponent All eyes were on her and everyone thought she would step in to the office & then face

the opposition wrath that could have also dragged her to court.

Nothing in the law says that a naturalized Indian cannot become the prime minister.

While a court ruling could still favor her, her opponents would have used the

opportunity to raise the issue of national security and such to get popular opinion

against her, particularly in a country in which fifty percent of people are not literate.

Sonia Gandhi chose not to fight the issue. She stayed out of the office of the prime

minister, instead asking Man Mohan Singh to become prime minister but in the

process, she remained the Congress party chief and it was evident and apparent that

the Congress-led government would not do anything that the party chief did not want

and all key issues needed her approval in any case.

In the process, Sonia Gandhi actually got a huge wave of sympathy and the

opposition leaders baying for her blood looked like a convoluted bunch spewing

narrow patriotism. Sonia Gandhi‟s strategy would go a long way because it is what I

call a game changer. Instead of leading a fractured coalition and facing a disruptive

opposition, she has retained the power without needing the position. Along the way,

she has kept the future secure for the scion of the Gandhi family who can, in good

time, combine the two.

Page 28: Strategically Yours

What is changing in here ?

Page 29: Strategically Yours

So, what is changing in here?

While leaders conceptualize strategy, they would do well to ask

themselves a fundamental question.

When the strategy hits the road, what would change?

When Rudy Giuliani took over as the Mayor of New York City the first

time in 1994, it was called the “murder capital” of the world. After taking

office, Giuliani summoned his police chief and asked for a small, simple

and speedy change. He wanted the pan-handlers off the street.

Page 30: Strategically Yours

So, what is changing in here? When motorists stopped at the red lights of New York City, pan-handlers

dashed at their wind shield, made a symbolic, feigned attempt to clean it

& then asked for money.

It was a nuisance to say the least & sometimes refusal to pay could lead

to abuse and violence. The mayor wanted the pan handlers to stop

preying on motorists. It wasn‟t a difficult thing for the police.

What no one realized was that the real strategy went far beyond. As the

pan handlers went off the street, so did drug peddling.

The pan-handlers were both the consumers & the sellers; they were the

retail arm of the drug lords. When they left, the drug business dropped

and with it went murder because of the simple correlation between drug,

violence and man slaughter. But it all started when something visibly,

noticeably and irretrievably changed.

The initial action soon after a leader takes charge, often signals that it is

not business as usual. Through it, a leader notifies strategic intent.

If nothing is changing, it is no strategy.

Page 31: Strategically Yours

But, How do I know ?

Page 32: Strategically Yours

But, how do I know?

Quite often, people debate with themselves, how do I know what I

am engaged with is strategy? How do I know I am not dribbling

with the ball, thinking all the while that I am thinking strategy?

There are a few tell tale signs of whether you are dealing with the

real stuff or just playing with sand castles on the beach. When in

doubt, ask yourself

Are the stakes low?

If there is nothing much at stake, chances are you are dribbling.

Is there ample evidence of displacement?

Displacement could mean people, policies, products, services,

customers, suppliers, whatever. No sign of displacement, no

strategy

Page 33: Strategically Yours

Are we making apparent choices ?

Page 34: Strategically Yours

Are we making apparent choices ?

Strategy is about making strategic choices. These

are seldom „apparent‟ choices. So, if you are

solving a HR problem through a HR solution

(reining in attrition by increasing salary) or a sales

problem through an essentially sales solution

(increasing sales by increasing salespersons), you

may not be talking strategy.

Strategy and strategic choices are most likely to

be from outside the system.

Remember, in every mythology, the deliverer is an

outsider?

Page 35: Strategically Yours

If nothing is changing,

it is no strategy

Happy Reading