What an MBA can’t and won’t teach you!

VJ Misra — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:43:34 -0400

What an MBA won’t teach you is to start your own business and be successful at it. Yeah they teach you how to write good business plans and make expert presentations to prospects. They do teach you branding, positioning, pricing, or for that matter accounting and finance. But not everything is gelled out for you to take it out and go start a business right after you graduate.

SEO: The most abused word in the tech world today

VJ Misra — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:20:59 -0400

Yes, I said it! Search Engine Optimization or "SEO" for short is the most abused tech jargon today. A while back it was Web 2.0 and Consultant. Everyone and their brother was an IT consultant or a Web 2.0 expert. A couple years prior to that were the "Y2K experts" and specialists who cashed in at the right time.

Management by Objectives (MBO)

VJ Misra — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:32:08 -0400

A lot of people feel, and sometimes actually voice, that Peter Drucker's "Management by Objectives" is deeply flawed. For those who don't know, Management by Objectives is ' the process of agreed upon objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the objectives and understand what they are in the organization.'

MBO is measured by the SMART criteria:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-Specific

Mind the Gap

VJ Misra — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:03:30 -0400

For those who live in the United Kingdom, or have ever been there, know what I am referring to. "Mind the Gap" is prominently displayed in the railway stations. Street vendors and shops also sell t-shirts that prominently display "Mind the Gap" logo. I own one myself.

"Mind the Gap" is a warning to train passengers of the sometimes significant gap between the train door and the station platform.

Mind the Gap

VJ Misra — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:00:16 -0400

"Mind the Gap" is a warning to train passengers of the sometimes significant gap between the train door and the station platform.

Due to the rough economic times there has evolved a significant gap between entrepreneurs and venture capital firms who fund their startup dreams.

Management

Mind the Gap

VJ Misra — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:58:34 -0400

"Mind the Gap" is a warning to train passengers of the sometimes significant gap between the train door and the station platform.

Due to the rough economic times there has evolved a significant gap between entrepreneurs and venture capital firms who fund their startup dreams.

Management

The Wrong Number Scam

VJ Misra — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:29:28 -0400

Thought I’d share this cool scam making way into our homes:

It starts where someone "accidentally" leaves you a voice mail giving you the best stock tip to buy that red hot stock that will triple in value.

Here is a transcript from of such a call from the SEC website:

East versus West Coast

VJ Misra — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:47:51 -0400

The United States of America is massive, and other than the 3,000 miles that divides us coast to coast, we see a lot of cultural difference between states. I personally live on the West coast but have worked extensively on the East coast. I have seen a huge cultural divide between the two coasts. No offence to anyone, but things become progressively uptight as you travel from West to East.

12.21.2012: How to cope with Apocalypse

VJ Misra — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:04:04 -0400

December 21, 2012 has been prophesized by the ancient cyclical Mayan calendar as the apocalypse...the end of the world. Our search engine trigger-happy fingers will definitely lead to a quick web search of "2012" and it will most definitely yield more than 300,000 results for doomsday.

According to the Mayan calendar, doomsday will be on December 21, 2012. Catastrophe or apocalypse is what waits us on this day. Is it true? How can we tell certainly? Unfortunately, NASA has predicted a sharp increase in sun spots for the year 2012.

Branding versus Advertising [versus Subtle Advertising]

VJ Misra — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:15:13 -0400

Anyone, who is someone in the marketing or advertising industry, knows who Peter Drucker, Philip Kotler and Robert Lauterborn are. Needless to say not many of us actually know the difference between branding and advertising. Or for that matter, subtle advertising and buzz words.

Octamom, half ton mom, and Aqua-Man are perfect examples. In this country we are obsessed with branding and image recognition.

Subtle Advertising is when the product is conveniently placed in a television or movie scene so that its logo or brand name is further enhanced in a tighter shot.