GERRY.in | MBA blog | Ryerson University | Ted Rogers School of Management: Mar 16, 2012

Friday, March 16, 2012

The 48 Laws of Power --> Business Strategies / Personal Strategies That MBAs Should Know About (Warning: Use With Caution & Use Only For Good Purposes).

From the links:

By: Robert Greene.

Here are some articles about Robert Greene:

Youtube video below: Author Robert Greene discusses "The 48 Laws of Power".

From the book: The 48 laws of Power.

Books by Robert Greene that are extremely useful for MBA students:

1998 The 48 Laws of Power (with Joost Elffers)
2001 The Art of Seduction
2006 The 33 Strategies of War
2009 The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)
2010 The Descent of Power (ebook)

Law 1: Never outshine the master.
Law 2: Never put too much trust in friends. Learn how to use enemies.
Law 3: Conceal your intentions.
Law 4: Always say less than necessary.
Law 5: So much depends on reputation - guard it with your life.
Law 6: Court attention at all cost.
Law 7: Get others to do the work for you. But always take the credit.
Law 8: Make other people come to you. Use bait if necessary.
Law 9: Win through your actions. Never through argument.
Law 10: Infection: Avoid the unhappy and the unlucky.
Law 11: Learn to keep people dependent on you.
Law 12: Use selective honesty & generosity to disarm your victim.
Law 13: When asking for help, appeal to people self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude.
Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy.
Law 15: Crush your enemy totally.
Law 16: Use absence to increase respect and honor.
Law 17: Keep others in suspended terror: Cultivate an air of unpredictability.
Law 18: Do not build fortresses to protect yourself - isolation is dangerous.
Law 19: Know who you are dealing with - Do not offend the wrong person.
Law 20: Do not commit to anyone.
Law 21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker - seem dumber than your mark
Law 22: Use the surrender tactic: Transform weakness into power.
Law 23: Concentrate your forces.
Law 24: Play the perfect courtier.
Law 25: Re-create yourself.
Law 26: Keep your hands clean.
Law 27: Play on people's need to believe to create a cult-like following.
Law 28: Enter action with boldness.
Law 29: Plan all the way to the end.
Law 30: Make your accomplishments seem effortless.
Law 31: Control the options: Get others to play with the cards you deal.
Law 32: Play to people's fantasies.
Law 33: Discover each man's thumbscrew.
Law 34: Be Royal in your own fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one.
Law 35: Master the art of timing.
Law 36: Disdain things you can not have: Ignoring them is the best revenge.
Law 37: Create compelling spectacles.
Law 38: Think as you like, but behave like others.
Law 39: Stir up waters to catch fish.
Law 40: Despise the free lunch.
Law 41: Avoid stepping into a great man's shoes.
Law 42: Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.
Law 43: Work on the hearts and minds of others.
Law 44: Disarm and infuriate with mirror effect.
Law 45: Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once.
Law 46: Never appear too perfect.
Law 47: Do not go past the mark you aimed for; In victory, learn when to stop.
Law 48: Assume formlessness.

Government Sachs: Goldman's Close Ties To Washington Arouse Envy, Raise Questions.

From the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/02/government-sachs-goldmans_n_210561.html

(March 2009 article)

No wonder it's called "Government Sachs." It seems that every few weeks, another Goldman Sachs executive goes to work for a government agency, with bankers landing in positions of power at the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and pulling the levers of the massive trillion-dollar federal bailout.

Goldman Sachs is "a political organization masquerading as an investment bank, and they're sitting at the table with the top people in government," says Goldman critic Christopher Whalen, the managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics, which rates banks and provides customer analytics. He calls Goldman "the most political firm on Wall Street." Both admirers and detractors assert that Goldman's influence has only grown and that it has not always served the best interests of the government.

"People at Goldman are now at a much higher, much more visible level in government," says former Goldman vice president Lisa J. Endlich, who wrote "Goldman Sachs: The Culture Of Success". Endlich thinks that the bigger issue, beyond Goldman, is the influence of Wall Street in the corridors of power. "They are all from the same world - whether it's Morgan Stanley or Goldman filling Treasury or the Fed with people with very similar world views."

Endlich says that the financial agencies used to be staffed by people from industry and academics, along with bankers. Given the widening gap between the salaries of Wall Street and Main Street in recent decades, the concentration of bankers at federal agencies means that they may be a little out of touch with the concerns of working people and businesses.

"There's a bit of a love affair with Wall Street," says Endlich, explaining that much of that is due to the complexity of financial instruments, from credit-default swaps to derivatives, now prevalent in the financial industry. "It's gotten so complete that we seem to only trust those who have worked in that world."

Whalen says that the firm has been adept at using their influence in Washington, D.C. to serve their own interests. "Getting the info before anyone else does and acting on it," he says, claiming that legendary Goldman chairman Sidney Weinberg used to sit in the office of Time magazine editor Henry Luce to soak up the latest tidbits of information.

Whalen claims that the firm was suffering in November and December, until they started "embedding themselves in this administration... When you saw the stock turn, it showed that they had established themselves sufficiently.. Their political stars were in alignment."

Michael Lewis (June 2009, on Fareed Zakaria GPS - Watch CNN video below): "And it is amazing to me the degree to which, say, Goldman Sachs is intertwined with the Treasury, and how they're -- there don't seem to be any independent voices in the thick of the decision-making. The decision-making is all being done by people who one way or another might expect to make a lot of money from Goldman Sachs in the future". + "...Making a fortune creating a mess & making a fortune cleaning the mess..."

Relationship map / Goldman Sachs revolving door: http://www.muckety.com/897792228FFFA019E542A0A86226FE6D.map

New York Times - The Opinion Pages article called "Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs" by Greg Smith. ---> "The $ 2 Billion goodbye". Shares fell 3% with a loss of $2 Billion for the day.

From the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=1

Some interesting extracts (with some editing to shorten it):
"I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment is toxic and destructive. the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the (earlier) place.

Culture was (in the past) a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization.

How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm, you will be promoted into a position of influence.

What are three quick ways to become a leader?

a) Execute on the firm’s “axes,” which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit.

b) “Hunt Elephants.” In English: get your clients — some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t — to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them.

c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym.

It astounds me how little senior management gets a basic truth: If clients don’t trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn’t matter how smart you are.

These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, “How much money did we make off the client?” It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave.

I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer".

- Greg Smith,
Former Goldman Sachs Executive Director & Head, U.S. equity derivatives business, EMEA. (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).

New Young Billion Dollar Lingerie Business Owner ---> Sara Blakely Joins The Rich List Thanks To Spanx company.

From the link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/03/07/undercover-billionaire-sara-blakely-joins-the-rich-list-thanks-to-spanx/

The story of how SPANX became a Billion Dollar business with no advertisement! Read the article from the link above!

Sara Blakely "No butt left behind campaign", for a panty-line free opportunity for women. Products for men coming soon! She started with $5000 at age 29 and is now worth $ 1 Billion at age 41, with 100% ownership of her company.

How to Find a Job in a “Jobless Economy” or "The War For Talent in a Jobless Economy"

From the link: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2011/09/07/how-to-find-a-job-in-a-jobless-economy

Read the full article from the link above. It is interesting. Some points below:

Job seekers may be very surprised to learn that human resources pros and recruiters attend conferences to talk about “the war for talent.” Ironically, when so many people are looking for work, many hiring managers still have a difficult time connecting with the right candidates. They pay consulting firms a lot of money to teach them how their organizations can use Facebook to connect with potential applicants, and they hope Google+ is the next great social network to tap for professional information about new hires.

Smart applicants are taking action now in many innovative ways. They know there are jobs out there. They know how they got where they are today. They got themselves hired and went on to create jobs they need to hire for. They are sharing their advice via career events town by town, family by family, college grad by college grad, to do whatever it takes to find the right talent they need to grow their companies and grow the economy.”

You can still land a job in a stubborn market. The trick is to avoid relying entirely on old-school mechanisms and to embrace new ways to get the word out about what you offer a hiring manager.

Why it is Important That You Should Get a (Summer / Seasonal) Internship Experience During Your MBA.

From the link: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2011/04/29/why-you-should-get-a-summer-internship

Internship programs have taken a lot of heat, particularly in the last year or so. Some for good reason - not every internship is legal, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act, especially opportunities where for-profit companies expect candidates to work full-time for no pay.

With nearly three-quarters of students enrolled in four-year colleges and universities taking on at least one internship during their school career, it’s no wonder people are worried about internship programs taking advantage of young professionals. However, as long as the company abides by the laws surrounding internship programs, those opportunities should not be written off.

And just because some companies are taking advantage of interns does not mean that all internship programs are bad. Quite the contrary, actually. The benefits of internships for college students (and even recent graduates) include—but are certainly not limited to—the following

Learn more about your field or industry.
Apply knowledge learned in the classroom.
Gain valuable work experience.
Decide if this is the right path for you.
Develop and build upon skills.
Get a foot in the door at a company.
Gain valuable networking contacts.
Obtain references for future job opportunities.
Learn about the world of work.
Meet peers with similar interests.

Also see: 10 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Internship.

Seven Biggest Money Mistakes by New MBAs / New Grads.

From the link: http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2011/05/04/7-biggest-money-mistakes-college-grads-make

(Real the whole article from the link above. Here, below are only the main headings).
Whether it’s taking on too much debt or not enough, this year’s graduates are navigating a financial minefield.
Graduating from School and entering the "real world" can inflict total chaos on your life: Suddenly, you have to figure out how to feed yourself without the assistance of a 24-hour dining hall. Your closest friends, who used to be just a dorm-room away, are now scattered across the country. Your parents are less willing to send checks upon request. On top of that, you have to start paying rent, find and keep a job, and somehow convince yourself to start saving money for retirement, which is about four decades away.

It's overwhelming, but not insurmountable. These seven mistakes and their solutions, are designed to help college grads bypass common hiccups and take control of their financial lives.

1. Taking on too much debt—or not enough.
2. Becoming victim to rapid lifestyle inflation.
3. Falling into bad money habits.
4. Waiting to save and invest.
5. Failing to negotiate for a higher salary.
6. Thinking you're done studying.
7. Getting buried in paperwork.

The bottom line: Add "getting on top of your finances" to the list of things to do after graduation day—and try to make it at least as fun as cleaning out your dorm room.

Skittles Boom Box ---> How to use Social Media / Viral Youtube video to market a product on the internet. (This video has more than a Million YouTube views in just 3 months!)

5 Strategies to Pay for Graduate School / Business School

From the link: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-graduate-schools/paying/articles/2012/03/14/use-5-strategies-to-pay-for-graduate-school

1. Get your employer / boss to pay
2. Secure a scholarship
3. Work for the School
4. Borrow smart
5. Take your (tax) credit

Read the full article at the link above for all the good stuff. It is very interesting.