Protecting Small Businesses from Unscrupulous Foreign IT Vendors

You are a small business owner ("you" "owner"). You have successfully used the web in marketing your services, but the cost of your IT services keeps growing 30-40% each year, despite the much-needed switch to a Cloud platform.

You keep hearing how others have been saving a ton by off-shoring web development/maintenance services, leading to all of their IT services. Yes, even smaller outfits have been outsourcing to vendors in emerging countries ("vendor") for a while. And one can anecdotally confirm that a well-researched exercise could save owners some decent money as well. But, as an owner, what you may not necessarily hear is the negative ("dark" is more appropriate) side of off-shoring IT services. Here are some of the negative issues, usually unreported, you must be aware of:

1 . Quality – When dealing with a small vendor, you are practically dealing with engineers and other technical graduates from 2nd and 3rd-tier (mushrooming and mostly export-oriented) schools. Given this axiom, you are getting significantly lower quality products and services from the get-go. By the time you figure this difference out, it might be a day too late, meaning you might be stuck with them for a while. Have you ever seen a Harvard MBA working for a local butcher? If you ever see one working for the butcher, he is probably developing a global franchise. The point is, do not expect to work with superstars there. Of course, the crooks may use a superstar to close the sale, but nothing more! 

2. Communication – Though they are all English-speaking, you will be lucky to understand every third word (over the phone), if not every third sentence. And, with their inferior telecommunication system, you are faced with the proverbial unintended consequences. Your primary business quickly turns into pleasing ("begging" is more appropriate) to get them to do something, however substandard the quality might be. The stress will continue to mount, but you will be in denial that things would get better.

3. Time Difference – It's a huge issue, particularly if you are planning to outsource to Asia. For example, after returning from lunch with a prospective client, you are ready to place a call to your Asian vendor to discuss a few changes to the existing client profile. As you are prepared to speed-dial, you realize that its midnight there. Now you have to wait 12 hours to make the call. And, if you happen to hook up with a crooked vendor, you are now unimportant to them. Email communication (you'll receive replies once in a while) is the only way out. Though you got an excellent deal while signing up with them, it now costs you an arm and a leg for every simple change you ask for. That's how the crooks operate. If you ever question them about the skyrocketing pricing, you will get tons of mambo jumbo – all structured talks from different sites where thieves of the world unite.

4. Due Diligence – It's challenging to conduct any meaningful due diligence of small vendors in emerging countries. While there are many ways to check the standing of a small vendor in the US - from D&B to BBB to Licensing boards to Trade organizations to local Chamber of Commerce, etc. - there is hardly any such reliable source there, making it almost impossible to separate the honest from the crooks. It may so happen that due to change in ownership, the honest ones are not-so-honest anymore. Moreover, the vast majority of thieves maintain fake references (and fake/shared sites) in the US. Clients may not stand by old recommendations either.

5. Hidden Cost of Apps – To identify and separate the real ones from the crooks, you must try to zero in on the accurate pricing. If the first project entails developing a website, you must ask if the site would be mobile-friendly. Nowadays, most small business sites, including e-commerce sites, are mobile-friendly without developing a set of separate iOS and Android Apps. When a vendor insists on keeping them separate, you must be a bit careful. The crooked vendors often offer very attractive pricing on the initial website, followed by exorbitant pricing on the Apps. However, if the separation makes business sense, you must ask for the vertical pricing (site + apps), in writing, and upfront (must be valid for at least twelve months), to be in the know before signing any contract. 

6. Update Capability – All other factors remaining constant, you must also insist on having the full capability and flexibility to update and upload news, data, video, etc. on to your new site. "Send us the changes, and we'll take care of it" is a serious red flag. There are no free lunches, so you must not walk into this trap. The cooked vendors use this trap to churn owners, and it gets exponentially worse over time. Even if the vendor is honest, owners must realize that it's not a workable solution, as no business is all-proactive; they need to promptly and intelligently react to momentum situations as well (and this is where the trouble starts, generally resulting from the time difference, frequency of updates, immediate availability of right personnel, etc.).

7. Employee leasing – And this goes hand in hand with #6 above. Unlike here in the US, most emerging markets do not have clear-cut laws regarding temporary staffing and employee leasing. To create a round-the-year income stream, the crooked vendors try to own/retain the update capability. Later, citing frequent and volume updates, they try to promote employee leasing. They package and market the very ordinary kind at the prevailing rate (with fake resumes, etc.) and simultaneously lease them to multiple clients. Therefore, it is critically important that the owners retain the full update/upload right from the get-go, without which it could pose serious trouble, just a matter of time!

8. Local Legal System – It is not easy to fight the crooks in their territory; they know all the tricks to play the legal system. When I played soccer, I did believe in 'it ain't over till it's over,' but this concept does not necessarily work for a small business. Sometimes when the writing on the wall is abundantly clear, it's better to cut the losses short and call it a day. It could be a defeat emotionally, but a real victory intellectually. Smart business owners understand there is a better use of the R & D capital than wasting it on fighting some crooks overseas. Alternatively, this could be a boon or a silver lining to bring the business back home and try out a real engineer who is smarter and inherently more ethical.

9. Tip of the Iceberg – You must strictly keep the relationship at the business level, meaning the vendor should be treated as a professional services vendor; anything more personal than that will cause trouble down the road. Suppose the relationship becomes friendlier than that, one sunny morning, you may get a call or email (one of those rare occasions!) from the principal of the vendor firm indicating (actual email quote follows), "I have got a personal medical emergency in my family, and looking to arrange [$$] ... If you could help me in providing [$$], I can arrange (to pay it) back before 10th of the next month." This event could be the tip of the iceberg. If you become emotional and fall for this type of ploy, it will be the end of your business relationship with them. Forget about the loan; they will walk away from all unfinished projects, leaving you in a real lurch. It's not all that green on the other side!

-Sid Som, MBA, MIM

homequant@gmail.com

Link to the Book

How to Protect Intellectual Property from Serial Thieves Posing as Investors

You are an innovator with a brilliant mind. With years of hard and smart work, you have developed an AI-based solution that you are ready to commercialize. But you do not have the capital to move forward with it. You realize you are at the mercy of outside investors. You contact a whole host of accredited venture capitalists and angel investors. Months pass by—no positive news. You are becoming impatient, perhaps somewhat disheartened. As desperation kicks in, you start to contact the so-called small investors from online lists. They give you big stories about their investment philosophies and portfolio companies without verifiable track records.

You are so eager to get started that you are ready to sign up with the one with the sweetest talk and biggest promises. You know you are supposed to check them out (i.e., do some due diligence). Other than a handful of references listed on their site (perhaps developed elsewhere where English is the seventh most crucial language), you have nothing else to go by. However, after speaking to one of them, it did tell you that those references could be fake. Yet, you are ready to take the plunge.   

Wait!

Within this particular investor group, there are too many serial thieves waiting to steal your invention. Since these serial thieves are intellectually incapable of differentiating between a digital watch with a new alarm tone (wow!) and an AI-based solution that advances humanity's cause, they will steal anything. But they are generally good at three things: serial lying (they tend to believe truth is for the devil), serial stealing (they will steal anything to satisfy and advance their greed), and running Ponzi schemes (to keep some hard-nut clients quiet).

Of course, they primarily develop their business by stealing client contacts. Some of those contacts do fall for these thieves' flashy lifestyles, constant lies, and pushy salesmanship, becoming future portfolio investors (a.k.a., victims) themselves. At one point, you will find out about it. Anyway, it doesn't matter how well you know your investors, do not (share or) introduce your contacts to them; let it take its natural course. The contacts-turned-investors (or future investors) are outside this chapter (couldn't care less!).

So, how do you protect yourself from these serial thieves? Here are some red flags and safeguards:

1. Check them out at the local BBB and Chamber of Commerce – Ignore the positives (could be cooked up as they often hunt as a pack) and zero in on the negative reviews/comments, even if the ratio is 10:1. Contact that one negative reviewer and find out what the underlying story is. If the investor does not subscribe to the local BBB or Chamber of Commerce, I would be very skeptical of their intentions (despite the falsehood you might get from them "Oh, that's old-fashioned; nobody cares about them anymore, etc."). The genuine ones will brag about their local BBB and Chamber of Commerce standing, etc.

2. Try to avoid the Key-man Insurance – Since it's a start-up, the investor may insist on taking out a large (relative to the money being invested) key-man insurance on you. Try to avoid it or defer it until the product (based on your concept) has been launched. If you have to do it, insist on having your spouse or parent as the co-beneficiary, preferably 50/50. If they continue to insist on their business entity is the sole beneficiary, I would be very skeptical of their intentions and consult a lawyer for legal safeguards. 

3. Initial IP Patent Filing must be in your name – Do not fall for a joint patent filing (with the business). If the relationship works out, you can always transfer it to the company for a substantial fee or equity option. Either way, it benefits the business. Suppose the initial filing is in the business name only. In that case, the serial thieves will do everything possible to push you out or will create an intolerable atmosphere wherein you push yourself out. If they insist on their way, show them the highway and look elsewhere. This clause must be anchored in the first agreement itself, which provides you with the primary protection.

4. You must be the CEO of the new corporation – If the whole business is going to be founded on your IP, you must be the CEO of the new company with total hiring authority – no two ways about it. The legitimate investors will insist on your stewardship. The serial thieves, on the other hand, might fuss about it. Starting, if you are not in charge, despite what the serial thieves say, your innovation would be road-killed, just a matter of time! You can always step down down the road, paving the way for a professional CEO, which is quite common. Again, this must be clearly laid out in the charter.

5. Insist on your own Independent Office with the long-term lease – This will give you more stability and independence. If you are forced to work out of a room inside their offices, you will gradually lose ground and become their pawn. It's a trick the serial thieves often play. If they think your IP is valuable, they must do everything possible to accommodate, nurture, and promote your requirements. While the parent company would be responsible for all rents and utilities, the lease must be in your company's name.

6. Insist on owning 51% shares of the new company – If you own 51%, you may not be pushed out quickly. When dealing with a small investor, you are inherently in a high-risk situation, thus requiring higher rewards. Similarly, please do not allow them to place majority directors of their choosing on the board. Also, try to hire an independent CPA and Lawyer for your company; it's not a question of bias, rather a problem of transparent billing, meaning your company must not subsidize their other portfolio companies.  

7. Negotiate a sizable salary during the gestation period - Due to the high ownership percent, if they are unwilling to give you a salary, you must nonetheless negotiate a decent wage, at least, until the company becomes profitable (easily two to three years), post which you must be allowed to sell a certain percentage of your unrestricted shares now and then on the open market, thereby enabling you to take care of your family expenditures. 

8. Insist on having the pre-negotiated capital locked in escrow – Since you are dealing with a small investor, you must ask them to put up the entire money in escrow, with a lawyer acting as the escrow agent. The lawyer will then disburse the working capital monthly. This is a critical test; while the legit investors will not have any issues with this, the serial thieves will invariably try to talk you out of it. If you succumb to their sweet talk, this is what will happen: Once the business is up and running, one sunny morning, you will get a call for an emergency meeting where they will announce 'we are out of money.' And, there goes your dream. Now you have to get hold of an expensive lawyer to get yourself distanced from those serial thieves. Meanwhile, they will go around and tell the world (primarily your contacts that they managed to steal) how you have destroyed a considerable sum of their extremely hard-earned (LOL) money without producing anything. Do not walk into this trap!

9. Do not outsource your IT or other essential services to their overseas portfolio companies – Outsourcing IT services to a quality US-based portfolio company would be fine. But these serial thieves often set up some portfolio companies overseas, luring you to outsource some of your essential services, primarily IT, to them. In return, you will get shallow quality products and services coupled with hefty bills. In no time, your working capital will dwindle, forcing you to sell a significant chunk of your shares back to them, to stay afloat – and it will be difficult for you to get out of this cycle until the eventuality hits the fan ('we are out of money'). And, it's all by design.

If you are dealing with a well-known/accredited venture capitalist, you are in safe hands. Your success is their success so that they will stand by you through thick and thin. But if you have to deal with a small, unverifiable investor, do your due diligence. We know you are not greed-filled. When you succeed, humanity progresses, and we all grow.

Do not let a low-life, greedy criminal steal your dreams!

Disclaimer -- The characters portrayed here are hypothetical, and any likeness to any individual or entity is strictly coincidental. The author does not offer this post as professional services advice in any form or manner. Every investor is different, so seek a competent professional's advice, preferably an experienced attorney, before deciding on a non-accredited investor.

- Sid Som, MBA, MIM

homequant@gmail.com

Link to the Book

Coronavirus Pandemic – A Somber Day in the US, Death Toll Reaches 200K

Today (9/22/2020), the USA encountered the somber milestone of 200K coronavirus-related deaths, contributing to 21% of the worldwide total of 974K. In one of the press conferences in March, President Trump opined he would be happy with 100K deaths. Sadly, we are already at twice as many deaths.

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Out of the nearly 32M worldwide cases thus far, the US owns 7M cases, or 22.4% of the total cases, which is in line with the death rate. Though the US had initially peaked and tapered in April, it faced a rapid resurgence in July due to re-escalations in the Sunbelt. Fortunately, it has steadily tapered in August and into September; for example, the daily cases averaged 27,515 in June, more than doubled to 61,148 in July, but has trended down to 46,497 in August and 37,818 in September. The 7-day moving average trendline amply confirms the taper.

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The daily deaths kept pace with the cases during the recent resurgence. Since there is a 2-4 weeks lag between the onset of infections and deaths, the curve tends to be slightly forward-tilted; for instance, the daily deaths averaged 808 in July, surging to 964 in August, and tapering back to 765 in September. The 7-day moving average trendline is confirming as well.

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As indicated before, the US is the frontrunner with 200K deaths, followed by Brazil with 138K and India 90K. India remains the epicenter with rapidly surging cases and fatalities, while Latin America continues to project very high positivity. While the USA's actual death and positivity rates remain low, its population-level rates are still high due to its massive surge at the outset of the onslaught. However, its testing credentials are leading the way.

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Though the three Sunbelt states -- California, Texas, and Florida -- have eclipsed New York in caseloads, the initial jolt is still keeping New York at the number one position in overall deaths. Likewise, New Jersey remains number two in fatalities, but California and Texas's rising tolls may soon displace it. 

The high positivity rates in the southern sun states are perhaps signaling another resurgence soon.

Stay safe!

Data Sources:

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_States

-Sid Som

homequant@gmail.com

Ready to Jump Ship? Wait! Know Your Real Friends!

You are a superstar. You have a few years of quality post-graduation experience under your belt. But you are not the laid-back kind; you want a lot more from your talent, leveraging your background in advanced Applied Math. Lately, you have spent many evenings and weekends working on a super-duper scientific application that will standardize and harmonize humans' food habits across all significant primary cultures and around the globe. You have also concluded the person inventing the applied science leading to humans' classic cuisine will be the first trillionaire. Granted, the vast majority of the current billionaires will agree with you, perhaps regretting that they took a much safer IT route. The good news is, they are now way too involved in their business to compete with you anymore.

Now that you have decided to quit your job and give your concept a full-time go, you should finally know who your real friends are at your workplace. You can apply the same logic to your previous workplaces too. Meanwhile, don't make too much splash until you patent your know-how, including the algorithm. This chapter is not about making a value judgment about whether you are (financially) ready to leap; instead, this is offered to help you understand who your real friends are.

When you are part of the system, you are always under the impression that the people around you are all your friends. Not really! Now is the time you will figure out who your real friends are. Given your near-perfect IQ, you will see that there are four emerging groups. The first two groups comprise the largest population, followed by the two much smaller ones. The fourth emerging group includes a handful, perhaps fewer.

Okay, let's end the suspense!

Group 1: Those who have been Encouraging you to become an Entrepreneur – These are the folks who have been encouraging you to become an entrepreneur by constantly reminding you, "You are too brilliant to waste your life here." These are generally the most ordinary people who are threatened by your presence. That is an essential characteristic of the average at workplaces. They do not like the presence of a superstar so they tend to fake up in their minds that their performance is continually being compared with yours, though you know it quite well that that's never been the case. It's the other way around: Your presence not only protects them but helps them improve their overall efficiency level. Now that they know you are on your way out, they are incredibly relieved, perhaps ending their worst nightmares. Wherever you meet them – by the watercolor, at the lunch table, in the elevator, etc. – they will congratulate you, not once or twice, but over and over again. These folks are neither your friends nor your well-wishers. Of course, you will expect the same from an over-rated boss and average peers, often broadening this group's base. In the end, you will be inundated with their contact information. You have to write them off and toss their info on to the first trash can outside your office building. Try not to use such average bosses and peers as references as they often go on a mindless rant confusing the counterparty.

Group 2: Those who are Openly Congratulating You – Invariably, this will be the largest group. These are also very ordinary people who, deep down, are either very uncomfortable or are moderately threatened by your presence. While these folks will not directly encourage you to leave, your resignation will be welcome news. They do not like a superstar's presence either, but they tend to be less aggressive and proactive in getting rid of a superstar than the prior group. Of course, they will also congratulate you every day upon face-to-face encounters until you leave. This group will also take the maximum initiative in arranging your farewell party (and what not), which has nothing to do with any gratitude or respect for your contribution to their general upliftment but to celebrate their final liberation from their hysterical mindset. Needless to say, while the last group is more like your enemy, this group is neither your friend nor your well-wisher. Again, you will be inundated with their contact information. Just toss them.

You will still hear from these two groups initially (as the free hand-holding suddenly ends) but not for too long. After your departure, departmental expectations will take a nosedive, paving the way for their favorite consultants and vendors to return and take over. Of course, your departure will make these outsiders as ecstatic as their inside counterparts. The lost paradise has been regained. Happy days are here again!

Group 3: Those who are trying to talk you out of it – While this tends to be a small group of smart people, they are not yet fully convinced that you are ready for the plunge. They are worried that it's premature, and you might be in severe financial trouble down the road. These folks will usually convince you to defer the departure until you line up some financing as an alternative way of validating your concept. Some will even mobilize their successful contacts and arrange for you to meet them to retest your overarching self-belief. Out of the deep sadness of losing an outstanding employee and a great mentor, they won't be too forthcoming with their contact information. In fact, until the last day, they will remain optimistic that there could be a change of heart. Either way, these are your good friends and stay in touch. They will be calling you from time to time, expecting exponentially-growing good news from you, and they will always be proud of your achievements. That's how the generous hearts bind into a larger than life group.

Group 4: Those who are Talking to your Boss to Hold You Back – A handful of people, often fewer, in your department will be frantically chasing and trying to talk to your boss to hold you somehow back. Unlike Group 3, these people are not only concerned about your well-being, but they are also profoundly alarmed at the thought that the department would be losing its hero. Sometimes they go this extra mile by risking their future. Case in point: When the boss is of the average kind, he would love to see you leave, heaving a big sigh of relief. When these folks approach such a boss with this plea, they unknowingly jeopardize or sacrifice their future. Of course, to them, the overall good is a lot more important than their future. It is part and parcel of their nature so that they will repeat it all through their lives. These are generally the future superstars too.

Have you ever wondered why the above-average folks are so much more successful at workplaces than the genuinely brilliant ones? The above-average ones follow the proven format while the genuinely brilliant ones could care less, usually walking away from the herd. Anyway, these are your best friends. They are very few and far between. In poor counties, people even sell blood to bail out their best friends.

From now on, your paycheck stops, so stay focused and stick to your mission. You will soon be there. When you become the first trillionaire, remember some of your friends perhaps silently sacrificed their future to see you become successful.

For now, know who your real friends are!

-Sid Som, MBA, MIM

homequant@gmail.com

Link to the Book

How to Excel at Work and Outclass the (Internal) Competition

By looking at the corporate ladder, winners promptly realize that their peers are their primary competitors while their boss happens to be the secondary competitor. As they establish that maxim, they understand the need for a set of creative and consistent strategies to narrow the competition down – gradually. Of course, the winners recognize this winning path quite early in their career, clearly defining their intermediate and long-term goals and steadfastly working on and fine-tuning the strategies. In the process, they also learn to remain unwaveringly focused, making navigational changes, as and when demanded by today’s fast-evolving corporate environments.

And, that’s how they win – just a matter of time! Meanwhile, the competition remains busy on Monday morning quarterbacking, falling behind, often far back. The goals vary even amongst the winners, but the strategies they follow (to achieve those goals) tend to be similar. So, what do the winners have in common?

1. Winners Never Underestimate or Lose Sight of the Big Picture. While they discharge their daily duties extremely diligently and efficiently, they are always in the know as to the positioning and importance of their work relative to the big picture (i.e., how their departmental work, directly and indirectly, contributes to the corporate goal). This skill comes naturally to all visionary leaders. On the other hand, the competing start-up folks who get bogged down, however ethically to their daily work only, end up becoming successful operational technicians, rather than enterprise-level solution providers. While the new management trainees are generally (hired and) trained together, this fork becomes increasingly apparent and visible to the bosses, quite early on. They easily stand out to the smart bosses as their questions and concerns are generally the big picture-oriented.

2. Winners Rarely Develop a Rigid 9-to-5 Work Mindset. From the get-go, they learn to condition their work mindset and ethics on the heels of the other successful corporate leaders, so they rarely nurture the conventional 9-to-5 habit; instead, they enjoy taking full ownership of their work, thus letting the work dictate their daily hours, irrespective of any allowable paid comp or overtime. In other words, the winners always know how to take total ownership of their work, while the rest tends to succumb to a structure of pre-defined rules and some superficial responsibilities. The smart bosses also foresee the budding leaders in the folks who believe in taking total ownership of all assigned projects and are always eager to take on new challenges.

3. Winners Know how to Get into the Groove of Aiming High. Winners understand the value of time, so they prefer working lunches with the smart bosses rather than lunching out with their peers. They recognize and appreciate that the vast majority of intelligent bosses rarely have an extended time to enjoy outside lunches. Therefore, the working lunch idea makes more sense to both as they build better professional chemistry. Since the budding winners also realize that even during a working lunch, they are being watched and evaluated as if it were a staff meeting, they learn to come prepared and stick to the most critical issues and concerns related to the project(s) being discussed.                

4. Winners Know how to Build a Brand to Make their Work Stand out. It’s in the DNA of all winners to reject even the straightforward work. Instead, whatever they do, they try to excel and outrival the competition by building their brand. Over a short period, the smart bosses start to recognize and appreciate the additional effort. Even in a group project, their brand becomes clear and present. The branding not only gives them instant recognition and enhances their image, but also protects their work from being inappropriately used or abused by others. Such brands also help bosses as they can easily present that class of work to their higher-ups without spending days preparing a special report for a short one-off meeting. Linking brands are more uncomplicated and time-saving as the same feather forms them.       

5. Winners Develop the Moral fiber always to help Staff, Peers, and Bosses. Winners know their help is ever needed not only by their staff or peers but also by their bosses, making them some of the most highly sought after employees in their departments. But it’s never a negative or an annoying issue for them. They take it very positively from the beginning of their career and continuously build upon them, so much that it becomes part of their work ethics, even as they move up the ladder. Developing this moral fabric is inherent in visionary leaders. The great CEOs are generally easily approachable. Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, used to maintain an open-door policy to walk in and talk to him without prior appointments.   

6. Winners always Know when and how to Walk away from the Herd. Their primary professional attributes – ability to critically think, solving enterprise-level challenges, staying focused through the work stages, and the determination to reach the finish line – are so different from the general competition that they start challenging the status quo and conventional (group) thinking as they settle into the job. The fact that the winners understand the importance of the big picture immensely helps them articulate inherently better and more convincing cases and enterprise-level or, at least, broad-based solutions. Of course, they also realize that the only way they can promote better ideas and solutions is by walking away from the group from time to time, and they are generally unafraid to do so, as it’s always for the greater good, not for the individual championship.

7. Winners Develop Strong Personality to Fend off Bully Bosses. Given an unrestricted domain of authority (due to weak superiors), bully bosses often resort to the reign of terror, especially targeting the smartest (who make the vile look inferior!) and walking down on the curve. While the winners are generally some of the most polite and pleasant personalities, they also realize that developing a strong character is equally important, and they tend to nurture that trait in themselves from the school days, leading into the corporate life. Often, to make an initial assessment of the environment, many new graduates from the top schools insist on personal meetings (job interviews aren’t enough) with the future peers and bosses before accepting an offer. They also understand the importance of an exit strategy when the environment remains polluted beyond repair.  

8. Winners Learn to Take Full Advantage of Leadership and Management Opportunities. While the competition remains iffy (makes and rationalizes excuses) of taking advantage of proper leadership or management opportunities, the winners not only recognize them, but they confidently line up at the gate as well. They know it quite well that the early attempts to climb the ladder – even when the outcome is a foregone conclusion – are critical. The winners never balk at meaningful opportunities as they know the ladder turns into a pyramid, getting narrower and narrower as the climb continues and reaching the inflection point where the major league gets separated from the minor league, so to say. The winners become the EVPs, FVPs, and CEOs, while the old competitors wish them good luck.

9. Winners Learn the Do’s and Don’ts Early on and Practice them throughout their corporate life. It is generally beneath their dignity to even talk about their performance or achievements, let alone bragging about them -- a practice that becomes their fail-safe second nature. Likewise, while they are incredibly respectful of all races, religions, ethnicities, cultures, orientations, etc., they always avoid unnecessary talks or discussions on such issues. They develop the habit of evaluating everything based solely on merit resulting in net positives; in other words, when they spend any time on any discussions, they make sure that the positives far outweigh the negatives, a priori. They enjoy their work to the brim, thus always looking forward to Monday mornings. In the process, they learn to avoid all negative stimuli, distancing themselves from all negative personalities (as much as possible) and meaningless social talks around the water cooler (they will smile and walk away). Last but not least, as they start their career, they do not waste time wondering where to start, often getting into the habit of writing self-addressed work summaries on Friday afternoons, so they do not waste time on Monday mornings wondering where to start.

The early start is critical. Procrastination means whiling the career away. Aim High.

-Sid Som

homequant@gmail.com

Link to the Book