Corporate finance
Corporate finance is all about Risk and Return. I’m beginning to realise that every “analytical” course in MBA serves corporate finance. The reason I say this is because the concepts of economics, statistics, accounting, decision modelling etc can be applied in corporate finance but not the other way around. So, corporate finance is pretty much on top of the “MBA knowledge” pyramid.
If you think about it, the primary objective of corporate finance is ‘maximizing share price”. Yes, it is the share price and not stake holder value, revenue or other stuff. Corporates maximize share price to increase the wealth of share holders (i.e. general public). Let’s assume that the wealth of most share holders around the world is yet to reach a level, beyond which the positive impact of wealth on happiness diminishes and let’s also assume that over time, a majority of the population will indeed own shares of different corporations. Based on these assumptions, MBA directly helps students improve happiness of the world,’ and yet, look what our dear investment bankers did : )
Corporate responsibility
I just watched a couple videos during the discussion about corporate social responsibility (CSR) hosted by the policy advisor on CSR at the directorate-general for enterprise and industry in EU commission … The video’s were very impressive and, I think, provocative… Provocative enough for me to want to share them on this blog. The videos are interrelated and self explanatory. I’ve abstained from reviewing them because to avoid a lengthy post : )
Right questions
I’m coming to realise that one of the most grossly under-rated skill is “ability to ask the right questions”. The general consensus is that every intelligent person can ask intelligent questions. Can they really? NO.
I think we ask most of questions to ourselves. We have no problem asking the right questions as long as the answers are easy and pleasant, but the moment that they are complicated or unpleasant, I suspect we treat such questions as symbolic threats and do everything we can to avoid them. A classic example is “What do you want?”… The answer is not easy and we don’t want to spend all the time and energy only to figure out that we have no clue what we want (which is unpleasant). So we perpetually avoid that question.
Ok, that was philosophical. Actually, the reason I began to think about this topic is because I’m realising through the MBA that how much we learn or how successful we can be is directly correlated to our ability to ask the right question. I hear from many classmates that they are not sure what they want to do after the MBA… I wonder if we don’t know what we want to pursue after MBA, how we can understand how a corporate finance or marketing course is adding value to what we want to achieve in future. Well, the counter argument is that we learn merely to gain knowledge and not to get a job… that is not my point, If we have no clue how we intend to apply this knowledge in future, how can we gain maximum value.
Also, when we had to write a paper on how working in multi-cultural teams increases collaboration, I pondered over that question for three days making no progress. It was able to move forward only after I asked myself “What is collaboration?”… This might seem like a silly question, but it’s amazing how different our individual answers are compared to the standard definition : )
So if there are two skills that anybody should always improve on, it is the ability to “ask the right questions” and the ability to “ask”
Interestingly, I saw the profile of a partner from one of the big four consulting firms and his most favourite quote is “Why?”!! truly makes sense : )
Why manage time?
I’m amazed about how receptive the Vlerick staff is towards feedback from students. Every input (whether complaints or suggestions) have been responded to immediately. Recently, we mentioned that managing time was increasingly difficult as the course progressed and the school immediately responded by arranging a speaker session about time management by a famous author. The session was truly insightful.
I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking “what is the point of time management which requires rigorous discipline all the time if, at the end, it only means that we make more money?”… Very easy trap to fall into.
Today I watched a truly inspirational video by Randy Pausch about time management. He did this lecture after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and he knew he had only a couple of months to live at the time of delivering this lecture. I wil not dare evaluate such an extraordinary circumstance and speech. All that I know is that after watching this video, I’m absolutely certainly sure I will never fall into that trap ever again. To hear about time management from a man who has very less time left in his life is an eye opener. Randy Pausch is no more. May his soul rest in peace.
