Presenting a Strategic Plan is something of a poisoned chalice. On one hand it is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the business and impress pretty senior people about your business acumen. On the other hand its very nature, unlike that of operating plans, invites very wide-ranging intellectual discussions with executive management during the presentation. A slip there can have very serious and permanent consequences.

The challenge therefore is to build up a reasonably believable plan and present it in a manner that, at the end, you still have your job intact. Having survived a number of such sessions, and now mostly having the pleasure of being in the reviewing audience, I do get asked for advice on best survival tips. In my opinion it’s more of a matter of avoiding certain key pitfalls. So here goes my two cents or seven and a half halala’s worth of advice…

First, bond thyself and thy audience. Now this is the real easy part, provided of course you are hot, blond, of the right friendly disposition and can successfully give Pamela Anderson a run for her money. For all the rest of us this is a big challenge.

It always pays to be humble and suitably deferential towards the audience, most of whom , except for the owners progeny, are unlikely to be anything other than shrewd and seasoned business executives. Time-honored openers like “it’s a pleasure presenting to all of you”, work all the time.

Stating that all your labor is, at the most, only likely to lead to a better understanding of the business challenges is another time tested winner: does all this sounds corny? Yes it is, but remember this is all about survival. Nobody likes a wise guy who pretends he is the biggest know all ever, so please do not come across as one, especially not at the start.

Second, know thy business and its limits. Pretty obvious, right? But seldom adhered to! While discussing the key objectives of the plan, we all have this irresistible urge to impress the audience. And in our zeal to impress, our vision comes across as being on par with the desires of a modern day Alexander. However, unless you are a Harvard dropout or had been given away at birth, and now are willing to cheat, copy, bully and lie your way to top, chances are slim that you will be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and lead your organization to everlasting glory. Plus of course, there is the small matter of having a high enough IQ.

Please ensure that you come across as someone who knows the difference between a vision and a dream.

Third, sell strategies they, not you, think are implementable. Therefore, please spare the audience the details of your grand designs related to the new world order. Banish the thoughts of revolutionizing the industry , stick to leveraging what your businesses core competencies are and you should have a built up a fairly reasonable pointer towards where all of you could possibly land up in another three to five years. And please keep the language simple and avoid grandiose expressions. The number of times I come across the words “passion” “anticipation” and “excitement” would make most of our film starlets blush.

Fourth, explain thy key plan assumptions well, and near the start. This does not mean showing a bewildering array of charts setting out endless population, GDP, inflation and sale trends numbers. Try building on something more interesting based on consumer insights, price points evolution, channel segmentation, etc. It is advisable to invest some money on good market research beforehand instead of downloading pages from CIA fact book. This should add credibility to the numbers you are building your whole plan on.

At the fifth place comes tackling thy enemy’s evil plans. Please keep in mind that everyone in that room is aware that you are not, unfortunately, the only player in the market, and that the enemy would also be planning your business’s demise. So an inadequate competitive analysis section makes you look quite foolish and out of touch with reality. Both of these outcomes can have very serious career repercussions.

As for number six, please be cautioned that Capital Expenditure both mattereth and hurtheth the moistest. Now you are on really dangerous grounds. Your audience will know, from bitter experience, that imprudent CAPEX outlays have a striking resemblance to bad marriages. You continuously regret getting into them and it’s impossible to avoid the consequences; and no wonder as most of the CAPEX requests I review are meant to look good on only one place, the Operations Directors CV! So only present what has been thoroughly assessed. Think instead of upgrades, and possibly leasing, and thou should be on safer grounds. This, by the way, applies to romantic liaisons also…

And seventh and the last, and the most critical. Do not wait to be asked questions, you do it all the time. Take the lead in asking them questions and then pointing out the answers in your presentation impresses them a lot, also makes them feel grateful for not having to think too much!

The best way as ever is to be well prepared and to understand that strategic plans are a means to an end, not an end by themselves. This way you will enjoy the experience. And hopefully survive to fight another day…

Dustin Dwyer’s latest story on Apple brings up in detail 3 points we all knew at the back of our heads as to why Apple will not manufacture its products in the USA. Excerpt from the article: 1. Cheap labor Apple executives may not want to admit it, but Liker says one of the biggest [...]

3 Obvious Reasons Apple Will Never Produce in USA is a post from: PakMediaBlog All Rights Reserved.

I present to you one of the most famous images of Steve Jobs. It always makes me wonder.

It is not the eyes and that very subtle smirk on his face. It is that hand. That hand in front of his face, which seems to be supporting his chin. I have stared at it, and wondered, and questioned it. It baffles me. I have no answer to it, but I present to you a few theories:

– He just had a zit on his chin and wanted to hide it.
– He was developing a bald patch on his chin, and wanted to hide it.
– His hand is making the motion ASIAN (desi) people make to indicate the word ‘money’.
– His hand forms a triangle, which signifies the pyramids and the all seeing eye on top of the pyramid, and hence only fuels all the conspiracy theories about his products having a single ‘i’ in front of them.
– His beard is not real, and it is a wig, and was falling off and he is trying to hold it in place.
– If you look closely, it is evident that this is not his own hand. It is somebody else’s hand. This is the only way he could allow his secret love-child to become a part of history.
– Following on the other hand theory, Steve Jobs was asleep and the hand was required to keep him up.
– He had just hurt his thumb using a hammer and had been sucking it. He only took it out for the picture.
– He was giving a thumbs up and the picture was taken a few precious moments before, but turned out so good they decided to keep it.
– He had ripped his shirt or dropped something on his shirt and was trying to hide the stain.
– He had a coffee and the seat was steaming up his glasses, so he held his hand over it to stop it from doing so.
– He was really mad at the photographer and was just forming a punch.

I leave you with these thoughts. Feel free to add some of your own.

PS. And yes, I know the Steve Jobs posts have been and gone, but here is my piece on it, which should hopefully be taken in the right spirit.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGWQBjt95AY

When you double-tap the home button of your iPad or iPhone, the dock will show a list of all the recently used apps and some of them could still be running in the background.

You tap and hold your finger on the app icon until it begins to jiggle and you can then press the red “minus” sign (screenshot) to close one or more of these background apps. If a particular app is not running, this action will simply remove its listing from the multitasking bar.

Close All Background Apps at Once

If you would like to close all the background apps at once, here’s a free app for iPhone and iPad that can help. You don’t even have to jailbreak your device.

Launch the app and then shake your iPhone / iPad to terminate every single app that could be running in the background. Alternatively, you can just pull and release the processes list (see video) to close all the background running apps at once.

Should You Quit Background Apps Manually?

If you are on Windows or Mac, you always quit applications that you are not using so that more memory (RAM) becomes available to front-running apps. However, you many not see any improvement in performance by closing background iOS apps.

Here’s an excerpt from a Q&A that Engadget had with Steve Jobs:

Engadget: How do you close applications when multitasking?
Jobs: In multitasking, if you see a task manager, they blew it. Users shouldn’t ever have to think about it.

John Gruber explains why closing background apps isn’t required:

The iOS multitasking bar is not like the command tab switcher on Mac or Windows. It is not a list of currently “running” applications. It is simply a list of your most recently used applications, whether they’re running in the background, suspended in memory, or completely inactive.

Exception – Kill the Misbehaving Apps

In the past, I have seem apps, especially games, that became unresponsive (freeze) and force-quit was the only way to get them working again. The Process Killer app mentioned above might be helpful in such situations though else you need not worry about shutting down suspended background apps.

This story, How to Close All Background iOS Apps at Once, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 06/01/2012 under IPad, IPhone, Software.

The Zen of Steve Jobs is a new comic book that explores the life of Steve Jobs at the time when he was fired from Apple and particularly his friendship with Kobun Chino, the Buddhist monk from Japan who was Jobs’ spiritual guru as well.

Unlike Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs that is based on actual interviews with Jobs, this 80-page comic book is a mix of both fact and fiction. The illustrations were done by JESS3 and some of the book pages are available for reading on their blog.

The digital edition of this book is however only available for Kindle Fire.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxfDI70ODu8

This story, Now a Comic Book on Steve Jobs, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 03/01/2012 under Book, Steve Jobs, Offbeat.

This is gonna be real serious, I am telling you.
So, well..
Lately, I’ve started to believe that I really need a physiologist cause, little by little, I’m turning into a depressed soul. No, seriously. You know why? Because my new school system is trying its best to discourage me to develop my analytical capacities while my parents, probably not intentionally, want to snuff out my sense of curiousity. Both, in school and at home, I’m told to pay due attention to my studies ONLY and stay away from other resources (like tv, internet and even newspaper, GOSH!) cause they apparently waste my ‘precious’ time. On the other hand, the most torturous thing is that the classes at school involve super long and boring lectures with NO class participations. Literally. I’m told to understand and reflect less on what I study and to emphasize more on what I should learn for exams in order to score good marks. This is becoming a very banal thought pattern. Are marks really a depiction of one’s potential and intelligence? In my opinion, marks are nothing but numbers. Geniuses like Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, Louis Pasture, Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein were all bad students in school/college yet they did what most of us can never do. This reminds me of the Bollywood movie ’3 Idiots’ which has very clearly conveyed the message that gaining knowledge and understanding is way more productive than ratta lagana methord/memorizing. These great believers of ‘rote learning’ are killing my urge to explore the wonders around me. Fml.

Apple has literally conquered the cell phone and tablet market and now it’s time for them to turn their attention to the TV market. Steve Jobs seemed to think that the company was held back from completely diving into the market and it seems that he was able to crack it. We don’t really know [...]

The Foreign Policy Association has asked the blog team to write year-end summaries and even provided a nice little template for us to follow. So, without further ado:

Summary of the Past Year

What an extraordinary year 2011 has turned out to be. The U.S. appears to have successfully navigated a year of extreme turbulence in international affairs, a year filled with both triumph and tragedy and a few surprises along the way.

In the triumph category we surely have to count the raid by U.S. special forces to capture and kill Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan in early May. The raid represented the culmination of a massive manhunt over two administrations to bring the mastermind of 9/11 to justice. There was no ticker-tape parade for the members of the secretive U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six credited with that raid, but they know they enjoy thanks of a grateful nation. The raid inside the borders of erstwhile ally Pakistan to target bin Laden’s apparently secure haven located a mere 800 yards from their national military academy (their West Point) and 60 miles north of the capital of Islamabad generated tensions on both sides and it would be no understatement to say that the alliance has never fully recovered. Still, there are few who would way that it wasn’t worth it.

In the tragedy category I have to note the famine in the Horn of Africa as well as the historic earthquake in Japan. In both cases, the U.S. actively provided support and aid that saved lives and provided both a visible and practical symbol of the U.S. role in the world. As this year ends the tragedy of those events is compounded by calls to greatly reduce U.S. foreign aid, making it doubtful that the U.S. will be able to respond as quickly to such disasters in the future.

As for surprises, I’m surprised that the U.S. role in the Libyan campaign went as well as it did.  And, I have to admit that I’m surprised that the withdrawal from Iraq is going as well as it is, although, as this report notes, attacks on U.S. forces are expected to increase in the final days of the U.S. withdrawal. Although U.S. troops will be coming home from Iraq, many of them will ultimately be deployed to Afghanistan, where the U.S. goes into 2012 with a new strategy and a new determination to ramp up to wrap up that war.

Most Unexpected Event – Back to Africa
In October the media breathlessly reported that the U.S. dispatched 100 advisers (mostly special forces) to help in the fight against the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa and aid efforts to kill or capture its leader, Joseph Kony. Many commentators seemed surprised at this turn of events. From the media reports one would assume that this was a dangerous and reckless expansion of the U.S. military presence into Africa and represented a new front in the war against terrorism. The reality was, of course, far different. At the end of 2008 the Foreign Policy Association asked the blog team to write a year-in-review post just like this one in which they considered several questions, including the following: What was the most under-reported event of the year? For the U.S. Role blog I noted the establishment of the U.S. Africa Command. Having lived in Africa years ago in a period in which the U.S. presence was waning, I viewed the new military command as a welcome sign that the U.S. once again appreciated the strategic importance of the continent. Since that time the U.S. has stepped up joint operations with local military groups, sending special forces advisers, funding intelligence sharing and training, and deploying drones as well as millions of dollars in military aid to combat al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked group in Somalia, and AQIM – an al-Qaida group that operates in the west and north of Africa. The “new” U.S. military presence in Africa was a surprise only to those who were not paying attention.

Person of the Year – Steve Jobs
Now, keep in mind that this blog is devoted to the U.S. role in the world and is not exclusively focused on diplomacy or defense. I’m providing this caveat so you won’t be too shocked as I nominate Steve Jobs as Person of the Year. I think a good case could be made (as I tried to do here) that Jobs symbolized the American Dream to the world at-large in a non-political manner that even those determinedly anti-American could appreciate. His death was a global event (as attested to by the throngs of well-wishers who gathered at Apple stores all over the world), that reminded people that in America the estranged son of a Syrian immigrant could, through hard work and determined focus, change the world and earn billions of dollars in the process.

Forecast for 2012
As the new year dawns the U.S. will set about the urgent task of repairing relations with Pakistan, a vital partner in the war in Afghanistan. Is it too late? Pakistan needs the U.S. as much as we need them and despite the great distrust that exists between us, self-interest should be enough to keep relations cooperative enough to continue the war next door in Afghanistan. I think the real story in 2012 will be the how well the U.S. can balance a rising China against our many Pacific allies that depend on the U.S. to maintain their security. I’m not one of those convinced that our relationship with China need necessarily become adversarial, we have many mutual interests, but China has long demonstrated a difficulty in understanding a country like ours in which their are multiple centers of power, and this lends itself to misperception and miscalculation. I would not be surprised if the year sees little progress in the Middle East peace talks (linked as they are to the Arab Spring), the effort to isolate Iran (Russia and China are certain to veto further sanctions even as Iran does a pretty good job isolating itself), and foreign policy initiatives in general because of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. And finally, as Europe continues to struggle with their debt crisis, I’m looking forward to next year’s G8 Summit in Chicago as an opportunity for the U.S. to demonstrate leadership at a time of global economic uncertainty.

Aaron Sorkin is a very popular screenwriter and has won an Emmy Award too, the latest report shows that he is “Strongly Considering” the idea of writing the screen play for the Sony movie based on the life of recently deceased Steve Jobs.   Today, Aaron Sorkin was giving an interview to a reporter from [...]

Every business is trying to sell something which their customers ‘Like.’

Most of the times customers have already defined, what they like. Even then it is not simple to deliver the ‘Like.’

Take in this way, you Like an tailor’s work. You like to get his shirt.

But here is the point, despite the fact that the tailor is already very likable. It doesn’t mean that he can just make another shirt and people will still ‘Like’ that enough to pay his price. He has to do his best every time to deliver what they’ll like.

Let’s get it more clear by taking the nearest example. This blog. Here I’ve written some very good posts lately and in back as well. Some people, Liked those posts very much. They like my blog in general.

But in order to write another great post, I’ve to work hard. To find an idea and then presenting the idea in best possible way. Also I’m trying hard to write how ideas impact our real life. And how sometimes, without knowing the equation, we are part of the process and we enjoy the process very much.

The second way to deliver Like is, to make surprising solution or picture, or product. Your audience doesn’t know even a single thing about that, they don’t know if they shall Like something this.

But when product comes in their hand, or say design comes. They just say, aha.. this is what I really liked and I didn’t know.

An example, I would share is when TechCrunch got redesigned. Many readers, including me hated it. I thought, it is junk and not at all reader friendly. Dave Feldman made this new design.

Well, after reading from TC for two days. I said to myself, this is probably one of the best website design. It helps me read more and get straight to the content. I just couldn’t get it in first sight, now I love it.

Dave here knew, what people will Like, but haven’t Liked before, simply because they didn’t see anything like that. I strongly recommend anyone to hire him for webdesign and logo.

Second and obvious example could be of Steve Jobs, at Apple they created the products, no one imagined.

Walt Mossberg said this right about him:

“He did it because he was willing to take big risks on new ideas, and not be satisfied with small innovations fed by market research. He also insisted on high quality and had the guts to leave out features others found essential and to kill technologies, like the floppy drive and the removable battery, he decided were no longer needed.”

You can make money and luck by doing any of the two. It is all right. But don’t just sell fruit because other are doing the same. Instead sell fruit, to sell them in your own. Make your own place in this noisy world is not difficult, thinking different is difficult.

Image from here

Filed under: Human Business, Learning

Life the former CEO of Apple Steve Jobs became a movie. According to the International Business Times, Sony Pictures has bought the rights to the authorized biography of Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs and adapted the book into a movie. The report gives Deadline.com as the first to break the Agreement on Adaptation of several million [...]