Manish Chawla

Digital evangelist, business leader, father, husband Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

One of the greatest challenges in combating #plasticwaste is bringing together the right stakeholders. Today @IBM joins @EndPlasticWaste to develop a new platform on @IBMCloud. Read more: https://t.co/aKPyqZcQ6X #sustainability #EndPlasticWaste

[www.sidin.co @sidin]

"You went to IIMA? What did you learn there?"

This question popped up late last year during one of my client pitch calls. I was talking to a smart young tech fellow, who had just raised money for his company. And usually these calls are about getting to know each other, what they do, what I do, how we can work together, communications, content, stories etc.

So... this question was unusual.

I am not a big credentials person. But when you are running your own business, every little helps, right?

Anyway, it made me think. And I thought: You know what? I should share this with my Twitter friends.

***
IIMA teaches you a lot about many things. And your mileage will vary. I loved it.

But two, ostensibly tiny, classroom experiences have really stuck with me from my time there from 2003-2005.

The first was the Arun Icecreams case study. (IIMA uses the case study methodology a lot. I don't think I appreciated this as much as I should have at the time.)

This case was a sweeping history of the company from its inception in 1970 all the way to an inflection point in 1997 where the company's leadership now had to make some business decisions in the face of rising competition from people like Unilever. Our job in the class was to discuss and debate options.

Two decades later I have zero memory of the conclusions of that session. But I remember one particular question that the professor asked to kick things off. It had to do with this section on page 1 of the case study. Let me paste the text here. (You can Google up the whole thing.)

Slightly long excerpt. But there is a point to this.

"Chandramogan, son of a vegetable wholesaler from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, set up Arun Ice Cream in 1970 in Madras (now re-named Chennai), essentially motivated by the urge to "do some thing". After his college studies were discontinued at the pre-university stage, Chandramogan agonised over several weeks about starting some business without being quite able to narrow down to any specific line, mainly because of heavy investments entailed. While driven by an urge to succeed as a businessman, he did not quite know how to go about setting up a business. It was his maternal uncle who suggested the business of ice cream. Investing Rs. 15,000 as his own capital and raising another Rs. 21,000 by way of a bank loan, he set up a small ice candy unit in a rented premises adjacent to his uncle's retail textile outlet. From a quick survey around the Madras market it appeared to Chandramogan that there were about 350 small-time ice candy manufacturers like himself competing in the low end of the market. These were offering no competition to the up-market segment dominated by the leading brands Dasaprakash, Joy and Kwality. Like the "others in the crowd", Chandramogan was also selling his Arun brand ice candies for 10 paise and 15 paise a piece predominantly through street-vendors. Thanks to its prominent location in a busy locality, Arun also quickly began attracting walk-in customers. The fact that one could get "fresh" ice candies right across the factory counter was a major selling point in promoting in-factory sales. In the very first year of operations, Chandramogan recalls, Arun clocked a turnover of about Rs. 150,000 and profit of about Rs. 40,000."

And the question posed to the class was: "Why did Chandramogan choose that particular location to start the business?"

This was a location in Royapuram. And if I remember correctly, it was in a busy commercial area next to a flyover. The details are not super relevant as you will soon see.

With all the alacrity of young MBA students, who all wanted to work at Goldman Sachs or McKinsey, we dove into the location question.

Because of footfall! Because of traffic! Maybe it had uninterrupted power supply? Maybe he had access to manpower? Maybe there were other ice cream shops nearby? One guy even suggested it was because Royapuram was very hot, and maybe that would make people buy more icecreams.

The professor, who was clearly having fun, kept provoking us. And eventually he said: "Ok good. Now let me tell you my perspective on what really happened?"

This is a bit of a cheat. But because many of our cases were written by our own faculty, they sometimes had more info than was obvious from the text. And part of our job was to tease this out? Anyway. I will pause on Arun Icecreams here. And I want you to think about his question: Why did Chandramogan start the first shop in that location in Royapuram.

***
Second story. One of the final courses I did was one on Entrepreneurship, that was run by the venerable Sunil Handa. It was a bewildering, often bizarre course. And the point was to make a room full of campus-placement obsessed fellows think about running their own businesses. (Please remember, this was way back in 2005, when all this VC-funded startup frenzy was very very nascent. The default thing to do was very much get a campus job.)

Right at the end of the course Sunil Handa told us that it was time to grade our performance on the course. He said there would be no exam, no tests, no presentations. Nothing. We were all handed a piece of paper. And we were told grade ourselves on the standard IIMA Scale. A, B+, B and so on. (Was there an A+? I have forgotten.) On what basis, we asked. Whatever basis, he said. You decide. I don't care. Whatever you grade yourselves I will accept as your grade for this course.

We all graded ourselves and handed the slips in. The next week, the last session of the course, Prof. Handa bid us all farewell and good tidings. And then gave us a distribution of the scores. "Most of you gave yourselves a B of some sort," he said. And it turned out that exactly one guy gave himself the highest possible score. Nobody else. And the scores had very little correlation with performance. Most of us thought about attendance and participation and field trips and so on, and scored ourselves aiming for some notion of "fairness". Something like that.

He said: "You guys need to realize that entrepreneurship is not primarily about fairness or justice or anything. Entrepreneurship is about making the most of the opportunity given to you. When someone gives you a chance, for god's sake, take it. You should have all given yourself an A+. Never talk yourself out of success. Go you fools, and never forget this lesson!"

I embellish, of course. But that moment remains etched in stone on my heart. I gave myself a B+.

Back to Arun Icecreams.

***
Professor: "So guys. Let's talk about the uncle figure."

"What do you think the maternal uncle is thinking to himself? Look at this guy, my nephew. He has dropped out of college. He wants do something but doesn't know what. I had to tell him what to do. Plus he has now taken a loan and put in some of his own money. Maybe I have given him some money myself? I am not letting that guy out of my sight. I want to make sure I can keep an eye on my nephew, in case he screws this icecream thing up."

And that is why, the professor told us, he opened the shop right next to his uncle's. His uncle found the location for him. So that he can keep an eye on this nephew's shenanigans.

"Business is not always location, footfall, tactics, and 2x2 matrices and stuff like. Often business is just human beings doing human being things. With simple human incentives and motivations. Never ignore the human aspects of business. Always keep the individuals, their motivations, fears, excitements, tendencies, and eccentricities in mind. Ask the human question first, apply the framework second."

***
Two decades later, a day doesn't go by when I don't think of those two lessons.

When I talk to clients I am always provoking them to tell me why... they are in Royapuram. And I have to constantly tell myself that there is a time to be humble, and there is a time to be your own champion.

Many thanks for your attention. Cheers. And have a nice day. Oh, and have a great 2026.

I give this note an A+.

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

@sanjayuvacha A great teacher and great reformer. May his soul rest in peace

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

@robdthomas Agree. Talk about creating a multi-channel franchise around a core product

[Sylvester Turner @SylvesterTurner]

I toured many of the exhibitors including @AspenTech, @TGScompany, Schlumberger, @Aramco_Americas, and @PGSNews. #Houston continues to lead in energy transition. This conference will host compelling conversations on energy diversification, space exploration, and health advances.

[Rob Thomas @robdthomas]

Simple and efficient approach to email. (Source unknown)

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

Encouraging, but a ways to go of course

[Nat Bullard @NatBullard]

The global electric vehicle fleet, by year
2014: 274k
2015: 722k
2016: 1.4M
2017: 2.5M
2018: 4.4M
2019: 6.6M
2020: 9.6M
2021: 16M
2022: 26.4M
Latest from @colinmckerrache, via @hyper_drive
https://t.co/UFJrTdTvbG

[IBM News @IBMNews]

IBM is proud to be named one of @FastCompany's Most Innovative Companies of 2022. Thank you to all IBMers for your commitment to innovation. See the full list: https://t.co/XyowpTEGhT #FCMostInnovative

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

“What has been accomplished against Putin thus far is remarkable, but it is still insufficient.” Here's what needs to be done to stop Putin ⁦@CNBCi⁩ https://t.co/u3KSOSiw7g

[IBM @IBM]

#LetsCreate is a call to creators. The developers, data scientists and CTOs working to make the world work better.

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

Love this. Hard to pull off given constant distractions, but very rewarding when achieved

[Rob Thomas @robdthomas]

Outstanding results are determined by how narrow you can make your focus.

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

@vijayasankarv your resilience coach

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

Couldn't have said it better

[Jeff Kilburg @jeffkilburg]

$IBM hits it out of the park on #earnings +6% after hours

#IBM became an #Essential40 in 2022

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

Great case study on how technology is transforming our world operates, especially when it is centered on putting employees at the center and addresses real-world problems

[Sreeram Visvanathan @v_sreeram]

Here at @IBM we are proud to collaborate with @ThisIsReckitt on their Factory of the Future project in Nottingham. Drawing on the power of #hybridcloud, #AI and #InternetOfThings, you can read more about this scalable, intelligent factory design here: https://t.co/cmed6uRk8O

[Rob Thomas @robdthomas]

IBM Sales Surge. The Company’s Turnaround May Be Taking Hold. - Barron's https://t.co/RMJnMAoVL5

[Jim Harris @JimHarris]

Tech Trends: #CES2022 Innovation, Sustainability, Edge 5G AI, Supply Chain https://t.co/hQnTsDpeZY

[IBM @IBM]

Goodbye 2021 ✌️ Hello 2022 👋

#HappyNewYear from IBM.

[Manish Chawla @mcchawla2]

Well said

[Rob Thomas @robdthomas]

“Anything that we want to achieve takes clarity of mission up front and then focus, structure, and persistence in execution.” -The Leaders Code

[Arvind Krishna @ArvindKrishna]

It was an honor to speak with @inafried last week on the next generation of quantum computing. Watch the interview here.

[President Biden Archived @POTUS46Archive]

Millions of folks across the country have diabetes, sometimes paying around $1,000 a month for insulin. It’s outrageous.

With my Build Back Better Act, we’re going to ensure no one will pay more than $35 a month for their insulin.

[IBM Research @IBMResearch]

The Eagle has landed. Today, we’re unveiling our latest quantum processor, the 127-qubit Eagle chip, along with our vision for the future of #quantumcomputing.

https://t.co/D7SxXCg0vp