LEADER Reading

LEADER BOOK CLUB

Mark Norris recommends a couple of ‘good reads’ for the autumn.

What They Teach You at Harvard Business School – by Philip Delves Broughton (June, 2007)

Philip Delves Broughton left his desk at The Daily Telegraph in Paris for the ‘cauldron of capitalism’ that is Harvard Business School, enrolling in what is arguably the most prestigious MBA on the planet. It was, he said, ‘a place apart’, and the result of his $175,000 ‘union card of the global financial elite’ is this fascinating and enjoyable memoir. Delves Broughton observes that Harvard MBAs run the World Bank, the American Treasury, General Electric, Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble. The current incumbent in the White House is an alumnus. Delves Broughton muses on how Harvard MBAs actually decide how the world lives, from the hours worked to the holidays taken. He’s appalled yet fascinated by the rules and ‘corporate speak’ surrounding and sprouting from everyone involved in the MBA (‘Why did they talk like this?’), and being a Brit, is perplexed by the advice to ‘leave his cynicism behind’. Before long, however, Delves Broughton finds himself discussing the nature of assets, analyzing spread sheets and hundreds of case studies in this boot camp for future business titans and workaholics. This book has already been recommended as a must-read for anyone planning to do an MBA and, given the current economic scenario, it could be considered a wry tale of our times.

The book is available to buy on Amazon.com

Business Basics at the Base of the Pyramid – by Vikram Akula, Harvard Business Review (June 2008)

A decade after founding SKS Microfinance, CEO Akula explains how to make money at the bottom of the economic pyramid while raising the living standards of the people who occupy it. His company, which provides many small business loans and other financial services to poor women in India, has a customer base that has been nearly tripling each year and now numbers more than 2 million. Akula attributes his firm’s success in part to heeding three principles: Adopt a profit-orientated approach in order to access commercial capital; boost capacity by standardizing products, training, and other processes; and use the latest technology to reduce costs and limit errors…SKS scales up to achieve growth; the margins are razor thin, but the volume is staggering --- 160,000 new customers every month. Numbers like that give the company great leverage with partners – insurers, telecom partners, consumer goods manufacturers and so on – whose products SKS’ clients need. Customers are indeed central to Akula’s enterprise. Every SKS loan officer is required to do what’s best for the client, even if it undermines the firm’s short-term interests. That means everything from travelling far and wide to meet with prospective borrowers on their schedule to scratching out repayment plans in the dirt with them. Such commitment scales up customer loyalty, which ultimately improves the fortunes of not only the clients themselves but also the company and its investors. @ Harvard Business Review

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