Chicago Diary: Poker and Personality

My summer in Chi City would be very monotonous if not for cricket and cards (Hold’em mainly). Cricket has been part of parcel of my life since very young age, and I’ve always enjoyed playing it, sometimes at professional level and other times just for fun. Poker though is somewhat recent and is menacingly becoming my favorite past time. Apart from the occasional wins and more than occasional losses, my experiences with Poker have been very educative and entertaining. I first began playing poker for fun (without money) and was never serious in betting, it was more a reason to socialize than for competitive reasons. But recently, having tasted some success in Casinos I feel that poker is all the more entertaining when it involves emotions, excitement and more importantly money. Success has fueled me to be more successful on a continuous basis, since success is spelt MONEY in poker. Consequently, to hone my poker skills I got into reading some available literature on poker, mostly books written by some poker legends as well as some fictional story writers. Although each of the authors has their favorite hands and styles of playing, they all convey a same message i.e. play to win. They also try to teach you on how to read others game and play accordingly. However, after analyzing the game under the light shed by the books, I believe that a person’s behavior at poker table can be related to their behavior patterns under pressure.

In Hold’em you play a hand either when you have good cards, or when you can make others believe that you have good cards. You got to hold your cards close to your chest and try to read others cards based three aspects, 1. cards on the board; 2. facial expressions and; 3 body language. This is somewhat analogous to our human behavior in day-to day life, where we tend to make judgment based on the available information. Also in a daily routine you tend to ignore (called ‘fold’ in Hold’em) stuff that are not of concern to you, or stuff that you think will not be beneficial to you in near future. Secondly, we try to pursue things that we have known to be good, or things that we see have some returns in the future (called ‘bet’). In extreme cases when we think that this is the one we want, we give it best shot (called ‘all in’). The tough part is recognizing the opponents. We cannot play this game alone. So as a rule of thumb we are constantly measuring ourselves with people or things around us.

Yet in a philosophical setting, the play style would just represent your way of dealing things around you. How do you fit in a company? Would you be aggressive to make a mark right up front or would you be the silent killer that strikes at the right opportunity or would you be the ‘seasonal loser’ that keeps waiting for that one hand which never comes? As in life the poker table has this dynamic setting about it. One that amazed me most was how to react when someone bullies you around (called ‘high stack bully’)? Do I give into it with frustration or just keep ignoring the trash talk? However, it is not always a learning experience at poker table because there is always a factor called ‘luck’. This brings up an important question of corporate world how would you deal when you know that you had best shot yet some lesser mortal has gained it by sheer luck?

If you were to play and learn at the same time, I guess poker does it. But as it is in all cases of life, learning comes with a price and it is ultimately you who has to decide what PRICE you are going to pay for these invaluable lessons?

Chicago Diary: Thought process and refinement

After my long deliberation upon how to move up the ladder, its time to focus on how to maintain high levels of internal energy to increase your chances of moving up the ladder. In my previous blog I stumbled upon using the word “Inertia” to describe my laziness i.e. failure to gain momentum unless acted by external force, but its time to take a fresh approach to the same thought process and refine it. In order to “move up the ladder” we could imbibe the other definition of ‘inertia’ i.e. to be in continuous motion unless acted by external force. A very naïve approach would be to meticulously work on a project until you finish it. Needless to say, that path of your work should offer you the innovative approach required. This translates to you loving your work so much that the external forces are miniscule compared to your motivation. In case of lesser mortals the scenario is a little bit different. They start out with high internal motivation. However, companies owing to restrictions of time, money and space are forced to impose deadlines, communication meetings, agenda verifications, timeline sheets and production schedule (though one has to understand that company is sincerely and honestly trying to bring the best of you). These external forces are sure to dampen our initial energy. Intuitively you want to excel in your area and enjoy the benefits. Paradoxically, though the company should be harnessing your inert (state of being in continuously meticulous mode) it is forced to impose external forces. Slowly and surely you are brought to a sedate and boring corporate environment. Now after the company had been successful in making you sedate, they try new techniques (like lunch and learn, supplier meetings, innovation partnership and others). So here is the million dollar question of how can we fit into this paradoxical situation?

In the converse model of inertia, the company apart from teaching models (to initiate drive in us), employs other recharging techniques like give bonuses, vacation, paid vacation and in very rare cases good health insurance. It is very different with everyone and a combination of one or two techniques usually works with most people. In another approach we can look at our physical work environment something similar to a planetary system, where company is the center (and source of energy). The company wants us to work like a planet in a continuous and predictable manner (irrespective of the path of the company). We need to continuously realign ourselves to fit to the path of the company.

As a summary, here are some age-old saying of work (say more tit-bits from people up the ladder) 1. Ask yourself if this is what you want to do for at least next few years; 2. Can you wake up everyday morning feeling excited about it; 3. Do you see the people around you contributing for your betterment? 4. Do you think you can make a difference if you continue doing the same job. These thoughts are worth pondering, and if you have answered yes for atleast 3 of those questions, then (as per second definition of inertial) it is more likely that you are indispensable to company and (depending on your urge) will move up the ladder. If you don’t have the questions for most of the answers then (as per the latter definition of inertia) you will more likely spent more time where you are right now or be exited for ever (oops….).

Chicago Diary: Tid-bits from "Upstairs People"

The past few weeks of my Chy city experience have been very recreational and informative. Recreational in a sense that I have been playing club cricket and performing well, followed the wimbledon on a 56" TV with full surround system, got to win some poker games. However, the striking part of last few weeks was the amount of information that has been collected about the corporate work culture and the broader perspective I gained from it. Firstly, as interns you get to meet lot of Big shots at a very personal level. Secondly, you get to know about company that you could potentially end up working for and importanty you get wealth of information from the "Upstairs People", who claim to have "Been there and Done that". My first guess about"Upstairs people" was as good as any other amatuer intern, that they tell people what to do. However, upon closer look it occurs that these are the guys who have a 'Birds view' of things happening. Though that doesnt change a thing about people or thier personalities, it does give a new dimension of things in corporate world.

One such learning experience for me was about corporate culture was the plans, goals and actions of the employees. Ironically, everyone is trying to only climb the ladder, following the same suit as the one before them. Then the question is which one gets there first and becomes one of those "Upstairs People"? . Well, this was unravelled to its minutest detail during our "brown bag lunches" (read stuff your mind, while you stuff your mouth meetings) we got to have with these top notch guys. The summary of these interactions is more or less similar to Darwin's thoery of evolution and sustenance. One - Natural selection i.e. the company chooses people who have traits of previously successful people who served the company in long term goals, 2. survival of the fittest - company has limited resources which can only be available to ones that claim it rightfully, 3. Transendence - the successful traits are inculcated into those who are aspiring to be better.

This opens a wide array of thoughts, and one such 'Out-of-Box' approach is to explain the process using particulate models to perdict the ones that will be successful and ones that wont be. In principle, particles that move faster are at higher energy state levels either gained from external or internal source. Company can only provide certain external energy in form of money, vacation and status quo. However, since its resources are limited it tries to tap into the energy of particles that are internally vibrant. However, among those with lot of internal energy the particles that limit thier random motions and converge onto the focal point are more successful. (In true terms, the word "randomness" what is explained by the 'Company Policies' is completely non- transparent). Hence in a bigger picture there should be a symbiotic relationship between your contributions and companies growth, with a very strong emphasis on time.

Though simple, inorder to resourcefully utlize energy from 10,000 particles, you need about 50 - 100 capacitors, to store the incoming energy and prevent sudden energy fluctuations. And you need about 5 to 10 work stations that constantly tap into the energy of the capacitors, and about 3 switch modules, most often represented by 1 bright light (i.e CEO). So if you want to climb the ladder faster you either have "potential" at first rapidly converting into "Kinetic form" or have the "Capacity" to resourcefully use others energy.

However, needless to day the "Tid-bits from Upstairs people" didnot include the roles, responsiblities and enjoyment of those who actually 'Built the whole system' and are currently enjoying the light of the system. I guess we do need more "Brown Bag Lunches" Eh!