Did I mention we're at Harvard Business School? I know that my education was great at Berry, and I'm where I am, but I'm still a little in awe of being here. We walked by THE dorm building where Facebook was conceived. We are such geeks!
Today was a full day! 4 case studies. Breakfast, study group (which went GREAT under my facilitation skills, thank you very much), and then 2 morning sessions about finance / accounting and 2 afternoon sessions about 2 case studies we had reviewed. The morning session - um, well, Julie probably would have appreciated it, and I tried, very hard, to stay engaged. But constructing an analysis of whether Mark Butler, the fictional owner of Butler Lumber, should ask for a $465k loan to finance his 33% growth rate when his inventory days on hand had grown from 60 to 80 days, his receivables days on hand had grown from 40 to 60 days, his accounts payable days to pay had grown from 35 to 55 days, and he stopped taking his 2% in 10 days net 30 terms on his purchases took about 90 minutes longer to discuss than I thought it could have. Remember the bias from yesterday? I was ready to have the answer as I thought the professor looked smart, probably knew the answer, and was someone I wouldn't mind getting to know better!
After lunch, the afternoon session consisted of reviewing one case study about the Coke versus Pepsi Wars from the 1950's to today, and one case study about how Wal-mart has come to be a $400 billion company. Our professor, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, is from Spain. Never ever had a more energetic professor. We are in a lecture hall, about 70 seats arranged in a semi circle on 5 levels. He went up and down the stairs, got on his knees in front of us, ran to the black board (ok, so there are 9 black boards, arranged in 3 groups, with 1 on top of 1 on top of 1 more that slide up and down) to draw / write, pulled a screen down and up and down and up to show his slides, used 3 different colors of chalk, and in general completed a work out video in front of us. When he asked a question, he took a pose like he was going to literally pull the answer out of us, with his mouth forming alternately words and then smiles and then grimaces, without making a sound, with his eyes closing and opening, and all done right in front of our faces. I'm sure he was making judgements as he stared at us, especially if it took longer than 2 1/2 minutes to answer!
It is fascinating to see and read and discuss the history of Coke and Pepsi. Essentially, Pepsi has always been the little brother, watching and copying what Coke does, and then every so often getting it better and quicker and cheaper, but never really winning in the end. Coke does Pepsi a bunch of favors - remember New Coke, and then Coke Classic? You may not know that the reason Coke is so big internationally is that they guaranteed that all US soldiers stationed abroad could have access to a Coke within 5 minutes of wanting one, wherever they were, for 5 cents. Who paid for that? The US government financed the construction of all of the international bottling plants - dozens of them. Coke only made the concentrate, and sold just that, for years. Until 1997, all of the bottlers weren't owned by Coke - they are the ones that added water and did the packaging and so on, and made next to nothing on that part of the chain. Coke made 80%+ margins on its product, which we determined is brown colored sugar water, for enough years and so long that an investment of $1000 when Coke issued its public offering in the early 1900's is worth like $3 billion today. DAMN IT. We had a great discussion about what Pepsi needs to do next - I'll be watching what they actually do, and I have a $1000 ready (right, Heather?) if I see signs of that.
The whole time, I'm thinking of the relationship between Coulter and Kees - sometimes Kees will win (the game, the girlfriend, etc.), but I do worry that in the end, it's just destiny and economics that Coulter will win. A new frame of reference for me to use, for sure! Of course, to some extent, they are both winners!
The second session about Wal-mart was good too. We discussed why Wal-mart is so successful. It isn't one thing - we've all agreed it is a system built on about 40 factors that have led them to be who they are. The best component is their heavy use of technology, from day 1, even though Sam Walton distrusted technology immensely. Without it, they wouldn't be successful. With that in mind, I am glad I'm at Kaiser because I believe our technology investment will be a difference maker, now and for about 5 more years. We have to figure out how to leverage that investment for the benefit of our members and patients, and mankind. I think we can get the government to finance some of that - oh wait, they are! Do you have a $1000 available to invest? I'll hold on to it for you!
We decided to stick around here tonight. We did go over the Student Union where there is a pub right on the campus. Pool table, foozball, GIANT screen tv. We had a pint, an appie, and spent some time talking about how we are ready to change the world, one step at a time. We took the tunnel under the campus back over to our dorm. That is so cool - it is 17 degrees tonight, so that was a welcome alternative to having the snot freeze on my face.
I spent 3 hours in our "project room" studying the 5 case studies we are reviewing tomorrow. It is now 1am, so I'm done for today. The case studies today were tough to pull much out of, so no new Impact to My View on Leadership or Actions to Take At Work, but maybe my attention to the details from day 1 and 2 waned a little today.
The project room is great - big screen tv, snacks, frig with soft drinks and water and juice, m&ms, and other things available to us was great. All I have in my room is a bed, desk, dresser, computer, and bathroom. A new friend, Glen Hentges, the Chief Financial Officer for The Permanente Federation (the national decision making body for all of the 8 regional physician groups) and I studied the cases together and interspersed a discussion about how to efficiently run a hospital. Oh, and Alex and I discussed how we'd run this thing if we were in charge.
I am cooking up an idea that I'll talk more about later - I'm here looking to add a new member to my "Personal Board of Directors", someone who I can add to the team I turn to to help me work through options and alternatives professionally and personally. The compensation package is small, but the rewards of helping me achieve my goals can't be measured (right Dad, or Bruce, or Nicki)? There are also at least 3 Physician Chief-of-Staff from other Kaiser hospitals here, so I thought I'd beg for 30 to 45 minutes of their time (or maybe just 2 1/2 minutes) and have them interview me as if I was a candidate for a Hospital Administrator position. Would appreciate any comments any of you might have about that idea!
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