Fin Boothroyd's Blog

Contemporary corporations have been plagued with a stigma. Whether warranted or not, it’s true. Over the course of history this damaging stigma has become instilled in society’s mindset, but why? It’s even evidenced here at UBC, with other faculties hissing their Sauder insults through smug grins. My lack of understanding led me to ask a fellow student: what is it you have against Sauder (and thus business)? Her quip about not knowing what goes on behind the closed and self-betterment motivated doors of business led me to ask another question. Why have contemporary businesses remained synonymized with poor ethics?

 

As fellow Sauder undergraduate Parm Sidhu aptly put in his blog: businesses act solely to maximize their profits. However, the silver lining is that as Milton Friedman put in his Stakeholder Theory, although business managers should maximize profits for their shareholders, they should still follow certain social customs. I believe this is where businesses have been misunderstood and in some cases, have gone wrong.

Businesses and conspicuity can both be epitomized by a pertinent central figure in politics, Donald Trump. Irrespective of your opinion on Trump, you must respect his prowess on a business front. As the president and throughout his campaign he showed no reserve or remorse in blatantly lying to Americans. On that, I believe that society has become desensitized to being lied to. The entire Trump administration is propped up by lies and empty promises. Seeing as Trump hails from a business background, and the entirety of the world is aware, people assume his misdoings transcend politics and business. As an article written in a blog by prominent New York Times journalist Paul Krugman exclaims that Trump will be able to disentangle his business interest and the country’s political ones, and Trump’s early action in the Whitehouse don’t support him in this regard.

The genesis of this disdain, that current corporations are working tirelessly to rid, is convoluted and unclear. Now, I am not blaming Trump for creating the semi-disdain for businesses, however I do believe as the most recognizable and scrutinized human on the earth he is breathing life to this contempt.

 

Word Count: 355

 

References:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/opinion/why-corruption-matters.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

https://blogs.ubc.ca/parmsidhu/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38069298

Innovators and entrepreneurs. People who embody creativity, determination, and brilliant ideas. In this blog, I endeavour to explore where brilliant ideas come from and what environments are conducive to yielding ideas. Furthermore, I look as to why there isn’t a societal mold for entrepreneurs that many other business professions have.

When I first thought of having an idea, like most other people, I thought about a single instant. A sudden Eureka moment of clarity. However, in actuality brilliant ideas are a by-product of long incubation periods. As described by Steven Johnson, often “{someone} has a brilliant idea that lingers on in the back of {their} mind for, sometimes, decades. They have a feeling there is an interesting problem, but they don’t quite have the tools yet to discover them”. This long incubation period is consistently overlooked and the idea accredited to an epiphany. An example of this is Darwin, who wrote in his autobiography that his idea for natural selection came to him on an October night whilst he read Malthus and Darwin exclaims “at last I have a theory of which to work”. However, two decades ago Howard Gruber read through Darwin’s copious supply of notebooks and found that Darwin had the full theory of natural selection years before he had his alleged epiphany.

Given that ideas are not conceived in the spur of the moment, what environments are conducive to incubating these thoughts? Steven Johnson looked into this further and found that the majority of ideas were formulated within a “Liquid Environment”, or a place of open idea sharing. The coffee house, a perfect example of a liquid network in 15^th century England was the birthplace of numerous ideas as the “the power brokers of their time gathered to sip caffeine-fueled coffee and tea, discuss their challenges, and come up with innovative ways to solve them.”(Kaneshige).

With an understanding of how ideas form and which environments facilitate them, we can observe ideas in the context of innovators and entrepreneurs. It is immediately evident that entrepreneurs do not conform to some societal stereotype about shape, size or personality. Entrepreneurs are a unique breed who battle through adversity to achieve their goals. This adversity can come in many forms, whether it’s: Vladimir Gendelmen who immigrated from the Soviet Union with $500 to his name, or Scott Lee who was forced into the Korean military, or perhaps, Mary-Beth Hyland who was repeatedly raped and violently abused by her father. The point being, the ones who create and make disruptive waves that shake the industry are often the ones who have battled through hardship in their own life. Entrepreneurs and innovators, as we discussed in class, are “fundamental to the business world” (Darryl Kopke).

 

Word Count: 449 words

References:

https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from#t-458883   (Steven Johnson, TedGlobal)

https://www.lendgenius.com/blog/10-entrepreneurs-inspiring-stories-of-startup-success/

http://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/14/archives/darwin-on-man-a-psychological-study-of-scientific-creativity-by.html (Howard Gruber, New York Times)

https://www.cio.com/article/2376694/innovation/how–liquid-networks–can-lead-to-the-next-great-idea.html

 

 

 

 

Strategy. A concept that transcends almost all facets of life. Broadly defined as: a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim, its application in everyday life manifest itself in a variety of ways. I endeavor to touch upon two of them: business and sport.

Strategies in business and sport share many similarities in terms of their application and purpose. The fundamental goal of a strategy is to elevate you, whether your company or team, to a common end-goal. In order propel yourself towards your goal you must think and act uniquely. As Michael E. Porter of the Harvard Business Review says: “competitive advantage is about being different”. Obviously, a competitive advantage for a business would differ from a competitive advantage for a sports team, but it’s the process behind the strategy that rings true for both. Southwest Airlines are an example of a business who have effectively created a competitive advantage for themselves. Through cheap, convenient and domestic flights they were able to isolate a niche of the market that consisted mostly of business travellers and students. Alternately, as I play field hockey for Canada (a team that is currently ranked no. 11 in the world) we have to adapt our playing style to a more work-ethic oriented style because we lack the skills of the top 10 teams. This playing style frustrates better teams, as it is unfamiliar to them. That is our advantage.

However, as we learned from the Transient Advantage model by Rita McGrath, these competitive advantages are momentary. In the context of field hockey, this is displayed by teams who utilise our hard-work based strategy when playing higher ranked teams, as they’ve seen it work for us. This puts teams and companies in a predicament: do we keep our old strategy as it worked in the past or do we innovate and find a new competitive strategy? McGrath is adamant that ‘business is stuck’ trying to find a permanent competitive advantage, and that for the most part a competitive advantage has completely eroded after 5 years. The erosion of competitive advantages is applicable to both sport and business.

Strategies are essential to both a good business and a good team. But a good leader will understand that a strategy is not infallible. They must innovate and advance their strategy so it doesn’t become stale within a competitive environment.

 

Word Count: 396

References:

https://courses.library.ubc.ca/studenthome/id/88322/open/72552 (Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, What is Strategy?)

https://courses.library.ubc.ca/studenthome/id/88322/open/72560  (Rita McGrath, Harvard Business Publishing, Transient Advantage)

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/strategy

 

Society, and subsequently business, have a solidified conception that teamwork is best. This was immediately apparent as each of my classmates raised their and offered their opinions as to why teamwork is better. I endeavour to explore how much of this conception is rooted in truth and experience and how much is archaic ideology that over time has been accepted as fact.

Diversity, influence, accountability are nouns commonly associated with teamwork. To me, these are the most compelling arguments towards teamwork. An individual cannot provide diversity, influence, and accountability within, upon, and to oneself. As an athlete on a national team I can attest to the importance of support and encouragement from teammates.

 

 

 

 

 

However, teamwork isn’t infallible. Contrarily, there are many contemporary cases that prove teamwork to be a detriment. For example, the clashing of Disney’s CEO and President in 1996 was a by-product of forced teamwork and cooperation. This colossal clash of executives cost Disney $140 million in severance and years of costly legal fees. In addition to personality conflicts, the environment of teamwork is conducive to “social loafing”. Social loafing can manifest itself in two ways: these are known as the ‘free-rider’ and the ‘sucker’ effects. In short, these manifestations can impair the team’s ability to function in an efficient and healthy manner. Arguably, the most detrimental attribute that is attributed to teamwork is that of ‘groupthink’ and ‘group shift’. These phenomenon act to contradict the fundamental principles that make teamwork a viable option in the first place. Working as individuals effectively eliminates all of the above problems associated with group work.

In my opinion, teamwork has undeservingly earned a bulletproof grandiose image amongst society, that has been built up and exacerbated over time. This façade has been the root of many problems of all sizes and from all parts of the world. As an old African Proverb states: “if you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far, go together”. I believe this proverb touches on a key point…they’re different. While teamwork, is incredibly effective and necessary in certain situations, it isn’t infallible, and there will always be situations in which working as an individual is better.

 

Resources:

http://www.intelligenceforrent.com/index.php/georges-portfolio-practical-intelligence/16-services/georges-portfolio-practical-intelligence/business-issue-analysis/28-the-fallacy-of-teamwork-part-i-train-of-thought

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_82.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupshift

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/social-loafing.html

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-teamwork-work-11196.html

http://jezebel.com/on-the-origin-of-certain-quotable-african-proverbs-1766664089

 

Word Count: 370

Since the dawn of societal authority and power, there have always been people who distrust in the totalitarian-esque nature of their control. This distrust has transcended numerous generations and cultures, gaining more traction in recent centuries. A common conception is that for one to elevate oneself to such positions it must come at the sacrifice of ethics. This is one explanation of why corporations, of late, have become synonymous with unethical behaviour. However, many of the claims against corporations and their executives are unsubstantiated and unwarranted, there are many that are. One such case is that of multi-level marketing companies, such as Herbalife and Mary Kay. Multi-level marketing companies brought in roughly $36 billion in retail sales in 2015. How it works is “distributers have two main ways to make money: sell the product itself… and earn money on those sales and recruit people into the company and make money off of their sales” (Last Week Tonight, Oliver). Principally and geometrically speaking multi-level marketing companies are a “pyramid scheme”. What fascinates me is how within a modern economy such a lucrative illegal business can be allowed to exist without repercussions. A fundamental issue with “pyramid schemes”, beyond the issue of their legality, is that only the people at the top make money. How can the CEO of Herbalife cash a $3 million bonus cheque while many of his distributers live in poverty? Has society become desensitized or indifferent to the injustices being committed by major corporations? As the ‘Statesmen of Silicon Valley’ and cofounder of Intel Robert Noyce, aptly put: “If ethics are poor at the top, that behaviour is copied down through the organization”. One thing is for certain: if these multi-marketing companies are allowed to function without any repercussions then the unethical business mindset and societal conception will continue to prevail.

Word Count: 318

Article: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-540-70818-6.pdf

Video: https://youtu.be/s6MwGeOm8iI    (for further sources used in video refer to video and video description)