2010 business

Last night, I conducted an interview with a business student at a fancy school. He's asked to remain anonymous, so I will call him BSaaFS for obvious reasons. Also, I conducted this interview at a birthday party at a bar, so my notes are mostly in the form of text messages to myself. My friend Emily, girlfriend of BSaaFS, tells me that a large part of business school appears to be discussing how great business is while drinking, so I tell myself that the questionable state of my notes adds to the verisimilitude of the b-school experience.

While I took the advice of the 1911 Farmer's Business Handbook as justifying my stingy personal financial policy, and maybe even as being a little bit timeless, our future captain of industry, BSaaFS, told me differently. And I believe him, because he is way, way more qualified than I am. (Please bear in mind, I like BSaaFS very much, but that he is, as far as I can tell, extremely good at what he does, and extremely successful. He's getting flown around the world left and right, and is shaping up to be a Big Deal. I have a feeling some of what I cover here is gonna be an Omar Little-style "all in the game" sort of thing, in which we recall that BSaaFS is a delightful person but that his job is somewhat different from yours and mine.)

Upon hearing (and having read) what the Farmer's Business Handbook, our business student responded with what I might call a derisive snort. On the subject of keeping an inventory that is accurate to maintain your own records, he commented "if anything, business today is defined by keeping an inaccurate inventory -- at least for your investors. Financial success often has a lot to do with obfuscation." Yipes. More, please? Because this doesn't sound good. He clarified for me: he's not talking about companies lying to their investors, or even abut companies not being aware of their actual worth, but is specifically addressing the idea that looking profitable is often more important (to investors and to customers) than actually being profitable.

We continued in this vein for a little bit, and ultimately got along to the real core of the issue: BSaaFS is firmly in the camp of the more profitable corporations of the past few decades: that spinning the perfecption of your company is the key, and that the rest will follow. He calls it a culture of "branding and perception" (clearly, he and I are both way fun to have at a party).

Your thoughts? How have we progresses (or not) in the past 99 years? I'm not really sure where to go with this. Sadly (or fortunately) my working life is totally removed from anything of this nature, and I'm something of a babe in the woods when it comes to the inner workings of actual corporations. What am I missing? Tell me more.

Thanks, BSaaFS. You're the best!

***

Oops! I forgot! I promised a friend to post my hummus recipe. I've made 4 batches so far this week.

Ingredients:
1 16 oz can of chickpeas (not drained)
4 Tbsp lemon juice
1-2 Tbsp tahini
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp parsley

Drain the chickpeas, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid. Combine the drained chickpeas, the reserved liquid, and everything else in a food processor. Blend the heck out of it. Done!