Antarctica – of wildlife, icebergs and a post office

“Why are the penguins in the Antarctic but not in the Arctic?”

“Because they are unable to cross the Drake Passage.”

I had heard of the dreaded Drake Passage – the passage between the Atlantic and the Southern Ocean. But when we were consistently tossed by up to 10 meters (33 feet) over a day and a half, all I could do was lay flat on my bed on an empty stomach. I was convinced that there was no way the penguins could have ever gotten past the waves – that had to be the reason they weren’t in the Arctic. And I began to wonder if it was a wise decision to go on an expedition cruise to Antarctica. After all, even Sir Francis Drake had been unable to make it past the Drake Passage.

But once we got past it, onto the ice continent, a different world unfolded before my eyes. It was like we had crossed the space time continuum and landed on a planet far, far from the Sun, where wildlife ruled and human civilization was yet to start.

Wildlife:

The South Shetland Archipelago is the first entry into Antarctica after you cross the Drake Passage into the Southern Ocean. Our first stop was the Aitcho Island. This housed a colony of both Gentoo and Chinstrap Penguins. Some of the penguins were still breeding, but they were not at all awed by our presence – partly because we maintained a safe distance of about 5 ft from them and partly because they seemed very comfortable in their surroundings – almost aware that a bunch of harmless tourists were hanging around them.

Around Aitcho Island, we also came across a few elephant seals. The males were lying away from the females – the females seemed to be pouting since their fur was coming off (due to natural causes). Apparently the male seals have a major fight amongst themselves over mating with the females and only 2 or 3 survive. I wondered if that led to fights among the females as well.

At Half Moon Island – a crescent shaped piece of land on the Livingstone Island, we spotted a lone Macaroni Penguin in a colony of Chinstrap penguins. Our expedition guides were convinced that the Macaroni needed counseling since he had lost his identity, but I felt he was just a liberal trying to rise about the boundaries of color and ethnicity.

Antarctic Terns seemed to love this island – there were several Terns in the vicinity. The walk along the crescent through the bright and snow-white carpet was breath-taking. An entire colony of seals lay on the carpet along the ocean.

At the nearby Yankee Harbor, we were in the company of a few Weddell seals and lots of Gentoo penguins. The high point was watching a proposal live between 2 penguins – the male got spurned and he didn’t take it too well.

At Torgersen Island, with lots of sea ice around us, we witnessed the Adelie penguin colony in the region. The US based Palmer station nearby was studying the impact of tourism on wildlife in the island – so there were some restrictions on what areas could be accessed. On the west side of the island we saw a huge colony of crabeater seals – all resting on icebergs.

When we left the island for a cruise across the sea ice capped waters, little did we realize that a massive treat awaited our eyes. All of a sudden, about 6 to 8 humpback whales emerged around us and started breaching as close as 4 to 5 ft from us. Whales breach after a satisfactory meal or sometimes just to show off. In our case it could have been a satisfactory meal since the area boasted of a lot of Krill.

Port Lockroy on Goudier Island was around a Gentoo penguin colony and there were lots of Snowy Sheathbills in the vicinity.

The assembled skeleton of a whale was supposed to be the attraction at the nearby Jougla Point, but I was more enamored by the Blue eyed Shag. There was a colony of nesting Blue eyed Shags around a colony of Gentoos. The penguins didn’t seem to mind them.

Towards the end of the expedition, one evening as we were reminiscing on our trip, we seemed unanimous that if only we could’ve seen Orcas as well, the trip could be considered complete. Lo! And Behold! An announcement went out – Orcas spotted on starboard side. Like a swarm of bees we left the dining room en masse and headed to the deck. What unfolded before us for the next half hour would have made any cameraman from BBC World or National Geographic green with envy. 6 pairs of Orca – the young ones in tutelage of the veterans seemed to be on a hunt. It was amazing to see them hunt in a team and move in perfect harmony and co-ordination to corner their prey – it was spell binding and a fitting finale to a memorable trip. After watching the spectacle of the hunt, I wondered how we could box the free hunting Orcas in a small pool in Sea World when they were wired to rule the vast expanse of oceans – perhaps more of us need to see them in their natural habitat to gain perspective.

Geography:

As opposed to the Arctic – which is land surrounding the ocean, the Antarctic is land surrounded by the ocean – and this results in the phenomenon of the Antarctic Convergence. The warmer waters from the sub-antarctic region meet the frigid waters of the Antarctic. This results in the warmer waters rising to the top which becomes a breeding ground for Algae, which in turn becomes a feeding ground for Krill. The food equation in Antarctica is:

Algae  —-> Krill —-> Seals/Humpback Whales

Mikkelsen Harbor had a few Weddell seals and a Gentoo Penguin colony. It was quite a hike up the trail which was completely immersed in snow and down into a rocky set of mini islands. Sitting atop on a rock on one of the small islands, the view that lay before me could have made even Adam envious – a few pristine snow covered islands all around engulfed in a cloud cover and separated by the ocean. It was very quiet and all I could hear were the sounds of nature. I wondered if this is what earth may have looked like at the dawn of creation. This would be an ideal spot to go into meditation and maybe even set up an ashram.

Spert Island was introduced to us as one of the unexplored areas of Antarctica which boasted of some caves, arches and a few large grounded icebergs – a few? It was really Iceberg City! Surrounded by breath taking formations of Igneous rocks, were several huge icebergs looking magnificent with the deep blue reflection in the surrounding water. Right off the bat, it looked like a scene from a sci-fi movie. The sun was a little generous upon us that afternoon and the resulting reflections could only be admired by the naked eye.

But in less than twelve hours, an overcast sky and winds upto 30 knots (35 miles per hour) reminded us that we were in Antarctica. Under these conditions, a 200 meter steep hike (70⁰ gradient) beckoned us at Orne Harbor. With the 30 knots winds, we had to exercise caution in maintaining balance as we climbed up. Once we reached the top, a beautiful view of the ocean with sheets and sheets of snow all around, lay before us. While coming down, the 30 knot gusts of wind were an exercise in trying to maintain a clear vision and keeping the center of gravity of the body in check.

At Neko Harbor and another hike beckoned. The hill wasn’t as steep but the hike was longer and the wind velocity was at 40 knots. This was a Gentoo penguin colony with a few Kelp Gulls and Skaws giving them company. The view from the top was breath taking and the sound of caving icebergs kept us in awe at the top.

Touching the Antarctic Circle was a call for celebration. The weather was overcast and the surrounding icebergs gave us a reason to cheer. By now we had started getting a good feel of the Antarctic weather.

The sea was choppy when dropped anchor around Deception Island. It was foggy and the wind velocity was around 50 knots. Landing was doubtful, but we ended up landing on Whaler’s Bay at 9:00 AM and it was clear that we were in rough weather conditions. Even getting off of the raft was difficult.

Once we landed, it appeared like a scene from any Antarctic expedition movie – snow shooting into your shades at 50 knots, winds blowing like they could make you fly and visibility of only a few yards.

The soil looked different – it was volcanic ash. Whaler’s Bay had witnessed a volcanic eruption before when the British base on the island had to be evacuated.

The island had the last vestige from whaling activity which included storage tanks, digesters, canoes and barrels.

We hiked up one of the hills which had recently erupted. While coming down, I had no worries since the strong wind was pushing my body back and preventing it from falling forward. Despite the cold and winds, we saw several skuaws, a few chinstraps and a leopard seal.

Politics:

Antarctica has come a long way since the late 18^th century when sealers and whalers frequented the continent to an extent that seals had reached near extinction. And by early 20^th century, penguin processing was a brisk business as penguins were loaded in hordes into digesters to produce heating oil.

However in December 1959, 12 countries came forward to sign the Antarctic Treaty to promote scientific research in the ice continent and designate it as a natural reserve. So any economic activity including mineral exploitation is prohibited in the continent.

However, even after the treaty, the peninsula has been witness to a few environmental disasters. In 1989 the Argentine vessel Bahia Paraiso ran aground and sank, spilling about 200,000 gallons of oil into the ocean (NY Times: Antarctic Oil Spill). However, since the Exxon Valdez spill happened around the same time, this did not receive as much media coverage. We were able to see the wreckage of the vessel around Torgersen Island.

Territorial claims still exist as can be seen from the map below and Port Lockroy on Goudier Island only proves that point. To make the ultimate claim on the continent, the British set up a post office in their survey hut, in the middle of nowhere. It also houses a museum and a gift shop. Technically though, the Port Lockroy post office is just a proxy for the London based post office where the mail is delivered by the supplies ship.

The gift shop had lots of items – from t-shirts to first day stamp covers. I posted a few postcards including one to myself and received it in 4 weeks’ time.

Market Leadership: Innovation, customer focus AND operational excellence

When you step into an Apple Store, you notice the sales associates walking around with an iPod Touch. No, they are not listening to music on the job – they are using the iPod Touch to bill the customer and deliver the product right where the customer is standing. It sure is a customer delight, but it is also an advertisement for their product. Apple is using its own product to make its operations efficient.

But it does not stop with the iPod Touch. A whole set of iPads are placed next to the products on display so the customer can view the corresponding product information on the iPad. All of a sudden my interested is also piqued in the iPad even though my original intent was just to purchase the iPhone.

So Apple, by adopting its own products in its operations is benefiting on 2 counts:

1. It is creating a customer within the Apple organization – that helps tremendously with immediate feedback on the product.

2. It is creating a sales channel for the product right next to another product.

In Business School we are taught that business entities can be innovative, operationally excellent or customer centric.

However, to be leaders in their respective markets, companies have to be all three. Their core focus can be one, but to be leaders, they need to be innovative, customer centric AND operationally efficient.

Innovation without customer focus:

Innovation is the key to survival in the long haul but even an innovative company cannot be successful if it doesn’t have the customer in mind.

Motorola in 1998 introduced Iridium to the global telecommunications market. It launched 77 satellites in space to provide a global satellite phone to the customer. There was just one problem – the customers needed to rent two mules to carry the support equipment and have a ton of money to use the service. It was a novel idea at that time, but grossly impractical from the customer’s perspective. Motorola ended up filing for bankruptcy protection in 1999 because of the Iridium disaster

Innovation and customer focus go hand in hand. You cannot excel at one and suck at the other. But the business world often confuses customer focus with pandering to the customer – “tell us what you want and we will build it for you.” This is usually the strategy pursued by consulting companies or business partners. But they are just being paid contractors, not customer centric.

Customer focus really is about innovation – fulfilling tomorrow’s needs of the customer today – thinking ahead in time. Many times the customers themselves do not know what they want. As Henry Ford once said – “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Innovation and customer focus without operational efficiency:

Innovation and customer focus set the platform for a company to be successful. But the revenue growth can continue to elude under an inefficient operations infrastructure. Innovation and customer focus ensure that the customer’s interest in the product is piqued. An efficient operations infrastructure ensures that the time lag between interest and the actual purchase is as small and efficient as possible. Operational excellence too has to be focussed around the customer.

Netflix – during the peak of DVD rental era set an excellent example of operational excellence in the industry with its dvd deliveries which ranged between 1 to 2 days. It maintained an efficient network of regional distribution centers and a close relationship with the US Postal Service to ensure timely and accurate deliveries to the customer. (Watch: Netflix’s Distribution Center operations)

Once again, its operational excellence was focussed on maximizing value to the customer and thereby enhancing the customer’s overall experience.

So we can safely conclude that both innovation and operational efficiency have to exist in tandem, but must  revolve around the customer. An innovative product that does not bring value to the customer is as useless as an operational infrastructure that cannot provide timely delivery of product and services to the customer.

But why do we see very few Apples and Netflixs and lots of Iridiums? Do organizations deliberately ignore one aspect of the competitive equation or are they too focused on their core competency that they ignore the rest?

Most of the time, it is the latter. And it is mostly a function of the culture of the company, which in turn is driven by its longest serving group of personnel.

Organizations go through various stages in their evolution. An innovative company starts with a bunch of geeks with ideas all over the place. But when one idea sticks and becomes a hit, the same geeks sometimes end up managing operations. The net result – the entire operations chain is all over the place.

Innovation and Operational excellence are paradigms that are poles apart and organizations are successful at both when they keep these functions and their respective personnel, poles apart.

 

 

 

Occupy San Diego – of capitalism, socialism and corporate anarchy

What do a restaurateur, a college student, a mom, a chef and a homeless college dropout have in common? They constitute the 99% that is finally speaking up against the disparity with the other 1%.

This weekend, I decided to put the conflicting media reports on the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement to rest and check out on my own, the San Diego version of the movement.

At 11:00 AM, the crowd was still building up after the previous night’s crackdown by the police. A medium sized poster talking about taking a stance greeted me as I stepped outside of the San Diego civic center.

I scanned the perimeter and decided to sit next to a small group that was engaged in conversation – a full time mom, a college student and a waiter. I asked them what they were protesting against. I expected a clueless look – based on what I had read. But the waiter jumped in rightaway – “The primary issue is that we don’t have a voice. We elect our representatives to Congress, but the Corporations fund their campaign. So while they are in office, they are occupied with obliging the corporations and they totally forget about us.”

I was impressed, but did he have a solution to the problem?

“I can’t tell you how to fix it. All I can tell you is that it can’t go on like this.”

The full-time mom echoed his sentiment – she wanted her voice to be heard and didn’t think the current political system allowed that.

I still had my skeptical hat on – I was sure that I would soon bump into a group of clueless folk. I walked up towards another group engaged in casual conversation. “Our money was used to bail out the large banks and the banks immediately turned upon us with foreclosure notices. Why weren’t we bailed out as well?” I was amazed to see a chef fresh out of culinary school have such a degree of political awareness.

I noticed two small trees in the corner with several notes hanging from the branches. I was told that these were the wish trees with wishes hanging from them. The wishes were wide ranging – from ‘education for all’ to ‘healthcare for all’, to ‘elimination of corporate greed.’

And if I needed a written proof of what the occupants’ demands were, there was a poster just for that. Most of the points were not debatable at all – I was fascinated by the Robin Hood tax and the trickle up theory. It seemed in line with Henry Ford and his implementation of Fordism – high wages for employees so they can buy more goods.

In a couple of hours after several conversations across a disparate group of people, I saw a theme – the political system that was by the people, did not seem to be for the people.

I looked back wondering what may have triggered the frustration. Both institutions – democracy and capitalism had stayed unchanged for several decades – so what had suddenly triggered self-realization within the 99%? It was probably the handing off of huge bonuses to the AIG execs with the bailout money they received.  That was not capitalism – that was corporate anarchy

The difference between capitalism and socialism is very simple – the former ties wealth to output – the more you produce, the more money you make.

Socialism believes in equal distribution – no matter how much you produce, the money will be equally divided amongst the populace.

AIG however introduced a new concept – Corporate Anarchy – no matter how much you produce, the execs will still get the wealth – even when they may have driven the organization to bankruptcy. With this structure in place, who really would have the best interest of the company in mind – not the execs for sure. I was suddenly reminded of the Kamani Tubes case in Mumbai (India) from 1989 when a financially sick Kamani Tubes was dramatically turned around after the management of the company was handed over to its employees.

However, the more disappointing element of the protest is not the stance of the big Corporations, but the politicians. The protests in San Diego alone are now entering the 4^th week and no elected official has considered it their duty to understand the grievances of their constituents? Is it because they can’t yet figure out if the protestors are Democrats or Republicans? Or is it because, they are still unable to fathom the concept of folks coming together solely on economic grounds?

It is probably the latter. Politicians still don’t seem to have come to terms with the new generation of voters connected through social media. As Tom Brokaw pointed out this Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press – “We have an analog political culture in a digital world.”

So the question is – will this movement eventually lead to the evolution of the current political system into a digital one, where the constituents and their representatives are well connected – a system which promotes transparency and holds the elected representatives accountable for results? It is a possibility, but it is too early to tell. The movement is still in the first stage of group development – forming. Once it moves into the next stage, a more consistent and specific message, along with leadership will begin to emerge. It is possibly this reason that both the politicians and media have ignored it till now. As one of the occupants pointed to me – “We’ve historically voted for Democrats, but now I would like to see a candidate emerge from amongst us, to represent us.” It seems a far-fetched idea now – but the seed sure is getting planted!