Another technique in the book is that you should manage your time as you manage your money. Some simple methods to help you manage your time better are: “Arrange things in your office in such a manner that if you want a thing, you can get it first. Use the checklist yourself and insist that everyone who reports to you also uses it. Discourage frequent interruptions.”

Find out where your time goes, urges Batra.

“Very often, we spend more time on things which we like and not on those things which have to be done.”

Valuable takeaways.

There are different ways to value a company, such as market price of shares, replacement cost of assets, and present value of the future expected cash flows.

Ultimately, however, valuation is a subjective exercise that is as much art as science, says A.V. Vedpuriswar in ‘A to Z of Business Strategy’ ( www.visionbooksindi a.com ). In an entry on ‘merger,’ he explains different types of merger, viz. horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate. “Many mergers fail to create value for shareholders because synergies identified before the merger fail to materialise,” the author adds. What can be the options before the current management of a company that wants to thwart a takeover bid? The golden parachute is one, lists Vedpuriswar, in an entry titled ‘anti-takeover strategy.’ This is about a provision in a CEO’s contract to ensure that he will get a large bonus in cash or stock if the company is acquired. Another technique is the supermajority – “a defence that requires an overwhelming majority of shareholders to approve of any acquisition.” Then, there is the poison pill, “anything that the target company does to make itself less valuable or less desirable as an acquisition once such a raid has begun.”

Well compiled.

The brain is a self-organising information system, says Edward de Bono in ‘Why So Stupid?’ (Westland). Incoming information organises itself into patterns, just like rain falling on a landscape gradually organises itself into streams and rivers, he analogises. “Once formed these streams and rivers collect and capture all future rainfall. In the same way, the patterns formed in the brain determine our future perceptions.”