Looking at Antares Pharmaceutical, Inc. (ATRS) from a technical perspective

Antares Pharmaceutical, Inc. (ATRS)

Background 

Undoubtedly, Antares (ATRS) is a pharmaceutical company. Their focus is on developing  efficient and effective methods in which drugs can be given/taken. The result is a safer and more efficient way of giving a dosage and a reduction of side effects. Antares’ products include self-injection devices and topical (applied to the skin surface) gel-based products. Their self-injection products in essence look like thick highlighter pens. They are designed to make taking drugs easier and more comfortable. 

Medi-Jector is used to take TEV-TROPIN® brand human growth hormone

Current and future financial outlook

The company has not been profitable in recent years. This is to be expected as they are still largely in their research and development phase. Still they have products currently selling and many more products in the pipeline. As a result, Antares has been able to reduce loss over the past three years from $10M in FY 2009 to $6M in FY 2010 and finally to $4M in FY2011. That is an over 50% reduction in losses in two years. While you may argue that this is evidently possible if you don’t spend any money, but the company has a number of products with significant partners in the pipeline. These partners include Jazz, Watson, TEVA, and most notably Pfizer. Also, a quick look at the 2011 10-K, shows that they do not have any long term debt. In fact, they have assets of $40M versus liabilities of $10M.

ATRS Product Pipelines (from the company’s website)

Certainly when we check their stock price, it is evident that their progress has been reflected in their stock price. ATRS has been on an incredible run the past two years. It has gone from about 1.30/share to 5.25/share that is about a 323% return. 

ATRS recently announced positive result from their VIBEX MTX usability study. In laymen terms, the VIBEX is an auto injector designed to self-administer a weekly injection of methotrexate for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. In the past few days it popped just above $5/share and recorded a 50% increase in stock price. For the month it looks like it almost doubled from 2.77/share to 5.25/share.

The question now is when would be a good place to get in on the stock. Right now it looks like it is overextended and would be optimal to enter in at around 4.25/share. That way the gap will fill and hopefully it will be oversold by then. This would be just around a 38% retracement from the high. But, if it breaks through that 5.25 resistance, we could be in for a wild ride upward. My outlook is that when a stock goes up this much in such a short amount of time, there will be profit takers and when the dust settles that is when it is a good time to enter. But, these pharmaceutical stocks are very volatile and at any FDA failure could drop 50% within days. 

Disclaimer: This article is written for informational purposes only and isn’t intended as investment advice.

Disclosure: I am long ATRS.

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Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Four of Nine

Day 4

8:00AM – Woke up from an unbelievable night

I woke up at 8AM groggy and also realized that I had slept in last night’s clothes. This is evidence of a great night. My ears were still ringing from last night. I grabbed my clothes and immediately went to go take a shower. The showers were on a timer and I had to constantly hit the water button. Surprisingly, we didn’t experience any hostels that did not have any hot water. For that we were thankful, especially since it was 40 degrees F almost every single day we were there. Did I mention that it basically rained every day we were in Ireland except for the last day?

11:00AM – True Full Irish Breakfast at Cathleen’s Country Kitchen

Half Irish Breakfast

Our trip would not be completed without trying a full Irish breakfast, which consisted of 2 bacon, 2 eggs, 2 sausages, black pudding, baked beans, and half a tomato. Black pudding is a type of sausage made by cooking pork blood. It is difficult to describe the taste, but it tastes nothing like what you would expect (blood). Initially, I wanted to get the full Irish breakfast, but then thought it would be too much, so I opted for the half, which is just one of everything mentioned previously. Little did I know that their portions are a lot smaller than what we are used to in the States. In addition, I also noticed that they usually had milk in a pouring cup and most of us weren’t sure why. Perhaps we are supposed to add it into our coffee or tea. I ended up just drinking the milk directly from the pouring cup. They have great milk!

1:00PM – En route to Killarney National Park

Torc Waterfall

We put in the GPS directions to get to Killarney National Park. The first thing we saw was Ross Castle. There was also a boat tour for 10€ around the lake. However, we opted to do a hike. So we went off and ended up hiking the Mine trail for about 15 minutes and arrived at a really nice huge lake and scenic view. In the middle of the lake there was an island. We stopped to take pictures and skip rocks. The most we skipped was three times. We stopped by the Muckross House. When we found out that they charged admission, we passed on this touristy attraction. Instead I bought a cap tweed from the souvenir shop. Then a buddy of mine caught wind of a gorgeous waterfall nearby from a nearby tourist group. So we decided to go look for it. When we arrived at Torc waterfall, which was about 10 minutes away we were amazed by the peacefulness that surrounded the waterfall. Soon after we went to get lunch and then stopped by at Pennys. Pennys I would say is our Target. They had a lot of inexpensive clothes, but they were not great quality.

4:00pm- Drove towards Dingle Peninsula

View on driving alongside on the R561

We asked for directions to get to Dingle. The receptionist at the hostel mentioned that there was a scenic route we could take, which would take us close to the ocean. Our plan was to take the R561 and then follow it to get as close to the Dingle Bay as possible. While driving towards our destination, we hit a fork in the road and came by the Golden Nugget Hotel, which we were supposed to make a right at. However, we missed the turn and when we tried to bust a U-turn we ran over a curb and popped the driver’s side of the tire. For those of you who have been to Europe, you will notice that people don’t usually make U-turns. Instead there are roundabouts, whereby you will go in a circle and exit when you need too. It was really quite interesting. When we popped the tire, we stopped by the nearest hotel car park (parking lot) and then quickly changed our tire. We called Budget and they told us to go to a garage to get the spare changed. We arrived at a mom and pop kind of garage and then had our tire changed for about 90€. They were not able to patch it up because the hole was on the side of the tire. We took the scenic route and it was amazing. We saw huge cliffs and just gorgeous views. This was a preview of the Cliffs of Moher. At around 8pm, we finally arrived at the Hideout Hostel in Dingle. On our way in, we meet the Canadian girls we saw in Cork. We said Hi, but went inside as it was too chilly outside. You can imagine how chilly and windy it was as we were close to the shore. I met Chuck, who seemed to be the owner of the place and we checked in four people for 72€. I washed some of my more necessary clothing in the sink and left it to hang in the room.

10:00pm – Dinner at Half Door in Dingle

It was getting late and we knew we were risking our chances of getting a decent meal the later we waited to get dinner. After stopped by two places where we were turned away, the Half Door welcomed us in. I ordered the rack of lambs and seafood chowder. They were both amazing. The rack of lambs had no game taste and the seafood chowder had all kinds of seafood in it. I remember tasting salmon, clams, some lobster, and other fish. The chowder by itself was extremely filling. My portion of the meal came out to 38€. Pricey to say the least, but it was worth going to at least once. We walked down John St. and stopped at ‘An Oroicead Beag’, which was a yellow building. There was live music in the pub. We played drinking games and then each of us had an Irish Carbomb, which consists of Guinness, Bailey’s and Jameson. There was even a Hold’em game in the pub, but the rake was too big, so my poker buddy didn’t end up playing.

Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Five of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Zero/One of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Two of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Three of Nine

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Breakdown of Barclays Scandal of Fixed LIBOR/Interest Rates

Summary

Barclays, UK’s second largest bank by assets, has been targeted for manipulating the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR) during the time before the financial crisis and through the height of the financial crisis (2005-2009). The bank was fined 290 million pounds or $453.4 million USD. In addition, under public pressure, a number of upper management resigned including  Bob Diamond, CEO, Jerry del Missier, COO, and chairman Marcus Agius all resigned within a week of each other. Furthermore, the bank lost an estimated $5B in market capitalization. The British parliament’s Treasury Select Committee is currently involved in this matter.

What is the LIBOR Rate?

The LIBOR rate is the average interest rate estimated by large volume banks participating in the London wholesale money market. In essence, it is the interest rate at which reputable banks can borrow from other banks. Each bank will submit their rate and the average is the LIBOR rate. From that rate, banks determine what the credit card interest rates, mortgage and loan interest rates, and most anything dealing with interest rates is calculated.

These nineteen banks are involved in determining the LIBOR rate:

The Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, NA, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Barclays Bank plc, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC, Lloyds TSB Bank plc, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Canada, Société Générale, Sumitomo, Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Norinchukin Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and UBS AG

What is the evidence?

An investigation took place over Barclay. Investigators found emails (see below) that there were traders fixing inputs that factored into the calculation of a higher LIBOR rate. Part of Barclay’s defense is that they felt they were pressured by the UK government. 

In one email dated November 22, 2005, a senior trader in New York wrote to a trader in London: “WE HAVE TO GET KICKED OUT OF THE FIXINGS TOMORROW!! We need a 4.17 fix in 1m (low fix) We need a 4.41 fix in 3m (high fix).” 1m and 3m refer to one-month and three-month Libor rates. 

 “For you … anything. I am going to go 78 and 92.5. It is difficult to go lower than that in threes,” a submitter wrote to a trader in response to his request for a high one-month and low three-month U.S. Dollar Libor. 

Responses from two other submitters read: 
“Always happy to help, leave it with me, Sir,” and “Done … for you big boy … ” “[Senior Trader] owes me!” reads another. It seems that the rewards were tasty. 

Champagne was popped, judging from another email: “Dude. I owe you big time! Come over one day after work and I’m opening a bottle of Bollinger.”

What were the actual rate submissions of Barclays?

We can see from the below chart that Barclay’s interest rate submissions were higher than those of the Libor rate in red. In grey, we can see rates of other banks. As you can see, there is a high volatility during October. There were a lot of banks below the Libor rate and even some including Barclay above.

What do we make of all this?

From an ethical and fraudulent perspective, I have no doubt in my mind that what Barclay has done is unacceptable, unethical, and could be argued as fraud. Evidence suggests that traders knowingly manipulated the inputs of the Libor calculation, which resulted in skewing the Libor rate. They should and will most probably be punished.

However, from a financial perspective, a $453M fine is not a big hit to Barclays. This is a multi-billion dollar company. How much did Bank of America lose as a result of acquiring Countrywide? I’d wager a bet to say at least more than a couple billion.

As for the Libor rate, it is an average of rates from other banks. Although Barclay’s rates were higher than the actual Libor rate, it isn’t higher by much (not even close to half a percent). Also, as we can see from the chart above, it looks like other banks could be accused of manipulating the rate as well. In fact, the Royal Bank of Scotland sacked four of their own traders over allegations of a similar event.
The long and the short of it is there will be punishment and the market may react negatively in the coming days/weeks as a result, but Barclay could come out of this okay.

Disclaimer: This article is written for informational purposes only and isn’t intended as investment advice. Disclosure: I am long BCS.

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Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Three of Nine

Day 3 

10:00AM – En route to Blarney Castle

We checked out of the hostel at around 10:00AM. Breakfast was toast with jam and tea. We crossed a river to get to some of the shopping places nearby. Some of us looked to buy some souvenirs, but most places were closed because it happened to be a bank holiday. This was the first time I would be driving on the other side of the road. But, I was not nervous at all. After walking around the shopping plaza, we drove to Blarney Castle, which was about twenty minutes away from our hostel. Just before we hit the castle, we saw a “swap meet”. We paid the 2€ fee and started to walk around. Most of the things people were selling were junk from their homes. However, I did see some Germany military medals, old coins, and stamps. We stopped to buy some apple pie from some cute Irish girls. They seemed to be having a bake sale.

12:00PM – Blarney Castle and House

The castle was about an eight minute walk from the “swap meet”. We debated whether or not we should move the car, but by the time we came to a decision, we had already walked there. For the 12€ student price, we entered the huge ridiculous estate. It had to of been at least 20 acres. The castle and estate have been passed on generation after generation with the intent of never to be sold. Most estates are expensive to maintain, therefore have been converted into golf courses or museums. However, the Blarney Castle’s revenue from tourists has been able to fund the estate. The estate also has a river that runs through the estate called the Blarney River. Rumor is that there is a gold plate in the river, however it has been said that previous owners have tried to drain the river, but have not been able to find the plate. We toured the Blarney house and it was amazing just to think that people still live on the estate. It housed old paintings and portraits of the family. The youngest of the family born in 1991 have gone off to college. It is rather insane to imagine being born with that much wealth. Originally the family received the land from the King as someone in the family had led the country to victory in several wars. Surprisingly the couple prepares their own breakfast and they only have one maid in the house. One of the rooms has a lift that goes to the kitchen. Food was brought up directly from the kitchen. There was also a table whereby you would put money in a drawer and then it would go down into a vault. The house had old antiques that dated hundreds of years. We walked to the castle, which was at least 300M away. It was a legitimate castle made of stone. Then we climbed the narrow stone stairs up to the top and there we kissed the blarney stone. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with great eloquence or skill at flattery. It was pretty difficult to kiss the stone as we had to lean over the edge backwards. Rumor is that the king had put the stone in a difficult to reach place to prevent people being able to reach it.

4:00PM – Off to Kinsale

Kinsale is a small town south of Cork. We had heard from other tourists that there was a terrific seafood restaurant called Fishy Fishy. But, before heading to Kinsale we detoured to the Cork Airport to get our cigarette fuse box fixed to charge our GPS. While at Budget cars, we had to open the control box, which was underneath the driver’s steering panel. Then took out the fuse that was disconnected. It took the mechanic and us a while to find the correct fuse because we were looking at the wrong fuse box manual. When we did find it, it was a quick fuse swap and then we were on our way. We drove to Kinsale. My first impression was that it was similar to fisherman’s wharf in SF. Of course it was a bit smaller and crowded. The people in Ireland have got to be the friendliest people. We stopped a friendly drunk Irish man to ask for directions to Fishy Fishy. He had his arm around one of my buddies and repeated the directions twice to make sure we understood. We ate at Fishy Fishy and it was amazing despite the fact that it was a pricey meal. The group ended up playing credit card roulette and I ended up paying half the bill (45€) Then we got honeycomb ice cream, which tastes like vanilla and caramel bits mixed in. This is my favorite flavor in Ireland. If you do not know already, Ireland’s ice cream is delicious. My guess is that this is the result of the farm animals being so well fed. Literally the entire country is covered in green grass. I did not once see any yellow grass. In any event, I digress. After ice cream, I bought a 2€ scratcher, which did not win me money.

6:00PM – Headed to Killarney

It was a two hour drive to Killarney from Kinsale. We arrived at Neptune’s Killarney hostel at around 8pm. This hostel had nicer bathrooms than the one we previously stayed at. Like most other hostels we stayed at, breakfast was complimentary as consisted of toast with jam and coffee/tea. We immediately went to hit some bars. The first bar we went to was called O’Connor’s Traditional Pub. Evidently it was a touristy location as we saw a bunch of dollar bills hung from the walls. We went to a second dark pub and it had live music, but then immediately went to a third pub. The third pub was more traditional and had live old school Irish music. It was interesting, but we quickly became hungry. As you may have noticed already, in Ireland food places close at around 8pm. The only places still open were fast food places which served oily fries (chips) and burgers. After we ate at the fast food place, we went to another Pub called the Killarney Grand. This pub actually had an interesting mix of people. While there were young people, I also saw some older people. At the end of the pub, there was a nightclub, which went largely unoccupied the entire night. We ordered some Bulmer’s cider beers and then meet a couple other travelers. At around this time, the live band J90 started to play some sick music. They covered all the popular American songs and they were quite good. I met a French girl and we hit it off, so I bought her a Guinness pint. But then I had my eye on this other girl who ended up dancing in front of me. My buddy hit it off with a German girl. They exchanged emails and she even offered to have her cousin show him around in Germany. We finished the night at around 2AM.

Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Four of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Five of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Two of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Zero/One of Nine

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Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Two of Nine

Day 2 

8:30AM – Woke up to a chilling 40 degrees F

We are not used to this chilly weather. I surprised myself by waking up so early. Of course the others were still sleeping. I walked down the stairs to get some complimentary breakfast in the kitchen. Don’t get too excited, this is not a five star hotel. Breakfast was cereal with milk and toast with blueberry jam. I met an older man. After speaking with him for twenty minutes, I found out that he is originally from Long Beach, worked in Silicon Valley, and lived in Holland for a while. He was maybe in his late 50s. That is my best guess is based on the fact that he said he had grandchildren. While chilling on the couch, I chatted with a young Australian chick. She had just graduated college and did a semester abroad in Barcelona. She just found a job in the Temple Bar area and has been traveling alone for a couple months now. Unfortunately, I didn’t get her name.

 10:30AM – Pick up our car from Budget

If you didn’t know already, most people in Europe drive manual stick-shift cars. Unfortunately none of us knew how to drive a manual car. We opted for the automatic, but even then we were in for a new experience. In Ireland they drive on the left side of the road and the driver’s seat is on the right side versus the left in the US. We took a taxi to the nearest Budget in Dublin. They have two locations in Dublin; one in the airport and the other downtown. We rented a Ford Mondeo Diesel, which seats five, for about 42€ a day excluding insurance and GPS. The GPS was about $13€ a day. It took us a while to figure out how to drive on the other side of the road. We took turns driving. The issue we ran into was that all of would stay too close to the left side of the road and thereby graze the side of our car against bushes. We picked up some burritos on the way to the Wicklow National Park.

1:00PM – Driving to Cork via Wicklow National Park, Kilkenny, and Rock of Cashel

Did I mention that the weather in Ireland is ridiculously cold? Our plan was to stop by the Wicklow National Park on our way to Cork. Our GPS didn’t have an address for the national park, but we did get an address close to it. The roads were narrow and lacked street signs, so we had one navigator while another one of us drove. We stopped by some scenic areas and even saw ruins of a castle. It was far too chilly and windy to stay long in the national park. We continued on to Kilkenny and stopped by Kilkenny Castle. Our first castle in Ireland! The castle was originally built for a military leader, but later became the house of the Butler family. The Walter families were butlers to the King at the time and were given 10% of all wine tax (imposed on all imported wine) and land. They had changed their name to Butler later on. Much of the castle is now house-like, which included a dining room and drawing room. Most of the items in the castle were from the time, but were not originally from the castle. They had one or two items that were originally from the castle in each room.

4:30PM – Early dinner and food run at The Field Bar

We stopped by the Field Bar, which was located across from the Kilkenny castle. We had a Kilkenny local beer. It was not as bitter as an IPA, I enjoyed it. The waitress was a short cute Irish girl. If I didn’t know any better, she probably must have been 18. We had no idea what to order, so we asked her what her favorite dish was. She said she was vegan and only ate sandwiches. When we followed up and ask her what kind of sandwich, she said BLT. I thought to myself, doesn’t the BLT include bacon. I must have misheard. In any event, we ended up sharing a chicken and steak dish. We met who seemed like the owner of the place and he asked how long we were staying in Ireland. He mentioned that he lived in California for a while and is a huge Portland Trailblazer fan and detests the Lakers. As we walked out of the bar, a band walked in. However, we did stop by another bar for a while to listen to live music.

6:00PM – En route to Cork via Rock of Cashel

By this time, most touristy places are closed. Nonetheless, our journey took us to the Rock of Cashel. As expected, the castle was closed when we arrived. However, we stopped by to see the castle from the outside. Surrounding the castle was green grass and what must have been forty sheep. The castle looked like it was partially under construction. We saw that it had some wooden sticks and plastic coverings at the very top. Like with most trips, they don’t go as planned. We noticed that our GPS was not charging in the cigarette lighter. After calling Budget, we drove to Cork Airport to get it fixed. By the time we arrived, the repair center had closed. So, we swapped our GPS and were told to come back tomorrow to get the fuse fixed. What a bummer!

Rock of Cashel with Sheep

9:00PM – Checked into Kinlay House Cork hostel

We headed to Cork and checked into Kinlay House Cork hostel late. This hostel reminded me of college dorms, except that it was not well lit. That part of it reminded me of an insane asylum. Especially since the doors had small rectangular windows in them. We had two bunk beds and our luggage barely fit inside the room. The sun had set already and it had to have been past 9:00pm. This meant that we would have a difficult time finding good food as most places have closed already. We met two girls from Canada, who were Dutch. Some of us played games this Dutch card game with them. They had already been in Ireland for two weeks now. Incidentally, we also met the old man we saw in our Dublin hostel. We headed out to get some dinner. It took us a while to find a place that was open that still served food. Most places that were open around this time were drinking places. The only place open was a shitty burger place. It started raining, so right after we headed back to the hostel to retire for the night.

Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Three of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Four of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Five of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Zero/One of Nine

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Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Zero/One of Nine

Day 0 

12:00pm – Arrived at LAX Airport

2:00pm – Leaving for Dublin Airport (DUB) via Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (4 Hr Layover; 12 Hr flight time)

KLM- Royal Dutch Airlines has surprisingly good airplane food. My first meal on this flight was scrambled eggs with potatoes, mixed fruits and yogurt parfait. Each of our seats included personal TVs, which showed recent movies and stored single and multiplayer games. This is standard on international flights.

Day 1

9:00AM – Arrived in Amsterdam – Schiphol (AMS)

The group debated whether or not to go into the city with a 4 hour layover we thought it was cutting it close to be entering a city we were not already familiar with. Instead we used the time to figure out the train routes into Amsterdam and how to purchase train tickets.

1:00PM – Flown from AMS to DUB (1 Hr and 30 Min flight time)

We exited the airport and immediately searched for public transportation. We took Bus 16A into Dublin downtown, which cost about 2€ (1€= 1.3 USD). We asked someone sitting next to us which stop was O’Connell Street. He said he didn’t have a clue. Luckily for us an older lady was able to let us know when we needed to get off. While in the bus, we saw some interesting restaurant signs. Apparently they call ‘take out’, ‘take away’ in Ireland. The street signs are impossible to see. They aren’t like those in the states. They have license plate sized street signs tacked on the corner of their buildings some three stories up. Who can see that? After we got off the 30 minute bus ride, like the tourists we were, we rolled our luggage to the hostel. This was when I wished I had a true backpacking backpack.

3:00PM – We arrived at the Liffey Hostel (aka Litton Lane)

The hostel entrance was in an alley, which made it extremely difficult to find. My first impression of the hostel was that it was a music studio artsy lounge. When you first enter you’ll see the reception to your left and then to your right you’ll see a common room. The common room held a couple couches, computers, and a TV. It was decorated with records and artsy picture of famous Irish artists including U2. This room led to the kitchen which was a fair size with a couple foldable tables and some chairs. The second, third, and I believe fourth floor had all the room and shared bathrooms/showers. When we walked up the stairs, on each floor you would see murals of famous singers. Incidentally, the receptionist mentioned to us that this used to be a music studio, however because the equipment became a pain to bring up and down the stairs it was converted into a hostel. This was the first time I had lived in a hostel. Generally speaking, people who stay at hostels are nice and outgoing individuals.

5:00PM – Dinner at Messrs Maguire in Dublin

We had skipped lunch due to our flight time overlapping with lunch. Although the flight from the Netherlands to Ireland is technically an international flight, the fact that it was only an hour and a half meant that a meal would not be provided. We asked people at the hostel what were some good places to eat. They recommended Messrs Maguire, which used to be a library, and the Church Bar, which used to be a church, but now is a bar/restaurant. We ended up in both places at the end of the night. Maguire was more of a pub like atmosphere than the Church, which seemed more high-end.

Church Bar 

8:00PM – Walked around downtown Dublin

Nightlife in Dublin is lively to say the least. Everywhere you turn there are packed pubs with live Irish music. People are walking all around. There is constant chatter in the cold air. We crossed the River Liffey to get to famous touristy places such as Temple Bar and the Bank of Ireland (IRE). Temple Bar was packed and has now become such a touristy place that locals no longer go here. Also, their beers are said to be overpriced. In general, beers in Ireland were around 5€ or $6.50 USD. The food was a lot more expensive. Generally speaking, the prices were 1/3 more than they were in the states. For example if a meal was $11.5 USD, in Ireland that same meal would have been 15€. If we adjust for foreign exchange that meal would have been about $19.5 USD.

Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Two of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Three of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Four of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Five of Nine

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Prof Deepak Malhotra – Harvard Business School – Speech to Graduating Harvard MBA Students with Summary

Tragedy and Genius 

Deepak Malhotra is a professor in the negotiations organizations and markets unit at the Harvard Business School. Professor Malhotra has published numerous books including the most recent I Moved your Cheese has been translated into fifteen languages. His research focuses on negotiation strategy, trust development, competitive escalation, and international and ethnic dispute resolution.

Notable discussion points and quotes

Quit early and quit often. Be the best quitter you know. 

Close your eyes and imagine what you are going to be doing after you graduate. Ask yourself: Am I really excited about this? Is this what I always wanted to be doing at this stage of life? Is this what I dreamed of doing? Is this what I really really want to do? If the answer is no, I suggest you quit and you quit now. And save yourself some time.

Two things I’ll say about quitting before we move on to something else. First, I’m not saying quit something because its hard. I’m telling you to quit something because it sucks. It’s just not for you. It maybe for everyone sitting near to you, but it’s not for you. Quit it. Don’t spend years justifying why you got to do it. If you have the opportunity quit. The second thing, I’ll say. Quitting is not for the weak. Quitting takes strength. Quitting often takes more strength than perseverance. Cultivate the strength to quit and make it a habit. It allows you to say no to a lot of things and yes to the few things that maybe you didn’t even know were perfect for you.

Now of course after all this quitting you’ll have to do something in your life. What job should you take? Make sure what you are doing creates value. There are two kinds of people. There are those who figure out how to create value first and then worry about how much money they will make later. There are those who figure out to make money, but don’t really create value for anyone. We call these people thieves. Don’t be a thief.

Learn to see the world in gentler eyes. What does matter is how much you are willing to understand people on the other side.

Empathy matters most when you are dealing with people who seem to deserve it least. Before we have empathy, we have to have humility. Humility and confidence are not enemies. They are best friends. If you have one or the other you are in trouble. People with lots of humility and no confidence are not doing too much. But the people with all the confidence in world, but no humility. I see one of those people and I see a person about to go down in flames. You got to have both. Yes, it can be done. What are the limits that I can do on my own?

You got to get your learn on. We walk into a situation with preconceived notions about it is that I should learn. You are going to learn a lot more if you are not so picky about who you are going to learn from and what you learn. If you are open to the idea of learning from every experience that you are having.

Stay in touch with your teachers. They invest in a lot in you. Reach out and let them know how you are doing.

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What is the question we are asking people in Galway, Ireland?

“You just regret the things you don’t do”

“That I am 75 and I wish I was only 65”

“I got married; like a week ago”

“That I didn’t start living for joy sooner”

“Maybe, not traveling more”

“Not marrying that last when we were in high school 50 years ago and letting her move to Canada…and meeting her 50 years later and finally marrying her. We’ve been married one year”

“My drinking”

“Not spending enough time with my dad…he passed away”

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Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Crazy, stupid, love. 

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Dallas Mavericks Win the NBA Championship

Dirk Nowitzki (41) of the Dallas Mavericks reacts after making a jump shot in the fourth quarter while taking on the Miami Heat in Game 6 on Sunday in Miami, Florida. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

For the first time in NBA and Mavericks franchise history, the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA championship. Finally, a team other than the Los Angeles Lakers or San Antonio Spurs comes out on top. Yes, you could argue that the Celtics won it in ’08, Heat in ’06, and Pistons prior to that in ’04. But, sometimes you can’t deny the fact that it doesn’t feel that way.

Throughout the NBA finals, everywhere I looked except in Miami, everyone appeared to be rooting for the Dallas Mavericks to pull through. Or I should say we were hoping for the Miami Heat to lose. Perhaps, it has something to do with their “welcome party” they had before the season even began. Was that the most modest display in all of professional sports or what? Maybe after all of that, the Heat deserved to lose. Still, the look on Chris Bosh, Lebron James, and even Dwayne Wade’s faces did win some of my sympathy.

Put yourself in the player’s shoes. How would you deal with the pressures of the media, fans, and coaches? You might compare dealing with coaches with dealing with bosses and fans to friends and family. But, what about the media? During the press conference interview after the game, Mark Cuban, the owner of the Mavs, said it best. He said that he could care less about what everyone else thought. The bottom line is to trust and believe in yourself. What does that mean? I take it to mean that when you are working towards a goal and hit a road block, do what you think is best for yourself and not what everyone else thinks is best for you. Mark Cuban said, “there is no magic formula to creating a championship team”. Similarly in life, there is no set path; it is different for everybody. Have confidence in yourself that you’ll make the right decisions.

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