A walk through the dark night..

"Dude, look at the last year's shortlists - No one below 3.89/4 shortlisted by McKinsey, BCG, A T Kerney..." said my engineering classmate who has joined me here too. The guy is serious about this claim and has hit 4/4 in Term I. But he is still mourning the 'screwup' in Term II in which he thinks he will have to be content with only 2 A's and the rest 2 A-'s (=3.75/4), a portfolio of grades that would make most sensible people here open Champagne in the beautiful SV grounds under the cloudy night.

"No dude, I saw at least one guy shortlisted at 3.6 something. There may be more. I didn't check all." I said.

I have scored 3.75 in Term I and as usual, am very optimistic about the top tier consulting firms offering me a position, not just because I have good grades but because of my entire resume.

"No man! Then look at that guy's other activities too. He had done quite a lot." He suggested me.

This was a typical Sunday afternoon in the dining hall.

This is one year at a place that offers many opportunities to grow across several dimensions. Nobody is clear what is right. Everybody has come in with his own set of priorities and his own perception of success. In any conversation on what is right for the future and what is not, there is tremendous opinion clash. Some are going all out for grades because that's seriously all they have ever known. Some are fighting for grades under peer pressure to make it to top tier consulting firms. Surprisingly a few guys who were happily 6 point someones at IIT are slogging for 4/4 here. This is the last platform to a great career, they would tell you - right or wrong, nobody knows, not even the alumns. Some would tell you not to focus too much on grades and do other things too but the hesitation in the voice gives out way too much - They are really not sure what would work in this market.

A substantial chunk of student population - those still trying to make sense out of the chaos and determined not to be the part of a meaningless rat race - meets in fragments on cloudy night walks around the academic center and asks others of the group whether it's really right to succumb to the peer pressure and register for all those industry projects or business plan competitions just because everybody else is working hard to add that extra line to their resume that might signal their superior level of willingness to join the AAA rated recruiters and to prepare some material for those 5 minutes of interview that would make the entire difference between the upper casts and the untouchables of Corporate India.

You should listen to those fighting souls on those dark night walks. The confident adults in business are nervous students for sometime. One puts hands around the other's shoulders and tries to comfort them on the same dilemma that is eating himself within. Nobody is just ignoring academics here. We are infact getting above average grades. After that level of hard work, should we really not do what we want to do - play football everyday, do gym, go swimming, dance, perhaps look for a special someone...or..is it really a sin here to think of relaxation - mental or physical. And they listen to each other. In half an hour of each other's company, they feel better and go back to their rooms, read the latest issue of The Economist, something they so wanted to do from the last four days, do some course reading and get lulled into a peaceful sleep.

The day breaks with sun shining through the flimsy curtains, there is a lot to do today. Morning classes, some afternoon assignments, an alum session from some AAA rated company in the evening, discussions with numerous classmates throughout and the day ending in hesitation at 7.30 in the evening whether to go to the recreation center or to pitch for the new industry projects posted this afternoon or may be go to the professional club's meeting to be a part of the focus group trying to organise some high profile conference on some esoteric management topic, not because that's what they want to do, but because who knows networking might come in handy for a good job tomorrow and of course 'Key member of the organising committee of So&So summit' might give them a spike on the resume. 'Might' because nobody is sure..

At 11.30 in the night, I look out of my window into the cloudy sky and pick up the phone "Aloke, want to come for a walk for sometime?"

Mental Attyachaar...

Last year when I read the blogs of top MBA school students sometimes, I also came across a few from those from the Indian School of Business. Some of them wrote their posts at 2 am or 3 am and said they were about to go to read a case for the next morning class after the post. And I wondered how difficult that should be at that hour knowing that you have had a packed day, have morning 8 am class the next day, and still haven't yet started reading the case at 2-3 am!

Fast forward almost an year...

In the morning, I had 2 hours each of Managerial Accounting and Corporate Finance class from two of the world's most revered Profs in the areas - one from Kellogs and the other from UCLA. In the afternoon, I went for the last term's end term paper viewing session that took me another 2 hours. Caught a short nap in the evening. Went for the consulting club session from the BCG people who had flown down from Mumbai for a day and because the BCG partner there was an economist with a passion and authority in his subject, it turned out to be almost another class in economics and finance resulting in a severe information overload in a single day. The stress buster was a sweet 10 min chat, after BCG session, with one of the prettiest girls of my batch - yeah, you are free to assume anything about my intentions; when the girl has that mix of qualities and beauty, anybody can slip. But I hear that she already has an equally eligible boyfriend, though I have no source to varify that information yet.

Ah, I have this tendency to digress from the subject!

Alright, so after such a pecked day, it's 2 am now, I have a class at 8.15 in the morning, and still have to start reading the case for tomorrow's class...

A leader he will be..

Cream of the future Indian management, budding entrepreneurs, aspiring CEOs and what not!

They join all sorts of clubs, take 'initiatives', 'network' with the who-is-who of the corporate, organise 'International conference on this and that' successfully every now and then, despite challanges like the bad market, etc. Above all, they are called 'Leaders'! They got in here precisely because of their demonstrated leadership qualities.

They are perfectionists, they believe in excellence and expect excellence from others - from the school too...but

...but they would leave their room ACs on for the five hours they are in class. Why? So they find their rooms cool when they come back. Oh, but it feels claustrophobic in closed rooms. So, they would also keep the room door open. Oh yeah, the AC is still on, otherwise it's so hot! And you know actually leaving the room open is good too in a way, so you have the lobby cool too, just in case you want to drop in to watch TV for 5 minutes in the day. At least, you wouldn't sweat for those 5 minutes. And did you say about the lights? Ah! Come on you freak, how much power does a tube light consume!

Ask them where their parents live. They would give you the name of some small place near Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, or so. Oh yes, they would recall over a cup of tea how they were always mad when the power went off for hours a night before their final exams. In fact, they got a percent lesser in 12th just because of that. This incompetent Indian political and buerocratic machinery can never make India a developed nation by 2020 if this is the state of a basic necessity as power, they would tell you. God knows what would happen to the exploding power needs of this country had the left been successful in scuttling the Nuke deal! And hey why are they not going home in the term break? Ah man, it's very hot at my home place and even the power doesn't come full day. I would rather call my parents here in one of those breaks.

Once in a while, an observer brings their attention to this and look at the humility of those leaders, they are always prompt in taking the blame, accepting responsibility. Just fast forward one more day, they are in the class, you sneak into their open door and a burst of cool air hits you in the well lit room. Laptop is on so they hit the ground running on coming back from the classes..

How I wish, we knew leadership starts from within...

SUST, SUSU, et al...

Markstrat is a well known game in the MBA world. You compete with your batch for the same market, do R&D, launch products, build your brand, do advertising, deploy sales force, collude and what not! (Alright, collusion is not possible because of the Honour Code demon that bars us from placements and gives a straight F in the subject at the smallest violation of rules)

Every product has a four letter name - First letter for the market (S for SONITE market), second letter for firm (U for firm U. There are 5 firms in the industry, A, E, I, O, U), and the last two letters are your imagination for your product.

You are given seven periods, each equivalent to an year and you have to maximize your profits every period.

Our firm is U, so all our products for Sonite market start with SU-

We launched SUST two periods back and it has not really been sust. Instead it has quickly become our star product. However, the surprise came when our recent launch SUSU exceeded expected sales and the production fell short. In fact, this time our production of SUST, SUSU, and SUSI, all, fell short even though we had targeted almost 75% market because of our strategic positioning on all segments. But the markets grew by far and with the targetted sales numbers, we got only 61% market share and the production fell short. But still, this time our net earnings were the highest of all periods, perhaps because we had taken 4 large shots of Vodka before keying in the first marketing mix numbers.

But those names are giving us a ball of a time in all our markstrat sittings and Vodka added to the slime. Krishna told Somesh and Ranjana "Why don't you guys do SUSU (together?!) !" when all he meant was to ask them to plug in the advertising and sales force numbers for the product in the system. And the dirtiest of all happened when we all agreed that we were targetting (our) susu at high earners. Not that subtle, eh!

I have daily discussions with our competitors over the wrangle for the only market and this time I had challanged a firm A girl to do whatever she could but she wouldn't be able to beat us. We beat them up by almost 40 million markstrat currency this time. Dinner tomorrow should be fun. I can't wait to rub it in at her. Dining hall is our most common hangout to socialize and markstrat has only added to the meal time chaos.

The other guy, who is my partner for DMOP assignments, and his group opened champagne last time when they made 41k (as against our 55 million, to put the numbers in perspective). They have seen negative net contributions (read positive losses!) in all other periods so far, so a positive contribution, however small, was a reason to go on a binge. The guys are all set for the B- in markstrat. But he is a good chartered accountant, I can't stop laughing at his markstrat plight everytime I look at him. They made a -1500 this time too. Two days ago, I told him I wished Markstrat had an M&A option with a possibility of a hostile take over if your share price went too low. The guy told me how he wished he could kick me in the nuts, if he were not scared of my biceps.

Life is not fair dude!

The Gym guy..

My business card now reads -

1. Co-ordinator for Gym and Fitness Centre under the Sports Club, and

2. Co-ordinator for the Recreation Centre under the Operations and Infrastructure Club

The first role involves organising and managing the participation of Gym and Fitness Centre in all the Sports Club events and the second role involves managing the day-to-day activities, infrastructure, and operations of the entire Recreation Centre, including all the sports facilities, Gym, and Swimming pool.

The first appointment makes me the member of the Sports Club - Core and the second the member of the Graduate Student Board - Extended for the class of 2010.

I never thought my business card would read all this at ISB. Perfect for a Gym freak, isn't it! BTW, thanks in advance. I know you are itching to click the comments link to congratulate me!

Several new demands are already in the queue for the recreation centre and public has just been waiting to pounce upon the Rec Centre Rep as soon as the formal body structure is announced. Huh..where to start from...perhaps a brand new calves machine for my favourite...Gym!

The reflections..

I have had moments when I have cribbed about this place, but when I am receptive to the external environment, this place continues to give me new, exciting experiences.

Tonight we six guys from section A were having dinner in the Goel dining hall and discussing random things when the Strategy Prof from the University of Michigan came with his dinner plate and asked if he could join us. It was a delight. We have had several good profs so far in the two terms but this one is perhaps the best of them all. I heard that last year he was voted the Prof of the year. He is an IIM A grad, has a PhD from Wharton and is over 45 years old. It was amazing to see how well we connected. The classroom formality had given way to informal chatter about everything under the sun. We discussed about the opportunities in the Education and Health Care sectors and the apple case. One of the guys said he had heard somewhere that the Prof had met Steve Jobs sometime back and had asked him why he was still insisting on the same strategy for iPhone and iPod that he had used for iMac and had failed to create a reasonable market share with, despite having so many things in his favour in the beginning of the industry in the early 80s. The Prof confirmed this and we talked about what happened in that talk. Inspiring to hear first hand the experiences of someone who meets Steve Jobs, Ratan Tata, and the likes regularly on corporate assignments.

I asked him the question I had in mind from a very long time. What difference he saw between us and the students at Wharton, Kellogs, and Michigan, etc. I requested him to be frank and blunt. Our class reading of his personality says he can be relied to be blunt in his opinions. While he had no doubt about the quality of the students here, he said something we all know very well. Of course, any Indian B school hasn't attracted as much diversity so far as the top US B schools do. There are many reasons for it and have been discussed numerous times on various forums. I am sure this will change very soon at ISB, but anyways. Speaking of diversity, he spoke in statistical terms since he reasoned we had already taken that course in the last term. He said that in general, the students here could be called a high mean, low variance group whereas the students at the top US schools a low mean, high variance one. For business, you might argue in favour of the latter having relatively higher creative and out-of-the-box factor, in general. He cited the fact that the majority at any international B school in any country is local. Accordingly, a top US B school has a majority of US students whereas an Indian B school like ISB has a majority of Indian students. The education system of the respective countries that brought the students through schooling and graduation reflects in everything they do. And the Indian education system is not highly encouraging as compared to that of the US. The prof made a clear point that the difference he was hinting at had mostly to do with the cultural and societal factors rather than with the quality of Indians as a whole or the quality of ISB. We Indians have a stigma attached to unemployment, failures, etc., things which the Americans consider normal and essential for success in life. I agree with him. He ended up suggesting us how to make the best of this year. He had attended his 20th reunion at IIM A recently and like every senior executive tells us, he said that it didn't matter where everybody had started from. "Your first job isn't going to decide your life." He reiterated a very important learning I have had first hand in the last couple of years - "In the end, we'll all be where we aspire to be, if we work hard, don't lose sight of the goal and have faith in our abilities."

The pressure at ISB is tremendously high. Sometimes when I get time to reflect, I try to tell myself that I am not going to study for grades, I am going to study for learning. I am not going to waste my time worrying what kind of job I am most likely to land up if I do this and that. I am going to do what I love to do. There are all kinds of people here. I just have to look up to those who inspire me.

On a different note, our sports club president has made me the Gym representative for our recreation center. I have already come to be identified with Gym here. Every week, once or twice, a person comes up to me on the lunch or dinner table - our social hangout here - and asks me if I am into professional body building. Even the guy here who has been the youngest refree for volleyball in the Olympics once asked me this over buffet. And the gym coach doesn't believe I havn't taken supplements. It's such a feeling. I tell them that I am an amateur and as I walk back from the meals to my flat, I remember the words of that astrologer that we went to when I had already been operated more than 10 times and had been advised another operation whose chances of success were only 50% - "In 10 years, looking at him, you'd not be able say that he didn't walk on his feet for months and had minimal chances of survival" - and of course, we didn't believe him. We had lost almost everything. A chill runs through my spine everytime I juxtapose my past and my present. It took 15 years instead of 10 but the day has come.

ISB is a fast paced world. Most of them here are extraordinary at something in their lives. The pressures are enormous. Sometimes, it makes me myopic. But whenever I get some time to reflect, I pull myself up to focus at the big picture. I replay the last 15 years of my life before my eyes and the answer is right there - In the end, you all will reach where you really want to.

The Perfect Entrepreneur...

The International Conference on Entrepreneurship concluded here today. The hours between 4.30 pm and 6.30 pm today alone were immensely enriching. I am a big fan of Mr. Manish Sabharwal of TeamLease Services now. The clarity, passion, and articulation in his words was striking. He is an alum of Wharton.

He gave many insights into the world of entrepreneurship and with sound basis:

"Aim high. Aiming low in the beginning is something I feel I shouldn't have done. Believe in yourself and push in full throttle."

"You don't wait for all the lights to go green before you can leave home." (In the context of waiting for removal of all or existing regulatory hurdles before thinking of starting a venture in India)

"When you go to the 10 year reunion of your alma mater, you shouldn't have put yourself in a situation in all those years where you would tell your old pals in retrospect that there is something you wish you should have done but didn't do for whatever reason."

"Remember, entrepreneurs can create two kinds of companies - Babies and Dwarfs. The only difference is that babies grow." (Blew me off!)

"It doesn't necessarily and mostly start with the 'best idea'. You continually mutate your original idea till something starts making business sense and appeals to your customer. While leaving your current job, you don't think that the first plan you work on would work in its initial form. Mutate and adapt to market. 

Entrepreneurship is not an event. It's a process." (Closing statement of the event and the audience burst into voluntary applause. My respect for the man multiplied)

He made numerous thought provoking statements and all came naturally from him. He lives by these ideas. If I wish to be like someone in a few years, this is the man!

Manish Sabharwal