Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?
In 2017, I and my team were appearing for the Hult Prize Competition on our campus. The topic was Food and water crisis and how to solve it. So we sat down and brainstormed for hours trying to come up with the perfect solution. There were a lot of good ideas but we finally narrowed them down to two.As the team leader, it was my responsibility to select one of them on which we will prepare our presentation for the competition. While I was inclined towards the product-based idea that involved portable water filtration, my entire team leaned towards the one involving an app that would help at-risk families locate NGOs to help them. So I decided to go with the majority even though it was my responsibility to make an unbiased decision.On the day of the competition, another team had an idea for a product very similar to the one we had initially. While I and my team were the second runners-up in the competition, that team won and got a chance to represent Jadavpur University in the regionals at San Francisco. I view this incident as a missed opportunity and thereby, the biggest failure of mine to date. I should have been more assertive and had more faith in my ability to make the right choice. Ever since that day, I have worked actively to make hard decisions based on what I thought was right. For example, I had an opportunity recently to work with the Data Science team. While the entire team voted to go with the existing Analytical Tool, I wanted to use Python for a data comparison task. The project was a huge success and the turnaround time was cut down from 8 hours to 5 minutes. This would not have been possible had I not believed in myself and my judgment.
Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.
As someone who claims to be a movie buff, I have never seen movies that are quite popular and famous like Dil Chahta Hai, Diwali Dulhania Le Jayenge and popular franchises like The Matrix. While my taste in movies is quite obscure and diverse, the fact that I haven't watched these is something others might find quite surprising.
What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?
My first notable success was during my employment at Honeywell UOP when I worked for a month with their Data Science team. During this time, I was able to implement a new and more efficient method for Benchmarking which is a billable task that we do for our customers. Earlier, Benchmarking used to take hours when done manually but after our implemented automation, we were able to reduce it to 5 minutes. The project was appreciated by the entire senior management team. This project taught me core managerial skills like teamwork, leadership, resilience, and patience. The next success came in the form of a charity fundraiser called Sahaay that I founded. I was able to get 36 mentors with admits to top B-schools in India on board and conduct video sessions with aspirants for a minimum donation of Rs. 150. We ended up raising over Rs. 16000 that went to organizations working relentlessly for Covid Relief. The initiative taught me things like collaboration, effective communication, empathy, social consciousness, and team management.
Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?
Five years from now I would like to work as a consultant and gain experience and exposure to how multinational organizations run their business. I believe consulting would allow me to explore a lot of different projects across a wide range of sectors. Additionally, I would get to work on major business issues and interact with high-level executives and learn from them. During this time, my goal is to build connections with people across different industries and create a network of individuals who can help me when I decide to open my own business. I would also want to give back to the community as a responsible, socially conscious citizen with efforts geared towards equity, community, and charity.
What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?
The one skill that I am very proud of is my patience. I believe all of us encounter setbacks in life but rock-bottoms can be an excellent foundation to build upon. The same happened with me when my job offer was deferred by 4 months during the pandemic. But instead of giving up, I decided to work as a freelancer and prepare for CAT during that time. The freelancing part was not easy since I was just starting on Fiverr and it's a very competitive space. I didn't receive any orders for the first month and a major part of the second month. However, I did not lose hope and kept on trying. The same was valid for CAT where my initial mocks were very bad but I was resilient and kept on improving each day. Everything worked out well in the end since I was able to do well in CAT, join my company in December along with a budding freelancing business on the side and it would not have been possible had I not been patient.
In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?
Successful managers are team players and lead by example. They are patient and think in the long term because they understand that effective change and progress takes time. They can keep morale high when the team faces obstacles and give directions to navigate those obstacles. Successful managers know how to delegate tasks and get the most done to meet critical deadlines and they know how to play to everybody's strengths while improving their weaknesses. They are also assertive when the situation demands it to prevent the vision and mission of the company from being derailed.
Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.
In my 3rd year of college, I was working as the Editor and Joint Secretary for Innova 2019, the annual technical fest of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Jadavpur University under the IICHE Students' Chapter. One of the rounds that received the highest participation was the Technical Paper Presentation for which I was the event coordinator. My co-coordinator was my batchmate and a close friend. The first round of the event was shortlisting the research papers based on the abstract which was forwarded to us. My co-coordinator was responsible for talking to the teacher-in-charge and ensuring that only the best made it to the final round. However, I discovered that he had not submitted all the abstracts to the teacher because he wanted a few of his friends from the other colleges to qualify for the finals. Not only did he hide this from me but also from the whole committee who had been working days and nights to make the event a success. I found his behaviour to be unacceptable and decided to do something about it. I didn't want to lose such a close friend or shame him in front of the teachers and the committee. But I also couldn't keep shut about it. So I came up with a way to do both. I informed my teacher-in-charge that there had been several new entries in the competition so we might need to extend the deadline for submission and look at the abstracts once again. She gladly obliged. This time I took on the onus of screening the abstracts with her to ensure the same thing wasn't repeated. I managed to ensure the integrity of the event while avoiding a confrontation and a falling out with my friend. And although I had to put in a significant amount of time to re-screen the abstracts, I found the trade-off to be worth it. The event was a great success and we had the highest ever participation in the last 10 years of 30 teams in the finals. And my friend also completed his responsibilities as a co-coordinator diligently till the end. Although I didn't like compromising on my ethics, I didn't want to lose a friend so I found an alternative to get the job done.
If you were the CEO of any company of your choosing, which company would you choose and what would your first action be as CEO?
I would choose to be the CEO of any of the top oil and gas refining companies like ExxonMobil because they alone contribute to 70% of the pollution responsible for climate change. As CEO, I would take steps in the right direction to ensure that the oil giant is compliant with environmental norms and create an example in the oil and gas industry for others to follow.
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Check The List Of InsideIIM’s 50 Most Promising Incoming Students 2021 Here!
For the Class Of 2022, we are back with the 8th season of InsideIIM's Best 50 - India's Most Employable MBA Graduates - Class Of 2022! If you're graduating from a B-School in 2022, you're eligible to take part in this competition! Grab the chance to bring out your best side and impress your recruiters and peers. Take the opportunity to show the world why you are special, on your own terms.
If you're using a web browser (Mozilla or Google Chrome), then you can take part through this link. Otherwise, please download the Kampus App (Android | iOS), and head over to Competitions.
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