Aditya Rathi from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta is one of India's Most Promising Incoming MBA Students 2022!
The following is Aditya Rathi's set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst incoming MBA graduates to determine the top 50 Most Promising Incoming MBA students of 2022. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Aditya Rathi's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his words.
I was born and brought up in Ellenabad, a small town in Haryana. I completed my B Com from Moti Lal Nehru College in 2021. I was Corporate Relations Head in Finance and investment cell of Moti Lal Nehru College. After that, I joined KPMG as an Audit Associate in Gurugram office. I worked on FS audits on mutual funds, investment trusts etc. In June 2022, I joined IIM Calcutta for 2 year MBA course. I like to watch cricket, write on Quora.
Tell us more about your extracurricular achievements
I write on Quora and has 42k+ followers on my blog related to CAT prep, B School life etc.During Covid lockdown in March 2020, I worked with Rajasthan Police for 3 months and distributed food supplies worth Rs.100k to 300 households.I was Corporate Relations Head of Finance and Investment Cell during my under graduation. I led a 3 tier team of 20+ students.
Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?
I messed up during interview stage of CAT 2020. I got rejected by 7 out of 8 calls I had. I was completely discouraged from studies. But somehow from the support of my parents and friends, I wrote CAT again and got admission into my dream b school. What I learnt is that never be overconfident about your results till you get it like in CAT 2020, I was overconfident that I will easily convert one of the good b schools. That led to decrease in my efforts and gave me negative results.
Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.
I come from the rural India and gives me sense of affection to many small things. Like, I used to visit cow shelters in my home town regularly and spent 1-2 hours there in peace. I also aspire to own a cow shelter one day and want to serve them.
What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?
One is to make my Quora blog most subscribed blog on Quora related to CAT preparations. It is a 2 year long journey and took a lot of efforts. But if you put right amount of efforts and have perseverance you will get what you deserve.I score 99.58 in CAT and converted IIM Calcutta. Learning is never dream small, Dream big.
Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?
I would like to be financially free and want to work according to my rules. I don`t want any fixed obligation on me like I have to work at least 60 hours a week, nothing of that sort. Another thing is I want to serve the cows as I feel connected with them. I want to open a cow shelter to feed them properly and keep them in good place
What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?
I have good observations skills. Like if I spend some time with a person, I get a feel what are his/her intentions. I try to understand the other person point of view, thinking from his angle and that gives me feel of their feelings. I am proud of this skill because it helped me to improve my inter personal skills a lot.
In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?
A successful manager should be able to understand his/her team members` point of view by having emotional intelligence. He/ She should make the team members` feel like they are involved in the decision making process- This could be achieved by having good listening skills. They should also build trust in the team, have planning, organizing and decision making skills.
Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.
I was part of Corporate Relations Cell of Finance and Investment Cell of Moti Lal Nehru College. I had good relationship with the president of the cell. I brought sponsorships more than Rs. 100k+. During that period, the president of the cell told me that we should only show sponsorships of Rs. 70k and rest we should divide equally among us. Since, he was my friend, I tried explaining him that this is unethical. But, he went ahead and said I will take out money, if you don`t want its your choice. At that time, I was in ethical dilemma whether to let that happen since he was my friend or to report it as it is unethical to do so. I chose the latter one an reported it to the convener. Later, convener resolved it internally without letting that news out. He also realized his mistake.
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 chose OLA. I have seen many ola drivers stating their life issues which occurred because of the company. Many of them bought car on EMIs 2-3 years back, when they were earning 80k-100k per month. But after 2020, OLA has stopped giving them incentives and now most of them are in trouble. I know company is doing all this to become profitable. But I think this is not the way to move forward. Drivers are most important asset for OLA, if they can`t keep them happy, company will suffer the costs. So, there should be other ways that company should find to cut costs. Yesterday, I read OLA fired 1000 employees and will hire for CV. I feel this will create insecurity in employees and will ultimately impact their performance. Being the CEO, my first action would be to work on these problems like by building trust in drivers, employees. I know these are very complicated issues and are very difficult to resolve. But, I think there is always a solution to a problem.
Any Other Comments Or Factors You Would Like To Highlight About Yourself?
I have participated and won various mock stocks in Delhi University. This grew my interest in the field of finance. I am also following stock market for the past two years. And now, I want to advance in this field in my professional career.