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The biggest mess-up that I knowingly gave way to was in school when I refused a badge for being the Sub Editor of the School Magazine. Now, this was in class 11 and I had taken admission in one of the coaching centers for my IIT JEE preparation. That had somehow become the endgame for me at that instant. I felt that in order to ace my JEE exam and get a good college, I couldn't let my attention waver. I could only focus on one thing. Even if that included giving up on such a lucrative opportunity. I also somehow convinced myself that I wasn't very good for the post and would be best left unelected. It did not even take a full month for me to realize how stupid I had been to let go of this. Even though I was continuing with my coaching classes, I genuinely missed the thrill and excitement of being in the Prefect Council and working on the magazine with the editorial board. I found it difficult to get over this reckless decision-making for the entire year. And this helped me learn a very important lesson. How one should never underestimate themselves and always try to put their eggs in multiple baskets. If an opportunity comes knocking at your door, don't immediately turn the blinders on.
As a young kid, I suffered from a massive inferiority complex. And that did not arise because I was a poor student. In fact, I was academically very good even then. My complex arose because of my middle-class background. The fact that I wasn't as affluent as some of the other kids in school baffled me and became the reason why I did not prefer to come out into the limelight. It was only after a few excellent teachers and my elder sister saw the potential in me, that I tried to break this invisible glass ceiling. I was doing everything right. I was scoring great marks. I had taken up reading which was helping me gain knowledge as well as formed rounded opinions. It was just my lack of faith in my abilities that kept me chained to the ground. Of course, once I broke through this, there was no going back. I balanced academics with extra-curriculars brilliantly and was even awarded the Principals Trophy for All-Round Accomplishment. Someone who only sees the latter half of the journey might not be able to relate to the struggle that existed before the success.
As I sat through the club orientation at BIT Mesra, my engineering college, one club caught my complete attention. It was called UNESQUO and it was the quizzing and debating club, also, unofficially the coolest club during the orientation. It was the confidence and the intellect of the Club President delivering the presentation that triggered aspiration. That day I dreamed a dream of how glorious it would be if I could one day step into those very shoes and enamour my juniors. This dream did come true. After a lot of active participation and volunteering for the club, I became the General Secretary and then the President in my final year. This was my biggest success story from college. And till today, it stands as the one moment in my life which reassures me that if I work hard and put sincere efforts into something, things will fall into place eventually.My second success story pertains to getting admitted to IIM Ahmedabad. Arguably, the best B-school in the country, it always aroused the aspirational side of me. But my rational side always countered it by saying that it is too far-fetched a dream to conjure. Even after doing my absolute best during CAT and later during the Interviews, I had somehow prepared myself for the worst. Therefore, to my utter surprise, when I did manage to convert it in the first list itself, I was more shocked than happy. And thats when I learnt that our perception of our abilities and our skills is somehow always very low as compared to others perception of us and our skills. I decided to be less harsh on myself and be more accepting of my achievements and my abilities, without being intoxicated in their glory.
At the core of my five-year vision would be seeing myself be a Leader in Product Management. I would want to lead a Product at an organisation. Putting my B school knowledge and the 5+ years of work experience into good use, I would want to create strategies to bring the best out of the product that I would get to manage. Everyone is driving towards innovation and sustainability and I would like to contribute my services towards this revolutionary phase. Also, I see myself as an ambitious leader who would be patient and accommodating towards his team members and I would ensure that everyone's peak potential is achieved. This would be facilitated further if I am able to create a network of ambitious and helpful individuals around myself. A B school is the perfect place to do this and I intend to maximally utilise it in the coming years. At the same time, a very important aspect of my vision would be to maintain a good work-life balance.
A skill of mine that I am most proud of is my empathy. Empathy is an aspect that continuously gets refined as you grow in life. My inclination towards books from a very early age introduced me to different parts of the world, fictional and real. Getting an insight into the minds of different characters started making me more broad-minded. Then as I was introduced to the world of cinema, these restrictions were further overcome. Movies, in my humble opinion, are excellent vehicles to help us tap into our innermost biases and prejudices and mindsets. At the same time, they enable us to live someone elses lives or approach an issue with someone elses thought process. All of this is crucial to assimilating a sense of empathy. Today when I read a dissenting opinion piece or listen to someone narrating a story, based on something which is totally unrelatable to me, I try to approach them with a place of empathy. I try to gauge where they are coming from and what could be the reason behind their experience or their opinion. It always helps if we can look at people with a lens of empathy and not judgment.
In my opinion a Manager has to successfully navigate several qualities. The most important definitely remains the skills to manage time, work, and resources. But beyond that, they need to have an ethically upright character. All good managers need to showcase some kind of involvement in the work of their team members, but this involvement should never become interference. They should exude enough confidence and trust that their team is unwavering while following their directions. As an empathetic leader, a successful manager will actively seek to help his team emerge out of their weak spots. At the same time, they will try to maximise profit and value for their client. Successful managers will always reassure their team that every member is seen and recognised which works wonders for the engagement of an employee. And finally, not only are successful managers good speakers but exceptionally patient listeners as well.
My project team at PwC had two Associates in the Technical team, myself and a colleague with whom I had become good friends. In the first twelve months that we worked together, both of us learned a lot and experienced varying degrees of adulation and criticism. However, at the beginning, I always felt that he was not giving his best to the project. I was constantly trying to seek out guidance from the seniors and trying to put two and two together to understand the entire project. But my colleague was only sticking to the small snippets of work that he was being delegated. And since he was very relaxed in his approach besides being unaware of the entire functionality, it always resulted in unpunctual deliveries. I tried to give him several pieces of advice regarding his non-proactive approach and how it would come back to bite us both, but he didn't really change. As a friend, it was difficult for me to point out his mistakes to the seniors and as a consequence, I had to bear the brunt of all the failed deliveries, alongside him, despite having done my part of the job on time. After all my suggestions failed, I decided to take up the matter with my manager. I told him about the timely deliveries from my side and asked him to convey a mild form of warning to my friend. It seemed selfish then but then I rationally approached the problem and realised that I needed to prioritise myself above my friend. And since I had already discussed the matter at length with him several times before, my ethics were also guarded. After the manager explained things to him, he realised the cons of his lax approach. Later, he discussed his shortcomings with me and I was more than happy to assist him in following a more disciplined approach at work. I took a slightly harsher stand, if I evaluate it from a friendship point of view, but in hindsight, it benefited both of us equally.