While participating in this process, the most gigantic task was to get in touch with the personality about whom I am writing this article. Usually, it is our family and friends who always help us in taking the first step. The same scenario happened in my case as well. When I was in the dilemma to figure out whom to contact, one of my close friends suggested me to get in touch with Mr. Digvijoy Singh, currently designated as Head Credit & Policy, Housing loan at Jana Small Finance Bank.
To my surprise and ironical to my hesitance, when I called him, he was quite accommodating when it came to helping me about writing this article but as a management student, I was pestering him time and again while bombarding him with curiosity to know more about his experiences and life.
At the time of sharing this opportunity with him, I provided him with all the relevant information about Vito Altor. It was very interesting to hear from him about his life at a B-school and to get to know how some of his past experiences shaped his future and personality. During his college life, he held leadership positions at multiple spaces including events, fest and student managed committees.
One particular incident that shaped his life was when he had to undergo stressful and hectic days during the annual fest of his college. Mr. Digvijoy told me that on the week prior to the fest, he had to stay up for more than 42 hours straight and had to plan for the upcoming fest right from stage management to crowd while working alongside sponsors for everlasting publicity activities.
This specific incident was recalled as it made him understand the rigor of being a leader and how one needs to become an example for his hard-work and passion in front of his subordinates. As his saying goes,
“One has to first himself become what he wants other to be, while managing a team”.
The conversation went on and on with Mr. Digvijoy as all his experiences were immensely inspiring. By interacting with such a figure, I gained an immense extract of knowledge and zeal. It made me think how he is working so hard to improve overall financial sector for rural population which is really making an impact on people’s lives, empowering them to lead a beautiful life. According to me, this is what’s truly called ‘giving back to society’ with all the knowledge and learning.
By talking to him, I learned how one can follow his or her passion, not with respect to one’s educational background but what one does with his or her life to follow passion and interests. He made me realise that no matter what one’s background is, one can go places to in order to follow his or her dreams, just with his/her hard-work coupled with an ability to connect the dots.
A major learning that revolved around this conversation was to understand the fact of life and stress. The more one grows, the more stressful is his/her life but one has to understand that stress is not good; in-fact it hinders the ability of mindfulness.
As a management student, I understood the importance of team management and how difficult it is to manage people and work. One particular advice that I will cherish for the rest of my life is to
‘keep people around you happy and engaged’ in order to increase productivity and retention ratio. Mr. Singh told me that when employees feel valuable about their existence and work at the organisation, they will be more productive and happier with their employer.
Apart from his professional engagements, Mr. Singh is very passionate about bringing a smile to everyone around which makes him a great individual and a supportive leader. He is quite empathetic to people and his passion lies in giving back to society. According to him, this skill has made him excel in all his engagements – be it personal or professional.
Requirement do pose a challenge in front of executives and every company wants to hire best and most suitable employees for their teams. Mr. Singh does focus on technical skills but at the same time, he gives due preference to soft skills and attitude towards work and life.
He says that an individual should be internally motivated to work towards his tasks while trying to make an impact wherever possible with his/her hard work and enthusiasm.
These learning are some of the best management lessons that are not taught at any classrooms, but can only be learnt from the experience of an executive. I will cherish these learning for life and will try to implement the same wherever possible.
With the medium of this article, I would like to thank Vito Altor, Insideiim.com and Mr. Digvijoy Singh for giving me this opportunity and adding another whisker to the wings of my flight.