New experiences always come with excitement, and a bit of apprehension for me. I saw my excitement increase and my apprehensions fade away as I walked into the Media Room at Mahindra Towers in Worli. A few familiar faces greeted me, and so did a lot of unfamiliar, albeit friendly ones. The goodies meant for us were neatly stacked on the tables, and my excitement peaked when I saw the business cards - the first ones I’ve ever had.
The first day progressed, and several stalwarts of the business world came to address us, and we had enlightening discussions about Mahindra, and the world of business in general. The session with Dr. Anish Shah stood out for me, and I found a lot of insights from his answers to the several questions we asked. Mr. Samdish had a fun session with us, as he explained Mahindra’s forays into e-racing, the reasons behind it, and their vision of the future.
The second day had all of us at the edge of our seats as Dr. Goenka addressed us, and clarified our doubts. It was enriching to listen to a man of his stature sharing his experiences and visions with us.
In the second half, we went to the Gateway office to meet the man himself, Mr. Anand Mahindra. He was the most gracious host, who engaged us with a discussion on the political landscape in the country, asked for our views on the topic, and shared with us his own. It was an honor sharing space with Mr. Mahindra, and I learnt a lot from him and my peers.
The third day of induction started off at the Kandivali office, with sessions from the AFS leaders who explained the business to us in great detail. I particularly enjoyed the session on Marketing, where Mr. Veejay Nakra explained the inspirations behind all the new Mahindra launches in the passenger vehicle segment. The Alturis ad was particularly well-made and the story behind it gave me a lot of insights into how marketing is done, in the real world. Post the sessions, we played several fun games curated by The Board Game Company, which helped us unwind after a long day.
The last day of the induction was a Design Thinking workshop which gave all of us insights into how to approach problem solving and arrive at solutions methodically. It was fun to watch videos to understand how different organisations approach problem solving, and come up with creative solutions to their problems.
With that, I sum up one of the most exciting weeks of my life, a week which I’ll always remember. Now it’s time to dive deep into work, and get the project going.
See you next week!