Preparing for CAT and still in a dilemma about a lot of stuff? Then this post is for you!
I know my first statement might have sounded like an advertisement, but this is what MBA does to me. Jokes apart, I understand what you must be going through now. It's almost October and only two months left before the D-day. By now the frequency of writing and analyzing mocks would have increased. Aahhh! Even I went through the same situation exactly one year ago. Writing now about it sends me into a flashback! Those were the days…..
Frankly, I do miss those days but actually, I don’t. Why? Well, this time last year I was working and preparing for CAT simultaneously. Life was busy. It's pretty much the same now also, but I am kind of enjoying this busy phase of mine. So what makes both the phases different for me? Working for an IT firm for more than three years gets monotonous after some time. The challenges that you face at your workplace become predictable with each passing day. IT people might be able to relate with me on this. It seems that any job we take up after graduation loses its novelty after a while, this was one of the reasons why I decided to go for MBA.
It has been three months exactly since I joined IIM Nagpur. In these three months, I have attended more than eight guest sessions, conducted by the likes of Head (HR), Marketing Head, Operations Head, and finance experts associated with well-known organizations. You might think, how is that not monotonous? We might get bored after 3-4 sessions. But believe me, when I say, it's worth spending each minute of those sessions listening to their experiences so far.
We do have YouTube and other resources for information, but since ages, it has been told that the practical way of attaining knowledge always works better than the theoretical one. To give an example, until the day before yesterday I had no idea about what to choose as my specialization. Now I can say that I have formed a pretty decent idea about which areas I need to explore further. The exposure to various functions improved my understanding and I was able to apply elimination tactics to arrive at some focus areas. This is the extent to which these sessions, even in such a short duration, can be of help.
People say there is no age limit for learning, and when successful people come and tell you how even after working for 20 years, they are still learning new things every day, it reinforces it further.
Do you know that in any organization a good EQ is considered better than a good IQ? Research says women tend to have better EQ than men. As per MHRD report, the literacy rate of females in India is 56.8% then why only 23.3% of females work in an organization? One of the session forced me to ponder on this. Some reasons are consistent since the medieval period but this needs to be changed. I never realized before that the annual report of a company can offer such valuable information about it. Had I known this earlier, I could have helped my father avoid some risky investment decisions that failed to yield returns. While that is in the past, I am certain now, that our future decisions will be much more informed.
The guest sessions at IIM Nagpur have opened many avenues of new knowledge for me. I have learned that the oft-quoted reskilling of employees does not work since change and adaptability are often only in the mind of the individual. You must have come across that YouTube ad that claims that ‘data is the new oil’? We have learned just how valuable data has become and will continue to become, in the coming decade.
My mother often complains that I am still a child. The way I see it, I still retain my child-like curiosity; a quality which is essential for innovation. And constant innovation is what drives the many entertaining advertisements that we see, and often remember for decades later.
We often chase an ultimate goal, but I believe that it is the journey that should be given more importance. The industry leaders who visit the IIMN campus share the journeys that have taken them to their current heights and their experiences are a goldmine for management students. So, even if we have to sometimes sacrifice our Saturdays and Sundays for these sessions, the insights we derive from those is every bit worth it!
About the Author:
Tithya Sharma is a PGP 1 candidate at IIM Nagpur. She is an Electronics and Communication graduate from Galgotias College of Engineering & Technology, Greater Noida. She possesses work experience of 3.5 years as Senior Systems Engineer at Infosys. She loves playing cricket & badminton during her pass time. She likes cycling too and running for marathons.