Kevin Peter Paul from the SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai is one of India's Most Promising Incoming MBA Students 2022!
The following is Kevin '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, Kevin's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his words.
I am Kevin.I am from Kerala settled in Coimbatore.I was working with Alstom Transport India Limited as a Serial Production Coordinator in the Supply Chain Department.This was after I completed my B.tech in Mechanical Engineering from Amrita School Of Engineering,Coimbatore.At college I was part of the formula student team,Amrita Racing that designs and develops Formula cars that participate in both national and international events.I have also organized events at Anokha,a national level tech fest conducted at Amrita School Of Engineering.At school,I was the School Pupil Leader of my batch.During my free time I enjoy playing sports and listening to music.
Tell us more about your extracurricular achievements
I have played handball at the district level ,having won the Inter CBSE schools tournament,Sahodaya.I have played Basket ball at State level in my high school.I have participated and won prizes in various national level events.I won the "fix it Up" event conducted during Anokha,a national level tech fest that has footfall of more than 7500 students.I have won second in the paradox event, conducted during Anokha.I was part of the Business Presentation team that won second out of 112 teams, at SUPRA SAE India ,a national level Formula Student event.I was also part of the team that won third at the National level case study event TechQuest,conducted by Caterpillar India.I was also a finalist at "aSPire" a national level business case study contest conducted for UG students by S.P. Jain Institute Of Management and Research.I was the School Pupil Leader for my batch from 2012-2013.I also lead the team that won second in the business presentation event conducted at SUPRA SAE India.I was also the designated driver of the formula student team at my college.
Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?
I was part of the Formula Student team that debuted at Formula Bharat, a National Level Formula Design Event conducted at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore. This happens to be one of the toughest Formula student events across the globe. Unfortunately, because of our lack of foresight, a few suppliers were not able to deliver the required parts at the right quality within the specified timeline thereby impacting our chance of winning. A key learning was that proper planning and execution is necessary to achieve any project. The event was a learning experience that helped the team course correct. We made the necessary changes in our preparation and eventually helped us finish 7th at Supra SAEINDIA, a national level Formula Student Event organized at Buddh International Circuit, Delhi.
Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.
I am a motorsports enthusiast.I enjoy watching F1.I have raced at the Buddh International Circuit in Delhi in a car that my team and I designed and developed from scratch.I also have a pet Cockatiel Mia,who I enjoy playing with.I can speak and understand four languages namely Hindi,English,Tamil and Malayalam .I have lived in different parts of the country .I can play Table Tennis.
What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?
The first biggest success in my life is when I won the second prize at the Business presentation event at SUPRA SAE India.The event helped me in understanding the value of team building and leadership skills.It taught me time-management and resource management.The event helped me realize the importance of inter-personal communication skills. The second biggest success in my life was when I got a chance to pilot a project at Alstom which resulted in cost savings upto 30000/project.This experience helped me in honing my problem skills that helped me find the bottleneck in the challenge given to me.I also understood the value of collaborating with various stakeholders from various Cross Functional team that helped me understand my exact challenge.These successes have taught me that there is a lot more to learn the farther we delve in to a subject.
Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?
Five years from now I see myself as an efficient manager, leading a group of young enthusiastic management professionals in a general management role.I hope to use my resources in the most effective manner.I believe that I will be able to execute projects that will help my business function in the best way possible.I as a manger ,will be a leader that my colleagues will look upto in their professional capacity.I hope to work and collaborate with various cross functional teams so as to bring out the best in my team and the business.
What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?
The one characteristic that I am proud of is that I am a good listener.As the saying goes, "It takes a great man to be a good listener".I believe being a good listener helps a person in understanding his fellow mates better.It also helps in framing your decisions better.People also tend to respect you more.Being a good listener, has also helped me in getting a wider perspective of the same challenge from different people.It also has helped in approaching a problem from various angles to obtain the best possible solution with the available resources.
In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?
I believe a good manager should be transparent with his decision so as to give a fair chance to everybody in the team.I also think an efficient manager should possess good communication and listening
skills.He/she should also be a good team player and an goal oriented by aligning with the interest of the business.I believe the manager should be responsible and accountable for the team.Last but not the least and most importantly,I believe that a manger should be trustworthy, empathetic and sensitive towards his team members.
Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.
In college, I was an organiser for an event -"Fix-It Felix 2.0" at Anokha, the annual tech-fest. One round of the event consisted of a treasure hunt where the participants had to find clues from different locations inside the campus. The organising committee decided not to provide a map of the campus to the participants. Since there were students from other institutes participating along with teams from my college, I believed that this decision would not give the external participants a fair chance at winning. I reconvened a meeting and convinced the committee to provide maps to the participants from other institutes. Taking it one step further, students from our college were not provided with a similar map to level the playing field.
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 become the CEO of TESLA,because of the impact I have seen Tesla making in the past few years.The company has ventured out into various domains ranging from space travel to internet services.As CEO,just as during the time of Russo-Ukraine war,TESLA was able to provide internet connectivity to the affected areas using its STARlink satellites ,I would like to expand the same throughout the globe so that internet connectivity is available even in the remotest of villages with ease.The world is moving towards digitilization and enabling the globe with the power of the internet is something that can help a lot of people in changing their dreams into reality.
Any Other Comments Or Factors You Would Like To Highlight About Yourself?
I like to try out new sports .I like adventure sports having done bungee jumping ,paragliding, parasailing and river rafting.