This is an entry for The Great Indian B-School debate.
Name: Satyaki Mascharak
Team Name: The foreign Hand
Team Member: Purvabh Surana
Institute: Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.
Article I am refuting:
http://insideiim.com/from-a-some-one-to-a-no-oneat-imt-ghaziabad/
I , being a B-school student , value a few philosophies and philosophy of “Survival of Fittest” is one among them. I am glad to Herbert Spencer for having coined this term after he read Darwin’s theory of evolutions. Success is never served to you in an ornamented plate. The path to it is gory and murky. Few dare to tread and a very few see the light of the day in this journey. However many philosophies might quote success differently but the theory of “Survival of the Fittest” probably explains it most realistically.
Denial mode
There are a few who accept this philosophy even though they are successful or not. But then there is this another kind who totally disagree to it and it so happens that this kind are the ones who end up on the wrong side of the philosophy. Everybody wants to stand out of the crowd. Few do stand out, those who do not term the others as “odd” and themselves as “complete”. There lies the flaw in the author’s understanding.
Being in a B-School, the least that is expected is to be pro-active. A lot of people who though might have cleared all the rounds neatly to have an entry to a B-School often forget the point of coming here once they are in the campus. 45 days into a B-school with 1 Position of responsibility(POR), 1 live project, members of 4 clubs and 2 cells, winning quizzes , participating in about a dozen(literally) competition ,making a short film, dramatics, attending day long classes and then club session till 2am in the night ; I am loving every bit of it because I have earned it. The people with PORs are the ones who work hard to bring in Guest lectures, for our placements, our preparation for summer placements, organize the fests which actually hype the name of the Institute.
Now, please tell me that doing all these is detrimental to your prospects of becoming a good manager and I would confer the Bravery award on you. As a manager you are expected to multitask, you are expected to think about things which are way beyond the actual scope of the firm. It is these engagements in a B-School that actually mould us.
The busy -Bee
I wonder if it is only about the knowledge that one would like to acquire; you can learn all those on any online portals these days. The point in doing an MBA is to face the rigour, go through the challenges and finally be the leader you always aspired to be.
Right now I am writing this article while i am attending a session, I have a case study to do after that and I still don’t know whether I will be able to sleep tonight or not. But the point that all this is making me give out my best is what driving me to do all this more. Even now every competition I miss makes me realise that i have to manage my time more efficiently. Sleep, as the saying goes is a ”Luxury in B-School”. If you are in the thick of things you just don’t get it, you squeeze in times to have power naps. I would like to point it out to the author that if we can go through this phase sacrificing on our sleep than the entire life ahead we will be able to sleep well not worrying about “What do i do if i lose my job tomorrow”.
Participating in these activities is the best reality check one can have before the real thing starts. Every shortlist you do not get, rather than depressing you, will make you ponder upon the reasons as to why you did not get through. Now imagine somebody who doesn’t even get the opportunity to have this reality
check.He/she would live in a make-believe world thinking that he is the next “Kotler” in the making.
Just do it
You really can-not term Senior Junior interaction as some kind of ragging as the author has done here. It is actually one of them to whom you will take to and that person will play/plays an important part in shaping your life at a B-School. He will tell you which areas to focus open and how to use the time efficiently to do something worthwhile.
I believe one is actually missing the nuances of the B-School life by doing such things, which the author takes pride in, as NCC (No Club Committee). Which sane person who has come here to become a business leader someday would not want to have a taste of that life by leading a club or committee over here? So I believe becoming a NCC is like putting insulation on you to such opportunities.
The author claimed of bad politics happening in clubs. But my question to the author is that if that was the case then why did he not get his hands dirty and clear out the mess in the clubs rather than just criticize? In the article the author’s observation and analyses sounded very irrational at times; it seemed as though he himself was not convinced in what he was saying.
It is a good thing at a B-School to prioritize , not so good to have things to prioritize but not do so and very bad to have nothing in hand to prioritize. If you are in a race, then you cannot claim to win by running in a parallel track , the only way to win is to run in the track . It is your competitor that can bring the best out of you in a B-School and not your own self.