Pallavi Mishra from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore is one of India's Most Promising Incoming MBA Students 2022!
The following is Pallavi Mishra'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, Pallavi Mishra's story and profile stood out. Here's her story in her words.
Hailing from a family of doctors, I've always been very opinionated and wanted to do something unique. I opted for commerce and emerged as the Gold Medallist in Grade 12 and went to pursue Bcom hons. from SRCC. I expanded my horizons thereafter, from being a coordinator at Placement Cell to teaching 60+ underprivileged kids at an NGO. I emerged as the national finalist at 5+ case competitions and the international winner of case competition at Bhutan. I also possess diverse internship experiences. I maintained my academic proficiency throughout, after passing out with Institute Rank 20 out of 620+ students.
Tell us more about your extracurricular achievements
I was selected to be the Indian delegate at Gedu College of Business Studies, out of 50+ applicants. I emerged as the Global Winner at Hawk of Wall Street, out of 10+ teams and even won the golden trophy for Team India. I also won national winner of Best Project in Global Crisis Competition out of 200+ teams. I emerged as the National finalist at Anthropos Kapital (case competition of 275+ participants), Nitikaar (case competition of 200+ participants) and Advent (business plan competition of 100+ teams), Bizcraft (business plan competition of 250+ teams). The following are my Positions of Responsibility: Content Director, Connectere, Prepared 15+ articles, 10000+ views in 85+ countries on business (SRCC'20) Mentor, Connectere, Spearheaded 20+ members, mentored 50+ articles, podcasts on 5 platforms (SRCC'20) Marketing head, Connectere, Supervised 10+ members, curated 10+ weekly facts, 15+ weekly analysis (SRCC'20) Indian Delegate , Gedu College of Business Studies, Bhutan, 1/10 of 50+ applicants selected to represent India (SRCC'19) Placement Coordinator, 1/60 of 600+, vetted 1k+ CVs , liaised 15+ companies' hiring and 10+ mock GDs (SRCC'19) Mentor, Consult Club, 1/10 of 800+, guided 20+ students , drafted casebook & placement prep. material (SRCC'19) Executive member , CDF, impacted 8 women, increased income by 275%, established 35+ selling points (SRCC'19) President, Bizsoc, led 8 members, ideated 3 competitions, edited annual business studies magazine (DPSRKP'18)
Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?
When I was in Class 11th, I emerged as the Ashok Chandra Scholar, for being the best performer in academics and extra curricular activities. Post that, overconfidence took over me and my focus drifted away from academics, thinking I could handle it. However, soon I realised my error as my marks took a downward trend. Thus, this incident induced humility and I started taking every task seriously, no matter a strong suit or not.
Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.
Ironically, I am a highly superstitious person. Before any exam, I carry the same 'lucky' pen and wear the same 'lucky' coat before any interview. This is something not many people know about me.
What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?
My biggest success was emerging as the gold medalist of my batch in Grade 12. I learned humility from my failures and realised it is the greatest asset one can possess.My second biggest success was scoring 99.64 percentile in CAT. Since I didn't have the requisite experience of appearing for aptitude exams, I was always very scared. However, I realised perseverance is all you need, to excel in an untouched arena.
Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?
I believe I would see myself well settled in a corporate career in Consulting (Strategic Management), as I would like to hone my skill further in problem solving. Judging the problem statements of different businesses and brainstorming on different areas of improvement. I see myself growing with absorbing more and more knowledge, where there is no bar.
What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?
One thing that I'm very proud of, yet humble about is my consistency. Even after achieving success, my hunger is never satiated and I strive for more. After passing out as the Valedictorian from DPS RK Puram, I stepped foot into Asia's best college for Commerce i.e. SRCC; graduated from there as well as an Institute Ranker. I still strived harder, cracked CAT and secured admission in one of the most reputable colleges, IIM Bangalore. I am quite proud of this, because many people lose that diligence after achieving a milestone-people become lax during their under graduation or after securing a good job, being shortsighted about future.
In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?
In today's constantly evolving or dynamic environment, relationship management becomes critical. Effective communication along with the ability to manage the emotions of employees, bring about engagement and productivity is essential as the role of a manager. To resolve the future threats staring at your business or the grab the upcoming opportunity and bag the title of 'first mover' and its accompanying advantage, a manager should posses the ability to think strategically. Lastly, all employees want their voices to be heard and concerns be paid adequate attention, thus a manager should be an active listener, such that post that he/she can dedicatedly work towards resolving the complaints or evaluating the valuable recommendations by employees.
Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.
When I served as the Content Director at The Connectere, I was responsible for the recruitment of content strategists in the articles division. I had my close friend applying for the position. Post the interview procedure, I liked the deliverable submitted by another applicant more than that of my friend. While the opinion of my whole team was to select my friend, as it would boost team bonding and would make work simpler, I stood by the fact that quality above everything else. Thus, I chose the other contender and made my friend realise the shortcomings in her deliverable.
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 like to be the CEO of Zappos, which follows holacracy, i.e. self management, distributing authority and decision making throughout the organisation. However, this produced an unanticipated result: confusion. Many employees are unaware of their responsibilities, thus driving the attrition rate high. Therefore, by being the CEO of Zappos, I would like to alter the organisational structure by adopting a hybrid of organic and mechanistic structure, wherein the decision making will be decentralised to promote inclusivity, however there would still be clear lines of authority and clarity in responsibilities such that a proper system of accountability of performance can be set.
Any Other Comments Or Factors You Would Like To Highlight About Yourself?
I do not like to limit learning to classroom teaching, thus I participated in various competitions and took up internships in fields from private to government sector. I interned as the graduate intern at Citibank and the research intern at Ministry of MSME. I also presented a report on ESG reporting practices for Nestle India Ltd.