In our list of India's Best 50 - the 50 Most Employable Students from the Class of 2020-22, we feature MBA students who have walked that extra mile and done that little more to stand out! One of those featured in today's story, Pranesh Bhavnani, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve his true potential. Read on and find out his story!
The following are Pranesh Bhavnani’s set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top-50 Most Employable MBA Graduates of the Class of 2022. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Pranesh's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his own words.
Name an instance where you wanted something and went out of your comfort zone to achieve it OR Tell us the biggest risk you have taken so far in your life.
I believe that risks are inherent in anything that we do or the decisions we make. The whole idea is to take steps and measures in order to avoid the risk, lessen the risk/mitigate the risk or take a risky but well-thought choice. The risk may be due to the unknown, thus gathering as much knowledge and information as possible as well as researching in-depth about the topic in hand can help mitigate the risk. However certain risks are inherent and the viability of various available options should be checked in order to take a well-informed decision. I believe that I am not a risk-taker, I always understand all the possibilities at hand and then use proper analysis to go ahead with a decision. To give an example, after 10th Std, I had taken a psychometric test to understand the areas where my liking lies. I was told that I would do well if I took commerce, however, I wanted to go for science and become an engineer as I was good at computers and always scored full marks in school. So after thinking abut the possibilities at hand and understanding the fact that at that point in time it was easy to switch from engineering to commerce but the vice versa wasn't true, as the digitization and internet had not flourished with relevant knowledge then. I went ahead with engineering and was also among the toppers at my college. Hence even though some facts may point otherwise it is important to take a holistic view of the situation, understand the risks and their mitigation and only then go ahead with a decision.
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act.
I believe that my family and a set of close friends always rely on me. The bond is so strong that there is no dearth of doubt or any issues with trust. Coming to something that I did purely for someone else was the fact that I helped my friend through the year to prepare for his MBA entrance exams. Prepping up with mocks, giving tests, taking revision sessions, helping with interviews till the final day when he got admission, I provided him with constant guidance and support. I was truly humbled by the way people appreciate the love and care you show towards them. The day when he converted the college, the smile, the tears of joy made me feel, that today I have changed a life, today I have made a contribution to this world, a contribution that will go a long way. It felt really good when the fruits of the hard work were borne where the happiness of the receiver was my reward for the act. This encourages one to do more and more good social deeds and find joy in small things in life.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
This keeps happening all the time. When working in teams, people do come up with ideas and opinions which are very different than what one thinks. What I do in such situations is to discuss the disagreement and understand the reasons and thoughts and motivations behind it. Recently, while my group was deciding about the way of solving a case study problem, there were various approaches that came up, however, just 2 stood out and the rest were discarded. I was convinced that the approach that I had come up with would at least yield some results hence was putting it forward. The other approach which one of the team members had suggested was very uncertain, however, the group member who proposed that solution was very certain about his proposition. The other group members weren't able to decide which one to go ahead with. Hence both of us sat together to understand each and every aspect of the solution that we were proposing and deep dived into the potential merits and demerits of each.It turned out that the proposal that my group member was proposing was indeed a faster approach, even though both the approaches would have led to similar solutions. We went ahead with his solution. Thus, discussing things out, doing a root cause analysis, going in depth into the problem at hand within the time constraints are the approaches I use to resolve any disagreements.
What is the one thing you can claim to have some level of expertise or depth of knowledge in - it could be anything - a subject, a sport, a hobby, a venture, an initiative which has led you to do deep work in that field?
I believe that one thing that I can claim to have some level of expertise or in depth knowlede in is understanding human psychology. I believe I have read a lot on the subject and even through real-world observations and interactions. It is an interest that I am very passionate about. We all know that humans in different situations react differently and different humans in the same situations also react differently. Understanding the reason and motive behind decision making and the biases or thoughts that influenced a decision, along with the beliefs and upbringing of a person play a key role in how a person reacts to a situation. A study of these things reveal greater insights about a person and can help deal with people better. It can help reduce conflicts, understand each other better, help consultants and it also brings in some level of empathy. Due to all these reasons, developing a software to map the person, his sense of sensibility, likes, dislikes, wants, desires, needs etc is what I intend to do and thus develop better customized and modern solutions to age old problems.
If 10 Million Dollars (approximately INR 75 Crores) is given to you to use it any way you deem fit what would you do with this corpus?
I believe that charity begins at home and if I was given 73.5 Crores and was told to use it in a way that I deem fit, I would definitely spend some amount of it for me and my family and fulfil certain desires which require some corpus. I believe a sudden high inflow of money automatically increases the spending on various regular heads where we spend money. One time expenses also creep in. The person also becomes more generous and liberal if the money is not earned but just given. This is normal human tendency. Barring this aside, I believe if I have excess money, I would definitely do something to develop the a small area, improve the livelihood and well being of people around and create a model town and also publicize this to people and governments so that they can create conducive environments and improve human lifestyle thereby bringing in more peace, harmony and happiness in society.
Read the stories of the other Employable Graduates here!