Raghav Jain from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad is one of India's Most Promising Incoming MBA Students 2022!
The following is Raghav Jain'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, Raghav's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his words
Raghav is Punjabi Baniya who writes Jain as a surname and relishes chicken. He comes from a family of doctors and is the only engineer. With roots in Punjab, he is a Delhiite at heart having lived in Delhi almost his entire life. After a one-of-a-kind experience at IIT Delhi, he joined Citi and worked as an application analyst for 3 years. He loves to dance, travel, party, watch tv shows and movies and play sports. He also learned how to swim and speed solve the Rubiks cube in the past couple of months..
Tell us more about your extracurricular achievements
I was an active member of the dance club in my undergrad, during which I had over 20 on-staged performances and 5 national-level podiums. I held 3 different positions of responsibility in dance. Most notably, I was the director of the institute's choreography dance society, where I choreographed, taught and led a team of 25 and achieved podiums in IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay's cultural festivals. I also revamped the publicity of the society through a social media launch on 3 platforms, achieving 1.2Cr+ views and 36.8k+ subscribers on YouTube. I was also the hospitality coordinator for Delhi Poetry Festival, a one-off event held at IIT Delhi. I organized travel and arrangements for over 150 participants and artists such as Swanand Kirkire and Rekha and Vishal Bhardwaj. I played badminton, cricket and volleyball in school, and represented my school at the district level for volleyball.
Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?
When I first started working at Citi, it conducted a seven-week training program in the financial and technical domain for all the fresh graduates. At the end of the training, we were divided into groups for an assignment to build a demo application and asked to choose a leader on the spot. Having a passion for teamwork and taking charge, I nominated myself. However, a few members of the group argued to elect someone with a computer science major as the leader and I stepped down. Even though I did eventually take charge and played a crucial part in the technical implementation as well, I feel I should have trusted myself all along and put forward my case. Since then, I have done my best to lead work projects as well as employee engagement activities.
Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.
Even though my surname is Jain, my family is not. Given how most members of my family including me are non-vegetarians, I am the butt of some jokes and labelled as both a Fake Jain as well as the True Jain. It also causes a lot of confusion as people constantly ask me if a food item is egg free or get surprised at me having nonvegetarian food. Also, I belong from a family with an overwhelming majority of doctors. I am the only non-medico in my immediate family. Having had a higher inclination toward engineering, I chose a different path from my parents and my elder sister. I also like to sing and act occasionally and I recently learned how to swim and solve the Rubiks cube in under 2 minutes.
What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?
A few crucial outcomes at some critical turning points in my life have shaped my education, career, and interests. These outcomes have led me to where I am today. Two such favourable outcomes are getting selected in IIT Delhi and overcoming cancer. My graduation from IIT Delhi was a one-of-a-kind experience that enriched my character and built a solid foundation for my future. I discovered my passion for dance in my second semester and actively contributed to the dance club for over three years, leading the institutes dance society to new heights as a director and organizing multiple events as a dance club representative. It has had a significant impact on honing my leadership skills and forming life-lasting friendships. Furthermore, I made the best use of the academic opportunities offered by IIT Delhi, through a diverse set of courses and internships. It helped me build an analytical mindset and honed my technical skills. Maintaining a fair balance between both academics and extracurricular activities, I learned how to effectively manage time. In November 2017, my father was diagnosed with a brain tumour. The sudden revelation completely shattered me and my family and changed our lives forever. Initially, I had trouble coming to terms with the situation, but with time I gained the strength to act as a pillar of support to my family. The aftermath of the surgery has caused a huge amount of distress and is a constant source of pain and suffering to my family, with irreversible changes due to the brain operation and subsequent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Yet, it has made me a bolder and much more mature person to be able to face difficult situations. In 2019, just after my graduation, I was diagnosed with cancer as well. I was able to brave through my cancer treatment and thankfully made a complete recovery. It has made me more compassionate and empathetic towards others. Hardships forge the character of a person, and this is one of many that have forged mine.
Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?
In the near future, I wish to make the most out of my post-graduate experiences. This includes learning from all the academic courses to become better at business problem solving, exploring new interests and pursuing hobbies through active club participation and leadership, and forging new relationships with people along the way. From a career perspective, I wish to explore and find the best fit for me in a business-centric and client-interactive role. Five years from now, I see myself as driving the growth of an organization by utilizing my skills and abilities to implement its major business strategies. My personal goals include being the best for my family and friends and touching the lives of as many people as I can. I believe an ideal image is closely correlated to the idea of what one wants to be and achieve in the future. Since our goals keep on changing with time, so does the idea of an ideal image. I believe I have been successful in most aspects of my life till now and am thus the best version of myself. Being able to fulfil all my aspirations and achieve my long-term goals, ones that I have now and those that will arise in the future will be my ideal self in the future.
What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?
I am a good team player and leader. My undergraduate experiences, in particular leading the institute dance society and working in various event organisation teams, helped me strengthen these skills. I feel it is a necessity for becoming a world-class leader. We need to be able to motivate and inspire teams and ensure strong and open communication. My teamwork and leadership skills have helped me deliver on multiple team projects and organise numerous activities in my 3-year stint at Citi. Thus, I have received 7 Citi Awards for exceptional performance across Citis leadership standards.
In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?
A successful manager needs to be approachable, friendly and always willing to help. They need to be able to create an atmosphere that fosters open two-way communications, which allows for good conveyance of the managers expectations as well as the employees feedback. The manager also needs to be able to lead by example to be able to inspire subordinates.
Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.
When I started working at Citi, I was eager to invest in stocks and mutual funds. However, working in a bank, I was subject to multiple strict regulations, which restricted my ability to invest in instruments of my choice. One of my seniors suggested that I open a Demat account with Zerodha (the broker of choice that is not affiliated and mandated by Citi) and trade as per my wish without Citis knowledge. This seemed like a good alternative to circumvent the restrictions set by Citi against trading and the choice of stocks and broker, as well as a mandatory 6-month stock retention time and a lengthy approval process. However, knowing how Citis data could be misused by employees for personal benefit, I realized the importance of such regulations and the need for me to follow them, even if I do not have access to such data and I am firm on not misusing the data. The restrictions have had a monetary impact since I have been unable to trade, purchase some profitable IPOs and buy stocks at the right time (Yes Bank indeed), but in the end, I feel I made the right decision which brings me a higher satisfaction.
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 have worked in Citi for the first 3 years of my professional life and would definitely love to be its CEO one day. Citi has a strong brand name built over 210 years of operation. As one of the big four in the United States and a leading global bank, it plays an essential role in the world economy. Citi also inculcates a motivational work culture, that allows and encourages even the youngest of employees to pitch in ideas and make a larger impact. With a global presence and a solid recruitment drive, it enables us to work with some of the sharpest minds from across the world, alongside providing us with global opportunities for work. Citi also boasts of a solid diversity and inclusion initiative, having ranked first for the last two years in India among 400+ firms. Citi also organises numerous social initiatives that have a huge impact on society, apart from the impact generated through its day-to-day operations. Topping it all off with numerous employee-friendly policies, such as employee benefits and rotation programs, makes Citi one of the most desirable places for work.As the CEO, I would focus on improving the ESG standards of Citi. As per the Sustainanalytics (Morningstar) report on 28th June 2022, Citi is classified as medium risk and ranked at 412 among 971 banks and at 7225 among 14392 firms overall. Although Citi does have numerous initiatives that contribute to ESG, such as its solid diversity and inclusion initiative and pandemic aid programs, there is still a lot of scope for improvement.
Any Other Comments Or Factors You Would Like To Highlight About Yourself?
I feel like I have covered most of the topics about myself. I would like to take this opportunity to tell a little bit about my family instead and how they influenced me to be who I am. I hail from a family of four, my parents and my elder sister who are all doctors. They cemented the values of continuous learning and education in me and shaped me to value honesty, discipline, ethics, and morality. My father has always been the guiding light in my life and has had a huge impact on making me the person that I am. In November 2017, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour and subsequently underwent a high-risk brain operation. He was the rock of the family in the weeks leading up to the surgery and is still fighting the effects of cancer optimistically with an iron will. It has made me stronger and more mature as a person to be able to face difficult situations. My mother is very loving and caring. She taught me how to be compassionate, empathetic and selfless. My sister has always been protective of me, from bullying at school to the ongoing hardships the family has faced in the last five years. She knows how to be calm under stress and make the best of decisions even under adverse situations.