Suyash Mishra from IIM Ahmedabad is one of India's Most Promising Incoming MBA Students 2021!
About Suyash Mishra: "
I was born and brought up in Bhopal. I pursued B.Tech in Ceramic Engineering from IIT (BHU), Varanasi, where I was proactive in student organizational activities and held many positions of responsibility. I did my summer internships with Futures First and EY. After graduating, I joined EXL and was part of the Credit Union team. My work revolved around predictive analytics (ML model development) and campaign analytics for a leading CUSO of the USA and Canada. Since a young age, I have had a competitive zeal in me and throughout my school life I had consistently performed well academically and also in extra-curriculars. I've been part of three start-ups during my graduation working in different profiles ranging from content-writer to UI/UX lead. I really enjoyed my stint with Handypresents where I got to use and learn many things about a start-up as well as on the design front. It was my first hands-on experience with a broad gamut of responsibilities like frontend web design and social media content curation. Apart from this, I'm a trekking enthusiast and have been on 5 treks each with its unique set of offerings. Additionally, I've coins of 120 countries with me and was passionate during my middle school years in numismatics. I'm a passionate shutterbug, and like designing as well. Tennis and Football are my favourite sports which I enjoy playing.."
The following is Suyash Mishra's set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst incoming MBA graduates to determine the top-50 Most Promising Incoming MBA students of 2021. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Suyash's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his words.
Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?
During my graduation, I was hesitant in saying "No" to others as I felt it might upset others. Due to this, I used to over-burden myself, which affected the quality of my deliverables. On one such occasion, I agreed to be a part of two teams during the technical fest and both the teams were aware of this fact. Eventually, during the second day of the fest, I was supposed to play a significant part in both teams but couldn't be present with both at the same time. Thus, one team had to suffer which led to events running out of schedule. I learnt that one should not over-commit and it is best to tell the constraints so as to avoid future setbacks.
Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.
I have a coin collection of 120 countries. I'm a gold medal winner of WIZ National Spell Bee 2012 during Inter-school and State level and secured 16th rank/ 100 candidates in the National Mega Finals. I'm a two times IIT BHU Gymkhana award recipient
What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?
First, my chronicles of CAT. I attempted CAT three times and it was my third attempt that unlocked the next level of my life journey. While attempting CAT the second time, I was extremely confident of scoring a very high percentile. This confidence was backed by a consistently high scoring streak in my mock exams. Moreover, during my preparation phase, I made a trade-off by sacrificing some activities in order to channel my energy towards this very goal of getting into a top business school. The D-day arrived eventually and I scored decently well, but not enough to get an interview shortlist from top business schools that I was aiming for. I was disappointed with myself. My friends and family did support me during the initial phase but the phase was tough on a personal level as CAT result was coupled with a family mishap which sort of left me shattered. Eventually, I buckled up and took control of the situation. I chalked out my plan and strategies for the next edition of CAT by introspecting my previous performance. The memories of my last attempt would haunt me sometimes, but I immediately used to convert the same thought into the strongest motivating factor. Subsequently, the result day came and I got what I missed the last time. The joy at that moment had no bounds and my family members were elated as well. Through this episode, I can confidently say that Im better prepared for handling failures and emerging better through imbibing the key learnings from it. The setback is not something someone desires, but learning to emerge better out of it is a significant change I'm proud to have embedded. Secondly, I helped my team in scaling up the project by revamping a customer segmentation process and employing advanced analytics for the same. This was appreciated by the client side and we were subsequently able to scale up the project. Through this, I became more confident about myself and learnt that one should not hesitate in initiating a change.
Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?
The ideal image of myself five years from now is one which is more evolved and knowledgeable. I see myself as a Senior Consultant in a top management consulting firm helping businesses improve their operational efficiency. Moreover, I see myself stay on top of the global trends.
What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?
One characteristic that I'm really proud of is Time management. This skill forms the baseline for any activity an individual pursues. If one is not good with this, the tasks he/she undertake will suffer or will have quality issues. Personally, during my graduation, I was involved in many student organizational activities. I was the head of various verticals in different festivals/ events. Despite that, I balanced my academics and scored greater than 9 SPI during my third and final year in all the semesters.
In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?
The skills or qualities of a successful manager are (in no particular order)
1. Strong analytical abilities
2. Honest communication
3. Assertive
4. Collaborative
5. Motivator
6. Empathy
7. Open to new ideas
Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.
There was a dilemma that I faced during May 20. A senior executive at EXL asked me if I would like to be a part of a new project which was based on ML and DL as well. I was elated with the opportunity offered to me as Deep Learning was something I wanted get hands on with on a professional level. Unfortunately, as it was just the initial time of the onset of COVID pandemic, my assigned workstream was also having a tough time dealing with a humongous work-load. There were many analysis which were required to be done and tweaked as well to take COVID impact into consideration. Moreover, one of my team-member went on maternity leave and thus, only 4 of us were available to share that work load. Thus, I was caught in the very quagmire. On one hand a new experience or opportunity was waiting, while on the other side, my team was over-burdened. After giving significant thought to the situation and discussing it with my reporting manager, I decided to help my team first as it was my primary responsibility. I explained the same to the senior executive who offered me to work on the project and he understood the situation as well. He appreciated my honesty in telling him the constraints and that I was professional enough to stand for the team. Moreover, he offered me to approach him whenever Im comfortable in future to be a part of the same. The key learning was that if I think something through without any mental blockage and honestly convey the facts to stakeholders, it will be considered.
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?
If given an opportunity, I would like to be the CEO of Tata-SIA Airlines Ltd. My first action would be to approve the merger of Air Asia India and Vistara in order to gain a significant market share in the airline space. Being in the premium and semi-premium airline space, we will become market leader and second in overall airline industry in India.
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For the Class Of 2022, we are back with the 8th season of InsideIIM's Best 50 - India's Most Employable MBA Graduates - Class Of 2022! If you're graduating from a B-School in 2022, you're eligible to take part in this competition! Grab the chance to bring out your best side and impress your recruiters and peers. Take the opportunity to show the world why you are special, on your own terms.
If you're using a web browser (Mozilla or Google Chrome), then you can take part through this link. Otherwise, please download the Kampus App (Android | iOS), and head over to Competitions.