PART A
Aditya Birla is known for its various subsidiaries. From steel to apparel, the conglomerate has seen it all.
At work, we got to know that our clients were going to come down for an urgent meeting the next day. We were all hence asked to be in business formals. I was the only one panicking since I didn’t own any. My boss wanted me to present a part of our research as well. When my colleagues saw my anxious face and heard the reason, they merely smiled. “Van Heusen is right around the corner, why are you worried?” I’d never been to that outlet, or any outlets of the brand for that matter. I entered fearing the worst – I was under a lot of stress. I still remember how confused I was when I realized I’d finished shopping in less than ten minutes.
The fit was perfect. I saw myself in the mirror, the suit sat neatly, like it was made for me. The fabric was glorious, the whole affair was worth all the money. The next day, I was confident in my new, beautiful formal attire, and that confidence somehow translated into a great presentation. I was even able to tackle some tricky questions from the client, and my management was highly impressed with me. This incident played a crucial role in my life since I got to lead two big projects. The faith they had in me was immense.
The intensity of this revelation made me take personal grooming very seriously. I bought more suits and formal wear from the brand for the various interviews I attended for MBA admission. To think of it, just a good suit made all the difference. Now, as I continue to pursue MBA, I’m just as confident, with the Van Heusen tag hanging in my cupboard.
PART B
Unapologetic - the key to being successful in whatever we do in life. The moment we start questioning ourselves, our ambitions and our abilities, we will falter and fall. I taught myself this as I overcame hurdles to get where I wanted.
During college, I had reached the final stage of an oratory competition. The finals had a huge audience, members of very established clubs in my college, faculty and staff. I wanted to impress all of them, but when I took the stage, the fear of being laughed at, of not being good enough, came over me and I couldn’t get a word out. I hung my head low and walked out. I was sorry for not being able to overcome that sudden anxiety. Months later, the dramatics club held their auditions and I decided to give it a shot. Still pondering over the incident, I was highly determined to do only one thing – not be sorry. Two years later, as the director and actor of a play, my team won every competition we signed up for.
I beat all odds when I got placed at a prestigious market research and data analytics company during college. I was the talk of the town, everyone was surprised and thrilled for me. This boosted my confidence; the day I walked into my first job I was ecstatic. Three months later, everything I worked on had multiple errors. I spent nights on each issue, resolve them till dawn, and started the new day with a heavy heart. I didn’t realize what was going wrong until I took a break one fine night and reflected on this. I apologised every single day for something I did wrong - the first sign of something being fundamentally wrong with me. I found it easy to say sorry. It came to me naturally, like a happy good morning. That was a turning point in my career, when I decided to stop apologising, since it meant I had to be ten times better than what I was.
You are your biggest obstacle. One trait brings you down – it can take months or years to beat it. Taking that time will make all the difference.