Charting a sterling career path, is incredibly important to most executives. But that, is easier said than done. It most certainly doesn't come about by simply doing what you are paid to do. It is only when you add value above and beyond what your role envisages, that you start putting your career on a fast track.
As a child, I was in awe of the IITs and IIMs: their stunning campuses, intelligent students and venerable professors. I wrote my CAT after little prep back in 2006 and scored a lacklustre percentile. That same year, I had applied to five top schools for MS. You can perhaps discern the amount of clarity in the direction I wanted to pursue then – MS or MBA?! I consider myself more of a B-school candidate today. But back in the day, most of us buckled into peer pressure; I had written the GRE (that helped though because I can throw around words like discombobulated. See!), applied for MS. That did not work out.
Being tired of giving numerous interviews, applying to various internship sites and literally un-turning every stone in my way, I struck gold when I got a call from Directi, confirming my internship with them for 2 months in their Corporate Human Resources team. In-spite of it being one of my best, I lost all hopes when I went for the interview, because all the other shortlisted candidates were either doing their Masters or were from a reputed B-school. But getting in there came in as a huge surprise and little did I know that this league of surprises will continue throughout my tenure.
My journey to IIM-L encompasses an entirety of 21 years – a shorter period than what most of the people here have experienced. And in this short period I have managed to have a few remarkably bizarre experiences and a few other clichéd ones.
(To read the first part, please click here.)
What would you do when you go to a retail store? You shop for your products, pay the bill and leave. But very few of us know what goes at the back end to provide the consumer with a smooth shopping experience. This is what we exactly do at the Planet-I shop (fondly known as PI-shop of IIM Indore), a student run retail outlet under the aegis of Merchand-I club. “Bringing Life to Planet I”, is the motto of PI shop which represents the club’s aim of serving the IIM Indore community by providing basic amenities. We sell a wide range of products from personal care to food and beverages.
Entrepreneurship has seen a steady rise in today’s time. It’s not only about making profits, but it is also a process of designing and crafting an enterprise that sustains in the long run and also has a value addition to the society. And it definitely is not an easy process. It starts with an array of uncertainties and challenges but it can only have three possible outcomes - one, it will take off and do really well; or two, it will not work and you will drown; or three, you will just manage it enough to make ends meet. As Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Letcher put it in their book ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’, “Starting a business is like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. In mid-air, the entrepreneur begins building a parachute and hopes it opens before hitting the ground.”
I am filled with excitement experiencing life as a student again, cycling through to class with the best lake views on either side, in a campus spread across acres of land replete with natural beauty; loaded with a bag on my back and numerous thoughts circling my mind regarding the case which is to be discussed just a few minutes from now; A faculty with core expertise in his/her field is going to teach me something new in the next 1.5 hours, something which I could probably relate with my experiences; I am working on group projects with peers from different fields which gives me an opportunity to listen to different perspectives thereby shaping my thinking and enhancing my learning. Thus, I am full of life again and seek exciting avenues for myself in the future.
