Having grown up in Mumbai amidst the ‘charcha‘ in local trains and small-talk with local vendors, I love having conversations with every person I meet. The meaning of my name ‘Ishita’ is ‘mastery’ which is something I’ve been striving to achieve all my life. However, I take joy in learning new things, be it different variants of sudoku, playing the piano, touch typing or crocheting, all of which I taught myself to do. I spent my childhood with my nose buried in books and hope to spend my adulthood exploring people so that I can write a book on my experiences.
Tell us more about your extracurricular achievements
Having been recently appointed as a Jr Executive Member of CRISP, which is the placement training committee of XLRI, I am responsible for handling the placement training for the Lateral Recruitment Process and Campus Recruitment Process of 450+ students of the senior batch. In my final year of Computer Engineering, I was appointed as a Placement envoy where I successfully placed a batch of 450+ students and achieved a 10% rise in the average CTC of the batch. I also was a Core Member of TSEC Codecell, wherein I organized our flagship national-level hackathon for 3 consecutive years. I also conducted 5+ competitive coding workshops for the junior batch and developed the official hackathon website which received over 1500 views. For my efforts, I was awarded a Special Mention certificate by the professor-in-charge of the committee for leadership initiative and collaborative potential. The experience gained through this, also got me into the National Finals of Smart India Hackathon 2020. My team was chosen among the top 6 teams across India and was tasked with building a portal for a safe and secure online FIR registration platform for the Madhya Pradesh State Police Department.I was also appointed the Editor of my college magazine - Synapse, wherein I collated and edited articles reporting 44+ workshops and events conducted by 16+ committees. For my proactiveness in various positions of responsibility, I was named the Department Ambassador of the Computer Engineering Batch.
Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?
Having been academically consistent all my life, I stepped into the 11th standard soon after my SSC Board results on a high. Thanks to the privilege of having an educated family who pushed me to be my absolute best, I had never dropped below the top three ranks in the entirety of my schooling. This led to a 15-year old me getting the false impression that I’m smarter than the median and that I would sail through life without having to put in the sort of hard-work I saw others around me putting in. This impression didn’t last long, and before I knew it, I was staring at a 65% on my HSC Prelims scorecard, with the Board exams 2 months away. It was devastating having my illusions shattered but what was even more gut-wrenching was that it seemed like the end of the road for me at that point. Starting from scratch 2 months before the boards and getting a respectable score seemed like an insurmountable climb at the time, but it was at that moment that I decided that I would not be somebody who gave up when the going got tough. I resolved to put in my absolute best no matter what and studied day and night in the days leading up to the examination. Two months down the line, the 90% on my final marksheet gave credence to the effort I put in in those two months. However, though this ended on a happy note, this experience taught me a lot about myself. I learnt that hard-work is vital and it’s an essential accompaniment to talent. I learnt that nothing is impossible if I push myself and all I need is a little bit of faith in myself. This is something that has held me in good stead throughout my life as I think back to what I achieved in those two months everytime I face an impossible challenge. Lastly, I learnt that it is important to put my best foot forward in everything I do.
Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.
I have a condition called ‘latent fingerprints’ which renders my fingerprints almost impossible to detect on a fingerprint scanner, which is something that never fails to amuse and surprise people.
What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?
1. I consider my first success story to be my academic consistency, as it is something that has stayed constant in the backdrop throughout the various trials and tribulations of life. Having secured a long-standing dream of having a 9/9/9 profile, I can now look back and see the efforts that went into every step. Handling the academic workload during my undergraduation became difficult, especially while handling multiple PORs, but having learnt from my past failures, I learnt to prioritize and obtained a CGPA greater than 9/10 in all 8 semesters of engineering. The values I learnt through this journey of academic rigour also helped me crack the famed Procter & Gamble Emerging Leaders and the Hindustan Unilever Changemakers program and secure a PPI from these prestigious firms before I even stepped foot into my MBA journey.
2. My second success story revolves around my job. I was put into a Salesforce project, a technology I’d never previously, straightaway as soon as I joined my first job at Deloitte. Though not comfortable with the technology, I worked proactively with my senior colleagues to understand the stories and ensured that all my stories were completed well within the deadline. My determination and proactiveness was highly appreciated by my team lead, and was awarded a SPOT award for my work on the project within 6 months of being onboarded onto the project. My major lesson from this journey was to not be afraid to ask for help when I need it and to proactively push myself to do better.
Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?
As I start my career in business, my goal would be to learn as much as I can and accumulate the base knowledge, both from academics and peer-learning, that would help me solve business problems in the real world. My primary goal is to be solving business problems in the tech space and for this, I aim to interact with peers, both in class and in committees that would help broaden my perspective and help my problem-solving skills. I already know from my experience in my engineering days that chalking out plans and following them through to success is something I thoroughly enjoy. The long term goal is of-course, slightly uncertain and depends on how the short term goals pan out, but in 5 years, I aim to be at a manager/senior manager level at an organization. Moreover, I hope to be mentoring a group of 9-10 juniors and helping them build their skills and grow their careers.
What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?
Resourcefulness. Back in degree college, I became a sudoku enthusiast after having attended an edition of the Times Sudoku championship. I enjoyed solving competitive sudoku, but a major challenge I faced at the time was a lack of a software to solve non-classic variants of Sudoku. I’d have to hand-draw the grid or take a printout of a sudoku every time I solved a new puzzle and this became a tedious process. It was then that a thought struck me - why not use my knowledge as a computer engineer to create my own software for solving sudokus right on the image itself, so that there was no need for improvisation of the grid for every different variant. I brainstormed this idea, and within a month, had a completely functional software that let me solve sudokus virtually, with all the necessary features such as Synder notation. This was the start of me learning to use code to solve real-life problems outside of the classroom, and through this, I learnt to look for ways to use my knowledge to solve actual real life problems in other areas as well. I’m really proud of this ability because it allows me to be at my creative best in everything I do. Instead of buying a gift for a loved one, I enjoy making websites for special occasions or crocheting a small gift instead, again putting the skills I have to use which adds a more personal touch.
In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?
In my opinion, the most important skill for any manager to possess is compassion, because while you can teach anybody to be proficient at their job, compassion is a quality that should stem from within. I will always believe that it is important to be kind to people because everybody has their own struggles. My personal experience of having my manager take time out of her busy schedule to help me understand my tasks when I was completely new to the organization has reinforced that belief. A successful manager should also be a good role model and mentor, as it is necessary to not only grow yourself, but also ensure that you pull other people to the top along with you. Lastly, it is important for a manager to have good foresight about problems or issues that may occur in the future and take preemptive action towards solving these potential problems.
Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.
When I got assigned my first project at my first job straight out of college, I was slightly miffed to find out that the client was dealing in products that were against my principles to work with. However, I also had an obligation to my firm to complete my assigned work on time and justify the people cost spent in my training and development. I decided to first give it a shot and learn what the project was about before making a hasty decision. On getting on-boarded onto the project, I discovered that there was a part of the project that involved facilitating the initiatives taken by the firm to move to more health-friendly alternatives. I immediately requested a transfer to that section of the project, and thereby avoided voiding my principles while also not causing harm to the organization I was committed to working for.
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?
Having been a huge fan of the airline industry since I was a child, I was deeply troubled to see the issues being faced by Spicejet. As someone who loves to take up new challenges, I would love to be the CEO of SpiceJet in the current scenario, as it would give me the opportunity to lead the company through a crisis rather than be the CEO of a stable organization where I might not be able to contribute as much to the existence of the firm. Spicejet has recently had its name tarnished for failure to establish safe, efficient and reliable services for its customers. Questions were raised about the safety standards and training of the flight crew. Thus, my first action as CEO would be to look into these claims and check if they have any merit. If yes, I would immediately set up training programs for all crew ensuring that they meet the required safety and quality norms. I would adopt the strategy of ‘going slow to speed up’, so while the training might not be cost and time efficient at the moment, I would consider the long-term value these programs would bring to the brand image. Lastly, I would focus on rebuilding the brand and trust in the brand name by running PR campaigns illustrating the actions taken and reassuring customers that our services meet all safety standards.
Any Other Comments Or Factors You Would Like To Highlight About Yourself?
Having been a part of a lot of teams, I enjoy situations that involve brainstorming with people far more knowledgeable than me as it gives me an opportunity to learn from the best. I believe that the qualities of resilience and consistency I’ve imbibed over the years help me stand out as I am not easily bogged down by difficult circumstances.
Chat
Comments