Slogging for seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, sometimes even years!
Falling in love with the unknown but elusive x.
By-hearting The Hindu.
Relating more to the ABC family trees than to your own.
Becoming Grammar Nazi. Sorry, a Grammar Nazi.
Getting to know that NINJA might not only be a warrior.
Trying to make entries in a GD. Trying to make the right entries in a GD. Trying to make relevant points heard in a GD. Sounding sensible. (In that decreasing order of preference)
Writing those SOPs that wrench the soul out of you and make you ponder whether it was worth living all this while.
Cracking interviews: “Why MBA?” “Sir, I want to become an entrepreneur” Or better still – “Sir, I want to become a social entrepreneur”
So after all the struggle, the day you’re selected, you’re elated. You’re becoming the next CEO. Or the guy who’s views companies will vie for as consultants. The top hedge-fund manager is looking right now into the mirror. You’re the King of the World.
Hold on, your Titanic has just set sail. When new batches are inducted in IIFT, they’re told “This is the beginning”. One bullet point for a long story cut short? That really sums it all up J
Once in, the transformation is immense. From the proverbial “consider you’re explaining this to a layman”, we are now in the pipeline to become leaders of tomorrow. And in the process, various lessons are learnt.
1) Time Management:
Any work -> 23:59:59 Ok. 00:00:00 Sorry.
2) Perspectives:
a) “Which chips should I get?” Before - “Masala flavor”
Now -> “That xyz company one” “Get A brand, it’s Rs.10 for 100gm while B is Rs.10 for only 78gm”
b) Before - “Nice ad!”
Now -> “I don’t think that particular celebrity is a right fit for that product” “What a useless concept!” “Whom are they trying to reach out to?”
c) “Which IPL team do you like?” Before - “XYZ is the best!!!” (no reason)
Now -> “XYZ, just look at the branding and awareness they’ve generated”
===
3) The Bigger Picture:
a) Before - “XYZ company is nice, they’ve been in the business for a long time”
Now -> “They’re doing badly, the stock price is falling and their diversification patterns are insane. They should consolidate”
b) At the dhaba. Before - “Bhaiya ek maggi”
Now -> “Yaar he must be making a solid profit doing value addition selling a Rs.10 maggi as a veg maggi for Rs.25”
c) Before -> “If XYZ company wants to grow, they should obviously sell more”
Now -> “Why don’t they enter Myanmar?”
==========
In our daily lives, looking at effectiveness, return on investment and the whole connect becomes de rigueur. As does throwing big and fancy words, like de rigueur. All casual conversations have a business angle to them. Anything and everything is blamed on the global economic recession. Bringing in Chai and Samosa for the chief guest during the annual school function is CV-fied as “Handled logistics for an event with a 1000+ footfall”. Even atheists start believing in God, referring to these Avatars as Placecomm. Committees are taught how quantitative easing can bring in more funds for the annual fest. Solving case studies giving possible solutions thinking the company couldn’t do it themselves makes you feel empowered. B-School rivalries are based on hostel infra, campus size, hangout spots, workload and number of female participants. Loyalty to a brand is decided by whether they visit the campus or give you a miss.
Since the article has been on a lighter note, I can’t end it on one. So is a B-School experience great? Sure it is! Apart from acknowledging the value of time, multi-tasking, team-work and peer network, the way it shapes your personality is a huge learning in itself.
Finally, if I were to give an analogy, a 2-year MBA programme is like an hourglass; you start off with a wide array of things and thoughts at the beginning, narrow down and get squeezed at the halfway mark (the summer internship) and then the second year goes off in the expansion phase, exploring your potential to the fullest to get where you really wish to be. How the sands of time flow makes all the difference!
- Nikhil Mundra
Nikhil Mundra is a second year MBA (IB) student at IIFT. An Electrical Engineer by education, he loves cracking PJs, collecting stamps and writing short stories at http://nikhilloids.
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