"Do what you love, and you would never have to work for a day". This has been the defining motto of Radhika's life and this is what has brought her to pursue a Master's in Business Administration. Ever since she got a 100/100 in the Computer Science examination of class 10th Boards, she had dreamt of pursuing a Bachelor's in the field of Information Technology. And post that her creative abilities had always pushed her to work as a UI/UX engineer. She believes and works towards making her career path being guided by this very philosophy in my life.
Tell us more about your extracurricular achievements
Public Relations Head, College Fest : One of the most learning and enriching experience I ever had was due to this POR. It made me unleash the potential of people skills, and showed me how communication opens doors for us. So the literary fest had started out recently, and we needed to garner more views on social handles to increase our participation. I was tasked with doing so. Now while asking for views and likes seem like sales to me, i took it in a different angle. I started off with a complete the story in 7 words event. And invited participation from everyone (college students, their friends from other colleges, teachers, parents). And I firmly believe that the word constraint gave more wings to the ideas. By and by, in one month, our page had amassed 3k followers and the fest witnessed a participation of about 20% more people than projected.
Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?
Very recently we had a series of competitions at our BSchool. In one such very renowned competition called "Merchants of Delhi", we had to raise money from a seed capital given to us in 6 hours time frame. We ideated and came up with wonderful plans. We executed it with all our might and potential, and by the end of the 4th hour, we had made our seed capital 5x times of original. Now while we had given more than our 100% in the first 4 hours, the last 2 hours were when we went into our comfort zone. We made peace with our efforts and believed that we have already won. On declaration of results, we found that we were at the 4th position, and not a podium (1st/2nd/3rd) finish. Looking back, I feel we messed up what could have been a way better experience for us. I learned that "slow and steady:" truly wins the race and not the one who "run fast, rest later". I learned that one should have a "never give up" attitude towards things and strive until it is "time up".
Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.
That I love doing standups. Yeah, the image I have always had in front of my peers, friends, colleagues, bosses, and family have been of a serious, hard-working, diligent student or responsible and committed employee. But people very close to me (like my brother) know how much I value the sense of humor, and how much I vouch for the fact that humor keeps one sane. So while others must be shocked by this revelation, I absolutely love cracking jokes (and the best ones strike me at the most solemn moments).
What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?
- CAT: Honestly after JEE mains, I had never trusted myself enough for any All India competitive examinations. But after scoring 99.65 in CAT, I feel successes happen only when we are willing to work for them. This taught me that nothing ever, no talent, no knowledge could ever be a substitute for consistency and hard work. While I am pro-smart work, I equally value being diligent with efforts too.
- Teaching my mother English: I know it does not appear as a typical success should. But I consider it to be one. So I would like to mention it. Now my mother wanted to learn English for a long while. She is very well versed in Hindi and Sanskrit, but finds it difficult to speak fluent English (knows how to read though). So while we had always pushed her to read newspapers, that was not working out. One day I happened to read "How I Taught My Grandmother To Read" by Sudha Murthy. And I went on with her in the same way. So I made her watch pride and prejudice in Hindi and then asked her to read it in English. Her interest started developing, and she started taking up the initiative all by herself. We then used to discuss the move and story, and I urged her to have that discussion too in English. At the end of about 5-6 months, I overheard her talking to a customer care representative over call and saying "I'm sorry, but I do not need a credit card right now". It felt like a success of my own.
Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?
Five years from now, I would see myself being that dynamic go-to person in an organization / or a self-made startup where I do take up challenges and solve them every single day at work. I do love being a manager and taking up bigger roles and responsibilities, and I see myself doing that and much more 5 years from now.
What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?
My people skills. I do not mean to be boastful, but I can put anyone to ease by connecting rather than just communicating. And being a management student, I feel that it is one of the most important skills I possess because there is no such job where I would not be required to deal with clients, superiors, subordinates, team, and colleagues on a daily basis. It becomes extremely important to understand people if we want to work with them, and while knowledge is very crucial, more crucial is effectively transferring and conveying our thoughts to people. Also understanding them better than we are expected to, comes a long way in building long-lasting relationships.
In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?
Being a team player. Just being a manager does not relieve one of the duties of the team, and it is extremely crucial that the manager works together in tandem with his team. It is said of a good manager that the team on completing a project should say "We did it", only then the manager has led them like a true leader. The other skills are decision-making, having a high sense of ownership, being open to ideas, approachable
Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.
Once at my workplace, I needed admin rights to install a particular software. In general, an admin would log in to my system and download the software for me. But that day, the admin might have been very occupied, so he sent me over his user id and password. I successfully installed the software and started working. A few days later, I needed GitHub approval to push my code. Now I had the admin credentials, and I knew this would fasten the process for me. But also, ethically, it was the wrong way to move forwards. To resolve this, I raised a ticket as per procedure and then approached the admin. Told the dilemma, and as he instructed, I deleted the user id password and went ahead with the normal workflow (a bit hastened because the admin was approached directly)
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?
GOOGLE. Because when we say Google, we need no further explanation as to where do we work. So if I would ever become a CEO, Google it is. The way Google has transformed from being a Noun to a Verb (Google it !), the way the products have entered our lines, this is the one company that could help me make maximum impact. The first action as CEO would be to make Google more inclusive, i.e not letting ads and bids from top players hide the important and relevant information from lesser known people and sources.
Any Other Comments Or Factors You Would Like To Highlight About Yourself?
That I got inside each of the 6 IIMs (figuratively), and ironically not inside an IIM(literally). Yeah so, I happen to have converted all of IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kozhikode, Indore (all in 1st lists), and Calcutta (not in 1st list). I really would love to train all future aspirants to make the cut in their GDPIs because I feel I would add value through my experiences.
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