Vikram Singh, Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Delhi-NCR - India's Most Promising Incoming MBA Students 2022

I identify myself as a person who has a social bent of mind but still find myself in corporate as the best way to fund my causes and also because it gives me the chance to learn new things everyday. I find myself actively involved in sports and toastmasters. Surprisingly, around 3 years in corporate were the most thriving years of my life.

Tell us more about your extracurricular achievements

During the second covid-19 wave in India, I undertook the task of cremating the dead bodies of the people struggling with their finances. I started a hearse car service which made sure that everyone in Lucknow who calls us gets a respectable cremation for their loved one.

Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?

While implementing a cost saving project at RIL, I messed up due a negligence. Although the failed valve wasn't in my area of responsibility, but still as a second in command for the project it was on my conscious that I count it as my failure.I learnt that for the success of any group task it is important to keep the boundaries of responsibilities a little diffused.

Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.

I took up fishing as a hobby for around 1.5 years in the remote areas of Maharashtra. I got to the point where I even bought a small boat for myself.

What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?

Getting into XLRI and being with my grandfather in his last moments was the greatest achievement of my life. Getting into XLRI taught me that no matter how hard things get there's success waiting for you at the last if you work honestly.Being with my grandfather taught me that nothing in life is permanent and there is nothing above your family.

Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?

I see myself as a strategy consultant working on front end problem solving roles. I would like to believe that I will be consulting clients in the Oil & Gas sector since that is what that really excites me.

What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?

The ability to manage and take accountability of 1000+ stakeholders is one skill I am proud of. This is because I generally see people breaking down dealing with people. Whereas I have always been at the forefront of it. Be it my stint at RIL or a front end analyst at Deloitte USI.

In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?

The ability to deal and understand people, and the ability to learn unlearn and relearn is something I believe every manager should possess.

Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.

While choosing the team for a project (implementing the supply chain of Light Diesel Oil) that was the high point of my career, I was confused between choosing a young enthusiastic team or a team of more deserving experienced professionals. I solved this by having the senior people as the mentors of the younger guys. This gave a hands on experience to the younger people while at the same time not letting the more deserving guys behind.

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?

I would definitely want to be the CEO of Shell someday. I would definitely launch optimization projects for their supply chain optimization. Also would want to set up a parallel setup of EV charging stations.