Wharton GCP...

The Wharton GCP shortlists were out today... This year, the GCP is for an Indian Pharma company, that wants to enter the healthcare outsourcing market in the US... Anyone who had consulting or health care or pharma experience or had worked in the US and could highlight knowledge of the US outsourcing market was in with a chance... grades mattered too... and the shortlist reflected that...

In the lunch break between classes today, the match between australia and new zealand was drawing to a close... so, I sat just below the TV in student dining... I was amazed at the number of ads DD was trying to cram into the available time... The commentator had no clue what was happening as the moment the last ball was bowled, the ads were on, often cutting him off as he tried to even announce the score... one enlightened sould sitting next to me said, this was probably because the match ended sooner than expected and they were trying to fill in a whole "one day's" ads... I was wondering, does anyone here, whether the advertiser whose ads were creating more irritation than publicity or DD cared about the guy trying to watch the match... At one point, between overs, the ads came on and when the live feed resumed, probably the guy showing ads at DD noticed that the players werent ready yet. So he decided to insert a small ad inbetween and the over started right then... so, to the delight the innocent spectator, DD produced a unique piece of advertising... the music was from the ad, but the pictures were cricket... talk about leveraging cricket for promotion... maybe the "its the money, honey" ICC can take a cue from here...

Today, I got a mail from my ELP client, stating that they will be flying down to hyderabad to meet us and attend our presentation... Puts that much pressure on you to ensure that the presentation goes off well... have to get back to work on it now... plus 2 cases, another presentation and one submission to do before i hit the bed... its only midnight!

busy days...

Over the past two days, the number of things I have done, with just four hours of sleep all together, makes me feel like a superman... touchwood... but I am beginning to get used to this punishing schedule I guess... I even managed to sneak out of the campus inbetween for a couple of hours to watch the india pakistan hockey match at the nearby gachibowli stadium... ive wanted to watch a hockey match, live, for a very long time and yesterday was the perfect setting...

what better than watch a match between india and pakistan, amidst 3000 odd mad fans, cheering for india... and even better when India scored the winning goals... For those that saw the match on TV, the third goal by India was simply superb... artistry in hockey... the speed, verve and skill of the teams was amazing... though the new stadium had some rough edges, overall, it was a much needed break from the usual campus grind...

All the courses this term have a project, to be completed towards the end of the term, culminating in presentations... the next one week will go in just ELP and course project presentations! Add to that the end term submissions and its a real busy two weeks ahead

today was our first gyaan session regarding resumes and interviews from alums... 5 alums, from Infy, MS and other IT companies in hyd dropped in for a 2 hour session on IT jobs, IT company interviews and some general gyaan on resumes, cover letters, EOIs, handling stress, being focussed and searching for a job... It was extremely useful... Many more alums will begin visiting the campus hopefully to give us such guidance...

Another mixed bag...

This weekend was like a term break. Many had gone home for diwali and many others for ELP related travel. for the rest of the crowd its been diwali in the campus... I got a call from one of my long lost friends living in hyd and it was nice catching up... talking about Motorola's recent acquisition and how things arent going all that well after the acquisition... also talking to another friend of his working in ICICI... interesting talking about the home loans market in India... pooja, crackers, dinner and cards completed an evening that was much better than any other in recent times... sometimes it becomes absolutely essential to escape from the campus, see new faces, meet new people and interact... given the hectic lifestyle, one can easily get mired in all the trappings of busy campus life... and you do not even realise until you go out, meet people and yap... in a way, it was good that I did it, even if it was at the cost of putting my schedules out of order...

talking of schedules, there have been so many meetings, so many groups that we have been literally forced to handle meeting requests, check up on each others calenders and ensure that everyone is free before calling a meeting... also, such a situation ensures that you think twice before requesting a meeting... having worked for four years, I have seen the way meetings are conducted in many places and the amount of man hours wasted discussing issues which may not concern half the crowd in the meeting... here, because there is so much to do and so many people are involved, you tend to rationalize, think and decide the agenda of a meeting and keep it as short as possible... I personally am working out of e-mail and have learnt managing a team completely through e-mail... delegation, follow up and completion, which never happened without a meeting at the workplace happens smoothly through mail here...

its sunday night... a new week starts tomm... im only hoping that i stick to my readings and schedules for the rest of the term like how I have been doing for the past 2 weeks... im sometimes amazed at the way i push myself to get things done, leaving all my laziness behind... touchwood, i wish i cud continue to be this energetic and more organized throughout my life...

happy diwali

ive hurt my finger while closing the door, so please excuse typos... Its been extremely busy the past few days that i have literally slept 2 hours each day... finally when i got the diwali off, i slept like a log... now im happy to be back doing something different...

its been a great diwali day today... good sleep to start with :) then some good food by sarovar for lunch... 4 games of volleyball, a small project meeting, pooja in the campus at 7, a special crackers show for ISB, then great food again for dinner (did not even count how many! just hogged) and then a great choreo by some of the girls, followed by a dance revelry until midnight... the campus is still awake as I write this at 4 int he morning... some of the groups are boozing, some are partying with music, some are playing cards and chatting... its been an unforgettable evening... lotsa snaps that I will upload... next door, at the gachibowli stadium, the afro asian games started with a wonderful opening ceremony... some unbelievaly good color in an opening ceremony in india... i thought the event was fantabolous... the laser show meant that the sky over gachiblowli was glowing with the laser beams reflecting off the clouds... u wud have been excused if u thought it was a cloudy day rather than an amazingly lit night... the sky was glowing... appropriate for diwali... all in all, good compensation for a hectic punishing week...

All the hockey teams pacticipating in the afro asian games, including india, pakistan and South africa are staying in the faculty housing complex... we had the ghanian hockey team visit us for the diwali celebrations and they had a gala time... it was nice to see them dance and have fun with us, though it seemed they could not speak in english... the indian team has been difficult to spot, spending early mornings in the gym and then disappearing altogether afterwards...

ELP fever is reaching a high with many teams beginning to do some primary research, expert interviews, focus groups etc... Karan, from my team is in delhi interviewing people... and almost all the course this term have tonnes of readings and amazing amount of project work to do... Nonny Chawla for marketing services, Arvind Sahay from LBS for Marketing high tech products, Naresh Malhotra for Market research, Krishnan Anand for Business Models and Internet and Anand Swaminathan for Managing organizational change have all indicated their expectations from us, including the projects... thats had us all worrying... its been too tough for people who have chosen to do 5 electives... i am on of them and I am desperately seeking the end of this term!!! its been tough work...

interview prep has also started among students... we have been given some indicators about interviews by companies last year and every one is preparing from them... placements fever is picking up slowly.. the shortlist from MS came through and I did not make it... big disappointment... have to check my resume to see if I am not really projecting myself properly...

Here is a biiiiiiiiiiiiig post... and entirely borrowed... I was going through some mails alums had written to us and this one caught my eye... now, this is strictly personal but very honest and informed opinion of an alum... just thought it made interesting reading... especially if u intend to attend ISB...

"Hey guys,

I've got one or two emails from worried students asking me whether I really think ISB is a good idea for them. Here are my opinions for those of you who have concerns about coming here (placements details given at end for those who prefer to go straight for the bottom line). The questions you should be asking are:

1. Should I do an MBA?
2. Should I do an MBA at ISB?

1. Should I do an MBA?

My feeling is that an MBA is definitely worth it if you use your time to develop yourself PROACTIVELY (and I really really don't just mean study all day and night - there's been almost no correlation between marks and placements for our batch). If you sit back and just let the year go by then you won't add anything to yourself and your salary going out will be only slightly higher than your salary going in. On the other hand if you really take use of this opportunity, when you start working in a company you will do better than your peers and you will rise to the top faster. That is where the real benefit of an MBA will really kick in. So don't take your starting salary at your job immediately after an MBA as an indication of whether it's been worth it. If at the end an MBA you can sense that you have changed as a person then you've really done well.

2. Should I do an MBA at ISB?

Enough Gyaan. You guys have more practical concerns. Forgive me for meandering for giving you my views on the above. I'm going to compare ISB to US MBAs and the IIMs. At the bottom I'll talk about placements.

Foreign MBAs vs ISB

I think if you want a job abroad or haven't been abroad before then going to a foreign college makes a lot of sense. It costs a lot more but you also have a much better chance of getting an international job and being able to pay it back quickly. For your batch international placements will hopefully be better than they were for our batch but you still cannot be ensured of an international placement at ISB yet (or any other Indian MBA for that matter). Having said that if you do get an international placement then because ISB is a LOT cheaper than any US MBA school your return will be amazing.

I honestly do think that the academic education at ISB is as good if not better than at the Harvard's, Wharton's, etc. Our curriculum was initially designed by Wharton, Kellogg, LBS and the top colleges provide most of our lecturers. We get the best lecturers from each of the best American and European colleges and so our overall quality of course is absolutely top notch. The GMAT average at ISB for your batch should be second highest in the world after Stanford (maybe even the highest) so you will be having an academically pretty bright bunch of people with you and the facilities and infrastructure at ISB is perhaps the best in the world. For those of you who haven't been to the campus - you will fall in love with the place.

If you get into a Top 10 US MBA, INSEAD or LBS you might want to go there for prestige reasons and also the fact that your colleagues will be older and would have achieved more than the students at ISB (average age at ISB around 26 compared to average age of 29 for the US MBAs). Although academically ISB can compare to any of these colleges, the quality of these people in terms of leadership abilities, etc will be higher than the students of ISB on average at the moment (Having said that - I have seen a lot of LBS students and I can tell you that I think ISB is definitely on even footing with the students there at any rate). Although I don't know much about the Asian MBAs my uninformed opinion is that there really isn't much comparison. ISB is miles ahead of those places in terms of student quality and education. Again if you want to get a job in Singapore, Manila etc it may be better going to those places. I would also rate ISB over any of the European MBAs like Oxford, etc.

Overall I think ISB is a better option if you want to settle in India in terms of cost, education, etc. However foreign MBAs are better if you want to give yourself the best chance of working abroad. You will need to stay there for a few years to repay the loans.

ISB vs IIMs

IIM is probably the safer bet if you're interested in Investment Banking. In terms of placements for other things there is very little to choose between them for people with 2 years work experience. Sometimes ISB will appear to have bad placement figures according to certain articles you may read but the profile of ISB is just that most of the students have a large no of work experience and so it just takes them longer to find the right job. The final figures will be fine.

To give you an idea of the age profile - 1% has no experience, 5% has 1 yrs, 15% has 2 yrs, 14% has 3 yrs and the remaining 65% has 4+ yrs. Most of the IIM students are straight out of college or have a limited number of years. That is a big difference between the two.

The IIM MBA has the advantage that the money you have to raise upfront is only around Rs 3Lacs compared to Rs 11Lacs for ISB so if you don't like the idea of taking a loan then an IIM is safer. However the cost over two years is actually the same because although you pay Rs 3 Lacs at an IIM you lose out on an extra year of earnings (average salary at ISB is around Rs 8 Lacs) so the total cost of an IIM is actually Rs 11Lacs as well.

The IIM MBA has the advantage that in a two year course you have more time to really get into the depth of a subject. Although ISB has the same number of lecture hours as a typical 2 year American MBA the time in between lectures is less and you have less time to absorb the data. Sometimes the material flies by you. Again the advantage is that you have one more year in industry so if you start your MBA at the same time as an IIM guy you've already finished and had one year work experience (and hopefully one promotion) before he even starts work. I personally think that you'll learn more from doing an admittedly slightly rushed one year MBA + 1 year work experience compared to a slightly stretched 2 year MBA. Also from alearning point of view if you leverage the knowledge from your fellow experienced students there's a lot to learn from them that you won't get from the younger IIM students.

The ISB education as I said does have the best Profs but this is balanced by the fact that sometimes the syllabus becomes too American based and if you'd like a job in India then that's not the greatest. You might get more ground realities from more India centric cases taught at IIMs.

ISB takes more rounded people after interviewing them, looking at their academics, looking at references, etc. The admissions team is specifically told not to pick people just because they have 750+ on their GMATs and lots of these sorts of students have been rejected. IIMs take people based more on marks and therefore on average their students are probably better at quantitative analysis that the average ISB student. However about 20% of ISB is usually from IIT and about 50% of the batch have Engineering backgrounds so that half of the batch will be just as strong on quants.

I think what tips the scale for me anyway is that ISB has opportunities like exchange programmes with LBS and Kellogg, joint consulting programmes with Wharton. An increasing number of international students (I think there'll be between 5 and 10 for your batch). I also like the idea of being part of a new Indian institution with aspirations of being in the same league as a Harvard or Wharton. This will depend very much on how the founding batch, our batch and your batch represent ISB when we go out in the world. Seeing the college growing up day by day is very exciting.

Placements

There are about 25 students still waiting for an offer out of about 155 (168 students totally but quite a few had their own family businsses). I think ultimately all of them will get offers. There's still time till mid April. So they might bite their nails for a bit longer but I don't think there'll be a serious problem for any of them. People worry too much about jobs when they don't have them but I think they fail to keep things in perspective sometimes. All of them (and all of you) are among the brightest people in the world. They have a proven track record of achievement and if they don't get a job on the first day of the placement season it's not the end of the world. Most people get the best jobs at the end of the placement season. People at the beginning take the safe jobs HLL trainee postions for example. Then at the end you'll get random small companies you've never heard of looking for an MBA to head their new business development project and the people who have no offers and are biting their nails will suddenly get an amazing salary and exciting work. The most important thing is to stay optimistic because when you see everyone else getting a job your self confidence suffers and this translates into nervousness in interviews. If you just believe that you'll be ok - you'll get what want. I swear that optimism is the most important thing at an MBA.

The average Indian salary (excluding any foreign salaries that would skew the figure upwards) is around Rs 8 Lacs.

Most people between 0-3 years (excluding CA articleship) get salaries between Rs 6Lacs and Rs 7Lacs. You get a few that are slightly below (TCS for example may offer around Rs 5 Lacs to some people or even a little below for MT positions but people will take it because TCS often gives foreign postings and you can quickly earn dollar salaries) . On the other hand you get a few that are a lot more. One of my flatmates (24 yrs) got HSBC Investment Banking in London ($60k approx) and the girl who lives above me (Also around 23-24) got an offer of around $100,000 with a pharma company. The lowest offers would be for some MT positions of around Rs 4.5 Lacs, which are unlikely to be accepted but may be if the company offers growth opportunities, international prospects, etc.

People between 3-4.5 years get between Rs 7Lacs and Rs 10Lacs.
People between 5-6 years get between Rs 10 Lacs and Rs 13Lacs.
People with 6+ will get between Rs 10 Lacs and Rs 15+ Lacs. Really depends on the quality of your background

Please take these as rough guides. As you can imagine there will be people who fall out of these ranges by a Lac or two. I'm just trying to give you a feel. You're not a statistic. Ultimately what you will get will depend on your specifics.

I have opinions from around 49 people as to their salary increases post MBA here. 5 got less than they did before. 12 got less than a 30% increase. 9 got between a 30% and 50% increase. 14 got a 50% to 100% increse and 9 more than doubled their salary. Use these figures really carefully. Remember that if a person was only earning a Rs 3Lac salary before then doubling salary would mean earning a Rs 6Lac salary. A person earning Rs10Lac is unlikely to double his salary to Rs 20Lacs. Also like I said do not worry if you think you are going to take a pay cut in the immediate term. I think you'll find that over the next few years after your MBA your salary will rise much faster than it would have without the MBA as you prove yourself at work.

Placements are still underway but I think they will be fairly good overall when we finish.

The investment banking jobs is the one area that hasn't been great this year with just a handful of offers and that's why I'd like to just speak a little longer on this area. The main reason for this is that the entire industry has suffered from a downturn in the last couple of years particularly in investment banking. Now when an investment bank takes 5 people instead of the usual 15 people it doesn't see the point in going to a campus it hasn't visited before. That's why ISB hasn't been able to get that many great International investment banks here this year. However ISB does have contacts with banks like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros and they are most likely to come for your batch. It just takes one good year where they are recruiting for the relationships with ISB to build up and for them to become regulars. But having said that I think if a person is really interested in Investment banking then IIM-A is a safer bet this year I feel (I would like to point out that several companies who have not gone to IIMs have come to ISB as well - a good example is Novartis International which only recruits from 5 campuses in the world - Harvard, Wharton, etc). The other areas of banking have been fine with lots of people being taken into retail banking especially. Switching to finance is not impossible but was tough this year. There were a number of people who were able to make that switch without really aiming for it. There were also several others who really wanted to but couldn't. I think if you really want to and you read up throughout the year on the industry and are reasonably articulate in interviews then you have a decent chance.

A list of companies in alphabetical order who have come to campus this year so far includes: ABN AMRO, American Express, Anand Group, Asian Paints, Asian PPG, AstraZenaca International, Bahwan International, BCG, Bharti, Byrraju Foundation, Castrol, Citibank, Coke, Cognizant, Colgate, DRL, DSL Software, GE Capital, GE, Godrej, HCL, HDFC, Hero Honda, HLL, HSBC International, Hunt Partners, ICICI, ICICI Pru, iGate International, ING Investment, Infosys, Ispat International, ITC Infotech, ITC, Kotak, Lafarge, Mahindra Telecom, Mahindra Holidays, Marico, McKinsey, Microsoft, MPhasis, Nipuna, NIIT, Novartis International, Olam, Patni, Prudential ICICI Asset management, Ramco, Reliance Petroleum, Roulac, Satyam, Shaw Wallace, Smithkline Beecham, SRF Ltd Switz Inc, Symphony, TCS, TSMG, Tata teleservices, Techspan, vCustomer, Virtusa, Wipro technologies, Wipro Infotech, etc. This list is a few days old and since we are midway in our process will keep growing.

There are several companies that are scheduled to come but I couldn't be bothered to find out the entire schedule just now (sorry 2:53am-need sleep). In addition to the companies already scheduled the following companies are still being chased up to come to campus: BNP Paribas, Trinity, Dell, Swatch, Levi, Britannia, Accenture, Ford, Sapient, Aviva, UB, Volvo, Stern Stewart, Hutch, Adobe, Edelweiss Capital, Reliance Infocomm, Toyota, Oracle, Chubb, Avendus, CRISIL, IBM, Kanbay, AIG, Intel, ISEC, and several others. In addition to all these companies several people with greater than 4 years work experience are being helped to find specific jobs for them with specific companies through consultants. This is simply because it is harder to find roles that suit people with many years work experience and more tailored searches are required.

Hope this helps those of you still making up your minds one way or another. Once again I would like to add that you can get caught up in a whole bunch of worries about costs and loans and placements, etc. If you come here with the right attitude - to proactively develop yourself and retain your optimism throughout - you will not regret it. Leaving my job in London (despite having got a first round interview with McKinsey and final round with CSFB waiting) ISB was one of the best decisions I made. So in one word my advice would be - Come! :)"

some interesting discussions at the businessweek bschool forums about ISB.

http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bschools/messages/?msg=44446.321 (you may have to register once)

Otherwise, its been an extremely busy 3 days... lots of homework, hardly any sleep, some work for the ISB LS, ELP marketing plan, thunderbird innovation challenge... I also looked at the smart manager case competition today... they have an interesting LBS case open for bschool students... Thinking about entering this one...

Nowadays there are so many bschools in India, one offshoot has been the number of bschool competitions... As of now, Dan who is coordinating ISB's participation in bschool events, if having a tough time ensuring that he tells us about all the events happening, deadlines and also keep track of who is participating and who is winning... at the same time, its an opportunity for many of us to participate in an interesting array of events...

I happened to notice the BPCL scholarships on the web... any school students or post grad students interested, visit, http://www.bharatpetroleum.com/scholarship/newuser.asp

Have been reading this book "the maverick" as part of the change management course... we are required to do a book review... the book should ideally be something that talks about change management at an organizational level... I suggest this book to anyone interested in open book management... author: ricardo semler...

thats it for today... running to another meeting... too many things to do and too many meetings to attend... this is beginning to resemble my workplace in my previous life!!!

Was watching Schumi at the US grand prix and suzuka today... Makes me wonder how this guy keeps his motivation going! Inspite of a record 6th title...

Today was the dean's forum and Dean Vijay Manajan was there in person, updating us about the changes in the board, additions, efforts being taken to boost international placements, the financial status, etc...

The ISB leadership summit is also in full flow... entries for variou events are trickling in... I am coordinating the technology paper presentation...

Today was also another busy day in terms of classes and CP... we discussed Jack Welch and GE... it was very good because we had amidst us, one person who had worked in GE... He explained to us how "workouts" happen, how GE goes about changing habits of employees, how it implements six sigma and the point of view of an employee about the boundary less organization... I had read "straight from the gut" but a first hand perspective from an ex-employee was truly worth the class...

Here is a 10 minute break I have awarded myself...

opening the windows after a long time,
to let some fresh air in
with the fragrance of the wet soil wafting in
the smell of greenery breaks the night's darkness
for a moment,
nature takes over from us mortals,
who have created a world inside this world,
a shell for ourselves to suffer in,
so when we break out we feel good

Got this forward today...

Wean Yourself
Little by Little, wean yourself
From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood
Move to an infant drinking milk,
To a child on solid food,
To a searcher after wisdom,
To a hunter of more invisible game.
Think how it is to have a conversation with the embryo.
You might say, “The outside world is vast and intricate.
There are wheatfields and mountain passes,
And orchards in bloom.
At night there are millions of galaxies, and in the sunlight
The beauty of friends dancing at a wedding.”
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up
In the dark with eyes closed.

Interesting read...

What companies want from MBAs

How does it feel at 3:30 in the morning, reading a case about the Pan European Fishing something? Weird! never thought I wud pay up 10 lakhs to read up on how they automated fishing auctions over the internet...

Frankly, its an interesting case being read by a tired moron... time to sleep...

Mgmt consulting and MBA

Someone in the businessweek bschool forums had asked why mgmt consultants prefer MBAs. What started off as a small reply went on and on and on... Thought at the end, it made interesting read... here it goes...

"Before I give you my take on the issue, I must say that a better answer would probably come from someone who works in the management consulting industry or at least is gunning for a career there. I have spoken to a few friends who work in the industry and this is my take on it.

While a GAP analysis is something that everyone must do for oneself, what I do know is that, in a management consulting role, one needs all round knowledge of how a company is run and how business works, everything from the basics of financial accounting and corporate finance to economics to organizational and behavioral dynamics of a company. If you are an accountant with a degree in economics, the way you will look at a problem will be different from an engineer with marketing experience. Education in a b-school shows you the various facets of running companies. It helps you take an all round view of the problem. If tomorrow, you visit a client as a management consultant, you are not going to tackle a problem that is as specific as what you get in IT consulting (I was one before I came to ISB). Many times, it will require some out of the box thinking just to know what the problem is. When the requirement of a management consulting job is said to be "problem solving or analytical skills", what is meant is, how are you able to take into account, everything from the financial status of the company, the organizational dynamics of the company, the employee sentiment, the cultural aspects of the country you are in, the marketing strategy that has been followed to date, the operational aspects, legal issues, the nature of the top management and their style of decision making and so on. Handling clients, solving problem agreed are too generic, something many of us IT consultants have done in the past, but the nature of problems you will face as a management consultant requires all round knowledge of ALL aspects of running business. You will find yourself under situations where, one day you work for a manufacturing firm having problems with productivity in their plants and another day, you will be in an insurance company helping them develop new products or target new market segments. Of course firms like McKinsey have internal knowledge bases that will help you but most of the time, you will be on your own, expected to represent your company is the most impeccable and impressive way possible, justifying your $400/hour billing.

Coming to where MBA has a part to play in all this, the very fact that many of us have had very specialized education like accounting, medicine, law, engineering and that background means that we look at problems in a very different way from each other. I have personally seen engineers smile at anything remotely quantitative and arts graduates revel in anything that is qualitative. We have been moulded to a large extent by the way we have been taught to look at issues.

Taking ISB as an example, you are put in a group with diverse students for 4 terms (6 months). For example, my group has an entrepreneur with a degree in hotel management, one from the merchant navy with interests in the stock markets, an industrial engineer with interests in finance, a young commerce graduate, an economics graduate running his family business and myself a computer science engineer. We have varied years of experience. We have very different backgrounds. Now, every time we have had a case discussion, (a case being a real life business problem), we have had amazingly different view points. We have fought pitched battles, at 1-2AM in the morning, disagreeing on every point possible. At the end of the day, every discussion has changed the way I look at problems.

The whole idea of diversity in b-schools is to break that pattern of problem solving that has been etched inside you by your education. No problem has a set piece solution. It is important, especially for a management consultant to look at every problem in its entirety before he attempts to draft a solution that will be unique and best. There has to be an engineer, an IT consultant, an accountant, a corporate finance expert, a marketing professional and a HR manager inside you. You will be expected to debate inside you the various aspects of every recommendation of yours.

As we at ISB have gone through these core terms, we have been exposed to one aspect after another, starting with marketing, then finance, then operations and then organizational and behavioral issues. As we have discussed case after case, we have seen the way we have looked at problems change. Now, if you give me a case, I will unconsciously look at every aspect of it before I recommend a solution.

A bschool is also a place for you to learn to work with diverse people. In a way, the smart ones learn handling people as well. If you thought you are good at handling people, probably you are, but I will still suggest trying your hand at a b-school with the diversity of students you will meet. Until now, like birds have flocked together for many who come in here. In a b-school, you learn to network, accept viewpoints, argue, negotiate and accept mistakes. It’s a humbling experience in a way. The network that you will create here will go a long way in helping you in your career. Not only that, the networking skills you will learn here will probably be most crucial as you move into a management consulting role. The courses you undergo and the textbook knowledge are no doubt important, but that’s only one aspect.

Management consulting firms prefer the top graduates from top business schools because, if you are among that crowd, not only have you mastered your courses at bschool, you have also managed to work your way with teams or different people, managed your clients at the internship (or ELP at ISB) and got the work you wanted, out of people you worked with. Not all students of a bschool manage that.

I do not know if there is any place else in the world that can give you a similar experience, but I am certain that a good MBA does shape a person's all round abilities. All the mgmt consulting firms seem to agree:)"

Back online

Probably the longest break I have taken... Its been the busiest of days at ISB over the past 2-3 days. The one day when I actually slept one two hours to complete all my readings turned out to be a disaster... wanting to wake up at 8:30, I slept until 8:50 for a 9 am class and was woken up by Rahul, a classmate... Just managed to brush, refresh and reach the class in time... The whole day was a daze though I loved the Change Management class as I was among the few who had managed to read up all the stuff... Did some good class participation (CP) and enjoyed the class too.... There were some interesting parallels from Anil, the ex army "Major Saab" of our batch... it was an interesting class... thursday evening was very relaxed but it wa amazing 'coz i couldnt sleep... Just that friday was off meant the mind relaxes so much, you dont feel sleepy! did my cover letter and resume for the M$ and CTS projects, mailed them and slept as i tried to watch "Road Trip"... pretty tiring and was in no mood to blog... woke up real late, around noon on friday! decided that i am going to chill the rest of the day... the whole week's stress of keeping up with readings for 5 courses had sapped the energy out of me!

Not that I have to punish myself like this... I can well take just 3-4 courses and stay chill... but I have taken 5 courses because, one, some interesting courses, and two, want to keep myself relatively free in term 7, the placements time... Friday evening went in volleyball under lights and the night in a party...

Today was another one of those lousy lazy days... the friday night party started at 11 in the night after a conference call with my ELP clients, nSpace in the US... the call went well with some new insights into the company and the research we are doing for them... the party was a bash... great music and dance to boot... the whole village was rocking... it went on till 5 in the morning and by the time i slept, the sun was up and winking! so today again had to be off beat... worke up around noon, and realized I have a case discussion today... Reebok's strategy in India... Marketing research case... and a meeting at 7:30 pm over dinner to discuss and do a write up... fortunately I had read the case 2 days back out of curiosity and also, have been following Nike and Reebok just like that for the past 2-3 years... so it was an interesting discussion when it happened today... just finished the discussion and allocated some parts of the write ups... Still have to review other pending assignments! Have to buck up now and start reading for monday and tuesday... busy week ahead...

Today was probably the one day when I have had the maximum to read up for classes the next day... Gosh, its 3:30 in the morning, I have already read 2 cases, one article and made one 1500 word case analysis. Now, I still have 2 cases and 3 articles to do!

Electives!

Yesterday and today were the first two days of electives. The first thing you notice about electives is the smaller class sizes. In the core courses, we were divided into 3 classes of 70 each. Now, profs offering electives have deliberately reduced their class sizes to 30-40 and that is pretty noticeable. One, I got a chance to speak a lot in class. The class seemed more focussed. There seemed to be richer discussion and everyone seems clued on. Dont know if I am mistakenly extrapolating what I have felt... The marketing services course is being offered by Nonny Singh and he has been keeping us very interested. The market research course, offered by Naresh Malhotra from Geogia Tech is the most popular course in terms of numbers, while operations strategy has also been commended (I did not choose this one). Marketing high tech products was interesting for a techie like me. So was Internet Business Models, by Krishnan Anand from Wharton. Now is the drop phase of the elective process. Meaning, we are all allowed to attend a lecture of a course before deciding if we want to attend it thru the term or drop it. Its been interesting to say the least... more as the days go by in this 6 week term...

IIMs vs ISB

If the heading made you sit up, I am not surprised. I was just going thru the forums at coolavenues.com and was amazed at the carnage. There seem to be a big crowd from other bschools who are extremely sensitive to ISB and its hype, to some extent justifiably so. Some amazing messages, mudslinging that does no good to anyone...

IIMs are the premier bschools in India. No doubt. ISB is not yet there. ISB aims not only to be there but to be among the best in the world. But it needs to tread that path for sometime to come before it can reach the target. There has to be a difference between a bschool that has an established reputation for decades and one that is just 3 years old. I simply dont see why people want to compare apples and oranges.

ISB has big plans. It has great backing from industry and academia. Spirited sincere students who want to make it big in life. All the essentials for a new school wanting to make it big in the world. But when you start a school saying that, "we aim to be the best in the world in a few years", you are indeed creating hype. That hype has been interpreted by many as readymade international placements, a great course that is going to beat the blues out of IIMs in the rankings and fantabulous salaries. Lets get practical. Building an institution takes time. Rome was not built in a day. But to make it big, we need to dream big first. Then back is up with inspiration, perspiration and sincere honest effort.

IIMs are the place to be if you will not be satisfied by anything but that high flying IB job in the US. Contrast that with the opportunity to build an institution. Example: This year, ISB will host the first ISB leadership summit. From the first step of conceptualization to drawing up budgets to roping in sponsors, media partners, travel partners to even co ordination to website creation to logistics management to convincing some of the best minds in the world to take time off their schedules to come to ISB during those 3 days, everything has been done just by the students. Mind you, even the idea came from one of us. No extra money was awarded for this effort. We had to manage by pooling available money for the different clubs. We had to bridge the deficit with sponsorships. We had to negotiate the rates for everything from advertising to publishing to every little detail. All this has been managed by numerous teams of student volunteers who have been working for the past 3 months, day and night. In fact, it is only now that we are in some shape and we have tonnes of work ahead. All this in the middle of arguably one of the toughest schedules in a bschool. Now, being a student of ISB, i know I do not stand the same probability of getting an international placement as say an IIM grad, but is that first placement everything. What matters to me more is the experience I have got by participating in this massive effort to create something big from scratch. And we did not have a legacy to learn from.

Going to a bschool is a personal decision. One has to weigh everything from costs to what is important for oneself before taking a decision. Clearing CAT or GMAT does not make anyone great. It is being able to keep ones cool when the situation demands, knowing what you want and the ability to work relentlessly towards that goal that differentiates. I care a damn if you are from ISB or IIMs or any bschool. If you are honest, hard working, sincere towards your goals and smart enough to recognize opportunity when it knocks, you will go places.

mumbai's first flash mob...

Im not from mumbai but have read a lot about flash mobs in the last few months... and its finally happened in india... mumbai... check it out... kewl....

http://in.rediff.com/netguide/2003/oct/05flash.htm
http://mumbaimobs.rediffblogs.com/
http://www.mumbaimobs.org/

for info abt flash mobs,
CheeseBikini.com
FlashMob.info
FlashMob.com

did u know? even baghdad has its flash mob site!
http://www.geocities.com/baghdadflashmob

...

After a couple of days when somehow, i wasnt able to get around to blogging, here i am back again... its been a tough term break... lots of non acad things to take care of... primarily elp... resume, schol applications, other project applications... and lots of personal work...

saw one of my all time fav movies last night... found the dvd of "my cousin vinny" in the lrc... was extremely relaxing... the day before that, saw my firs imax movie at the multiplex in hyd... impressive! bought a new set of creative speakers... the speakers that come along with the toshiba laptop are not worth mentioning... music and movies are much better now...

have been working on some questionaires for the elp and its been interesting... the idea of preparing one is to elicit the information you want without boring or distracting the respondent... and it was interesting indeed to prepare and review one... got some very good suggestions from people here... quite a learning experience... the market research course next term should help even more...

m$ and cts have approached ISB with projects... they want to do specific projects with students before the recruitment process... their way of gauging students... those who get to do the project get to work in the M$ and CTS offices for 10-15 hours a week!!! now, that even better than ELP... there may be many more such projects from companies that want to see the students before recruting... its very interesting for me... anyday better than biting your nails for a one hour interview... u might as well prove yourself... tomorrow is the last day for the citibank schol and i have been trying to cobble together an essay that they can find interesting... many others have been too...

all in all, its been a busy as well as relaxing term break... take it easy kinds...

current music: "Who the fuck is alice" :)

Dandiya Night...

Another relaxed day... term break is so much more peaceful... tonight was dandiya night in the atrium... Good fun... Nice music and some dancing fun... people dressed up in kurtas and ghagras etc etc... otherwise, pretty much a dull day... lots of sleep and some work on my resume... picked up "Frida" from the LRC... movie to end the day :)

term break!

Its term break... We had a take home exam for Gurcharan Das' course... but that was easy... my section celebrated the end of the four core terms with a trip to runway 9, probably hyd's only go karting course... the sections get broken up for the electives and so every section had its own party, the last days together... its been 4 terms of fun and CP (class participation) together... we have had fun, fights, and have put up with each other's opinions and learnt a tonne from each others opinions...
runway 9 was fun... go karting after a long time... they have a nice pub, pretty decent food and some shooting and archery if you are really interested... it was a nice evening... being a hours drive from the campus, we hired a bus and it was like back to those coellge day trips when you sing and dance and have fun in the bus... on the way back, there was a punchline dedicated to each member of the class... it was fun recounting some of the funniest things that had happened over the past 5 months...
yesterday atul, shilpi and another gang of 15 others went to the imax multiplex... we got tickets for the hindi movie "Zameen"... I was watching a hindi movie after some time and i did not regret it... this one was full of utter crap i thought... Portraying a hijack, the hijacker knows only one sentence and he keeps repeating "this is a hijack" to every one in the plane, even after killing a passenger... cudnt help laughing out loud... it was an out and out masala movie and i shud have left logic behind in the campus... anyways, going for a movie with a gang of friend made the day... to drown the movie and its funny punchlines, we went to Ten Downing Street (TDS)... almost everyone who was staying back in the campus seemed to be there... the whole place was flooded with ISBians and many songs were dedicated... very good music and nice spirit... it was fun... same faces in a totally different setting... I had been so lazy during the day that I had not had any food at all all day... so had to break at around 11 for some food... went to "Malgudi", which is just above TDS and reverted after a long time to my favourite south indian food... amazing food rounded the day off on a very good note...
back home and nobody was in any mood to sleep... it was just 1 am... so off we went to the rec center and the in house musicians, the guitarists and drummer of the batch, pumped out some very nice music... by the time I hit the bed it was 3... it was time for some sleep without setting the alarm... what a nice feeling that is!