a balanced perspective..

Going through so many blogs - current ISB students, R1 admits, etc. Reading so many posts on the isb-pgp Yahoo group. Views, opinions, counter views, contradictions...all about jobs after ISB & if joining ISB is actually worth it. Personally, I feel that the answer to this question, like the one to most serious questions in life is "it depends". Depends on where you are in life at this point, depends on where you want to be 1 year down the line, depends on what you want out of the course, depends on how mature you are about accepting the highs & lows that you will go through in this one year...in short "it depends". B-school education in India has been highly romanticized by the general public. People who get into an IIM are considered God level and are generally viewed to have 'made it' in life. I am lucky to have a perspective based on having come into contact with tons of IIMites (most of them IIMA including my dad, a '71 IIMA passout), having a somewhat balanced head on my shoulders and having faced enough failures in life to have a mature enough perspective to know that its completely illogical in life to only expect success. Having touched upon the abstract stuff, lets get down to some hardcore facts - lets get down to what I feel a top b-school (in India or abroad) can provide -

1. Toning down and realistic expectations - Most of us who go to a top b-school have never been in an environment where so many 'cream' people are there at one place. Slowly, we realize that no matter how good we are, there is always someone better. An important learning dawns which is best conveyed by a much used phrase - 'Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long & in the end its only with yourself.' Hence, we learn to lift our own level and accept that we too can make mistakes.
2. A fabulous network - At any top b-school, many of our classmates will be future VPs, Presidents, CxOs. This a terrific platform to form relationship with future top leaders.
3. Enrichment of perspective - This is the impact of top professors from around the world, classmates who have a wide diversity of experience and who are intelligent enough to translate these into valuable learnings which you can tap.
4. Ability to perform under tremondous pressure.
5. A platform for the top companies in any sector to look at you - The fact that you're into a top b-school is a de facto selection process for these companies. It indicates to them that you have substance in you and also that you have been able to convert it by being selected from a pool of competitive applicants. What salary you get after that is completely dependent on the work related & negotiation skills that you bring to the table.

As I was just discussing with a VP at work (he is a BITS Pilani, SP Jain combo with about 13 years of ex in companies including McKinsey Knowledge Center in India), an MBA from a top b-school has tremondous long term impact over a 30 year career. It would be quite wrong to try to gauge the immediate financial impact & hence evaluate a top MBA program.There are so many intangibles involved which will translate into tangibles only over a long term period. Be patient, stop discussing immediate salaries and look at the overall impact that a top b-school will have in your life.

Sine Qua Non

Sine Qua Non

just something..

A pic i liked from uRmad's blog.

time is flying by!

Another week and am faced with the harsh realities of having to do a billion things before I leave for ISB. Finish pending assignments at work, start off with the educational loan process, pay a billion bills, change addresses at a billion places - bank, credit card, phone et al, organize finances to fund my travel plans next month (concretize my plans in the first place), get my deposit from my house owner in Bangalore (its been 3 months since I moved to Mumbai & this has still not been done - inexcusable!), keep track of housing, books, laptop, etc needed at ISB, meet up with relatives (whom I had so far completely ignored) before I leave Mumbai, hopefully get in touch with fellow Mumbaikars who will be part of PGP '07, increase my insurance cover about 12X....the list is endless. Its a good challenge for my so called time management skills. Had figured that since R (my wife to be) is out of town, would somehow get all this done since would end up with surplus time. But it just doesn't seem so. Everyday seems to flash by in a jiffy. Need to set daily targets otherwise this is gonna be quite impossible.
At ISB, new records seem to be getting set through the placement week. I can well imagine that I will be in the same boat one year down the line - anxious with anticipation. But that is probably too far into the future to worry about right now.
Just uploaded about 100+ of pics of family, friends, Bangalore junta, Mumbai roomies, office mates, etc onto my laptop. Plan to create an alternate blog for pics.
Will end with a few things I definitely will do in the next month - travel to Goa, Bangalore, etc., brush up on my Spanish - used to be quite good at it a year back and of course watch as many seasons of F.R.I.E.N.D.S from my DVD collection.

more...

Heard 'She's like the wind' from the Dirty Dancing OST at the office cafeteria during breakfast. What a song! It opened up a treasure trove of memories - lazy sunlit afternoons spent gazing out of the window, discussing the future...how different were those times from the present, how different were perspectives, aims & plans. I see myself now as an almost 180 deg changed person. Those were days of impulsiveness, when life's major responsibilities were just a part of the future, when the impetuousness of youth was at its brash best, when dreams were not yet burdened with the cognizance of the limitations of reality - yes, those were 'the' days! :) Feel the need to rekindle more of that today.
On a more practical note, went with R to meet mom yesterday- R met with mom for what was, for all practical purposes, the first time. The location was perfect - a CCD outlet across the road from the sea. It went like a dream - the two most important women in my life liked each other a lot - mom made this very sweet gesture of getting a gift for R and promptly spent the next hour discussing in detail with her all my foibles & how difficult a person I was to be with while I simply looked on (As it is I did not have a choice - I was outnumbered 2 to 1!). Of course, R knew all that and just kept smiling sweetly throughout. All in all, an hour and half well spent.(See so much of the 'next gen' hanging out at places like CCD. Feel quite a disconnect with them - we were far more tentative and hazy at that age; our high school life was spent without mobile phones, coffee outlets, computers/laptops at home - life was simple then!) Need to translate my vague travel plans for March into something concrete this weekend. Hope the weekend is productive.
Keep reading blogs of ISB students, so much so that I've started feeling as if I'm there already. As a good friend and ISB alum told me when I was discussing my chilling out March plans with him - "Enjoy as much as possible now coz soon you're gonna get the f@#! of your life". The "floating in the air" feeling of having gotten into what is arguably the best b-school in the country is now rapidly wearing off. As I read through the ISB junta blogs (placement season is on), I realize that getting into the company of your choice is a far more critical thing than just getting into ISB and the disappointment at not getting in would be exponential compared to that at not getting into ISB. Hmmm.... wonder if it makes you get philosophical in life. Have a great weekend, all ye who cast thy eyes on this blog! :)

sleight of hand & twist of fate..

Nothing succeeds like success, nothing fails like failure - Have been realizing this over the past few months. When you are at the beginning of a path not so well trodden, most people will either steer clear of you or offer you unsolicited advice on how you should have done the conventional thing which all your friends did & how they're now 'settled' in life. However, when you succeed on the same path, the very same people will look at you in a completely different light. Suddenly, your plan becomes a masterplan. Scores of people want to ask you for career advice and whether they should follow Path 1 or Path 2 or Path 'n'. This was the same me one year back - perspectives, plans and career goals. But now, I'm apparently the master strategist, the guy who is now 'set' in life! :) All it requires is a couple of big career hits. You are reborn in the eyes of the world. Such are the vagaries of fate. The coming of age of your destiny. Your 15 minutes in the spot light. Enjoy it. But remember - success and failure are imposters both to be treated alike. This too shall pass away......nothing succeeds like success, nothing fails like failure.

the last month..

The last month at work after one has resigned is really boring. One has to strike a balance between trying to get as little work done as possible and seeming to be committed till the very end. I've been trying hard to sit on this fence without falling on either side....and its getting tough! :) Although I sit at my terminal pretending to be deeply engrossed in important work, my mind wanders all over the place - the next month when I intend to travel for atleast 3 weeks, what I'll be doing today evening, bills to be paid, how life at ISB will be approximately 2 months from now, etc. etc.