Term 3 ENDS

I thought life in Bombay was fast but now after 3 terms at ISB, there is no denying that time and life does not fly faster than this. It seems as if it was just a week back when I was still trying to fathom where I am and how I reached here.

The orientation week.. where we had the alums telling us all about it, their experience, the section wars and the batch strength. They had all events lined up for preparing us for the months ahead. Then came the terms, one by one and now after 3 terms, I think I have gained something.. not just in terms of knowledge but also in terms of life long friends.. a good network of people... Wait a bit.. what the heck? Am I behaving like my stint at ISB is over? Naa... not at all.. 5 more terms to go.. reality strikes and this time it struck a bit too soon.. :( :) :| ...

Tonight is going to party night... Tomorrow morning on a flight to Bombay... Tomorrow afternoon, I will meet my dearest bhanji after over 3 months.. Saturday morning, I would miss the cricket match that would be played by ISB in the corporate cup.... Sunday morning I would back, and ready to play for the next match of the same tourney that afternoon.. Sunday evening, will sulk thinking that term 4 is going to start... :)

Anyways.. thats how life is at ISB.. fun with spice.. ;) Catch ya all during the term break with the details of the same.. :) Adios Amigos..:)

Mahesh Shenoy

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Session on Careers in Consulting conducted by The Boston Consulting Group

Representatives from The Boston Consulting Group visited ISB on 17 August 2006 to conduct a session on “Careers in Consulting”. The main agenda of the session was to address the specific questions of students on careers in consulting and to dispel some of the common myths that enshroud the profession. The session was conducted by Arvind Subramaniam, Ravi Srivastava, Rohit Chhapolia, Vishal Sharma and Ramesh Jha.

1. The event started with the Arvind inviting specific questions and queries from the students. The key questions that were asked during the session were as follows:
2. What are the different types of Consulting?
3. How to make the most of the management programme at ISB from the perspective of making a career in Consulting?
4. What are the key characteristics that Consulting Firms look for in prospective candidate?
5. What does the life of a Consultant entail – Work Life balance?
6. What is the Career progression in a typical Consulting firm?
7. Myths about Consulting

The speakers started with clearly defining and differentiating between the different types of Consulting – Management, Functional and Operational. Further, they addressed the above mentioned questions by citing examples and instances from their own experiences and their career progression in the firm. They also gave an insight on the diversity of projects and engagements that they had handled and impressed on the fact that each engagement is unique to a large extent and entails its own set of challenges. The theme that emerged from the discussion was that Consulting is all about “Out of the Box” thinking and the tools and methodology used in one project cannot be blindly applied to all projects. They also gave an insight on the problems and challenges faced by them as consultants in their day to day work life and gave a perspective on how they went about overcoming these challenges. They elaborated on and dispelled some of the common myths that surround consulting and helped the students get a clear understanding of the profession as a whole.

Towards the end of the discussion, the speakers addressed specific questions regarding the recruitment process and how to prepare for the same. However, the specific details of the interview preparation process were not addressed and would be taken up in the interview specific sessions in the coming terms. It was a highly interactive session which ended with the speakers informally interacting with the students on a one on one basis. This exercise gave the students an opportunity to express their individual concerns and get answers to questions which were probably not answered during the session.

Posted by Sunanda

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ISB starts Kun Chevrolet Corporate Cricket Cup with a win

ISB starts Kun Chevrolet Corporate Cricket Cup with a win

ISB defeated Sloka by 4 wickets in their first match of this corporate tourney. The match was again played at Glendale which has now almost become a home ground to a whole lot of teams. Sloka won the toss and elected to bat.

Abhijit and Mahesh opened the bowling for ISB. Pratik joined the attack after 4 overs. If you wanted to watch a breath taking bowling spell, I should tell you that you missed this special one. Pratik was playing his last match (may be) for ISB and made it worth every moment for every member of the ISB cricket team. He pocketed 4 wickets. Kartik joined the magic, taking 3 wickets in 3 overs and Sloka ended up with 144 runs on the board. Not to forget the four catches pocketed by our wicketkeeper, Rehan.

Abhijit and Nishant opened the innings for ISB but we lost Nishant early; result of a supposedly bad decision. Naresh joined Abhijit in the center and they together flourished a partnership of 34 runs. Naresh got out to a shot trying to dominate the bowlers. Then came to the crease, a man who has got his name synonymous with the word “consistency”, Mr. N S Srikant. What followed was a treat to watch with Srikant holding his fort at one end and making sure the team wins. Partnerships formed and collapsed with a common name in all of them. He ended the match with a classic cover drive for a four, which also made him reach his first fifty as part of the ISB cricket team. A dramatic finish to the match.

Team ISB for the match – Naresh Mahadevan, Rehan Habeeb (WK), L Rama Krishna, Nagaraju B, N S Srikant, Abhijit Roy(C), Mahesh Shenoy, Pratik Patankar, Nishant Tiwari, Kartik Agarwal, Shankar Balakrishnan, Dhimant Parekh

Scores:

Sloka – 144/9 (Nirdosh – 32, Mohan – 36 no, Pratik – 4/30, Kartik – 3/8, Mahesh – 1/21)

ISB – 146/6 (Srikant – 53, Abhijit – 25, Naresh - 21)

Man of match: N S Srikant and Pratik Patankar

Posted by Mahesh Shenoy

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Running for the baton

I am almost there.. yes... one more week and one more term would be down!! 5 more pins to go and I would have a strike.. :) This term that would be my past pretty soon.. should be one of the most tiring terms I believe.. with assignments day in and day out.. with exams running at us at a speed that I didnt even realize when it hit me. But it was fun.. more details will come on it after the term has actually ended.

Also with respect to the content of this term, we had a whole lot of speaker series by all the clubs and it was good to watch these people who have touched the sky and know how it feels to do so. The hard way of course.. :)

We had Sameer Chandra (Chief of Staff for Sanjay Nayar) from Citigroup talking about "Career Options in Banking". Then we had Sanjeev Bikhchandani (Naukri.com CEO) telling us about how he went about his entrepreneurial life. We also had one of the most influential person, Vikram Akula (CEO - SKS Microfinance) speaking on the topic "Microfinance and its effects on rural india". Shishir Priyadarshi came down to talk about the WTO and related topics. With his experience at working with the WTO in Geneva, he was able to give us a picture of some of the latest macro economies from present and latest past. We also had an interactive session with Ms Vani Kola who is considered the B2B queen. She found the companies, RightWorks and NthOrbit. The list goes on and on and on ... :) These were only a few of those amazing mind boggling speakers who had come down in this term..

I am sure there would be a lot more to look forward to as there is no dearth of greatness on this planet and its no harm in listening to people to find out on how to achieve that greatness. Who knows, one day I might be one of those giving guest lectures in BSchools... ;)

Mahesh Shenoy

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Alum Interaction : Vijay Mulbagal

 

Vijay Mulbagal from class of 2006 was at the ISB today. He spoke at length about the various aspects of consulting and about his short span so far in the consulting world working with Diamond. Here are some key takeaways from the session:

1) Not everyone is cut out for consulting. Management Consulting is a glamorous job but at the same time it’s tiring, tedious and involves a lot of travel.
2) Grades and only grades are not important to make it to consulting. Each one of us has some unique achievements and it depends on how we bring that out in our resume’.
3) Resume building exercise should start early (may be now). A good resume plays a vital role in helping a candidate make a shortlist. People should get their resumes critically evaluated by peers and others and try to achieve perfection. The cover letters should be personalized and well written as well.
4) Vijay suggested some books that would be good to read towards preparation for consulting careers. The McKinsey way, McKinsey mind, The Pyramid principle ( by Barbara Minto) and Say it with charts were some of the books he suggested.
5) It is very important that one understands the key qualities required for consulting jobs. Flexible(read long) hours, frequent travel and working with ambiguity are a part and parcel of consulting. Qualities like good interpersonal skills and ability to communicate effectively are extremely important.
6) You should not choose to get into consulting just because it is glamorous. You have to make sure that you are cut out for it ( i.e to say you will be happy doing it). If you lack the qualities and still feel passionate about consulting, you should work on developing them.
7) There is a huge world outside consulting. There are many people who have not gone into consulting and yet are very well placed ( i.e earning well and happy with their job content!). Finally its only the industry guys who make the headlines.
8) It is very important to understand individual firm culture. Every firm is unique and has it’s own strengths and limitations. An aspirant should choose his/her target firm after evaluating the best fit according to his/her preferences.
9) Vijay also spoke at length about his experience with Diamond so far, the kind of work Diamond is looking to doing in India and overall culture at Diamond.

The Consulting club would like to thank Vijay for taking time out and being with us.

Posted by Venkat

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Basketball

These days ISB is humming to the tunes of the Intersection rivalry in the game of Basketball. Its been a long time we had an inter-section tournament. Its much more fun when its a section thing. In games like badminton where you dont have a team playing together, it draws much lesser number of spectators but when it comes to a section tourney.. you find the whole section there to cheer the team.. and then there is a deluge the section slogans.. with everyone shouting their guts out to frustrate the opponent camp.. :)

Basket ball tourney started today and is going to go on for another 5 days. Its going to totally fun packed... and that too when there is added spice of submitting assignments each of those days.. its more exciting.. ;) Our section (B - Blazers) won their match against Section F pretty comfortably.. though both teams had possession of the ball for almost same amount of time, our forwards getting the basket most of the time.. and with the guards blocking the opponent forward's shots quite amazingly.. it was a complete team effort with our section winning by a margin of 22 points (40-18).

Our team for the match we played: Saurabh Kaura, Sameer Gujral (Captain), Ming Hsung Lee, Rehan Habeeb, Murali Reddy, Siddharth Lulla, Sreeja Iyer, Oshiya Ved, Mahesh Shenoy, Naresh M

Tomorrow we would be playing section C, who call themselves as "Pirates". Blazers are going to set the Pirates ship ablaze. Further updates on the tourney will be available at this very place pretty soon.. keep watching.. :)

Mahesh Shenoy

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PAEV

Some posts ago, I had promised that I would write about an interesting course. We here have a course by the name "Planning an Entrepreneurial Venture". It’s more of hands on than a classroom course. We have to form groups of 2-3, then bring up an idea and start working towards it. This would involve most of the course that we have been taught till now. We would have to do a market analysis for the segment we are targeting and then draw some figures from it to show the idea's viability. Sounds like fun.. :)

I have already formed a group of 3 and we have started the ideation process. The brainstorming sessions during this phase are interesting. Everyone trying to pool in and with the sort of support we have here at ISB, it makes you feel comfortable to venture out in to ideas which look weird otherwise.. :) Stalwarts being there to help and then with their guidance, we would end up with a business plan which would be presented to our peers and then evaluators. And if everyone finds it good enough and if we are really keen on making it our baby, we can hit the investors (VCs or Angels) as well. With all this happening, I am raring for the term break... Ah ah.. Its not because I would get a rest or something, but I would get time to work on this course without a class schedule to worry about or any assignments running down my spine.. :) Doing research and collating information should be a treat!!..

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Bidding

Sounds like I am running an auction firm here at ISB.. Isnt it?.. :) but I am not.. wish I could.. but this is how you get to select the courses you want. You bid for it and you get it if you have bid well enough and if there is enough seats to accommodate you in the class for the course. Though this sounds a bit weird but it’s a fair procedure.

 

Now with electives coming our way in another couple of months, this is the first time I have actually got down to look into the details of each course that ISB offers. You might start thinking how I went about doing a research on ISB when I planned to apply for it... Hmm.. figure it for yourself.. ;)

 

Coming to the elective courses... Its sad that I have just 16 credits, 4 terms and 8 more months.. with so many mind boggling courses to choose from. Moreover with a taste of the cream after 2 terms, its interesting to venture out into the extensions of the courses already experienced. This would not have been possible sitting at my home while deciding to do an MBA at ISB. If I start listing all the courses, the post will run into pages.. so its better I just stick to my emotions in this post.. ;) Just to give a feel, the courses I might end up choosing from (after a lot of thought) are:

 

Branding, International Finance, IT Strategy and Economics, Pricing, Sales management, Consumer Behaviour, Corporate Control M & A, Financial Statement Analysis, Investing in Private Equity, Marketing Research, Advertising, Corporate Risk Management, IT Services Project Management, Marketing Strategy and economic analysis, Global Issues in IT management, Indian Financial system, Managing Strategic Partnerships, New Product Development and Retail Marketing...

 

Wooohh.. that was some list.. Have to kick out a few more before I end up choosing what I can actually go for keeping in mind the credits I have to complete. Doesn’t that sound interesting?? It does to me, but the real picture will unfold when I actually start studying these courses and I have a feeling that I would want to get over with it as well.. :P.. just kidding.. I am all eager to take them on as early as possible.. Come on!! ..:)

 

Mahesh Shenoy

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May I Swipe the Dropbox?

 

One of the very few pains of being at ISB is the continuous, unhealthy and hostile barrage of assignment submissions we have to face every other day.

For those of you who are not well-acquainted with this intricate method of torture that is being imposed on us poor souls, let me shed some light on it.

The first four days of the week we have our classes and from Thursday evening to Saturday evening, it's party time. When I say party time - I mean that we have a party (loads of boozing and random dancing) during the weekend - not that we can chillax throughout the weekend.

So that we don't enjoy ourselves too much (dunno why it should be considered such a bad thing) our professors diligently ensure that we have enough work in the form of case analyses or a truckload of mathematical problems to solve throughout the week and especially in the weekends.

As the deadline for assignment submission approaches, the population density in the library and the atrium markedly increases - innocent guys facing testing times stoically.

Printers start getting busy and start failing due to overload. Frustrated groups of students hang around them checking their print jobs in the printer queue. IT Services guys start getting d-looks from us.

And then when finally the much awaited prints come out, it's a total mess figuring out who gave which print. Finally the right ones are assembled and we head towards the "blue dropbox" kept for submission of assignments. Sometimes they get jammed with an overload of assignments too.

For the last month - this naughty idea has been haunting me. Whenever I see those blue boxes (i.e. when I go to drop my assignment), there's this tremendous itch to take off with them. Or just hide it somewhere. To finish this instrument of torture for ever. I know it's wishful thinking ... they'll just get some more of them.

But even then it will be fun to see my friends searching for dropboxes in the middle of the night, calling up TAs from their sleep or whatever they might be up to, TAs searching for new dropboxes and all kinds of other fun happening while I giggle away to glory :)

 

Samik

Class of 2007

 

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