Finally got my bullet point :)

Over the past few months, ISB junta have been travelling all over India and also to thunderbird in the quest for glory.They really have created waves everywhere and I was too lazy any to do any of this stuff.But, if most resume's have bullet points like this, I felt i should ave at least one.Picked the marketing case competition at Posiedon and we got the 2nd place and my coveted bullet point.

Thats that and got some decent cash from the whole exercise too :)

Overall, I found my self becoming way more confident than ever before and I really stepped into the audience...however a couple of takeaways...

• Actually listen to the questions before you answer them :)
• Do not be defensive if encountered with a difficult question!!!

Now that Iam back into marketing, grades have started picking up again....finally some good news.

Posiedon was very well organized and yesterdays fashion show was rocking and it seemed as though we were looking professional models on the ramp....simply awesome

Hats off to the Posiedon Core team!

Laterz

75 days to go

Placement fever is picking up here at ISB and consulting is the most attractive option(as usual).....I wonder why though.Before i came to ISB, I had not even considered the option seriously, I was thinking more on the lines of marketing and product management roles.

The latest Gas is tha consulting prep can get you ready for all other types of interviews!!! Well.....Bullshit. Each of the other types of roles require different forms of prep.

This term Iam doing the following courses:

Customer focussed product development
Investing in private equity
Pricing
Global operations management

This has been alukewarm term so far....but lots to come yet.

Later

Interesting times....

The past few days have bee very interesting for me.I finally started participating in some inter B-school competitions and finally got through in for the Marketing competition for Poseidon (ISB).Apart from that, We(AHEM! I) worked on this really awesome case from IIM C.It was set by Mckinsey and it basically covered concepts from Microeconomics, Operations, Marketing, Optimization etc.I worked on the numericals tirelessly and actually enjoyed it :)

The heat has started for interview prep and its focus groups galore.I had a couple of interesting cases today but I will have to review some concepts pretty quickly to stay on level keel.

My current thought, as Ford prefect put it "Sleep is overrated ! "

NOW...Iam enjoying my stay here....good set of friends, interesting courses and the end in sight....it is so palpable that i can almost touch it ;)

Later

Business law and Tortious liability!!

Tonight, we had a session on business law and Mr.Sandeep was awesome.The entire session was centered around contracts and definitions of liabilities.The most interesting form of Liablility is called Tortious Liability, which states that a service provider can be held in breach of contract if the service provided if in anyway harms the the consumer and the firm was in a position to expect the effect in advance.

This has formed the basis for many litigations, especially in the US where they sue for emotional distress, mental torture etc.....same applies to coke in India.

Today, I evaluated a few more applications and was a very time consuming process! These were good applications, but i had to take a call and I did. the upside is that i got to have free pizza :)

Have so much work pending, but Iam in no mood to do anything constructive......tommorow is gonna be a very very busy day to get all this stuff done.....

Quote of the day: "Procrastination will only augument the inevitable torture"

later.

Resume positioning and integrated communications

"This years placement season is a mass market operation" : Quote by Ajit Rangnekar.

Given this, think of your self as a product being sold to a heterogenous set of buyers A.K.A recuiters. In any competitve scenario, the buyers wants the best price for the product in the category, unless he/she derives additional value out of it.

Basically means that you need to be percieved to produce additional value to the recruiter.

Now, we can look at the problem through the Awareness - Knowledge - liking - conviction - purchase continuum : as the process of shortlisting.

Your resume is your ultimate communications vehicle and a well written, customized resume may land you multiple shortlists i.e high trial rate.However, in the typical brand share model, actual repeat purchase i.e 2nd and 3rd interviews happen only if the product attributes actually add value to the consumer/recruiter.Even this can be managed to large extent by customized communication, but in the long term product-customer fit is essential for either party to apropriate value

Also, if you spread your applications too thin across segments, you wont have an integrated communications strategy and can have a very low probability of success.

The placement week can be thought of as a large market place trying to match a heterogenous batch of students with a even more heterogenous set of recruiters and that is the key difference between a regular market operation and placement season.No real world markets take resonsibility for complete customer satisfaction, but they merely provide a convenient way for buyers and sellers to interact.

Having defined this entire issue from a marketing standpoint, i feel no less at ease with the process......Iam like......Lets get it over with as soon as possible!!!

G'nite.....

Confusion

Today, Deutche bank is interviewing on campus and looks like its gonna be a loong placement season ahead.I did not apply....Iam most definitely not a fin guy.We got our first list of companies and it looks extremely comprehensive. As my friend SM would say, All this is just information overload and i feel like one of those rats trapped in a maze of options, not knowing which one will be the best.

I have broadly decided to focus my campaign towards three clearly defined segments.

• Companies who do stuff I know
• Companies who do stuff i dont know
• companies who pay the most ( viz. Consulting :) )

With such a comprehensive strategy.. I cant fail :) . Anyways, this just shows how confused Iam, but he best thing i can do is "Blink" (from my earlier post) in simple words, go with my gut....

Later.....

back to marketing...and a lot of fun!!!

Finally...Iam back in my comfort zone.Pure unadulterated marketing which gives you all the room to faff off and wiggle out some strange numbers.All you need to is state the assumptions.

But seriously, if i was ever in doubt as to where my MBA competencies lie...today is the best example.I worked on Consumer behaviour and Marketing implementation and I just feel great now. Contrast this with how i used to feel during any finance case discussions...the verdict is clear.

On an aside...i was just reading one of my frinds blogs and it was absolutely hilarious.....SM you rock dude. You have to know this guy to appreciate his wry sense of humor.

http://ihavewaytoomuchtime.blogspot.com/

Well thats it for now.....when will i ever feel sleepy????

Yeh toh "Arbitrage" ka zamaana hai!!!

For once..let me start on a funny note....some one told me this joke recently.

'pehla Ram- raj & Ravan-Raj chalta tha...uske baad Liscence Raj bhi hua tha...par aajkal tho sirf "Arbtrage" Chal raha hai :)..... Iam quite sure only a B-school student would find that funny!!!

Anyways, as usual back to cribbing about what is wrong with my life. I seem to be in dazed and defocussed state nowadays. all my organizational abilities seemto have but evaporated.Cant make up my mind on almost anything and have started procrastinating almost everything.

These are not good signs and i need a good strong kick in butt to get me out of this reverie.

Moving onto global weather patterns over the last year...I dont know if any of y'all have noticed, but there have been a mutitude of freak weather related incidences across the global just in the last year or too. It almost seems too concentrated.

• Tsunami in south asia
• Mumbai and new orleans floods
• floods in bangalore and chennai

add to that, over the last five years, there have been quite a high level of terrorist activities and these guys are running amuck.And on top of all this, consider that i have just finished watching "The core" (Yet another world is coming to an end-- story) you can surely make out by now that Iam either going mad or reeeeeally sleep deprived.

Ill get to bed now...more later.

Term 5....all's well that ends well :)

This is our first elective term and I intend to major in marketing and operations if possible.the first few days were a little depressing as i had not been alotted marketing implementation by Prof. Nirmal Gupta....finally he raised the number of seats and i got in....no more gripes.Iam ONLY doing 4 courses Vs almost the entire college taking up 5!!!!

Started some serious work on my resume and it is shaping up pretty decntly as of now.Trying to review core term courses and hopefully i will be able to complete all of them by february! It almost seems that the entire college is just focussed on the placements right now and the electives just happen to be there:).

My other three course's are Supply chain management, Consumer behaviour and Negotiation analysis. The last class is a wonderfully interactive and educational, but it has only reinforced my belief that Iam a sub-standard negotiator:)

later

Words of wisdom

Some words of wisdom from bharani's blog.Funny how these appeal to you the most under duress!

1.Don’t give up on anybody, particularly people close to you.

2. You may be concerned about others. You may be really worrying about someone. But it’s of no use, if you don’t express it.

3. MBA is thrusting a false confidence. Sometimes injecting arrogance into your soul without your knowledge. If you find it at the right time, cleanse it. Else, the arrogance will cleanse you!

4. Follow the 3 principles that Bhagwan said. Praise others generously and indiscriminately. Be enthusiastic. Be Optimistic.

5. Follow the 6 steps to greatness that Rajeshwar suggested. Reverse the way you think. Look for the good in people and situations. Learn to greet people. Establish some symbols in life [to which you can anchor upon]. Give importance to physical well-being [Exercise, yoga, meditation etc.,]. Feed your mind.

6. Don’t think twice when your praise others. But Think twice when you express your anger or frustration.

7. If you are in full flow and able to complete your work quickly, do more than required. Similarly, If you are unable to do your work, atleast let the team know, so that they will plan for you. Otherwise, there will be expectations on you and you will only disappoint them.

8. If you have improved as a human being, as a person, then that’s the biggest takeaway from ISB. The readings, formulas, cases, book knowledge don’t last long (unless you apply them). Emotional quotient is becoming very important in organizations. EQ is essential ingredient to make it to top.

9. Sport a smile ALWAYS. It’s free of cost, less taxing to facial muscles and relieves the pressure instantaneously.

10. Telepathy works! If you are thinking about a person in a positive way, the other person reacts the same way. If you are thinking about a person in negative way, the other person reacts the same way! I have no substantiation for this, but I have seen this work. So use this to your benefit…Always think positive about a person!

Cioa....i think this is a pretty comprehensive list!!

Blink!!

Blink...thats what we al have to do when we face uncertainity.At least that what the book claims.The book is BLINK by Malcom Gladwell.Have been reading it for a few days, and he talks about thin slicing situations and people and how us humans tend to disregard our intutuins and tend to reply purely on rational judgement.

I guess, with the kind of exams that i have had today...thats what i will have to depend in tommorow`s exam.Its corp fin and its multiple choice..... The subject is stil very vague and seems like we need to develop some intiution for it still.

Thought for the day...trust your judgement...Blink!

Life and the law of averages......

Events in our lives sometimes cannot be explained away by logic or "Causal Reasoning" (Ref. Matrix reloaded).We all try hard enuf.....Dont get anything to show for it....Just when you think its all done and dusted....A windfal comes your way!The law averages really do work..... we just dont have the foresight to realize it.

My takeaway for day... Dont crib when things dont hapen for you, Someday you will get unexpected windfalls and you will actually claim responsibility for those fortunes!!!

We live in such a Stochastic World!!!

Dazed!!

I ask myself..what day is it? No answer...at least the date....no clue...but i still reme,ber its august!! Thats the current state of affairs.5 course running paralelly...god knows how many assignments...Overwhelming guilt of not doing enough with my time.....IS THERE ANY MORE SHIT THAT CAN BE THROWN ON TOP OF THIS PILE!! (I picked that out of "My cousin Vinny")

As the title suggests I have had that kind of a day.....more so bcos of the 2 pcycho movies i saw today... The aviator and Eye of the beholder. The former scared me a little...can I go mad like that too? About the latter...i really did not get the ending!

Anyways...this must the 1st posting i have written without talking abt ISB.On a personal note....renewing some old friendships at ISB ( and to think its only been 4 months since i got here) Whew time does fly past and at the same time stretch out like crazy!

Stay Dazed Y'all

Back to classes after a fabulous weekend

This was probably one of the best weekends i have had at ISB so far.Had a closed SV1 party on thursday night and yesterday, we had this awesome party organized by the GSB.This was just all fun, what with the tug-o-war competition between sections, the baloon breaking competition which literally all the guys and girls chasing each other (Ahem....To break the baloons tied to thier feet) It really was a funny sight.I think this party was really successful because the excellent spirit shown by all involved.

To top it all off we had an information session for prospective students today, and somehow talking to so many people really energized me ( i had volunteered for the admission comittee)....maybe this is something i should take forward into career...more people intensive, team oriented activities i guess.

Well back to the rigmarole of Cases, Classes and Class Participation next week....but definitely more energy than i had last week.

More later

Fresh from a break!!

Term 3 just started this week and most of us seem refreshed after the term break(At least i can talk for myself).The Leg has healed as per schedule and Iam back up on my feet.Ia very happy to be mobile and active after these past 1.5 months.

Classes are in full swing and we have five courses this semester -- Operations management, managerial accounting, Entrepreneurship,Corporate finance and Leadership development program.This is a like a real core term and I expect this to be the most intensive one which will probably require the most effort.Funny, though, because it seems like every term is pretty tough and the next one seems even tougher.The course we do are just rushing by and its a wonder how much i will retain by the end of this year.

This term Operation seems the most promising, followed by entrpreneurship and corporate finance.Something that i keep reiterating, i dont think any other B-school will get the kind of of portfolio of professors that we are exposed to here at ISB and I really feel our syllabus is cutting edge.Its great to see the kind of energy each of these profs have and hopefully it will all rub off on us.

Hoping to be completely back to normal in the next couple of weeks and then its back to the grind of the final exams ;(

More later

middle of the 2nd term

We are now at the smack middle of the 2nd term and I have a Global economics midterm tommorow......No complaints with this one...its one heck of an intersteing subject....Microeconomics really fades in comparison with this subject.....Imagine being able to read ito all the financial press that we all ave been reading over the years and actualy be able to analyze them with some reasoning!!!

The leg is getting beter, and i wann get out of that freaking chair as soon as possible.This term so far has been way more enjoyable than the last one with lot of group work and collective suffering.....(any day better than individual suffering).We have this ultracool marketing strategy game for one of our courses this time....and we have been doing reasonably well....I think we are placed 2nd in our industry and hope to conquer this industry soon with all our amazing strategies ;)

More later

Recovering from a horrible accident

Couple of weeks back I had a bike accident and i dislocated my right foot.This happened at a very unfortunate time just a week before my finals.I really had to fight the pain and the drowsiness of the painkillers to get up the exams, but all my friends were really helpful through this period.

3 out of the 4 exams were pretty tough, and Iam hoping for some decent grades in all the subjects.Fingers crossed !@#$%

term 2 has already started and this week is kind of slow....but next wek is gonna be a real killer.On one day we have classes from 8.30 in the morning right upto 9.30 at night.

The courses this sem are really interesting and iam hoping to learn a lot during the course of this sem!

more later(hopefully more regulary)

PS: My major peeve from this accident is that iam not allowed to play anything or the next 6 months!!!!

Final exams loom large

Stats midterm over...went OK....Marketing case submitted...went pretty OK...now comes the acid test.The finals are coming really fast on us and i dont i think iam mentally ready for 4 final on two days.We had a change of guard in marketing and stats and the new profs are not half as much fun as the other 2, but life goes on.

Sadly one of our alumni from ISB passd away today and it is a sad day for the batch.The election tommorow have been postponed in mourning.

On an aside, i think our study group is starting gel and work well as team now after the initial hiccups.Hopefully we have done better on our marketing case this time around.the days are rushing past, but the weeks seem to be dissapearing faster.....more later.

Into the business end of the term!

We are into the 3rd week of the course and i think everyone is starting to feel the heat a little bit now.The course load kind of fluctuates for each of the courses during the term but towards the end, its like all hell brike loose.We have just passed halfway point now and the speed is definitely picking up.

Today we are hosting a party for a couple of the faculty who are leaving back for the US tommorow.Bob stine for stats and scott ward for marketing.I really did enjoy bob`s classes and he will be replaced by his counterpart richard waterman now.Asim ansari from columbia univ is taking over in marketing.

@ the halfway point of term one and mid term and final exam jitters have already started now.When will this term end....and when can i head back to chennai for this well deserved break!!!

More maybe over the weekend (Read monday evening, Sundays are usually screwed up with assignment submissions.)

First week@ISB winds down

Whew.....this really has been a hectic week.Most of the i.e upto thursday we have only just been catching up with studying for each of the four courses, and then came the weekend, when were supposed to relax and chilout etc ;).......Oh No....I have a case submission and an economics assignment due monday, not to mention having to practice stats and accounting (I think my vision kind of blurred at the end of the last accounts class...no sleep i guess)

Well, all said and done, it has been a busy but good week.there was a party at SVI (where i live) which was kind of a flop show.Our study group is very focussed and we were able to complete most of the case writeup by today.I think tommorow we would primarily be focussing on completing the Economics assignments.

If You are wondering why I have not been talking about any of the extra-curricular activities in the last few posts.....thats bcos, i have not had any !!!! I guess i need to start squeezing more time from my schedule.

More tommorow about the fiasco with Student Jungle 1 ;)

Into the first week of classes

We are well into the first week of classes and I can now see why this course is so hectic.We have to self study for almost every class .Almost the entire day is taken up by these classes and work.On top of this we also have to keep up with the assignments and practice problems if we have to make any sense of the classes and the big exams at the end.

Already there is a case submission next monday and an economics assignment on the same day.Also there some practise problems in accounting and stats to be looked at.I think detailed scheduled needs to be started now!!!!!

Stress and time management required :)

Orientation week coming to an end and we have alum party tonight.Also we have a session on stress management, which i think most of us @ISB need to learn.I was just trying to keep up with the required reading for next weeks classes and for the study group meetings.

My feeling right before the start of classes....The guys who will do well in this course are only those who manage their time extremely well. This is would be attributed to the compressed format of these courses and myriad of diversions in the form of parties and extra-curricular appointments (which are by no means counterproductive).

All set for the start of course.....Fingers crossed and taking the plunge....more later

Orientation week and the Leadership development program

This week we started our orientation week and it has been hectic so far.We had the First session of the leadership development program yesterday and had our welcome dinner and orientation from Alums today.

The leadership development program was conducted by Prof.Rajeshwar Upadhyaya and i was really impressed by the class.We were asked to take a Myerly-brears type indicator test before we went to class o get our respective profiles.I was was classified as E(Extrovert), S(Sensing), T(Thinking), Judjing.I was initally not convinced witht this test.During the class he asked for a volunteer to to verify the test and i volunteered.He asked me to narrate any typical incident and the entire class judjed my profile.I was reallly amazed when each of them got it right and so was the class.Tommorow we have a class on listening and team bulilding and some classes on meeting etc are scheduled for the rest of the week.

I really enjoyed Dr.Upadhyaya`s class and i think this is one of the unique programs at ISB.Also we had a career perspectives forum today, where a group of top CEO`s cam in and shared their B-school experiences and their veiw on the future markets and career opportunity.It was conducted in a debate format with questions at the end and it was an enjoyable experience.

Overall...this is going to be a busy week leading upto the start of term 1. Have a couple of case studies to prepare before the class, and iam jsut getting started.

Also had a some decent sessions with the alums to get their perspectives on the career oportuntiies and the type of roles offered.

more later.

First parties @ISB

Pre-terms are coming to an end and orientation starts next week.In the last two days i attended a couple of parties and both were fun in their own ways.One was a typical bachelors drinking party and the other a typical sober spouses party....even though booze was there also.I think thats like a common string i all ISB parties ;)

Got to meet a lot of people and had a lot of interesting discussions.Most of the folks out here have gone to the opening of a Pub called Liquids in town, but i wasnt really keen.I think we will have a mega startup party this weekend before the term starts, befoe we get into the seious stuff.

cheers

Sports galore

Over the last few days, I have started playing a host of sports like Tennis, Basketball, badminton etc and my evenings are really full.Anywhere you go there is someone to play with....man have i missed this over the past two years at bangalore!!!

Our pre-term in accounting got over today and overall, i think it went pretty well for our section.We got through our topics smoothly and i think we have a pretty decent understanding of the topic now.

See.....the diversity @ISB is realy useful.There always an expert around the corner.Yesterday i had a concern in the accounts class and i got to know a CA who very kindly helped us out.I guess as engineers will be able to help out later on.Te student body here itself is so diverse that it helps in the entire learning process.To add to that list, we have a host of entrepreneurs etc who can give the common folk an entirely different perspective.

Inter-stats starts tommorow and i need to get sleep now...more later

Sports, meal plans and over ambitious students!!

Today was an interesting mix.Had my classes in the afternoon and after that went to the cafe to pick up a quick snack.The WI-FI network here is so cool that i was able to eat , check email and have a conversation at the same time ;)then i went to the rec..played basetbal for a while, then ran for a while in the GYM.Plan to start tennis also from tomorow.Hopefully, i will be able to increase my level of activity in the coming months.I have sorely missed it in the past 2 yrs and it shows ;)

we got the info about the meal plans and looks like the cheapest meal will be about 4500 per month...sometimes i feel so guilty paying 70-80 bucks for a meal..no doubt, the stuff is pretty tasty.This cost is still within budget so should be OK i guess.

SPAM mails to the entire student have started just like our seniors had warned.People keep sending useless mails to the entire group and trying to display leadership and get visibility with the entire group.Sometimes its ffunny, but if i decide to run, I may also have to start doing stff like this.

will come back with much more interesting snipets in the days to come.

Pre-term starts today

Yesterday we had an introductory speech from asst dean savitha mahajan at the khemka auditorium.She had very liitle to say but mostly a lot of questions to answer.She indicated that this years batch would be around 340 approx.

Today, i have been trying to get into the mood of studying and so...iam in the library ;)Lets see how this continues.

got a class now..so later

First day @ISB

Just completed registration today and pretty much nothing else to do.found out who my study group mates are and made first contact.turns out one of them is actually a person with whom i had a major tiff with in the yahoo groups last month....Oh well..i guess we all have to forgive and forget....Its just a lesson not to get overly aggressive with anyone;)

tommorow is the india Pak cricket match and we will get togeter as a big gang to watch the match i guess.Wild drinking parties have already started, but iam realy not into any of that now. Preterm classes in accounting and statistics start next week and things should be pretty relaxed till the main term starts early next month.

more tommorow

Iam Here at HOT HOT HYDERABAD !!!!!

Just got into hyderabad today and its reeealy HOT.Iam coming from chennai though so i should not be complaining.Got very little ISB work done today except for the Bank loan.

The placements for last years season is up and its been really very encouraging.I think this has settled most of our jitters and all set for the course.I think this years Average salary has moved up to 10 Lacs...consistently 1 Lakh up every yr from its inception.

Our batch should ideally do even better given the profile.Looks like even a 273 student batch has not deterred the recruiters...still at 100 % and quite a few multiple offers.

Will be reporting @ISB on the 15th.More from there.

Ciao

Adieu to GE and Bangalore!!!

Its finally here.....My last week at work and getting all the details in place.i had given a 2 month notice period and it has been a really harrowing phase for the past few weeks.

I took the advice of some seniors and bought the Marketing management book by Kotler.Read a couple of chatpers and was reasonably interesting...most of the case studies were very good.
It was great to see GE mentioned as a premier strategy comapany and frquent mentions as a benchmark company.I feel proud to have been associated with GE over the past couple of years!

So much to do over the next few days....so little time.

My next post will be from ISB.....

Singing off,
Karthik

Pre-Term Courses.

We recieved information about all the pre-term course at ISB before our classes start....sadly i dont seem to have any kind of profeciency in any of these...business statistics, accounting etc....Looks like ill have have a tough ramp up period.

More about the ciurse and the profile of the class.The different types of people and the kind of incoming work experience is sometimes daunting....thankfully i felt the same way when i went to TAMU and i know things will sort themselves out on their own...no point fretting about it now.

Planning to leave for Hyderabad by the 11th of April from Chennai and will have a few days off in chennai before i leave.

Fingers crossed...getting really geared up for the upcoming course and year ahead.

My First Post!!!

This is my first posting on this Blog. The ISB Admissions for this year are done and we have one helluva batch this year!! The diversity in this class of 2006 is beyond imagination of any normal B-school.Iam personally from a Hardware design / Manufacturing Background and am currently at GE Healthcare Technologies, Bangalore.

My Background....I have a BE from Sri Venkateswara College of engineering, Univ Of madras and then immdly went on to do my Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. I decided to come back to India......now iam really happy bcos i get to goto a school like ISB now ;)

Will keep updating this blog as often as possible with my experiences pror to and after joining ISB.