Be clear about what you hope to achieve by doing an MBA

This interview was first published in Hindu Business Line (on Campus section) - 29th December 2015. I share my thoughts on some of the takeaways from my MBA and also leave behind few thoughts for aspiring B-Schoolers

HBL) Give us a little background on your educational qualifications.

I did my Bachelors of Commerce (B.Com) from Sydenham College in Mumbai and graduated in 1999. I did my MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), also in Mumbai, where I majored in Marketing. I graduated from NMIMS in 2001.

HBL) How has your MBA helped you in your corporate life, if at all?

I participated in several paper presentations and cultural events from different B-Schools, while I was in NMIMS, which allowed me to travel and meet students from various campuses. That was one of the biggest learnings for me. Competing with some of the best minds, understanding the curriculum and teaching styles in various institutes and, most importantly, making some strong friendships taught me three important things that I use everyday in my corporate life:

1. Surround yourself with competent people; they push you to give your best

2. Be like a sponge – absorb new processes, systems, styles, cultures, and take the positives from each of them

3. Network, but not necessarily always with a business intention. Be open to meeting new people without any agenda

HBL) If you had to re-visit your MBA, what would you have liked to have as part of your course?

There are three things that I would have liked included in the course are:

1. I would like it to become less theoretical and more experiential with more people from the industry sharing real-world problems, thus exposing students to the real world.

2. Taking risks and sharing failures. It would have helped immensely if the course had pushed us to work on things and problems that surround us to showcase that failures happen and that it’s fine to fail. Most successful entrepreneurs and CXOs have committed their fair share of mistakes and learnt from them.

3. Mandatory exchange programmes and travel. An MBA should teach life lessons too which are best learnt while travelling.

HBL) What have been the chief ingredients of your success?

1. Be open to meeting new and different kind of people. They don’t have to be from similar educational background; the wider the diversity, the more you learn.

2. Keep experimenting and acquiring learning new skills. Nobody has answers to all questions. You won’t know how it could have worked out until you tried.

3. Taking risks – enjoy them. If not then at least find a way to get comfortable with them.

HBL) What have been your best and worst moments?

Not sure if I would classify them as best or worst but one of my key highlights would be celebrating the seventh anniversary of our venture Windchimes Communications. When we started off, we exhibited all the signs of nervousness, anticipation, anxiety and yet, we had a dream to want to do things differently. While one reads books of successful entrepreneurs, the journey is unchartered. The challenges are unique and one has to figure out how to work around it.

There have been several crazy moments: from handling cash flow problems to hiring senior team members, from turnaround of large projects in quick time to pitch presentations.

HBL) What would be your advice to young MBAs who are joining the corporate sector?

Before I answer that, I would like to step back and urge every aspiring B-Schooler to ask themselves why they want to do an MBA. A school-level and college-level education is considered mandatory, but a MBA is done by choice. Not to mention that it is also a very expensive course. So, it’s important to have clarity on what you want to achieve by doing an MBA.

Now with respect to your question, before selecting the company you would like to work for, ask yourself what is the area of work that you are interested in, and ask yourself questions like ‘what problems do you like solving’, and shortlist companies that will help you on that journey.

Secondly, get real, you will only be paid for the value you generate. The company is going to invest in you only till you are generating sufficient revenue/profit.

Third, it is going to be very long run so don’t let short term losses upset you.

And finally, celebrate small victories – we all need reassurance from time to time.

HBL) What would you advise young MBAs to read?

Read on all subjects; this isn’t the stage to be selective of what you read based on what you think you’re going to major in. Yes, one does gravitate towards the area that is more appealing and that is completely fine. But do not ignore other subjects just because you don’t want to specialise in them.