Convocation on Youtube

Just finished uploading Videos( 8 parts in total) of Convocation on Youtube. It was refreshing going down in memory lane.

Here is the Part where I spoke on my experiences.

XLRI GMP Graduation speech

Finally my tryst with MBA is over. A sense of pride, nostalgia for missing XLRI and wonderful batchmates and anxiety for new life is setting in. Here is the speech that I delivered on behalf of batch in Graduation Ceremony, May 12, 2010 @ XLRI Jamshedpur.

Good after noon Respected Director, Dean, distinguished Guest of ceremony, Faculty, Staff, Families and GMP Class of 2010. I am honored to deliver this graduation speech on behalf of the whole GMP class, A class coming from different parts of India, which has worked around the globe, which comes from diverse sectors from Steel to Education to Hospital, a class consisting of Bankers, doctors, defense personal and technology geeks, a class with work experience ranging from 5 years to 16 years. It has been a wonderful year with memories that we will cherish forever.

Before I speak further, I would like the graduating class to applaud for our families because without their support and sacrifice; we would not have been here.

I remember the day when we 96 of us came to Jamshedpur. Some of us were anxious, some were nervous; after all we were going back to school after so many years of working in the industry. It is said that Gold becomes finest only when it goes through hottest fire. After having gone through 32 courses, numerous mid terms, end terms, quizzes, term papers, assignments, group projects, presentations, we are here in the Graduation ceremony. The XL academic rigor has sharpened and molded us into competent managers.

We are indebted to our esteemed faculty for shaping our minds and guiding us at every juncture of our stint here @ XL. We will remember Fr Jesurajan’s invitation for 7 course meal, Prof Gangopadhyay spine chilling lectures( Like many of you, I remember running without a break from Hostel to class to avoid being late), STP lessons from Marketing gurus, different forms of demand supply curves from Economics Professors, Accounting lesson that Prof Sengupta drilled in us – Profit is different from cash.

How can we forget the strikes and lockout lessons from Prof Sarkar, classes on complex and perplexing organization behavior, the basics of human resource management from our Dean, Mind scratching Anecdotes from Prof TAS Vijayaraghavan, International finance classes from truly Intl professor and realization after every class of Prof Uday Damodaran that how little we know of Fin world. The list goes on….

Inspired by the Jesuit spirit of ‘Magis’, XLRI stands for Excellence and Integrity. It has allowed us to stretch our thinking and imagination. XLRI is known for developing social conscience and beyond doubt; we have not only learnt hardcore management techniques but also have grown emotionally to develop a conscience that extends beyond companies and corporations.

It is not that we just restricted ourselves to academics; we dared to compete in every aspect of B school life. Few of us cleared CFA level 1, A team of three reached the Asia Regional finals of Global Social Venture Competition organized by Haas School of Business, Berkeley University, one of our Sports fanatics reached Badminton Finals in IIM Lucknow’s Annual Sports and cultural competition, Bloggers from the batch emerged XL winners in a Blogging competition organized by Directi and a clear GMP dominance was witnessed in Tata Steel XLRI Peace marathon.

XLRI unlike its peers has always been focused on grass root development. In this context, we were exposed to remotest Naxal inflicted tribal villages in Jharkhand. Harsh realities of tribal villages have had profound influence on our thinking and I am sure we would actively work towards making lives of our people better.

As we move out of XL today, we will miss 2 am Bishuda’s aloo paratha with loads of butter, Chai breaks at Dadus, a sylvan and serene campus, diamond jubilee park that is host to number of gossips as well as serious discussions, our excellent Dining and accommodation facilities and fiercely fought cricket and football matches.

We are thankful to ever cheerful Rani Mam, ever helpful Freddie, Lazarus, Rashmi, Roshan and Sandra Mam, and numerous XL Staff for making our lives easier.

As we graduate today and join companies in middle and senior management positions, our future will be guided by XL’s core values and teachings. This is momentous occasion for all of us as we ready to shape destinies of companies and enterprises. We have task cut out for ourselves as these are most exciting times and we are fortunate to be active participants in this Indian Growth story. In decades to come, we need to evolve as leaders with highest ethical standards, we need to set new benchmarks and beat old records to create organizations which will be world leaders in terms of financial numbers as well sustainable practices.

Thank you

Tata,Jamshedpur and XLRI

“Tata” name is ubiquitous in XLRI as if XLRI is run by Tata Sons. Every class gets mention of “Tata word”. Almost very professor has given examples from various Tata Companies. Prof. Jittu Singh has worked in Tata Steel. Prof. A Gangopdhyay is currently doing an assignment for Tata’s in South Africa.

Jamshedpur is full of Tata companies. Local people and institutions have grown with the growth of Tata. It is incredible to know that there has never been a problem in Jamshedpur with regard to pollution or labor unions. While teaching Financial Leverage, Prof. Sengupta gave Tata steel’s example to explain the concept.

We never have to think very far. We get all kinds of example from Tata Group of companies. MIS and Strategy class found mention of TCS’s Global Delivery Model. Prof. Sarosh Gandhy, who is former Tata employee and proud Jamshedpur denizen, shared interesting stories from Tata Steel. My Marketing group gave presentation on Tata Nano case. Not only did we discuss Tata motors in class, but also got chance to visit Tata Motors’s Jamshedpur factory. It was a rare occasion to see “The World Truck” getting assembled.

Adventure trip, the unique aspect of GMP program was organized by TSAF, Tata Steel Adventure Foundation. In a guest lecture arranged by Prof. Smitu Malhotra, Mr. N.K Sharan taught us how commodity like Steel Rebars was branded as Tata Tiscon Rebar.

With Ranjay and Sudesh in class, understanding perspectives on Quality and Operations in Tata Steel is never an issue. In fact, I got chance to see LD shop in Tata Steel where Ranjay worked before. Few days back, Mr. M H Patel from TRF enlightened us on TQM.

I feel this symbiotic relationship of Tatas with XLRI is beautiful with no parallels in India.

The Term 1 that was!

Term 1 of my GMP@XLRI has come to an end. What an eventful 3 months it has been. I have never been this much stretched and sleep deprived as I have been in last 3 months. Jumping from one assignment to the other, running for marketing project meeting to ELCC ,MANAC, Macro,Micro Economics group meeting, it has been a true roller coaster ride with surprise element built in every moment.

Classes/Studies: On an average we had 3-4 classes of 1.5 hours each. Sometimes it felt it is too much to do with case reading for marketing, Ethical leadership, management accounting practice and of course revision of dreaded classes of Quantitative techniques for Managerial Decisions to complete. Some subjects were taught by multiple professors, hence multiple midterm exams along with end term exams. With a day’s break, term 2 has begun and it seems it is going to be lot more hectic than the 1st term.

Exams: XLRI is very academic oriented Business school but focus remains on basics and applications. The biggest surprise element of XLRI is marquee list of Professors. Profs Make sure students read come prepared and perform at the highest level in various exams and quizzes. Lately, competitive spirit has taken front seat and everyone is talking about grades, marks etc. People say it is all only about leaning and not grades but culture of marks, grades, academic orientation builds in when Professors force you to study hard and remind you of exams in every class. Every exam is different; Standard of exam papers was very high in most of the courses in Term 1. Some exams were open book and some were closed book. Don’t ask for performance in open book. Open book doesn’t mean you will sail through instead you will struggle more than the other format. Only one professor, Prof. Sarosh Ghandy didn’t take any formal exam but he had his unique ways of asking us to submit answers to various questions on Ethics and Leadership on A4 sheets of paper.

Myth: B-school is all about partying, extra circulars: this myth was broken in first fifteen days when I started to realize that I don’t have time for any other activity other than studies. One needs to be incredibly good at time management to manage academic and non academic studies.

The CR factor
I have always been on the opinion that Bschools are perfect ground for networking, peer learning, managing conflict view points and learning prioritization. I have been fortunate that class reposed faith in me in selecting me as Class Representative. I am not sure how class evaluates me but I have tried to do justice to the job. Class Rep is a bridge between professors and students. There have been moment of high adrenaline, excitement, anxiety, frustration, dissatisfaction but overall it has been marvelous experience to manage 48 (strength of my section) of different opinions. Sometimes it becomes huge distraction, many a times you can’t concentrate on your individual priorities but it has made me realize why things move slowly in a democratic setup. Hats off to Indian growth despite Indian plurality and democracy.

CEO visits, guest lecture:
I had opportunity to attend gyan sessions of CEO of Airtel, Bihar and Jharkhand, CEO of SELCO, Dr Harish Hande, CEO of Goonj, Anshu Gupta and TATA Tiscon Branding guest lecture by Mr. Sharan from TQMS. One of the professors even humorously pointed me that I skipped his class to attend these CEO visits. It has been inspiring to know the exemplary work done by Dr. Hande and his team in areas of solar powering of Rural Karnataka and Anshu Gupta’s team. I remember his chilling narration left the whole CII YI team, (which I am part of) in pin drop silence. His words were of utmost disbelief to us.

CII-YI: Four GMPians got chance and were selected in CII Young Indians society of XLRI. We have already organized Kshitij, a one day event for underprivileged school children. I am not very satisfied with my involvement till date as it has been limited because of academics and exam. I hope to compensate for the same in Term 2.
Online group: I am part of the Online group which handles online branding –Blogging, Newsletters, marketing GMP in online space, connecting with prospective students etc. So far the groups’ performance has been satisfactory and but we need to speed up the activities.

Accommodation:
The first welcome surprise was Accommodation. Hostel accommodations are very comfortable with AC, phones etc. The housekeeping staff is excellent. Although people have varying opinions about our mess food, but I have liked it very much and no complains at all. In fact, our GMP Mess committee members are doing a commendable job by keeping tab on quality, menu etc.

Parties
The academic pressure has not made us drab personalities, in fact we have had 2-3 parties, Thanks to our Party/Admin committee members.

Village Trip
XLRI’s focus on social entrepreneurship is commendable. A 3 day trip to villages is mandatory for all flagship programs. I along with my group happened to go to three tribal villages and was awestruck with grim realities of rural India. We had to walk for an hour to cross a mountain to reach the one of the villages. The village didn’t have electricity, road, school, primary health care centre but had lots of hope that things will improve for them one day.

Adventure Trip
The Adventure trip organized by Tata steel Adventure foundation was life time experience. Various Team building exercises such as Rock Climbing, Caving, self made rafting on Dimna Lake was truly amazing experience. These events not only helped us understand each other better but also helped us explore our limits.

Today was the first day of Term 2. Human resource management case writing projects need to be formed; I need to read about HUL’s Sangam initiative and solve a question in Optimization in Managerial decision making for tomorrow’s class. I hope term 2 to be as exciting and promising as term 1 and to get some time to scribble few lines on the blog…….