I read the news about Google’s Custom Search Engine, which restricts the search only to the sites specified by target user community. The target websites can be collaboratively maintained and managed.

So, I spent some 30 minutes in creating a custom search engine for ISB. Currently the search is targeted to 89 sites including ISB Website and ISB student blogs. Having spent the last 6 months in Enterprise Search domain, I couldn’t avoid appreciating the usefulness of this “targeted search”

ISB Search Engine

Check it out yourself to appreciate or to ridicule!

If you would like to add relevant sites to this website, please feel free to enroll by clicking the “Volunteer to contribute to this search engine” link on the search home page.

Alumni meet@hyderabad happens only when I decide to go to chennai! I missed out on the meet couple of times. This time, I managed to attend the Alumni meet, but in chennai

Kaushik Gopal (my batch-mate) was a key organizer along with Prashanth (Class of 2003). ‘Pasha’, a trendy night club @ Hotel Raj Park was booked for the event. Around 40+ turned up for the event. 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 - all the batches had representation, though the distribution was uneven with a strong representation from 2006 batch! Dean Rao and Prof. Chandrashekar flew from hyderabad to join us on the occasion. It was nice to meet the alums. I was glad that quite a few recognized my name immediately…Thanks to my blog!

Ramkey, the Quizzing pro, conducted a fun-filled quiz program. He made his presence felt yet again! As of me, I met Karthik Sankar, Karthik Ramachandran, Prithvi, Rajanikanth, Sanjeev Sujan, Kaushik Gopal, Vikram Raman (I meet him day-in and day-out in my apartment!), Krishna Tata, Supreeth Hari, Ramkey. I also met Bala Prabhu (The blogger from 2003). Few of the alums have already ventured into their own business. I collected the business cards of few entrepreneurs. In terms of Organization, Cognizant stole the show with more than 15 people from the firm.

The bill was on-the-house! I am waiting for Kaushik to share the photos with us…

Today afternoon around 1 p.m., my superior approached me and asked, “Bharani, can you give a talk about our initiative to the India Leadership Team @ 4 p.m?”. I had to agree. I was excited about the fact of meeting 13 wise gentlemen who form the India Leadership Team (Managing Director and Directors of Business units, HR, admin etc.,) for the first time. I was also excited at the prospect of talking about the progress that we have made so far. It is an opportunity to gain visibility for my BU and self. I conjured up a PPT out of 4 different sources that existed at that point of time. I should call the final product a “Federated PPT” (new fancy term )

The big board room environment reminded me of the Apprentice Show! I did not know the names of some people in ILT. So I introduced myself and then asked each one of them to introduced themselves. I was expecting someone to introduce each person officially. But that did not happen. So took the initiative myself. (That was pretty bold when I reflect in the hindsight). I think the talk and the demo went on well. I made a note of few areas which needs cover up and few items which needs a touch of polish. The talk was more of a chance to get more buy-ins for the initiative. One thing is becoming more clear. That we have a very long way to go…

When there is an opportunity to enhance your visibility/position, give your best.

It was around 8:15 p.m. I don’t know what struck me, A bulb flashed in my right brain and I suddenly thought “Is there some smart soul who has already thought about a business of ‘Jargon Consulting’?..” You know, the business which will essentially create new jargons for these consultants (so that they can use them to impress their clients) or for analysts (who can use in their powerpoint presentations)…Never mind… So I open up the google search engine and carefully enter “Jargon consulting”. I click the first link that is displayed and an unpleasant looking page opens up with a topic “A tongue-in-cheek guide to business jargon and management buzzwords”. I shrinked my face initially. But, I totally enjoyed reading those descriptions for the next few minutes ..Awesome in my opinion

Totally tongue-in-cheek!

Watch out for the descriptions about buzzwords “High level”,”30,000 feet”, “wet-signature”, “wetware”…and the new catch word that I learnt was “re-purpose”!

On the lighter note, non-mba grads can actually try these jargons with their managers and see for themselves the weird reactions (Like “Oh man, I am buried…now there is no differentiation between us” )! Fun apart, this post is more of self-deprecating humour and I am in no way affecting the feelings of good and solid MBAs….So please hold your fingers back from typing counter-comments…and use that energy to play piano

The crux of this post is over. What follows is a post-script Stop reading at this point of time, if you have something important to accomplish…

It is infact true that I am also part of this ‘Jargon club’ and some of these jargons are coming naturally to me. I am sure it comes naturally for most management graduates. But some people overuse it and cross the boundary of acceptance thereby landing in the zone of annoyance. My quadie in ISB who was famous for jargons can share lot of gyaan on this

One of his creative phrases was “Unsustainable Uncompetitive disadvantage” [The opposite of Sustainable Competitive Advantage]. Try deciphering the meaning….”Jargon club” can actually be a nice-little enjoyable hobby…

1. Work-life balance.
2. Start up environment vs Corporate environment.

I want to maintain a work-life balance. This thought has become so ingrained in me that I am feeling a sense of guilt if I work hard (well, work long hours). I am busy and slowly extending my work hours without even realizing the passing of time. I am glad that way. But I am missing out on my hobbies and other activities. The books are slowly collecting dust. (As of now there is exactly 2.234 millimetres of dust…). I am not keen on watching movies on HBO/Star movies/laptop. Fitness centre has become a weekend affair. Room is not so clean anymore, as washing the clothes has become a weekend affair too. I am logging my daily activities to see where I can fit some activities/hobbies. As long as I have this sense of guilt, there is scope for work-life balance. The key for work-life balance is to maintain a high level of productivity during the 8 hours of work. Working towards that…

I was working in a start-up environment before ISB. There was very little bureaucracy. Things get done faster. But in Corporate environment, if you make a request, you have to expect that the other party will come back with a way to turn down the request. Then you have to employ your convincing skills to get past the first-level road-block. You can call yourself lucky if there are no further road-blocks. Things like getting PCs, purchasing softwares, hiring resources are also made inefficiently formal! For each decision you make, you need to pursuade so many other parties. Justify your actions. Sometimes, these things kill the initiatives. I am just adapting to the change. The problem is complicated because of the stagnation layer prevalent in big companies. The people in the stagnation layer might have been stars once, but they have stopped learning long back and are not stars anymore. They are getting paid for their past laurels, at the expense of new and raw workforce. Some of the organizational inefficienceis originates from the insecurity felt in this stagnation layer. When your team/BU is different from this ‘corporate’ environment, you have to face the threat of being labelled as “incompatible” or “rebels”. This threat is amplified when your “incompatible” approach looks promising to yield impressive results! Interesting…

I am also slowly building rapport. Investing time and energy on colleagues too.

The Business Unit is 40-50 strong. It is small compared to the size of other Business Units. The director of the group is pretty jovial, technically strong, broad-minded and informal. He has almost 20+ years of experience. I report directly to the director. The director reports to the Managing Director of the India centre. So,in a way I am only 2 levels from the top

I am given in-charge of an initiative. The initiative grew out of an organizational need. But gradually a vision to carve out a commercial product out of this initiative is emerging. Time will answer.

The initiative needs buy-in from higher levels. Fortunately, we do have buy-in at Vice-president level. That’s a big bonus for us. The initiative is not funded by the organization. So, the Business unit has to fund the initiative through its own budget. This currency constraint coupled with human-resource constraint is trying to drag the initiative down. So, we are undergoing the same emotions as entrepreneurs undergo while setting up a venture.

Activities performed by me: Research [Analysis of existing products in the market, Identifying the needs for the organization, Proposing the features to be implemented etc.,], Design and Architecture [Working with Technical leads to come up with Scalable, robust, component-oriented design], Requirements Analysis [Business Analysis for the first customer], Project management [Planning, Scheduling, allocation etc.,], Training and mentoring, Chairing tele-conferences to demo the product [High level people participate in the conference]…The Business Development part [Selling the concept to other business units/customers once the initiative takes shape] will come later, though it largely depends on the success of the initiative initially.

Though there are organizational red-tapes, I enjoy relatively more freedom and command [I am talking about the command of situation, resources I have, style I can follow etc.,] compared to many others in the organization. That part I am happy about.

I have joined at a level/grade which is normally given to people with 9-10 years of experience. That is a significant ladder-bypass for me.

Since I am working on the organizational initiative, I have some concerns in terms of not learning/mastering enough domain expertise relevant to my firm. I have made some plans to cover the weakness by utilizing the resources/facilities available within the organization. In few months time, things should take good shape.

One thing I would like to mention here is “Manage your expectations. Sometimes, what you expect might be vastly different from reality. Give some time before taking rash decisions. Patience is a virtue. If you leave the job, do so only after making sure that it is not for you.” Another point. “Just because your role is Strategy consultant/Business development, you are not necessarily insulated from project management or people management. The promised role will be given to you. But it will come as a part of package containing other mundane roles too.”

The problem about expectations can be published as a book in itself.

PS: A dialogue that I had about expectations some time ago…

Talk was about marriage…
Me: Dude, I don’t have high expectations.
Friend: So, why don’t you marry a girl from slum?
Me: I don’t have high expectations. But I do have expectations

I have a feeling that, for past few months, I am leading a very cushy cushy life, without facing any major struggles to fight with or any major obstacles to overcome. May be this is due to the positive attitude that is growing day-by-day or May be because life has been really been kind on me….

Deep down, I want to struggle…I want to face difficulties…In the past, when I faced difficulties and when I had major challenges to face with, and I overcame those, I felt COMPLETE. Each time I overcome the obstacles, I felt the growth within me…

I thought I got a small set of wings out…but not quite so…God, I want to struggle more….and get the wings out of my cocoon….and finally fly high…May be it’s time that I start working towards my long term goal…earlier than I planned to start…

My heartbeat…instead of “LUB DUB….LUB DUB” is “TAKE RISK… TAKE RISK”

Guest House: (May 8th)

3 Wipro guys in front of me..all freshers…introduce themselves to me…I introduce myself…and theres comes the word “ISB”…the looks on their faces change…a mark of respect emerges….from then on whatever I say, they listen with silence….with attention…They want to know more about ISB…a lot…they have already started GMAT Preparation…!!!

Guest House: (May 11th)

New set of people come to Guest house (Google guys). This time, I don’t do anything…The Wipro guys convey that I am from ISB…”He is from I..S..B..”!!

Convergys: (May 16th)

Some of my colleagues come to me (freshers)…talk with me…want to know more about ISB…”Bharani, We would like to sit with you and want to listen to your experiences about ISB someday..”. “How much score should I get in GMAT?”…and the list goes on..They see me with respect…talk to me with regard…I would definitely help them out in whatever way possible…of course nothing is official…

Convergys: (June 8th)

A new person joins our team. We kind of introduce ourselves. This time, I don’t say that I am from ISB…After quite some time, he comes to know that I am from ISB..”Oh…you are a product of ISB…? great!”. The look on his face changed to some kind of respect….

Convergys: (June 15th)

Induction program…I introduce myself…mention that I am from Indian School of Business….The looks on the faces of people changes….they pay more attention to what I say…I infered from couple of coffee chats with some of those people that they wanted to work with the team which has grads from ISB! Some people already are planning to prepare GMAT!! They say, “Who better than you to give gyaan about MBA courses…we would like to hear from you about that sometime..?”…

Man, this kind of respect triggers a kind of ‘nashaa’…It’s a good feeling..but should not fall for it…it is very tricky…the expectation on me is higher…They would like to see some magic from me…that kind of pressure is too much…I sometimes think, “Oh man, they think I am a superman…what if i screw up this?”…May be I am disillusioned…but there are more evidences to support that it is not disillusion, but a genuine expectation dilemma…

The last 2 years of impressive placement performance and the incredible media coverage executed by ISB this year has made sure that ISB is known as a big brand…reputed brand…ISB brand is growing…at a rapid pace…

Similar to “Burden of command”, this is called “Burden of ISB”!!! People judge the quality of ISB based on quality of you…if you are really good, then perception about ISB goes up…but if you are not that good, perception about ISB goes down…atleast among the people who observe you daily…

Now I know why some IIT guys and IIM guys move around with a shield around them….and don’t even talk to some people from tier 2 colleges…it’s because of this ‘Nashaa’…it’s because of this “Power of association with a great institution”….I am hoping that my humility will not let me down and help me to walk with a level-head. This ‘realization’ should keep me on my toes and help me to perform well…

The following ad caught my attention today morning…Nah, not for the job opportunties , but for the brief description of roles…ads for MBA roles in IT are very rare…and this ad neatly summarized 5 different possibilities for MBA grads from leading institutes…So journalizing…

http://www.polaris.co.in/new/about_us/hr_ad.html

Business Analyst
Close coordination with customers and project teams to understand, analyse and translate customer requirements in BFSI domain; test and validate requirements; actively participate in pre-sales activities.

Program Management
Planning, monitoring and control of multiple projects; continuous mangament reporting on financials, resources and risk; proactive identification of issues timely escalation and tracking.

Solution Architect
Articulating, architecting, planning & developing technical specification for end-to-end content delivery strategies, helping define strategies, roadmaps & implementation plans.

Business Development/PreSales
Strategising and winning new engaments within high technology clients; pre-sales activity across opportunities from various geographies in BFSI domain; active interation with prospects, building proposals and presentations, participate in contract negotiations and finalisations.

Subject Matter Expert
Understand and acticulate business needs, translate business requirements to implementable solutions; build competencies in BFSI domain; analyse industry trends and identify suitable offerings; demonstrate domain compentencies in customer interactions.

In general, the boundaries are not clearly defined..One can see, a person performing tasks covered under more than one topic…

Inspired by MBA League…! Why not have ISB League?

http://isbleague.blogsome.com

PS: Was so damn free in the weekend that I didn’t know what to do…so decided to put up this page, which was long due…

The Graduation Group picture….

Yesterday, I downloaded the video that my brother took on Camcorder during the graduation day. He patiently captured the entire procession starting from dean till the end (The procession from ISB building to the hangar). When I look at it now, it is a definite treasure. Thanks a ton bro

Best of Blogging 2005-2006 Results!

ClearAdmit, a leading educational consulting firm, announced the results of “Best of Blogging” awards for Best Student blogs, Best Applicant blogs etc., Vijay Mulbagal and myself were nominated from ISB. Vijay Mulbagal finished in the final top 10 list (placed 6th)…It’s absolutely wonderful feeling to see an ISB blogger placed alongside bloggers from some leading MBA schools…

Top 10 Student Blogs
1. Marquis (Stanford) - http://marquisweblog.blogspot.com
2. Poweryogi (Chicago) - http://poweryogi.blogspot.com
3. KV (LBS) - http://usatolbs.blogspot.com
4. FutureMBAGirl (Wharton) - http://futurembagirl.blogspot.com
4. The Divine Miss N (LBS) - http://thedivinemissn.blogspot.com
6. Vijay (ISB) - http://itheabsolute.blogspot.com
7. Wakechick (Chicago) - http://wakechick.blogspot.com
8. NoellieBellie (IESE) - http://spanishnoelle.blogspot.com
9. Jerry Blank (Yale) - http://flatpointmba.blogspot.com
10. Olivier (INSEAD) - http://oliviermineau.blogspot.com

Excellent work…Way to go Vijay…Keep blogging…:)

The last 4 days took me through Multitude of emotions…Happiness, excitement, fulfillment, anxiety, sentiments and I also went through some riveting moments, which are deeply bolted into my heart…

I spent last 15 days with just an average of 5 hours of sleep per day. Partying and having fun hard! Outings for movies, dinner, coffee, icecream or ordering food from outside or playing “need for speed”/volleyball or playing cards or simply lying down and thinking about the ‘rocking’ year.

We had the Graduation day rehearsal on April 7th. We had good time trying out the graduation robes and learning how to wear the hats, hoods. I also understood the importance of shifting the tassle from left side of the hat to the right side to signify the completion of graduation! Students were completely having fun…After the demonstration and the rehearsal we headed to the Atrium to capture the group picture. I would say they made us to stand for almost an hour before capturing some 50 odd pictures to ensure atleast one great picture. Well, I wouldn’t bother as long as it turns it to be good…This one would be a treasure.

Finally, after the photo-shoot, we throwed the hat into the air and shot loads of pictures with unbelievable madness…Pure thrill…

In the evening, I attended the “Award ceremony - 2006″.I received my “Torch bearer award”. The defining moment for me was the moments of silence that the announcer brought about before uttering my name. He almost gave up before pronouncing my long name “Bharanidharan Viswanathan”. I thought he will never call me I guess the “h” following the “B” is causing confusions to many . Anyway, after presenting the award, they asked everyone to speak something..So I conveyed just a short and sweet message..”I am extremely honoured to receive this award. I dedicate this to the SPIRIT of ISB..Thank you”! The moments on stage were exciting . The complete event is covered in ISB website…including my pic ..Can’t believe it!

We played volleyball till 3′0 clock in to the morning of April 8th. Volleyball junta rocks!

I completed all my packing except for few final things. The big event began sharp @ 2:45 p.m on April 8th. It was an amazing sight to see everyone neatly dressed up in graduation robes and the parents eagerly waiting on the other side to capture the ‘moments’ of their ‘kids’. The huge hangar was was full! The logistics was as usual perfect! The ISB logistics and administration team simply rocks. You never see any major action going on…but things happen smoothly, seamlessly, silently and perfectly! I bow! You will understand that once you are here…

Mr.Ratan Tata gave away his graduation day message. The entire message is published in the ISB website.

The seating arrangement was split into two parts. Dean’s lister and others. I fell in the “Others” category. The seating arrangment was based on the alphabetical order of last name. That means, I was in the last 5 of the entire batch of 345! I waited for my turn by patiently clapping for all 340 students who went before me…Ankur Warikoo was behind me…So had a good company for me…All three viswanathan’s of ISB were put together (Anand Viswanathan, Ravi Viswanathan, Bharanidharan Viswanathan)…We ended the graduation ceremony with a huge uproar! That was followed by hat-throwing event. Those last moments cannot be described in words….has to be experienced. I thought to myself, I will not get sentimental! Well, inspite of my best efforts, few drops of tears seeped through my eyes…Atleast, now I know there is water inside my eyes

After all the excitement, I headed for a dinner hosted by our Aikya family (Dr. Manohar & Family) in their hotel. It was a great dinner with everyone in my study group, including the near-and-dears, invited. We also had a chance to meet few entrepreneurs and few medal winners from the recently concluded Common wealth games. Pleasant evening. Mr.Manohar proved yet again that very few can compete against him as a great host.

I came back to ISB. Put my parents in their allotted rooms. Rushed back to my room. Finished my final packing…and wrote this blog entry without even having a second look. Crap generation at its best…

I have officially completed my education. Definite Milestone. As I write this blog entry, my eyes are moist…Great ride came to an end…I completely enjoyed my stay here. I learnt a lot. I established many good contacts and developed few strong friendships…

I cannot hide but only say…”I will miss ISB, my quad, friends, environment, year-long-vacation, and my dear amigos (you know it amigos)”…I remember saying to my friends in the final moments…”I am one of the most cold-hearted persons you will every come across…In 2 days time, I would ask you ‘who are you’?”…My attempt at saying that was a failure…I am indeed one of the most warm-hearted persons! Sometimes good…sometimes bad…For now, it’s bad for my mind, as I have to go through sentiments for next few days….

PS: Will try to upload some pictures later…I don’t have energy to find and upload the good pics…

Well…Thought that the internet connection cannot be established after formatting my laptop..But to my surprise the wireless connection is working…So will make one final post reporting the graduation day ceremony from ISB, before I finally leave on 9th morning 5:00 a.m….

I missed my blog for 4 full days….found it tough….

This will be my last post from ISB…I will end the journey here…

I will definitely try to blog further, though not as consistent and frequent as now…

Wishing the batch of 2007 good luck. Whatever you do, don’t freak out yourselves. At the end of one year, you will realize that many things that you took upon yourself very seriously isn’t worth the pain. As every outgoing batch said in the past, I repeat…”This will be one of the best years in your life. Enjoy and savour it….An experience which will be enriching in all ways - intellectually, emotionally, professionally….”

I will be based in Hyderabad after ISB. I will be joining on May 2nd. So, anytime, if you need an ear to listen to your achievements, need any advice to your problems, need any assistance professionally please feel free to ping me at bharani@gmail.com. I will do whatever I can within my limits.

I am not coming for Orientation week, as I prefer to spend the 20 odd days that I have with my parents and visiting places…

Good luck and godspeed Batch of 2007…

Dear Class of 2006,

You don’t know how you have affected my life positively in various ways….It has been an amazing ride all through the year…I am privileged and honoured to be among this awesome group…As we venture into new realms, I am sure we will cross each other at various stages of our lives in different ways…So I am not going to say “good bye”…

Let the fellowship last forever…

Three cheers to the class of 2006!!!

Cheers,
-Bharani.

Around 1400+ people are expected to attend the Graduation ceremony on April 8th. The Atrium in ISB, though big, cannot accommodate such a huge number of people. There were rumours couple of months ago that the graduation day ceremony will be held at Gachibowli Football stadium. But many students were against the very idea of that. After all, what better way than getting that coveted paper within the confines of ISB…So, the powers that be in ISB decided to erect a huge Hangar to accommodate the event and the people. The construction of the structure is underway and is almost complete. The entire structure will be air-conditioned! Word is that the total expense related to this structure alone is around Rs. 15 lakhs…Fee paid by a single student…So, I can say “I am sponsoring the structure”

There was a sizzling news item in Today’s Economic Times about ISB. Attached below is the press clip.

ISB grads rake in $200,000 packet

ISB spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the news saying: “We will be making a public announcement about the placements this year next week.”
—-

To my knowledge there is only partial truth to this news. May be I am ignorant! But the issue here is not about the news, it’s about the media’s intention about the news.

I wonder how “word-of-mouth” news about placements can be published just like that without proper verification. Media people are clearly after selling “hot” news without verifying if the news is authentic or not-authentic. The situation is same in all countries especially as far as B-schools are concerned. I can see this news in two ways…Either there are some people in ISB who are providing “insider” information or News reporters are trying to hype the situation and setting up the institute for failure! To be honest, I am fed up with these kind of “Highest salary 1 crore” (The figure which is apparently a result of B-schools converting the GBP/EUR figure into Dollars and then into Rupees, each at the highest possible exchange rate at any point of the year!!!)…Phew! There is much more about B-schools than just placements or salaries….

PS: Couple of weeks back, I mentioned that 25 odd people are jobless and searching for their fit. The situation has vastly improved with many of those people getting a job offer according to their requirements. One of my friend in that 25 group, now has 4 offers to choose from ! It’s just the question of time….Patience is the key!

Completed my final assignment in ISB. The classes are done. I have now officially met all the course requirements and have majored in Strategic Marketing and Information Technology. Now, I can proudly calll myself as “MBA” (or “equivalent to MBA” for the purists!). It would be tough to hold back my excitement when I get the certificate duly signed by the deans of Wharton, Kellogg, London Business school and ISB. Was this experience worth it? Have I transformed in a positive way? Have I acquired sufficient entrepreneurial and leadership qualities? Will I bring about positive impact to my professional life, personal life and society? Right now, my mind is numb…Sometimes, I have this empty feeling when I try to think what have I gained from this programme…The change has happened beneath the conscious layer of mind…So, the important changes might be latent for quite sometime, before it reaches the melting point and shows up….As always, Time will answer. But I can definitely say that I am a satisfied customer as of now. How much value I derive from the product depends on my usage preference. Unlike the electronic products which lose value exponentially, this one increases in value exponentially…It should and it would!

In 9 days time, I will get the complete ownership and title for my investment. The biggest investment that I have every made in my life…[16 lakhs + Opportunity cost]. I know it’s ’sunk costs’, ‘non-recoverable’ etc., I would see this as a strong foundation…just like the strength of foundation is determined by the depth to which the pillars are ’sunk’!

Now only the exit formalities remain. There are some ‘pending’ items in “TO-DO” list. Will try to get it done asap.

My attempt at ranking the blogs of my colleagues at ISB. A tribute to the fellowship

Consistency of Blogging, Content, Style, Informational value, Entertainment, number of visitors, bringing in new traffic etc., (not necessarily with same weightage)

My ranking: ISB Blogs [Batch of 2006]
========================

1. Vijay Mulbagal

2. R Ramkumar

3. Raghini Rarajam

4. Ankur Warikoo

5. Amit Sharma

6. Ford Perfect

7. Ramakrishnan A

Other blogs that I enjoy much, but couldn’t differentiate:
Chandrashekar Vattikutti
Anoop Vijayakumar
Vaibhav Fadnavis
Venkatesh Adavi
Vineeth Kumar
Alok Srivastava
Girish Krishnan
Karthik Ganesan
Karthik Ramachandran

There has been quite a few cribs that went around about the ‘information asymmetry’ or ‘informational advantage’ exploited by some of my colleagues in ISB.

First and foremost is the Academics. Thought I don’t want to name any particular person or any particular incident, I would like to make a point on the “Transition of notes” from previous batch students to current batch. The academic curriculum in ISB is more or less same every year (It’s the same case with every institute/university in the world). So, Possessing the notes/solutions from previous batch in fact provides the person with ‘unfair’ advantage. Though this definitely hampers the learning, this serve the purpose of getting good grades! (Yes, incentives for getting good grades is high for some career-aspirants). The onus is largely on the outgoing batch to maintain the decorum. When there is no supply, demand will be automatically curbed!…But given the fact that there are some close friends who enjoy the alum-student relationship, this cannot be completely curbed…In my opinion, incoming students who will be future business leaders, should keep out of this definitely….The pressure and stakes are so high that some students go to any extent for getting good grades. Though, we have a strict ‘Honour code committee’ in ISB [wherein the punishments/penalties are very severe], it has not completely eliminated the trend…Keep in mind though that such cases are very few…but have significant impact!

Second is about placements. The general opinion is that the ex-professional relationships help in placements. For example, if a person is coming from big FMCG company, and is aiming at big 5 consulting company, then chances are that there will be alums from FMCG company who hold key positions in consulting companies. This relationships or ‘bonding’ opens the back-door for few. I don’t quite agree that this is ‘unfair’. In this case, the personal relationship is helping the student to gain a foot-hold in to the destination company. Moreover the kind of ‘acquaintance’ or ‘past relationship’ helps only as far as getting to know the insider information. There is no way a person can pass through just by ‘knowing’. Now this ‘insider information’ is extremely important [Resume tips, interview tips, job-related-info, positive word-of-mouth etc.,]. This is where the ‘networking’ ability of students play a role! But from what I have seen, this kind of pro-active networking/contacts helps big time…

This kind of bonding is strong among IITians, some top FMCG Companies, etc., For many students, who don’t have either of the above background, that ‘bondage’ does not exist. ISB will provide them with such a ‘bondage’ which they can exploit later…!

Third is about ‘insider information’ within ISB. For example, there has been stories that some people enjoy preferential treatment from CAS [Career Services wing in ISB]. The information about the arrival of some key companies or job postings circulate among the select few much in advance, where as the majority of students will know the news only one-two weeks before the deadline! This ‘lead time’ helps in getting a head-start in preparation! Here, the personal rapport with relevant personal helps…again, it can be argued that it is the initiative of the students, which is paying off!…but I wouldn’t buy that argument, as the information asymmetry shouldn’t have existed in this case atleast…

The purpose is not to take a swipe against anyone. The purpose is to convey that such situations might occur and to be prepared to handle such ‘information asymmetries’. I hope people are smart enough to handle the situations….! As far as the outgoing batch is concerned, this is what we will be dealing day-in and day-out in real life! Life…please be kind on us

An attempt at my own 2 x 2 matrix creation …Don’t read too much…

The X-axis represents the amount of interest you have for any topic.
The Y-axis represents the amount of knowledge you have about any topic.

You might come across any topic/person/activities in your life. You might either know about the subject already or not. You might either have interest for the subject or not.

This framework suggests you 3 ways for knowing and generating interest about any subject. So you basically start at the “Don’t know Don’t care” quadrant. You have to reach “Do know Do care” quadrant. As you can see, there are 3 ways to reach the destination.

1. Generate interest about the subject and simultaneously learn about that! [Travel diagonally]
e.g., You are forced to do a project in your work with a particular technology. You don’t know the technology and you don’t have interest for that either. As you work your way through the project, you get to know about the technology, and as you know, your interest grows parallely!

2. Learn about the subject and then generate interest for that subject! [Traverse Y-axis first, then X-axis]
e.g., You are going to a restaurant..You see all alien menu items! You are hungry. So, you should order something and try it out. If you like it then you will generate an interest for it!

3. Generate interest for the subject and then learn about the subject! [Traverse X-axis first and then Y-axis]
e.g, First impressions, Love at first sight, Infatuation etc., If your further learning about the subject reveals more unpleasant ’secrets’, then you will ‘permanently’ go back to “Do know Don’t Care” quadrant!

So, everyday in your life, keep exploring subjects that you “don’t know and don’t care”…and then consciously make effort to deposit the subject under your “do know do care” quadrant! Only very few subjects make it to that quadrant…and stay in that quadrant…Whatever remains in that quadrant, nurture those!

Got hold of this pic couple of weeks before….when I was searching my past archives. Big pat for correctly guessing the person….!

Friday -> Boat cruise + Dinner + Dance + Beer
Saturday -> Movie + Dinner
Sunday -> Dinner + General Masti in my balcony

Can’t get better than this! and I can’t get more spoilt than this Well, I am enjoying my days…

Am just managing to keep up with assignments..just! It has become a question of motivation! Another 2 more days of class…and then, I am officially MBA! Realization of once-a-dream…It will sink in soon….

“…Hyderabad, March 24: EDS, the $20.5-billion global technology services company, appears to have discovered a rich vein of managerial talent pool graduating from the Indian School of Business here, with Plano, a Texas-based firm, making 14 job offers to the Class of 2006.

“They’ll work with senior executives across EDS in identifying and capitalising on new growth opportunities in areas including applications development and business process and transformatio-nal outsourcing,” he said. “The candidates will be gr-oomed for leadership roles in the company, possibly in Latin America, Eastern Europe or elsewhere…”

EDS discovers a rich pool of talent at ISB

80 people, all Students and family members…
One cruise boat, entirely ours for 2-and-half hours…
Food on board…
DJ on board…
Free booze on board…
Dance floor on board…

Excellent experience…! Everyone enjoyed the evening fully…

Admissions department arranged this party for the volunteers who helped in evaluating and interviewing applicants. Kudos to them.

I was counting the number of True friends in ISB, who I can say that I know very well and can turn for help anytime. The count stopped at 8! There are numerous other good friends, friends and acquaintances. I have good relationships with many people, but the desired depth has not been established, mainly due to lack of sufficient interactions and spreading the effort with vast number of student body…

I perceive the 8 to be true friends. In 20 days time, the 8 will be dispersed throughout India spanning Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad….There is a common link between all 9 of us…No one is from Dean’s list! Not that my association is bad

MBA - stuff!

The following websites captures the essence of MBA. They neatly provide the summary of all key concepts.

www.quickmba.com
www.netmba.com
www.valuebasedmanagement.com
12 Manage [Thanks Vijay for the last 2 links…]

Supporting materials:
Damodaran Online
“Finance made easy!” - That would aptly fit the title. Prof. Damodaran has even put up all his lecture videos for others to learn!

Kotler - Marketing Textbook Complete - Online The bible of Marketing. I Haven’t read the book end-to-end yet!

Online Statistics Reference

Consulting Preparation: [Amazing resource for Consulting interviews]
Kellogg Consulting Club

Coming to the blogging world:
http://www.weblogsinc.com/ [A network of more than 90 top-notch blogs on subjects ranging from economy, electronics to automobile and cinema!. A very good starting point for top-notch blogs…]

The Indian Economy Blog [This one I like very much. It’s all about perspectives ]. Do remember to browse through the wonderful links on the side bar of this blog. Good Starting point…

Happy browsing…I am posting this for my personal reference too…

- People are going out for dinners, purchases, pubs, outings etc.,
- Efforts for yearbooks are in full swing.
- Parties in ISB are on hold until everyone is placed or until CAS process is closed (March 25th). I am hoping that everyone is placed by then so that parties can be celebrated without a zilch of hesitation.
- People are backing up their stuff in their newly bought external hard-drives or in CDs, depending upon their requirements.
- The DVD section looks empty all the time, as everyone is watching movies like maniac.
- Recreation centre is always full.
- Orientation activities for next batch are being planned. Yes, while we are preparing to leave, we are also preparing to welcome the next batch and to make the transition seamless.
- Video gaming and network gaming activities are on all-time high!

We have very good professors taking the courses for us in Term 8. Unfortunately, the students are in fun mode, with very few days remaining in ISB. The professors understand that and excuse us for not reading the articles But, I should mention about Mr. Phanish Puranam, who took the first 5 sessions of “Managing Strategic relationships”. He was phenomenal. Clarity of thought, Amazing fluency, probing the students on insights provided…Too good!

A picture taken by Exchange student Angus Moon. Amazing view! This one is much better and recent than Google Map’s.

In the centre is the Academic centre [Library, classrooms, dining hall, cafe, auditorium, academic office]. Surrounding the academic centre from top right (clockwise): Student Village 3, Recreation centre [with swimming pool], Student village 2, Executive housing & faculty housing, Student Village 1 [recently constructed]…You can also see the Microsoft Campus towards the north-west of Academic centre..

Every now and then, some music will catch my attention. Some attention are short-lived. But few songs move into my permanent ‘favourite list’. One song which moved into that list recently is Enya’s “Only Time”. I listened to this song when I watched the movie “Sweet November”. Was mesmerized by the song and picturization. Immediately searched and downloaded the song. I have been humming the song all along since then.

There is a soothing feeling. This is a healer music. As you listen to the music, you will get a feeling that time will calm down every problem and a sense of serenity will prevail in your face and mind. Quite a few of my friends knew this song before…Ignorant me…At least knew about this now.

Download this song here

I bumped into one good friend in ISB yesterday after a long time. Don’t remember how long…Should be more than 45 days…

He wasn’t looking normal. I could see a dejection in his face. I didn’t remember him seeing during placement season too…So I asked him…”Long time no see…How are you sir?”. He replied, “Doing good..how abt you?”. “I haven’t seen you for long time…things are fine at your end?”. He replied, “Yeah sort of..”. I asked, “You are alright?”…He replied..”Hmm…Actually my dad passed away..”. I was stunned and speechless for a moment. I just replied, “I am sorry…”

Honestly, he seemed to have just recovered. I did not want to press on that matter again. So left after moments after exchanging few words.

On one hand, many people are enjoying and having fun during the last term. This young man is bearing an unbearable sadness and deprivation. I sincerely pray for his father. May his soul rest in peace. On the similar lines, there are 25-30 people (as against 10 quoted earlier which apparently seemed to be a rumour) still jobless and searching gallantly for their fit. I am sincerely wishing good luck to them. These people will do exceedingly well after weathering such a storm. I regularly talk with 5-6 of these people and they have confessed about how difficult it is to see celebrations all around and cannot be part of the fun whole-heartedly. Still they carry themselves beautifully…I am proud to be associated with these guys…They teach me invaluable lessons…I am observing and learning from you guys…

This question has been troubling me for quite some time. “Is not voluntarily revealing the truth or not practicing absolute transparency same as telling a lie?. Does it have the same impact on the recipient of the messages as a lie has”.

Let’s take an example of organization. Every organization has so many drawbacks and lot of internal politics and turmoil. The employees of the organization have the first-hand information about such things. The outside world does not have any idea about such things. The organization creates an official ‘PR’ group or ‘corporate communications’ group to communicate the messages about organization to the outside world. Needless to say, the messages are carefully and selectively let out. Of course, the near and dears of the employees will have a much deeper insight about the happenings within the organization. This sort of ’selective communication of good things’ creates the so called ‘Information asymmetry’.

The governments are subject to the utmost scrutiny by the Media and Analysts. The more the scrutiny, the less the information asymmetry. The same level of scrutiny applies to some of the most famous organizations and institutions across the world.

Let me turn my attention towards the Universities and Institutions. There is really no ‘absolute transparency’ in any Universities/Institutions/B-schools. Every institution has the so-called ‘interface’, which is responsible for official communications. Take for example, the recent placement scenario in the B-schools. The news floating around like “86 lakhs International salary”, “34 lakhs international salary” is portraying only the bright side of the situation. No news comes out about the infamous ‘bottom-of-the-pyramid’. This information asymmetry inflates the hopes on millions of aspirants to pursue Business education. After all, only a handful can command such salaries.

But then, if you look from the B-school’s perspective, they are playing the game according the rules. The maturity level of the audience also comes into the picture. The readers if they read some negative news should be mature enough to gauge the unpleasantness and appreciate the reality. There is (mis)expectations from both sides. The day when everyone is mature enough to accept the news and every institute is nice enough to be truly transparent…this ‘information asymmetry’ will die down. Until then…it’s the ‘due diligence’ of the individual which will reduce the information asymmetry for him/her.

I am hoping that the growing popularity of blogs and anonymity provided by the blogs will help in reducing the ‘information asymmetry’. In the absence of anonymity, the individual will face pressure from the institution or the organization in writing about all the things…Sometimes even from his own peers. Because the ‘brand’ of the institute is under the hanging knife.

If there happens to be an individual who is completely dissatisfied with the institution, then no one can stop him/her from writing about this ‘disappointment’ anonymously. But then, some people might dismiss that by saying ‘biased opinion’!

On all probabilities, there will be 50+ blogs for the class of 2007. This is good for increasing the transparency…After all, not all 50 students will have the same opinion! So, gauge the transparency level of an institution by the number of blogs from the institution

PS: The information asymmetry can be witnessed anywhere and everywhere. Be it the case of buyer-seller, recruiter-interviewee (remember the resumes and PPTs!), Classifieds (matrimonials, rentals, for sales), media (some television channels and news papers are biased too!)…

http://govar.blogspot.com/2005/02/when-spade-is-never-spade.html. This post is more relevant to the topic…

Since Holi falls on a working day, we decided to celebrate Holi in advance. It was absolute fun…Some pictures for you…

Spouses had great time too…

After some time, people became violent and started tearing T-shirts

Snacks for Free!

And me…

When I joined ISB, alums were saying…”Prepare for the roller coaster ride ahead..Prepare for the best year in your life”. I could not comprehend the true intensity of those words. I just thought the words formed an overstatement. But now I realize it…

The kinds of emotion that one goes through in ISB is complete. May be this can be said about every year of one’s life. But what makes this year special is the ‘total experience’. The isolated location of ISB atop hilly regions, kind of infrastructure, freedom from work, intellectually stimulated environment that also fostered some strong relationships, vagaries of emotions, living with some like-minded-people who have strong ambitions and convictions in life everything contributes to the wholesome experience…

Towards the end of the year, I just wish I learnt more about some people here. I thoroughly enjoyed my circle of companionship here…Truly awesome…If I just take away the mask of academic workload and look at ISB, the freedom that I enjoyed here stands out…Will miss that very much…

I have changed in s