Unlikely Winner

“Are you going to present your half-page CV to corporates?” These words sent a chill down my spine and woke me up from a dreamy slumber of getting into an IIM. Though brutal, it was honest. My CV was half-page with a major part of it filled with some random certifications done through some websites, whose answers can be found easily on Google Baba.

Getting into an IIM was a dream of mine which came true with IIM Kashipur offering an admission offer. I thought life will get easier from here, after all, I had an IIM tag on my LinkedIn profile. How wrong I was!! The game was just getting started. Not only was the pressure of studies, projects, and quizzes on top of my head but also, I realized I had nothing to write on my CV except the marks and an internship, while few students were making their resumes two pages long.

Among several long, monotonous, and repetitive zoom meetings and preparation sessions, I got to know about case competitions held by corporates and other B-schools. Some companies used case studies to recruit students for their organizations. In the beginning, I wasn’t excited about them because why do anything extra when you already have so much mandatory to do. So, there went the first few case competitions, with making effort only because Placement Committee sent a mail. So, I along with my team members submitted a few presentations which didn’t get selected in any further rounds.

Gradually, I realized that since these competitions required minimum eligibilities to appear and everyone started from scratch to find the solution for the case, this might be the place for a person like me who does not want to be let down by my past and is ready to do anything in my present to achieve my dream.

A big change came when our submission got selected in the Welspun Disruptor Case competition. Our idea was among the top 100 selected among 10,000+ registered teams. Apathy changed to enthusiasm. Lethargy to action and indifference to interest. I along with my team members, worked hard to present our idea simply to make sure that evaluators can better understand the idea. Again, to our surprise, we cleared the semi-finals and reached Finals with 20 odd teams. During this time, my team cleared another Case competition named “Steel-a-thon”, among the top 40 teams from 5000 odd registered. This was a surprise. To be a fresher and still be able to present ideas along with Work-ex peeps, who already had an idea of how the industry works and its intricacies, was a boost to my confidence.

During all the case competitions, I realized that case competitions are less about frameworks or some jargon to be presented, but more about common sense. Thinking about it, people have been doing business for thousands of years. They didn’t have Porter’s five forces or Swot analysis. They used their common sense and did what made the most sense at that time. Common sense about how to research, interview, write and present. The same can be applied to MBA studies. Beneath all the frameworks, is common sense presented as a mumble jumble of corporate jargon. After this, I was better able to understand the curriculum cases, how to approach them, research about them, and present them. Case competitions are a wonderful opportunity to present your ideas and vision directly to the senior executives of a company. It is likely that they are facing the same problem themselves and have a certain inkling about how the organization is going to tackle that. What we must do is use our common sense and think about how we can do the same. There is no single correct answer, but every answer has assumptions, which must match those mentioned in the case.

To common sense.

 Thank you.

PS. – My CV got filled.

Nikhil Jain

Nikhil Jain is a second-year student at IIM Kashipur (Batch – 2021 -2023). He is a B.Com graduate from GGDSD college, Chandigarh. He is an active member of The Finance Club of the institute. He has keen interest in sports, reading and writing. He is a firm believer in hardwork and aims to achieve excellence through it. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

The sense of belonging: A requisite in MBA

“In this room full of people, do I belong here?”

These are not just random thoughts of a typical girl. It is something each student who does MBA confronts one day or the other. Nothing and no one can answer this though. The sense of belonging cannot be generated. It is felt. This experience is what differentiates a person struggling to fit in and a person who is naturally comfortable. And MBA as a course makes sure to teach us that even in difficult times, the show must go on.

When I first decided to go for an MBA, my ambitions made the way forward somewhat blurred. I could not see the challenges, waiting for me in eagerness. But as I put my first step into the campus, finally it hit me that I am doing this. The classes have been going on online till now, and it was easier to be productive in the comfort of home and family. But now came the real experience of an MBA being a course in which there is no vacation.

As a student of management, I was required to manage my classes, case competitions, live projects, Position of Responsibility, and at the same time friends, events, sports, and fun of MBA life. But was that going to be that easy? It seemed like an uphill battle to me. It started great. I was able to give my full potential to the work which was delegated to me. When my work was appreciated, the sense of satisfaction I got was another level.

But things do not go easy all the time. There came situations when I was exhausted mentally. I wanted to work but could not. Hours were spent procrastinating and overthinking everything. Each decision that led me to this place was questioned. Is this degree even worth it? Will I ever be able to reach that level I see myself one day? Such questions filled up my mind. And I could not get any answer anywhere.

There is a saying that when things go as wrong as they can, there is only scope for improvement. It became evident in my life too. Things started to become streamlined as time passed by.

This started when I looked at the things according to the priority. Being a human not everyone can do everything with full potential every time. But prioritization helps in keeping track and maintaining the flow of work. Secondly, apart from prioritization, not having attachments to the work I am doing helps a lot in keeping a sane mind in this chaos. We all work hard at the projects we are delegated but not every time there is a positive response or appreciation given to you. This might be disheartening at times but is a necessary part of the process we are bound to go through as an MBA graduate. To look at all this as a learning phase keeps me motivated to move forward remembering past lessons and avoiding already made mistakes.

There have been some chapters that closed after I came here and some new ones which opened. Similarly, there are many more chapters waiting to be opened. Hence having patience is a must to see through this journey I started. Sometimes things do not work out the way we think they would, but it is okay. At last, not only the destination but the journey and the experiences we have makes all the difference in the quality of life we lived.

Aarti Singhal

Aarti is a first-year MBA student at IIM Kashipur from Batch 2021-2023. She is a B.Sc. Hons in Mathematics from the Delhi University. She is an active member of the Media and Public Relations Committee of the institute. She has keen interest in dancing as well as reading and content writing. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.

IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL WELLBEING

“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” — Gautama Siddhartha Buddha

Emotional well-being is a crucial component of human life. It affects one’s perception of life, relationships, and health. Being emotionally healthy, will helps an individual manage different aspects of their lives and cope with a variety of emotions without losing control. When faced with hardship and stressful events, emotional wellbeing will guide their ability to develop positive emotions, moods, thoughts, and feelings, as well as help them adapt to new emotions. This will assist an individual in building stronger bonds with people around them. One of the pillars of emotional well-being is resilience, and it helps people recover from difficult events in the job, furthermore, having a stable state of emotional well-being also helps with the development and growth of an individual. Being resilient will help shape the way one would respond to and manage the stress of changing surroundings.

Emotional wellbeing is a quintessential aspect when considered within the paradigms of an individual’s growth, understanding, empathy, humor, and compassion. One must always prioritize emotional wellbeing, on doing so an individual can keep a healthy mindset, which allows them to be open to feedback, both good and bad, discuss difficult situations with anyone, have conversations and build strong bonds with others.

Emotionally healthy people are in control of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It allows them to cope with life’s challenges and prepares them to bounce back from setbacks. When we consider emotional well-being from an essential perspective of a corporate scenario, we cannot overlook the unavoidable pressure that one feels in the initial phase of their career. Having a stable mindset is not just helpful to the individual as a human resource but also to the company which employs them. Investing in the well-being of an employee can lead to increased resilience, better employee engagement, and overall growth in the performance and productivity of the individual.

Benefits of emotional wellbeing for a management professional:

Emotional wellbeing enhances interpersonal relationships and creativity. A good relationship built on a healthy mindset goes a long way toward productivity and growth, we all understand that happy people are more approachable, more likely to get along with other employees, and have a positive outlook towards any problem thrown at them. Emotional well-being is an important tool in the defense against the cumulative effects of stress. A positive approach helps an individual recover from stressful events much faster as compared to someone emotionally unwell. In addition, research also shows that emotional well-being may have a direct effect on other aspects, for example, some studies have shown individuals with positive emotions are correlated with more effective immune system functioning which in turn could help reduce absenteeism and sick days.

Finally, emotional well-being leads to greater job satisfaction. It helps in lesser burnout of individuals and fewer intentions to leave the job. People who are emotionally well tend to emit fewer negative emotions. The effect of emotional wellbeing on job satisfaction is thus essential for the growth of the individual and any institution which they serve or intend to serve.

We’re all more mindful of emotional wellbeing right now, following a few years in which the nature of human subsistence and co-habitation, in the social milieu has been majorly challenged. Several people have experienced the shock of a sudden vacuum of human interaction and the incorporation of an isolated, sedentary lifestyle. Taking care of your emotional well-being has never been as important as it is now, however, emotional well-being is always a wise investment

Dipti Sarkar

Dipti is currently pursuing MBA from prestigious IIM Kashipur. She is honest, hard-working, patient, reliable, and disciplined. She likes working in a team, being open to ideas, and always enjoys good company. Her hobbies include swimming, gardening, and learning and is passionate about the things she does. She wants to influence people by inspiring them.

How I kicked out FOMO using Live Projects

Learn to see, Learn to Hear, Learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you become an expert “ – Willam Oslar

As soon as you enter an IIM you see yourself surrounded by 300+ with diverse experience in all imaginable disciplines. Your colleagues could be commerce graduates, CAs or CFAs, or industry veterans with extensive expertise in a particular domain. You may find yourself surrounded by folks who have settled on their specialty and career path. While taking on this new endeavor amid all this craziness, it’s easy to be confused and overwhelmed.

MBA life begins on the first day of the induction program, with a flurry of activity all around us and a persistent “Fear of Missing Out.” For someone new to a demanding schedule, it is natural to be stunned by the pace of life at IIM. But you need not worry, because no matter what you do, “Bunny life mai Kuch Na Kuch reh jaata hai”. So just take a deep breath and try to grab an activity that would help you hit the ground running in your MBA life. To help you with the FOMO we encourage the students to pursue a Live project.

A live project is similar to a mini-internship that you can complete in addition to your studies. It provides you with hands-on experience with real-world management issues and challenges. Depending on the deliverables, projects can last anywhere from 15 days to two months or even longer and you need to devote only 2-3 hrs a day to the project depending on the work.

Aside from enhancing your overall profile, live projects allow you to apply what you’ve learned in class to real-life issues, such as time management.

Eligibility for Live Project:

  • If you are a fresher and want to explore different domains like Marketing, IT & Analytics, Strategy & Consulting, Finance, Human Resources, Operations & Supply Chain
  • If you are a student having worked in one of the domain but want to explore opportunities in different domains available
  • If you are a student having work experience in one domain and want to gain further expertise in the same domain by working with different firms on diverse projects

So basically Live Projects are for all!

Speaking from personal experience, I have always been motivated to apply in Live projects related to the Supply Chain & Analytics domain because it piques my interest.

What I learned from the live project:-

1. Recommending without first putting it into practice is futile: Live projects not only broaden your knowledge base in your field of study, but they also teach you how to practically approach any topic and overcome diverse hurdles.

2. Given that you learn and improvise, few organizations allow you to celebrate failure.

3. Listen to and learn from others (everyone in the team) – Consider different perspectives.

4. Last but not least, competitions will benefit from experience gained via live projects

Benefits I received through Live Project:-

  • Networking:- Working with different organizations for a short period will help you earn one of the most important skills of an MBA i.e Networking
  • Domain knowledge:- A student throughout an MBA can take multiple Live projects in different domains to get an idea about the job opportunities in that domain thus to get an idea is that sector for him/her considering the career perspectives
  • Internship Opportunities: If you perform exceedingly well in your live project, you will be given a Summer Internship opportunity from the organization itself. That’s cool, right!
  • Stipend:- Last but not least, most Live Projects are paid opportunities, so the stipend earned can be used for parties, Late night Nescafe coffee & Maggie’s cravings, and so on.

Thus Doing LPs is a good way to enhance your knowledge and support your Pocket !!!

Once you join IIM Kashipur, from the first month itself you will be provided ample opportunities to participate in Live projects across various domains which will in turn help you alleviate your stress level and counter FOMO. I hope this information will help you to understand the importance of Live projects and encourage you to take multiple live projects throughout your course

Hoping some of you guys to see soon at our Lush Green Campus of IIM Kashipur !

Ciao !!!

Kaustubh Deshmukh

Kaustubh Deshmukh is currently pursuing his MBA from IIM Kashipur. Prior to this he worked as a lead process engineer in an Agrochemical MNC for 34 Months. He’s an avid trekker and loves listing to podcasts in his free time. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

IIM: A Place which never sleeps

Once upon a time, there lived a king who wanted to show his supremacy in his kingdom. To do so, one day he declared that from now on the day would be considered as night and night would be considered as day. People were supposed to work at night and sleep all day.

It seems like a funny story to hear but comes close to reality when you are doing MBA from an IIM. This place never sleeps. On the campus of an IIM, you will never find a time when there is silence all over. Be it the classroom or the hostel, library or the sports ground, people seem to be enthusiastic everywhere at any hour of the day. In one place or the other, students are seen to be lively and passionate about the life they are living.

When I first came to campus, I heard this as being the norm here. But I could not relate to it as much. Being a person who keeps her sleep on the top of the priority list, I could never imagine facing this in reality. A girl habitual of sleeping for a minimum of 8 hours a day could not get comfortable with even the thought of surviving on 3-4 hours of sleep. But isn’t this how life unfolds itself?

Keeping up with the classes, projects, committee work, case competitions and numerous other responsibilities, I gradually started to blend into this culture. The deadlines were said to be sacrosanct and the limited number of hours could never fulfill that. Submitting the projects by the end of the day and getting to Nescafe after that for the coffee became a ritual which we followed every night. I believe as I was walking further in this journey, MBA started to grow on me and I became more and more suited to the ways here.

If in any case I had a day off from the requisites, and I slept for more than 5 hours, it seemed like I missed out on so many important things. We called it having FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and wanted not to miss out on anything from this ‘once in a lifetime experience’ which we are having doing MBA. Everyone has their eyes on the goal of living and enjoying each moment and learning the best from this process.

In this course of management, the first thing I learned was to manage my own life and prioritize what to do and when. The process itself requires us to be proactive at all times of the day. I learnt not only to manage my sleeping schedule but also how to manage my emotions regarding this lifestyle.

There were times when I struggled to keep up with this kind of positive approach towards everything. And I could not fulfill my obligations and was disappointed with myself. But as the course of MBA is, it does not give the time to cry, and things move very quickly here. Day by day, bit by bit I became accustomed, and things flew seamlessly.

This journey not only taught me to be at my maximum potential but to give my best to everything. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and inspired me to become better with each passing day. Not sleeping did not seem a big deal when I got the satisfaction of getting a good job done. It traveled me to that salvation when these basic things did not matter much. In an IIM, the famous lines of poet Robert Frost become more evident,

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep,

 and miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep.

About the Author

Aarti Singhal

Aarti is a first-year MBA student at IIM Kashipur from Batch 2021-2023. She is a B.Sc. Hons in Mathematics from the Delhi University. She is an active member of the Media and Public Relations Committee of the institute. She has keen interest in dancing as well as reading and content writing. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.

Action-packed year at IIM Kashipur

All the images I had formed in my mind as an MBA candidate were about to become a reality. And then came an exciting moment in which formal e-introductions with seniors and peers began to circulate on the official WhatsApp and Facebook groups. My eagerness to share the learning experience with my friends increased as I became more acquainted with the outstanding profiles of many of my colleagues.

The journey here started with a 10-day long induction program. Being a fresher, this was my first experience of the world of case studies, presentations, and hours-long virtual meetings. Now when I am into my third term, and I look back to those hectic induction days I realize that the reason behind those long days was to prepare us for the actual challenge that we were going to encounter throughout our MBA journey.

The first term of business school is usually the hardest, as we become accustomed to lengthy and intense lecture sessions and deadline-bound projects. Students are also exposed to a critical component of B-school pedagogy, the case study, in which we learn not only about firm evolution strategies but also about managerial issues. When we looked at the world through the lens of management metrics, subjects like economics, marketing, and accounting began to fill our heads, and our vision of the world began to alter. The surprise quizzes necessitate prior preparation for each lesson. A manager is supposed to talk a lot, and the system of class participation marks reflects this. Group projects aid in the crystallization of specific concepts, such as Porter’s “five forces analysis” or the BCG matrix in the real world. The addition of lectures by famous people and domain experts is the icing on the cake.

Student-run bodies in various fields such as marketing, consulting, operations, and investments provide numerous possibilities to conduct and participate in various events that encourage us to apply what we study. Then there are cultural bodies, such as those for singing, dancing, and theatre, which play an important role in adding a parallel track to the academic work.

Aayush Aggarwal

Aayush is pursuing his MBA at IIM Kashipur, one of the most prestigious B-Schools in the country. He earned a bachelor of management studies with a major in finance from Ramanujan College, Delhi University. He is a motivated management student who is eager to work in a fast-paced, difficult workplace and continue to give impact to the organization he represents and serves. Aayush is a diligent, conscientious individual with excellent analytical skills who loves Finance. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

IIM Kashipur through EX-Placecommer Lens

Two years back, I was equally excited about the WAT/PI results. Rounds of discussions were going about new IIMs & comparisons were done with very little knowledge about them.

Fortunately I received call from only one institute and that was IIM Kashipur!! With career change (Technical to Management) as a motive and faith on ‘IIM’ tag I joined IIM Kashipur. If you had asked me at that time, would I be proud alumnus of IIM Kashipur, my answer would have been NO. But today, I sat down to write this article feeling proud & happy and eager to contribute to my alma matter in whatever way I can.

Okay, coming to the substance, I was part of one of the important committee at IIM Kashipur i.e Placement Committee. On a lighter note, if you are a placecommer, you are bound to get a feel of ruling party 😉

My senior (2nd batch of IIM Kashipur) were 40 in strength and from no where, it got three folded and the strength of my batch was 127 [300% increase]. Yes, from 40 to 127. But then b-school life and arrangements by the Institute management helped us in settling down quickly.

Given my nature and eager to take up responsibilities, I joined (recruited actually) placecomm team. And what we have achieved as a team today, is like a dream come true. Internship for my batch were completed in record time and top companies started noticing us by end of 1st year.

The real challenge was target of 127 final placements. We as a team kept a monthly target and achieved it almost every time. The momentum picked up in January and continued till convocation. All this was possible because of the environment in which we were. We had the belief of achieveing the maximum always and the no. of final placement process which took place at our campus for my  batch was more than 80, yes , 80. One should back himself / herself to get placement out of these many processes.

Apart from placements, I would suggest to take a look at the faculties, electives offered, infrastructure, faculty – student ratio, Independent campus (Out of new IIMs , only ours have independent campus and in a year time, campus should be functioning permanently) and Kashipur as a place. By being in Kashipur and inspite of rigrous schedule & placecomm stuffs, I did end up covering Nainital, Rishikesh, Almora, Chopta, Shimla, Manali, Mussorie, Auli – scenice beauties all were.

I was fortunate to be associated closely with the flagship event “Leadership Conclave” of IIM Kashipur, wherein, we invited around 50 corporate senior leaders and on one occasion, I shared the dias for a discussion on “CSR”. It is these kind of moments that shape you and your career. And at IIM Kashipur, in its growth stage, the initial batches are the foundation pillars and one who decides to join will have plenty of opportunites at bay to develop themselves and also to showcase their skills and start contributing to the Institute.

In a nut shell, 18-20 months at Indian Institute of Management Kashipur will provide you an excellent education, atmosphere and facilitate your progress for a great career by end of the course.

(Senthil Kumar P, Alumnus PGP2013-15 batch, currently working as Asst, Manager –  Strategy & Planning at Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Chennai.
https://in.linkedin.com/pub/senthil-kumar-p/3b/956/581
Senthil.pgp2013@iimkashipur.ac.in)

Guest lecture by Mr. Vikram Sampat

Indian Institute of Management Kashipur welcomed Mr. Vikram Sampat, Vice President, Reliance Industries limited. The topic of discussion was ‘Driving excellence in refining & petrochemicals and India’s energy challenges’. Mr. Sampat discussed the deamand trends over the past century and different types of petrochemicals produced by Reliance Industry and their market share. He also shared his valuable expereince from the industry.IMG_3303 IMG_3307 IMG_3320 IMG_3325 IMG_3328 IMG_3329

Agnitraya 2015

Agnitraya’15 – the annual management-sports-cultural festival of IIM Kashipur witnessed major participation from top B-schools around the country. The management events were conducted in association with major corporate houses like Eureka Forbes, Infosys Consulting, Hewlett Packard (HP) and Muktai Realities. The Parivartan club, in tandem with the project funded by the World Bank on environment Assessment Capability in South Asia, conducted a case-writing competition on environment related issues.

The management case study competitions included Consilio, Operatius and Markaholic conducted by the Consulting and strategy Club, Operations Club and Marketing Club of IIM Kashipur respectively. Apart from management events, Sports events were also conducted where teams across the country competed against each other in Cricket, Basketball, Volleyball, Futsal, Carrom and Chess. Debate Competition and Jam sessions were also conducted by the literary club, where participants challenged each other intellectually to compete for exciting prizes.

One of the most refreshing events conducted was the stage play, where the audience were thrilled to see live performances by students. It was followed by the screening of a movie by the film society of IIM Kashipur. The second day concluded with a live band performance by Fariyaad Fusion at night. The major colleges that participated in the second day of festival were IIM Bangalore, FMS Delhi, MDI Gurgaon, JBIMS Mumbai, IIT Delhi, IIT Roorkee, IIM Raipur and IMT.

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Manthan – The annual Finance Summit

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Kashipur- 17th January, 2015: Manthan- the annual finance summit was hosted by IIM Kashipur on 17th January, 2015. This year the themes were “High frequency trading- regulation and challenges, growth challenges in BSE, Valuation of e-retail learning and risk management for 21st century”. The bigwigs of the industry graced the campus with their presence so as to share their experiences in the market. The speakers of the occasion were

1. Ms. Rana Usman, Sr. Asst. Vice President, National Stock Exchange

2. Mr. Nayan Mehta, Chief Financial Officer, Bombay Stock Exchange

3. Mr. Anuj Jain, Associate Director, Ernst & Young

4. Mr. Alpesh Porwal, Sr. Vice President & Head- Retail SBI Capital Securities Ltd.

5. Mr. Mohit Kabra, Chief Financial Officer, MakeMyTrip

6. Mr. Satish Kottakota, Chief Financial Officer, Call Health Services Pvt. Ltd.

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The event started with the lighting of the lamp by the guests. Thereafter the event kick started with Ms. Rana Usman’s keynote speech and a presentation on ‘Use of algorithms in high frequency trading’. The second keynote speaker for the day was Mr. Nayan Mehta. His young and enthusiastic demeanor was welcomed by the students; he further elaborated the challenges in handling one of the oldest stock exchanges in the world; BSE. Thereafter there was a panel discussion involving Mr. Anuj Jain, Mr. Satish Kottakota, Mr. Alpesh Porwal with Prof. K.N. Badhani of IIM Kashipur as the moderator. The topic of the discussion was “Risk management for 21st century managers”. During the discussion, the panel discussed the growing significance of the understanding of risk profiles of various securities for managers. Finally,there was a keynote speech by Mr. Mohit Kabra (CFO, Makemytrip) who is seen as the posterboy of India’s new age entrepreneurship. He shared his enormous experience in the industry while he was working with companies like PepsiCo, Colgate and Kohler amongst many others. He talked about the sustainability of e-commerce valuation of retail learnings. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof. Kunal of IIM Kashipur.

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