Mid Term – Term 1: Learnings

“When senior managers in a corporate environment commit blunders they like to term these mistakes as Learnings”. (Leeeeaaaarrrrrnnings – as Mr. Ramesh Samudrala, one of my senior friends back at word, would like to put it!). I had some instances in my professional life when I could relate to the above comment. I don’t know what others would feel about it, neither am I going to ask. It is better left for everyone to read and smile to herself.

Let me come to the issue at hand. We got our course packs for the first term in ISB and that was the first time I kind of heard the words “mid-terms”. Anything that read “exams” was too far off as we had just begun our course. I was more excited about the fact that I would be learning new subjects like Marketing Management, Financial Accounting and Managerial Economics. I had Statistics in my blood. So that was not a worry at all.

New people, new subjects, new ways of learning, and birthday dunkings were the major attractions at ISB for me. Then there were also lectures to attend, presentations of clubs, and such activities that were equally important. I was under the impression that I had a whole year to get accustomed to this new life that I am in. The pre-reads for classes kept getting postponed – supposedly for the other activities that I tried to be a part of. I even sat at the LRC for studies but ended up making some new friends there too. Everything was going fine. Except the fact that the so called distant mid-terms were not so distant anymore! One fine day I (most of us in the class of 2010 actually) realized that the mid-terms were like just around the corner. And thus started the desperate attempt to catch up!

Believe me, nothing changed much. I still had the same number of classes per week. The amount of pre-reads was no different. Activities other than classes were also more or less similar. What really changed was that I had to also cope up with everything I had missed in the earlier 2 weeks. And boy! It was not possible. Not for me at least. Thus, I started with a step behind. I also realized that Stats which was supposed to be in my blood, is not there anymore. (I think I even need to check the iron in there, after the mid terms I have started having doubts about almost everything [:-)] ).

This resulted in the same old desperate attempt behind studies. Sleepless nights, selective studies and a feeling that I was better off with my job (this struck me more often that the others). I had a real bad week. And a mid-term which could surely have been much better! Hence, I am scribbling on this online space.

Now that I want to be a ‘manager’, let me like some managers that I have met in the past, call my behavior before the mid-terms a leaaaaaarrrrrrning. I know that if I repeat this, it will be unforgivable. But, just for the sake of the first time, allow me to call it a ‘learning’. And here is the summary of my learning.

There are loads and loads of things that can be done at ISB. But, you can not do them all. You got to prioritize. (I know everybody knows that, but there is a saying in Marathi. “Kalatay Pan Walat naahi” – though you understand that you should not do something, you can’t help and do it nevertheless). So prioritize! And if grades is among your priorities, dude study! Grades won’t come easy here. If you leave something for tomorrow, leave it assuming that the tomorrow is never coming. Whatever you leave, is gone. With terms only 6 week long, you have an exams like every 3 weeks. No exams is “far off”. So, there is no time to adjust. The perfect learning ground for the maddening pace that is the corporate world these days!

There is another saying that I would like to bring your attention to. They say that preaching is easier than practicing. I have tried giving myself some gyaan here. But, I hope I do not sit after the term–1 exams and type similar things all over again. (If I do, can I call it “learning” reinforced?)

I think I should now go and attend the much deserved party at the Class of 2008 Lounge. Before I go, my parting words: The ISB experience is prodigious. God, just give us the strength to focus our energies on what is the best for us!

Premjeet. 61010403 – Section E