Sadly, I was wrong. Very wrong, actually. This term is easily the toughest of all we have gone through till wrong. Agreed, the mad rush for CGPA & the dean’s list is somewhat less. But for a person like me, whose best academic performance was coming 4^th in Class 3, the above 2 indicators were never a factor anyways. I judge a term purely by its workload and in that Term 5 wins hands down. There is just too much to do. Period.

 

The entire term sort of peaked over this last weekend. Everybody in campus had, on an average, 4-5 assignment submission to be made on Monday/Tuesday. Everybody was running all over the campus, different subjects, different studygroups, always on the phone. Among all this, also cram in a soft skills workshop, a case study prep session with Deloitte, a talk from Google, CV review sessions and so on and on. Of course, there were the obligatory weekend booze sessions which further reduced available time – first, the time spent drinking (usually starting around 8-9 pm and going on till 2-3 at night) and second, the entire next morning spent sleeping or walking around like a zombie.

 

Well, one of the high points of the entire year (at least for me) took place last weekend. A bartending session was organized by Tulleho. So, we learnt to make 4 cocktails and the deal was that whatever one makes, one consumes. So we had about 40 very happy people at the end of 2 hours. Forgotten were assignments, deadlines, placements and other myriad worries. The mind was freshened, the body was charged. I only wish I had taken some pictures.

 

Coming back to the acads, one of the major pain points is that the old study groups no longer exist. For good or bad, some kind of synergy (apparently the 2^nd most abused work in MBA land *) existed in the study groups. Over 4 terms, we know who were good in what and work responsibilities were divided accordingly. With electives all that’s gone. So now I have 4 different study groups and every member of my study groups (19 in my case) have equal number of study groups themselves. The result is there is an astonishing amount of pull from all directions for everybody. It’s hard to fix up a meeting, there is constant juggling of the calendar and even when you meet ultimately, the phone just doesn’t stop ringing.

 

“Have you done this” / “have you done that” / “when are we going to meet” / “but you said you will meet at 10.30” / “it will take only 30 minutes, please come yaar” / “don’t give me BS about assignments, we all have assignments” / “Boss, can’t take this anymore, nobody is responding to meeting invites”…..different outcomes but the same common pain….just too many assignments!!

 

On a totally unrelated note, people tell me that Café has a new menu and it’s actually quite good.

p.s.

* in case anybody is wondering, the most abused word in a B-school is ‘intuitive’

 

 

One of the many pearls of wisdom I’ve learnt in the past 6 months is that there are two major aspects that make a team great at work – Math and Chemistry. The variables involved in the math are categorical in nature and represent the skill-sets and/or work experience of the student. The criterion is to eliminate the possibility of duplication in a group. For instance, no group has two chartered accountants (CAs). The institute tries to be as stringent as possible with this rule, but then there are so many of the infamous, though widely popular IIMs (Indian, IT, Male) in the class, this sometimes doesn’t work out. But the bottomline is to bring in as many diverse backgrounds and varied experiences as possible in every group. Add to this the fact that being a strongly opinionated person is almost a prerequisite to receiving the congratulatory message from the ISB admissions office, and you have the perfect recipe for WAR. It’s almost as if everybody has agreed to disagree beforehand. And that my friend, is precisely the challenge you face first up when u decide to get back to school. Tell me a better way (read “easier way”) to prepare oneself for the challenge of working closely with strangers and getting things done under extreme deadline pressures and I’d be goddamn interested.

 

Once the math issue is addressed for the majority of the populace (I did pity the CA-less groups during Investment Analysis homeworks!), its time to get some Chemistry into place. It’s not a breakthrough innovation that the attitude of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is the backbone of a great team. But then, how do you ensure good chemistry between people who haven’t even met each other ever in their lives? Well, you don’t! The institute just takes care of the math and then sits back to see the drama unfold as these strangers go through high-octane debates, discussions, fights, fallouts and eventually labour-division in search of the optimal strategy to get things done with high quality under insane timelines as a group. It doesn’t require a rocket scientist (or an MBA for that matter!) to find out that the optimal 3rd term strategy is for the accountant to do the asset valuations of Corporate Finance while the engineer optimizes the Operations homework.

Interesting stories do the rounds on campus gossip regarding study group meetings – from potential dean-listers arguing over 4th decimal errors in a 2% weightage assignment at 4 AM to the group that allotted turns for every member to go and drop the report in the submission box on time. Top talent typically struggles at teamwork, and you get to see ample evidence of this theory at bschool. Egos get hurt, allegations are made, responsibilities are shirked, commitments are questioned and competencies are challenged. But… the work gets done. Through this entire milieu that lasts for more than 30 hours a week for half a year, few people find out they just can’t tolerate that Page-3 celebrity attitude in some, while a few others find that special person they can’t live without for the rest of their lives! The moderately lucky fellas like me get to enjoy good company at 4:30 in the morning over a heady combination of Heineken and Haldiram!

 

THAT to me, is diversity!