Leaders Interaction Series 2009 - Snapshots

IIML - IPMX invites Corporate leaders from various industries under its Leaders Interaction Series programme, on a regular basis. Leaders Interaction Series 2009 is aimed at building a strong industry academia relationship and provide a platform for interaction between the Industry Leaders and students. The interaction program allows students to discuss Market Innovations, New Management Concepts and issues relevant to the industry in the current scenario.

Ms Charu Sehgal from Deloitte Consulting

Dr Praneet Kumar from Fortis Healthcare

Mr Shubhinder Singh from Reebok

Mr S Udupa from PWC

Mr S Mitra from Maruti Suzuki

Mr Benjamin from MART

Half Truth and Half Truth...Dil Se

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A renowned strategist spoke to the attention of an engrossed audience (yours truly IPMX2). He had them spellbound while he put to swords all established principles / jargons / processes of conventional management. And then the masterstroke - "whatever I speak is just the half-truth; the other half that I am so confidently bashing is also the truth".

Yeah I know - there are no untruths; whatever is untrue for one is true for other.

as they say "There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees, which are falsehoods on the other."

Irrespective, I am here today to speak dil se...truth or the lack of it be damned.

My boss once explained to all what a blog means (blog was still in the process of taking birth) - "Bakwaas, that's what it is. Room pe baith ke karo tou bakar, internet pe karo tou Blog".

I am fascinated by the unconventional names I have recently come across. I'll pick up few - any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.

PagalGuy was where I came across this possibly NRI / second generation Indian: Mukes Seth, a la Vikram Seth. Location set to USA, I had no doubt this dude was some Harvard / Wharton aspirant. Out here on IIM admission forums to advise the lesser privileged. I would picture this gal as some bomb (mukes - nukes) in absence of any profile photo. One fine day, however, his status changed to Mirzapur and his posts clearly conveyed that he was HE. That's when it stuck me that Ms Nukes may probably be Mr Mukes (w/o an "h").

Sample my friend's name: Kumar Achal Bharti. 'What's your first name?', asked our strict ManAcc Prof. 'All of them, Sir.', replied KAB.

Then I have a friend (family friend) whom Uncle-Auntie named Ashay भारतीय (indian), a la Chandrashekhar AZAD. I wonder how many of us realize we denigrate the whole of our motherland everytime we shout भारतीया or भारती; I'm sure he himself does not recall the patriotic fervor with which his parents named him.

Now if you have a perfectly harmless conventional name like मयंक Gaekwad with no strings attached, you'll still find a half-lost intellectual calling him "मैनक" {Mayank ==> Maynak} everytime he calls out for attendance. Finally, some of us with names that everyone loves (Koresh Chopra) insist that they be called "KC", or else...

So you now sure understand why I included my ex-Boss' definition of BLOG.

All righty, time to wrap up this internet bakwaas, have some tea and re-resolve to start preparing for the OM quiz later in the day.

...Marishka Hargitay...

IVF

>Guess from the title of this post what I'm gonna talk about = exactly correct guess places you alongside Einstein on the IQ prowess; incorrect / no guess place you with me :-)

I was tired of de-signification of the word "I" in the corporate world I left behind on 1-Apr-09. Sample the alternatives and pick up the one you like:
[1] Together everyone achieves more (kyon bhai, doosra dekh raha hota hai tou you start working).
[2] Whole is greater than sum of parts (kewal Ram-Lakhan mein).
[3] It's a win-win: you win, I win, all win (court marshal for the losers, yeah?)
[4] It's a team game: you look after my back and I look after yours (because I have not anything better to do).
[5] A job worth doing is worth doing together (for sure that's true of 1 activity, kar lo guess).
[6] None of us is as smart as all of us (kyonki smart tou hum sab paida hee huye thhey).


More senior you climbed in the mgmt ladder, more often you are expected to preach all of the above; by that virtue I must confess I had to say all this with a poker face. Wonder why not "we" get promoted or "we" get a fabulous raise or "we" get an award!
For God's sake, why do we forget the normal "I"s, as in 'eye' / 'aai' (shapath) / 'aayee' (tu chal, mai aayee) / aai-yoh (jab chot lagti hai)....so on so forth.

Before I tell you my tryst with the "I" that has currently enamored me, lemme expand the post-title: It's about "I" and "We" factor :-)

The new "I" is the Ipmx; for once this "I" lives upto its reputation. "International" is the name of this program thereby making sure that all courses imparted necessarily have that flavour:
[1] Law course has to be Legal Environment in INTERNATIONAL business.
[2] Finance has to include full blown credit course on INTERNATIONAL finance (taught by INTERNATIONAL faculty).
[3] The HRM / OB kind of subjects have to focus on INTERNATIONAL culture.
[4] Marketing and Operations need not be INTERNATIONALized explicitly because all authors n cases are so much INTERNATIONALly inclined that you are suddenly translocated in the western world.
[5] Economics without INTERNATIONAL perspective is 'baniagiri', won't it?
[6] Ahh! even the communication course is INTERNATIONAL business communication.

Lest you start dreaming of an INTERNATIONAL jetsetting lifestyle, lemme emphasize the basic "I" of the course = INDIAN. You are being groomed to be an INDIAN manager with INTERNATIONAL perspective (you knew that, didn't you?).

I did miss out the key ingredient of the program- INTERNATIONAL immersion.
However, I do not miss out on INTERNATIONAL cuisine which they do not serve here because I love all varieties of Indian food.

Till we meet again, why don't you decode my "bye / take care" phrase w/o googling?

Marishka Hargitay...anurag

PS
I came across this site (spam mail); I love the name: oktatabyebye.com

Goodies galore- what's the best?

>My first blog...dont know why so late although I love blogging...and for a natural blogger, the topic + the blog content come naturally...right now I just roamed around the campus and it stuck me that I love everything out here...so why not share...but share which aspect...let's blog :)

It started with a walk around the campus with a stopover for roadside tea. I suddenly realized I was so much at peace with myself, so much in love with the life@campus and so have taken it so much for granted as if "ghar ki murgi daal barabar" was coined for me.
So the dilemma- should I reflect on everything (generestically) or should I pick up just one facet? Let me start with one and see where I end up: I'll pick up "food" probably because I am so looking forward to a sumptuous breakfast!

I love good food and eating as many times a day as it is provided to me. Breakfast at 8 am is a tad late for me. Why me, it would be late for anybody if you get to eat different stuff every day. Y'day I had 4 parathas enamored with butter + chana subzi + toast with jam & butter followed by a cup of tea & a cup of coffee. I do not like porridge and I missed boiled eggs (which I was told had been deliberately pulled off menu for egg-curry preparation later in the day). Day before I enjoyed Masala Dosa filled with as much masala as butter + cereals + eggs + toast-jam; coffee after breakfast is of course customary. I do not think I have had Chhole-Bhature this week == I just hope I get to eat that today (and that 1 day I missed breakfast was not the C-B day).

Coming back to the missing eggs. I do not recall what other 2 preparations I passed off during yday's lunch because I just stuffed my plate(s) with roti-chaawal-egg curry-daal-dahi-papad-soup-achaar-salad finally topping off with papita. I sometimes used to wonder why some people crib about food when they consume equally, if not more. And I discovered my answer during y'day lunch === if you keep eating the way I do four times a day without any breaks, your stomach is bound to give up; and as with everything else, you'll blame everything / everybody but self :)
Post lunch we had classes (yes, on Sunday also). Three sessions peppered with 2 rounds of biscuit-tea followed by evening snacks. The item I like the least - some call it pakore, other bhajji. And so I did what I find amusing - crib. "Why pakorey, why pakorey" karte karte I ended up consuming multiple plates and still did not gave up my cup of coffee although my stomach advised otherwise.
2 hours of break brought me back to normal good times - the dinner. On a whim, I just juggled the eating order and started with garam-garam halwa. All laced with dry fruits (kaaju and kishmish only) and dripping in fat - why blame me if I overate. But then I had to have my dinner (mummy ne bola hai ki khaana kabhi skip nahi karna). So back to normal course: start with soup, move on to roti-daal-sabzi-dahi-papad-achaar and for once do not have the sweet dish :(

Hello, that's it for all the eating y'day - we are extremely disciplined and do not officially eat at odd hours. Now that was an account of our mess facilities on supposedly-least-delicious-food day of the week (Sunday). I look forward to the mutton n chicken n paneer n samosa n of course chhole-bhaturey days...boiled egg / omelet I anyway eat daily.

Oh so did I not tell you anything about the vast green campus which gets perennially beautified? Some other time maybe except for a line of caution: You'll get addicted to the greenery and the vast tract of open space around you - even a sworn non-exerciser like me roams around the campus (gimme some credit for morning walk, will you).

Anything else? Yes but maybe for next time - I need to go get my clothes from the washing machine and then perhaps head for breakfast (still not 8 am).

...I'm loving it...

RICH - Russia, India and CHina

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RICH - a word that rings the moment

• a common educated person thinks of (some) MBA student
• I try to explain any thing Indian
• an alibi to defining complexity
• prospects of Russia, India and CHina.

A nice perspective, not mine, but of a Russian professor in a Canadian university, educated in US shared while teaching the Indian bunch of I(nternational)PMX.

We just - almost - concluded our electives selection. That was too much of planning in advance given my past two terms scheduling of important work only when it gets urgent. On second thoughts, how often have we followed schedule in past few months - not always. But why - we always discovered new, better and more acceptable way of doing things. Something like the search for optimum, when defining externalities are highly dynamic. The result - the good is getting better in quest of alluring best (MBA - which gets most people RICH !).

The changes have been for better. The rains in last few days seem to quell (among some) the thought of a dry monsoon affecting the Indian economy. Some colleagues said over coffee (and samosa) today that they tasted better with rains – not because of lower temperature or pleasant weather post-rains – but due to increasing chances of a higher GDP growth. The thoughts well encompassed the RICH Indian – style connection between rains, coffee, GDP and (MBA - which gets most people RICH!)

Some other well informed opposed the view stating that things – monsoon included - have to be at right place at right time. The monsoons had missed the right opportune to affect the GDP. I feigned to have understood most of this logic but still some RICH (c0mplexity) remained outbound like the rain and perfect optimality.

The elite other (left of previous) cited of CHina having successfully de-coupled itself from recessionary globalized economy. And as per same parameters, India have equally well (if not better) managed to insulate itself and its matter of time before economists accepted.

And in result have gobbled up more of the coffee and samosa ! Reviewing what all I crapped till now – BEWARE, some RICH makes you feel LOST ! -