Career Counseling session by Mr. Rishi Tyagi, Global Head of EAS Product Management Group at Headstrong

Mr. Rishi Tyagi interacted with students on career management. Students had very meaningful interactions with the speaker. The session highlighted the importance of introspection and self-analysis as the key to a meaningful career.

- Karthik Bharadwaja

Session on Effective Corporate Communication and Media relations strategies by Mr. Sharat Chander

Mr. Sharat Chander is the Joint Director (Media and Communication) for the Prime Minister’s Office. He had an engaging session with the students on elements of good Corporate Communication and Media Strategies. In this age of constant interaction with various media, students found the session very useful and picked up some insightful perspectives on the subject. In the session, Sharat Chander detailed various aspects of corporate communication like internal communication, external communication and branding activities.

- Karthik Bharadwaja

Workshop on Values and Ethics by Dr J J Irani

May 26, 2012

 It was a warm Saturday morning at Noida Campus. After a hectic week at IPMX05,  workshop on Values & Ethics by Dr. Jamshed J Irani (Chairman Board of Governors of IIML & ex-Director TATA Steel) was a motivating session.

Dr. J J Irani, with his charisma and clarity in thought, won over the students of IPMX05 in no time. He took the class through different cases where TATA group demonstrated the power of value and ethics followed.  He covered the CSR initiatives of TATA group and how the group shares the wealth and prosperity with the local community.  When it comes to development of the society, company looks at the needs of the people to determine the budget, rather than defining a percentage of the profit as the budget.  Crux of this topic was – It is not the short term growth, but the long term growth and sustainability that matters.

Next he talked how corrupt officials and politicians could be dealt with, students had their own apprehensions. Question was – a giant like TATA could do it, but how can a startup entrepreneur do the same. Wouldn’t that be end of life for the startup? Simple and clear answers given by Dr Irani were enough to clarify these apprehensions among the class. He explained how situations could be dealt with live examples.

JJ Irani likened values to a lighthouse. It will act as a beacon in the times of uncertainty and guide us to the right path. Overall, it was an engaging session that lasted around four hours and class was clear about the paths to be followed when they go back to the industry – following values and ethics is the way to long term sustainability.

-Bijumohan

Shubh-Aarambh: An Ode to a New Beginning

The aspirations of a lifetime
Like the rays of the rising Sun
Breaking over the horizon
Usher in a beautiful Dawn!
This is what signifies the start,
The beginning of something new
Where hopes and dreams combine
To create something that is fresh as early morning Dew;
And with such lofty dreams in their eyes
Came together a band of achievers,
And thus begins the story
Of the New Age Musketeers-We the IPMXers!!!

The dreams of 68 achievers, who decided to choose the path less trodden, and entered the hallowed gates of IIM-L, got off to a crackling start. Full of energy, zeal and passion, the incoming batch of IPMX 05 at the Noida campus was not content to sit back and go with the flow but rather chose to take command and there by start what shall hopefully become a tradition in the years to come. And thus 'Shubh-Aarambh' was conceived.
With meticulous planning and near perfect co-ordination the entire event was conceptualized in less than a week's time. And thus began our first lessons into the art of management. Right from managing the event to marketing it, everyone's grey cells went into an overdrive and what came out was a fantastically put on show, lending credence to the abilities and skills of the IPMXers.

The memorable evening was inaugurated by lighting of the traditional lamp under the beautiful canopy of golden Noida sky by the Director of IIM-L Dr. Devi Singh along with the Dean of Noida Campus Dr. Archana Shukla. What followed was a performance of sorts starting with the rendition of the now ubiquitous viral hit 'Kolaveri Di' that got the audience to their feet. And this was just the beginning.



As the evening gave way to a starry night, so did the performances that took a 'Starry' turn. The infectious zeal and enthusiasm soon caught on and transformed the entire batch into a bunch of carefree students from the good old college days. And off course, what event can be complete without a tantalizing treat for the taste buds? True to the tradition, a sumptuous food fest was on offer to provide gastronomic delights to the ravishing crowd.

The event was made even more memorable and delightful when the seniors from IPMX batch 4 turned up to grace the occasion and officially pass on the 'Baton' to he incoming batch. The seniors shared their words of wisdom and provided meaningful insights to the entire batch.

And finally, it was time to let the hair loose to the foot tapping numbers dished out by the DJ. What started as a trickle soon grew into a raging stream as more and more IPMXers joined in to the insane head banging and all contouring dance form.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9PQsrMyD7o]

Continuing late into the night, the entire event served to build a bond of camaraderie among the motley bunch of young and dynamic achievers who have embarked upon this monumental journey of self-transformation and excellence to become the leaders and visionaries of tomorrow!



- Parag Deshpande

IPMX05

Induction of IPMX05

The fifth batch of IPMX (2012-2013) commenced on April 9^th, 2012. The batch is composed of a total of 68 students with an average 8.5 years of experience. The student body is a mix of experienced professionals coming from sectors  such as IT, Automobile, Oil & Gas, Insurance, Banking Services, PSUs, Travel & Tourism, Medical Services, Semi-Conductor and Army. The induction module was conducted from 9^th April 2012 to 11^th April 2012.



Induction module started with a Welcome speech and IIML pledge by Prof Archana Shukla, Dean NC and Chairperson, IPMX, followed by an Inaugural address by Mr. Vivek Subramanyam,   CEO, iCreate Software. In his inspirational address to the students, Mr. Subramanyam urged the students to instill in them an entrepreneurial spirit. His speech interspersed with personal anecdotes and interesting examples underscored the immense significance of pursuing one’s dreams with full conviction and passion. Later, Prof Sushil Kumar emphasised on the emerging trends in management education. The evening closed with an interactive session with the alumni where they shared their experiences and set the expectations for the new batch.



On the second day of the Induction module, Dr. Devi Singh, Director IIML welcomed the students and shared his thoughts on the emerging global business challenges for the senior managers.  On the third and the final day of the induction, Prof Archana Shukla took a session on transitioning to IIML way of life and familiarized the batch with IPMX program.

Regular classes of the batch started on April 12, 2012.

- Charu Kanwar

Media Committee, IPMX05

IIM L'Store - A Dream Turned Into Reality

Greetings from L’Store! A way to “Experience the IIML brand”! It is a great pleasure for us to share the small story of our journey to the entire IIM Lucknow fraternity.

We began our endeavour as a group of 8 students from the IPMX-04 batch wanting to pursue some learning via a student driven entrepreneurship club. During our interaction over the weeks, we came across a nice statement by Peter Drucker that inspired us all; it says “Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice.” We indeed realized that we want to do something while we’re still in campus.



Our Vision has been solely to build the premier IIM Lucknow brand and thus we arrived at the idea of developing L’Store! We wanted to take our tagline, “Experience the IIML brand”, not only among the student fraternity but also beyond its boundaries!



This was just the idea and that too at a very nascent stage and we needed to give it shape. I must admit that each and every member of this team has put in enormous effort in the last 4 months in order to make this happen. We have undergone innumerable late night brainstorming sessions about the business model, visited various vendors to get the best quality products at the best possible prices.

I must admit that we have received enormous support from the faculty, students as well as the administrative staff of IIM Lucknow Noida campus and most importantly our respected Dean Prof. Archana Shukla, in our efforts to overcome every shortcoming along our path.

We then came to a juncture to find out a voice to reach out to maximum of our fellow students and what could have been more apt than a character that bears the spirit of IIM Lucknow. So came to life “LUCKY”, our mascot for the L’Store, a person whose only intention is to promote the IIML brand. We introduced LUCKY through all our communications, posters and mailers and also urged the batches to design a T–Shirt for LUCKY! It was truly humbling to find that we were flooded with responses and it strengthened our belief that LUCKY is indeed a pertinent representative for L’Store.

Finally, on 29th Sept 2011 8.00 PM, L’Store was formally inaugurated amidst a huge crowd of student supporters from IPMX, WMP and MDP programs running out of Noida campus. We were honoured by the presence of the faculty who inaugurated the event by the “Diya lighting”, ribbon cutting as well as the unveiling of the Facebook online store (http://www.facebook.com/iimlstore).

Ever since the inauguration, the L’Store has been flooded with orders not only at our physical store but also via prone, email and online purchase. It truly gives us a lot of support and enthusiasm.

I must say that we are still very young and we believe that our future holds a lot of surprises! We are bound to make mistakes, but we are confident that together with the support from the entire IIM Lucknow family we would learn from those mistakes and overcome all the hurdles. We would follow the vision of L’Store and reach out to the maximum number of people.

In conclusion, I would quote the famous words Henry Ford... “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success”

Prasun Roy
Member - L’Store team

Note From The Editor
Prasun, Rajbeer and Himanshu have subsequently ventured into their own online store - Brand Merchandise Solution, Check out their website  : http://www.gobranded.com/

 

CupShup @ IIM Lucknow

Incessant rains! It was past midnight! We, Rajkumar (our cook), chotu (helper), our small cafe, dog and the rain, all were on their duties. Suddenly a 2Rs. coin fell in the pit! We tried to a lot to find but in vain. A sad tinge sank in. When did I ever count that 2Rs. in my pocket? I guess it took some time to dawn upon me, running a business was a different ball game.

In no time, Cupshup, our small cafe in campus, became an integral part of our schedule in campus. More than subjects/classes, we waited cupshup time! But I guess Cupshup taught us much more than what they teach you in the class. We learnt the theory in class and practical in cupshup  But how can I forget, the journey to cupshup was quite an adventurous one!!

It started when I joined this course. But it took 3 long months to just form a team which made Cupshup stand in campus. And once stood, it shook us all!! Accounting, Inventory management, Operational challenges, Organization behavior, Team dynamics, marketing funda, Crisis Management all of it in one Cupshup class!

It was that day of our life in Cupshup class when all four of us thought of an operational strategy which we felt was a breakthrough idea!! And hence we made all the arrangements, starting from getting coupons printed to enhancing the layout of our cafe, for seamless operations (making sure all food items were ready and properly displayed over counters). And then.. We waited! And.. we waited! May be, it was only us who thought that it was a breakthrough approach!! Nevertheless, we learnt it hard way that marketing also plays its role and the ROI can’t be deduced the very next moment! Our operational strategy worked eventually (Word of Mouth did its trick) and people started pouring in. And then there was no looking back…

We skipped classes, we ran in breaks, we took permissions from profs to leave classes early, neither quizzes nor exams could pull us away from cupshup. A customer delight made our day and a dip in sale stirred us! Cupshup made our stay very exciting. Finally after 3 months, Cupshup learnt to sustain itself!



Then one day.., foggy weather, early morning, we, our small cafe and the dog were on duty. No, not our regular duty. Rajkumar (our cook) and chotu (helper) parted their ways. We were on our duty to hunt for new members for Cupshup!!

How could we miss to learn crisis management?! So here we were, wondering what to do with worker’s unrest at cupshup making headlines in IIM L Noida Campus!  But as I said, exciting times always stay @ Cupshup and with the help of other stakeholders, Cupshup is back again!



Nothing compares to this experience on the field! And what better than running your own small cafe inside the campus!

Do visit this small cafe Cupshup @ IIM L Noida Campus

Contributed by Vineeta Gupta (Class of IPMX 2012)