The Trust That IIMA Placed In Me Was Phenomenal
IIM Ahmedabad has an aura and that aura has grown as the economy has liberalised and the industry has grown. With this, management education, especially a degree from IIMA has become more aspirational.
It was a different time when I was a student. Everyone came by train, we didn’t have attached toilets. But for me, spending two years at IIMA remains my single greatest high. Entrepreneurship was unknown. Getting a job after a degree from IIMA was the biggest aspiration because most of us came from single-income families.
A few years ago when I went back to the campus, students were complaining about lack of parking space. It was a big eye-opener for me.
Learnings
Studying finance, accounts, supply chain, HR, marketing, advertising, sales and so on, we started looking at situations from a very different perspectives, rather than from a purely engineer or supply chain perspective. We got to understand the importance of all functions in a company.
And the peer interaction is outstanding. People come to B-schools driven by individual ambition but the world they are going into is driven by the ability to be a part of the team. I hope students realise quickly that beating the boy or girl next to them will not determine their success in life.
B-school is such a beautiful immersive experience. I would urge the students to live that experience, enjoy it to the 100 per cent, at the same time give your subject 100 per cent, and your relationships 100 per cent.
On diversity of thinking at B-schools
An elite B-school education cannot imprison you; it has to liberate you and show you a much wider world. We sometimes run the risk of being imprisoned and thinking in a certain way. In my case, it wasn’t true because I did not have a career plan. I was in the mind-frame of experimenting. Also, I could experiment because we had two incomes. And, backed by IIMA degree, I could get back into advertising if I wanted to. But what IIMA did for me was give me a lot of confidence. It made me a survivor from a happy-go-lucky person. I was taken aback by the quality of people around me. So, I became a survivor and ambitious.
The most memorable experience
Meeting Anita (his batchmate and wife) at IIMA was the biggest influence on my life. I will forever be indebted to the institute for that. Also, the trust that the institute placed in the student was phenomenal. I did not do my second terms exams in 2nd year. When I returned from holidays, each professor set me a question paper and told me to leave the answer sheet on the table at the end of three hours. There was no invigilator. That trust meant a lot to me. That trust placed a responsibility on me. So, exactly at the end of three hours I put the answer sheet and walked away.
