The Smiling Assasin's Smirk

Mr. Mohan Kuruvilla is the man who taught me B2B and Sales. One word to describe him "MIND-BLOWING" ....He can make the Sales Mgt class alive and make everybody glued n intrigued for hours without anyone losing attention! He has a very good experience and good hold of the subject. So armed with such knowledge, experience and tremendous wit he simply makes the class go crazy...His funny bihari accent and one story-one concept way of teaching is awesome. You need to attend one of his class to really believe what i am saying. I am really fortunate that he taught me.These are some of his patented catch-phrases:How to attack a competitor .One of the way was "Joote Bhiga Ke Mariye""Jabardast...." Kya Jabardast case study he!!"Marketing is an Intoxicating subject""Ek baar maan lag jayega to itna aanand aata he, puchiye mat sir..Jabardast aanand aata he"The guy who is asked to present case fatcs in his class. He keeps saying to him while he talks to class; "Aap kuch padh lijiye sir, aapko sochne ka mauka de rahe he!!""And then 3 question will come to his mind... which are these 3 questions?" 1. usne kahan se mba kiya hai?2. Did he have a subject called Sales management?3. Who taught him that?...."Aur tab mat bolna ki maine aapko sales padhaya hai...""Anand aa gaya Sir..." " CEO phone ghumaya usko aur khoob gali diya" he came back to his room n do yiu know wat did he do? " sabse pehle ek black cofee piya, aur boss ko khoob gaali diya......"Ek coffee bhi kick deti he""Ab sab kuch hum hi thodi na bolenge, kuch to aap log bhi bol dijiye na sir.......kuch bhi bol dijiye, aap jo bolenge sab sahi hoga ""sir humko bhi sun lijiye na sir""Kelloggs / Frito-Lays bolke ek company thi.... abhi bhi hai!!!"

Last word: Life@IBA

So finally, in few days I would be out of this place. This place was my home for about two years now. June 2005 I joined IBA with hope and aspiration. I joined with lot of baggage. Friends of my grad days had lot of hope. Family had a lot of expectation. I myself had a point to prove. I don’t know how much I have lived up to. But one thing for sure, I am leaving this place behind with lot to think over and my hands full. I have learnt quite a bit of lesson and how to survive in life. And that I think is the most important learning.
MBA is not for the faint hearted. You need guts to survive relentless stress and competition. MBA is also not for someone who thinks it is the option left after graduation. It’s the next logical step. But it’s not. MBA is not because your parents can afford it. MBA is not because big money is waiting you after passing out. MBA is not because MBAs fetch a big dowry in marriage circuit. I guess there is more to it. A lot of thinking and planning must go into before deciding to do an MBA. MBA degree arms with a power to take your career to a higher level. Just a cautionary word to winnable MBAs: Think and think and think. Why MBA? How will it benefit you in your career? What career is best for you? Where is your interest? What inspires you? Which industry you want to get it? Which area are you looking at? If you have answer to all these questions, then I am sure you will do better justice in MBA. Merely coming without any planning, because someone forced you to do MBA is utter waste.
Two years of MBA is a process of self-discovery and self-realization. MBA will teach you, which area you are good at and which area you are bad at. You will realize your strength and weakness. You will decide your goal and path to take. You will make your future and be prepared for it. That is why; MBA is not limited to textbook study. Group work, assignments, presentations and case studies etc. all these teach you various facets of life and how to go about it. Peer evaluation, continuous evaluation keeps you always on your toes. CGPA takes the sleep out of your life for two years. All this with a purpose, that is, in real life everyday is a test. So better face a test everyday.
So now I go out of this campus armed with a new learning. I walked into this campus casual and going out now with a focus and plan.
Last few days have been quite unforgettable for me. The last trimester got over quickly than expected because of the Workshop format. Last few days we had lot of parties, get together. Basically last few days were used for bonding. Bonding that evolved over two years was taken to a different level in last few days of our stay. Almost, most of my batch mates are out of this campus. Many of them have started working. Some are likely to start soon. So officially all the seniors would be out of this campus by Jan 31st.
I have given account of all the companies that came in for placements over 3-4 months. The profile they offered and tentative dates they come in for campus. This would help juniors to get a feel of the whole process and prepare accordingly.
Wannable MBAs, who want some inside account of Life@IBA, just go through this whole thread. You will get a true picture of this place.
I am joining my Company on Feb 4th.Co is Redington India. Location of posting will be known later. My posts in this thread will be less from now on. I will only answer to some specific queries from now on. Hopefully, juniors will take on the responsibility and keep alive this thread.
My personal blog and website will be my sole interest from now on.
Do well…Good Luck…

Now i am standing in the twilight zone... Few days more and i will bid adieu to this place...this food..this hostel..this life. Looking back...i feel good...upset...positive... I began my hostel life in the year 1993 from 6th standard and till date i have been living in hostel all my life...

Past two months has been a bit let down for me...no real value addition. My MBA finished way too fast..way too soon...All this in hurry and haste...

I hope to come back to my writing ways...because when i am under stress i perform better. And thats the exact reason, when i had so much free time, i didnt even write a single piece! But so many things to happen in my life as part of first job, i am keeping my fingers crossed. And i plan to capture all my experience soon.

Leaving for home in 110 minutes....Got a train to catch from a place 45kms away. So whats better way than to blog and stay awake over night!!!

Catch you soon...

My Team Mates: Team Karunanidhi
My Team with Mr. Harish Bijoor

Me presenting the Branding PPT

I have been silent for many days now.. Life has been pretty hectic for some days now. Classes, quizzes, presentations and workshops. 6th trimester consisted of workshops. So no classroom lectures. I think it is the same class lecture but the difference is its duration. workshop means long lectures without any breaks! A typical workshop runs for atleast 12 hours! We had a Six Sigma workshop for 16 hours nonstop! SO having done with workshop, we are in a way done away with our MBA! Only some formalities are left. Dec 3oth was the last lecture for our MBA.

Fortunately, we zipped off our MBA classes with a person, i think is the best prof in India. Yeah. The class was B2B, which satrted at 2 and was over at 6.45. Earlier in the day, we had IT exam at 6AM. Branding Exam at 7 AM. Retaling workshop from 9AM to 1.30PM!!!Phew!!! But never did we feel tired or bored! Such is ability to generate enthu. He comes with lot of experience in B2B market. He is one such guy, who not only has a hands on experience on the field but also has an excellent theoretical knowledge. Jokes, analogy and anectodes told with a rustic and vernacular touch is a hallmark of his unimitable style. He explains a complex theory in such a lucid manner that i bet one would never forgets in his lifetime. He typically follow case study method of lectures. He is Mohan Kuruvilla. Guys if you dont get him as your lecture, then curse your luck.

One more Hasti, whom we had this trimester for branding. What ia like in him is excellent hold of theory. He simplify everything for you. He has excellent analogy to support his arguments. he can speak on any topic under the sun. Extremely advanced in his thinking. He keeps the class on its toes always. He is Harish Bijoor. i am fortunate that i learnt branding form him. We share lot of ideas btw!!!

One guy who holds a very senior level position in Wipro, is a serial gold medallist in IIT n IIM and still is so grounded. Ekdum levelheaded! Commeonsense and logic is his forte. He supports every statements that he make by a simple logic and commonsense. He is so learned. You name a comapny and he can speak on that company for hours together. He is an excellent case analyzer. What generates lot of excitement in his lectures is the indirect sarcastic comments and taunts that he makes. Dont you dare give a qualitative statement in his class. DO your home work and analyze data and interpret and go to his class. Awesome prof!

Last but not the least, he is the man who is most dreded in IBA. MBA in IBA is incomplete wothout him taking a session! I seriously doubt his subject knowledge(Though he has IIT IIM and lot of experience!), but i bet you learn so much from him just listening. How to think like MBA, how to speak like MBA and how to carry oneself like MBA. He will teach you everything. Logic and commonsense is what he tries to teach. He will make sure that one realises how much one ignorant is. And thats one imporant lesson as an MBA. There is so much to learn and not feel complacent.

These people have challenged my thoughts and and given me lot of gyan. Guys dont miss out them...

I have been busy creating my website, which i had planned long back. Due to paucity of time and motivation i was not able to get started. But i have started and i plan to add more features and keep it updated. There is lot of silly mistakes both in terms of design and grammer, which i will sort out. My objective is to create a website which acts as a ready reckoner for any MBA. It should act as a reference point. Link is:

http://mbacapsule.googlepages.com/

Visit it and give me your valuable suggestion.

Although i had thought of writing on a lot of topic which i came across, i will do it at a later stage. This time i will attach some pics of my Institute. Indian Business Academy, Bangalore.

Class room block. First two buildings on either side are two Auditoriums. Officially called T1 and T2. To left is the Garwa Ground. All parties, welcomes and farewells happen in Garwa ground.
The library which sports a deserted look at any given point of time!!!
First is the Boys hostel, next to it is Mess and canteen and last building is the Ladies Hostel. All in a single row.
A bird's view of campus from Boy's hostel.
The infamous Gowda's shop near Admin building.
View of the campus from near Gowda's shop. This path leads to Class room block from Admin building.

Things I learnt at a B-School and things i didnt...

Right now i am 5/6th of an MBA. One more trimester, boey i am an MBA!!! At the final juncture of my travel through an MBA School, i am bit sceptical, bit nostalgic and bit pensive. Having secured a offer i am relaxed. Nomore i care about CGPA! or attendance! Did i really care??? No. I never cared. I was always happy and content. I felt i always performed better than what i expected. Without much effort, i happily sailed through. That too top 30! Bluntly i will put it this way. If you want a decent CGPA here, you dont need to do anything. It will be a cake walk. Am i sounding bit too cocky??? But i felt this way myself. The quality and competition by my colleagues wasn't that tough. I wish i had tough colleagues! I hardly had a run for all the money i put in MBA. This is my point of view. There are others who feel, this two years were hardest part of their lives. Full of stress and pressure and competition. But i was never born that way. I take life easy.

My take-homes from this Bschool is developing a perspective. Ability to respect others for their views. It honed my way of thinking. i was amazed to see so many ways to look at a single thing.It taught me to have different persectives and have a groomed personality.

Second take-home would be, people wouldnt do anything, unless there is some interest. So one needs to identify that interest and set it as a goal and communicate that to them. people would be more than happy to work towards it.

Thirdly, putting a argument has to be bound with data. Without data, any argument look fake. Data supports your point or argument.

Fourthly, Logic. Yes, whatever one does has to have a logic. Before doing anything we need to ask WHY five times. When we are clear in our thinking as to why we are doing this, we have better understanding as to where we are going and we can better communicate.

Prioritizing things. At any point of time, inundated with assignments and projects to be submitted, the trick is to identify and prioritize things to do. One can do everything bery well but something very well.

Lastly, taking responsibility. We are responsible for what we do. We cant blame anyone. Its all ours.

There are other learnings, which i when reminded would jot down here.

What are the things that i didnt learn??

Brevity. Someone said "Brevity is the soul of wit". Real world has no time. When one presents anything to a client or a customer, these guys dont have time. There we need to sell ourselves within seconds. Dynamic environment today demands that one is precise and succint. But through out the course we kept giving more than 20 pages write-ups and more than 50 slides PPTs! Exams always were lenghty and testing the memorizing aspects not the ability to execute any learning from the book.

People skills. People here are at the same wavelength like us. More or less. Dealing with this crowd is easier. How about real life situation, when your customers are uneducated? Some how we dont know how to communicate and respect their point of view.

Ability to execute. We learnt all the concepts and theories but how to implement and execute. No matter how much one plan or clear about concepts, the ability to execute something is vastly different. It needs nothing but experience and can never be practised in a Bschool.

Moreover, B-school teaches you one bad thing. And that is EGO. An MBA i dont why, feels he knows everything, He feels he can deal with anyone. It this cockiness and complacency that sometimes becomes his own adversary. I will try my label best to remain grounded!!!


NB: Although many ideas are my own, I got inspired a lot by reading a write-up by,The senior vice president, sales and marketing, Prudential ICICI AMC Ltd. He also graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore