This blog post is 1st in a 3-part series titled “Before, then and beyond… The IBS Sojourn” written by IBS Hyderabad Alumnus Rohit Mathew (Class of 2000). It is written from a third person perspective. This 1st part (Before) shares about how Rohit decided to pursue higher education and all real-life drama associated with it.

The year was 1998 and he was at the crossroads again. The young man who was to turn 21 six months later found himself in a quandary. One he had experienced many a times before but never of this magnitude. Should he opt to take the lucrative job opportunity that awaited or should he put his studying cap back on and prepare for higher education?

He had called to let his father know that he had cleared the first round of selection and was to go back for final deliberations after lunch at the Hotel Trident next door.  It was then that his father had broken the news to him. In the telephone booth, at Willingdon Island, Kochi he stood holding the phone, hoping to get some advice.

Earlier that year, he had written the entrance examination for an MBA program from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (Icfai).  His father had received a letter from the Institute, stating that he had cleared the first round; the written examination. He now needed to answer a personality questionnaire and submit a presentation from a selection. He was to do this a week from today at Hyderabad. The final round of the selection procedure would be spread across two days – presentation and group discussion on the first day and if one were to make it through, the final interview would be conducted the next day.

The choice was his to make, his father had told him.  He could either take up the opportunity that awaited him at the office around the corner or walk the path of higher education and see where it would lead him.  After all, he had only written his B.Sc final examinations whose results he still awaited, and here was an opportunity for a job that offered him apart from a salary, perks such as a house with domestic help, a vehicle and membership to a premier club.  What more could a 20 year old from the small town of Meerut, in U.P. hope for?

Taking a deep breath, he pondered how he had gotten here in the first place.  His grandmother had been the daughter of the village school’s headmaster in a remote village in Kerala.  At a time when there was no electricity and study was done by the dimly lit kerosene lamp, she had the gumption to educate herself and move to Agra, a place where the language and the people were unknown.  When women barely moved out of their homes, this lady had travelled to Agra to study medicine. She becamethe first Indian lady doctor at St. Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi after which she was handed the reigns of managing the Cantonment Hospital in Meerut.  Here this gynecologist from small town Kerala, spent the better part of fifty years to become one of the most prominent doctors in Meerut. Her son, the young man’s father had also educated himself to become a leading doctor.

The question still loomed? The choice needed to be made.

Then out of the blue, a thought struck him.  He could hear his grandfather’s word’s – “The one thing that no one can ever take away from you is your education.”  And as it had come, the storm cleared. Everything was clear as day.  Study he would.

If you have done your graduation, have or do not have a work experience of a few years and want to study further in order to enhance you short term and long term career prospects, you need to examine what are the available options and decide one that is most suitable for you. Few things which you must consider are as follows;

i) Employers generally require people who can produce desired results to develop and grow their businesses. People who rise to high positions in industry with good remuneration and perks are those who can own responsibility and deliver results as per expectation of employer.

ii) Rarely one gets employed in a job of high responsibility based only on the specialization degree and skills in a particular field.

iii) Toughest job in business is to own broader responsibility and achieve good results because it involves not only controlling your own work but also controlling the work of many other people and dealing with issues requiring inter-personal and inter-disciplinary aspects.

iv) Consider that you are head of a manufacturing plant and the engineering head proposes to replace an existing machine with a more advanced machine giving higher productivity. The finance head is not keen to invest large sum of money unless it becomes absolute necessity. To arrive at good decision the situation requires knowledge of inter-personal relationships i.e. human issues, financial planning and analysis, market conditions and marketing issues and of course insight into future technological and business trends. The skills and ability to deal with situations of this kind are developed only through an MBA program.

v) A specialized master’s degree in specific field or a certification in Finance or Diploma in banking or in any other domain improves only one dimension of a complex business scenario. It gives more advanced knowledge of the subject field which is good thing but it cannot substitute the integrated comprehensive skill set needed for managing a business.

vi) Most MBA programs require work experience of a few years for admitting a student. During the work experience the students would have encountered certain difficult situations and complex issues which they were unable to resolve satisfactorily. While studying for MBA the students can quickly relate the learning to the practical problems experienced in work life. In fact many practical problems brought by students are analysed and discussed for learning of the whole batch.

vii) An MBA program enables the students to learn from their peers as much as from teachers. So the interactive sessions become very meaningful resource for learning to solve real life problems.

viii) Next is the question of your temperament and aptitude. If you think you feel comfortable working only in the area of your specialization, you may do so but must understand that your opportunities in life for jobs of higher level will be limited. So the ease of remaining in the comfort zone of your own field of work can be counterproductive in the long run as it would block out major opportunities coming in your way.

ix) Better understanding of various business functions enables one to supervise and coordinate effectively the work of other people and other units.

x) There are a number of reasons which clearly point in the direction of preference of MBA over specialization courses or certifications. Few of these are explained below;

• Suitable for different types of jobs: An MBA can easily fit into a wide variety of jobs due primarily to his exposure to a wide spectrum of skills and learning.

• Attitude built up: Most important for success in professional life is the right attitude which does not come easily. It requires conscious effort and systematic intervention to develop it. An MBA program recognizes the significance of attitude and uses various techniques built into the program like group tasks, role play etc.

• High networking: In today’s global business scenario opportunities don’t systematically appear on the pages of newspapers. These have to be located and grabbed by your own initiative. It is best done with a widespread network of professionals. An MBA course provides fertile ground for building an efficient network of your own.

• Better well-connected alumni group: Over a period of time most business school pass outs with MBA degree rise to high positions in wide spectrum of organizations. They all are alumni of the school and are in regular touch through formal and informal meetings. These alumni provide good direction and guidance to the MBA students about the way to go for building a great career for them.

• Better name recognition: Most MBA schools build great name and recognition for themselves based on the quality of education they provide and performance level achieved by its passing out students over the years. So, the name of the institution of your study itself guarantees a good job for you.

• Suitable for developing your own business: Those who want to develop their own business find the MBA degree extremely useful as the course provides insight into various facets of business rather than limiting to a specialized area of knowledge.

• Better mentorship: An MBA program includes various techniques which can be used for better performance in any field of business. One such technique is ‘Mentoring’. A mentor is a friend, philosopher and guide who enriches the mentee with his own long experience and guides him/her in the right direction at the right time.

• Make life more productive and joyful: It is said that best performance can be delivered by a person in a job when he actually enjoys doing the work. An MBA degree focuses on various personality traits and qualities to develop a balanced person who can deliver work of high quality and at the same time have more fun and enjoy the work and the relationships.

• Contemporary knowledge: Issues like emotional intelligence, thinking quotient, lean manufacturing, kaizen, total quality management, six sigma etc., get ingrained into the personality of every passing out student so that they become more relevant in the today’s business world.

• Work life balance: MBA education teaches one to be more effective rather than being workaholic. Techniques like time management, delegation, team building, motivation, morale, business communication etc., allow the pass outs to achieve more in less time, i.e., they work smart rather than work hard. This enables them to create proper balance between office life and personal life.

• Sky is the limit for MBA: For an MBA degree holder the opportunities of higher responsibility appear on the horizon all the time. During his study the student has ingrained in him the concept of lifelong learning and when effectively implemented it enables him to reach the stars. There is no dearth of highest level opportunities on lifelong basis which an MBA can aspire.

Contributed by Sumit Gulati (Batch 2007-2009,IBS HYDERABAD)

Our presence in this world includes an element that speaks volumes for us and this element is neither one’s choice nor avoidable – BODY LANGUAGE. Our body language is actually an implicated blend of our mental state of being, thoughts and emotions of our entire body in the form of postures, actions and expressions. Body language conveys major clues about you or other people such as one’s confidence, flexibility, assertiveness, interest, openness, intelligence and empathy.

Let us now see 10 methods by which we can master our body language:

1. Eye Contact: Maintain regular eye contact with the speaker allowing spaces in between. When you are talking, connect with the audience through your eyes more than your words because most eyes show genuineness and confidence. Avoid over-blinking since it suggests inconfidence.

Have a genuine look and a gentle expression. Avoid all micro-expressions coming from sudden power-cut, an itching in the body etc. Arrogant stares should be avoided at all costs. Looking at the watch reflects disinterest; at own feet or ground indicates shame or guilt. Screening or covering the eyes expresses hidden emotions and interpreted as the absence of willingness to look at or face things.

Eye contact also conveys that you are listening to the speaker which motivates him/her, thus making the communication process a success whereas its absence is an absolute failure. Also, express through eyebrows but don’t overdo it. You’re there to express, not dance through your face!

2. Palms, arms & shoulders: Palms should be facing down on podiums, tables etc if you have to show authority and leadership. Hand gestures must always be appropriate, humble and relevant. Avoid aggressive movements and offensive gestures.

Shoulders indicate power and responsibility; hence they shouldn’t be drooping. Instead they should be broad. If at all you are walking, don’t sway your arms here and there. Hands crossed against chest imply a person who tries to hide something, giving incomplete or incorrect information. Don’t make that danger sign with the cross of arms to the chest.

3. Sincere smile: A big grin might feign interest but a lack of smile means you are not interested at all. A genuine smile pleases people but a smile with an evident bitten lip leaves an impression of being cheated or played with. Gestures such as licking lips express inconfidence.

Having butterflies in the stomach is understandable but don’t let it show on your face. Maintain a smile as it brings in appreciation, trust and respect. Occasionally jokes make us laugh, but this doesn’t mean you will fall off the chair or will be the most audible in the entire scenario.

Be the emotionally balanced version of yourself by not reacting loudly to mishaps, accidents or events. Nodding the head while communicating means listening but neither avoid it nor overdo it. Keep a balance between the two. Subtlety is a boon, being crass and loud is a bane.

4. Reduce overall movement: Your body language should never reflect extreme relaxation or casualness. Hence, the flipping or playing with the hair must be limited. Licking the lip, biting nails, sucking the thumb or biting the lip is a strict no-no, and must be done away with. Avoid touching your face which includes forehead, itchy nose, cheeks or sucking your teeth.

Pacing up and down the room shows impatience and excitement; shaking legs indicates nervousness; unnecessary limping and jumping on toes means restlessness while rubbing one’s ankles together means impatience and willingness to end something.

5. Stand with ease and take space: A person shouldn’t hide or take too much space if standing or sitting amongst a crowd. While standing, the space between the legs must be equal to the distance between the shoulders, neither more nor less.Males must stand with a straight back, 180 degree facing neck, eased shoulders, chest out, stomach in and avoid all stiffness. Females should avoid flimsy standing postures, unnecessary slouching or leaning. The clue here is to exude confidence and not be overtly casual.
6. Handshakes: Handshake should be firm. Loose handshake indicates lack of interest and confidence. On the other hand, a crushing handshake may indicate a willingness to look down upon others, express power, superiority or even hatred.

Biting nails conveys utter impatience, nervousness and frustration. Hidden hands or hands in the pockets indicate our desire to maintain confidentiality; clasping hands means holding onto something tightly and a lack of openness; fidgeting hands or shivering hands mean nervousness. Pointing the wrong fingers such as small finger or middle finger is absolutely unacceptable. Pointing pens or fingers directly at others is considered offensive.

7. Mouth gestures: Do not open your mouth too wide; it doesn’t win you any brownie points. Additionally, do not nod when you don’t know or understand something. Avoid slangs in any language. Offer to give opinion if you are more than sure with ‘I suggest’, ‘may be’ or ‘perhaps’. Do not stand too close to someone. You may accidently spit on them or they can smell your breath; which can be unpleasant and is certainly against etiquettes.
8. Inherent coolness: Your presence must be unique and shouldn’t convey harshness and arrogance. Use tricks, interaction and humor but not at the cost of others. Be polite in your disagreements. There is no need to turn red with a loud scream. Social congregations expect humility.
9. Mirror Work: Practice your speeches, content, check appearances etc in mirror. A mirror helps to build confidence and helps you in identifying shortfalls. It helps to build your charisma and gives you a heads-up on how you look, act or speak beforehand. It helps to build self-worth and trust.
10. Grooming: Grooming is one of the most important aspects for any presentation. I would like to address that through the following tips:

1. • Hair must be trimmed neatly. Gel or hair sprays can be used to manage the same. No stray hair please.
   • Nasal hair must be neatly trimmed
   • For the men, their moustache and beard must be shaved or stylishly well maintained
   • Ears must be clean
   • To avoid bad breath, mint or substitute must be used
   • Tie must in its right place and matching the overall clothes
   • Clean and ironed clothes only with stiff collars and cuffs
   • Belt must not be tied loosely
   • Shoes should be polished and laces tied
   • Use a mild perfume if at all used. Don’t smell with a mixture of aftershave, cologne, deodorant and perfume
   • The women should trim their nails and should avoid loud nail paints.
   • Heels should be worn only if you can handle them without falling
   • Wear decent jewelry

   As said before, body language speaks volumes, hence one must be extremely cautious about it. Remember an impression can be made easily with few efforts rather than being scoffed at or being an embarrassing point of reference for others!

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Contributed by Chayan Jain (Class of 2011-2013, IBS HYDERABAD)

An MBA course can sometimes become dull with continuous classes, projects, case studies, presentations, group studies and the stress of placement. If there’s one challenge that never seems to go away at business school campuses around the world, it’s how to keep MBA students motivated, interested, and engaged. Do not worry, we are here to rescue you and introduce you to the beautiful world of games that MBA students can play. These games are entertaining and educative at the same time, so students and teachers do not have to worry about precious time being wasted. Management games give a sense of practical applicability of the subject and the concepts that are learnt are inscribed in a better manner when the students have practical experience of the concept. Some examples of such games include:

1. Building Towers: Form two groups and hand over bundles of newspaper to both. Keep one scissor and tape common between both the groups. Ask them to make the tallest tower within 10 minutes and the one with tallest will be the winning team. This game illustrates how both teams use the available resources, who plays a leader’s role and who are their followers, how they act as a team.
2. Paper planes: Ask each student to write a couple of questions on a sheet of paper relating to previous lecture. Then each person makes their paper into a paper plane (or crunches it into a paper ball). Divide the class into 2 teams on opposite sides of the room and encourage everyone to chuck their planes at the other team. After a short while, everyone must pick up a plane closest to them, read the question aloud and answer it. This game helps in recalling the topics of the last lecture and engaging everyone.
3. Beach Ball Toss: Write questions on an inflated beach ball and toss it around the room. Whoever catches the ball has to answer one question written on it. The questions can be fun ones such as what is your favourite dessert or favourite movie or they can be related to a particular MBA lecture.
4. The I’s Have It! : After a discussion on communication skills, ask the students to find a partner and for the next 2 minutes, they will be allowed to talk about anything in the world they want to discuss. There is, however, one rule – THEY CANNOT USE THE WORD ‘I’. They can do anything else they want; they just can’t say ‘I’. After 2 minutes, discuss how many were able to talk for those 2 minutes without using the said pronoun as instructed? Why do so many of us have difficulty avoiding the use of ‘I’ in conversation? This game would hence illustrate how we tend to be more self-centred than we may have thought, and to demonstrate the importance of focusing on the other person.
5. Back to Back drawing: Invite two people and have them sit back-to-back on a chair. Give one person a picture of a shape and give the other person a pencil and pad of paper. The person holding the picture would give verbal instructions to their partner on how to draw the shape without actually telling the partners what the shape is. After they’ve finished, ask each pair to compare their original shape with the actual drawing, and consider how well did the first person describe the shape, how well did the second person interpret the instructions and were there problems with both the sending and receiving parts of the communication process?
6. The name game: Split the group into pairs. Instruct each person of the group to think of a famous person and write it secretly on a post-it. Attach the post-it to the head of their partner. In round 1 – take it in turns to ask closed (yes/no) questions. You may continue to ask questions for as long as you receive a ‘yes’. When the answer is no, swap over. E.g. Am I alive, Am I male, Am I a sports person etc. In round 2 – they must take turns to ask one Open or TED (Tell, Explain, Describe) question (with the exception of ‘what is my name’ or similar!). If they mistakenly ask a closed question they lose their turn. At the end of this activity, the key message is that despite the obvious usefulness of questions, for gathering information we find it easier to ask closed questions but if the questions are not right, we may never receive the required answer.
7. Two truths and a Lie: Ask each person in the class to write three statements and two of them should be true facts and one should be a lie. Each person in the class should read their statements aloud and the rest of the class would guess which one is a lie. At the end of this game, the class would know each other better and in a fun way!
8. The mixed picture puzzles: Divide the class in two teams and hand them two puzzles but mix some pieces of each puzzle with another one. The team that finishes their puzzle first wins the task. The key part of this game is learning how to collaborate with the other team’s members to fetch their own puzzle pieces.

At the end of the game a student may be asked what management concepts he has learnt from the game. Properly designed games help in ingraining thinking habits, analytical, logical and reasoning capabilities, importance of team work, time management, communication and leadership capabilities. Use of management games can encourage novel and innovative mechanisms for coping with stress.

If it is not possible to play management games during classes, students should be encouraged to play some of these in their free time. One of the best business games available online is at virtonomics.com. This game provides you an opportunity to create your own business empire and have fun by advancing your skills in management, teamwork and strategic thinking. You will learn to make serious managerial decisions on the fly and learn how to quickly adapt to the market conditions.

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Contributed by Shilpa Verma Kansal ( Class of 2006 – 2008, IBS GURGAON )

There is a change in the life cycle of events from the use of telegrams to the age of laptops and mobile. With internet sweeping the world by storm, gadgets seemed endless to work and play from. With the beginning to the 21^st century people engaged themselves with all their world shifting from papers and files to desktops and laptops. Generations, whether young or old had to adapt themselves to the new age technology for their chores.

A revolution which came up after this was the usage of mobile phones. Digital revolution across the world opened up newer avenues for growth and entertainment. According to Globalist, the number of cell phone users in the year 1980 was about 11.2 million people. However in the year 2010, the number of mobile subscribers has risen to about 4 billion people, i.e. about 67% of the world population. The number of internet users in the year 1980 was indexed in a phone directory and by the year 2010, the number rose to 1.8 billion i.e. about 267 of world population.

With such advent in the use of mobile it only limits people to use it for calling and gaming purpose. Today mobiles are used to develop applications which ease life for people in various categories like communication, gaming, education, knowledge, creativity, news, fitness, shopping etc at just a click of a button. Mobile applications are computer programs that work on mobiles, tablets and other related mobile devices

Various platforms and operating systems like Android, iOS, Windows etc provide developers and opportunity to showcase their talent. Mobile phones have over the time replaced the work of laptops and desktops. Mobile phones being converted to smartphones become handy, convenient and easy to use for various purposes.

MBA graduates have keen understanding in the concepts and their core thoughts. In their school of study they are thrown light on the latest technologies that help them in building their thought culture along with reality concepts. Mobile phones have become a necessity in each one’s life. To make things simpler they are used in almost every field. Pursuing MBA has been a popular choice for people in understanding the business concepts and building blocks. When this talent is merged with in trend technology it leads to create a whole new system of innovation.

Let us understand how mobile apps creation would be a whole new opportunity for the MBA graduates.

• Mobile apps as a source of business has led to many MBA graduates turn into entrepreneurs with their start ups in creating so. They can leverage their ideas based on the skills they acquired from their respective business schools
• MBA graduates are feeding a new breed of business. Instead of pursuing careers in corporate they engage themselves in business plans during their graduation so that they can develop products accordingly. These products are created as mobile applications.
• Creating mobile apps during pursuing graduation helps them to sustain in a sector which mobile developers fear to enter. For example, Mark Zuckerberg, American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur, launched Facebook when he was pursuing graduation. Having started it while pursuing graduation gave him space and minimized the risk of having an office space.
• Mobile apps help the start-ups and the MBA entrepreneurs with an opportunity to take ahead their ideas into this fast growing mobile technological world. It is a career path which is popular for the graduates and there seems no limit in the mobile business.
• Successful companies have merged with various business schools for their testing purposes. MYGON is a company that was set up by two co-founders. IE, business school has opened a world of opportunities for them. Euclides Major, graduated from MBA Program and with his start up the mobile deals has more than 1, 50, 000 users. MBA graduates understand the finance structure of the company which helps to seek funds for their start ups. Euclides raised about 550, 000 pounds through seed funding. Such development helped the company to have about 8 employees plus the co-founders to operate the company.

The usage of mobile phones other than making calls has increased highly. The main reason behind this being that there was shift from the usage of desktops to smartphones and tablets. They are used for a variety of activities majorly for browsing through the social networking sites and digital videos.  Matheww Barnett, founder of Vimily, graduated from AGSM’s pursuing MBA degree in Sydney. He created a mobile app which helps the users to create questions, can film an interview and also upload it to web before it could be shared on social sites.

The popularity of the app helped them in raising the funds up to $2, 30,000 from angel investors. Matheww credited the success to the location of his school which helped him built the company to its present status. Hence getting a MBA degree from a reputed institute helps not only in the present endurances but also build a healthy future.

The growth in the mobile industry is tremendous and MBA graduates can make most of it. Most of the major and big companies engage people with such degrees as they have the right knowledge in strategic business development, investment and skills upfront. Ashuveen Bhadal, founder Drinksmart, created a mobile application which uses geo-location technology so that its users could meet their friends for drinks. They feel there is lot of opportunities for MBA graduates in the mobile market. The trend of website was huge few years back. Nowadays it’s the trend of mobile apps ready on the go.

The amount of investment required for starting up a mobile application business is lesser than other business. With little investment and higher success, start-ups can get funding from bigger companies. It promises huge returns on investments. MBA graduates who spend lot of money for obtaining a degree for the course should choose this path so that they can join as a group of people (about 2-5) and start up with a business strategy and earn with huge returns.

Business school provides strategy was the biggest advantage. B-Schools tie up with various start-ups creating mobile apps, so that students could learn them with practical learning. MBA program provides a lot of value for creating value from everything. Mobile apps a great start up to potentially grow in the long run.

“Going mobile encodes strategy and persuasions, MBA could lead one to the stature- (M)anagers (B)uilding (A)pplications”

Contributed by Anju Bafna ( Class of 2010, IBS BANGLORE )

Linkedin Profile of Anju Bafna : http://lnkd.in/UBhpzc

 

Your Idea behind choosing the MBA, nowadays, is not just for the sake of adding a PG Degree in your portfolio, but more to gain exposure to areas where in you have absolutely no experience in. This is true not only for you, but for every student who is choosing the MBA as the first choice for their higher education.

The so called “Competitive & Tough” Entrance exams are not the only filter from which the student needs to be piped out successfully but in order to succeed in a Competitive MBA Program, an MBA candidate needs to develop certain qualities, which should mark them as the different student from those not done the quality MBA. So, in this neck throat competitive world, the best only wins!

We give you the 5 top qualities that make an ordinary student into a Great MBA student !

How to Sell: No matter what specialization you choose during your MBA, Be it HR, Marketing, Operations, IT or any other, you need to know how to sell your products or services. Today, not only the sales people should know the selling part better than others, but even if you are an HR student, you must know the selling tricks in order to sell your service to your customer. In this competitive world you should find the opportunities much easier than the past but at the same point of time, there are lot of competition running around you and if you do not possess the necessary selling skills you will be left behind in whatever the business area you will be working.

Decision Making: Any company which will take you after you qualified as an MBA, expects you to be a one minute manager, which means, you should take a decision like a quirk. The ability to make strong and quick decision will help you stand out from the other bunch of professionals. You need to remember that today’s world is very dynamic and is changing every second and the people who are not able to take the decision in fast and accurate manner will be left behind and soon you will be on the wrong side of dais.

There are lot of people around the world who have become successful in either in the corporate world or in their business field, and if you read about them or do a quick research on their success stories, the most common thing you will find out is that all these people at some point of time has taken some or the other quick and bold decision which had become the milestones.

So, at all the point of time during your MBA Course, try to take some bold and quick decision, be it during the study, presentation to the faculty, joining some of the training program etc. You need to realise the fact that it might happen that some of your decision may fall flat or not gave the desired result but at least you tried, no matter what the result, but still you are better than those who do not tried and just follow the laid down process and principles and for them the result also may be known at the start of their journey!

Discipline:  There is a very thin line between the discipline and Indiscipline students. MBA Course not only provides the degree of freedom to choose the subject, project, presentation, activities etc but these courses are the best way to learn the discipline in your personal and professional life. Students who are committed and wants to play it big in their professional life do take the full advantage of the MBA Course and learn the a-z of the discipline while completing the course.

Whether you join an MNC or start up you own venture, if you are not disciplined enough, people will not take your job serious and you will start losing the control of your life.

Leadership: MBA is most sought-after degree that is designed for the individual, wants to take the leadership role either in the organisation they worked for or even if they start their own venture. IBS MBA Course is the best available program which offers the high quality tools and techniques to the student in order to learn the best of the leadership skills.

Nowadays all the organisation wants their Manager to be the best leaders and even the organisation these days spend a lot of money on the program and activities which shall nurture the managers to a Leader.

Every student, during the MBA Course, can learn and enhance their leadership skills to their full advantage. MBA Courses are the best available platform for an individual to use and enhance their leadership qualities in order to make them grow in this competitive world shall use this as a ladder to grow fast in their corporate zone.

Clear Communication: It is always believe that people without the proper and clear communication cannot go far…It is always advisable that you must polish your communication skills even before joining the MBA Course. There is a say that you shall not undermine your opponent and this also holds true for the students of MBA Program. When you enter into an MBA College, you will encounter many students who are having an excellent command over English language and posses exuberant communication skills. At that point of the time many student start generating the felling of embarrassment and in the fear of that they avoid taking participation in many skill development programs offered during the course and thereafter left behind in learning the important skills and hence could not succeed in the corporate world.

Do not think that it’s necessary to have excellent communication skills even before you join the MBA college, as I mentioned above that it is advisable not mandatory, but you should never afraid of learning at any point of time, it is always recommended that you should take active participation in all the kinds of skill development programs and explore all the possible opportunities to make your communication skills as much better as can be.

So, the mantra of becoming a successful professional from an MBA Student is just one…

Do Not Fear!! Keep trying!  There are always two roads to walk in a professional life, one road will be the plane, simple, without bumper and with all the marks and signboards and this road will be the much walked in by most of the student turn professionals…

But, the other road will not have any signboard, much bumpy, have loads of sharp turn with many potholes and the distance will be the long enough to make you tired…but if you are able to walk this road even for some miles, you will be the one who are today a successful professional and Leaders !

So, while doing your MBA, Decide your road and just walk In.

Contributed by HIMANSHU CHAUDHARY ( Class of 2003-05, IBS HYDERABAD )

Sourabh grew up watching Bollywood movies, hailed from a small town called Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. Coming from a middle class family had high aspirations from him. He wanted to grow up to a typical Manager in a Global company in some metro city. Laden under the burden of his self aspirations didn’t know which direction to go & how to realize his dreams. He knew, Rupal, his cousin had done MBA & was earning handsome in some Multinational company. So, MBA was the most obvious choice to realize his dreams.  Graduating in Commerce from a Government College with a meager 60 percentage felt his chances were slight. Rupal was a busy man & for Sourabh it was tough to get Rupal’s expert advice for his career. However, he could manage a telephonic chat with Rupal on a Sunday. Sourabh felt dejected after speaking to Rupal. Rupal had told Sourabh about an acronym CAT. He once had heard of this in a seminar at his college. People said it was tough but was the key to a successful career.  As destined, in the dearth of professional advice & coaching, Sourabh fell prey to the situations. Sourabh prepared on his own & attempted to crack CAT but without any success. He later went on to do his MBA from a local institution without a Campus Placement & started his never ending struggle. After toiling for a decade, Sourabh now a Marketing Manager with an Education Consultancy preaches for better awareness & mentoring amongst the graduating students. He usually tells the students to have more & more options with them so that they can choose from the array of B-Schools later for the final admission.

Moral of the story: Be informed, plan better & don’t be Sourabh.

So, the need of the hour is to think beyond IIM’s/CAT. In fact there is nothing like if a student can make it into IIM’s/Xaviers/SPJIMR/JBIMS/FMS/NMIMS etc but if one can’t make it to these institutions then what? One have to have more options at hand. At the same time options must be “Ideal”.  To understand the Ideal options one has to do some rigorous research on the following parameters:

1. Budget: First things first, most important parameter that anybody thinks of before going for any type of course. Primarily there shall be few types of budgets involved in the selection of a B School.
   1. Budget A: In addition to CAT, aspirant must attempt at least top 4-5 National Level MBA entrance exams. Total expense incurred for attempting these exams will be the Budget A. Merely clearing these exams will not guarantee the admission to any of these top end B Schools. One needs to undergo the rigorous selection process conducted by B Schools.
   2. Budget B: On clearing the entrance exams, students need to attend the Selection Process. It generally comprises of Group Discussion & Personal Interview. Different B Schools conduct Selection Processes at different places. So the Budget B becomes the expenses incurred by the aspirants for attending the Selection Processes by different B-Schools
   3. Budget C: Last but not the least, Tuition Fees & Living expenses of the course will mean Budget C. In fact, aspirants must discuss it with their parents, who are the decision makers that Admission Fees of the Course to be paid needs to be taken care by aspirants on their own. Banks will finance once the B School issue the final Admission Letter to the aspirant. Also confirm before paying the Admission fees whether the B Schools offers Financial Aid/Bank Financing or not.
2. Geography: It is very important for a student to get adapted to the weather conditions of the place where he is going to be for next two years. Some students find it really difficult to adapt to the weather conditions & food of that place & end up withdrawing up from the institution within initial few months only. So, a physical Campus visit is highly advisable to avoid any such situation after the final admission.
3. Infrastructure: Do not forget to visit personally. Campus should be a descent property, well positioned & easily approachable. Many parents check themselves in case of the female students. Two years is a long time students must feel safe & comfortable in the campus. Enquire about the classroom types, library, cafeteria, hostel & other essential amenities viz. internet connectivity, Wi-Fi, Labs etc
4. Faculty & Research: Try to check out the profiles & experience of faculties. Top end B Schools will generally have this information on their websites. In fact this parameter must be given a lot of weithage. Faculties with Industry experience can make students learnings more practical. The research work by the faculties will show the kind of Intellectual Capital any institute has.
5. Teaching Methodology: As the batch of MBA receives students from varied disciplines. So, the immediate goal for a B School remains to bring these students on the same platform. This can be done by practical method of teaching. For example, by Case Study based method of teaching. In this method real life scenarios are given to students for solutions. This method would instill lot of common & business sense in the students through equal participation while studying the course basics alongside.
6. Rankings: Various agencies publish rankings on different parameter every year. One must understand the research methodology applied to the Surveys & the relevance on the parameters too.
7. Alumni: A strong alumni base indicates the yester year’s & also on the coming year’s placements. A strong alumni base would mean that the B School has been doing exceedingly well consistently in placements. Do enquire about the Alumni base before a final decision.
8. Placements: Most vital parameter while zeroing upon a B School remains to be the final placements. One needs to check at least past three years record before making a final call. Placed decently, may almost pay for a life time. Annual package will decide the kind of return on Investment that one would get. So, don’t forget to check the lowest, average & highest packages offered in domestic & to the international placements.
9. Brand: Brand means a unique identity, an image or a perception in the minds. A brand is formed over the years when great practices are carried on consistently over a long period of time & hence creating a rich legacy. One time placement can be had from any B School but a branded education may give a prolonged & a successful career. A branded B School will give a Job ready product to the market, readily to be absorbed in any organization. A brand will be recognized nationally & internationally & hence giving more options to the student.

If the parameters explained above are given due consideration & thoughtful, informed & collective decision is taken by the student & parents, may land the student in an Ideal B School. So, expand your options, be informed & then decide.

Good Luck!

Contributed by Bharat Sharma

 

Imagine a child compelling her mother for a cup of ice cream. Is the child negotiating or bargaining? Perhaps we use the term negotiation and bargaining interchangeably. You may find these techniques that are on display in everyday life at flea markets, roadside vendors, and even in high end market stores. You feel the asking price is a bit too high and haggle to get the price lowered.
People confuse between bargaining, influencing, persuading and negotiation because of their similarities. Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people to reach an understanding, or in business sense, to gain advantage in outcome of dialogue to produce an agreement upon course of action. Persuading involves, being able to convince other to take appropriate action whereas influencing encompasses both of these.
You fail numerous times and get annoyed. For me, Negotiation is an art since it involves expression or application of human creative skills as well as science because of the behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. I quote from the book I love to read about the 3 common errors which people do and you should refrain while negotiating.

1. Separate the people from the problem.
Fact of the matter is that a Negotiator is also human. Be smart to separate the substance and deal directly with the problem. Put yourself in their shoes; don’t blame them for your problem. Attempt to discuss each other perceptions and look for opportunities. Listen actively and acknowledge what is being said.
2. Don’t bargain over position.
Always remember arguing over a position produces unwise agreements and is inefficient. It endangers the ongoing relationship and you tend to lock themselves into these positions. The more you clarify your position, the more difficult it becomes to do so. Your ego is identified with your position.
3. Focus on interest, not positions.
For a wise solution, reconcile interests not positions. Interest define the problem, behind opposed positions lie shared and compatible interest as well as conflicting ones. But how do you identify interest- Ask why? Realize that each side has multiple interests and the most powerful interest is basic human needs.
You can sneak google and will find a lot of different negotiation techniques, but I’ve observed and would suggest my preferred 5 strategies for buyer and 10 powerful negotiation tactics which you may use at advantage in your daily and business life. You may use these strategies and techniques as a combination to gain success.

Five Strategies for Buyer
1. Remember you are in a powerful position and you should preserve and enhance it throughout the buying process.
2. Whether or not you are looking at competitive options, the seller thinks you are.
3. Understand the requirement and know as much as you can about what you are buying.
4. Learn all you can about the seller-his/her goals, values, organizations etc.
5. Identify and assess any risks involved with the product or service.

Ten negotiation tactics
1. Never say Yes to their first offer
Yes is the oldest word in the dictionary but saying yes to the first offer you chose not to see what may come next. Always wait to see the other side of the coin and you never know you may flinch a great deal.
2. Ask for more than you expect to get
This is funny and my personal favorites i.e. fire someone with expectations. I usually ask for more than what I need and finally settle on what I really need. Don’t be shy in asking more than your appetite.
3. Bracket your objective
Aim higher in case you fall short is a good saying. If your objective is clear before entering the negotiation call, half the battle is indeed won, ensure your objective has a set bracket; you can’t be a lost child in a mall.
4. Options give your power
Folks to choose between the devil and blue sea may not what you want. The chances of your failure increases in case you are fixed on one option, cherry pick your options; and if you don’t have, generate one.
5. Flinch at the other side’s proposal
I’ve seen many times people see what the other side want them to see. Play hardball; evaluate the other side of the proposal. It gives a threat to the seller that the customer isn’t interested, and the flip side is, you get to know what’s supplementary.
6. Play reluctant buyer
Imagine a stranger walk up to you at a bar saying, “I’m the best thing that ever happened to you. “Marry me.” You will be reluctant likewise never show your interest at first go, always try to gauge the seller by being a reluctant buyer and strike the iron when it’s hot.
7. Use the silent technique
Silence is golden, I was listening to a presentation from a major fortune company and during their sales pitch; I stayed quiet for some time, sensing something is wrong the account manager started to push harder, and at the end they gave us what we required.
8. Tap down the size of the discount
Try to gauge the accuracy of the discount. You should mind and analyze; IS it not a case of seller cutting you down on the quality of product or service. It’s imperative you minimize the profit but don’t kill the seller’s dream to make a penny on the deal.
9. Patience is a virtue to a negotiator
It’s a good saying have patience, all things are difficult before they become easy. It’s important you maintain you’re cool during the deal, as by getting worked up you may endanger the good work done till now.
Confidential only for IBS
10. Only a Mediator or Arbitrator can resolve the deadlock
Don’t scramble in a deadlock, let someone else take the lead; may be by trying harder you can endanger the relationship; it’s advisable to get it resolve through a mediator.

Negotiating is an important aspect in our day to day life. Negotiation involves being able to discuss and reach a mutual satisfactory agreement. Picture an employee asking for a raise from their employer, two organizations negotiating on intellectual property rights, lawyers bending on an out of court settlement, bureaucrats administering the tendering process. They all have one thing in common; all of them are negotiating for the finest result.

Contributed by Vaibhav Chandra ( Class of 2007-09, IBS HYDERABAD )

The title of this article may sound interesting but the actual reality is that there is no prescribed formula for success. Yes, there are certainly steps/or dos which can surely help in moving towards success. I am just penning down some them and believe me it works. I am sharing ‘secret’ with you guys based on my own experience. And these things are such that implementations of them will surely help.And there is no harm in working on these tips.

        1. Reading – covering various subjects

You may say this is but obvious, what is new? But I have observed that many people don’t read, or don’t have hobby or habit of reading. Friends, there is no alternative of reading; no other source or medium can be alternative of reading. I have observed people; be it students or experienced professionals who do read but their reading is limited to only their domain area only. What will differentiate you from others is your knowledge on various subjects apart from domain field. It will help you in your placement interview and even during your professional career. Extra reading on myriad subjects will help you standing apart from colleagues.

        2. Participation in events like Business Quiz, Open Lectures, Seminars, Management Festivals organized by prestigious management institutes

It is very important to participate in above mentioned events as it helps in interacting with students, professors, professionals of otherinstitutes and companies. Meeting new people from fraternity expands your network and helps you grow professionally. Make a team with like-minded friends and represent your college in these events. Believe me, it is finest way of marketing yourself and your institutes at these events.

 Make in-house club like Finance club, Quiz club, Marketing club etc.

Further, make a group of friends and create clubs like marketing, finance, quiz etc and arrange regular meetings of these clubs every fortnight or monthly. During my MBA, we used to take a topic and one team used to present before the club. You can also invite your faculty, dean in this meeting who can share their knowledge and experience.

        3. Build a profile on Linked in

Building a good profile on linked is a must. Nowadays having a strong presence on linked-in is a key to get calls from HRs of different companies. Hence, build a strong profile on linked-in, fill in all relevant details like email id, cell phone etc correctly so that they can connect with you easily.

But please be careful that in while doing so, please do not bluff, otherwise you will get caught easily and might end up with rejection without being selected.

       4. Watch English movies, documentaries,videos etc.

This may sound bit weird but it helps. Based on my personal experience, I can assure you that there are some fantastic movies and watching them improves domain knowledge as well as grip on English language. Please see imdb list of top 100 Hollywood movies and watch them.

Please note that I am talking about good English movies only and not any other movies which may teach you something else

Jokes apart, further, there are wonderful documentaries available on BBC documentary website which can be your knowledge capsule. You would have heard of ted.com, if not then please visit ted.com and you will be into world of learned, sharp, researchersindividuals who share their story in a short time. These will help in enhancement of knowledge on various subjects and will help in presentation skills.

    5. Develop some hobby + play one sport

During these precious 2 years, you should develop passion for one hobby; be it music, quiz, movie, reading or any other thing of your interest. But develop it, if you don’t have and try to nurture it throughout your life. Additionally, play one sport, be it cricket, badminton, football, or any other in house game. But play it regularly.This will act as a super stress buster in future.

Please don’t think about developing passion for ‘teen patti’.  It may backfire.

        6. Research about companies you want to join

Make a group of 10-15 people in your class and create a list of companies in the field you want to do your specialization and build career. Divide this list among group members and try to fetch some useful information on these companies business, name of the key decision makers, details of its HR department, recruitment officer, address, contact details etc.  And try to build a connect with them with the help of your placement cell. However, this exercise should be done during 1’st or 2nd semester so that this can be of help in your summer internship placement and final placement.

        7. Get a grip on Excel, PowerPoint and Word

This is utmost important. You should have a solid grip on Excel, Power point and Word. The entire corporate world runs on these three things. If you are not good at it, don’t worry, consult your IT faculty, seek their guidance or join professional classes or take help of your friend who is good at it. There are also good videos available on internet for excel, ppt teaching. Just search them and learn from it.

       8. Make a daily routine and stick to it

This suggestion may sound parental advice and weird but it is actually very important. In order to achieve something in life, one needs to make some sacrifice. During these valuable two years, you have to make most of it. And for that, you have to make a daily schedule for you and implement it too.

Ex: Go to bed at 11 or 12 and get up at 5 or 6 in the morning. This will expand your day and you will have almost 17 to 18 hours at your disposal in which you can finish all your work and you will not postpone work on tomorrow.

Further, after getting up early, do exercise, go for jogging/walking, do yoga, play any sport. Be it anything but do some physical exercise so that you feel fresh during the day.

        9. And lastly, focus on study

Last but not the least. Remember one thing that you are here to study and your entire existence is only for study. Don’t get distracted by other things and spoil this valuable time of your life. Make a routine of spending 3-4 hours for focused study to revise learnings of the day, to prepare for next day and so on. But keep busy yourself in the study as your parents have spent a good amount of their hard earned money to send you here. Hence, don’t do any nonsense which can crush their dreams of seeing you doing wonders. Bring pride to your parents, brothers and sisters and for all your well-wishers.

The above is easier said than done. But my friends, honestly, I have tried most of them and it has worked till date. You may disagree on some of the points but try to implement whatever you like, it will surely will help as each of the above tips isindeed a secret to success for an MBA student.

Contributed by janmang ( Class of 2010, IBS AHEMDABAD )

Linkedin Profile of janmang : http://in.linkedin.com/pub/janmang-mehta/21/b17/b59