Life is unfair...

Indeed as Bill Gates says, "Life is unfair, get used to it!"

It is unfair, you don't always get the grades you studied so much for; you don't always get the job you gave 30 day's of your preparation time to.....and people do stab on your back!

But what does this mean....should we stop trying? NO WAY!

Today I might feel like I wasted the last 25-30 days preparing for strats, but I still feel it was worth it; I tried,  probably the best I could in the time that I had and actually had 4 rounds with them, where I was eventually able to reach the solution for almost each problem with a slight nudge in the right direction! That makes me feel so proud of me!

While I tried my best, I am sure there were other people who tried better and did better..

But one thing that's sure is that, today I vow to stay in touch with Maths puzzles throughout my life -be it probability, statistics, geometry, algorithms, complexity, linear algebra and what not! This is important for my gray matter's agility and I must continue with this.

For now that's all, God's watching! Bye!

Super Achievers all Around me!!!

Oh My God!!!

Look at people around me - every one is a super blockbuster achiever - the best, the topper, the creator, the winner, the be alls!

The person sitting next to me is a finalust at the world renowned CK Prahalad competition and in Ann Arbor at the moment.

The person sitting next to me in TSTC is a finalist at the DuRex RPG contest. She is among the top 20 finalist for the competition among the top b-schools in India...

One of my classmate's start-up got acquired by Yahoo!

Another one was representing India at the WEC!

Yet another one has been selected to give a speech at Morrocco at a global convention..

Our very own alums - Team NanoHealth - won the Clinton Global Initiative's HULT Challenge in New York...They were competing among the top brains of the world, the mbas from Harvard, Stanford, Stern, Booth and where not!

My close friend traveled to Slovenia as finalists among the top 7teams from across colleges like INSEAD, Wharton, Stanford...and what not!

OMG! Where am I? And who am I? Some spillover? I am hoping some spillover happens....It's intriguing but nevertheless a great place to be in...I am sure I am learning something from them everyday..I better do!

WHen will i have my story? Wait and watch - i sure will have one!..and soon enough!

Calling!

The only thing you can really lose now is your dream; and if that's gone all's lost!

Follow the calling and chase the dream that YOU truly believe in !

Important Lessons

Lessons picked up during the year:

1. If there was only one thing you could remember from the MADM lectures it would be the importance of Opportunity Cost and Relevance!
2. One takeaway from GLEC, human ingenuity is the only resource which does not have diminishing marginal return. Therefore innovation is the only real way to growth!
3. You'll never find time - you've got to make it!

Suggested Books

While I can't afford to read them during the year, this is a valuable list for future reference:

1. "Outliers", Malcolm Gladwell
2. Thinking Fast and Slow
3. Art of Choosing - Sheena Iyengar
4.Good to Great
5. Build to Last
6. Working Identity

OB: From Luis Martin

Organizational Behavior Book List – 2014
Luis L. Martins
General Interest:
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful, by
Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter.
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck.
• Give and Take, by Adam M. Grant.
• The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, by Jonathan Haidt.
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg.
• Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense, by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton.
By OB Topic:
1. Understanding Organizations as Complex Systems
Do Nothing!: How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader, by J. Keith Murnighan
2. Structuring Organizations for Optimal Performance
Designing Dynamic Organizations: A Hands-on Guide for Leaders at All Levels, by Jay Galbraith, Diane Downey, and
Amy Kates.
3. Creating an Engaging Organizational Culture
Organizational Culture and Leadership, by Edgar H. Schein.
4. Strategically Aligning Human Resources
Jack: Straight from the Gut, by Jack Welch.
5. Motivating Employees
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Dan Pink.
6. Designing and Leading High Performance Teams
Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances, by J. Richard Hackman.
7. Working Effectively in Teams
Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy, by Amy C. Edmondson.
8. Managing Team Conflict
Building Conflict Competent Teams, by Craig E. Runde and Tim A. Flanagan.
9. Enhancing Individual and Team Decision Making
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman.
10. Leading Effectively
The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How to Develop and Use the Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership, by David
Caruso and Peter Salovey.
11. Managing Power Dynamics and Work Relationships
Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t, by Jeffrey Pfeffer.
12. Developing and Utilizing Networks Effectively
The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies, by Ivan Misner and Michelle R. Donovan
13. Leading Change
Leading Change, by John Kotter.
14. Achieving Results Through Others

Influence: Science and Practice, by Robert B. Cialdini.

1.       B*-Start with the why

2.       V*-The golden circle

3.       B*- In the sphere of silence

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Suggested Books - NEGA

1. Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini
2. Influence and Persuasion  in small groups - Nemeth C.J. and Goncalo
 Persuasion: Psychological Insights and Perspectives - London sage publications
3. Brett J.M.: Negotiating Globally: How to Negotiate deals, Resolve Disputes and Make Decisions across cultural boundaries.
4. Ury. W. - Getting Past No: Negotiating with Difficult People; Bantam Books
5. The Brave New World
6. The Empowered Manager: positive Political Skills at work
7. The Wisdom of Crowds

MISC

1. Barbarians at the gate
2. Swaminathan Aiyyar: Democracy & Capitalism
3. Saving Capitalism from capitalists

Websites:

1. theinvisiblegorilla.com

The first post! :)

Woooooooooooooooohoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

So here I am finally at ISB - the Indian School of Business! :) ...and I am loving the madness...

I wanted to have something dedicated to the ISB experiences for quite some time now...and here you go..i have a dedicated blog for my 51 week roller coaster ride to be!

This is the fifth day i have been on campus and the first time i get a chance to take a breather. There is just so much going around here and it is only the O-week...it's madness personified. Even that would be an understatement. But i am loving every bit of it.

Today was the first day of our sports meet that is spread across two days and I tried my hand at Volleyball! Yes, i hit that gigantic ball with my hands - never imagined i would ever do that; but gradually it's dawning on me that part of the ISB experience is to teach you to challenge your own limitations - personal or professional - like it had coaxed me enough to organize a terrace party at my house in Bangalore for 36 odd people. Ofcourse there was  immense co-operation and support from my amazing batchmates :)


Saw the RC (Recreation Center) today. It has a serene pool that is 5ft deep throughout :). That's lovely, because  can conveniently swim in it all by myself now. There is a nice badminton court as well - with wooded flooring.

We also had an extensive case discussion related to accounting today. With a really nice market simulation software. We had to do quarter by quarter analysis and allocation. That was stretched through the day.

There is an interesting event for the O-week - form a conglomerate of ~20 people. In our case it's groups - Ca, Da, Ga and Ka. We need to form a team collage with pictures from the Google hangout of all of us. That's because Ka is from the Mohali campus. Interesting no? :)


We also got our study group. I have  bunch of dedicated, persevering folks in my team - glad! :D
One of them was into Investment Banking - a great help for the accounting simulation we had today...slowly getting an inkling of the tremendous feasibility of peer learning here at ISB. Totally loving it.

Got a chance to visit the LRC (the Learning Resource Center or the library) as we were using a small room there for group assignments. It is amazing! Spiralling staircase that emerge from the Atrium courtyard...Simply in awe..The next free evening i will certainly spend there.

What else..? Well housekeeping is awesome here - impeccable i must say. I am getting to make a lot of friends. We have dedicated wifi for both smartphones as well a laptops within the campus - which is such an awesome thing to have Just loving it.

The other most interesting thing i saw - there are cycles available across the campus. Whenever and wherever you wish, you may pick up and ride on it. Incidentally, they also have front baskets :). A visit to the local More store could never have been so much fun.

We are also preparing for the talent night - each vouching for a section trophy - mine is section G. I will go for the dance practice regrding that tomorrow morning at 7:30 in the atrium! And guess what, i have a theater artist as my classmate! Isn't that amazing ? :)

Also, heard a lot about the Honour Code of Conduct (HCC) from the seniors..the presentations made it clear it is pretty serious, We need to be very careful. It is very serious a business here at ISB!

That's all i guess, i got to go read a 25 page Harvard case for day after tomorrow and set my hands on excel..

Good bye until I come back to write again! :)

Best wishes to me and you too for the year ahead!