Nuvvostanante Nenoddanana!

I saw a Telugu movie ‘Nuvvostanante Nenoddanana?’ (If you want to come, will I object?). It is a good movie with a very different story. A guy, son of a wealthy expatriate from London, comes to India for a friend’s marriage and falls in love with bride’s friend. The girl’s brother objects to it and imposes a condition that the guy should stay with them and cultivate paddy. The challenge is to produce a bag more than what the girl’s brother will. The guy goes on to achieve the feat and win girl’s hand.

Is that just a movie story or can we achieve such a feat? I am not talking about winning a girl (or a guy). Can we stay close to our people and know their difficulties? Is it necessary for us to be better managers without staying close to our people? (Have you heard of HLL’s training program?) Can we both stay close to difficulties of Indian villagers and still excel in corporate world? What does that involve? Does one have to live a dual life… one at work and another outside?

Prabhudeva, a well-known dancer and an actor directed the movie. He did a great job and all the songs bear a ‘Prabhudeva imprint’.

The main characters in this movie are surprisingly young (obviously?). I am usually sad when I know that folks much younger than me achieve much higher than what I do. There was a time when I first heard of Sachin Tendular and comforted myself that I am younger and it was “OK” not to achieve as much as he did. But later on, I know about lots of other youngsters who achieved a lot and I am the same guy who thinks that every thing will work out and I will be successful. But the later never happened. Koneru Hampi, Sachin, Sania, Peas and so on went on to achieve. I remain the same I watched Ankit Fadia’s interview on CNBC recently and felt very inadequate. “Dude, capable people go on achieve. You are still stuck here looking for jobs and career paths”.
But yesterday, there is a new trend in me. I somehow started feeling happy for those folks.

Dr. C Rangarajan’s Classes

We at ISB had the privilege of attending Dr. C. Rangarajan (ex RBI and AP governor)’s classes recently. I thoroughly enjoyed his classes. He spoke about macro economics in general, Monetary and fiscal policies, exchange rate management and globalization. He brought in his enormous experience as academician and policy maker. His sessions were lively with examples from his experience. He took us through the traumatic experience of 1991 crisis and pledging gold by RBI.
Mr. Rangarajan is a simple man with simple words who can explain very complicated topics effortlessly.

Iviews and a hole in my career plan

Many important events happened in the last TWO weeks (long time not to write my blog!).

First on the job front: I gave two (that makes a total of four!) important interviews with my fav company (one with the company’s CEO and another with its COO) and they want me to come over to their head quarters in India for further interviews. This next interview is likely to take place in the next 3-4 days.

Next was a surprise interview with CEO of a company in my consideration set. I visited the company and chatted with a few of its senior guys and some ISB alumni. The interview with CEO proved to be particularly useful. He spent almost an hour with me explaining in detail what joining his company will be different (both positives and negatives) from joining other companies in competition. It felt like attending a strategy class. This company has a ‘firm’ (as in partnership firm) mentality partly because its CEO is an ex-Mckinsey guy.

Some insights he provided:
Working in a company like say a consulting firm will be different from working in a tech firm in the following ways:
Consulting firm will (mostly) have MBAs working for them. Hence work culture (right from independence at work, bossism etc to the kind of security checks and trust reposed in employees) will be very different in these two categories of employees.
“Growth” will be slower. Never will such companies recruit in thousands
Personal guidance and mentorship will be available in consulting company and will key in shaping one’s career
Training in soft skills will change you big time (and he gave me instances how he changed as a person (more mature etc) (this does not mean his company has all those training facilities tho)

The most important discussion is about training (in soft and other skills). While I have some vague training plans in mind, never did I realize that guys going to companies like Mckinsey will have a great comparative advantage in terms of availability and nature of training skills and mentorship. I have to figure out how I should overcome this hole in my career plan.

This interview was impactful because it was a surprise. I was more prepared to ask questions (on industry and company)… but not for an interview. I am glad that he spent his time. I am not yet sure whether I will join his company.. but am sure that he influenced my career plans. I will talk to guys in Mckinsey and in companies like HLL and Infosys to figure out the training facilities available to their employees and see how I can get similar training.

Do Geniuses Matter?

We have all seen a few Geniuses around us all the time. Do they matter? Are the battles of life predetermined in favor of Geniuses?

If you are neither a Genius nor a workaholic, is there cause for concern? Will success allude you?

Third: The Unfinished Agenda

When I came in to ISB, I had specific agenda in mind.

1. Gain Intellectual insights / develop structured thinking
- incl write articles
2. Get a good network
3. Improve communication skills
4. Improve interpersonal and team playing skills
5. Get a job that I can put my heart into and can relate to my future plans

I am comfortable with progress on 1, 2 and 5. In the two months still left, I will concentrate on 3 and 4 because I am yet to pass the critical level to consider them my strengths. I will also write an article and revise key inputs from my classes.

There is some progress on the job hunt front. I will probably visit companies that I am considering and then take a decision.