Quarter 6 - Week 1

I love the first weeks of the quarters. The profs summarize what they're going to teach through the courses during these sessions. So essentially, it's like sitting through a talk about a topic that you find fascinating. It's only when you're halfway through the courses and you grapple with some individual demons within the course, that you begin to tire of the load. But the first week is always the most scintillating. It is typically in this week, that you get to know if you're going to pay attention to the course or the professor, and whether this is going to be a much rougher ride.

This quarter I am studying under some of the most celebrated profs at college. Make no mistake, while some of these professors come with experience in the field, some others have the distinct power of roaming in the hallowed upper corridors of organizations at critical junctures. Therefore, what they bring to the class is the mindset through which the decisions are made in the upper echelons. Every time when they talk of one of their experiences with head honchos, their distinct art of almost bringing you into that room (like the pensieve in Harry Potter??) gives you a peek into what goes through the minds of those above. And of course, distilled learning. Almost makes the heads look... human, vulnerable, not invincible. Like even I could one day reach there.

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation

The class opens with a simple "How many of you want to be entrepreneurs?". In the true-blue comsi-comsa style(That's french, look it up), very few hands rise up. So the prof immediately attacks the rest of the class "Why are you here?". Standard responses, well thought responses all pour onto the whiteboard. Then the prof goes ahead and tells us that our batch is normal(phew!) since every other batch tells him this. And then he goes on to tell us that even if we don't want to start new ventures, the spirit of entrepreneurship is now rising in organizations. Call it intrapreneurship, innovation, whatever. There is a rising need for diving into the unknown in orgs too, and so this will help us understand better about HOW to dive in.

We had a case already in the first week, a simple one where we talk about a particular person and his company. Apparently it started off well, but now he's facing some crises, so how should we tackle it. Through this we got to understand some fundamentals about entrepreneurship. About what drives a person into it, about what the road is typically paved like, and how to increase value of the company. A good appetizer for what's coming.

Social Entrepreneurship

What??! TWO entrepreneurship courses, you say!? Well, yeah. Some effects are beyond our causes. What can I do? I'm interested, I'll take! In any case, the prof is in very high standing in the IIMB community, and there must be some reason for that. We caught a glimpse of it this week. There appears to be an obvious lack of complete belief in the government and its actions towards society, and yet that does seem tempered by some afterthought... like the prof believes that they're doing SOMETHING. While a lot is wrong, he believes some is right.

And with his position and authority on the subject, he tells us straight away that we're not going to get into an idealogical debate. I've come here to tell you what I know about the state of society today, and how the government alone can not perform miracles. You need to get into the trenches, see the environment for yourself. WE need to do something, so let's get started. So, no idealogical debates about "What is poor?", "God/Religion", "System should change".. I'll have none of that. You can't convince me to change my point of view, I wont change your inherent strong beliefs. It's upto you to see what you want to accept and imbibe, and what to leave. Agreed? The class just nods.

And immediately he dives right into some basic statistics about society. Information on literacy, monthly earnings, mortality rates, gender ratios, and those numbers hit you pretty strongly. It's in black and white (and a little colour) right there. When you see that the AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD gets Rs. 500 a month to survive on, and you think about the meal you had last night for the same amount per person, you just go a little slow. And you try to analyse what it's like there. Then the prof brings you back to class talking about female to male ratios of 900 to 1000, again average. And then you wonder, oh, so that's why most guys are not able to find girlfriends (Ok, that was unwarranted). And you see that some of the most well-off states are the ones that have such imbalance! And you wonder if saneness comes with capital, why does this happen. And then you go on to literacy levels, oh I can go on... trust me, you might not be shell-shocked, but you definitely will pause, and think.

And then the prof talks about how he'll not be talking about the movements like "Save the tiger" with a comment that "God bless them..", but that he'll talk about the social entrepreneurs who're making a difference for society, and that when he says "poor" he means "abject poverty", and he proceeds to widen the difference between poverty and "abject poverty" in our eyes. We also have a few exchange students in class (first time for PGSEM students), so they have clear objective questions... I wonder if they even understand the glimpse of stark reality that the professor is trying to convey. I'm sure they're trying hard to get it, though. Let's face it... quite a few foreigners have spent more time travelling through our villages than some of our urbanites, myself included. A lot to think about, and a definite understanding.. this course is not going to be like the ones before. We've already been told that for our projects, we're going to have to step into the trenches, not just read about poverty, but see it for real. This course is going to be like seeing over the shoulders of the professor, and the entrepreneurs he brings, the change agents... and then dabbling very mildly in those waters, for an instant.

B2B Market Management

Right, so if you dont know what B2B is, you're reading the wrong blog. Google it, and come back. The legend goes that no one should exit the PGSEM journey without undergoing this course. The prof has been hailed as one of the most influential ones in the minds of the PGSEM Student community. We heard him once before at our orientation, we've heard about him through our seniors, and now we're in his presence. Time to see if he's worth all that yakking.

And he starts off simply, and when he asks the expectations from this class... and hears all the above, he then tells us how it started off with just 6 students, and how he's happy to hear that students now consider this a rite of passage. And then, swoop! Dives right into the course. An immediate introduction to B2B and then we have a simple discussion about what is the difference between B2B and B2C. Then a message that we're going to see the VP(Non-linear growth) of Wipro the next day, and that we should read the case. When I go home and see that the cases are almost 50 pages... not to mention another 10 for the first course, and another 40 pages of reading for the second course, my heart just fell two notches. Anyway, I did what any self-respecting student would do... cram the case that was so important and sleep. Tomorrow's another day, let's face some risk then. And so we come for the second session, and we see the VP there, and we have a brief discussion about the aspects of the case. Apparently, this is our project.

You know, when you see the Wipro VP standing in front of you, like I said, they seem human. You actually know that hey, they're right here... they're people like you and me. There's a sense of confidence that just sweeps through you... God knows, Indians need it. But anyway, more about the case. After a little more discussion on why we need to start looking into the non-linear growth of companies, the time's up... and you come out thinking about the case. Very interesting that the professor is dabbling in a new method for the project. Making us all work on a live case does two things - 1, it gives us a chance to play with real data, and 2, it stakes our reputation as intelligent students and tomorrow's "leaders" (Ahem!! Cough, Cough!) on the line. Our profs like to take risks, I gather..

International Business Negotiation Skills

We've seen this prof before, he's our marketing prof! The one who some have found either MOST inspiring or MOST hateful. A little older, a little frailer than before, he went ahead and even broke an arm (flashbacks of me talking about him croaking come to mind, touch wood..) and then he just starts off with his usual mode of delivery. Constantly skimming at a very high level, he gives out these really vague statements, something that most people would consider common sense, but what most in this class write down. Especially when he says "Reflect on it". He's one of those profs who's not really shy about name-dropping, and he constantly talks about how this guy said this to him and how that guy said that to him. When I say guy here.. think the stalwarts in Indian business today. By telling us the circles he moves in, the prof indirectly also tells us the thought process that they have and how decisions are made.

But at times, I start getting a headache. His penchant for giving those heavy proverbial lines, and asking us to reflect on it takes a lot out of us. Because you KNOW that he's talking out of experience, and that he's skimming at the bird's eye level... and that it's upto you to see as far below as you can. And when you do too much of that, your head spins. Anyway, he does the standard "What do you want out of this course?" and proceeds to set his expectations.

He first says that even though there are no exams here, nothing for us to whine about, the load is still heavy. There's a personal learning diary he wants us to maintain, since we're going to learn from ourselves. It's seeing this that I joined this course. If someone could talk in high circles, and get a mix of spirituality, idealogy and fundas.. this prof is in that group. And when we talk about abstract things like "Learn from yourself", I cant think of a more formidable guide. Profs in economics and statistics are far more microscopic for this kind of stuff (Have I made my first enemies here??! :P). I also joined because I thought this was going to be light, but looks like I'm going to stay even otherwise.

God help my soul this quarter. 4 courses, all of which have heavy binders of readings and reflection and introspection, sigh. My mind is going to get so !@%#-ed.

Quarter 5 - Week 1

A month ago we were in the midst of exam frenzy. For the first time, we received an actual one month holiday. I had completely forgotten what freedom was like. Finally, to be able to sleep as late as you want, wake up as late as you want was... well... pure joy!

But it's funny how fast a month goes by, 'cos hey! Here I am plodding away at a keyboard about what happened this week. Before we do that, let's spend two blank lines (I couldnt find an equivalent for 2 minutes of silence) in the memory of the togetherness of the students of PGSEM 2009.

The thing is... for the first time since we joined together in May 2009, our class split up as we chose different electives. Some of your favorite mates and buddies in chaos were no longer around. Such is life, and electives. But at least we get to drop what we find to be god-awful-topics! And we can actually choose how many subjects we want to pick in a quarter, or whether we want to do the quarter at all in the first place! I hear we have some brave people who just dropped the quarter since they didn't get subjects they wanted. Anyway, on to my fav subjects.

MSP - Managing Software Projects. This is being handled by a known devil, one of our previous profs well known for his sense of energy and theatrics in class. An unconventional prof by any standards, he bring youtube videos, varied cases and interesting points of view to class. The subject by itself is considered by many to be a well-beaten dead horse, but our prof got it to romp around the lawn for us (dont spend too much time understanding what I said, basically I'm saying he made it sound interesting). This week we discussed how without requirements planning, enterprise architecture, acceptance criteria etc. large projects involving humongous architecture can definitely fail. And what case did we study? None other than the FBI. Apparently they made a big goof up with a system that was called the VCF (Virtual Case File). Try looking it up. Now, I did feel that since the project failed, everyone has something or the other to say about it. Apparently now they have something like a version two that is supposed to be a lot better and stabler, but I'm guessing that if it fails, people will have a whole new set of reasons to explain it. It's just so easy to do post-mortems.

LOC - Leadership and Organizational Change. Honestly, I was expecting this class to be dull. I mean, who doesnt have their two bits / twenty paise to talk about leadership. And to top it off, we've seen this professor previously too! In fact, the profs from both these subjects taught us in the same quarter previously. So, our expectations weren't way too high on this subject. I must say, I am pleasantly surprised. While half the fundas seem straightforward (Yes, I know enough of leadership, give me my MBA now, thank you.) this prof does tend to have a small surprise in each of his lessons. Some twist seems to be inherently present all the time. For e.g., a small anecdote from this week. He was talking about a theory drawn up by Henry Mintzberg. Mintzberg believed that MBA schools are useless and in fact dangerous. He said that true leadership comes about as a result of reflection on past experiences. And if you pick fresh engineering grads, pump them up with MBAs, fluff up their feathers, that doesnt help in any way! You're just giving them the technical education to try and game the system, not really helping. So give MBA education only to people atleast eight to ten years old in the industry. Apparently none of the MBA schools are happy and a huge uproar was unleashed. Obviously! You try coming and telling a prof that he should stop taking in the cash cow set of students who're coming in every year! However, it seems that people and companies are indicating that they'd like to give his theory a serious run, to see if he is indeed right. Good luck to him, I already made it through the door anyway. The rest of the week was primarily taken up by the difference between leadership and management (Yes, there's a difference), and how the PAEI model can point to which are you're more oriented towards. Good stuff.

PM - Product Management. I'm still a little undecided about this course. I have never met this prof before, but something tells me that further observation will be required before I can truly claim if this subject is as applicable as the syllabus dictates. Theory is one thing, practice yet another. Anyway, this prof started the class with telling us that the world is evolving... blah blah... the time for meeting people's needs is over... blah blah... now people don't know what they want. Wait, what? Yea, you heard right. People no longer know what they need! If I invented a flying car today, people might well take it tomorrow! I could invite singing shoe laces for all I care, people MAY get interested and take it! So what he continued on to do, was to describe a new product, figure out what goes into it, and drill it into our heads that case studies are good, but remember that they are written AFTER the shenanigans around them. In hind sight, you can always analyse what went right and what went wrong. But a product manager tries to figure out what the audience wants BEFORE they reject the offering and decide what can make it more of a success. and all this by following some sort of repeatable process. The class had its ups and downs, and the initial predictability. I hope it springs more surprises, good ones at that, as the quarter goes on.

It was also our first distributed session, so it was a little cool. We had a few guys from Chennai VC-ing in from what I think was the Infy campus. So questions and thoughts came in every now and then over the mic. A little disconcerting at first, but hey, it worked pretty ok. Atleast from where I was sitting! Now to see if we feel the same way when the prof conducts a few classes from there!

All in all, a good start to what appears to be a promising quarter. The second years have arrived.

Quarter 4 - Week 1

Yes! Only three subjects this time!! Makes it seem like this quarter will be a breeze, or so we keep on wishing! While all this time, we've been studying basic stuff, this quarter meets us head-on! We have Corporate Finance (WOAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!), Operations Management (WOAAAAHHHHHH!!!!) and Managing People and Performance in Organizations (WOAAAHHHH!!!!). Three subject names that we take with awe! If someone asks me what I'm studying this quarter, I'm going to cock my head to a side and say "Oh, we're doing Corporate Fin.. (blah blah) ..nce in Organizations." and egoistically look at the other person's eyes open wide. Someone's getting cocky methinks..!

But you dont want to know how much of an ass I'm going to become, and you dont want me to waste a single line, leave alone a whole paragraph on it. So, why dont I just save my breath/keypresses and introduce you to the topics.

OperMan - Yes, I'm calling it OperMan even though the Operations prof asked us to say "OM". We had met this prof before, so we were quite comfortable around him. He brought in a balance of humour, discipline and candor. He started the first day saying we should read the required articles of the day, prepare a presentation and specifically mentioned that he didnt want a summary of the case in it, he wanted our insight. You'd think it was obvious, but considering how we'd like to think that "If you didnt say it, we ain't doing it", this put the writing in stone. He is also the first prof to bring in debate in our class. If someone makes a point, and someone else has a conflicting view, he gets them to talk to each other... right in class. Definitely interesting. The second session, we studied about processes and how we put them in place, what's the point of one etc. I'm not too big a fan of processes, let's see if he can convert my view like some of the other profs we've seen.

CorpFin - It's not my fault that this *somewhat* sounds like "coffin". This prof is a no-nonsense guy. Comes with simple black-and-white bulleted slides, says he isnt going to do a funny class since his sense of humour is almost dead, and says working too much with money can do that to you. Pretty much tells us that we better pay attention, this class needs a good amount of preparation and then with a deadpan expression, says something that was actually pretty darn funny. Reminds me of our Law prof. This prof talks a lot. In jargon. This was the first time I really understood where all these MBAs learn to talk in "keywords". (cool jargon) here, (cool jargon) there... if you lost track of what he was saying, you might as well give up and learn a foreign language. So everyone had their eyes on this guy (atleast the ones who werent sleeping) as he spoke to us about the role of a Financial Manager, what is the work involved, and then went on to something related to Net Present Values and Discounted Cash Flows. Yes, I know. My brain felt empty too.

MPPO - Not a very pretty name. But a pretty subject. Seemed to deal a lot more with "feelings" unlike the other subjects we've studied so far. The first session was an introduction to the subject, and some discussion on how people find it hard to make the turns from being an individual contributer to a manager, to a manager of managers etc. till an enterprise leader. Interesting sessions, with a few interesting stories. It seems that people actually find it hard to change from being an IC to a manager, purely because they dont understand that their job is not to DO, but to ENABLE. Takes time. The next day we discussed how people's personalities are shaped, and questions were raised (due to the topic of course) about why evidence points to the fact that people's personality traits seem inborn. The reading was about how twins raised apart, in very different environments, still exhibit similar likes and dislikes. The prof agreed that people CAN change, but that it requires a great deal of effort. We've even filled out some questionnaires that tell us what kind of people we are, and so on, so forth. Looks like it will be a discussion-oriented and practical-approach-based class.

All these subjects together have more books than any of the last quarters. Let's hope we're able to read everything up. In time. I, in any case,look forward to exploring another part of this "holistic" jungle. :)

Quarter 3 - Week 1

OMG! Vacation's already up? That last weekend just went by so fast, I cant believe I've already jumped into the next quarter. It almost seems like it only lasted two days... sigh...

Warning: This post is long, I'll keep it short next time. But it really tells you about our profs. Read it.

This week we had an introduction to the four (yes four! not three!) subjects we're studying this quarter:

Law: Indian and International Systems - The prof is young, I'd put him around 35? He's studied Law at NLSIU here in Bangalore. Went on to a Judges college (?). I didnt really get that, but at the end of it, let's just say he's now equipped to make decisions if there's a dispute and give his opinion on it, wanted or otherwise? The difference between him and us... is that he's got a degree to prove that his rants are grounded, while we dont!

A very grounded prof, he had the class in splits with his deadpan expressions and timely wisecrack delivery. Confident, authoritative and yet we catch a glimpse of the lighter side of him every ten minutes or so. So he began with a very simple and yet vexing case of a mother approaching the court for abortion in her 21st week (look it up, you cant abort after 20 weeks), and how this dragged on for long, and what would we have decided - abort or not. Looks like a simple "problem statement", had us discussing the merits and demerits for over an hour and a half! His point being that it's not easy out there to decide stuff, so watch out for the rest of the course.

Principles of Marketing - Woah! so you'd think that "marketing" is it! The M in the MBA..! Well, seeing how we did Strategic Management(WOAAHH!) in quarter 1, these high profile topics do give you a rush when you say it out loud... and this one had the same effect. You'd also think that the prof of this is someone young.. fresh in the field. Imagine our surprise when this old man walks in, bald shiny head and all... and the whole class hushes up while we wait for him to sit down, or cough or murmur(I dont want to say "croak", touch wood). You almost feel like you're in front of ur grandpa, and that you should touch his feet or something.

And then he spoke.

That first class of his, pin drop silence. You know when you hear confidence in a voice, you know when you hear experience in a voice, you know when you hear raw power in a voice. A voice filled with "I've seen it all." without the ego, the calmness of a powerful beast as it's ready to pounce. It was just... awesome. To say it was impressive... doesnt do justice to that class. The way he calls on the students with a "You Suhhh!" (slightly faarin accent, but adds class bigtime.), the way he shakes with mirth at a couple of his funny real life anecdotes with one finger on his lips and a wide contained smile at some joke which only he truly understands. Make no mistake, those funny lines arent duh! or something. It's like as if there's some comedy or irony in some event, and only he has heard it in all its form and understood the underlying basic funda. The voice of a man who's still seeing it all, and walks the hallowed corridors that are shrouded with secrecy, amongst the marketing giants of today.

He started off with Steve Jobs' Commencement Address to Stanford (2005) . Read it. Full of fundas, but sometimes that's the only way these giants can share their experience with you. He told us to expect a surprise quiz anytime, to read up Kotler even though it's a dictionary, and to come to class with a six-slide presentation before cases. For the second day itself. He's serious, and in a way that you DO want to come prepared. The next day we studied about Tata Steel, and how it turned itself post liberalization, and how 2001 was a key point in that turnaround.

Management Accounting - This professor was quite good too. She started off with trying to tell us what keeps Management Accounting different from Financial Accounting (we did this in Q1). Her's was the last session of the week. I cant really give you a proper introduction to her, since I was so tired by now, that I was sleeping. Last night none of us got a good night's sleep after the marketing prof's announcement of preparing for today. And that man didnt even give us that promised surprise test! (I am thankful for that though!!) Three hours is all I got. So I just kept slipping in and out of reality through her class. But she tried valiantly to keep us active. Maybe next week I'll give you a better insight into this teacher.

Quantitative Methods 2 - This prof is young too! Probably around 34? Honestly, he does look like the pundits out of our 11th-12th grade classes.. the one who mugs bigtime. There's a rumour in class that he's an All India Rank of 3 in IITJEE! He talks with confidence about the subject, but he's also trying his hardest to make it appealing to us. So there's a couple of jokes he cracks to get us laughing... but sometimes these are some real PJs. Got to give him one thing though, he's sincerely trying to get through to us. And that gets our attention. Put all that funny fluff away, and see the man trying to make us see what he can see... and you know why such a young man commands the attention of 80 odd people year after year, to explain to them the science and math of Operations Research.

Apparently after the feedback of the last year's batch, he is trying a newer technique... of giving an example first and then teaching the underlying theory. He seems the kind of prof who's really willing to take in your feedback, all so that he can get through to us better. So we studied some part of Linear Programming, and he's going quite slow for us... but maybe the raftaar will increase after all.

Say anything you want, but this is why we understand at times the real value of the Indian Institutes of Management. These teachers arent run-of-the-mill people who've failed to get a career in the world of practice, they've CONSCIOUSLY chosen to share their knowledge even when they're amongst the brightest and can make a helluva lot more money out there in the corporate world. They shine in their classrooms so we can shine outside. They sacrifice their exposure to the corporate world, so that hundreds more can make their mark. And yet, from within the halls of IIMB, their brilliance shines through for all of the corporates to see.

That's also probably why they get paid big fat bucks to come out and give talks to global corporations every once in a while. They are in control of their life, unlike many others out there! ;)

Quarter 2 - Week 1

We had a one week vacation. That's it. We dont get any time off for another three months! Our schedules have been made available to us. We have Macro economics, Managing Organizations, and Business Statistics - 1 this quarter.

Our MacroEconomics prof has been really kind to us by giving us 2 phat books, and a bunch of binders to read from. Here I was, struggling to read half the book in a subject in our last quarter, she's handed us two! The binders will be given to us periodically. It's been made abundantly clear to us that if we dont put our backs into reading these books and coming prepared for class, we'd be lost in our later sessions. She's quick to tell us that no dumb/deviating questions will be entertained, I'm really suspecting she's spoken with our previous profs about our mentality. We sure are interactive, but we tend to go insane with our questions!

Our ManOrg prof is the cool calm types... he's mixing theory with case studies. We started off with studying the structure of organizations, the apex, the operating core and the middle levels. The additional sections that support this structure were also mentioned, I dont remember the names now. He's given us a book, and a binder. Sure is a lot to read this term, methinks!

Our BizStats prof means business. He's extremely fun and energetic in class. He makes up for it by being a total terror in terms of expectations. A no-nonsense guy, he's told us in politically correct terms that he wont listen to our bullshit. Deadline means deadline. Practice means practice. He is not going to hold our hands and lead us along the beaten path. He's clearly told us to read the book, and that in his class we get to see how it gets applied. He also seems to be a fan of open source software, he's getting us to install and experience some cool apps. Let's see how that goes. He is really well read, and makes a lot of references in his jokes to things I fail to catch half the time. Sure keeps us awake, I'll give him that! Who else could probably makes statistics seem like an interesting subject?!