My MBA- My Dictator

Work hard, play hard!! Work hard…yeah I am doing that, but play…I think I have almost forgotten the meaning of this word. Cos when u play, u have time for yourself and I hardly get any time for myself. I have no regrets rather I love this dictatorship. I love the commands of my dictator- ‘Cranfield MBA’, which asks me to perform beyond my horizons…the horizons to which I had put limits of my own. But my dictator has taught me that everything is limitless. The more you put, the more you get. My dictator has stretched my boundaries to the nth degree….

I wonder how I am achieving so much. I never knew I was so capable. Now I can do multitasking. I am sitting in accounts lecture and by the side studying economics too. I prepare reports, CV and do so many things- all at one go. This I feel I have achieved just by stepping out of my comfort zone, and this is what my dictator has taught me to do. That’s why I love my dictator, which has shown me my real self….which has helped in bringing more out of my self…which has forced me to not only try being a perfectionist but deliver best performance.

Last week I spent first half in preparing a presentation for AT Kearney Global Consultancy Competition. I don’t know what the results shall be; but I know that I have got the best of the exposures from this competition. I won accolades from all my colleagues for preparing a fantabulous presentation- why not? I spent more than an hour on every slide, thanks to equally intensive inputs from my best pal- Anil. He prepared some of the great charts and diagrams. The presentation helped me learn a lot about the Power Point 2007 and now I feel I have an edge over others, as I know how to exploit the power point to the maximum.

Just when I finished AT Kearney, we had ‘Salsa Night’ where I learnt the traditional Latin American Salsa. It was great fun, as usual. Weekend went in a blip of eye, though I managed to take out some time to play cricket. It was after a long time nd cricket is always fun.

This week started with the preparation of CV- as many finance companies have their deadlines nearby, and then the report for OBPPD- the deadline for which is Thursday.

It’s getting colder day by day; but does that matter when you have such a loving and caring dictator. I bow to my dictator and look forward to expect more from it.

I love my dictator, I love my Cranfield MBA…

Badminton all the way…

Not only I have been elected as the captain of the SOM (School of Management) Badminton Club, but I have also been elected as the Vice President of Cranfield Badminton Association. Too many responsibilities…. but I love it! I strongly believe that responsibilities bring you power and that boosts your ego. But now I have to make sure that I find time to play badminton and organise a few activities related to badminton as well.

As my MBA is progressing, I am feeling ‘the pressure’- pressure of studies (about which I think I care the least), pressure of time management (too many activities- n time is limited), pressure of personal life (difficulty in balancing the professional n personal life) and social pressures (friends, parties, social activities, networking… but so little time). The real challenge is to handle the pressure and do all that you actually want. Though this means that you end up having less sleep but I feel that it isn’t too tough to manage- one just needs to act smart!

This week was a Karaoke party- u know what????…..I sang!! Don’t get so startled, I know I am just a bathroom singer; but I enjoyed singing in this risk free environment. The first day I landed at Cranfield, I was told that you can try here whatever you your heart nd mind say because this is an absolute safe place to experiment. And I am just giving it a shot. Doing whatever I want n whatever I can, is the motto of my life!

So I sang the song- ‘Hotel California’ with Anil, Natalia, Jhung Ha (thank God he was there n saved some grace for us), Sepidah and many more guys n gals. It was for fun- sheer fun!!!

This week also saw us interviewing AT Kearney guys as a part of the MBA Case competition- again a new and entertaining experience. I must say that Cranfield is giving me so many opportunities to explore myself, to unwind myself, and I am having lots of fun as I am learning more n more from these new experiences.

Almost daily, I have atleast one new learning- n that’s the best part of the Global MBA. I have learnt about unique marketing strategies of Ferrari, unique aspects of games like Rugby and have learnt a lot about new nations like Russia, Argentina, Spain etc. and all this stuff is not a part of my course study. It’s the learning which you have from your peers n colleagues.

I have got mails from many of my readers, who want to know about USPs of Cranfield. I will list down here a few of them;
1. Focus on Personality development- believe me that’s the best part of this MBA.
2. Career Advisory Services- the best you can expect from any European school. Other UK n European MBAs are nowhere near to Cranfield in terms of Career services. And I can bet on it. I have talked to some of my friends who are pursuing MBAs at other B-schools and my ideas are an outcome of my discussions with them.
3. Innovative Study Modules.
4. Unique Learning style- I have mentioned about in my previous blogs.
5. Strong n very large Alumni Network.

Believe me, I can count a number of points here, but time- it always plays the spoilsport!!!

So guys I have to leave… but I shall write more…. whenever I am blessed with time. Isn’t it precious?

Feedbacks and More….

We have a course called OBPPD (Organisation behaviour and personal and professional development) which helps us to understand ourselves and each other. It focuses on the psychology of individuals, groups and the organisations. This is one area on which Cranfield MBA focuses its attention, as a part of the personal and professional development of the individuals.

In the first week itself, I learnt about various learning styles (activists, theorists, pragmatists & reflectors) and other personality types. Another requirement of our course is to give feedbacks to team members, to teachers and to everyone who is involved in MBA. This is good as it allows you to speak- about what you liked and more importantly, what you did not. Moreover, the Indians have reputation of agreeing even when they actually disagree. I think this is probably because of our culture which teaches us to respect elders and not to confront them. And we respect our elders and teachers much more than anybody else. I have found here that my colleagues from other parts of the world are more professional and somewhat disrespectful too.

The feedbacks are very interesting as I have found that people are ready to give feedback even when it’s not desired rather when it is completely unwanted. I have seen live examples of this but won’t divulge much detail here. So there is a lesson to be learnt. Give constructive feedback. Make sure that the receptor is willing to listen and accept positively. Feedbacks should never be person-orientated rather they should be task and process orientated.

I have also got feedbacks regarding this blog from my friends and well wishers, who have compared this blog to the likes of ‘Chetan Bhagat’ and ‘Harbhajan Jolly’. One of my friends termed me as a prolific writer- I think I am flattered and feeling on top of the world. Well all that I can say is that this has motivated me to write more and make it sure that I find time to maintain my blog.

There is one more observation that I have made recently. We guys [I mean all of us youngsters- I feel I m still young :) ] have become so much net-savvy that now its almost impossible to imagine life without internet these days. Can you go without internet for a day, leave apart a week? Come on! Be true. You can’t! You would be wondering all the time if someone has sent you a new mail or you got any messages on the facebook/ orkut (the two most probable social networking sites I know). And you will be dying to have a glimpse of the same!!!

I’ll share more and more….whenever I get time (God help me with some more time please! :)

Its Your MBA

Hey! Its Friday but it seems as if last day was Monday!

This is not at all an exaggeration of whats happening in my life. And I am enjoying it to the most- cos after all, its ‘My MBA’. The ‘orienters’ taught us some ‘mantras’ about Cranfield MBA:

It’s Your MBA- you have to plan it and execute it the way you want!
The more you put in, the more you get.
Don’t study, only socialise. MBA will help only for 1-2 years but the network you build will last forever.
Any score above 51% is waste of effort.

There were many more teachings but these were the prominent rather the funniest ones.

From Monday, our normal classes began and our teachers & faculty finally came into action. But the impact which our ‘fresh alumni’ made on us will last with me forever and ever. They were so energetic, cheerful and motivated people.

The classes are going on very well- faculty is great and all very experienced guys. There are lectures by professionals from various backgrounds in evenings (not daily) and I try not to miss any opportunity to listen to them.

On thursday evening, we had 70s n 80s night where everybody was dressed up in that attire. It was a fantastic evening. There were drinks, food n music and of course dance too. Great fun! We have many more such weekly events coming our way. And I am very eagerly looking forward to more of such get-togethers.

In between I try to squeeze out some time to play badminton. Even if it’s for half hour I do go, as the badminton courts are just a minute’s walk from my place and of course I love this game. There are many more opportunities to try various games and new experiences.

This week also saw ‘AT Kearney’ visiting the campus and giving a presentation on ‘AT Kearney Annual MBA Consultancy Competition’. This is a competition in which various European schools participate and the team which wins the European competition will compete with the American winner. In the first round, 10 teams from Cranfield will participate, out of which 3 will move to next round. From these 3, only one will go further to compete at European stage.

Our batch is full of active people and there were 19 teams which wanted to participate; ATK allowed only 10! So it was decided by our careers team that 10 teams will be screened out of 19 on the basis of a 5-minute presentation. My team includes Anil, Marina (from Russia) and Ugo (from Nigeria). We purposely wanted to have a diverse team and we gave the name of ‘Synergy Consulting’ to our team and our team has been screened through for the first round. Gosh…..what a great relief!!!!

The O- Week

The busy times have started to show their face, n that’s why I am late by a week in updating my blog. When I came to Cranfield, I decided that I will maintain my blog on a weekly basis- n now it seems it may be too difficult to achieve this target. Time literally here flies and you don’t realise how quickly a day ends.

Let’s start with my first day of MBA!
Pre MBA finished on 28th September and from 1st October our MBA began with the Orientation Week. Till then we were already used to a hectic schedule; so it did not surprise us much that the O-week had been planned with so many activities so that we don’t even get a second to relax. The main feature of this week was that no faculty from the institute was involved and there was a bunch of students of 2006-07 batch (they were called Orienters), who were taking care of us. These guys were outstanding. They had finished their MBA just a month back but it seemed as if they just did not want to leave Cranfield. Their love n commitment towards Cranfield gave the proof of Cranfield’s credentials.

We were divided into 3 streams- Green, Yellow n Red. First day was packed with registration formalities, campus tours and introduction to fellow MBAs. There were many new faces from UK, Europe n some batchmates from India, who could not attend Pre MBA. In the evening, we had a social get-together where our Orienters (read fresh alumni) played a band for us. Families were also invited, n some games n a quiz were also organised. During the day, we were also given Cranfield Laptops.

Day 2 started with highlights from last year, distribution of case packs (our learning stuff for Term-1) and we were introduced to our Learning teams. The concept of Learning teams is very unique and special at Cranfield. We have been organised into groups of 6, and whatever task is given to us- we are supposed to do it as a team. Whether its assignment, any report or discussion- everything has to be worked upon as a team. Cranfield lays a lot of emphasis on cooperation rather than competition and promotes group work, as the belief is (and I feel this is the truth) that you achieve much more as a team rather than as an individual. Day ended with ‘International Evening’ where everybody turned up in their local dresses. It was real fun- I had an opportunity to have a glimpse of ethnic wears of UK, Korea, Africa n many more countries.

Wednesday, we had Sports Afternoon and we spent half of the day playing various sports like volleyball, Rounders (baseball), basketball etc. We were also given a case study n there was a barbeque in the eveing. Also we were informed that there will be a ‘CABARET’ on Thursday evening where each stream has to put up a show lasting around 30 mins.

After sports, my learning team met n prepared the case study, and then we guys went to party-barbeque, n after that in late night we prepared for Thursday’s Cabaret. I prepared a short skit involving 9 people n titled- ‘Masters of Beer n Alcoholism at Beerfield University’. I’d this idea in my mind since long time back and I just converted that idea into a skit n it was real hit. People laughed to their full.

On Thursday, we had stream representative elections apart from normal studies and business games. I contested for ‘Stream Rep’ n ‘Sports Rep’ but could not make it for either. The silver lining was that we were asked to give a minute long speech, and when I came back after delivering my speech one of the contestants said that he will vote for me as I spoke very well. I was delighted that I was able to impress audience n who cares if u win or not… huhhh….!

In between, I also met ‘Career Advisory Services’ of Cranfield to discuss my post MBA plans. There are so many things to write about but I don’t want to stretch it too long. More shall come in my future blogs!

Last day of the week was graced with some more introductions and presentations and we were given our time tables. We also learnt about 3 day Learning cycle at Cranfield:

First day you learn yourself
Second day with your Team
And Third day the same issue is taught by Teacher.

Thus, you end up revising a particular topic thrice and moreover the teacher does not start from the basics, but directly takes you to the advanced levels of studies.

Isn’t it brilliant and innovative?