Silence before the storm

It's eight term and today is day 3 - post sample drop and addition day and no classes. Campus is completely silent, people are going through different sorts of emotions. The goal with which people have come here is more or less achieved. Even someone is not happy with what he/she got nothing can be done for the next 5 months, so it's kind of a vacuum period.

This is an interesting time, some people will enjoy this "no responsibilities or commitments time," some will suddenly feel lost due to "no visible enemy (or goal)," few are excited about "great time that is ahead," some will be wondering how to handle the "change of guard" and so on and so forth.

It'll be interesting to see how far this batch is gonna travel both in terms of geographical and achievements distance. We all came here for a year to learn together and we all will get separated now. While I wouldn't say that I have created strong bonds with many batchmates I can definitely say I have started forming with many.

There must be a lot of people outside wanting to know more about placements but they will have to wait for the official statement that will come sometime in mid-March. But I can say that it has been quite smooth and satisfactory.

We have some very interesting courses and one of those that I have opted for is Microfinance. The learning here has definitely clarified lots of questions and has shown lots of paths to achieve my goals. I can say I am more clear now than a year before about how I would spend the rest of my life. I can safely say that I have finished one-third of my life (optimistic estimated life span of 90 years) and now I am determined to make each day in my life count. I am in the process of identifying key aspects in which I would like to make a difference and will take a count at the end of the day everyday and wouldn't loose track.

You can guess my mood from what I wrote above and I'll take leave till the time there is more to report or a compelling thought pushes me to write.

Excellent ad campaign

GMR - Getting ready for India ad campaign really impresses - it's a well thought and executed ad. After a long time, I saw a nice ad campaign and this campaign will surely improve the brand equity and recall of GMR group, which is generally confused with GVK group.

This is the right time for this campaign considering that the Hyderabad International airport is getting ready and that many people will come across GMR name there, this campaign will leverage that exposure fully. Another thing this campaign will surely do is improve GMR's standing with its future employees. After seeing the ads, I felt that I should approach the company to know who is behind this campaign and was open to explore career opportunities.

Here is one of those ads:



Despite politicians India is increasingly becoming attractive for people from other countries for various reasons, apart from the IT and ITeS outsourcing partnerships, we have Medical Tourism, Diamond exports, large middle class, and even MBA Education (I am expecting that for the batch of 2010 there will be a large number of international applicants to ISB considering the recent FT ranking) and many more. India is definitely an attractive destination despite politics is what I can sum it up. A warning for Indians - The increasing focus from foreigners is going to change the Indian Game for Indians too, so be ready to face it.

Change in Direction

Having managed to make a transition once again, I am not sure what I would writing on this blog that would continue to appeal to the readers. But in general I am interested in the following areas:
1. Self-development
2. Systems thinking
3. Environment
4. Social issues
5. Communication
6. New Business models and
7. ISB

I would appreciate if the readers of this blog take a couple of minutes and give me feedback about what they liked in this blog and what areas would interest you. After all this blog is about me, you and we together.

Before closing lemme add that placements are on even today and it seems that Satyam has made some very good offers. Hope that all my classmates are placed well and everyone is out from the placement process.

Cheers

Day 3

I am officially out of the placement process now. I have taken the offer from Reliance Energy. To sum it up I have been able to achieve both my goals - switch to core business and get a financial breakthrough, and I am quite happy with the outcome.

By tomorrow morning three fourth of the batch would have at least one offer. I urgently need a good night sleep and would be back tomorrow with more details.

Day 2

Finally after all the big fuss, I have got an offer. I have one more important interview tomorrow and I have time till tomorrow evening to take a call on the first one.

I think one third of the students got placed by now and the rest are little concerned by now. But I see no reason they should worry. From tomorrow it will be literally a issue of fit and not much of anything else. Making a choice is the most difficult thing at ISB - More than the assignments and the exams, and that's where the biggest difficulty in life is.

I am kind of cutoff from the main scene as I was busy myself and would remain so tomorrow also; I will get a clear picture only on the day-after. Till then, keep guessing

Bad Ad - Standard Electricals

This is a deviation from ISB placements topic. But I felt that I must express my opinion about the ad of Standard Electricals that is being currently aired.

I have worked in engineering and remember those old days when engineers used to take pride in their professions and say leave it to experts. But slowly their expertise became a commodity and they had to become customer oriented (internal) and work according the requirements of customers. And this was way back in 1995.

Whoever has advised Standard Electricals to use the "Expert ka kaam expert pe chod dena chahiye" is completely wrong and has drowned lot of money down the drain. The ad leaves a negative feeling even to someone who is an engineer because the electrician character speaks all rubbish in the ad. I don't who is the ad maker trying to appeal to, is he appealing to the consumer by insulting him or is he appealing to the electrician, supposedly the expert.

Consumer awareness has gone up significantly and one can find information about everything from google or wikis and can make sense of common appliances and this ad concept is completely flawed. Whoever is behind this ad, are you listening?

Day 1

What a hectic day it was. Not for me but for those who were coordinating ADAG interviews. All those who get an offer from ADAG must treat Vijay and Varun for their effort. ADAG has definitely played a disruptive role today and we will know its effect by eod tomorrow. I don't have the numbers yet but enough people have already got their first offers. How many of them would accept is to be seen.

People were so concerned a week back but I am confident that every one is going to get something good by the end of this week.

That's all for now.