What's in a name? ... that too in a MBA - ISB?

Well for once this post is not about how ISB as a brand adds value to your resume yada yada yada (it does).

This post is not about how the name of the school or the institute from where you have done your education and / or MBA matters etc. That debate we can save for a later date.

This post my dear friends is about our name (at least mine) and what kind of impact it has. While on campus and even today when I go to the ISB campus I land up meeting the sexily named Chopras, Mittals, Goenkas, Shahs, Sharmas, Kalras, Kumars, Reddys, etc etc and I suddenly squirmed at the "Yadav" tag in my name.

Now before you start thinking I am not proud of my name etc etc, let me set the record straight. I am too narcissist to not like anything that I am associated with including my name. So I do say with "garv" that I am "Yadav, Amit Yadav" and then follow it up with a "How you doin?" (This is where I failed most of my job interviews).

But me and another of my dear friend from my batch "Nishant Pandey" had this conversation once on the campus during the placement season. We discussed what kind of a mental image will the recruiter conjure up in his / her mind when they read the name "Yadav" or a "Pandey" on the resume. Will they think of a suit clad smart looking professional or a village baboon sitting on a buffalo and talking about strategy. This was a discussion in jest and now thinking back I think this surely would have been when Nishant was trying to console me when I did not make one of the shortlists. We laughed about it and also ideated about whether it makes sense to actually add a picture of ours to the resume (I know it would have been more detrimental in hindsight)

But that discussion did linger on in my mind for quite some time and every time I now get a resume in front of me I consciously try to gauge if there is a bias that is creeping in because of the name. Another thing that we experienced during the "Gender and Leadership" sessions in ISB - You will always have biases and can never be unbiased. The trick is to be aware of your biases when you are making decisions.  The prof (I forget her name) also said that if you ever get rid of your biases you will lose your sixth sense.

....... coming back to the point....... I did eventually get a job and so did Nishant and both of us are doing pretty well in our industries and roles. We did not notice any bias against any name during the process but the thought of me being pictured by some recruiter as a "typical" Yadav (don't ask what that means) was pretty funny.

In conclusion, there is nothing in the name : you may be a Yadav, Pandey, Fernandes, Goenka, Mittal, etc, your employer will still make the mistake of hiring you :)

What is this life at ISB?

Today when I came home in the afternoon and saw my daughter watch the squirrels play in the jungle behind my accomodation at ISB, I felt sad.

Till that time, I had never noticed the squirrels who are my immediate neighbours. It reminded me of the W.H. Davies poem - Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

So goes the life at ISB - and still you do not get the greatest grades :-(

Why MBA ? Why ISB ?

Of late I am receiving a lot of queries on whether people with 8+ years of experience (or 7+) do MBA? Whether ISB is the best place for it? Is not IIM A better?

Doing MBA or not is a very personal decision and the reasons why one would take up business education in his / her career will differ. Hence I (or for that matter anyone) cannot give a concrete answer on whether MBA will help in any career or not.

I would rather pen down the reasons and the logic why I chose to do MBA at this stage and why ISB:

My take on this was very simple.

In IT (from where I came) nowadays position (leadership) is more a function of time than anything else. However that is the same reason why we see so many not so deserving candidates getting positions of power and authority more because there is no alternative (I call it the TINA factor).

Business Management requires to have a holistic picture and the decision making has to be in line with that holistic view. For example, I as an Engagement Manager may feel that continuing work in my current account is the best option, without realizing that I may not be adding value to the organization. I may also as a manager hold on to resources and under utilize them rather than release them for more productive and profitable use. I have worked under some of the best managers and have also seen some not so good apples in the industry.

I have seen so many PLs, PM, and Relationship managers who have no clue if their project is doing good or not (in financial terms, customer satisfaction etc). Many times I had to explain to people in leadership position that we are here to make money PERIOD. Many managers do not understand the importance of margins, up sell, cross sell etc. I being a CA always viewed everything from a financial angle (which is a myopic view as well). I realized that I am missing the holistic picture.

There were two ways to mitigate that gap. Read up or Go back to School. For me Go Back to School was a better option because I wanted to learn in the right fashion and understand the concepts and perspectives. The next question was - Full time or Part time - and the answer for me was Full Time - If this (managing) is what I intend to do going forward I cannot take half measures. The next question was One Year or Two Years - I decided for one year because I think the 8 years of exp has given me the basics on which I can build up. The final decision to choose ISB was simple. It is the best school in its category across the world. The visiting faculty profiles are great !!

Hence I thought that I do not want to become an incomplete manager. If I want to lead or manage I need to have all the right tools.

ISB was my first choice and here I am.

You all too need to do some more thinking on why you want to MBA and then make the choice. I was also helped immensely by others in this decision making. The decision took 2 years to materialize. So it was not something that suddenly popped up in my head and I jumped into it.

MBA can make sense at any level as long as it makes sense to you.