Lesson 1: Don't try to buy Vitamin Water at the vending machine at the Greyhound Bus station in New York. First, the cost is $2.75, a huge premium over the regular cost which is less than a dollar if you bought it bulk at Costco. Second, the machine accepts coins but does not register their acceptance, which means it just sawllows them. So after I meticulously put in two dollar notes and 3 quarters to make up the sum, I realised that I had now only $2 worth in the machine. So though I wanted to stay health conscious and drink vitamin water, I ended buying a regular Coke, thanks to the "SUNK COST". Managerial Economics, Term 1, Core.
Lesson 2: Watch the movie Chandni Chowk to China. As much as it sunk without a trace at the Box Office, it certainly taught me something. The chinese dad of Deepika Padukone alias Miaow teaches Akshay Kumar that what matters is not the 10,000 things he has done once in life, but the ONE THING he has done thousands of times in his life. Cut to Arvind Eye Hospital in Madurai (and other parts of Tamil Nadu). Dr V (as the founder of this great institution was affectionately called) must have certainly got a credit line for the flop film and I am surprised he did not. For, through his hospital, he has communicated the exact same lesson this film taught me. Arvind Eye Hosptial focuses on cataract, THE SINGLE LARGEST CAUSE OF blindness in India and performs cataract surgeries at a rate that the rest of the medical world has not even envisioned (pun unintended). An average of 20 mins per surgery and as soon as one surgery is completed the patient is moved out and the next patient, who was being prepared in the last 20 minutes, is now on the operation table, ready for his. And the surgeon goes on and on and on. Late Dr V, is obviously a phenomenon and Arvind Eye Hospital is an Ivy-Leauge Business School case study. Operations Management. Term 2. Core.
Lesson 3: Off late, I have been kicking and screaming within my company. All these lessons I am learning from my MBA have got me excited and I have been eager to show it at my workplace. In a workshop with a client recently, I asked the client some questions which were really not within the scope of the project. The client appreciated it, no doubt, because I gave them a perspective that they had not thought of, but my own peers thought I was just k...... a... So much for the knowledge! Even more recently, I ventured to work on a project that was not only out of my direct responsibility, but also involved visibility to the C-level in the company. Though my ideas were good and my intentions honest, I seem to have inadvertently created a feeling of caution or even insecurity among some of my colleagues. My biggest advice to those who go to B-school with the honorable intention of applying what you learnt in class to the current workplace is, "Do so by all means, but be careful what you are saying to whom. Think through things from the other person's perspective before you do something like that. Everyone is not going to like what you think or say, so even do whatever good you want to do, quietly." When you have a competitive advantage that you think others don't, don't go around sharing that information in public. Make your entry discretely and work diligently to gain customer captivity. Strategy. Term 3. Elective.
I'm learning...
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Cape Comorin!
Kanyakumari - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Located at the southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, it is also know by its former name Cape Comorin...
It's 757 PM on 6 Nov 09 and by all measures, I have hit the lowest point in my MBA stint. Today was the first day in the last 10 months that I did not attend school for a whole day.
That I was ill this morning and had no energy to get up and go to school and face a mid-term examination is true, but what is also important is what brought about the illness.
I have been working very hard in the last couple of months. With a mandate to complete the PMP certification this year, I had used the 3 week break between terms 2 and 3 to complete it. And it was like my company and our customers were waiting for me to become a certified PMP, for, in a week's time, I was loaded with six projects to manage, all at the same time. It has been a full two months now and I have been juggling at least 6, sometimes 9 or 10 balls in the air.
No shortage of glamor, alright. I have visited some exotic locales starting with Sarasota, FL to San Antonio, TX and Los Angeles and San Diego in CA. Include Munich and Berlin in the German land I visited on account of my international Seminar and I have been a globe trotter in these 60 days. And I dare say, I am enjoying it all. "What do you mean? I am having a BALL!"
I guess the trap also lies amidst all this glamor. I am enjoying my work so much, that my MBA has taken a back seat. Even when at Munich and Berlin, I used the time difference and worked all evenings, doing just enough to get past the requirements for the seminar itself. And with one course for the term out of the way, I have spent even lesser time on the other 3 and utilized the breaks I have been getting in my schedule during class weekends doing more work. It's been Blackberry Bluetooth all the way! What's worse, I got to a point where I asked myself, I am enjoying my work so much, why do I need this MBA anyway? That's DANGER ZONE, right there.
The "doing enough to get by" approach is paying its dividends. With a missed mid-term examination, and most importantly, my slack on studies, I am clearly facing grades in Term 3 that will the worst yet. Start with 3 of 5 aces in term 1, go to 1 ace in term 2 and facing none in term 3, my grade graph looks exactly like the west coast of India, starting on a high at Mumbai and currently at Cape Comorin. It's ironical that I am also exactly at the half-time mark in my MBA program (10 of 20 months done!).
My MBA thus far has not taught me to predict the future so I will still have to wait and see if my course line will continue to follow India's coast line and start rising on the east side? But Cape Comorin at the half time mark does offer a good opportunity to sit down and think about what I have learnt so far and what want I want to get out of this MBA. My goal is to capture the thoughts as they occur to me and record them here (and I certainly hope to write more here), but for now, "Vivekananda Rock, here I come!"
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
History repeats itself !
If my last lesson from the MBA was about confidence, this one was, "Don't speak too soon."
In the middle of August were our final exams for 4 of the 5 core courses that we took this second term. As is the norm, the exams were consecutive weeks, one each on Friday and Saturday. The first week was nerve-wracking with 2 heavy courses lining up their finals back to back. When that first weekend was done, all of us had some relief, for the worst was over. The next weeks exams both had only 5 or 6 classes worth of content while the first 2 had tested us on the full 12 classes worth. I was justifiably in a good mood on the afternoon of Saturday, 15 Aug 09, as I rode directly to Penn's Landing in Philadelphia for the Indian Independence Day celebrations. Good food, great performances by children et al, I totally loved the afternoon.
The evening was more relaxed, stretched out on the couch after a nice dinner made by my wife. This was Sunday morning in India and it was time for the customary call with my parents. My mom was first on the line and her first question obviously was, "How did your exams go?". Without spending much time on whether it is funny for a 60 year old woman to ask this question of her 36 year old son, I will go on to the importance of this question in this episode and hence my lesson.
"I did very well, ma!", I said, "And this VERY WELL is not like the VERY WELL I told you after my History exam in the Quarterlies of my 8th grade at school. I really did well", I said.
"What is this thing about the History exam in class 8?", asked my attentive wife, who was stretched out in the other direction on the same couch.
"Well", and I took a deep breath. "After my History exam in the Quarterlies of class 8, I came home and told Amma that I would get 71 marks", I said. (I have no clue how I came up with that estimate).
"And how much did you actually get", my wife prodded on. I could see the expectation in her eyes of some embarassment to come for me.
"I got 17", I said with total embarassment. (I obviously had no clue how I came up with that estimate of 71!!!)
"But this time is not like that. I am now 36 and I am far more responsible than that. I have really done well in both courses ma", I re-emphasized to my mother.
"Good job son, I am happy to hear that", she said. The discussion then moved on to other less embarassing topics and the day ended well.
However, all was not well. In less than a week, the results were out for the Corporate Finance course. When the email that announces that the grade is ready came through, we had just a few minutes for the start of the next exam on that next Friday morning. But that did not deter me from quickly logging on to the student portal and checking my grade.
When I saw the grade I was shocked. I had just secured pass grade. The proctor's annoucement about the official start of the Marketing exam kept my mind away from this shock for exactly 2 and a half hours, but at the stroke of 1130 AM, it came right back into my mind.
I thought I had done well, for real. I tried to think of everything that could have gone wrong with the grading, questions not graded, pages of the print outs missing, so on and so forth and even reached out to the professor to see what had gone wrong. Even after the professor had kindly provided me explanations on where I had gone wrong and why my grade was what it was, my mind was not at peace.
It wasn't until after 8 PM that evening that I came to my senses and started working on my next day's exam. The sense prevailed just long enough for me to complete the last exam and this time when my wife asked me how I had done, I restricted myself to, "It is over".
I spent some time thinking about what went wrong. There had been a pattern in the courses I had done well on in my first term and with those I had not. I had judged this exam by the same reference framework in my mind and thought I will score A grade, but I ended with just pass.
The last 4 days have passed well. Exams done and a 3 week break before term 3, I have been stretched out on the couch for most of the time, enjoying my new 32 inch SAMSUNG acquisition. The process of browsing through the channels brought me to the History channel. And brought back a quick memory of History, class 8 and Corporate Finance...
Funny, how history can repeat itself. (I just couldn't resist myself from saying it...)
In the middle of August were our final exams for 4 of the 5 core courses that we took this second term. As is the norm, the exams were consecutive weeks, one each on Friday and Saturday. The first week was nerve-wracking with 2 heavy courses lining up their finals back to back. When that first weekend was done, all of us had some relief, for the worst was over. The next weeks exams both had only 5 or 6 classes worth of content while the first 2 had tested us on the full 12 classes worth. I was justifiably in a good mood on the afternoon of Saturday, 15 Aug 09, as I rode directly to Penn's Landing in Philadelphia for the Indian Independence Day celebrations. Good food, great performances by children et al, I totally loved the afternoon.
The evening was more relaxed, stretched out on the couch after a nice dinner made by my wife. This was Sunday morning in India and it was time for the customary call with my parents. My mom was first on the line and her first question obviously was, "How did your exams go?". Without spending much time on whether it is funny for a 60 year old woman to ask this question of her 36 year old son, I will go on to the importance of this question in this episode and hence my lesson.
"I did very well, ma!", I said, "And this VERY WELL is not like the VERY WELL I told you after my History exam in the Quarterlies of my 8th grade at school. I really did well", I said.
"What is this thing about the History exam in class 8?", asked my attentive wife, who was stretched out in the other direction on the same couch.
"Well", and I took a deep breath. "After my History exam in the Quarterlies of class 8, I came home and told Amma that I would get 71 marks", I said. (I have no clue how I came up with that estimate).
"And how much did you actually get", my wife prodded on. I could see the expectation in her eyes of some embarassment to come for me.
"I got 17", I said with total embarassment. (I obviously had no clue how I came up with that estimate of 71!!!)
"But this time is not like that. I am now 36 and I am far more responsible than that. I have really done well in both courses ma", I re-emphasized to my mother.
"Good job son, I am happy to hear that", she said. The discussion then moved on to other less embarassing topics and the day ended well.
However, all was not well. In less than a week, the results were out for the Corporate Finance course. When the email that announces that the grade is ready came through, we had just a few minutes for the start of the next exam on that next Friday morning. But that did not deter me from quickly logging on to the student portal and checking my grade.
When I saw the grade I was shocked. I had just secured pass grade. The proctor's annoucement about the official start of the Marketing exam kept my mind away from this shock for exactly 2 and a half hours, but at the stroke of 1130 AM, it came right back into my mind.
I thought I had done well, for real. I tried to think of everything that could have gone wrong with the grading, questions not graded, pages of the print outs missing, so on and so forth and even reached out to the professor to see what had gone wrong. Even after the professor had kindly provided me explanations on where I had gone wrong and why my grade was what it was, my mind was not at peace.
It wasn't until after 8 PM that evening that I came to my senses and started working on my next day's exam. The sense prevailed just long enough for me to complete the last exam and this time when my wife asked me how I had done, I restricted myself to, "It is over".
I spent some time thinking about what went wrong. There had been a pattern in the courses I had done well on in my first term and with those I had not. I had judged this exam by the same reference framework in my mind and thought I will score A grade, but I ended with just pass.
The last 4 days have passed well. Exams done and a 3 week break before term 3, I have been stretched out on the couch for most of the time, enjoying my new 32 inch SAMSUNG acquisition. The process of browsing through the channels brought me to the History channel. And brought back a quick memory of History, class 8 and Corporate Finance...
Funny, how history can repeat itself. (I just couldn't resist myself from saying it...)
Friday, July 24, 2009
The Real "NY" Factor!
Of the million things that Columbia Business School says to attract intelligent minds to its various MBA programs, certainly among the Top 3 is the "New York (NY)" factor. "Experts from Wall Street, Captains of the Industry...", the rant rolls on. I agree, and one hundred percent.
New York means many things to many people. The financial capital of the world to some, the costliest real estate in the world to some others. The epitome of fashion to many and the essence of sheer cultural diversity to most. Bright lights and buzzing streets to a city that never sleeps.
All of this granted, today, I learnt the most important lesson about New York city and perhaps the most important lesson in my MBA yet. Today I learnt, what that the Real "NY" factor is. It's CONFIDENCE. Everything in New York city is about confidence.
It is the average New Yorker raising his hand to hail a taxi. It is the women who stroll the streets at midnight, least afraid or worried. It is the proud cassanova, from whose arm hang 3 charming women, all at a time. It is the businessmen of the city, sharp and savvy, all the time.
A lesson I could have never learnt in classrooms or board rooms is what I learnt tonight. Perhaps through the same confidence that drove me to this bench in the middle of Broadway and 94th street. And everything that I have seen in the hour gone by, from the front and center seat.
It's now 1 AM and it's time to sleep. For there are more lessons to be learnt tomorrow. I'm confident.
New York means many things to many people. The financial capital of the world to some, the costliest real estate in the world to some others. The epitome of fashion to many and the essence of sheer cultural diversity to most. Bright lights and buzzing streets to a city that never sleeps.
All of this granted, today, I learnt the most important lesson about New York city and perhaps the most important lesson in my MBA yet. Today I learnt, what that the Real "NY" factor is. It's CONFIDENCE. Everything in New York city is about confidence.
It is the average New Yorker raising his hand to hail a taxi. It is the women who stroll the streets at midnight, least afraid or worried. It is the proud cassanova, from whose arm hang 3 charming women, all at a time. It is the businessmen of the city, sharp and savvy, all the time.
A lesson I could have never learnt in classrooms or board rooms is what I learnt tonight. Perhaps through the same confidence that drove me to this bench in the middle of Broadway and 94th street. And everything that I have seen in the hour gone by, from the front and center seat.
It's now 1 AM and it's time to sleep. For there are more lessons to be learnt tomorrow. I'm confident.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Toughest Month So Far...
It's over. The toughest month in this year and during the course of my MBA ends here. Declared at 750 PM on Saturday, July 11, 2009. I am on the Greyhound bus back to Mt Laurel after a weekend of classes. We are just passing the Newark airport on the NJ Turnpike and United flight xyz has just taken off. And so have my spirits.
For, the last one month, or 29 days to be exact, from June 13 to July 11, 2009 have been downhill all the way. I just learnt about the Business Cycle today in the Operations Management class and I realized how my life seems to go in similar cycles. One of my previous bosses once commented that my emotional state and hence my work capability was like a sine wave. It would go right up once and then it would go all the way down. And today in Operations class, I realized how that was so true.
The six months from Dec 12, 2008 to June 12, 2009 were the upward climb. If you want to know what happened on Dec 12, 2008, go way down on this blog. The sine wave hit peak on June 10, my birthday. It was a day that lasted 36 hours and the euphoria lasted for another 2, until June 12.
I had this crazy, ominous feeling on the morning of Saturday, June 13. I knew something was wrong, but couldn't say what. I just hoped for the best and got through that day at school and the next day at home, but as the new week started and went in to day 1,2 and 3, it was clear. I was going downhill. The sine wave had started descending. The projects I was working on were getting into rough weather and my wife and son were getting ready to go to India in less than 2 weeks. The extra effort into work made sure I did not touch school work that week and come
the weekend I was ready for some rest. (It was a weekend between school weekends, so I could probably afford it.)
Clearly, my son had other plans. He started showing signs of exhaustion on Saturday night and on Sunday morning, his fever was at 103. They were flying to India the following Thursday and the hot topic was the testing that was being done at the Chennai airport for swine flu. The point of contention for me and my wife was whether they should travel as scheduled or not and the visit to the doctor's office on Monday morning made it clear. No way!
Fight the fever, fight the fever it was for the next couple of days and on Wednesday morning, he showed signs of recovering. The sliver lining that day was it was the last day of school and he received several awards including one for Good Citizenship. The awards lifted the spirit a little but the stress was still showing and work wasn't getting any better either.
We had cancelled Thursday's flights and moved the trip to the Sunday coming up, but I had to be back at school on Fri and Sat. Until about 1 am on Friday morning I was not even sure I would go to school but I mustered the strength to pull myself out of home on Friday morning. The ominous signs of Saturday the 13th took effect on Friday the 16th. One of the projects I was handling was now in the middle of a storm and I spent exactly 1.5 hours in class that morning.
The rest of the time, I was in a small discussion room, on the phone for the next 8 or 9 hours,
writing incident responses and answering email. An introduction to Ethiopian cuisine was the highlight of what was the toughest day in the course of the MBA. The tough part about the EMBA program is that one has to make some choices at times, and for me, if I had to choose between work and the MBA, it was clearly work. I thanked God this was not an examination day and prayed this day would never happen again. The stress showed and I slept.
Saturday the 27th was none the better. Even before I left for school, I tried to enthuse myself by doing some of the things I had enjoyed doing so much in the last few months, but once again, it was clear that something was missing. All the same, it was a Saturday morning, I had classes to attend and I decided to go out and do my Karma. Drag, drag, drag and at 510 PM, for the first time in the course of my MBA, I walked out of school, with the Corporate Finance class only half
complete. Clearly, this was the one weekend I was most demotivated.
At least, I would get home early that night. That would help because the India trip for my family was the next night and we had not even considered packing until now. What's more, my wife had now been ill for 2 days. The planning was perfect. Well, almost. Slowly but surely, my wife and I got the luggage to a 95% confidence level at 2 AM on Sunday morning.
7 AM on Sunday morning and I was on my way to the Hindu Temple at Bridgwater, NJ. I obvioulsy wanted to pray for my wife and son to have a safe trip, but more importantly, I was attending the sacred thread ceremony of my cousin's son that morning at the temple's community hall. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, given that my wife and son were getting ready to travel that evening and the trip to Bridgewater and back would be at least 4 or 5 hours, but I was on the way and there was no turning back. Luckily, I was back home for lunch and things were looking normal. No black clouds in the sky.
The next few hours were clockwork. Leave home at 430 PM, check in the luggage and though my family went through their security check and proceeded to the gate, it was time for me to thank the Philadelphia International Airport folks. The international departures area is so wonderfully constructed that I could stay at a certain point from where I could still see my son and wife at their gate and I was on the phone with them for the next couple of hours until it was time for them to board.
I didn't feel it so much when I returned home that night. I think the week's events left me so tired to think of anything and I hit the bed straight. It was the next morning (Monday) that it really hit me. Not only was I unwell, I was now back in the middle of the storm at work that was still looming large and what's more, I was already missing my wife and son.
After managing a bare existence on Monday, on Tuesday, it was time for a long drive. On my way I was to our company's operations in Rochester, NY, which was a 6 hour drive at the least. Things had gotten to a boiling point at work and I decided to be in the middle of the action so I could control whatever was in my control. Of course, the trafiic gods did not smile on me that day and what is usually a 6 hour drive turned out to be 8 hours that night and I reached Rochester
at 1130 PM.
The firefighting continued through the next 3 days into Friday, July 3rd, which was supposed to be a Holiday to make up for July 4 being a Saturday, but there was no respite. Only after I was absolutely sure that everything was all set for the new program launch the following Monday did I leave the office that Friday night.
Now, wait a minute. Isn't this supposed to be a blog about my MBA? Well, yes it is, but do you think I had even a moment to think about school work in the last week?
I decided to make amends on Saturday and made a determined effort to complete some homework assignments and read up some case studies. I was happy at the end of Saturday. I would have continued the same on Sunday, had I not had to take an Indian colleague of mine who was visiting the US for the first time, to the Niagara Falls. Not to say that I did not enjoy the day. My third trip to the Niagara Falls was memorable and I even felt a little relieved that night despite everything that was going on.
The week of July 6 started better. My projects launched without many hiccups, work moved into normal pace and I moved along with life. I was starting to feel better and I suddenly remembered that there was a decision models project that was due the coming Friday at school and that I was way behind on that. I decided to advance my return home by one day and drove back to NJ on Wednesday, but only after I had made sure that everything was under reasonable control at work.
Thursday July 9, was still a rough day and even as I tried to clean up home a little and handle work pressures, I was mindful of the decision models project. Thanks to an hour that Tom (my learning team member and by far the most conscientious in our team) spent with me on the phone walking me through the details of the project, I was able to actually come up with a process flow for the project and even talk through it on Friday, July 10.
Friday, July 10, went really well with a good performance on the Decision Models project presentation and a dinner with another learning team at a Thai restaurant in mid-town Manhattan. Saturday was mixed with highs and lows (like the roller coaster that the operations professor showed to describe the business cycle), but when I walked out of class on Saturday, July 11, I certainly felt better than the last weekend I had left school.
As I was walked across the Columbia Universtiy campus, I thought about the last month and how tough it had been. I have been trying to understand the reason this month was so tough and how I could handle such situations better. I know that such situations could occure again or worse, once I am done with my MBA and if I am any good, I will only assume positions of higher responsibility and that is not going to be any easier.
One thing was clear to me. I have had this tendency in the past to get easily overwhelmed when the going gets tough. I was aware of this and tried really hard this time, but at some point, I guess I fell over the cliff. I have been struggling to find out, exactly what tipped the balance and when and where I fell, but have been unable to understand it. I don't know if it was just the process of thinking through this or the nice breeze of the early evening in New York, but I felt better.
I could have stayed on in New York and done something fun, because there would be no one at home to welcome me, feed me and take care of me and I needed to be in no great hurry to go home, but I found my feet took me straight to the subway station, thereon to the bus station and straight back home. There is no body here with me, not even the TV (it went kaput a few days ago!).
I wish I could talk to someone now, but there is no time for these feelings. It is time to prepare. The next weekend I am in school, I will be writing a final exam in Decision Models and also presenting a project on Marketing. Just one school weekend post that and then it will time for Term 2 finals.
I am definitely at the lowest ebb of the sine wave, but the good news is I can only go up from here. I have 30 days from now until Aug 10 when my family returns to Mt Laurel. I have always dreamt of working efficiently, working 18 hours a day, staying on top of things and getting stuff done. It's not even a chance. I have to do it. And I have 30 days...
If I am worth my salt, I will do it. I will WIN... God be with me.
For, the last one month, or 29 days to be exact, from June 13 to July 11, 2009 have been downhill all the way. I just learnt about the Business Cycle today in the Operations Management class and I realized how my life seems to go in similar cycles. One of my previous bosses once commented that my emotional state and hence my work capability was like a sine wave. It would go right up once and then it would go all the way down. And today in Operations class, I realized how that was so true.
The six months from Dec 12, 2008 to June 12, 2009 were the upward climb. If you want to know what happened on Dec 12, 2008, go way down on this blog. The sine wave hit peak on June 10, my birthday. It was a day that lasted 36 hours and the euphoria lasted for another 2, until June 12.
I had this crazy, ominous feeling on the morning of Saturday, June 13. I knew something was wrong, but couldn't say what. I just hoped for the best and got through that day at school and the next day at home, but as the new week started and went in to day 1,2 and 3, it was clear. I was going downhill. The sine wave had started descending. The projects I was working on were getting into rough weather and my wife and son were getting ready to go to India in less than 2 weeks. The extra effort into work made sure I did not touch school work that week and come
the weekend I was ready for some rest. (It was a weekend between school weekends, so I could probably afford it.)
Clearly, my son had other plans. He started showing signs of exhaustion on Saturday night and on Sunday morning, his fever was at 103. They were flying to India the following Thursday and the hot topic was the testing that was being done at the Chennai airport for swine flu. The point of contention for me and my wife was whether they should travel as scheduled or not and the visit to the doctor's office on Monday morning made it clear. No way!
Fight the fever, fight the fever it was for the next couple of days and on Wednesday morning, he showed signs of recovering. The sliver lining that day was it was the last day of school and he received several awards including one for Good Citizenship. The awards lifted the spirit a little but the stress was still showing and work wasn't getting any better either.
We had cancelled Thursday's flights and moved the trip to the Sunday coming up, but I had to be back at school on Fri and Sat. Until about 1 am on Friday morning I was not even sure I would go to school but I mustered the strength to pull myself out of home on Friday morning. The ominous signs of Saturday the 13th took effect on Friday the 16th. One of the projects I was handling was now in the middle of a storm and I spent exactly 1.5 hours in class that morning.
The rest of the time, I was in a small discussion room, on the phone for the next 8 or 9 hours,
writing incident responses and answering email. An introduction to Ethiopian cuisine was the highlight of what was the toughest day in the course of the MBA. The tough part about the EMBA program is that one has to make some choices at times, and for me, if I had to choose between work and the MBA, it was clearly work. I thanked God this was not an examination day and prayed this day would never happen again. The stress showed and I slept.
Saturday the 27th was none the better. Even before I left for school, I tried to enthuse myself by doing some of the things I had enjoyed doing so much in the last few months, but once again, it was clear that something was missing. All the same, it was a Saturday morning, I had classes to attend and I decided to go out and do my Karma. Drag, drag, drag and at 510 PM, for the first time in the course of my MBA, I walked out of school, with the Corporate Finance class only half
complete. Clearly, this was the one weekend I was most demotivated.
At least, I would get home early that night. That would help because the India trip for my family was the next night and we had not even considered packing until now. What's more, my wife had now been ill for 2 days. The planning was perfect. Well, almost. Slowly but surely, my wife and I got the luggage to a 95% confidence level at 2 AM on Sunday morning.
7 AM on Sunday morning and I was on my way to the Hindu Temple at Bridgwater, NJ. I obvioulsy wanted to pray for my wife and son to have a safe trip, but more importantly, I was attending the sacred thread ceremony of my cousin's son that morning at the temple's community hall. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, given that my wife and son were getting ready to travel that evening and the trip to Bridgewater and back would be at least 4 or 5 hours, but I was on the way and there was no turning back. Luckily, I was back home for lunch and things were looking normal. No black clouds in the sky.
The next few hours were clockwork. Leave home at 430 PM, check in the luggage and though my family went through their security check and proceeded to the gate, it was time for me to thank the Philadelphia International Airport folks. The international departures area is so wonderfully constructed that I could stay at a certain point from where I could still see my son and wife at their gate and I was on the phone with them for the next couple of hours until it was time for them to board.
I didn't feel it so much when I returned home that night. I think the week's events left me so tired to think of anything and I hit the bed straight. It was the next morning (Monday) that it really hit me. Not only was I unwell, I was now back in the middle of the storm at work that was still looming large and what's more, I was already missing my wife and son.
After managing a bare existence on Monday, on Tuesday, it was time for a long drive. On my way I was to our company's operations in Rochester, NY, which was a 6 hour drive at the least. Things had gotten to a boiling point at work and I decided to be in the middle of the action so I could control whatever was in my control. Of course, the trafiic gods did not smile on me that day and what is usually a 6 hour drive turned out to be 8 hours that night and I reached Rochester
at 1130 PM.
The firefighting continued through the next 3 days into Friday, July 3rd, which was supposed to be a Holiday to make up for July 4 being a Saturday, but there was no respite. Only after I was absolutely sure that everything was all set for the new program launch the following Monday did I leave the office that Friday night.
Now, wait a minute. Isn't this supposed to be a blog about my MBA? Well, yes it is, but do you think I had even a moment to think about school work in the last week?
I decided to make amends on Saturday and made a determined effort to complete some homework assignments and read up some case studies. I was happy at the end of Saturday. I would have continued the same on Sunday, had I not had to take an Indian colleague of mine who was visiting the US for the first time, to the Niagara Falls. Not to say that I did not enjoy the day. My third trip to the Niagara Falls was memorable and I even felt a little relieved that night despite everything that was going on.
The week of July 6 started better. My projects launched without many hiccups, work moved into normal pace and I moved along with life. I was starting to feel better and I suddenly remembered that there was a decision models project that was due the coming Friday at school and that I was way behind on that. I decided to advance my return home by one day and drove back to NJ on Wednesday, but only after I had made sure that everything was under reasonable control at work.
Thursday July 9, was still a rough day and even as I tried to clean up home a little and handle work pressures, I was mindful of the decision models project. Thanks to an hour that Tom (my learning team member and by far the most conscientious in our team) spent with me on the phone walking me through the details of the project, I was able to actually come up with a process flow for the project and even talk through it on Friday, July 10.
Friday, July 10, went really well with a good performance on the Decision Models project presentation and a dinner with another learning team at a Thai restaurant in mid-town Manhattan. Saturday was mixed with highs and lows (like the roller coaster that the operations professor showed to describe the business cycle), but when I walked out of class on Saturday, July 11, I certainly felt better than the last weekend I had left school.
As I was walked across the Columbia Universtiy campus, I thought about the last month and how tough it had been. I have been trying to understand the reason this month was so tough and how I could handle such situations better. I know that such situations could occure again or worse, once I am done with my MBA and if I am any good, I will only assume positions of higher responsibility and that is not going to be any easier.
One thing was clear to me. I have had this tendency in the past to get easily overwhelmed when the going gets tough. I was aware of this and tried really hard this time, but at some point, I guess I fell over the cliff. I have been struggling to find out, exactly what tipped the balance and when and where I fell, but have been unable to understand it. I don't know if it was just the process of thinking through this or the nice breeze of the early evening in New York, but I felt better.
I could have stayed on in New York and done something fun, because there would be no one at home to welcome me, feed me and take care of me and I needed to be in no great hurry to go home, but I found my feet took me straight to the subway station, thereon to the bus station and straight back home. There is no body here with me, not even the TV (it went kaput a few days ago!).
I wish I could talk to someone now, but there is no time for these feelings. It is time to prepare. The next weekend I am in school, I will be writing a final exam in Decision Models and also presenting a project on Marketing. Just one school weekend post that and then it will time for Term 2 finals.
I am definitely at the lowest ebb of the sine wave, but the good news is I can only go up from here. I have 30 days from now until Aug 10 when my family returns to Mt Laurel. I have always dreamt of working efficiently, working 18 hours a day, staying on top of things and getting stuff done. It's not even a chance. I have to do it. And I have 30 days...
If I am worth my salt, I will do it. I will WIN... God be with me.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Wednesday May 13, 2009. Palisades, New York.
It is second residence week indeed. And I never believed I would ever be sitting in class at 3 PM and writing a Blog!
Stating the obvious would mean saying that Term 1 is over but my real problem is that I can't get over it. First, I had great fun with all the classes in Term 1 (can't say the same of term 2 so far!). I was excited at the Residence Week, enthused by the Stats Quiz, disappointed by the Statistics mid-term and finally, devastated by the Accounting and Statistics final exams. I have been dying to see my grades on the other 3 classes till today and now that it's all here and I have done well in Leadership, Strategy and Economics, I need to really move on but I am unable to.
There's a million lessons learnt from Term 1. May be more like 2 or 3 but I think discrete lessons learnt that I can put to use are more valuable than worldly knowledge. All credit the Leadership class, which brought to light what my weaknesses are. Its funny that the exact same weaknesses proved to be my downfall in Statistics and Accounting. Want to know what's funnier? Sometime in residence week, I corrected my Statistics professor on a formula he had written in error. And then the next day, I solved a problem he had posed to the class with a lot of ease. My class thought (and still thinks today!) that I am a quant BEAST (a term I have learnt in business school). And the 2 courses that I have my worst grades in are full of numbers!!!
Tell me more. I am in session 7 of Term 2. Its 311 PM. Exactly 12 hours from the time I actually went to bed this morning after spending the whole night drawing gantt charts and trying to solve for operational cycle times, throughputs and utilization. Add to that Corporate Finance, Performance Measurement and Decision Models and this term is full of quantitative stuff. Even Marketing is full of quantitative stuff. Going by the results of Term 1, clearly I am not a quantitative person. And I know (deep inside) that I am not the Strategy or Leadership kind of person.
So what am I? I am an electron. Always agitated, jumping up and down, screaming for attention and trying to break away from my orbit and radiate. Trying hard, not to plummet into the nucleus and perish...
It's 320 PM and this class will be over any minute now. Residence week is half done. I leave this class with this question. Will I get this MBA? Or will this MBA get me?
Stating the obvious would mean saying that Term 1 is over but my real problem is that I can't get over it. First, I had great fun with all the classes in Term 1 (can't say the same of term 2 so far!). I was excited at the Residence Week, enthused by the Stats Quiz, disappointed by the Statistics mid-term and finally, devastated by the Accounting and Statistics final exams. I have been dying to see my grades on the other 3 classes till today and now that it's all here and I have done well in Leadership, Strategy and Economics, I need to really move on but I am unable to.
There's a million lessons learnt from Term 1. May be more like 2 or 3 but I think discrete lessons learnt that I can put to use are more valuable than worldly knowledge. All credit the Leadership class, which brought to light what my weaknesses are. Its funny that the exact same weaknesses proved to be my downfall in Statistics and Accounting. Want to know what's funnier? Sometime in residence week, I corrected my Statistics professor on a formula he had written in error. And then the next day, I solved a problem he had posed to the class with a lot of ease. My class thought (and still thinks today!) that I am a quant BEAST (a term I have learnt in business school). And the 2 courses that I have my worst grades in are full of numbers!!!
Tell me more. I am in session 7 of Term 2. Its 311 PM. Exactly 12 hours from the time I actually went to bed this morning after spending the whole night drawing gantt charts and trying to solve for operational cycle times, throughputs and utilization. Add to that Corporate Finance, Performance Measurement and Decision Models and this term is full of quantitative stuff. Even Marketing is full of quantitative stuff. Going by the results of Term 1, clearly I am not a quantitative person. And I know (deep inside) that I am not the Strategy or Leadership kind of person.
So what am I? I am an electron. Always agitated, jumping up and down, screaming for attention and trying to break away from my orbit and radiate. Trying hard, not to plummet into the nucleus and perish...
It's 320 PM and this class will be over any minute now. Residence week is half done. I leave this class with this question. Will I get this MBA? Or will this MBA get me?
Friday, April 17, 2009
Sun over the City!
Ahh! It's Spring! Or at least, so I feel.
One of the perks of studying at Columbia Business School is the ride up to New York City. My classes usually begin at 845 AM and to get there on time, I usually take a Greyhound bus from the South Jersey town of Mt Laurel at 5.30 AM. The last 4 months have really been winter months and by the time the bus hits the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC, the sun has hardly been up.
But today is a different day! Friday April 17, 2009, 644 AM. With hardly 3 hours of sleep last night, I was trying to get that power nap on the bus when I felt my eyes tingle. I tried to keep my eyes closed and my mind on the song that was in my ears. The tingle only got brighter. I was sure it was the sun. I have always been a Summer person and have been waiting for some golden sunshine for quite a while now, especially with what has been a looooooong winter here in the North East USA.
So feeling the sun through my closed eyes put a smile on my face right away. I tried to keep my eyes closed as long as I could. I kinda like that feeling. Try closing your eyes with the sun staring straight at you. It is a fine, fresh feeling I call invigorating.
And then I could resist it no more. I slowly opened my eyes. And the sight I saw was simply splendid. The sun was rising over New York city. I could see the full skyline, from left to right. From the high rises uptown to the majestic Empire State Building midtown and downtown to the far right. The economic capital of the world must have just been waking up (I hope its a great day for the stock markets!). I wished so bad I had a camera, it was one of the most beautiful sights I had seen in recent times. Welcome Spring...
Nothing could have made my mood better. I am in the Lincoln Tunnel as I write this and it is dark all around. But soon it will be sunshine and I will be in my favourite city on a beautiful spring day.
My business in the city today starts at 9 AM with a 4 hour final examination on Financial Accounting, but that's another story.
Have a splendid day!
One of the perks of studying at Columbia Business School is the ride up to New York City. My classes usually begin at 845 AM and to get there on time, I usually take a Greyhound bus from the South Jersey town of Mt Laurel at 5.30 AM. The last 4 months have really been winter months and by the time the bus hits the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC, the sun has hardly been up.
But today is a different day! Friday April 17, 2009, 644 AM. With hardly 3 hours of sleep last night, I was trying to get that power nap on the bus when I felt my eyes tingle. I tried to keep my eyes closed and my mind on the song that was in my ears. The tingle only got brighter. I was sure it was the sun. I have always been a Summer person and have been waiting for some golden sunshine for quite a while now, especially with what has been a looooooong winter here in the North East USA.
So feeling the sun through my closed eyes put a smile on my face right away. I tried to keep my eyes closed as long as I could. I kinda like that feeling. Try closing your eyes with the sun staring straight at you. It is a fine, fresh feeling I call invigorating.
And then I could resist it no more. I slowly opened my eyes. And the sight I saw was simply splendid. The sun was rising over New York city. I could see the full skyline, from left to right. From the high rises uptown to the majestic Empire State Building midtown and downtown to the far right. The economic capital of the world must have just been waking up (I hope its a great day for the stock markets!). I wished so bad I had a camera, it was one of the most beautiful sights I had seen in recent times. Welcome Spring...
Nothing could have made my mood better. I am in the Lincoln Tunnel as I write this and it is dark all around. But soon it will be sunshine and I will be in my favourite city on a beautiful spring day.
My business in the city today starts at 9 AM with a 4 hour final examination on Financial Accounting, but that's another story.
Have a splendid day!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
The Two Lives...
I am going back to life. Exactly an hour from now, this Greyhound bus will reach Mt Laurel bus station and my wife and son will be waiting to pick me up. 20 minutes from there, I will be back home and back to life.
I live 2 lives. There is one that begins every Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. That is a different planet. A zombie in a subway train heads uptown in Manhattan. Daylight emerges at 116th street and Broadway. The gravel pathway at Morningside Heights feels the heavy footsteps. Heavy because the feet that tread on it bear a torso that is laden with a humungous backpack, filled with strategy, statistics, accounting and economics. Looks like it needs some leadership!!! The footpath is tired because the heavy feet are often joined by a hundred others. The walk is short, luckily, and the beaten path is soon relieved.
The feet that tread this path every other Friday morning then enter their divine abode, a place known to mere mortals as Warren Hall on Amsterdam and 115th. The flavors of a breakfast fill the air. If it weren't for the food (and there's more to come at lunch and tea-time for the next 2 days), one wouldn't get any sense of human inhabitation in this sanctum sanctorum.
Conversation is heard, but to the mere mortal, the language is hardly understood. Supply meets demand and there are multiple regressions in the air. Affiliation networks are being built and competitive advantage is being developed. Liabilities are being turned into assets for sure.
The lights go on and 2 huge screens emerge from the ceiling. Intense graphics and intricate formulae hit the screen. The conversation continues, the language still undecipherable. The jackets have to go for there is a heat building up. Feels like hyper-intelligent material is mixing to articulate super brilliant solutions to problems that exist in a fourth dimension. Whatever this is, there is a seventh sense at play and the play goes on to the 11th hour. The 12th is usually "Happy". Don't be fooled by the unceasing flow of alcohol, the elements that are consuming it are connecting with other powerful elements to form compound, even complex realtionships.
The storm emerges. Flashes of lightning and brilliance mix in an electric environment. Catalytic minds are engaged in converting the compex transactions from the eleven hours into power packets. These packets will be thrown back on the screens the next day and will drive more complex transactions. Minds will converge to create war-plans that will decimate commonly known cliches. The midnight oil is burning, but the storm is still on.
The calm after the storm. Comforters are drawn and the sound of sleep is heard. The physical forms seem to be at rest for what will be a couple of hours at best, but the electrons in the nerve centers are showing rapid and frenetic motion. The mind is alive and active as ever. Churning ideas, crunching numbers, processing information that will be critical to use once daylight emerges again.
Heavier footsteps on the Morningside Heights pathways and the divine abode is alive again. More netwroking, more negotiations and more of the intense exchanges when the screens come down. The 11 hours repeat themselves, only more intense, if anything. At the stroke of 6.30, the birds fly away. Some to Happy Hour, some to still more networking, and some heading home.
My bus is just pulling up at Mt Laurel Greyhound station. Soon, I will be home and back to life...
I live 2 lives. There is one that begins every Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. That is a different planet. A zombie in a subway train heads uptown in Manhattan. Daylight emerges at 116th street and Broadway. The gravel pathway at Morningside Heights feels the heavy footsteps. Heavy because the feet that tread on it bear a torso that is laden with a humungous backpack, filled with strategy, statistics, accounting and economics. Looks like it needs some leadership!!! The footpath is tired because the heavy feet are often joined by a hundred others. The walk is short, luckily, and the beaten path is soon relieved.
The feet that tread this path every other Friday morning then enter their divine abode, a place known to mere mortals as Warren Hall on Amsterdam and 115th. The flavors of a breakfast fill the air. If it weren't for the food (and there's more to come at lunch and tea-time for the next 2 days), one wouldn't get any sense of human inhabitation in this sanctum sanctorum.
Conversation is heard, but to the mere mortal, the language is hardly understood. Supply meets demand and there are multiple regressions in the air. Affiliation networks are being built and competitive advantage is being developed. Liabilities are being turned into assets for sure.
The lights go on and 2 huge screens emerge from the ceiling. Intense graphics and intricate formulae hit the screen. The conversation continues, the language still undecipherable. The jackets have to go for there is a heat building up. Feels like hyper-intelligent material is mixing to articulate super brilliant solutions to problems that exist in a fourth dimension. Whatever this is, there is a seventh sense at play and the play goes on to the 11th hour. The 12th is usually "Happy". Don't be fooled by the unceasing flow of alcohol, the elements that are consuming it are connecting with other powerful elements to form compound, even complex realtionships.
The storm emerges. Flashes of lightning and brilliance mix in an electric environment. Catalytic minds are engaged in converting the compex transactions from the eleven hours into power packets. These packets will be thrown back on the screens the next day and will drive more complex transactions. Minds will converge to create war-plans that will decimate commonly known cliches. The midnight oil is burning, but the storm is still on.
The calm after the storm. Comforters are drawn and the sound of sleep is heard. The physical forms seem to be at rest for what will be a couple of hours at best, but the electrons in the nerve centers are showing rapid and frenetic motion. The mind is alive and active as ever. Churning ideas, crunching numbers, processing information that will be critical to use once daylight emerges again.
Heavier footsteps on the Morningside Heights pathways and the divine abode is alive again. More netwroking, more negotiations and more of the intense exchanges when the screens come down. The 11 hours repeat themselves, only more intense, if anything. At the stroke of 6.30, the birds fly away. Some to Happy Hour, some to still more networking, and some heading home.
My bus is just pulling up at Mt Laurel Greyhound station. Soon, I will be home and back to life...
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Cure by Ayurveda!!!
thefreedictionary.com/ deifines Ayruveda as "The ancient Hindu science of health and medicine". So isn't it kind of intuitive that one gets a cure when one resorts to Ayurveda?
Again, what on earth does Ayurveda have to do with my Executive MBA at Columbia? There is a 100% probability that you will find out the answer, given that you read this entire piece. Though going by the number of comments on the 4 pieces I have already written on this blog, the probability of anyone reading it seems to be ZERO! (Because, probability can never be negative something and hey, by the way, just like Ayurveda, ZERO was also one of India's ancient inventions. Jai Ho!)
Let me come back to how Ayurveda is related to my MBA. I have indeed been unwell in the last couple of days. Nothing physical, mostly in the mind but it has been a sickness that has developed over the last 4 weeks. I was fine when I left school after class on Saturday 31 Jan 2009 and even managed my 5% complete clog on Feb 9, 2009, even while I was preparing for a Statistics mid-term exam.
Oops! Did I say Statistics mid-term? Because that is where it all began. I have always been good at Math and when I started the MBA program, Stats seemed to be one of the subjects I started out well on. I even aced the quiz at the end of the residence week. So I was really excited about this mid-term and started preparing for it with gusto. I went over all the material for the exam, worked out practice problems and even the practice mid-term examinations. My learning team was supposed to meet the night before the exam and cram for the same. And I was feeling mighty confident that I had prepared well and even volunteered to help some of my teammates to prepare for the exam. When Friday the 13th dawned, I walked tall to school. Never in my life had I walked in for an examination this confident. At school and at undergrad, I always ended up studying less than what was supposed to be covered and would be studying up to the last minute before I entered the examination hall. Not this time, because Stats was my cup of tea. Or so I thought.
When I saw the exam for the first time at 845 AM, I was shocked that it was nothing like the practice mid-terms. While the practice mid-terms had had 12 to 15 problems at the max, this one had 28 problems and a 56 point grade scale. I was overwhelmed a little but my confidence led me to move forward. I was fine even when I took a bio-break 1 hour after the start of the exam, for I had finished 11 questions and I would have imagined that was a decent pace. Maybe I must not have even taken that break, becuase it was downhill from there. The questions started getting tougher and before I realized it was time and I had attempted questions worth only 45 or 46 of the 56 max points.
I walked out of the hall thoroughly disappointed. The fact that 119 other students felt that this exam had been really tough was no consolation. While a lot of people were upset at the system for a tough exam, I was sore with myself. Though I was good at Math in general, the world of probability had always been an elusive realm to me. It has been the thorn in my foot in several competitive examinations including the GMAT. So when I started this MBA, I told myself that I wanted to ace this course. I wanted to prove to myself that I had the ability to do this right. Yet, here I was, right after a mid-term exam that counted for 30% of the grade, totally having missed that opportunity. Once again, I had proved myself wrong.
The other 2 classes that day did not even matter because of my anger and frustration. That night, when I was alone at my hotel on Broadway and 96th, I mustered enough courage to tell myself that I needed to put the Statistics test behind me and move on. I was even feeling better as I arrived at school the next day. The classes seemed to fly by and when the Stats professor that afternoon showed us the distribution of marks for the previous year's class on a similar midtern, it gave me some hope. I knew I had answered only about 45 of the 56 points, but if I was as confident as I thought I was, I would end up in the 40s and I would have still been on the bright side. I left school that evening, with a heavy heart, promising to myself that I would work harder do better in the upcoming Strategy final and the Accounting mid-term which were due in the next couple of weekends.
I knew the next 2 weeks were going to be challenging with 1 exam to complete in the upcoming weekend and another to prepare for, especially given that I was slated to be the whole 2 weeks at a client's site participating in a major re-engineering exercise. Sure enough, my work took away most of what I had in terms of energy and the first week was a washout on course work. The case study for the Strategy final had been uploaded to the web-based student system on Thu morning, but the first time I even got to it was Saturday afternoon. A birthday party on Saturday afternoon made sure that my delivery of the final exam would go right into Sunday and a dinner engagement with a friend's family that day forced me to go down to the wire on submitting the exam. It was 3 minutes to midnight when I submitted it.
At the dawn of the second week, I was quiet happy with my ability to have so skilfully managed all my personal and family commitments and still complete my Strategy final exam on time. The first blow came when our learning team met Monday night for our weekly routine and I heard some of the others' answers to the problem. I realised that while I had certainly done a good job of analyzing the case, my final recommendation on the case was totally absurd and the root cause of that was that I had not studied the financials of the company carefully. Not only was that a blow to my "Strategic Planning" exultation but it also was a sign of danger looming large, given that I had the Financial Accounting exam coming up that very Friday.
Work only got tougher in the 2nd week of the re-engineering project and even though my well-educated wife helped by teaching me the fundamentals of accounting, as of the night of Wednesday that week, I was on a sticky-wicket for sure. I went into Thursday with a heavy mind. Luck was on my side and our visit at the client side was wrapped up that evening and I still seemed to have some energy. A determined effort to be prepared for the accounting examination saw me get past the basics into some unchartered territory that night and after 3 hours of sleep and reading through the bus journey from Mt Laurel to NY city, it was clearly de javu. I rewound my life 15 to 19 years and this is the same thing I had done on 58 different examination days over 4 years of college life - preparing for an examination until the minute I enter the hall, and still not covering all the material.
The results were evident. I walked out 3 hours later, feeling that all-too-familiar thing I had felt on those 58 occasions over 4 years - "I could have done better". I did feel good about the fact that I had worked through all the journal entries and the T-Accounts patiently on the 1st problem and got it right (which had never happened during practice), but that was hardly any consolation because I would certainly not be any better from a grade perspective on this exam either.
The real blow came after classes yesterday (Friday, 27 Feb 09). The stats grades were out. And I had a pathetic 50%. I was destroyed. I tried to put up a sportive outlook in front of my classmates at an evening event but clearly, I was shattered.
Even as I have ambled through today (it is 1159 PM on Saturday, Feb 28, 2009 and by the time I finish and post this, it may be the next month!), I have been in deep thought about what have been the reasons for my debacle in month 2. As I thought hard, it became clear to me that while I had my own excuses on how work had been etc., I just had not put in the hours.
Ever since I began this application process, everyone has told me that there would be no time for anything else once one started the program. It had to be work and school and sometimes, even family took a backseat. Here I was, watching my favorite TV shows, attending birthday parties and dinners and then retiring early on the excuse that I was worn out. And I expected to ace my examinations. I had actually challenged the opinion that one would not even have time for family, let alone other indulgences and slowly, but surely, I was beginning to realize that it was absolutely true. Negative points to me for not learning from others' wisdom.
I am staying back in NY tonight so our learning team can meet up tomorrow and work on a presentation due next week. As I walked back from the subway station on 96th street to my hotel this evening, one thing was clear to me. In the Executive MBA classroom, everyone is in there because he or she is smart. The capability is even. The difference is between who puts in the hours and who doesn't.
Here I was in NY city on a Saturday night and numerous were the options that this wonderful city threw open to me. But after considering them for only a fraction of a second, I told myself, "I am going to put in the hours tonight". But it was not to be before I had had some food for thought. In all my sorrow, I had not taken good care of my stomach and it was screaming for attention. I quickly dropped off my bag in my hotel room and was back at the front desk asking the attendant where I could find an Indian restaurant in the neighborhood. "There is one right behind us, but it is vegetarian", he said. "It is called Ayenda or something". That was perfect for the South Indian brahmin boy and off I was in the direction of Ayenda.
Left on 94th and left again on Amsterdam and I was facing it. The front-desk attendant was right about "Ay" but none more than that, for the name of the small but elegant restaurant I was facing was "Ayurveda". It was not crowded so I could choose where I wanted to be seated. The choice I did not have was from the menu because there was no menu and all this restaurant offered was a traditional Indian dinner on a "Thali". A generous serving of white rice, with 2 entrees, a soup, a salad, yogurt, pickles, papad and several chutneys, followed by a delectable rice kheer was the perfect answer to a distressed man's soul. 20 mins later I burped.
It is almost 4 hours since I had that meal and I have also drowned 2 cups of coffee in an attempt to stay awake. Not much has happened in terms of putting in the hours, but I feel better and a lot more certain of what I must do from here. And I am not talking about turning off the lights and going to sleep.
Ayurveda (on Amsterdam between 94th and 95th) certainly provided me the temporary fix. Whether I will stick to my plan about putting in the hours or not is still to be seen. But then, that may well be the difference between me and this EMBA...
Again, what on earth does Ayurveda have to do with my Executive MBA at Columbia? There is a 100% probability that you will find out the answer, given that you read this entire piece. Though going by the number of comments on the 4 pieces I have already written on this blog, the probability of anyone reading it seems to be ZERO! (Because, probability can never be negative something and hey, by the way, just like Ayurveda, ZERO was also one of India's ancient inventions. Jai Ho!)
Let me come back to how Ayurveda is related to my MBA. I have indeed been unwell in the last couple of days. Nothing physical, mostly in the mind but it has been a sickness that has developed over the last 4 weeks. I was fine when I left school after class on Saturday 31 Jan 2009 and even managed my 5% complete clog on Feb 9, 2009, even while I was preparing for a Statistics mid-term exam.
Oops! Did I say Statistics mid-term? Because that is where it all began. I have always been good at Math and when I started the MBA program, Stats seemed to be one of the subjects I started out well on. I even aced the quiz at the end of the residence week. So I was really excited about this mid-term and started preparing for it with gusto. I went over all the material for the exam, worked out practice problems and even the practice mid-term examinations. My learning team was supposed to meet the night before the exam and cram for the same. And I was feeling mighty confident that I had prepared well and even volunteered to help some of my teammates to prepare for the exam. When Friday the 13th dawned, I walked tall to school. Never in my life had I walked in for an examination this confident. At school and at undergrad, I always ended up studying less than what was supposed to be covered and would be studying up to the last minute before I entered the examination hall. Not this time, because Stats was my cup of tea. Or so I thought.
When I saw the exam for the first time at 845 AM, I was shocked that it was nothing like the practice mid-terms. While the practice mid-terms had had 12 to 15 problems at the max, this one had 28 problems and a 56 point grade scale. I was overwhelmed a little but my confidence led me to move forward. I was fine even when I took a bio-break 1 hour after the start of the exam, for I had finished 11 questions and I would have imagined that was a decent pace. Maybe I must not have even taken that break, becuase it was downhill from there. The questions started getting tougher and before I realized it was time and I had attempted questions worth only 45 or 46 of the 56 max points.
I walked out of the hall thoroughly disappointed. The fact that 119 other students felt that this exam had been really tough was no consolation. While a lot of people were upset at the system for a tough exam, I was sore with myself. Though I was good at Math in general, the world of probability had always been an elusive realm to me. It has been the thorn in my foot in several competitive examinations including the GMAT. So when I started this MBA, I told myself that I wanted to ace this course. I wanted to prove to myself that I had the ability to do this right. Yet, here I was, right after a mid-term exam that counted for 30% of the grade, totally having missed that opportunity. Once again, I had proved myself wrong.
The other 2 classes that day did not even matter because of my anger and frustration. That night, when I was alone at my hotel on Broadway and 96th, I mustered enough courage to tell myself that I needed to put the Statistics test behind me and move on. I was even feeling better as I arrived at school the next day. The classes seemed to fly by and when the Stats professor that afternoon showed us the distribution of marks for the previous year's class on a similar midtern, it gave me some hope. I knew I had answered only about 45 of the 56 points, but if I was as confident as I thought I was, I would end up in the 40s and I would have still been on the bright side. I left school that evening, with a heavy heart, promising to myself that I would work harder do better in the upcoming Strategy final and the Accounting mid-term which were due in the next couple of weekends.
I knew the next 2 weeks were going to be challenging with 1 exam to complete in the upcoming weekend and another to prepare for, especially given that I was slated to be the whole 2 weeks at a client's site participating in a major re-engineering exercise. Sure enough, my work took away most of what I had in terms of energy and the first week was a washout on course work. The case study for the Strategy final had been uploaded to the web-based student system on Thu morning, but the first time I even got to it was Saturday afternoon. A birthday party on Saturday afternoon made sure that my delivery of the final exam would go right into Sunday and a dinner engagement with a friend's family that day forced me to go down to the wire on submitting the exam. It was 3 minutes to midnight when I submitted it.
At the dawn of the second week, I was quiet happy with my ability to have so skilfully managed all my personal and family commitments and still complete my Strategy final exam on time. The first blow came when our learning team met Monday night for our weekly routine and I heard some of the others' answers to the problem. I realised that while I had certainly done a good job of analyzing the case, my final recommendation on the case was totally absurd and the root cause of that was that I had not studied the financials of the company carefully. Not only was that a blow to my "Strategic Planning" exultation but it also was a sign of danger looming large, given that I had the Financial Accounting exam coming up that very Friday.
Work only got tougher in the 2nd week of the re-engineering project and even though my well-educated wife helped by teaching me the fundamentals of accounting, as of the night of Wednesday that week, I was on a sticky-wicket for sure. I went into Thursday with a heavy mind. Luck was on my side and our visit at the client side was wrapped up that evening and I still seemed to have some energy. A determined effort to be prepared for the accounting examination saw me get past the basics into some unchartered territory that night and after 3 hours of sleep and reading through the bus journey from Mt Laurel to NY city, it was clearly de javu. I rewound my life 15 to 19 years and this is the same thing I had done on 58 different examination days over 4 years of college life - preparing for an examination until the minute I enter the hall, and still not covering all the material.
The results were evident. I walked out 3 hours later, feeling that all-too-familiar thing I had felt on those 58 occasions over 4 years - "I could have done better". I did feel good about the fact that I had worked through all the journal entries and the T-Accounts patiently on the 1st problem and got it right (which had never happened during practice), but that was hardly any consolation because I would certainly not be any better from a grade perspective on this exam either.
The real blow came after classes yesterday (Friday, 27 Feb 09). The stats grades were out. And I had a pathetic 50%. I was destroyed. I tried to put up a sportive outlook in front of my classmates at an evening event but clearly, I was shattered.
Even as I have ambled through today (it is 1159 PM on Saturday, Feb 28, 2009 and by the time I finish and post this, it may be the next month!), I have been in deep thought about what have been the reasons for my debacle in month 2. As I thought hard, it became clear to me that while I had my own excuses on how work had been etc., I just had not put in the hours.
Ever since I began this application process, everyone has told me that there would be no time for anything else once one started the program. It had to be work and school and sometimes, even family took a backseat. Here I was, watching my favorite TV shows, attending birthday parties and dinners and then retiring early on the excuse that I was worn out. And I expected to ace my examinations. I had actually challenged the opinion that one would not even have time for family, let alone other indulgences and slowly, but surely, I was beginning to realize that it was absolutely true. Negative points to me for not learning from others' wisdom.
I am staying back in NY tonight so our learning team can meet up tomorrow and work on a presentation due next week. As I walked back from the subway station on 96th street to my hotel this evening, one thing was clear to me. In the Executive MBA classroom, everyone is in there because he or she is smart. The capability is even. The difference is between who puts in the hours and who doesn't.
Here I was in NY city on a Saturday night and numerous were the options that this wonderful city threw open to me. But after considering them for only a fraction of a second, I told myself, "I am going to put in the hours tonight". But it was not to be before I had had some food for thought. In all my sorrow, I had not taken good care of my stomach and it was screaming for attention. I quickly dropped off my bag in my hotel room and was back at the front desk asking the attendant where I could find an Indian restaurant in the neighborhood. "There is one right behind us, but it is vegetarian", he said. "It is called Ayenda or something". That was perfect for the South Indian brahmin boy and off I was in the direction of Ayenda.
Left on 94th and left again on Amsterdam and I was facing it. The front-desk attendant was right about "Ay" but none more than that, for the name of the small but elegant restaurant I was facing was "Ayurveda". It was not crowded so I could choose where I wanted to be seated. The choice I did not have was from the menu because there was no menu and all this restaurant offered was a traditional Indian dinner on a "Thali". A generous serving of white rice, with 2 entrees, a soup, a salad, yogurt, pickles, papad and several chutneys, followed by a delectable rice kheer was the perfect answer to a distressed man's soul. 20 mins later I burped.
It is almost 4 hours since I had that meal and I have also drowned 2 cups of coffee in an attempt to stay awake. Not much has happened in terms of putting in the hours, but I feel better and a lot more certain of what I must do from here. And I am not talking about turning off the lights and going to sleep.
Ayurveda (on Amsterdam between 94th and 95th) certainly provided me the temporary fix. Whether I will stick to my plan about putting in the hours or not is still to be seen. But then, that may well be the difference between me and this EMBA...
Monday, February 9, 2009
It's already Mid-term!
It is 320 PM on Monday, Feb 9, 2009 and I have no other meetings for the rest of the day. So I wonder if I should quickly dive into my Statistics textbook and start preparing for the mid-term examination that is due Friday the 13th (what a horror?).Alternately, I wonder whether I should prepare for all the client review meetings I have tomorrow. Oops! There goes my email alert. Be right back!
Am back. Clearly, the early pangs in the EMBA are decision-making and time management (what a cliche, huh?). EMBA life began on 09 Jan 09 (exactly one month before today and sorry for the way I get excited about such obvious math calc). Orientation lasted 2 days at Columbia Universtity's Morningside Heights campus in uptown Manhattan, New York city. Wow, I must say, the campus looks GORGEOUS when it snows.
The official start of EMBA classes was during First Residence Week. 123 high-power executives marooned in a snow-covered resort and conference center, in a middle-of-nowhere place called Palisades, NY. 9 hours of classes a day accompanied by endless (or should I say limitless) food, staying up all night on assignments and group work, a chair massage just when you felt like you were starting to wear out, a game of monoploy that was not played for fun and a statistics quiz to wrap. That's residence week for you at Columbia Business School's EMBA program. I look forward to Second Residence Week in May 09.
Time management was not much of a challenge at residence week, given that not much of it was left to be managed. Decision-making was even easier. 123 organizations (including some duplicates like GE and IBM that send a high number of candidates to school every year) had been informed that these high-power officers were going on vacation or to school (depending on how supportive their organization was). Cell phones and laptops were to be truned OFF during class hours. I must say at this time that my company has been very supportive and people have rallied around me to help me go through school.
It was the 2 weeks after that were real killers. Continuous travel on work, 2 projects going live in 2 different countries on the same day, while I was in a totally different location, trying to kick-off proceedings with a new client we had signed-off on. That I got to class on Jan 30 for the first official weekend at school (which happens to be at Warren Hall on Amsterdam Avenue at 116th) was a huge bonus, let alone doing well in a 5 minute group presentation on "Strategy" for a leading semiconductor manufacturing company.
The last 10 days have been better (9 to be precise!). But just so I make it clear, early struggles for me with the EMBA program have been time management and setting priorities.
There are many perspectives. "You got to pick your battles", some classmates said. I agree (wise guy that I am!). But I relised how wrong I could have been when the results came out for the Statistics quiz and the Strategy group assignment and I saw how each of the 123 people were fighting for Honors!
"It's the Network", said some others (classmates and well wishers). I agree (with even more conviction this time). But beware my friend, you are part of the network because you got some meat to stay in it, not just good looks and smooth talk (like I have either of those in the first place!!!).
Professors have a completely different view. "Forget the math", they say (and there goes the only skill I relied on my enitre life!). "It's the concept behind the math, it's how you understand what to use where and what you can do with the information." I agree (vehemently this time). OK, I got the concept prof, you bet I did, so will you pardon my grade and allow me to move on to the next semester? You know what answer I got, don't you? Why else do you think I marked off 5 PM to 8 PM on my calendar to study for the Stats mid-term and hung a do-not-disturb sign on my msn and gtalk messengers?
What I really think has stuck is the Associate Dean's words. "Don't wish away these months", he said, "make full use of the 20 months and enjoy them".
Oops! 5% of my EMBA is over. Only 95% remains (obvious math again!). I don't want to miss a minute. So let me get back to studying. At least, it is already past 5 PM and I don't need to worry about work until 8 AM tomorrow morning.
Am back. Clearly, the early pangs in the EMBA are decision-making and time management (what a cliche, huh?). EMBA life began on 09 Jan 09 (exactly one month before today and sorry for the way I get excited about such obvious math calc). Orientation lasted 2 days at Columbia Universtity's Morningside Heights campus in uptown Manhattan, New York city. Wow, I must say, the campus looks GORGEOUS when it snows.
The official start of EMBA classes was during First Residence Week. 123 high-power executives marooned in a snow-covered resort and conference center, in a middle-of-nowhere place called Palisades, NY. 9 hours of classes a day accompanied by endless (or should I say limitless) food, staying up all night on assignments and group work, a chair massage just when you felt like you were starting to wear out, a game of monoploy that was not played for fun and a statistics quiz to wrap. That's residence week for you at Columbia Business School's EMBA program. I look forward to Second Residence Week in May 09.
Time management was not much of a challenge at residence week, given that not much of it was left to be managed. Decision-making was even easier. 123 organizations (including some duplicates like GE and IBM that send a high number of candidates to school every year) had been informed that these high-power officers were going on vacation or to school (depending on how supportive their organization was). Cell phones and laptops were to be truned OFF during class hours. I must say at this time that my company has been very supportive and people have rallied around me to help me go through school.
It was the 2 weeks after that were real killers. Continuous travel on work, 2 projects going live in 2 different countries on the same day, while I was in a totally different location, trying to kick-off proceedings with a new client we had signed-off on. That I got to class on Jan 30 for the first official weekend at school (which happens to be at Warren Hall on Amsterdam Avenue at 116th) was a huge bonus, let alone doing well in a 5 minute group presentation on "Strategy" for a leading semiconductor manufacturing company.
The last 10 days have been better (9 to be precise!). But just so I make it clear, early struggles for me with the EMBA program have been time management and setting priorities.
There are many perspectives. "You got to pick your battles", some classmates said. I agree (wise guy that I am!). But I relised how wrong I could have been when the results came out for the Statistics quiz and the Strategy group assignment and I saw how each of the 123 people were fighting for Honors!
"It's the Network", said some others (classmates and well wishers). I agree (with even more conviction this time). But beware my friend, you are part of the network because you got some meat to stay in it, not just good looks and smooth talk (like I have either of those in the first place!!!).
Professors have a completely different view. "Forget the math", they say (and there goes the only skill I relied on my enitre life!). "It's the concept behind the math, it's how you understand what to use where and what you can do with the information." I agree (vehemently this time). OK, I got the concept prof, you bet I did, so will you pardon my grade and allow me to move on to the next semester? You know what answer I got, don't you? Why else do you think I marked off 5 PM to 8 PM on my calendar to study for the Stats mid-term and hung a do-not-disturb sign on my msn and gtalk messengers?
What I really think has stuck is the Associate Dean's words. "Don't wish away these months", he said, "make full use of the 20 months and enjoy them".
Oops! 5% of my EMBA is over. Only 95% remains (obvious math again!). I don't want to miss a minute. So let me get back to studying. At least, it is already past 5 PM and I don't need to worry about work until 8 AM tomorrow morning.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Story of My MBA - The Last 14 Months
Oct 2007: Lakshminarayan arrives in the USA with wife and five year old son. He was promoted as Senior Program Manager by his company and transferred to the USA to front-end an important client relationship (a large mortgage company).
Nov 2007: Thanksgiving. It's a dream come true for Lakshmi and family and they have everything to be thankful for.
Dec 2007: Son celebrates Sixth Birthday (A Cars and Trains affair!). Wife recovers from the after effects of son's birthday on the next day, which turns out to be her birthday. Lakshmi decides that life is getting a little easy and decides to renew his MBA chase. Signs up for GMAT.
Jan 2008: Lakshmi scores 710 on GMAT. The new year seems to have started well. He also turns in his application to Wharton's Executive MBA program, exactly on Jan 31.
Feb 2008: The Fed cuts interest rates. Mortgage payments plummet. An unprecedented refinance spree occurs. Lakshmi's client and his team are faced with loan volumes unheard of in the last 2 years of their tenure in this process.
March 2008: Lakshmi and team put in 14 hours a day, 7 days a week and end March not missing even one loan for the client. The client is impressed. Revenues reach an all time monthly high.
April 2008: The AXE falls. Wharton rejects Lakshmi. Consumed with disappointment, Lakshmi decides to focus energies on family and fun. Lakshmi's parents arrive in the USA for a holiday.
May 2008: The travels begin. Philadelphia, New York city, Cape May, Washington DC...
June 2008: Lakshmi turns 35. He is still searching for meaning in life. The travels continue. Lakshmi discovers almost last minute that the deadline for applications for Columbia's EMBA program beginning September 08 is Jun 25. He scapmers to get an application together.
July 2008: The deadline for the Sep class at Columbia is extended. Lakshmi spends sleepless nights trying to get his essay in place. After a week of not getting even close, he decides to play it safe and apply for the class beginning jan 09. Long drive to Albany.
August 2008: Niagara Falls, NY, one of the most memorable trips I have had in the recent past. No movement on the Columbia application however.
September 2008: 8th wedding anniversary and memorable weekend with family Mother's 60th Birthday Anniversary. Parents leave USA to return to India on Sep 23. Columbia application submitted on Sep 26.
October 2008: Lakshmi is called for an interview at Columbia on Oct 23. He interviews for a different job within his company on the same day at a dinner meeting in Little Italy.
November 2008: Lakshmi is placed on the wait-list at Columbia. Does not hear anything about the position he interviewed for within his company. Ten years after the first impasse, yet another begins.
December 2008: On Friday Dec 12, 2008, at 3.30 PM, Lakshmi receives a call from Columbia letting him know that he has been admitted to the EMBA program, class of 2010 Summer. An hour later, he receives an email from the head of Human Resources at his company that he has been promoted as Director, Transitions (the role he interviewed for in Little Italy!).
Saturday, the 13th was his son's 7th Birthday and Sunday the 14th was his wife's 32nd. What a memorable weekend it turned out to be? And yet, the most memorable time of his life was just beginning...
Nov 2007: Thanksgiving. It's a dream come true for Lakshmi and family and they have everything to be thankful for.
Dec 2007: Son celebrates Sixth Birthday (A Cars and Trains affair!). Wife recovers from the after effects of son's birthday on the next day, which turns out to be her birthday. Lakshmi decides that life is getting a little easy and decides to renew his MBA chase. Signs up for GMAT.
Jan 2008: Lakshmi scores 710 on GMAT. The new year seems to have started well. He also turns in his application to Wharton's Executive MBA program, exactly on Jan 31.
Feb 2008: The Fed cuts interest rates. Mortgage payments plummet. An unprecedented refinance spree occurs. Lakshmi's client and his team are faced with loan volumes unheard of in the last 2 years of their tenure in this process.
March 2008: Lakshmi and team put in 14 hours a day, 7 days a week and end March not missing even one loan for the client. The client is impressed. Revenues reach an all time monthly high.
April 2008: The AXE falls. Wharton rejects Lakshmi. Consumed with disappointment, Lakshmi decides to focus energies on family and fun. Lakshmi's parents arrive in the USA for a holiday.
May 2008: The travels begin. Philadelphia, New York city, Cape May, Washington DC...
June 2008: Lakshmi turns 35. He is still searching for meaning in life. The travels continue. Lakshmi discovers almost last minute that the deadline for applications for Columbia's EMBA program beginning September 08 is Jun 25. He scapmers to get an application together.
July 2008: The deadline for the Sep class at Columbia is extended. Lakshmi spends sleepless nights trying to get his essay in place. After a week of not getting even close, he decides to play it safe and apply for the class beginning jan 09. Long drive to Albany.
August 2008: Niagara Falls, NY, one of the most memorable trips I have had in the recent past. No movement on the Columbia application however.
September 2008: 8th wedding anniversary and memorable weekend with family Mother's 60th Birthday Anniversary. Parents leave USA to return to India on Sep 23. Columbia application submitted on Sep 26.
October 2008: Lakshmi is called for an interview at Columbia on Oct 23. He interviews for a different job within his company on the same day at a dinner meeting in Little Italy.
November 2008: Lakshmi is placed on the wait-list at Columbia. Does not hear anything about the position he interviewed for within his company. Ten years after the first impasse, yet another begins.
December 2008: On Friday Dec 12, 2008, at 3.30 PM, Lakshmi receives a call from Columbia letting him know that he has been admitted to the EMBA program, class of 2010 Summer. An hour later, he receives an email from the head of Human Resources at his company that he has been promoted as Director, Transitions (the role he interviewed for in Little Italy!).
Saturday, the 13th was his son's 7th Birthday and Sunday the 14th was his wife's 32nd. What a memorable weekend it turned out to be? And yet, the most memorable time of his life was just beginning...
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