Leaders talk: “Have heart of a volcano and eyes of an assassin” ~ Rahul Bose

Very rarely do you come across someone who can touch your heart yet leave you more thoughtful than you were before they came by. Actor Rahul Bose is one of those few people who have this amazing ability to strike a chord with an entire audience.

He was the speaker at the recent event  of the XLRI-GMP 2012-13 leadership series here. As a person who has donned many hats including that of a National level rugby player to that of an actor turned director, Rahul Bose had a lot of unique and fascinating experiences to speak of.

These are the lessons learnt over a lifetime but imparted in less than 2 hours to a bunch of B-school students who were looking for a good leader to emulate. And here he was - an unassuming man with the heart of a volcano and the eyes of, well in his own words, an assassin. 

Extracts from the speech 

The Personal is the Political

What would you like your best friend to say about you at your funeral? 

What are those three things which you would want to be known for?

Once you have identified those qualities make it your moral compass - that serves to guide you in taking decisions. 
Remember, the Personal is the Political- every decision you make, every leader you elect would undoubtedly have the very qualities that you cherish.

Lessons from rugby

Focus

The hotter your heart gets, the cooler your head should be. Remember, in rugby, it always helps to have the eyes of an assassin and the heart of a volcano. Focus on the ball and not the player. The minute you lose focus, you have lost the game.

                                                                    
Appointing Co-Leaders

There are times when thou shall enter bullshit territory- grey areas where you summon little expertise. At such times set your ego aside and appoint co-leaders- people who can lead when you can't. Never hesitate in pointing out a co-leader. Trust me it feels much nicer than it sounds. As a leader, you should lead from the front, but sometimes take a step back too- watch your team perform, encourage them and step in only when required.

Quash that ego

When in doubt, ask. If the other team has the expertise that you don't possess, take it in your stride, go over and inquire how it is done. Chances are that they will be willing to help. 

Empathize

In rugby, huddling just before a match always has a huge impact on the psyche of the player. Learn to empathize with your team mates. Watch them play; learn with them and in the process get to know them. It is a win-win situation, and who knows? If you are lucky, you might win some friends for a lifetime.

Lessons from acting

Envision

As the ‘C’EO, you have to ‘see' it, smell it and plot the path line to the virtual chamber. See in your mind’s eye, yourself being teleported up those invisible steps. But what if you can't visualize? What if you have no clue about what needs to be done? Three simple words can come to your rescue- I don't know. By simply admitting the truth you can allow others' ideas to flow out.

Team Dynamics

Remember it is crucial that the team gels well. The dynamics should work out. A team's fit is a delicate affair. Go for the 2nd best player if you must, because if egos clash, the team is finished. And if you as the leader, can invest your time and energy in her, and provide her the encouragement she needs you can make her the best player there is. Being compassionate and taking an interest in your teammates can make all the difference. 

Lessons from Social Activism

Never Over promise

When you are out on the field helping people, do not ever over promise. Because if you do that and do not live up to your words, then the people who believed you in the first place will not trust another person who offers to help them. You tend to over promise because you believe you can deliver. But it is mainly so because your ego is larger than yourself. Always remember that worse than the death of the body is the death of hope. So think twice before you make a promise and always under promise but try to over deliver.

The Purpose

Always ask yourself the reason why you do what you are doing. It can be about your job or anything else that matters to you. Is that reason still valid? If it is, then by all means replenish it. But if the answer is no longer a convincing ‘Yes’, it is time for you to move on.

Acknowledge the less privileged

Wherever you go, do remember to acknowledge the Invisible Indians-the auto rickshaw wallahs, the security guards, the paan-wallahs, the lift operator. Address them by their name. The minute you do that they cease to exist as a cutout figure. The simple act of putting a name to the face transforms them into a solid person in 3-dimension. You would be surprised to know -the fact that they matter to you, matters to them.  

Rahul was also accompanied by his friend and fellow director, Mr. Prawal Raman, who obliged to share his insights on leadership and what makes one stand out from the rest.

Prawal's 2 cents

See the rationale in your decisions

As a leader, if you have belief in your actions and can rationalize your decision, your team will stand by you. People generally look for conviction in their leaders, and if you can achieve that, rest assured your team will abide by your instructions.

Inculcate trust and confidence

Learn to trust your teammates. Instead of chiding them for a mistake committed, try to encourage them to do tasks at which they can excel. Your confidence in them will in turn make them more confident in what they do.

Just be nice

When you work as a team, treat everyone equally. Never raise your voice against anyone and don’t let others do so either. By creating a great atmosphere to work in, you would have your team mates looking forward to working with you. 

Needless to say, it was by far one of the most outstanding leadership talks that I have attended at XLRI.  

Thank you Rahul Bose and Prawal Raman

Anu Girija Senan

GMP Co2013

Was it a Sunday?

After spending around eight hours in lectures on Saturday and running for tea in between, we saw the following post being shared by the class representative on Facebook page. There was also an email lying in our inbox with similar content.

For Tomorrow - 7th October, 2012

07:00 - 10:00 JGW - Serve those who serve us
10:45 - 11:15 Inquizitive preliminary round
11:15 - 12:00 jNAN Shastra - session

12:00 - 12:45 Inquizitive Finals
03:30 - 07:00 JGW - SPANDAN

I wished I could dislike the post. I wished I could reply to his email saying, “Common! it is Sunday – The only day we get some respite”. Moreover, the schedule of the next week is completely painted with lectures. It is not easy to find free pockets of time in next week schedule. All I wanted to do was to relax a bit. But, I had forgotten about the spirit of people organizing and participating in these events.

Little did I realize that there was something common to these three unique events and there was something novel about them. As I write this and as the Sunday gives way to Monday, we can recognize that all these events were new initiatives undertaken here. This common thread binding all of them was strengthened by the motivation of volunteers and organizers. The theme of the events varied from social service to peer learning to quizzing. Joy of Giving Week (JGW) events were to celebrate the ongoing festival of philanthropy at XLRI and in India, ‘Inquizitive’ was a quizzing event challenging our business knowledge and ‘jNAN Shastra’ was about sharing your knowledge and experiences with your peer. 

It takes lot of effort to start anything and set the ball rolling. The organizers did an outstanding job and the response of the participants was equally supportive. This Sunday was full of exuberance and vigor. The day started with a joy of giving event and ended with a joy of giving event. There was joy in serving and sharing. There was much liveliness in the air we breathed today.  Who says Sundays are for relaxing when there is so much of action around you?

XLRI GMP ranked fourth in India by Outlook

XLRI General Management Program (GMP) has been ranked at 4th place among all one year programs in Indian B-Schools in the recently released B-school rankings by outlook magazine.

Overall XLRI secured 4th place in B-Schools rankings in India.

It is a partial list. The complete list can be viewed on outlook magazine website.

In the list of private B-Schools, XLRI secured first rank.

The complete rankings and the methodology used by outlook can be viewed in detailed here on outlook magazine website.

The End of End terms

The cheer and noise of my friends from outside Father Prabhu Hall who had finished their last exams before time while I was still thinking and writing to make some sense proved how big a relief it was. The uproar compelled me to submit mine too and join the party. Yes, end terms will return but right now the small joy of their end is bigger than their intimidation of coming again. 

Exam-fever can catch you at any age. You cannot get immune to it. It is indifferent to the facts that we all have faced many such exams long before in our lives and that we have faced tougher situations than them in our professional careers.  End terms are like a heptathlon event in sports.  Each exam different from the other yet fundamentally requires the same stamina and temperament. Interesting stories emerged after each exam. Consider this, "The heart start thumping as you are about to hit the final key on calculator to check if balance-sheet balances. And you get a mini heart-attack when you  see that liabilities are not equal to assets. The term 'balanced balance-sheet' seems oxymoron in that moment and it appears all those balanced balance sheets in the world must be fudged". Tragic as well as hilarious.

What I liked most about the end terms was the intensity in the environment. It is incredible to see people putting such efforts after a long hiatus from academic life. Some of us were going to sleep at four in the morning while others were waking up at that hour. Good mornings or good nights made no sense. Did we decouple ourselves from time or were we following different time zones in the same time zone?  For many, library was the new bedroom. Some studied in groups and executed divide and conquer. The deserted path to GMP hostel almost looked like a curfew being imposed. Astonishing adaptation!

Sleep deficit in GMP must have raised dangerously close to India's fiscal deficit and as Indian government awakes to overcome it through recent announcements of FDI in retail and aviation, cut in fuel subsidy and disinvestment, let us all sleep enough to reduce our deficit too in the one week break.

Happy Sleeping GMP...Go Hibernate..

Leaders talk - Customer service in the age of Social Media

Customer Service in the age of social media was the topic at the kick-off event of leadership series– an ongoing series throughout the year, organized by GMP students. The guest and speaker for the day was Ms. Anita Pai, Senior General Manager at ICICI Bank and currently responsible for operations. Prior to this, she was in charge of customer service. Using social media for customer service is a contemporary area and very few organizations have been able to embrace it effectively. 

Ms. Anita Pai enlightened us with some of the issues about customer service, which organizations such as ICICI Bank face day in and day out and how social media is changing the landscape of customer service. She started with the fundamental idea of what customer service is and stressed upon the fact that unless leadership is committed to customer service, it doesn’t happen at any organization.  Customer service is often ignored and it is only when top line starts declining organizations start thinking about it seriously. However, having a strong focus and culture for customer service not only has positive cascading effects but also yield fruits in the long run.

The talk progressed by taking social media in the ambit of customer service. She gave couple of examples where customers expressed their dissatisfaction about companies and their service on Facebook or blog and how reactions of organizations only back fired them. She also shared many examples handled by her teams where customer used social media to get their concerns addressed. Customers are increasingly sharing their experiences with customer service of organizations on social media and more often than not, the experience is about pain and frustration.  If the customer happens to be a famous personality on social media, the negativity gets amplified and may go viral in no time and by the time you wake up to address the concerns, damage is already done. Once done it is not easy to repair this damage.

The increased competitiveness between organizations and technology has reduced tolerance of customers. Today a customer, empowered with mobile and internet, may feel a wait of five minutes in the queue is long enough to express it on Facebook or Twitter. You don’t know from where a crisis may hit you. Previously organizations were able to deal with customer’s complaints and dissatisfaction in one to one mode. Now, it has become many to one. On being asked about how to deal with this new challenge, Ms. Pai said that it is important for organizations to wake up to the reality of social media, recognize it as a valuable resource and rather than reactive be proactive about it. Organizations must incorporate social media into their customer service strategy and endeavor to build a positive outlook using it as an effective tool.

All in all it was an absorbing session. Many of us, as customer could relate to it and now we all got a sneak peek into the other side too. Social media has become a busy highway. Every day people and organizations are finding innovative ways of using it. So the launch of new iPhone or iPad by Apple is preceded by enormous buzz on Facebook and Twitter. Brands are utilizing social media as a tool for evangelism marketing.  Its immense power and potential has already been felt by the world through political events such as Arab Spring. Perhaps nothing could better summarize the event than the following quote cited by Ms. Anita Pai, 

If customer is the king, social media is his empire. 

The wee(a)k that made us strong

Two mid-terms, a quiz, couple of presentations, few assignments and some lectures sandwiched between them.  All in one week.

Phew! This is overeating.

Welcome to the rigor of GMP - one year MBA at XLRI.

You cannot afford to miss lectures to prepare for other things, you cannot go ill-prepared for presentations and deadlines for assignments are sacrosanct. The only thing you can probably do is to forget about sleep. There was a fest going on in the campus and we were writing economics mid-term or taking notes in accounting lectures with music falling on your ears. Probably we are learning to concentrate without sleep and lots of distractions? 

At last it was over (temporarily). The best part of such restless weeks is the relief you get after they are over. The plan to catch up on sleep goes haywire with micro parties in every room next door going on till birds start chirping in the morning. It was the first crazy weeks since we have joined and we know it was not the last. There are many more to come and one is already looming.

We struggled, we slogged and we helped each other. We came out strong. We partied. 

Cheers GMP.

Stick

Here @ XL : An account of spirited LIFE!

Yes!  We have completed first month of our 15-month life at XL. We have savored every bit of sights and sounds of it. And in the process, we all have been spiritualized with the campus called XLRI. As for most of us, this is a school life after a long so called professional life, I had an image of stern serious folks eating, drinking and washing faces with business jargons and career plans. But on the contrary,the timeless banters, heartfelt laughers, delicate humors , fuming cuppas,  and all engaging camaderie have become the order of the day here @ XL.

A bunch of 120 professionals, by some god’s grace, landed up here in this GMP hostel at XLRI on 10^th June 2012 , with an aim of doing MBA. As time passed, as the ball was set rolling, all we have is a LIFE full of fun and frolic. MBA found a new meaning MMA – Master of Mad Activities. Madness started with the party in between C and D block and now has percolated in almost every nook and corner of XLRI.

Yes, so far it’s been an exciting journey with an underpinning of insanity. Out here it is an immaculate celebration of freedom and spirit. Adding color to it is a colorful bunch of homo-sapience hovering here and there , giving a new meaning to their new found abode after a tiring span of professional life. The rejuvenating vigor defines life here @ GMP , XLRI.

The professors seems to be quite upbeat about the all-embracing madness and are doing every bit they can to spice it up with their quizzes , assignments and mouse traps. A typical day starts with bread and butter , hot tea and talks of Le Oreal  on the corner of the canteen. Topics are abound and they change but what does not change is the verbal dissection   of marketing  case studies – be it coke or gilette – poor souls get a ruthless treatment as do the alu paratha. And finally, the speculation comes to a full circle in the ‘taxing’ class with an acid test of all futile breakfast-brainstorming. The day progresses and the madness in its due course.  In the communication class, our brave soldiers have become Sales Guru or the President or Soft skill expert with their equally intriguing harangue. Some souls preferred HongKong whatsoever and some the dreamland! Demand and Supply demanded a great deal of effort but finally was supplied with oblivion. After a period of one month , atleast I got it clear that hardly anyone in this band of brothers want to make this prized life a liability. And hence naturally, balance sheet of life is unequally heavy towards fun account rather than worries. Asset is the place and time and these 120 characters. Budding managers manage to peep into their future cabin in their dreams when the professors organize all his efforts to behave us. The impending quizzes and assignments must have taken a toll.

All said and done , the passion of this herd is unyielding. They face the quizzes as flamboyantly as they rappelled down the rock in the adventure trip. And, of course, many of them came out with flying colors – as colorful as the trouser of Fraud Shah! Some exhales a long breath  but soon sinks into a game of TT or lawn tennis or badminton.

The spirit is high and it reaches the highest when a dreaded quiz gets over or a weekend is around the corner. At night, after dinner, groups of comrades engage themselves into talks – topics know no bounds – from psychology to philosophy to business to arts to movies. Some takes a stroll thru the lush green park. ‘Aste Aste’ darkness engulfs the compound and the buildings flare up with lights – oh the crazy souls surely have some quiz tomorrow!

We really had ‘Time of our Life’ so far in this one month. This only tells that more exciting time is afoot along the way. With a gloomy economic scenario looming large , the spirits here did its bit to wipe it out from the moods of the gang! None knows what is in store for future. So our mantra is to take the life as it comes and make the most out of this – things will fall in face if we have kidney !!

It was just a glimpse of the mad state of affair that rules the roost here. However, the madness reached its pinnacle in the village and adventure trip. A peep in that trip will follow soon!

First 30 days at XL...

Tomorrow, most of us would have completed one month here in XL, 14 more to go! When I look back, I become more and more confident that coming here was one of the best things happened to me in the long time. Everything that I imagined, is happening here (albeit at a faster pace!), be it ice-breaker  and birthday parties on campus or Saturday night wet parties at some resto in Bistupur , or the endless discussions about forming committees or otherwise or Sunday morning football matches. Loving every bit of it! The moments captured in those pictures may not tell the whole story, but when we’ll get hold of them ten years from now, we’ll surely relive these wonderful, unforgettable moments. Sometimes, I feel, given any random the date and time in the last one month and I would be able to recollect what I was doing exactly!

Merely a month and we have it all: from anxious moments before first marketing quiz or speech in MCN class to late night case analysis to just a pleasing stroll post dinner around the lush-green campus. The zenith, I must say came on the adventure trip, when we returned exasperated with every bone and muscle in the body paining, yet with a  smile on the face , as if we have won a war ! That, one of the kind experience, provided fresh lease of life and will be etched strongly in our memory.

When 120 best brains in the country throng, differences in  opinion are bound to happen, but the way we have handled some of the natural (adventures on the adventure trip) and man (profs) made challenges, with so much ease and bonhomie, only makes my belief stronger that ‘the best is yet to come’. They say, it takes a moment to ‘click’ with someone and, XL has provided aplenty and continues to do so.  The bridges of friendship we have built in such a short span of time, amidst of all those dreadful words like “product cannibalization” and “better mousetrap fallacy”, is simply amazing. Those cerebral discourses in classrooms and around the dining table have now become the order of the day. On the surface, it seems any other class in a b -school of XL’s league, but with every passing day you find, many more poets, singers, dancers, musicians and sportsmen. Yeah, it’s surely gonna be transformation batch.   

Life surely doesn’t look easy with the news  about the sluggish economy emerging every other day, on one hand and so many assignments and quizzes giving those ominous look every other hour, on the other hand but yes, with those endless leg-pulling sessions and laughter in store, I’m sure we’ll leave no stone unturned  to get there.. Where we truly belong. Remember the lines “I have a dream, a song to sing…”?

 Come Alive...Come XLRI !!

Cheers.

Back to School

If I am allowed to change the expansion of B-School, I would call it “Back to School”.

It has been more than a week that we, a group of about 120 ambitious persons have taken a break from our professional life and have landed up in this beautiful campus of XLRI-Jamshedpur to form the class of 2013 of General Management Program (GMP). We have arrived at one of the premier business school with anxiousness, anticipation, enthusiasm, determination and hope. We have left behind a successful and promising professional life to leap forward and have become student once again.

We were welcomed by the scorching heat of Jamshedpur and if that was not enough it was followed by "warm" welcome from Dean Academics, Prof Pranabesh Ray. Though the weather has relaxed a bit in last one week and it has rained twice the warm welcomes from faculty, alumni, etc. continues.

Familiarity was already built before joining the program as several meets took place in various cities. People who arrived early went to railway stations to receive others. The bonhomie was built through social media. There was enough interaction among people that they had already planned for a party before landing up here. There have been parties and cricket matches already as part of ice-breaking rounds. Some of us are married and some of them have kids too. So when a friend sang papa kehte hai bada naam karega in a party, we actually thought of changing it to beta kehta hai bada naam karega :)

It is quite amazing to see the academic orientation of people even after spending considerable time in industry. The orientation week has passed and it was hectic. Days started with Yoga at 6:30 AM and ended with balance sheet at 9 PM. We are getting used to 1.5 hours as we run for tea and coffee in the break provided between two lectures. As the year unfolds I am sure we will make new discoveries and create life lasting bonds.

The coming weekend is for visit to villages for one section and adventure trip for another section.  

Over to excitement!