On dependencies and self-independence
All these past 15 days, starting right from around 14th May'06, things have been going really well. But apart from the work and the company's experiences, it's all boring most of the time. There's no one to talk to, no one to roam around with. After getting back to my room, all I do is roam around in the market all alone, go over to an internet cafe or work in the room. But it's not that bad basically because that way one gets a lot of time to work, analyse things and most importantly get independent - managing everything and stuff. Solitude is a great experience in itself.
Started working on the first major case today. It was fun but at the end of the day there wasn't much output of all the inputs given. I only hope that things improve with time and that everything does come out fruitful.
Time taken to write this post: 8 minutes
Training's up..
Huh!! Thought it would end up really well but guess, I lost on certain key things.
For the last two days, we were required to work on a live case. Had to collect a lot of data, find a lot of information, major players' share, their strategies and threats on the industry etc. We were finally required to present our work today afternoon. 3 fresh employees worked upon the task individually and I got to say that all of them worked upon really well and did an amazing job. While before entering the board room, I thought my work to be superb, things didn't really turn out that well. There were so many feedbacks from the panel members. There's lot to learn and work upon is what I understood from the exercise.
Time taken to write this post: 14 minutes
Training's on..
Its just been 2 days that the training has begun but things have already started getting hectic. Guess, there's lot to work upon and that there's lot to learn in this ongoing week. Bain requires its employees to be skillful in a lot of things. It's so tiring by the night. Have heard that at times people here keep working from 9 in the morning till 11 pm at night. Sounds scary.
Apart from that, got the first pay cheque yesterday (for half a month). Ok!! have earned money in internship too but receiving this one was definitely more exciting. These people have an excellent concept of giving off the pay 10 days in advance to the month end. Sounds great.
Time taken to write this post: 11 minutes
Differentiation
Jack Welch talks about differentiation and how it helps in running companies successfully, in his book named
Winning. What he basically supports is this - differentiating people who are more efficient at work compared to those who are not. And that basically makes sense. Corporates these days have all kinds of bonuses to support his view and such policies actually motivate employees to work even harder.
It sounds perfect but only after the employee has proved himself/herself more efficient than others. Does it make sense in cases when people are hired for the same level/post and are offered different pay packages on the basis of their education or cultural background? If you consider someone better, give him different set of responsibilities and a different post but if on the other hand the responsibilities are same, initial pay packages too shouldn't differ. These are the kinds of politics played in corporates and we all gotta accept them. Guess, there isn't much that we can talk about.
Time taken to write this post: 9 minutes
Work Ethics and values
With time, one gets to see a lot of things in the corporates. Values and ethics are something that these big shot companies focus a lot upon. At times, I feel as if these values must have played a major role in taking these companies to high levels. One thing that I've really liked about Bain in these past 4 days is that employees are never encouraged/allowed to lie for anything. Have realized that especially during instances when we had to extract information from various sources . It's always easier to get details by lying but the real ability of any employee is reflected when he speaks the truth and gets information extracted. We are asked to be truthful, be it any kind of situation.
This week's been great. People have been really helpful and friendly. Got an opportunity to work in a wonderful project under great people - a guy from US who's currently transfered to India, a senior analyst guy who once aspired to be in civil services (gave 3 attempts), an Indian girl who's been in Europe all her life right from birth upto last year. All of them have something within to learn from. If nothing else, I'd atleast get more fluent in English :-)
Time taken to write this post: 18 minutes
Strategic consultancy (SC) is fun
For some, SC may just be sitting for long hours collecting information from net, chit-chatting with people and making documents. But for those who understand the real meaning of SC, it's about understanding the complete business model of an industry, studying its viability and sustainability, its competitors, the market and finally consolidating the researched and analyzed information along with the strategies (that one should follow for the business to grow) in the form of reports. These reports not only are beneficial for the major industry players, they are a big requirement for the newbies, the upcoming leaders.
The only disadvantage that I see in such a kind of work is that one doesn't get to understand the technicalities of any industry, its majorly about studying the business models. People say, knowing technicalities is a must to run a business successfully but may be understanding the business model should be given a higher priority especially when the technical side of your field doesn't interest you. In my case, software.
Time taken to write this post: 21 minutes
Corporate experience, the first day
Finally got into the corporate world. Had a great experience the first day. This Bain office is so lively, is so much fun. People here are always cracking jokes, doing masti and working at the same time. It's a small office with around 20-25 people working and that is what basically makes the interaction easy.
Was given a great welcome with a presentation prepared on me. Trust me, internet's dangerous and I got to understand that from the presentation. It had a lot of those stupid and funny pics that I once got clicked for masti. Nevertheless, it was a great way of introduction and I personally enjoyed it. They provided me with a laptop (which as seniors say, we're allowed to take homes too after a few days of joining), a telephone with STD/ISD (which the employees are suppossed to use only for official matters) and was asked to do whatever I wished to for the first day. Though post-lunch, was associated with a small project under a senior - a case study in pharma. The timings here are kinda stringent from arnd 9 am to 6 pm and the dress is suppossed to be formals.
Employees here come from all backgrounds - IIT, BComs, MBAs and a lot of US-based people too. All of them are obviously intelligent, smart, brilliant and keep themselves in a great way. So for now, I got to work hard and reach higher levels.
Time taken to write this post: 19 minutes
Off to Gurgaon this morning
A new phase of life is about to begin in a day. Another 30 odd hours and I'd be expected to be more professional, more mature and more responsible. A sense of fear fills me up when I think of the fact that a lot of people would start keeping expectations from me in this new phase and what if am not able to reach upto them. What if it gets difficult to survive in the changed environment? What if I take a lot of time to adjust? What if I misunderstand or misinterpret people or things? What if I couldn't mingle well with my colleagues? What if the decision of picking up a total different industry comes out wrong?
But then things got to move ahead and I got to understand the struggle required from now on. No more repeatitions of mistakes, no more 'let-go' things easily and no more carelessness. A lot needs to be done and a lot of things are to be achieved. Life doesn't come easy especially when everyone's competing for success day and night. One thing that I badly miss is the killing attitude. No more compromises or acceptance of failures 'easily'. Hope things turn out good and that I adjust well with new people and new situations. GOD bless.
Time taken to write this post: 13 minutes
Classifications of people
Small people - They talk about others, others' belongings, others' possessions are generally full of J all the time
Average people - These people talk about themselves, their own belongings and could generally be considered as full of proud all the time
Great people - Great people talk about ideas, they give advices and work for the welfare of the society
Saints - They do not talk. They radiate positive energy with the impact of which, things work out to be correct
UnSuccessful people - Such people always wish to do things that give them comfort. A life free of tensions, a risk-free life
Successful people - Such people are ready to handly uncomfortable things too. A life with a perfect mixture of risks or tensions and comforts
Time taken to write this post: 8 minutes
Lifestyle Planning and Management
Dr. Sushil Kansal, a very learned, experienced and renowned trainer and Head of English Department, SD College, Ambala Cantt delivered an interesting, lucid and informative talk on
"LifeStyle Planning and Management" during one of the meetings at Rotary Club, Ambala Cantt. It goes as follows:
Human Progress is rapid and dramatic advances have taken place, which enables us to live at a fast pace where most things can take place or be arranged within a very short space of time. Such progress is beneficial and we are provided with a wide range of choices and opportunities every day. We can cram a lot into a short space of time, but this can lead to problems and ultimately we feel that there is insufficient time in the day to do everything that is on offer to us.
Our basic needs often take a back seat in the headlong pursuit into the maelstrom of modern life. The foundation stones of success are taken for granted and we fail to give them the time they deserve and require. In the short term, this is acceptable, but prolonged neglect can seriously affect our performance as we become ill, tired, de-motivated, depressed and quite simply burn out.
Lifestyle planning provides an opportunity to reflect upon the foundation stones of successful living and suggests methods, structures and options on how to ensure that they are given high priority that is required and are managed correctly. To manage and plan your lifestyle, you need to improve yourself in the following areas:
- Health Management
- Art of saying 'NO' without hurting
- Organizing Information
- Learning to de-clutter
- Home and Office Management
- Rising Children
- Understanding the effects of Smoking, Alcohol and other "Pick-me-ups"
- Understanding the roles of "Put-me-downs"
- Ventilation of your emotions
- Sleep
- Cultivating Hobbies
The balance of one's lifestyle is important not only because it ensures that you do the things that you want to do but also because it ensures that you are more successful in every other aspect. The end result is improved performance not only in business but also in the career of life.
If one area is neglected in the short term because of pressures and the usual necessities of life there is no great problem. If, however, one area is neglected in the headlong pursuit of the other then all will end in ultimate failure. How many people do you know that perform better when they have marital problems or who resent staying late at work because they were due to be out with friends for the evening?
The benefits are not short term - they are for the future and they need to be planned for, otherwise you will be carried along with the flow doing what everyone else does. There are very few people who would wish to have "He worked long hours" on their tombstone!
For those of you that think, "That's all very well in theory but how can it possibly be done in practice?" the answer is very simple. You can take control of your own future. Think of lifestyle planning as a product and implement it in the same way that you would for any other product: it is a product that will improve the bottom line.
We need a degree of pressure to motivate us to carry out our work and achieve success. It is only when the amount of pressure exceeds our ability, or perceived ability to cope, that we start to have problems. We might call this 'PRESSURE OVERLOAD'. Pressure overload can manifest itself many ways both physical and psychological. In the first instance, one must be able to recognize the symptoms of pressure overload and to do this we have to be extremely honest and avoid the macho approach: if it hurts - STOP
Ask yourself the question: "When did you last do something which you enjoyed and did it just because it was enjoyable?"
Because of the pace of modern life we often forget we have a right to enjoy ourselves, we make excuses that allow us to have a good time. We have a myriad of demands upon our time and we always put ourselves second. This can lead to resentment and a drop of enthusiasm to carry out tasks. It is imperative to give yourself time and develop personal interests in the same way as you would develop projects towards targets for other parties.
Initially changes in your lifestyle will be problematic and the benefits may not seem to be worth the effort. Lifestyle planning is about long-term effectiveness and success, the strategic view. Stick to your action plan, implement your changes and review their effectiveness.
Time taken to write this post: 45 minutes
