Connecting, the "TiEISB Connect" Way!

Today marked day 3 at TieISB Connect. Organized by TiE-Hyderabad Chapter and Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (WCED), ISB, TiEISB Connect is a unique forum. This forum enables aspiring entrepreneurs, early-stage ventures and growth-stage ventures to interact with potential investors, successful entrepreneurs and mentors. This years event featured nine tracks, each discussing entrepreneurial opportunities in sunrise sectors.

The Media track happened to be today and I must say that it was very informative to say the least. Each speaker brought to the table their insights on where the Media industry is coming from and where it is headed to. I, along with partner in crime MS, had the pleasure of actually doing a write up on these accomplished personalities.

The campus has been abuzz for the last couple of days and justly so! What with the likes of Chief Minister Dr.YSRaja Sekhara Reddy and Peter Mukherjee finding themselves here. For more on the event, do visit www.tie-isbconnect.com

Another highlight of my day was seeing my profile on the ISB webpage. Get there by going to www.isb.edu/pgp/visit/Shelton_SMartins.html

Quite an eventful week thus far I must say! With mid-terms round the weekend, the tensions on campus are slowly again getting to crescendo.

Sure is going to be a fun time the next two weeks! Mid terms once done will only give way to the Finals which will be 12 days from then!

Tell me! Could it get any better than this?

:)

Changing TIMES (read DNA)

What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?

-William Henry Davies

Words from the distant past (a poem in primary school I think) that had stuck with me and finally make sense today!

Caught up in a web of academia, the wanting for career-actualisation and aspirations, one tends to lose grip of the initial clutch...one tends to forget about the DRIVE! And, when faced with this situation, the best gift that you can give yourself is time...

Thats prceisely what I did!

This end term, I forced myself into travelling home to Mumbai by road. A long journey it may have been but it was one that helped my recap my recent past and put things into perspective. The 12 hours that I spent by myself helped me redefine important aspects of my life.

One of the downsides to a good management programme is the growing urge to bring structure and objectivity to everything you do! Excellent in a professional setting (maybe), helps in a personal setting (sometimes), lets you "Live life on a whim, be spontaneous?"..... NEVER! Drawing the line and finding time and occassion to just let yourself go is important for holisitc satisfaction (to mortal me at least)

This musing may come across as highly philosophical but Hey! I'm human too!

With realisation came action, narratives of which I shall bring forth in blogs to follow!

For now, TIME is back to being my biggest rival! :)

Just raced against it to complete and submit an Investment Analysis assignment.

Moral and irony of this narrative: Times may sometimes bring with them challenges, trials and scar. Although time heals just as well

PS: If you were wondering what I was getting at with the title of this narrative, there is a pun that comes with it. I hope the context of this write up would help you catch it! If not, let me know and I will "decompose" it for you! :)

Taking the sweetness out of my life.....

Get up this morning, all stressed and rearing to go with academia. My minds a blur! What after having read 4 hours of Operations Management and then having dreamt about it too.....

I proceed to perform the regular morning chores: frowning at the hair standing on my head, trying to get the blur a little less hazy, recapturing the agenda for the day and of course, the mandatory cup of jhatka chai (the Dip Dip Dip types)

Water is set to boil in a kettle and I get talking to my acad mentor Mr. V about everything from APV, NPV, M&M and stuff.....

Make myself my tea and return to talk more with Mr. V for ten more minutes...constantly stirring my cup-a-tea...discussion ends, me feeling more anxious about the forthcoming exams. I leave V to do his thing while I take my cup and proceed to my room. This is the life, the bright spot in my mornings, my warm cup of tea..... gives me a reality check, reminds me of my earlier days, friends at the local chai-ka galla, tea at work, evenings with mom, tea and Marie biscuits...reminiscent, I draw the cup to my lips, ONLY TO BE STOPPED IN MID STEP.....

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

WHO THE %^&$ WAS GOING TO ADD THE SUGAR...

Well, thats that...see what OM, MADM, Entrepreneurship and Corp. Fin. can do to you.......

They sure can take the sweetness out of my life :)

SM

I know what I did last summer!

.....and if you need assistance figuring out what you need to be doing with reference to your aspirations at joining ISB, I could let you know what I really had been upto

Yes, precisely a year ago, I was yet another aspirant! Uncetainty, cirumspection, anxiety, been done, done that, felt them all. After having grappled with second and third thoughts about the zillions of B-schools out there, it took some amount of research to zero-in on ISB as my academic destination (remember, ISB was not known as the 1 crore B-school yet at that time)

Lo and behold, 1 year later, I find myself on the other side of the fence. Yes, it may have been a long time ago, but I sure have not forgotten.

If you aspire to join the ISB fraternity and need any form of council, assistance or gyan, do not hesitate to get back to me with your queries/concerns (if any). That is, of course, provided you think me worthy of such an act

As far as I'm concerned, yes, ISB so far has been a thrilling movie of sorts...you just don't know whats round the bend (read, weekend) Can't be spending anymore time tonight on the blog. Have a bidding game to prepare for, a Cororate Finance homework to finish, yet another Entrepreneurship pre-read and a Corporate Finance Case to complete!

Looks like its going to be a long night
A grapple through the darkness
Till I finally snooze at sunlight!

SM

*****Comfortably Numb*****

"There is no pain you are receding,
A distant ship smoke on the horizon"

...intense, abstract but yet in their own way, these lines speak volumes!!!

I have always believed that

There is a song for every season,
There is a rhyme for every reason

...and ain't this evident from my musings and writings thus far?????

When shock is so frequent, it tends to lose its sting...the recipient goes into a state of numbness. You may worry about my state of affairs but I say phikar naka . Control yaar...that's what its all about. If nothing else, a good B-school prepares you for the realities of everyday life: dealing with stress, learning to "let go and trust", hedge your risks in making a trade-off, identify the NPV* of an investment (including that of a relationship) blah blah blah...

Going off on a tangent, got myself a different hairdo today that was received with mixed emotions. Just wanted to "let my hair down" (pun intended) and that's precisely what I did. The move again seemed to "numb" quite a faction of society. In case you're wondering what I would look like now, there you go......



Key take-away: Innovation invariably will be met with ridicule. No exception when it come to hair either I guess :)

To my fellow-men (and yes, sadly enough, fellow-women as well)who explicitly chose to express displeasure of the top of my head, all I can say is

Hair today, gone tomorrow

:)

SM

*NPV = Not perceived Value (the Martins Dictionary)
= Net Present Value (Brealey Myers)

And the gyan keeps coming.....

Just came out of a presentation by BCG on consulting as a career option and was it enlightening to say the least!!!

The panel entertained questions ranging from insightful ones to ones that were candid and came straight from the heart.

Resultant: A very fruitful gyan session on Consulting.

That's what a good B-School like ISB can do to you...in less than 4 months I can confidently say that I have seen, heard and assimilated information more rapidly than I ever have in the last 27, eventful years of my life. The diversity that ISB incorporates into its batch (through a meticulous selection process), the environment it creates (through classroom discussion simulation) and the industrial knowledge sharing it promotes (through such speaker series) is just outstanding.

As days turn into months, one can only feel the intensity of such sessions build with all Clubs putting heir best foot forward in an effort to gain important air time(which is of essence in a place like ISB)

Here's looking forward to another 7 months of such informative liaisons......

007: THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH!!!!!

That sure is right for this precisely happens to be the predicament that the batch of 2006 has placed us, the batch of 007 in. Achievements as “celestial” as the ones attained (with the placements of 2006) most definitely solicit an unearthly retaliation!

While on that topic, here’s some food for thought:

Batch of 2006 leaves for the batch of 007 (ironically) 7 zeros to gape at,
What will 007 leave 008? How could we better that?????


My very presence on campus makes me reminisce of that old but popular Dylan tune, “Knocking on Heaven’s door”. Heaven is probably the only place that would quell the anxiety that most of us feel about times ahead and boy, am I knocking hard.

Cutting to the chase, I should admit that belonging to the ISB fraternity is awe inspiring in a number of ways…physically, mentally, academically, psychologically…..it goes on. I guess, in a nutshell, reason could be found in the one important variable of...PERCEPTION!

It is the mind game of perception itself that stirs sentiments of anxiety, apprehension and in some cases, fear. A strong proponent of the belief Darna Mana Hai, I am now led to believe that at ISB, with its academic demands et al, a slight amount of Darna Zaroori Hai. Having been cut off from main stream acads, most of us are faced with the challenge of getting back to the study rhythm, of making those grey cells function all over again. Guess that ones just a matter of time (or so we hope!) With terms flying by before we can say "ISB", we acknowledge the sentiment that a day just does not have the sufficient number of hours affiliated to it.

Puns and historical excerpts aside, I am sure that the batch of 2007 looks forward to making that long-anticipated “knock”, with the hope that the door to opportunity will be opened to us…..

Will history repeat itself? I guess time would tell!

However, in the meanwhile, with the wealth of opportunity in the economy today, I can guarantee, it sure is A TIME TO (make a) KILL!!!!!