BCG and Naukri

Attended a couple of very interesting sessions yesterday. First one was by Sanjeev Bhikchandani the CEO of Naukri .com. Yet another superb speaker i had the good fortune of listening to at ISB. The series was a a part of the PAEV course i have registered for. He was very authentic. No jargons thrown--simple story telling including all the errors he made.

All these entrepreneurs i hear at ISB are so inspiring that sometimes i feel i should just not sit for placements and become an entrepreneur! For sure i have this desire somewhere deep inside to be an entrepreneur but for some reason or the other, its been strangled and not allowed to come out. A couple of weeks earlier, Mansih Sabbhawal of teamlease had evoked similar thoughts. I am yet not sure if its the desire in me or the sheer inspiration provided by these speakers that prompt me to go the entrepreneurial way!-- For starters i have decided to do the PAEV course as a practice to incubating a business idea. However i strongly feel that i wont consider myself to have had a successful career, if i cant do something of my own! Dont know where it will lead to but yeah the first step is the desire and its very much there.

Second event was a consulting gyan session by BCG. Three ISB alums and two Principals from BCG had flown down just for the session. The firm culture looks extremely informal and work you choose to do depends on your individual interests. However it was more or less clear that they would look majorly into grades for shortlists and i know that i have little hope here.

I feel consulting is an ideal career for a bschool grad since its the only place you would apply your bschool learnings to the fullest. Its the same like working for a CA firm in traditional practice after CA. Thats where you apply what you ve learnt. Consulting is far more glamorous though.
So coming back to BCG, there were a whole bunch of people ( read Consulting wanna bees) hanging around even after the session was over. Like I have said Consulting as a career is highly overrated at ISB and so every Tom Dick and Harry wants to get into it. Hence firms like BCG visiting the campus would always get overwhelming response. BCG also did a good job of the session and people were satisfied overall.

Term end exams approach next week. Three terms would be over. This MBA at ISB is getting over at a pace much faster than i thought. Assignments, exams, meetings, unlimited work etc have stopped bothering me. I feel i can do any amount of work in a given day. Only thing is--exam results dont come out as well as i want to. Not that i score badly--others score better--- However now that has also stopped bothering me. Reflecting back i ve learnt a lot in last 4 months and looking forward to learning a lot more in the remaining program.

And some where deep inside-Dont want this to end--

PS: My ELP team consisting of Consultant, Herbie, Mr Serious, Madam and me have managed to get a hot project. 8 teams applied, 4 were short listed and two selected. Feeling good about it. Hope we do a good job.