A School of Thought

Think Big. Act Small. Scale fast.

2006-10-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

Six hundred Sixty million households. 48 billion $ in spend. And no one's looking. I always knew I was working in a special place. Its just that mired in the day to day workings, you tend to lose sight of how far-reaching the effects of what you are doing are. It was a shock, to say the least. Acme Global is one of the largest companies in the world with over a hundred thousand people, and

What does an MBA do to me?

2006-07-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

"What does b-school do to ordinary mortals that organized businesses pay multiples of what they would do to the same mortal a b-year (ISB time) younger?" At the time, I remember the b-grad i'd addressed this question to, mumbling something about "a valuable business orientation" .... "attitude" .."mindset", reinforcing my suspicion that this thing was a massive con job. Right through ISB, I kept

What are you reading?

2006-07-19T00:18:00.000-07:00

So is this blog going to turn out to be an MBA FAQ? If it is, why am I doing it? Who cares anyway? Good questions, all. Let's try and take them one by one - (my posts keep havin' these existential crises! and these questions need to be revisited every once in a while to remind myself even. ) Well, no. It isn't - it is actually s'pposed to chart my journey into "suit-life". But life at ISB was

B-school Placements

2006-07-17T02:33:00.000-07:00

If you thought I'm using this post title to get more hits on my blog - damn right I am! But hey - isn't this what they call a win-win situation? ! Anyways, its circa 2006, a fulll three months after graudating from ISB and I am sitting in a nice office in B'lore employed by the world's fourth largest company and I'm thinking - heck! What'd I do right? Well-first-the qualifiers - (and you

Tagged!

2006-07-17T00:25:00.000-07:00

It’s been ANOTHER rush of few months since i scribbled here last, and after having decided that the general public has ahd enough of a break, i begin again. But first, we've got business to take care of - I've been tagged - a fairly neurotic process in which energetic bloggers bung in cute little punctuations from their life, and end by inflicting a link on some other unsuspecting blogger, who

Fast forward...

2006-03-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

Its five months since i blogged last. And these last few months have been by far the most fascinating months of my life, bringing me within striking distance of being....an MBA.Every single person coming to the ISB (or any B-school for that matter), is embarking on an intensely personal journey, but is probably looking for precedents in the past history of the school trying to find reassuring

BULL RUN ON THE COURSEX 4000–

2005-09-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

Rumored to be peaking at 3900 - ASA may suspend trading ------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters September 27, 2005, 02:23:37: With the approaching date for final bids on the Coursex 4000, strong rumors of a bull run are emanating from GB street. Highly rated stocks are approaching stratospheric valuations and speculation is rife that stocks such as MKTI 065 and

The concept of value...

2005-08-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

Its 3 a.m in the morning, and my brain is screaming. Nerve endings are raw, and my eyes need to be stapled to my eyebrows to keep me awake. I decide to make my 3772nd cup of coffee, and run into my quadie in kitchen. Said quadie is in a similar state, and is stirring his sugar in what must be his zillionth cup of coffee. I flop into the easy with my coffee and switch the TV on. We see muscled

Regression fit - The Noise factor for obscuring romantic relationships

2005-08-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

Three hundred and fifty people at the ISB – and almost eighty women. So you’ve gotta have some sizzle goin, right?Spot on. But its too early in the course for couples to be too brazen about it. The budding romance might not stand the glare of rabid attention. So couples stoop to impossible levels of discretion to camouflage their sex lives. So how DOES one spot these couples? Heck –this is

Of other B-Blogs

2005-08-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Really..i’ve no idea why you would want to read the drivel that I write… but I’ve set up some stuff for the really deranged folks who wanna get a real idea of how B-life is like. For the guys in need of serious help, check Vijay’s bottle of perspective. I started reading this blog when it was really young – and I am amazed at how much he has scaled up his unique perspectives on B-school into a

About Class participation..

2005-08-19T00:31:00.000-07:00

We have this novel concept called Class participation, where you are supposed to throw insightful comments being discussed in class. CP being graded by professors through hawk eyed TA’s, “Insightful” tends to be not the operative word. I am going to digress every now and then and throw a little tidbit from our CP classics. Here’s one to start with – Our

Term 2: In the wrong places

2005-08-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

B-School is fascinating academically…for the most part…but every now and then you find yourself running up against it. Professors steeped deeply in research deliver smug monologues on how businesses are run and how they ought to be run.Heck - if there’s a problem, then there must be an amiable equation round the corner just waiting to bail you out.Life’s unpredictability can be regressed out… A

Term 1 ..and the delusion of Academic Competence

2005-08-18T01:17:00.000-07:00

"GMAT scores translate into B school academic performance." I swear. Its on the net. And its crap. The watchword is "relative grading". If you aren't one of the aliens who dream in numbers, "fugged aboud id" (pronounce that like Hugh Grant tryin to talk like a Mafia don). Another altogether more comforting notion is "Placements have nothing to do with grades unless you wanna get into consulting

Still starting?

2005-08-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

I am stoned. My brain stopped functioning a month ago. I have become a mindless nerd. Stripped of my attitude and what I thought I knew, I am apparently on my way to "transformation". But let me start from the beginning...I used to have this visual image of what an MBA looks like. And i think the word that springs to mind is suave. A well-dressed, well groomed male speaking quietly yet

A starter..

2005-08-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

Its strange how you get used to seeing your words in print. Its stranger how bloody addictive it is. So here i am - on my third blog. And guess what - this one is gonna be a tabloid. If you are in the mood for something more abstract (read if you are really stoned out of your skull) read spewnotes.I am at school - B-school if you will - or if you really will - the graveyard of abstraction.