The last 1 month at NITIE has been a learning experience, though the transformation of a working professional to a student has its own share of glitches. The biggest being the exams!!

                But amidst all of this the most important aspect was - the choice of a career. The career which will pave our life henceforth. To know what suits you the best is not an easy task, especially when you have not worked in these domains earlier. So eventually came the part of bugging seniors, running after lecturers, to try and discover where our interest rests in. This is when AlumComm came to the rescue.

                                                              Mr.Abhishek Kochar

                They arranged an Alum talk with Mr.Abhishek Kochar, Senior Consultant, KPMG, an alumni of IM12 batch of NITIE, on the topic of “Career Planning Insights”. The session got delayed, but yes once it began, My Oh My – It was super-awesome ! When I entered in the session- what I was expecting is a heavy duty gyan dose, with concepts flying over the head. But, was I surprised when it began. A pretty chilled out atmosphere was made by Mr.Kochar. He started with few words on consulting- How a consulting job is, work life balance, how easy or difficult it is to shift profiles in consulting domains etc, Once the session progressed, lot of questions started pouring in on- do fresher’s have a chance in consulting, entrepreneurship in consulting, etc. Mr.Kochar was patient enough to listen to each one of them and answer to them crisply and lucidly.
                Time just flew and the 1-hour session came to an end. But yes, at the end of session, each one of us now knew things which otherwise would have taken a lot of time to understand. Coming from the horses’ mouth, it really was beneficial and helpful to each of us.             

The video that you cannot afford to miss !

The Three Monks out to teach us Management ! Here is the video - 

The story of the three Buddhist Monks is an anime film directed by A Da. The film has got many recognitions including:

• Won the outstanding film award at China's Ministry of Culture.
• Won the Best animated film prize at the first Golden Rooster Awards in 1981.

It is a short and beautiful movie with a wonderful message. A must watch for managers and practitioners who try to implement working-teams in an organization without looking at the other side of the picture. The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb "One monk will shoulder two buckets of water; two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water."

The Story is about 3 monks living in a temple on the top of a hill. Due to the efforts involved in fetching the water- none of the monks fetches the water- though they are thirsty. They keep on expecting from one another.One night suddenly a fire breaks out, Here is when the three unite and work as a team, to put out the fire. Since then they remain unitedly and the temple never lacks water again 

Lessons Learnt : 

1) Optimizing  the efforts:  A manager is responsible for optimizing the efforts put in to complete the task. This can be done with devising a proper strategy to complete the task. 

During the fire, though all the monks were into the task, the efficiency could have been magnanimously increased had they had given some thought to the process.

   2) Team Work : This video serves the perfect example of team work. Till the monks were egoistic and not willing to come together as team, they all suffered by being thirsty themselves. But during the fire breakdown time, when they came together the issues got resolved. In every organization, we need to keep our personal ego aside, and work for the betterment of the organization firstly. Coming up together also distributes the work load, helping each individual to perform better at his assigned task,

3) Live in the future - This is a very important lesson learnt out here. If the Monks wouldn't have had their egos, and had been regularly fetching and hence storing water, the damage caused out of fire would have been less. We need "Innovative method" and "before the time" approach in any organization for getting success. There should always be a back-up plan ready in-case anything goes wrong and not take decision impulsively. 

4) Productivity :  Productivity  = output/ input. Out here - till it was a single person carrying out the task of carrying bucket one-by-one to the temple - he got exhausted after few rounds. But when , the sharing of buckets idea between 2 monks came in, the productivity increased drastically, since they were not much exhausted. Hence a manager should always know how to delegate the tasks- to increase productivity.

 5 ) Bureaucracy : In case of lawlessness- Anarchy subsidizes. The panicky situation could have ben avoided, had there been rules put down properly beforehand. Hence the instructions should be properly conveyed to each employee in an organisation so that- later on in terms of crisis, no confusion exits !

Showcasing the Ideal Corporate Scenario !

It was a Thursday afternoon and we all were eagerly waiting for Dr.Mandi to arrive. What must have he got today, What activity will we do today , What learning will we get today were the common questions in everybody's mind. And then he enters, with his trademark bag and smile.

He enters and asks us to sit down on the floor :) ! and opens his Pandoras Box, read "Bag"  ! His hand reaches inside the bag to get some building blocks. Each one of us starts staring at each other wondering what would this kiddish game of building blocks mean?? Dr.Mandi then specifies this is an exercise to show what is Craft Management and Modern Management.

Then came the instructions part -
1) There will be 2 teams -  one person with eyes in open condition, and the other being blindfolded along with 2 helpers.
2) Wooden cube Tower will be made with only one cube as BASE.

3) If the tower falls, you are out of the game.

After laying down the instructions, he then asked us to predict how tall the tower will be ?? Weird answers such as 19, 13 started pouring in- no one exactly knew how easy or how difficult it will be to build it!

After a lot of deliberations, finally the exercise begins -

First it was the turn of the open eyed person.- He had predicted to make about 14 blocks, but once he started he managed to make 22 blocks. He used ample time, with proper techniques.

Now this looked like a Hercules task, for a blindfolded person to actually build the tower. He had two helpers with him, one being his Manager, the other being the CEO. Dr.Mandi made the task even more challenging when he instructed the blind folded guy to use only the left hand. It looked a difficult job - But it came as a big surprise when this group ended up with 26 blocks.

We kept on wondering, how did this happen, Dr.Mandi then started explaining what happened in this exercise..

In 1st case it was the model of Old Management/ Craft Management -  where decisions and work was to be done by the same guy.

In 2nd case it was the scenario of  Modern Management, where work load was divided.As the person could not see, his job was to only follow instructions and work accordingly.  While the other couldnt work- but just give instructions .So that reduced the pressure on the worker and he worked with his maximum efficiency. 

In modern times, that is today, modern management is preferred. It improves efficiency, reduces time and beneficial for the company ! 

My Observations :

 1) Setting Goals : Goals should always be set to maximize the output. Both the parties underestimated their capabilities, so in my view they should have been judicious enough and should have set higher goals ! According to me, a higher goal would have been an inspiration to perform more cautiously and better, because psychologically the participants did loosen up once they achieved more than they had targeted for- which i feel lessened their efficiency. From my personal experience, my manager always allotted me tasks more than what i could do - so that i give myself that extra push to complete the task

2) Motivation : Again this was an important psychological factor. The blindfolded person, could not see anything, but the amount of motivation that was instilled in him, by his manager and the class, did boost up his ego. He was motivated at every step, in every manner - be it screams, applause, or just some light talks ! I feel motivation and appreciation go hand in hand, and they serve as booster to the employee - helping him perform better. From my personal experience i can quote -  Every performance appraisal / Appreciation mail- made me work better.

3) Guidance : The blindfolded guy task- was one where a proper guidance was duly and highly required. Every move, every step had to be monitored. One wrong instruction could have destroyed everything. Hence in corporate a manager should be confident and responsible enough to take decisions and then accordingly guide his workers to help the company flourish. Personally, while working, in the initial few days, i remember someone of my team always sat with me to perform tasks, which really helped me.

4) Trust  : This task was one of a kind, where trust levels were showcased beautifully. Every step the worker took- he trusted his manager. Every time the worker did the move- the manager trusted him. In any organization this kind of trust is required.


Below is a comparison between Craft management and modern Management :

Parameters	Craft management	Modern management
Risk	Risk is high, as it depends only on one person	Relatively less, as it depends on the thinking of the manager taking the decision.
Work	Single person does the work.	Work divided between different levels- such as top management, middle management and lower management
Productivity	Decreases- only one person does.	Increases- work load is shared
Skills	Depends only on one person	Expertise skills work here. Particular people for particular job.

Ready to fly- i want to go high !!!

Before you start wondering the reason behind this odd blog name- and start cursing me ! Let me help you to understand it :)
In Greek mythology, a Phoenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. Now comes the significance of how is this blog title related to me??

I believe, education plays a major part in modelling your thoughts. Here I am standing in one of the most prestigious institutions of India, NITIE is what they call it !! The Gods' Own Campus, right in the heart of MUMBAI !!!! Somewhere deep down, I feel these 2 years of Post Grad study in the Financial Capital of India with the best brains of the country, will help me reborn into a much better,ambitious, matured and successful person, hence the name !

The 1st day was an eye opener.It was like washing your face with Chilled water early in a Winter morning. From Engineering college to an MBA college- and suddenly I see myself attending 2 hour-lectures ! And a total of 8 hours in a day !! Rubbing eyes, somehow the 8 hours ended !! Phew, a sigh of relief !

The Next day morning 9 am Tuesday is when the entire Stress and fatigue evaporated ! Early morning 9am, all 80 of us in half sleepy mode, chattering away, expecting another so called Lecturer to enter the class. And then Suddenly i see a middle aged, lean man , just like our next door neighbor, entering the class in very simple clothes with a Jute Bag slinged on his shoulder. and suddenly he says- "Everyone come and sit down on the floor in the front" !! It was such a pleasant surprise. instantly the kid inside all of us awakes and we all enthusiastically sit down on ground along with the Sir himself!!

This was Mr.T.Prasad, or Dr.Mandi, how the entire MBA world fondly wishes to address him as :) ! He made us comfortable by even answering to stupid questions like- " when will sun come out" !!! Then the entire discussion took a new direction when the mention of "Mandi" - His brainchild came in !

Mandi is a very Famous event, where hundreds of NITIE students walk down on the streets and sell stuffs to bring about a difference in lives of some not so fortunate people, and simultaneously , also have the 1st hand experience of intricacies of business ! This initial discussion on Mandi increased the curiosity of students, and we started inquiring about the products. Suddenly out of that simple jute bag he takes out amazing stuffs, The 1st was a Newton Cradle,then a Globe Squeeze Ball, and finally a Balancing Bird ! It seemed as if Pandoras box is being opened !

Newtons Cradle - is a device that demonstrates conservation of momentum and energy via a series of swinging spheres. When one on the end is lifted and released, the resulting force travels through the line and pushes the last one upward.

Balancing Bird - The Balancing Bird is a little plastic bird that comes with a pointed base. Incredibly, when you place its beak on the tip of the base, the bird balances; body, tail, outstretched wings and all.

Globe Stress Ball - A stress ball is a malleable toy.It is squeezed in the hand and manipulated by the fingers, ostensibly to either help relieve stress and muscle tension or to exercise the muscles of the hand.A globe stress ball, has the imprint of the globe on it !

All these three products were awe-awakening ones ! Simple, cheap yet loads of learning. It rejuvenated the long lost laws of Physics in our minds again ! Fun with Learning it was.

After this conversation Dr.Mandi discussed with us about how "Earning while learning" works, How the event Mandi is going to grow by manifolds in coming years, and that Doing business i.e "Dhanda" doesnt require any pen/paper. It is there in the mind, we just have to use it.He also mentioned about how he plans to spread free education, through our blogs. :) In his words " someone who doesnt have the money to attend NITIE, must know from your blog, about what is being taught ! "

This class opened my perceptions, helped me learn many things, gave me the "Wings of Fire" to fly high and touch the sky - the sky of dreams, the sky of reality, the sky of peace . I look forward to huge amount of learning from this class :)

To know more about Mandi - please visit - www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFPHoj16XBE