The First Test.

Our first Midterm examinations are over. They were a mixed bag for some. For some others, they were just what they would have wished them to be while a few of us found them rather tricky. Some of my friends were obviously tensed as the stakes are too high. So I was giving 'gyan' to one of my friend (OK, I take that liberty owing to my work-ex in the Administration and handling bigger pressure situations) that management is not all about cracking good grades. It is also a bit about handling pressure situations and unexpected disappointments and still coming out winner.

Australian Cricket team is the best example of management, I could quote. From their finding and grooming the right talent, to their determination, hard work, discipline and aggression, every thing has some management discipline deployed to its full potential. Call it JIT, six-sigma, it is all there and the result is that they are almost running a monopoly now. The Australian Cricket team never seems to be perturbed even after a few hiccups and still manages to win. While most other teams continue to be ‘a house of cards’.

And for those who want to know about the MBA in general- I can say (after having spent last one year in IIM Ahmedabad as a Fellow Programme student and now with my ISB exposure) that the study for an MBA degree is not a cake walk. To say the least, what has now become almost a proverb; it is more about handling the “pressure cooker” like situation. And these courses are designed as such so as to prepare the young managers for the future pressure of the Corporate world.

Somehow I feel that I have an advantage over most of the people here, and that is due to my grooming in Administration for handling the pressure situations. The pressure that I handled as a Sub Divisional Officer when I went ahead for the closure of a sick Public Sector Unit, against all resistance, was brutally painful. Then I passed sleepless nights for months when I had deleted about 2 lakhs voters from the 4 constituencies after the special revision of the electoral roll. My job was at stake, if I were proved wrong.

So when you risk your most prized possession - your job as an IAS officer- for the hard work of your team, those hundreds of enumerators who did that house to house enumeration, you learn to trust your team and also to handle the pressure. It is another thing that you end up becoming the Joint Chief Electoral Officer of the State for the conduct of the Assembly Election in flat less than four years after that. And that someone in those corridors of power tells you that ‘Bloody, you have been picked to do this job’.

Examinations can be tricky, for instance a question may tell you only that the costs are sunk costs, and not whether those sunk costs are avoidable or unavoidable. Of those two only one will give the correct answer- implies that only half the group would presumable get the answer right. So even if someone ends up loosing some marks, that is SUNK COST. What is more important is to feel inspired for the next battle, in the Aussie way of playing cricket.

Different people have different ways of preparing themselves for the next day, so some are partying again. But many are silently preparing for the marketing assignment and a few were solving the Accounting Assignment in the library. Parties help in networking for some and building ‘brand recognition’ which might be useful in days to come. There are others who are working hard for getting into the Dean’s List based on their Academic performance, for that is ‘their’ forte. Then there are many people in the party because they just want to dance in a big crowd and loud music.

But if it comes to my belief, I believe that there are rewards for everyone, especially for those who missed a lively evening and instead spent a dull evening in the library.