16 Months = 16 Years

OK!! This title will be confusing to many but after you read this post you might as well agree to it. It all started on the 3rd of September 2009, having left the Job at McKinsey & Co. my only intention at that point of time was to pursue my higher education and I had nothing else in mind but to do my Masters in Management a.k.a MBA or for that matter what I did was a Post Graduate Program in Management. SMOT School of Business was not selected by choice but then it was my cousin and a few friends who had suggested this growing Business School which I thought is the best place to enhance my skills in the field of Management.
Started off the campaign to become a hard core Management Graduate with the Out Bound Training where we a bunch of young management aspirants were taken to this place called “Deenabandapuram” – A place in the middle of a forest in the borders of Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh. We were asked to leave behind our Mobile Phones and Laptops so that you are disconnected from the outside world. At first it was pretty weird but then got used to it and made me realize that even without gadgets we could live. Essentials of management were learnt in the 1st few months and I was able to relate to the hands on experience which I had gained during my work life to the actual theories in books. Library was something which was untouched by me and I mostly depended on the internet and felt that you get almost the same information or more as compared to the Library.
The entire 16 months went in a flash with modules like the Six Sigma, Essentials of Management Consulting etc topping my interest list. So many events to remember especially the inter-college competitions which we took part. Quiz was something of interest to me since childhood and I transferred that into taking part in Business Quizzes in various colleges and winning a few certificates as well to my name. Management as we all know is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objective and this was evident from all the activities we did at SMOT, starting with the Cultural Fest which we had to organize for the seniors, that was when we were only a week old in the Management learning arena. Now to the part of the title as to why I have it equal to 16 years, honestly speaking just to give it a good title and apart from that whatever I have gained by way of knowledge over the last 16 months was something I would take atleast 16 years to learn, that was the vastness of the amount of things I have learned over this period of time. When I now look at the reference books I have gone through for the entire course I look at myself in the mirror and ask myself “Did you really do that?” or was it the Entrepreneurship/Leadership motive inside me that led to putting in this much of effort which I have never done in my life. 16 months saw many challenges taken up in the right spirit and made it look very easy as the bigger challenges will happen in due course when we get to the real Corporate World. Chill Out’s happened almost every month and it was a day where we left all the books behind and relax amidst the tight schedules we were having. Being a fast-track program, long leaves/holidays were beyond questioning and at times we had classes for the next term before the exams of the current term ended.
16 months also helped us meet a lot of Industry people as the faculty coming into the campus were all from the corporate and it helped us in getting to know the live happenings in the work place instead of just getting the text book case scenarios. My interest in writing blogs was mainly with the motive of a few friends from SMOT and I cannot stop myself from thanking them for encouraging me in going forward with my blog. Overall a great experience of being a Management Graduate.