Birthday Month Resolutions

 Why make resolutions? As we make revolutions around the Sun, it's nice to have some goals before you join the stars. So since New Year is also around the corner, here goes, on the last day of October 2022-

I shall be a nice guy. Of course, I have been trying all these years, but I will try harder. Tele-callers, and unsolicited physical callers, please excuse. To all others, I will be nice!

Extend unsolicited advice -less of it than in the past. Even solicited advice, for that matter!

Will go South (in India, I mean) at least once a year. This is necessary because I have left Bangalore for good, and the pubs need me for business reasons. Friends too, I hope!

My quest for good food, untasted dishes from any part of the world will continue, while savouring the favourites- Biryani, Kababs, Irani chai, etc.. 

I am not really sure what other resolutions are needed, so I shall come back with more as I discover the need. In general, will try and make myself less of a pain to all my friends. Giving them awards for achievements - or for just smiling at me- does not count, so will continue to do so. 

IIM Indore days, 2013-2020, till the first wave of COVID.

With Mom on her 91st. Below. Above, my party shirt and some Chinese beer!

Above, Anusha meets us in Pune. Below, the crack team of IMT Nagpur.

Sameera, with Vandana and Rama Sastry. Below, Alisha Thomas. All profs., and part-time Golfers.

Mandu Once More

 I never get tired of this place- once again, we went there last week. The excuse was that Prarthana was visiting. But it's a place that has great monuments and views. One of the buildings there- Hindola Mahal- inspired the architecture of IIM Indore recently. Proof of how photogenic the area is-

Social Life Picks Up

 My social life has picked up since I came to Indore- and it's only been 5 days! I have met quite a few people including two alums from IMT Nagpur, a faculty colleague (Harsh Halve) who was at IMT, and an ex-colleague at IIM Indore. I will attribute it to two things- the easier commute, and the festival of Diwali, due to which many of the people from Indore are back to celebrate. And of course, the desire to meet each other!

There is a new sarafa in town, a modern version if you will, next to an unopened mall -Zodiac- in the Bichholi Mardana area. Visited that with Harsh and his family yesterday. Some evidence.

With Halve and family..

Lots of food shops -restaurants- and a festive atmosphere till late at night.

 

Ishita and Anurag, from IMT Nagpur.. visiting Indore now.

Joined Prestige University at Indore

 Just joined as Vice Chancellor of this new university in Indore. Have been with startups in education before, but never as a Head. We were founding faculty (among the first few) at KIAMS, VJIM too.

We have a range of niche, high quality MBA programs on offer. In Sustainability, Agri Business, Logistics and Supply Chain, Data Analytics and E-business. Exciting programs, future-oriented. Starting June 2023. Admission through CAT XAT, mainly, NMAT also. Pics with some new colleagues at the campus which is coming up fast on Ujjain Road.

Will be my office till a full-fledged one is ready.

Some Diwali Rangoli adds colour to the proceedings.

A Farewell -Officially

 I got a farewell officially from my colleagues at NMIMS Bangalore. It was a bit unusual, with a quiz involving names of some, and some recognitions being given out to a few by me too. Not just one way traffic. Memories will linger. To trigger those in future, here are some glimpses-

Some women Golfers (Tanmeet, Prerona and Alisha, left to right, all profs.), got their caps, signifying joining the team of NMIMS. Naturally, they are all smiles.

Below, I get a photo album as a gift, full of lovely memories from the past two years, with Devi and Kavya doing the honours.. What more can one ask for?

Rajeshwari, my resident photographer at the office among other things, gets my Best Photographer award. She has taken various pics of student visitors with aplomb.

I get an unusual crystal Golf ball- I can gaze into it and see my Golfing future, at least...

A group photo at the end, with some of the colleagues..

Rain in Bangalore

 Not sure if it's climate change, or something else, but the rain in Bangalore has been fast and furious, and unending. Almost through the last six months at least.

I am sure there are benefits to some people who suffer from water shortages and the umbrella sellers, but for a large segment of mere mortals, it causes great difficulties. Roads that are badly designed/maintained choke up and make it tough to go anywhere. Traffic is already bad, and during rains, adds another 20-30 minutes to an hour's commute.

Is it Indra or Varuna that is in charge of rain, I don't remember, but whoever it is, they are unhappy with mankind. Maybe we deserve it too. But surely, there must be a way out. We should try and find it.

What Not To Do

 It is at least as important as knowing what to do.

The essence of time management.

That reminds me., I have got to go for an event I have been invited to.

See you later. Will elaborate.

Caselets on People- 4

 These are a few colleagues at NMIMS Bangalore, which I headed from November 2020 till Oct. 2022- the peak of COVID (2nd wave) included. Came out unscathed thanks to some of them too.

Narayani

Not sure where she gets her energy from, but she is indefatigable, like another colleague I had before. MBA chair, but also my successor as Campus head at Bangalore (NMIMS). Very meticulous note-taker, and therefore effective in writing up, documenting things. Wish her all the best in running the campus. I am sure she will run it better than I did.

Prerona

She was hired when we were in near-dire straits in the Economics area, and she proved her mettle, after being thrown into leading the program as a chairperson.. baptism by fire. Very level-headed, pleasant to work with, and a budding Golfer!

Archana

My secretary at Bangalore. Coincidentally, she has the same name as my secretary at IMT Nagpur. She is very calm, and despite a personal tragedy during COVID, has done well to recover and back her kids- one has gone to study in the U.S. 

Vishnu Bhat

With a name like that, you can't go wrong. He has ably managed admin. at Bangalore campus, including the tough job of coordinating with Head office for various approvals. The hostels too, though they are outsourced. Invaluable in my stint as director at NMIMS Bangalore.

Ekalavya

Rock-solid on placements, he has actually set up the processes and the relationships with corporates from scratch. No wonder the alumni hold him in great respect. Helped me meet up with quite a few alums and current placecom teams during my stint. The success of the MBA program rests on his shoulders to a large extent.

Making Right Decisions

 Though right and wrong is subjective, I think intuition born out of experience plays a large part in 'right' decisions being made. From a simple thing like deciding whether to go out, or not, or deciding whether to take an umbrella, to more complex stuff in an organisational context.

Choosing a person for a job or project within the organisation, or deciding whether to go ahead on a collaboration can be tough decisions to make, irrespective of the monetary value. Pats experience and judgement of character are both useful, and can lead to a better outcome in many cases. 

I have been happy with myself many a time, because I used this experience-based intuition to guide me (not a spreadsheet exactly), and came out fine. So if you can, get some grey hair. If not, well, wait until they turn grey,..

Boss as Villain

 If bosses are villains, I plead guilty to being one, around 4-5 times. I was, after all, the head of a few departments/institutions in some capacity, and responsible for the work of a few people- from about 15 to about 100 at different times. Faculty as well as non-teaching staff.

My experience as a boss (think of a less intimidating term if you like) has largely been good, when I had the authority to actually make decisions. Not just financial, but re-allocation of people, choosing people for particular functions, or other policy matters. In general, I believe in giving people a lot of responsibility if they seem capable of doing something, rather than micro-managing. I like people who do things, rather than those who simply crib- unless that cribbing improves matters.

I also believe that the old-world family run companies in India (with a few exceptions) did not grow to compete with global fast enough due to management methods that they followed. Things have improved, but we are still way behind China, in many aspects. Of course, governance and ease of doing things are also responsible, and the role of regulators. In education, there is too much regulation, though it appears to be easing-slowly.

  

People and Workplaces

 My learning, if you will...

At any workplace, people are always good..at least a majority. It's the organisation that sometimes is unable to leverage their enthusiasm, through faulty policies, or systems, or wrong priorities.

I have worked in a large array of organisations, and learnt this over and over again. Saw a few bad leaders spoil things too. But of course, they were appointed by someone. By and large, I found very nice co-workers every place I worked. KIAMS was probably like a close-knit family with thirty students, a dozen staff and six faculty when we started PGDM in 1998.

Does this apply to students and the classroom? I think it does. A bulk of the students in a class are ready to be motivated, if you give them goals that are smart.. achievable, interesting, and perhaps fun. For instance, group work in class (or outside if designed right) can be all of these. 

So organisational design (or in a class, pedagogy) can play a big role in a set of people who will excel, or otherwise. Pay attention to what is the mood around you, and why.

Glimpses of Birthday Celebrations 2022

 I had my birthday, and we also celebrated a friend's birthday (Pratima Gaikwad from IIMI) and a niece's too, during the week gone by. Glimpses through pics, of various things we did- ate, mostly.

First, mine- with IIMB classmates.

and NM colleagues.

It was Anjali's birthday on 2nd Oct.

So we bought books, and went to Sodabottle Openerwala

and read funny stuff on their walls.

Had an Irani chai, and again, celebrated with Pratima her birthday which was on 5th

with some Kandahari chicken (and great chai at her place). 

Imagine if we Did Not Have....

 Imagining that we didn't have a mobile phone, computer, TV etc. is not so tough, because my generation actually did not have these for at least some of our years on the planet. Was life better? Not necessarily, all the time.

We did get more exercise by just walking around, playing outside rather than on/with a gadget. But communication with hundreds of people through social media was made possible only because of the internet+computers or later, internet+mobile phone. I have definitely benefited from the ability to do this, and keep meeting people because of it. Most of these are enriching experiences, so I am not exactly complaining. Self-control is definitely needed, no matter which medium you use. Reading books late into the night every night probably had repercussions on the brain, if not the eyes, in the same way that gadget use has. Maybe the details are different.

Door delivery of many things is a good thing for people who cannot move around, due to old age, sickness etc. But not so sure about healthy adults who can. Building exercise into your routine, even if it involves buying bread or groceries, is actually good compared to everything being delivered to you. I would like though, all government servants to come ad bow, and ask what else I need- a passport, a vehicle registration, driving license etc..when will that dream come true?   

An Unusual Celebration

 Just attended a wonderful birthday celebration of a friend's aunt. She turned 87, and is as lively as ever. She was joking around, chatting as if we were longtime acquaintances (I met her for the first time), and was generally in high spirits. Some pics from the event, which involved two cakes. One, a special one from Vienna brought in by her nephew, and another, a home grown one from an Indian vendor, in the shape of a grenade, of all things! Great fun.

The 'Grenade' cake, before pulling the pin,..

and tadaaa, after.

Below, the special one from Vienna, Apricot flavoured, and a big deal in Europe.