An optimistic approach and better planning can help you have an extremely rewarding MBA journey | Tushar Vishnoi, PepsiCo, Rewarding Journey

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When I joined MBA, I was highly optimistic about it. The reason behind this positivity didn't just come from the prospects of a career boost. It was more from the anticipation that it will completely transform me. I would have the right personality, attitude and thought process required by leadership roles. Besides that, it’ll also give me suitable subject knowledge, skills, and the platform to test them. Above that, I always had an affinity towards problem-solving and wanted to test my limits wherever possible. Seeing a success or a failure story, I used to wonder if I had what it takes to handle such situations. I then used to come up with my version of solutions. All of this made me approach my MBA journey differently than others.

How to work on assignments?

In classes, the pedagogy was case-based. Whenever I was responsible for one or a part of it, I used to spend more time on it than others. Many of my peers were more focused on finishing the assignment. I, on the other hand, used to treat the case as if it was a present reality and was responsible for solving it. So, I used to first, clearly identify the problem statement before jumping to the solution. I remember spending half the night, once, arguing with a friend on deciding the right problem statement. The other groups had already slept after submitting the solution on a rather conveniently prominent problem statement. After that, I used to come up with serious practical solutions than rosy impractical ones. This just did the job of completing the assignment. A lot of things contributed to how I came up with my solution:

1. Theory (from books, internet, etc.): Concepts and frameworks are developed and documented only after years of research and validation. I respected this fact and never dismiss them by considering them impractical.
2. Experience (Teachers, guest speakers, etc.): The best thing about an MBA journey is that all these sources are available at the same place.
3. Inspiration (Peers): Knowing the other person's solution never stopped me. I used to comprehend their thought process behind it. Because patterns like these repeat themselves even if the exact situations don't.
4. Creativity and uniqueness: I didn't like if my idea was everybody's idea. Even if a common solution served the purpose of completing the assignment, I tried to go the extra mile.  

Many times someone else's solution was far superior than mine. This was natural but many times, someone was better at selling his/her inferior solution. I used to pay attention to these elements as well and tried to incorporate them in my next presentations. To name a few, these were presentation visuals, speech structures including delivery, body language, timing, etc.

The importance of extracurriculars

I used to extend this approach to my extracurricular activities as well. There were instances where I was given the task of promoting an event as simple as blood donation. I then used to apply the concepts I learned academically. This made me consider blood donation event as my product, my batch mates as my target customer. Other events were my competition. I used to challenge the status quo like printing the customary poster by coming up with suggestions. These were more effective and efficient in generating awareness and engagement.

In essence, developing the problem-solving thought process, skills and attitude were more of a long term everyday process. These weren't the magic pill a lot of us expect. Especially, when we ask our seniors or faculty about tricks to crack a competition or a case study round of a company's placement process.

The necessity of participating in competitions

When it came to competitions, they offered so many valuable things that just classroom learning does not offer. This had a price and came at the cost of some sleepless nights and missed parties. They were:

1. You get a current real-life problem statement.
2. During the MBA journey, one gets the opportunity to work on different industries.
3. You compete against the best minds of the country (of the world in some cases).
4. Unlike classroom presentations where you are tested only on a specific point which is the faculty's teaching objective of the day, you are scrutinized on every aspect. The uniqueness of the solution, feasibility, implementation plan, presentation, soft skills and many more.
5. Heavyweights of the industry judge you. You get exposure of meeting people who you hardly get to meet otherwise.
6. Implementation of your solution is possible.
7. Above all, winning the competition may land you the best job on the campus.

So, there was no reason for me to not participate in these competitions. I participated in a lot of them. I couldn't clear even the initial rounds in my first few attempts but I was persistent. With each attempt, I learned something new and incorporated it in my next attempt. Eventually, I tasted success in multiple competitions and landed a job at PepsiCo through one of them. Once we realize the value of competition in our MBA learning, they can become addictive. Sometimes so much, that at one point I took part in too many competitions at once. Because of this, I couldn't focus on any of them (something I warn the new competition enthusiasts about).

As I look back at my MBA journey, I feel satisfied that I chose the path of organic growth with no shortcuts. Because of this, I feel more prepared and confident for my career ahead.