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IIM K's Arijit Goswami shares his journey of being one of the Top 30 Competitive Business Leaders 2019!
IIM K's Arijit Goswami shares his journey of being one of the Top 30 Competitive Business Leaders 2019!
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The first Second Lady of the United States once said, Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. It is this ardor and diligence to learn that lead me to take part in these competitions. There is something unique to learn from each case competition.
I stepped into competitions to apply what I learned in class to live corporate cases. It was also a refreshing break from the case studies that I was studying at college. Each competition saw me excited about the challenge the case held and at the same time, fixing appointments with professors to seek their inputs.
I wanted to don the hat of a manager while approaching these cases. The cases provided by companies are new every year, which compel participants to brainstorm, since neither seniors nor online resources can help us to solve them.
I wanted to develop my own line of thinking for business problems and also looked forward to see how other participants have approached the case. Moreover, the camaraderie that formed with team members was an additional delight.
Our team always made sure that each of us read the case multiple times before any discussion. Then, each team member would elucidate what he/she has understood and we would arrive at a common ground of understanding. Next, we would connect with friends, colleagues, corporate, entrepreneurs, and subject-matter experts for primary research.
The entire research of over a week would go into finding the root cause of the problem statement, which would help us to devise innovative solutions. Next, we would again read the problem statement to see if our solution is on the right track. I feel the time we spent on preliminary research and interacting with people worked wonders for us.
My biggest strength was the college fraternity. Professors never shied away from helping us with their expertise, while students always participated in our surveys eagerly. Even a few seniors took out time from their busy schedule at work to guide us. Having a sound solution backed by rigorous background research helped us every time to come up with feasible and viable solutions.
It is important for all team members to be enthusiastic about the case topic and have some background knowledge on it. Moreover, I always ensured that my team had people of diverse competencies- while one was good with finance, another was good with marketing, while a third would be proficient in operations.
I think it does not take much effort to strike the right balance. Especially, when we understand that competitions and curriculum complement each other in our learning. While curriculum helps us to gain fundamental knowledge for competitions, listening to solutions of other teams helps to perform well in class assignment and contribute better in classroom discussions. I took competitions and curriculum as two essential parts of my learning and that's what made my college journey holistic.
Scheduling is crucial. Whenever I would register for a competition, I would sit with my team members and we would fix a time for our daily meetings. Next, I would divide my available time between curriculum and competition work. I believe if we participate well in classroom discussions and learn things well in the class itself, it's possible to take out some time for competitions in the remainder of the day.
The most memorable one will always be CRISIL Young Thought Leader Challenge in 2017. That competition not only gave me a chance to write my first dissertation, but also to meet Ashu Suyash (CEO of CRISIL) in person and interact with the senior management team at CRISIL.
The entire journey has been a bitter-sweet experience. There have been many a time when we, as a team, worked very hard and yet could not qualify even for campus rounds. And there was a time when we had been disappointed with the overload of failures, and then the first qualification came our way.
In all the competitions that I have been to, be it campus round or national stage, I have learned equally from my team members and from the other participating teams. Today, I have friends from many other institutes, which would not have been possible otherwise. I have learned to remain patient & persistent in the face of failures and to go full throttle once an opportunity knocks on the door.
I would suggest students to connect with their professors and seniors for the competitions and seek their mentoring, if possible. Ask seniors what worked for them and more importantly, what didn't, when they had participated. Also, make full use of the mentors provided by competition organizers and if possible, present the solution to them once virtually.
Each competition looks into different aspects of management education and it is important to discover that by thoroughly going through the problem statement. Think of what the judges can ask you and keep your references ready. Present the information succinctly on slides, but have background data handy in spreadsheets. And above all, be patient and persistent with your participation.
Case competitions are a wonderful gateway for students to experience a live case problem and to apply all their learning and skills into it. Don't hesitate to seek help from competent people in and around the college. And hustle! Keeping things until the last minute hurts.
Though my achievement portfolio may feature a number of competitions, it is just around 10% of my participation (yes, the failure rate was quite high for me). It takes time to get better at research, strategy, and presentation. Give yourself that time to emerge as a Business Leader.
I stepped into competitions to apply what I learned in class to live corporate cases. It was also a refreshing break from the case studies that I was studying at college. Each competition saw me excited about the challenge the case held and at the same time, fixing appointments with professors to seek their inputs.
I wanted to don the hat of a manager while approaching these cases. The cases provided by companies are new every year, which compel participants to brainstorm, since neither seniors nor online resources can help us to solve them.
I wanted to develop my own line of thinking for business problems and also looked forward to see how other participants have approached the case. Moreover, the camaraderie that formed with team members was an additional delight.
Our team always made sure that each of us read the case multiple times before any discussion. Then, each team member would elucidate what he/she has understood and we would arrive at a common ground of understanding. Next, we would connect with friends, colleagues, corporate, entrepreneurs, and subject-matter experts for primary research.
The entire research of over a week would go into finding the root cause of the problem statement, which would help us to devise innovative solutions. Next, we would again read the problem statement to see if our solution is on the right track. I feel the time we spent on preliminary research and interacting with people worked wonders for us.
My biggest strength was the college fraternity. Professors never shied away from helping us with their expertise, while students always participated in our surveys eagerly. Even a few seniors took out time from their busy schedule at work to guide us. Having a sound solution backed by rigorous background research helped us every time to come up with feasible and viable solutions.
It is important for all team members to be enthusiastic about the case topic and have some background knowledge on it. Moreover, I always ensured that my team had people of diverse competencies- while one was good with finance, another was good with marketing, while a third would be proficient in operations.
I think it does not take much effort to strike the right balance. Especially, when we understand that competitions and curriculum complement each other in our learning. While curriculum helps us to gain fundamental knowledge for competitions, listening to solutions of other teams helps to perform well in class assignment and contribute better in classroom discussions. I took competitions and curriculum as two essential parts of my learning and that's what made my college journey holistic.
Scheduling is crucial. Whenever I would register for a competition, I would sit with my team members and we would fix a time for our daily meetings. Next, I would divide my available time between curriculum and competition work. I believe if we participate well in classroom discussions and learn things well in the class itself, it's possible to take out some time for competitions in the remainder of the day.
The most memorable one will always be CRISIL Young Thought Leader Challenge in 2017. That competition not only gave me a chance to write my first dissertation, but also to meet Ashu Suyash (CEO of CRISIL) in person and interact with the senior management team at CRISIL.
The entire journey has been a bitter-sweet experience. There have been many a time when we, as a team, worked very hard and yet could not qualify even for campus rounds. And there was a time when we had been disappointed with the overload of failures, and then the first qualification came our way.
In all the competitions that I have been to, be it campus round or national stage, I have learned equally from my team members and from the other participating teams. Today, I have friends from many other institutes, which would not have been possible otherwise. I have learned to remain patient & persistent in the face of failures and to go full throttle once an opportunity knocks on the door.
I would suggest students to connect with their professors and seniors for the competitions and seek their mentoring, if possible. Ask seniors what worked for them and more importantly, what didn't, when they had participated. Also, make full use of the mentors provided by competition organizers and if possible, present the solution to them once virtually.
Each competition looks into different aspects of management education and it is important to discover that by thoroughly going through the problem statement. Think of what the judges can ask you and keep your references ready. Present the information succinctly on slides, but have background data handy in spreadsheets. And above all, be patient and persistent with your participation.
Case competitions are a wonderful gateway for students to experience a live case problem and to apply all their learning and skills into it. Don't hesitate to seek help from competent people in and around the college. And hustle! Keeping things until the last minute hurts.
Though my achievement portfolio may feature a number of competitions, it is just around 10% of my participation (yes, the failure rate was quite high for me). It takes time to get better at research, strategy, and presentation. Give yourself that time to emerge as a Business Leader.
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