“You have less than 21 thousand days left in life! Make Everyday count !”- Prof Paris (MD IE Venture Lab)
Yesterday, when I came out of Graduation ceremony, there were many thoughts but above line resonating the most in my head! And yes, it’s true indeed, make everyday count!
My 7 room-mates in my college days back in 2006, know how desperately I saw a dream of pursuing MBA from top business school. And, it has been 11 years, but dream comes true in the form of this MBA degree that I received from IE Business School in Madrid that is (for the people who believe in numbers, however I personally believe numbers are just numbers now a days..)-
#1st ranked Business School in Spain
#3rd ranked Business School in Europe
#5th ranked Non-US B-school
#8th ranked Business School in world
As they say, quantify it-
333 days, 39 subjects, 4 terms, Batch mates form 79 countries, 5 entrepreneurial projects, 3 case challenges, 2 Business competitions win, AND one International MBA Degree!
Yes, it has been very compact, diverse, sometimes frustrating, but knowledge-enriching global journey with lifelong memories!
My Top 3
In true McKinsey Style, I will talk in 3’s (McKinsey is very fond of quantifying things in just 3).
My top 3 non-materialistic achievements –
1. Global diverse perspective understanding in business decision making Process
Yes, after this last one year’s roller coaster experience, I am a business leader with big head, with helicopter view, and more than above all- with very strong confidence to work and excel in global and extremely diverse work environment.
If global diversity is a beauty, that is a nightmare too to work with! I believe, if you can excel in a diverse extremely complicated differently motivated set of people, probably you can be champion in any group!
2. Leadership skills- Humility & Humanity
I have learnt from everyone in such a diverse group. Humility is not just about attitude to learn, but also about applying listening skills to full potential! And, as Mahatma Gandhi says “Always think how your work is going to impact end user’s life”, I have noted to apply humanity in my future journey! I have took these two key learning pillars to bolster my future glimmering leadership skills!
3. Entrepreneurial Hands-on!
IE gave me an opportunity to work on many entrepreneurial ventures in varying capacity at various stages during this program.
Failure (Rather learning, not failure) of my own educational venture Novozeal is an integral part of learning process. As I mentioned in my previous articles too, we had to exit from that venture for various reasons, but learning that we got from that venture is significant and very valuable! All thanks to IE!
My top 3 Materialistic achievements during this MBA-
- Siemens Crowd sourcing events award for innovation idea of “cluster of digital twin” for Siemens Turbine division, and recognition along for Microsoft’s IoT Business Challenge win.
- Education, Skills enhancements with International MBA degree. Yes it matters for most of the business world at least when you are trying to place your foot in the crack!
- Global Network of Alumni, Intellectual personalities, Professors, amazingly talented classmates.
Last words by Mr John Ridding (CEO-Financial Times)
Now, the beautiful educational journey finishes officially with very interesting lessons rendered by Financial Times CEO-Mr. John Ridding in graduation ceremony. He mentions-
1) Grab the opportunity in time (reference to how FT embraced Digitization in time and survived, won over its rivals).
2) Observe Surfing. How surfer can teach us- Surfer stands still with patience, understands his or her capability, observes waves, and then moves with full energy with calculated moves and rides the waves!
3) Take risks (reference to his won journey when he left FT and went to Korea for journalism).
Friends, leaders, now with so much fast paced learning in last 12 months, with mixed feeling of joy and excitement of new roles, opportunities to lead changes to make this world a beautiful place to live with sustainable growth, I wish all my batch-mates a very best of luck! And some luck to myself to remain attached to my roots and my identity while surfing in new waves of success!
Thanks a lot for your time!
Keep in touch!
-Avinash Chandra Misra
To find out more, please visit Avinash’s website.
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