Fantastic Anjan

Mindtree's Exec VP and Head of Europe, Anjan Lahiri visited school yesterday and talked about "Managing a Business in Crisis". It was a fantastic session and I am very happy for tw0 reasons, firstly for the best session I attended so far at SBS for the kind of knowledge I extracted from it (and in fact its the same opinion for a lot of people who came to session) and secondly, it was my initiative to invit Anjan for this session which certainly paid off. This re-emphasizes my belief on Mindtree's Top Management which I believe is THE BEST in the Indian IT industry now. The way he had shown energy and the experiences he shared on how they struggled hard in 2001 during IT slowdown was truly amazing to hear.

There were some key take aways from the session yesterday:

One specific quote, "We have to do what is right for us...not what others are doing" from Ashok Soota during one of their meetings when they started the firm shows the FOCUS they have on what they were doing.

Other Key points Anjan mentioned were:
-- Believe in urself...in ur team...absolutely...blindly
-- If you can work completely COMPLETELY without an ego, you have won 98% of the battle
-- Communication has to be a Key Strategy
-- Collect Info like a Maniac...but act on only 2% of it
-- Mgt Philosophy..NOT "If Tomorrow comes" BUT "Tomorrow will come"
-- No Matter what happens, define & report on quarterly and annual goals...Reviews are the bedrock of Management

Our program of inviting and meeting leaders of the Industry is definitely paying off.

On other fronts, I visited Loreal UK Headquarters tuesday to celebrate our success in eStrat business competition. We had opportinity to explore about careers in Loreal as well as got some goodies in terms of perfumes and all. I dont see a good fit for myself in Loreal in all the functions, except for Operations. Hmm, I am leaving it to time for this decision to be taken on whether to apply to Loreal or not. I interviewed with Tech Mahindra yesterday. Kiron Gupte, Sr. VP of Tech M had taken interview and he was a very cool guy and it was a more of a discussion rather than an interview.

We are almost at the end of Week 7 and so many assignments and the Hellary term is closing up very fast. We still have 6 assignments due in the term as well as 6 exams to follow and the entrepreneurship presentations to be made :) Wanna grab a job ASAP and take a refreshing break in Easter...Let me see how it goes!!!