Management Consulting by Mr. Kalyanaraman

Mr. Kalyanaraman , Management Consultant

Mr. Kalyanaraman has 9 years of experience as a Management Consultant and is currently on his way to take up an assignment at the FIFA World Cup Business Process management team in Qatar, where he’d be planning on the infrastructure development and restructuring plans after the WC.

Here are the interesting snippets from the session.

So what really is management consulting?

“A management consultant is someone who looks at your watch and tells you the time.”

It is divided into two types, Strategic and Implementing. He also spoke about how the internal controls(set of procedures that are embedded in the process to ensure that nothing intercepts the process) form a part of consulting. Three major tasks of a consultant are

1. ·        Developing Policies and Procedures-helping develop HR and finance policies. And preparing the Policy statement of a company.
2. ·        Overseeing Internal Auditing-which forms a part of internal risk management.
3. ·        Compensatory Bench-marking-Comparing one company with others to know where exactly the company stands in the market. Knowing when/how to increase/cut down salary all form a part of this process.

Major challenges that a consultant faces:

·        Managing people’s expectations.

·        Knowledge about MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel and also the basics of  logical programming.

·        Assisting corporate transformation. Helping the employees of the weaker company during mergers.

·        Back-up plans and exit strategies.

·        Coming up with IMPLEMENTABLE solutions.

 Some key points to take home from the session:

·        Preparing oneself for long work hours. (18-20 hours for almost 2 years).

·        Most people are from a diverse background, so managing people’s expectations is the key.

·        Find something good? Share it.

·        Technical knowledge and people skills/networking is the key.

·        Working with uncertainty is the rule of thumb for a consultant. Ground rules are nothing but common sense.

·        The importance of branding oneself.

·        As a consultant, one cannot take decisions on behalf of the management.

He closed the session with interesting titbits from his life, one where he had to be ethical and not give in to his boss’ request and one where he was terminated for a project and wasn't paid for it.

It was an informative session overall and he ended with the saying, “Once a consultant, always a consultant.”

Season’s Pilgrimage

“No matter how intense your struggle may be, someone is being inspired by your fight. Your story and your courage is equipping them to see life through a completely different lens.”

-UNKNOWN

Jan 29^th, 2014 has been stored in every ASBian’s mind. All of us had the opportunity to witness the launch of a very heart rendering book “Season’s Pilgrimage” written by our alumnus, and an emerging writer Mr. Eshwar Anand. The book is a collection of poems. The book was launched by our very respected and loved Dr. Sanjay Bannerjee, who was extremely humbled to have got this opportunity.

The colloquium started with all of us observing a minute of silence in remembrance of all the people who lost their lives because of cancer, and also those who presently are affected by this deadly disease. Moreover, Mr. Eshwar Anand believed that silence helps all of us calm down regardless of all our worries.

Mr. Eshwar lost his mother due to cancer in 2012. He has seen and gone through all the pains that cancer afflicts on a person. It puts them down mentally, financially, physically and psychologically. Cancer is not a life sentence. It’s just a word. People die out of fear than the disease itself. He emphasized on the fact that there is an urgent need to spread awareness and educate people about this disease and suppress the fear in the patients. Keeping this in mind Mr. Eshwar has started a campaign which gives strength to many patients to fight this disease.

Further, he showed us a video which was a poem, “Let me kiss you”, he wrote in remembrance of his mother. It reiterated the various moments and phases when a patient knows that he has cancer, and what it feels then. He shared with us the last words said by his mother “Kalpagam”, the meaning of which he still doesn’t know. It was a much disoriented phase for both of them. She behaved like a baby.

Mr. Eshwar ended the talk by saying that it’s very important for us to understand that people undergoing the pain of cancer are still alive and aware of their surroundings. It is our responsibility to inspire them.

Sharon Raj

(Team Colloquia member)

Pragati and Summer Internships : By Mr. Anand Menon

Date: 30^th January, 2014

Time: 6:30 pm.

Location: SAPG class.

With eyes closed, everyone began their journey to a higher state of mind. Breathing in deep, concentrating on the soothing tunes playing in the class, when suddenly 8 phones vibrate and distract everyone. We open one eye to check the message and an exchange of surprised expressions travel between all 8 faces. Team Colloquia received a Whatsapp text that 2 hours from now, our very stylish and charismatic young alumni, Mr. Anand Menon, will be in the building. Not for a friendly visit. It’s a colloquia.

Time: 8:30 pm.

Location: ECR.

Hall arrangements. Check. Welcome speech. Check. Camera. Ready. Mikes. Working. Entire  batch. Informed.

Eight colloquians high fiving on a job well done as we wait for the batch to arrive.

Time: 8:50 pm.

Location: outside ECR.

All first year MBA students have reached the hall and are waiting on our guest speaker, Mr. Menon. We see a lone bike at a distance approaching. It stops right in front of our building and the lone rider takes his helmet off. Mr. Anand Menon is officially in the building. He smiles at us and after a little interaction with Team Colloquia and the seniors, he enters ECR, a place he is very familiar with. Everyone can see the confidence shining off him as he sets himself up for the talk.

9 pm. It’s a go.

Pragati and Summer Internships by Mr. Anand Menon Regional head (South) at SOTC

Mr. Menon started off by setting the mike down and ensuring that everyone at the back could hear him without it. He cleared out that this session was going to be a collaborative one, and not just a one way discussion. As a former colloquia member himself, he was definitely happy with the turnout.

He started off with our B-fest Pragati, and how it was a major part of who we were in ASB and our culture. He wanted to see the wholehearted support that a fest of this magnitude deserves. Pragati has been a dream project for our batch this time, making it the biggest B-fest in ASB till date. The big biz names were turning up and the big brands were following, but all at a price. Funding an event this major was always an issue and it once again proved to be the case now. Mr. Menon narrated how his batch had side-lined funding to be a ‘core committee’ concern, not their own. He did not want us to make the same mistake. He encouraged us to find the right people who can help this mega fest be a hit.

Throughout the talk we could see how attached he was to the topic of Pragati. He was the VP Committees in his Pragati, and that meant handling people responsible for the various back end jobs, the skeleton of Pragati. He was responsible for the accommodation, hospitality, transport etc. and this passion for his work continued as he joined Thomas Cook.

He talked to the present core committee about how reaching out to the alumni would be a great place to start their funding journey, considering Pragati was just 10 days away. As we found out later on, the alumni did become the guardian angels to a successful Pragati.

Once he stopped with Pragati he began with the summer placements and their roles in the future. He started with trying to figure out if we understood exactly how important this internship would be. Sensing a silence and lack of idea, he began with how fresh graduates should aim for the internship for what experience it will provide. He took up every question asked by us and emphasised on how much this 2-3 month internship, will be valued during our final placements and future career.

He was later joined by our beloved Prof. Deepak Gupta, who told us more about how the Placecom was progressing and the sort of projects that were coming along.

The session stirred up conversations all across our batch as Mr. Menon’s insights offered a lot more clarity to what can be expected in the upcoming future, an experience cherished by all.

With a smile on his face, he had a friendly post Colloquia session with the senior batch and left with Mr. Gupta into the night. :)



Shaunak Sinha

(Team Colloquia Member)

Marketing Unplugged..:)

                                            Marketing Unplugged

                                                                                          

The session by Mr. MK Chandrasekar was a class apart. He is a very down to earth and joyful person. Mr. MKC made the whole ambience lively. It was a laughter therapy for all the students. But with that he also gave us a deep insight about marketing as well as life.

He started by asking a very simple question to the audience, “Who are you?”

Before getting to know anyone else we should be aware of ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses. He said, “It is all right to be confused as everyone at some point of their life feel confused.” But one should try to learn from whatever he/she is doing. Don’t learn for a job rather; learn the job, because when you learn the job properly, only then you become a professional.

There is a learning cycle in every process. First we ignore a subject, and then when we start paying attention to it, we become aware of that subject. As we find the subject to be of relevance to us, we develop the interest to learn about it and if we continue the process of learning about a particular subject, soon we become the expert of it

            “If you seek a job only for food then it’ll be a burden for you.”                                                

 So, do what you like, develop passion for your work, and be enthusiastic about what you do.

After bequeathing his advices for life her set out to reveal the success of marketing, which goes as follows:

The main factors contributing to the success of marketing of any product or service depends heavily upon three things, generation of an Idea or Ideas, how that idea is perceived by everyone else (especially the customers), the attitude by which it is taken into account and finally the key to success, the execution of the idea. No matter how great an idea is, if not executed properly then it can even destroy a brand’s image.

The new ideas should be well blended with the brand’s proposition. It should target the customers both internally and externally.

There is an equation of perception:

Unhappiness = Aspiration – Reliability

Hence, one should always see to it that customer’s aspiration about any products/services always matches with its reliability, only then the perception so formed will be positive.
While creating a brand, one should know how to create and use a character. It is important to know how to relate a personality with a brand. Also, while choosing any celebrity for being a brand ambassador one should see to it that the values and personality of that celebrity coincides with that of the brand. There should be an emotional connection between the brand and the customer. Visual instigation also plays a very important role in creating a brand value and for doing all this one needs to understand the core value of his/her brand and the business.

He also showed a lot of clippings of old advertisements as an example of how to choose brand ambassadors and how we can personify even a simple non living thing and use it to spread the message or the core value of our brand.

He winded up the session by one simple advice, “If you need to be on the top, you need to know the whole structure of your organization right from the bottom.”

After this, the students asked their queries which Mr. MKC handled very patiently and effectively.  This session with him was amazing. It helped the students to know what all things go in creating a brand and how it needs to be marketed.

-          Uditi Rawat

success and happiness

SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS:  

By Mr NAGARAJU K B

Mr Nagaraju K B visited Amrita School of business   to speak on a topic that is becoming very pertinent in today’s corporate world. The topic was “SUCCESS and HAPPINESS” .

SKH, the seminar hall of Amrita School Of Business saw a large number of students from both 1^st and 2^nd year MBA waiting in zeal and kindling fervor to listen to the speaker.

Mr Nagaraju K B pursued B.E from University of Madras and PGDM on Operations and Marketing from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He is currently a management consultant and has worked in top companies which include TVS Logistics services limited, Lenovo India private limited as Chief operating officer and VP-Supply chain operations respectively. He has a rich professional experience in supply chain and logistics.

SUCCESS IS…..

Mr Nagaraju K B’s insightful speech began with first explaining the young-fresh MBA pursuers about the idea behind finding success which according to him can come through TRIAL AND ERROR – By risks and experiments or by ACHIEVING GOALS.  SUCCESS according to him was about satisfying the inner and outer perspectives of oneself. The inner perspective could be Happiness and Fulfillment. Outer perspective included fame, fortune and meaningful work.

HAPPINESS…..

The next part of the topic – HAPPINESS now came into the picture. Happiness, a positive emotion can mean different things to different people. It can be a deep sense of joy connection or can happen due to ‘pleasure’ or ‘gratification’. He explained the concept of MOMENTARY HAPPINESS which is the overall evaluation of one’s own life situation. The concept of ‘FLOW and GROWTH’ which means that as a person grows, he/she becomes increasingly productive and responsible, was also discussed. He strongly put forward his view that – ‘MULTITASKING IS A MYTH’. One has to focus on one task with full attention and then go onto the next task for lasting success and happiness.

“Managing and living up to the expectations also has a significant role to play in happiness. People indubitably feel happy when they manage their expectations. There is also a ‘Genetic Disposition’.  People have a set score to which they always revert. “

The next interesting part of the session revolved around ways to increase one’s overall happiness. They included (A) making health a priority (B) achieving long term goals- ideally difficult ones (C) Investing more in relationships (D) making enough money (E) Doing good deeds and (F) exploring the world-starting with one’s own country. The past also has a role to play in increasing our overall happiness. It could be done by fueling positive emotions about past satisfactions, gratitude and adopting the idea of ‘Forgiveness’

Mr Nagaraju K B rightfully put forward these inspiring phrases – 
“DUMP THE NEGATIVE BAGGAGES, MOVE ON WITH THE FUTURE”

and

“THERE IS NOTHING CALLED FAILURE. IT IS MORE OF A MISTAKE”.

“Future’s part in increasing the overall happiness included dealing with negative emotions of future which may be anxiety, believing in oneself and focusing on effort and not result.”

ULTIMATE HAPPINESS is a goal every individual forever works on and there is no magical recipe to achieve it. Putting in the words of Mr Nagaraju K B - Ultimate happiness is a sense of meaning that comes from serving a purpose larger than oneself. It comes when one manages to strike a relationship between oneself, others and the work. ‘SOMETHING LARGER THAN ONESELF’.

“Success also has an outer perspective to it. Culture and family are a great influence on how we view success. Parents, siblings, coaches, Media bombard us with suggestions of what success means. THESE IDEAS ARE INVISIBLE AND LITTLE DEBATED”.

SUCCESS, he says, has today become a rush for more of everything. “The media, rat race to achieve everything and peer pressure has pushed us to become money making machines”.

“YOU CANNOT BE ON PAGE 3 FOR A LONG TIME, UNLESS YOU ARE DOING A SUSTAINABLY GOOD JOB!!” – Mr Nagaraju KB.

The next part of seminar brought forward the relationship between job decisions and Happiness. Criterias for job decisions can be money growth, work-life balance and sharing-mentoring.

ACHIEVING SUCCESS:

He gave the following formulae for achieving success – (A) discovering and building capabilities (B)motivating oneself (C) developing confidence (D) building relationships.

In the last phase of the session, the speaker revealed the FOUR DIAMONDS needed for SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS – interest and passions, talents, past experiences, personality strengths.

Mr Nagaraju K B winded up the session by saying that Success requires confidence and confidence also brings in a lot of happiness.

The students then put forward their questions which were in detail answered by Mr Nagaraju KB. Some students rigorously took notes and were all smiles on getting  a clearer picture on ‘SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS’ and looked forward to adapt the principles of Mr. Nagaraju

- Shruti Khaitan

(team colloquia)