The Learning Continues...

Till the start of a New Journey

Her mother put a full tablespoon of sweetened curd in her mouth. Priyanka thought of rejecting her mother’s wish (and order at the same time) but could not able to or rather was not ready to start a fight (which she never won earlier) on this auspicious morning. “Beta, Dahi-Chini kha lo, interview accha jaega”, said her mother. [“Daughter, have some sweetened curd, your interview will go well”] Priyanka was appearing for the interview of a reputed management institution for which she was dreaming for the past year. For her, it was never easy to manage the day job with late-night preparation for the management studies, but with her determination and her mother’s support, she was able to crack all the elementary rounds and qualified herself for the last interview round.

Gulping down the curd, Priyanka hurried towards the Ola cab driver, who was waiting patiently and was watching all the drama until now. “Chalo Bhaiya”, Priyanka asked the driver to follow the map to reach the destination.

“ Kabyayan Roy talks about diversification of skill sets in the present dynamic market. He says MBA empowers as well as enriches one, more in terms of being expressive.”

Priyanka had always admired and followed Indira Nooyi for her courage, confidence, and communication skills and was determined to be a leader like her. During the graduation days, Priyanka participated in several extempore competitions and proved her mettle by winning several medals on the state and national levels. She also had good debating skills and was known to crunch data and argue on facts. Friends called her ‘Data Queen’. Looking at her once debating, Mr. Rohit Shah, a well-known speaker, appreciated her debating skills and wished her a great future. She continued to make impressions wherever she went. It was because of these skills that Priyanka was rewarded several times at her workplace. However, in spite of these accolades, she was not satisfied and always thought that she needed to sharpen her skills and acquire new ones in order to survive in today’s competitive world and in the future.

“ Ankita Das says that MBA was an opportunity to open herself up to various fields and now she is not stuck to a particular domain and could work anywhere in any business, thus continue to learn and grow.”

The car stopped at the destination making Priyanka nervous for the first time. She got down, checked at the reception, did all the formalities, and waited for her turn for the interview. Sitting in a corner, biting her nails, she looked around and saw candidates, some with a very confident attitude and some with a nervous face like hers. She saw other candidates enacting the interview that was going to happen in a while. In between all these observations, Priyanka happened to quickly go through all the concepts and interview specific materials so as not to blabber inside the ‘operation theatre’. “Priyanka Roy!”, announced the lady at the reception and directed Priyanka to go inside the interview room.

Priyanka was now facing a panel of five people across age groups. There was a smile on her face while she greeted every panel member, but inside she was afraid of what was about to happen. “You have an impressive CV”, said one panelist adjusting his spectacles. “Thank you, Sir!”, Priyanka nodded. “Why MBA?”, bombed another panelist who was in his late 50’s and looked at Priyanka for the answer. Taking a deep breath, Priyanka started to answer…

“ Shraddha Mittal mirrors Ankita’s thoughts and says that it gave her a perspective to look at things differently. She also talks about the learnings from other domains which helped her to choose the domain she was comfortable in.”

“Beta, did you have your lunch?”, was the first question her mother asked when Priyanka was expecting her mother to enquire about the interview process. Rolling up her eyes, she said, “Yes mother, I had”. Priyanka was not sure of how good or bad her interview went. Although she answered every question with confidence (hiding her nervousness), panelists had a constant blank expression on their faces during the interview and sent out Priyanka at the end with a “Good luck”.

• Did I answer all the questions correctly?
• Did I impress all the panelists?
• Was I biased in my opinions?
• What if I am not selected?

All kinds of questions kept coming to her mind. She took the cab, came back home, and slept.

“ Manish Gogoi says that MBA makes one Jack of all trades and master of none. He also emphasizes the fact that it gives one enough confidence to speak and also gives you an opportunity to connect and network.”

One could argue, if Priyanka is so good at oratory and debating skills, which showed her thought promptness, analyzing situation,s and acting accordingly, then why does she need an MBA. They could say that she does not need it as her confidence and different skill-sets are more than enough for her to make her a successful leader down the line. Instead of an MBA degree what she needs right now is to focus on her work and on developing new skills, others may say. They might be right to some extent but the final decision lies to the one who decides to go for it.

For Priyanka, MBA was never for building different skillsets. She knew she could go for MOOC courses for doing so. MBA for her was all about crafting a mindset, developing lateral thinking, and realizing her potential. She always hated the idea of ‘getting married and getting settled’. She approached MBA as a ladder or rather as a vehicle to change places. She wanted to explore opportunities and it served as the right medium for her to achieve that.

“ Sakshi talks about how MBA has increased her competence by enhancing her oratory skills, confidence, leadership, analytics, and actual domain knowledge. She also adds how MBA is going to act as a personality toolbox in her career ahead.”

Priyanka was woken up by a knock on her hostel room door. “Get ready fast, we are already late. The farewell show is about to start.”, shouted Nikita when Priyanka opened the door. Still half asleep, Priyanka was wondering how come the first day of the college was the last day for her. Looking at her, Nikita pulled Priyanka’s ears to wake her up completely. All senses opened up for Priyanka when Nikita did to her what she had always been doing to wake her up for the past two years.

Getting ready, Priyanka was thinking about how these two years of MBA had changed her as a person, how it had shown an unconventional approach to deal with problems, how she had developed holistic thinking in her actions, and how much she was able to recognize and appreciate her hidden skills. These two years had not only empowered and enriched her with new experiences but also promoted her to look for societal problems and how effectively she could solve them.

Holding the hand and dragging her out of the room, Nikita locked the room and said to Priyanka, “Enough of fashion! Now let’s go to the farewell show before it ends.” Carrying a bright smile, both moved ahead to the auditorium.

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Until the next time...

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