IMTians shaping the world- Student success stories of IMT Nagpur

ANIMESH SINGH GAUTAM (batch 2012-14)
Assistant Manager- Comp Strategy at Mphasis

Recently, my alma mater organized an HR Conclave and luckily, I was not part of it!

As a student, I remember! We hated these conclaves and guest lectures, except few which were a fantastic addition to our thought process, rest were merely a source to earn extra credit points or to complete the attendance.

The most discussed topic from my domain in these conclaves has been HR Strategy and trust me, no one understands it as a student and once you join an organization at a junior position it will hardly matter what course business is taking.

The only thing that will lead you ahead and mark your impact on the business is nothing but all the operational activities. You may dream of developing strategies, preparing compensation plans and all the remarkable things and few might get to do that from the 1st day of their 1st engagement at work.

But 95% of the crowd will start with hammering the nail in the wall before they frame the moments of strategizing and winning the market.

First 5 years will be your journey through all the learnings that nobody on the dais is ever going to share with you and maybe you might have read a few that I’m going to mention!

• Never say “No” to an opportunity which might lead you to learn something new
• Understand the laws by heart. The workforce is your power and laws are there to ensure that things are well in control on both ends
• Understand that there will be politics and mind games and what-not, just keep your mouth shut, ears open and stick to your work because, in the end, it will fetch you your rewards
• Be diplomatic and helpful, but do not think much if you need to say “No” if something is not feasible. Keeping people on hold and saying, “We’re on it” will never help anyone
• Try your hands on all the portfolios to understand your strength but once you find it, don’t go hopping around
• Always search for a Mentor to guide you. S/he will be the one to help you in your tough times
• Follow leaders, read news and articles from the sector that interests you as well as the one you are into
• Invest! Financially and Academically both!
• Pursue your hobby and have some free time to think where you are heading and what are your goals
• Respect everyone and don’t hesitate to do trivial tasks of any sort. The more grounded you are the better perspective and vision you have of your world
• Get a Partner, help her or him achieve their goals too. It’s a wonderful way to learn new things in life and will boost your confidence. In case! you have one, “Respect Them”!
• Jump off the ship once you believe that there is nothing more to learn
• Most Important! “Know Your Worth and Believe in Yourself”

BABITA AGRAWAL (batch 2007-09)
Director at Standard Chartered Bank

Background: The company is into corporate and retail lending and has huge Retail and SME client base. Due to in-adequate due diligence and poor credit assessment in past two-three years, one of the zones of the company was facing huge problem of NPAs in their SME Portfolio which resulted in following issues:

• Total SME NPA % increased to as high a 40%;
• Yearly growth budget was in negative; and 
• Credit Audit Score of the SME Branches (reporting to Zone) dropped significantly to “C-High Risk” category

Due to piling NPA, staff accountability was fixed, and officers were penalised. Very few officers wanted to work as credit officers now.
Action Taken: The management was highly concerned so they changed the leadership and appointed a new Zonal Head (ZH). Actionable taken by the new ZH:
Right person at right place: One experienced and young credit official (SME Head) was appointed at the Zonal level for monitoring entire SME portfolio of the zone. At the branch level also, Credit officers were changed, and new officers were appointed.
Sorting lemons in the portfolio and continuous review: Both the ZH and SME Head would get involved in sorting the good and bad accounts in the portfolio. Post identification of good and bad accounts, bad accounts used to be reviewed on weekly basis.
Team Work: Though the team was new, however, the ZH would ensure that the team works together, and the big picture was shared with each member of the Team at regular intervals.
Sharing the knowledge: Best practices across the team used to be shared with the entire team by the ZH. Regular workshops used to be arranged by SME Head personally to share credit knowledge among the newly joined credit officers.
Celebrating small successes: Small achievements of the team members used to celebrate in presence of ZH. This would increase the morale of the Credit officers and motivate them to do better.
Positive work culture (no blame game): If the member would commit any mistake then he/she would be counselled in a constructive way rather than putting blame on him/her.
Results: In just 2 years, following turnaround happened:

1. NPA % dropped to less than 2% of the total portfolio;
2. Zone overachieved their yearly SME Growth budget; and
3. Credit Audit score of the SME Branches reporting to Zone improved substantially to “A-Low Risk Category”

POOJA JAIN (batch 2015-17)
Product Marketing Analyst at Northern Trust Asset Management

My experience at Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services, now rebranded as Acuity Knowledge Partners has been great so far, I have been able to learn a lot in a fast-paced environment. I started as a fresher at Moody’s as an RFP writer in the year 2017. It has been more than two years in this organisation and till now it has been tremendous journey for me. In this organisation, I have been lucky enough to have multiclient experience. And trust me it is not that easy to gain new client trust when you are so new with all the set ups and processes.  But with the help of the seniors, mentors and my own urge of knowledge helped me to procure my clients trust and faith in a short span of time. Transition to one project to another was not so easy. Because not only there was client switch but also change in role and responsibilities. Closing previous project and getting trained for new project required your various skills, say, dedication, time management, keen to learn, sincerity and most importantly to do attitude. (Believe me if you have all this, no one can stop you to be successful) Lastly, I managed to grasp my both clients trust, got lot of appreciations from clients, my seniors, my peers. And in two year bagged with two awards “Rising Star” and “Most Valuable Player”. As rightly said, “Small daily improvements over time lead to stunning results.”

RADHE SHYAM BEHRA (batch 2012-14)
Founder at Promattic

I was extremely excited on the first day of my first job. I was supposed to report to the Mumbai regional office. I was waiting for the regional manager but he did not show up because he had to attend an urgent meeting in some other City. In fact, there was no one who could guide me about what to do. After waiting for about 2 hours, they asked me to go to another office in Mumbai and report to the branch manager (who had no clue that I was coming there or who I am). He simply asked me to run some basic errands like binding project files, getting some photocopies, and getting coffee. The next few days were equally terrible. I found it extremely hard to acquaint myself with everyone. Even the simplest of things felt hard to get. I would often feel that am being taken for granted. I felt gravely disappointed and questioned myself “is this how a reputed brand functions or my Expectations way too high”?

Over the next few days, I realised that all the Rosy pictures that were painted during our education and in the movies were plain lies. Work life is hard and we take things for granted way too often. We are probably the worst when it comes to appreciating others. This experience left a mark in my memory and I didn’t want to let it go just like that. I wanted to make sure that nobody ever in future would take me for granted and I was just waiting for the right moment.

Fast forward to 3 months later, entire west and Central India sales teams were sitting in five-star hotel for our monthly review meet. And this is the first time all the new joinees (including me) were to present their Sales figures. We had already seen what happens in review meetings in the last two month and believe me, it’s as ugly as it can get. If you have underperformed in the previous month this is the last place on earth you would ever want to be. You will be trashed left, right and centre. THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED. You would be surprised to know that all of them were seasoned sales people, but they had no clue how to make their data presentable. Half of their miseries would have been over if they knew what they are actually presenting and why the figures look like they are.

So now it’s a new month and I can be the one who would be trashed like that in front of everyone. The day before the presentation, I asked almost everyone in my team about the spreadsheet that we are supposed to present none of them had a clue how the figures in that is spreadsheet were prepared and what they represent. I was left helpless so I decided to reverse engineer the entire spreadsheet (which took me at least 12 hours) and found out every single formula and how things were interconnected this helped me get a deeper insight into the company sales figures.

But as luck had it planned; our team was asked to commence the presentation. Moments later, I was standing on the stage in front of 60 colleagues and Bosses. I did my best I can, but the manager kept grilling me, probably hoping that I would succumb at some point. After 15 minutes, he realized that I have come prepared so he raised the bar and ask a really tough question (can’t recall it now). I was surprised to hear that question but I paused for a moment and answered it correctly. He was surprisingly shocked and started praising me in front of everyone and I was thinking that probably I have made my mark. He even made sure to rub it on everyone else’s faces every time they failed to answer a question on the stage. He would take a jibe at them by saying “go and learn from that new trainee” or “that new trainee is 100 times better than you”. He took my name at least 40 times that day and made sure I made about 50 enemies within a matter of 4 hours. But I also made a friend (the regional manager). Needless to say, I made an impression when I was least expecting it. It felt like some sort of redemption for me because I was being recognised by everyone.

In corporate life, if you have to make only 1 friend out 50 people, make sure he/she is the right one. If it’s your boss, even better. Respect is hard to earn. You might have to work hard to get it, but the best you can do is work for it, be patient and when it’s time, you will earn it.

SARTHAK MAHAPATRA (Batch 2005-07)
Director – GBS / BPO Advisory at Deloitte

Looking 10 years back in time, when I was standing at the crossroads of leaving the most coveted engineer job to choosing IMT for MBA, I never knew what I would be doing professionally. I got the initial push to do the project management for a global technology company being posted at Mumbai. New city, new life, some more money in your pocket and new friends changed life from overnight assignments to clubs and parties. The budding personal life gave more confidence to manage the professional work life. I started leading multiple engagements and developing a strong network. This helped me to move to the headquarters in Noida. This presented an opportunity to build newer connects and reconnect with old friends. Almost 4 years passed when things started getting mundane. I was watching a lot of sharp consultants sitting with CXOs and helping them define strategy. I wanted to be one of those. However, each came with a tag of ivy league. Management consultants-as they were known as. I soon figured out that this is what I wanted to do in life, but wasn’t sure how. I kept trying, writing articles, refreshing reading and management fundamentals, trying harder and finally got an opportunity and I managed to get in with one of the Big 4s. On the day of me joining, the first 3 colleagues I met were from IIM-A and IIM-B. I felt proud to say I represented IMT. Time passed I managed large programs. It was soon enough when I got a seat at the table with my first client CFO. From there on, there was no looking back. It feels good to be valued for the suggestions. that you present to your clients based on your experience, case studies and business articles. I have been doing this for the past 6+ years and have worked in 15+ countries so far and I love my job. Though it gets hectic sometimes. It’s part of the game. I live in Zurich, away from my home and parents. If you ask me what I would be doing 5 years from now. I don’t know but two learnings that I wish to share-

1. Keep building your social network
2. Never lose confidence