Tell us about yourself, your professional life after the ISB including your career progression
My career progression from pre to post ISB has been a simple, straight path. I entered ISB directly from managing a family business and went back to it right after graduation. A Chartered Accountant by education, the ISB was an attempt to bring in management skills to a lop sided CA skilled family setup.

Pre ISB everything was numbers to me in running the business, Post ISB it is a lot more holistic. I can understand and devise strategy and marketing plans, be more empathetic to Human Resources, implement systems and processes to operationally better manage my business.

My learning curve in taking over and professionalising the family business was a lot steeper due to the lack of formal management education; today I oversee businesses with a professional and technically equipped management team in place.

What was your key take-away from the ISB?

I am quite clear in what the ISB has contributed to my professional growth – vision and network. Everyone is on the same footing in terms of education, we all learnt the same subjects from the same professors. Yet we all took away from the course and the institute something that was unique to us. In my case it was these two:

Vision – Post ISB I was able to see the same business in a different light, what I used to plan for the next day, I started planning for 5 years hence. My motto became “If I am thinking about today, today, then I am 5 years too late”. ISB taught me this – think for the future and the present will (eventually) take care of itself.

Network – Nowhere in the world will you find such a rich India centric network, so deeply embedded in the philosophy of the institute. For me this was the other major takeaway from the ISB – the ability to reach out to the alums, not just from my batch but across batches. I might not even have met several of them I have spoken with over the years but am always received warmly due to the unique DNA bond that runs through all of us – that of the ISB.

Tell us a little bit about your role model

 I strongly believe a role model in life should constantly change. He or she should transform from someone on a pedestal to someone with whom you can share a dinner or board table with. I had a role model when I was a child, an entrepreneur who made it big from scratch and became a dominant name in his industry over time, as my own personal vision became larger post ISB my role model changed too. It became someone who is not just dominant in his own industry but is a key contributor and influencer of the country’s economy. At a later stage in my life this will again change from a mere capitalistic ambition driven role model to someone who has socially contributed to India’s welfare. Role models for me are like milestones to benchmark myself against and keep raising the bar in the pursuit of my own personal goals.

What is your vision for the School?

I honestly don’t care too much about the school being number 12 or number 1 in the world, what I do care about is the school being available to cater to all the potential management candidates across the country at a reasonable price. The institute is a class apart from all the other MBA institutes in the country. It would be beneficial for India if the ISB could replicate it’s model across India to bring in more seats for deserving candidates who are not selected year on year due to a limited number of seats. I also hope that a larger base and overhead sharing will reduce the cost and make it more affordable for everyone. In 10 years I would like to see ISB as the premier and largest management institution in India. We are a country of a billion plus people, we need to provide education to a lot more than 550 plus students every year.

What are the strengths that the School can leverage upon and areas in which it can improve?

The ISB has something very unique that other institutes don’t – we are young. This helped us start from a clean slate and establish ourselves in our own unique position. This was only possible due to the visionary leaders who planned this institute brick by brick. Our strength is the relative age of the institute, which we can leverage further in refining our model. It gives us the flexibility to change without too many legacy issues, the infancy of the institute also gives us a strong alum paternal / maternal feeling towards the school since we have all contributed in some way or the other in bringing the school to where it is today.

The model of the school can be replicated easily. The passion of the founders, boards, alums and staff cannot be. This is our strength and we are already doing a good job of leveraging it.

What role do you think the alums can play in building the School?

The brand ambassadors of the school, the alums, are critical for the building of the school. I do not have any suggestions to offer in this regard as I can see alums virtually present in all aspects of the school’s development in the role of staff, professors, recruiters, contributors, volunteers, speakers etc. In the not so distant future, the alum body will contribute from its fold – board members and the future Dean at ISB.

How can you contribute to the school?

I can / have contribute(d) to the ISB in the following ways:

   - Volunteering my time to be involved in the admissions interview process since 2003
   - Aiding in raising scholarships for the incoming batches
   - Aiding in kick starting the first endowment fund from students for the ISB
   - Mentoring potential students in their application process
   - Mentoring current students towards final placements
   - Scouting for and recommending potential students to the admissions team
   - Being available for giving back to my alma mater as and when required