Life @ NUS MBA – 2

Gosh!!! At last I found some time to unwind after frenetic first week of intensive module. The Late nights or in fact no night sleep has begun and the droopy eyes yearn for an extra half hour sleep. “Catch me if you can!!!” that’s how The Sleep is mocking at my face. However, it can’t deter me to pen down my weekly post.

The Unique Cohort
Entire cultural globe is sitting with you in the class- You name a region in the world and you have an opinion on that. Welcome to International MBA. Think of diversity and “Abundant” is the word that comes to my mind. Other day I was sitting in "Management in Organization" class when there was an interesting discussion going around about the cultural clash in an organization. Incidentally, the MBA classes are better than the drowsy lectures of undergraduate days. Coming back to the cultural clash topic, it was interesting to know that Spanish people hate Norwegian by the tip of their nose. Corruption is the issue not only deep rooted in India system but it’s equally rampant in China, Korea, Indonesia and Thailand. Koreans don’t like foreign goods flooding their market. And yes George W. Bush consistently ranks first, across all countries, as the Most Hated Statesman of modern era.

Talking of the distinct characteristics of student, the Chinese and ASEAN students appear to be most humble, hard working and sincere in entire cohort. I wonder how India can be at political conflict with such soft spoken Chinese people. May be I am just skimming the surface of an unknown culture. The humane intent and values seem to hold more distinct proposition as you travel further east of Greenwich. Having said that, I have to admit Singaporean food isn’t as nice as people around here are. Every day when I coax through a bite of Singaporean cuisine, the words of Simba strikes my mind “ Slimy…. yet Satisfying!!”

However, when I think about Indians in the class, there was an anticipated fear which unfortunately proved to be true. Like other B schools in India here too you don’t form personal relationship, you only create professional leverages for yourself. I sense there is a serious gulf that surrounds people pursuing MBA. They wear a mythical veil around them to disguise their real persona.There is a fear gripping the mindset of the people, if you reveal yourself a bit extra, you might loose the race for that “Unknown” apogee. May be with maturity, people become increasingly suspicious about human presence around them. You don’t want to be stranded companionless, yet you don’t want anyone to come too close to you either. I had heard this refrain from my friends studying in IIMs. I am experiencing this first hand here at NUS.

Perhaps my understanding of human psychology is slightly different but I cannot befriend anyone just because I can derive benefits and advantages from him/her. Neither can I shirk from someone because I have anticipated that he/she won’t be influential in my career objectives. Relationship isn’t a business model. For me it is striking wavelength at right time with right people. I need to be there when people are looking for support and yearn for company. Leave aside professional goals, I believe if I can become a better human being with a knack of understanding human compassion and psychology, my objective for MBA is fulfilled. Else I too will keep running in the race which doesn’t seem to have any culmination point. Do I need to be super special to imbibe these human qualities? I believe not.

Outbound Singapore
The first step towards breaking that proverbial ice amongst the cohort was taken in Outbound Singapore program- A two day excursion trip to an island. Team building activities had been staple practices in companies where I worked. It carried rewarding experiences; however, the effect seemed to diffuse out with time. This time around it was different- here your companion’s life was at stake.

Yes I am serious when I mentioned last few words- The life was at stake. Rock climbing is an art. It is more than just physical strength. It is having firm belief on yourself to conquer the mounting adversary and having belief that your mates down below hold the metaphorical thread of your life. I had never done rock climbing before and for first time my stamina was touching the threshold. Every single climb seemed a gigantic leap towards the top. I failed to conquer any of the targets. Yet there was excitement and adrenaline rush when you are perched 200 m above the ground level, dangling in thin air on a rope. What a start to MBA program!! I was wondering- Why I never thought of joining army? At least I would have experienced such exciting physical errand million times.

Orpheus – A unique set of leaders
During one of the intensive module classes, there was a video played about Orpheus, a Boston based rock band. This band is a topic of case studies across top B schools in the world. One of the Harvard professors noted a very interesting thing about Orpheus. This band doesn’t have a music conductor. Meaning there was no leader of the band. Still each member of the band has immaculate synergy and synchronization.

People reflect upon their working style as new form of leadership where each member has the privilege of been the leader of the troupe during the concert. Think of decentralizing power- Here is the prime example. Orpheus has been playing bands in business and executive meetings as an example of coherent combined leadership. Frictions and clash of opinions and ego do occur within the team , still the troupe put aside the differences and work towards creating symphony and melody.

To round off there was an interesting incident that happened to one of my Indonesian class mates. He has big time fascination about Indian culture and people. As per his own admission he knows only two things about India- Taj Mahal and Infosys. So one day he decided to increase his repertoire about Indian Diaspora by watching a Hindi Movie. What better way to start than with “Guru”. This is what you and I may think but not this mate of mine. He went to watch “Guru” because somebody, presumably, recommended him this movie as a super hit porn movie. Now this poor fellow waited and waited for three hours, enduring songs after songs, fancying Aishwaraya Rai in every forthcoming scene. But the real action never began. Dejected and despondent about the “quality” of Bollywood movie, he put his idea of understanding Indian Diaspora on shelf for a while

I don’t know whether 16 months is an ideal time to interact with every member of the 2007 cohort or to utilize oceanic resources that NUS has in its mysterious cauldron. For that matter will I ever be able to explore every nook and corner of this sprawling campus bearing an inviting aura to explore the treasure. Before coming to NUS, the questions often pricked my mind “Why NUS?”, "Have I chosen right path?". After coming here confidence brims over the conviction- “Why not NUS?”

By the way my Sorting hat has further confounded my leaky conundrum filled thought process. It says follow your heart and you will succeed in your vision- Management Consultancy vs Finance job. One Gryffindoer, the other Slytherin. But mind says- Wait and Watch.May be there is some ray of light shredding this ambiguity- I prefer to wait for time being.