Been a week into the job......excruciating is too *nice* a word to describe what i was going through all of last week. But there's this AWESOME sense of fulfillment at the end of the day. That's coz, I'm actually out there DOING something....even if it means travelling in jam packed trains, getting headaches walking in the hot sun(not mention having to put on sunscreen..yuck!), being shouted at or worse, being totally ignore by retailers, as if i were some form of low life...

In a week's travelling, i've learnt more about Mumbai than i have in the last 9 months of actually living in this city. Since i get my lunch reimbursed everyday (with a cap upto Rs.200!!) i get to eat what i want, wherever i want to....so its been McD, Subway going on alternate days :))

....All this is of course, is apart from the amazing learning experience, of actually talking to retailers, stockists and customers and getting their point of view....Its great to see things as they happen out there, which isnt even half as close as the text book scenarios we learn in the classroom.


Mintzberg recently took a swipe at MBA students and the learning they go through at "B-Schools". Being an MBA student myself, I wouldn't entirely do away with what's taught at a B-school. Its textbook stuff and not practical stuff...many would say. True, but what written in texts are actually Experiences of many people spread over a long periods of time, which have been crystallised into a few paragraphs.

Unlike say physics, where certain principles are fundamental and apply to all situations (like gravity), in Management, every situation is unique and so what we learn in school can never be applied as it is. This i feel is the mistake many students make....they feel they've learnt all about they need to know abt business at a b-school..and feel they can apply what they have learnt as it is..which is simply untrue...

Then as Mintzberg said (Mahesh Murthy mentioned this in his BunsinessWorld column), there's the need to use a tool called "Gut-feel"...many successful leaders/managers are successful because they have used exactly this tool.

This tool cannot be learnt instantly(develops with experience, many say...i personally feel genetics have a major role). Its highly risky to use it. And the results are often unpredictable....which is why its easier to hide behind statistics, numbers and the like ....

And yet, there will always come a time in any managers professional life when he/she has to use "gut-feel"....In fact ,many important decisions have been taken on "gut feel"...logic usually takes the back seat....
Hard to digest for most MBA students...Logic just HAS to be there....if there's no logic behind a decision....then there's no decision....A common refrain among younger managers....no harm thinking that way...but its NOT the ONLY way....that's what we have to accept...