An MBA is a great badge to have; it’s a differentiator and helps you get started in life. But after that, it’s up to the breaks you get and of course you have to put in your best. For me, my course at IIM Calcutta involved a study of the nuances. Having joined as an engineer, the whole finance and marketing stream was new to me, so I did more courses in these areas and that was a big plus for me.
Early career
After pursuing my degree in engineering at REC Tiruchi (now NIT) I joined Lucas TVS but quit in a few months to become the first employee of Computer Point, one of the early marketers of computers in the mid-’80s.
My parents were shocked and thought I was mad. You know, a good Tamil Brahmin boy quitting a plum job at TVS in those days was unheard of. After a few months at Computer Point, I joined IIM Calcutta in 1986. After completing a course in finance, I realised I wanted to be in banking. However, I had done a summer internship in Wipro and had been offered a job as well. I had applied for a job in Citibank and BankAm, but didn’t get them. A year into Wipro, I found out that CitiBank had started its cards business in Chennai, and promptly applied and got a job there. I moved from Wirpo to Citi in 1990 and was later transferred to Dubai to set up Citi’s consumer business in 1993.
That was a big learning as I did all kinds of stuff, things I never thought I would do, it spanned everything from sales, service, technology to treasury operations. This stint led to my next job at Standard Chartered Bank which I was with for many years. That was an exciting move as I got the job of head of the cards business.
What an MBA does
An MBA gives you a better packaging and most importantly is a great badge if you’ve done it from a premium school. If you get into a premium school you’ve gone through a certain rigour to enter it. When we wrote the entrance test to the IIMs, around one lakh people used to write the test. There were only three IIMs then and my batch had around 200 people. So there were 600 MBAs the year we finished from the IIMs. So of the one lakh people who wrote the entrance test, you know you got through some filters to qualify.
But remember, studying at a premium institution only gives you an entry point, after that it could neutralise you. If many of you join the same company, all of you are peers and there is a natural tendency to compare yourself with others. There are enough people out there who have been successful without an MBA, but it is better if you have one.
B-school learnings
A B-school education can teach you a lot of theoretical aspects. But, that’s about all they teach you. In today’s business environment, you learn something every day. The environment what today’s CEO or MD is facing, in my opinion, is not what we faced in the last 25 years. Anybody who started working in the 1980s would not have seen the kind of volatile business environment that we are seeing today. And there is no reason to believe if you’ve been there and done that you will be successful in today’s scenario as well. As I said before, a b-school education gives you an advantaged entry point and opens your mind to the challenges. You are on your own after that.
On my inspirations and ideas
I am not much of a classroom person, but I do read a fair amount. I believe the hunger has to come from within, thathas to keep pushing you. I am a big believer in ‘Divine Grace’ and look up to God for inspiration.
My advice to young MBAs
I always tell the youngsters who come to work in the bankthat no amount of preparation is adequate; a campus cannot prepare you for life and work. Itis a massive challenge. What B-schools can teach you is to build your network and how to distinguish yourself in a crowd. Coming out of a top B-school is a good entry point, but the variables in life are many. If you take a near 3-5 year horizon, the world is not going to be a cakewalk!
One should be brave enough to have a daily dialogue with oneself . I also tell youngsters - right in the early stages, get a good sparring partner, who gives you good constructive criticism and live with them for the next 20 years. A partner who holds a mirror to you is very valuable as you are challenging each other all the time.
A life example
Today one can access to whole lot of information, whether from books or on the Web. More than reading, the thing that I like to use as an example is this: In 1983, when we were in college, there was a fantastic movie called Flash Dance; there’s a line in that movie which says ‘Take your passion and make it happen’ (from What a feeling by Irene Cara) It is an astonishing song and I remember being carried away by that song and it has always been an inspiration. It has influenced my thinking all these years. But as I said, it’s better not to get influenced by too many ideas. Your inspiration should come from within.
(As told to Vinay Kamath)