New Beginnings
The Tower Exercise
So , after having heard a lot about the famous "Dr. Mandi " of NITIE it was time finally to meet him in person . I was pretty excited about this class and he surely did not let me down . I was a bit taken aback when he showed us a video of Pink Floyd in the class . But , yes I was really impressed and at the same time amazed . The video really got the whole class involved and personally me too as I am a huge Pink Floyd fan . "Another brick in the wall " portrays how our education system is killing our ingenuity and creativity and mass producing students just like a mass production factory . At the end of this interactive session Dr. Mandi showed us a few of the innovative products which can be marketed in Mandi .
Another important "gyan " was the slogan
socho becho ....
becho seeekho ...
seekho socho ....
Initially these statements look innocuous .. but in these lie a deeper meaning , which eventually pervades into each and every business activity or for that fact day to day life that we see in our environs.
Before we sell anything or for that set off for a project we need to test the viability of the product or the project . We need to do proper market research or for that fact in a project we need to do a proper feasibility analysis .
Moreover we must remember that in any activity whatever it maybe , marketing , finance or for that fact research , the learning process continues throughout . We learn a lot from the experiences . Some wise man had once said " A person who hasn't failed cant really appreciate success. " We learn more from our experiences than through theory but its imperative that we put to use what we learn during our success/failure .
Another funda given to us in the class was " Aaj ki roti aaj hi kamani hai " which actually is already known to us in multifarious forms . Many people might have already heard Kabir's couplet which is
"Kaal Kare So Aaj Kar, Aaj Kare So Ub
Pal Mein Pralaya Hoyegi, Bahuri Karoge Kub "
Another important "gyan " was the slogan
socho becho ....
becho seeekho ...
seekho socho ....
Initially these statements look innocuous .. but in these lie a deeper meaning , which eventually pervades into each and every business activity or for that fact day to day life that we see in our environs.
Before we sell anything or for that set off for a project we need to test the viability of the product or the project . We need to do proper market research or for that fact in a project we need to do a proper feasibility analysis .
Moreover we must remember that in any activity whatever it maybe , marketing , finance or for that fact research , the learning process continues throughout . We learn a lot from the experiences . Some wise man had once said " A person who hasn't failed cant really appreciate success. " We learn more from our experiences than through theory but its imperative that we put to use what we learn during our success/failure .
Another funda given to us in the class was " Aaj ki roti aaj hi kamani hai " which actually is already known to us in multifarious forms . Many people might have already heard Kabir's couplet which is
"Kaal Kare So Aaj Kar, Aaj Kare So Ub
Pal Mein Pralaya Hoyegi, Bahuri Karoge Kub "
This is nothing but time management which in my opinion is one of the most essential traits of a good manager . A manager who can manage his time well will surely be able to manage people in a much better way .
With this the first session came to an end and we were still not satiated and wanted more that too sooon .
The Tower Exercise
Thankfully we did not have to wait much longer for our next meeting .
In the next class first we were asked to bid to take part in a game . It was actually a lesson in Risk Taking and SMART Goal setting. Our goals must be Specific , Measurable , Attainable , Relevant , Time Bound .We finally had three enterprising students who had bid a hefty amounts ready to take up the challenge .
The task was some what like this :
- The three people were assigned roles of the worker , mid level manager and a top level manager respectively .
- The worker was blindfolded and was supposed to build a stack of small wooden blocks using his wrong hand .
- The middle management was supposed to guide him in erecting the tower .
- The top level management was supposed to intervene only at crucial junctures.
The task was an insight into Group Dynamics .
- How planning is done ( as the three people strategised their plan to place the blocks.) The samething was done in my work when i was in BARC . Before starting any project a time table and a plant was made for the same . Tools like CPM and PERT are used for projects.
- How the Mid level manager directs the worker to do the job and how the top level management intervenes only when needed. The same was experienced by me at my work where a project was assigned to me by my immediate boss and after completion of the project the final reviewing was done by the section head .
- How dedication and hardwork finally bears fruits as the guys were able to stack upto 18 stacks and broke the last year's record.
- How the environmental factors effect the performance of a company ( the environment here were the students who had gathered around and sometimes confusion was created in the hullaboo.) Sometimes due to govt policies or external factors like bandhs etc . even after hardwork sometimes work is not completed.
And thus came to an end the first day with Dr. Mandi . A truly enriching experience and i must say i could relate a lot of my work ex with his teachings and activities .
