IIT — The dream and beyond | Part — 3
If you’ve been following the series, I hope you’ve found the previous 2 parts well-paced, delivering its central message within a structured framework (if you’re smart, you’ll make out that I really love consulting. :D): situation, complication, solution, takeaways. While I’ve experimented with the form the previous 2 parts took, I don’t wish to stray too far away from the basic structure here.
If you haven’t read the previous parts, I’ll put up the links for you —
I recommend checking out the Part — 2 because it is merely a continuation of it.
Chapter 5: Be an enabler
Time never passes more slowly than when waiting for your mentees to respond to your message on a WhatsApp group. You’re pumped up, trying to help them understand a certain framework after putting on a long hard day at work during your internship.
During my third year, I earned the opportunity to build, run, and sustain The Business Club of the college in the capacity of a Joint Secretary. I chose up a division, Management Consulting, which was very close to my heart and wanted some degree of autonomy in running it. Building things from scratch meant utilizing the summer vacations of the then-to-be sophomores and prepare them for the various competitions in the forthcoming academic session.
What should have been a pleasant, one-and-a-half-hour discussion on WhatsApp, however, turned into a three-hour ordeal? I honestly felt sorry for everyone in the group.
I did not realize the problems of my mentees until two weeks before the vacation ended. I should have mitigated my poor evaluation of their current skills and adapted my style of discussions to suit their style of learning. Instead, I continued with my plan, confident that my mentees would pull themselves together.
My confidence was shattered when a discussion on Supply Chain and logistics divulged into discussing mafia issues. My mistake was in evaluating their current level of readiness, but my failure was in my willingness to make the changes the group needed to succeed. This experience strengthened my skills in critically understanding the strengths of people around me, but the lesson that has haunted me is that it is never too late to change direction when success demands it.
Months later, the same mentees made my chest swell with pride when they —
- cleanly swept all podium finishes at a couple of external events.
- outshone everyone else in a workshop which was conducted by a Senior Associate from The Boston Consulting Group.
- exceeded the expectations of a Sr. Program Manager from Microsoft Redmond so much that he went on to state that the people who interview for similar roles in the valley don’t perform half as good as this group.
I am almost close to completing my tenure at the helm of the club and I am pretty confident, two months later, my assistance won’t be needed to maintain or operate the group I spent so much energy building.
Be an enabler, help people scale heights, and it will help you become a better version of yourself. I am fairly active on LinkedIn and get a lot of requests from fellow engineering students across the country seeking help. I do not refrain from allotting 20–30 minutes of my time to them if I am convinced I can help them give some direction to their dreams.
That being said, I do try to make sure they are better off knowing my experiences and steer clear of the pitfalls I encountered. What would be the point of the conversation if I couldn’t ensure that?
I am not quite sure to what extent I could help them but some responses are endearing. It is due to such people I try to make myself really accessible to everyone for someone did the same to me while I was starting out.
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” — Sir Issac Newton.
Chapter 6: Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable
Google went from a college dorm project to a search-engine hegemon in twenty months. Steve Jobs didn’t lurk around long before finding out the stickiness of the iPod. Netflix added 370,000 subscribers a month in 2018. In the private sector innovation and adoption happen rapidly. A great idea, capable management, and the unwavering belief that you’ve either tapped an untapped market or you’re creating a new one, inspire constant devotion to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
A college education is the antithesis of this. We’ve been doing the same thing, albeit worse now than ever before, for as long as I can remember. Criticizing the system or blaming the college for not providing enough opportunities seems to be the new stigma among some of the brightest brains in my age group.
There seems to be a set formula for everything — bagging that dream job, securing a foreign internship, or getting an MS to admit in your dream school. While there’s nothing wrong in leveraging the knowledge of your seniors and following set pathways to success, the disturbing thing is how easily people dovetail into these pathways because they don’t find like-minded people chasing their dreams and they’re too afraid to try it out alone themselves.
It’s hard to stay motivated when you realize opportunities in this field are scarce and a dream placement isn’t guaranteed, they say. However, if you’re an incredibly smart twenty-something student amidst peers who’re busy shaping their own destinies and you’re not comfortable being uncomfortable, it’s a sorry state to be in at the very least.
If you have a penchant for mining engineering, try hard for securing a job at Shell/Gulf/Mobil/Schlumberger. Taken; the industry has fewer jobs and is going through a recession but college life is the only time when you can try and fail without being seriously worried about the consequences. The experience will teach you so much more. Given the plethora of opportunities, you’re privileged to by the virtue of being a student, don’t be afraid to fall because you are surely going to get caught.
I’ve pursued my obsessions relentlessly in the past 3 years. While only a handful of them have been successful, I sleep peacefully at night knowing there wasn’t a lot I could have done otherwise.
Coming back to the private sector reference, the same way Google, Apple, and Netflix are shining a light on what’s possible in the private sector, we need a similar willingness and mindset for trying out new things.
“You have to feel comfortable being uncomfortable. I’m always comfortable being uncomfortable. And to be comfortable being uncomfortable, I have to hone my discipline, which to me is doing what I have to do, but also doing it like I love it.” — Mike Tyson.
Chapter 7: Learn, try, fail, repeat
During an entrepreneurial project, I was tasked with constructing a strong team that had to represent the college at the national finals. Each of the team members had the individual potential to succeed but to win, we had to perform out of our skins.
While I arrived at IIT (BHU), I was determined to conquer every obstacle with tenacity, determination, and the stubborn refusal to give up. My team members were incredibly smart and driven at the same time. I wanted to make a statement, announcing I belong. I took on added responsibility to substantiate my claim, selfishly, and much to my embarrassment, I failed, multiple times.
Things went haywire and the results weren’t as expected. The team started shrinking and I realized I failed because of my pride. It was a lesson that would lead to a fundamental shift in my understanding of leadership. I soon learned to show my vulnerability and accept the help of the people around me. The reserve of talent and potential around you in an IIT is far greater than anything you could fathom and together you can accomplish wonderful things.
The best leader, I learned, subsume their need for individual recognition in order to let the people around them shine. This has been the single guiding principle behind my actions ever since.
Post this traumatic failure, I have participated in numerous competitions and have been successful at quite a few of them. Each of those victories has been with a different set of team members and in areas, I had never explored before.
I love things that challenge me because they satiate my desire of having to constantly prove to myself that I can be the better one, still. From being a shy communicator to someone who raises his hand willing to give an impromptu pitch in the next half hour, I’ve been through it all.
I believe life’s successes come in small increments, sometimes mere tenths of a second. A newly learned skill, a little extra effort put on top of a fanatical training routine, a good race day, or just showing up to a workout when your body and psyche say “no” may separate a great result from a failure. What lies in between is a compromise, the willpower to overcome the natural disposition to remain the same.
The dogma that has curated our life that we have to wait for something and have the patience for it and then it will come to us and that is such a bad, bad, and one more time bad advice. Nothing comes to you, you have to hustle, grind, put your blood and sweat in it, lose yourself, lose your religion, break your life.
Having never failed in anything before coming to an IIT might make you unwilling to try something new, make a mistake, be vulnerable. Despite the uncertainties and risks you face, the only true mistake is to be afraid to make one.
”Spectacular failure and spectacular success are both better than mediocre middle of the road outcomes” — Punit Singh Soni, CEO of Suki.AI
Chapter 8: Some FAQs
Moving towards the conclusion of the entire series, I believe there’s no better way to end this than to answer some FAQs I am frequently quizzed on.
- Why/How I have what I have?
If you’d ask the 1st year me the same question, maybe the answer would have been being that he is really talented/gifted. The 2nd year I would have probably told you that he works harder than anyone else around him. However, as I near the completion of my third year, I have come to appreciate the fact the everyone around me works as hard, if not harder, and is as smart, if not smarter than me.
Sorry for not having a clear answer here but probably because there isn’t one. I guess I have had luck, hard work, and talent in the right proportions and my college provided me with several opportunities to keep trying for which I am really grateful to it.
- Is success important in college life?
I’ve come to appreciate the aptness of the one thing, the most important life lessons are often found in your setbacks or mistakes, and reflecting on these require courage. If you can do that then you possess strong self-awareness and a willingness to learn and adapt. This is the ultimate success and absolutely paramount in college life.
- What is that I want to do? Why do I have so many interns in the core healthcare sector if what I truly love is consulting? Why do I blog about technology companies only? Am I confused?
Innovation, especially new-fangled technology leaves me jubilant, almost high! Coming from a long lineage of engineers, I’ve always had a penchant for engineering. Also, having a persona that’s further honed by people-oriented experiences leaves me biased towards management.
All of my internships have been in cross-functional roles. I’ve always worked with stakeholders across domains. It’s my observation that I’ve excelled in understanding client requirements and delivering nuanced solutions by working with engineers.
Finding business use cases around me is an inculcated skill while technology is a passion. I always wanted a tech-savvy business role in a top technology company. I am not confused — I know the endpoints of the journey and am working on discovering the trail.
Consulting is a very broad field with innumerable exit opportunities and among the least discriminating on the basis of your undergrad major. Therefore, it happens to be my best shot to gain some experience before jumping ships.
Sundar Pichai is a Mckinsey alum. :)
- What can we do to improve our odds of success?
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we can chase perfection we can attain excellence.” — The English translation of the famous dialogue from 3 Idiots.
I am not trying to give the image of a fairy tale, I am not perfect, but I strive every single day to reach the zenith of my potential.
I was never a stereotypical child, I never followed the crowd. I always believed that a crowd always followed just anyone; anyone who has the guts to stand out.
As fabricated as it may sound, I was always the first person to put my hand up to do anything. Anything at all, because, I honestly believed that I can do anything I believed in.
I’ve always trusted instincts and acted. And whatever precious little I’ve achieved in my short life is because I act more than others contemplate. It sure takes a lot of energy with little to no guarantee when it comes to ROI. But when you’ve got nothing to lose, the least you can do is try.
I am just 21 years old while writing this and I don’t know how long I will be able to sustain this kind of enthusiasm. Therefore, while I am able to, I’ll ride the wave for it’s only fun when it’s a little choppy.
- How can we learn to learn?
The output is always pro rata to the input. Being in a top college and having access to a ridiculously strong alumni network will not help you unless you’re open to being vulnerable, willing to be challenged, confused, and/or unstimulated.
The most interesting opportunities are not always the most obvious or visible ones. You must take time to step away from the rat race to truly reflect on what you wish to get out of the numerous opportunities you will have. Try to do things that you would never have otherwise chosen to do.
It’s okay to be overwhelmed and uncertain at the start. Things worth learning and having to take time. You cannot rush the process.
You need to recognize that each one of your peers will have a unique experience, based on the choices they make. It’s tough to escape FOMO, but stay true to yourself. Identify your calling, spend your time the way you want to, and invest in what you consider meaningful. I cannot answer this for you, because there isn’t one.
Looking back on my three years at IIT (BHU), I can confidently claim that I have no regrets. I walked into the forest, believing that my path was clearly laid out for me, only to have discovered a completely different trail. Yet, I am happy to have seen more of the forest before I came out, for now when I step into the world, I see a subtler and more exquisite beauty as a result of my explorations.
I had a lovely time writing this. Albeit it stretched to three parts, I hope it helped. Please feel free to pass this on to people who might benefit from it. Whether or not I do something similar in the future depends on what sort of response this series gathers.
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