The Story behind the Story

Mr.Ragunanthan, Founder of Disha Strategic Foundations came to CBS as a part of the induction program and addressed us on the topic- “The Story behind the Story”.
The first thing which came to my mind on hearing this topic was the movie of superstar Rajinikanth-Badshah. Its success at the box office can be attributed to being based on the concept- “Story behind the Story”.
Mr.Ragunanthan kindled our interest by starting off with an activity. He asked a few of us to write our names on a slip of paper and also the reason why our parents/ family had given us that particular name. The others had to guess as to why each of us had been given a particular name. We all took turns in hazarding a guess, but were way off the mark. Surprisingly, most of us did not know why we had been given a particular name!
Later he told us the reason for this activity. He said that there is a reason for everything which happens. He impressed upon us the need to live in the present, without being weighed down by our past or worried about the future. He said that if we were “alive” to the present then there would be an incident which would guide us to a wonderful future.
To make us understand it better, he gave us the example of T.K. Rajendran, I.P.S, ADGP (Tamil Nadu Intelligence wing). Mr. Rajendran had planned on joining London Business School to pursue his post graduation when there was an unexpected incident in his life. As he was travelling to Delhi by train in order to take a flight from there to London, he lost his luggage. He immediately went to the RPF to complain about the incident. But there was no proper action taken. He was made to run from pillar to post, but the authorities did not take any responsibility. Totally frustrated by the callous attitude displayed by the authorities he decided to join the Police force in order to bring in some discipline and accountability in the Force. This incident was the turning point in his life and changed the course of his life.
Mr.Ragunanthan also told about the life of Mother Theresa, who devoted her life to the needy, sick and dying. He narrated the incident which led to Mother Theresa starting the organization-Missionaries of Charity. Once as she was travelling by train to Loreto Convent, Darjeeling from Calcutta for her annual retreat, she saw the image of Jesus Christ bleeding. She described this vision as being “the call within the call”, which made her establish the Missionaries of Charity.
The session with Mr.Ragunanthan was an eye opener. We all benefited by the session and also realized that there could be a turning point at any juncture in our life, which would have an indelible impact on our future!

CBS PROFESSOR RELEASES BOOK

It is not only the students who bring name and pride to an institution- it’s also the faculty members who make the future of the nation- who bring good name to an institution. On that note, our Professor and the HOD- Marketing, Retail and International Management, K.Rajeshwari has brought immense pride and honour to the CBS fraternity by releasing her book “My life, My choice”.
The book chronicles the life of people who have left their initial lucrative careers and have opted to do something that they are very passionate about. The author herself is a very fine example. She is an alumnus of IIM Ahemdabad. After having a rich experience of about 15 years in corporate India in various companies like HUL, Cavin Kare and Nippon Paint in the field of marketing and sales, she has now taken to teaching as her second career after a lot of self evaluation. This book tries to answer the common question like “Do I have to be in the same career all my life? “.
Commenting on the book, author K Rajeshwari said, “Middle age is the time when we re-set the agenda for the rest of our lives; and work defines a large part of our agenda in terms of who we are. So we cannot have a fulfilling life if we feel we do not have a fulfilling career. I sincerely hope this book inspires people to take that first step.”
Launching the book, Dr Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, said, “Rajeshwari’s book is extremely relevant in today’s context as the career opportunities available are aplenty in India. For the country to progress well, it is important that we contribute significantly in our careers. And that is possible only when we choose our careers consciously”.
The book discusses alternative career choices that include politics, teaching, joining a NGO, starting an entrepreneurship venture and even getting back to one’s childhood passion. There are respondents across each of these professions featured in the book. The author states that the shift may be done for various reasons ranging from a stagnant learning in the first career or wanting to paint one’s ambitions on a bigger canvas or even for personal/family needs. Out of the ten stories, two are about women who have made the career shifts. By giving a flavour of the different career options that people take up, the book aims to give readers a perspective of what a shift means both in terms of the new career understanding and that of self-understanding.
On the whole, this book is a wonderful read that gives a lot of take aways.
The book is available at Rs 345 at all leading book shops or can be bought online at www.macmillanindia.com.

Contributed by Dwarakesh Srivatsan, HR Varsity (V Batch 2010-11)

Creating a Creative Impact

Our second trimester started with a lot of new and exciting subjects, where three days have been set aside for general management courses and three days for our varsity classes. Every one of us was really looking forward to our varsity classes to start. One of the most exciting classes that we were eagerly awaiting was the class on Creativity & Cross Cultural Skills, taken by Ms Mrinali, an ex TCSer and an MBA graduate from INSEAD Singapore and presently running a firm known as “Paperclip”.

The intent of ‘Coaching for Creativity’ module was to help us build confidence about our own creative skills and to inspire people around us with creativity. It was to reinforce that each one of us are creative in our own way. The course started off by the introduction of the ‘Six Thinking Hats’ which really made us think! A small example of something as trivial as going for a picnic requires a great deal of planning. Each one of us eventually planned the picnic- around the principles of the thinking hats.

Another tool that we used was called ‘Po’. This tool taught us to drop what you take for granted for a particular thing, like for example a classroom will have teacher, which is taken for granted. We were told to drop the idea of a classroom having the teacher and then think of new innovative ways of teaching students. Concept of using ‘Random Word’ for helping in decision making, use of alternatives for a particular object were also very captivating. Another new concept introduced was, ‘Mindmap’, making a tree structure describing a person which was all so exciting and really made our creative cells tick.

The Coaching for ‘Cross –cultural Skills’ was another module intended to help us become global managers. This program was essentially a ‘change of mindset’ programme helping us understand the different cultures of the world. The knowledge of different cultures will help us take up assignments in any part of the world and get along with other cultures.

These classes were really very enjoyable and made us think that creativity can be helpful in every small thing that we do, in every stage of our life.

Contributed by Neha Sharan- HR Varsity (V Batch 2010-11)

CBS Goes Global

There was a time when working professionals learnt things the hard way in International environments. They learnt communications, culture and business negotiations on the job. The training wasn’t formal, there were no strict rules and they were only educated with “don’t”s. However, since ignorance was indigenous, people invariably found a variety of ways of goofing up. It’s amazing how the B-Schools instantaneously pick up cues and start working on filling the gaps. International exposure is one solution to cover the pitfalls in such areas. However, the exposure must be imparted in Management courses themselves, so that management graduates can leverage their skills more effectively.

Last week, Chennai Business School and Curtin Business School from Australia (incidentally, also called CBS) signed a “Student Articulation Principal Agreement”. The agreement would facilitate transferring students to Curtin Business School for one semester, either at the end of the course or, during the last trimester, thereby making them eligible for a Masters of Management degree from Curtin Business School. We were thrilled at the prospects! No standing in queues at “Study in Australia” exhibitions, no apprehensions about the choice of B-School, no fear of being left alone and no home-sickness. A Post-Graduation programme in Management in one semester is indeed a great opportunity. It was a great feeling when we learnt that Curtin was recognizing our hard-work that we already put in their first semester subjects and declared that they were waiving it off for us. What’s more, they were also recognizing our alumnus. So they too can benefit from the relationship between both the CBS-es.

We had Professor Tony Travaglione – Head of Management studies from Curtin to break the good news to us. Infact, we observed that Curtin like our own Chennai Business School relied on industry professionals and organizations for imparting knowledge to Management students. They have tied up with renowned companies like Qantas, Bankwest, Clayton and Local Chambers for internships and Consulting. The semblance of Curtin with our own CBS was a very comforting feeling and somehow, the Masters Programme in Curtin seems to be an alluring thought – if a student could get that much-sought-after international exposure in the same degree with a little more of time, effort and cost, it’s a wonderful outcome of synergies between two quality institutions.

So, being local is no longer an issue, as long as you think Global!!

Contributed by Narmada. K- BFS Varsity (V Batch 2010-11)

Out-bound training

One bright and early Tuesday morning, all of us- the students of CBS, dressed in casuals, shoes and sunglasses sat in a big yellow bus, slightly bewildered and extremely excited about the 2 day out-bound training programme that we were going to attend. Out-bound training programme- that is all was said to us. We were not allowed to probe further to retain the element of surprise. But we were promised that we would have fun. And boy, did we have fun!

We went to the Green Coconut Resort in ECR and were welcomed by the Seiger Training Consultants. After a good breakfast, we had the welcoming session with interesting games. We were told that each activity we do, both indoor and outdoor, will teach us some management lesson. We were intrigued and anxious to get started!

We underwent two days of rigorous activities as a means to improve our organizational skills. Activities, both indoor and outdoor, were aimed at enhancing skills like team work, endurance, strategy formation, trust etc. We enjoyed performing these activities, some of which included falling from a height trusting your team members to catch you, obstacle courses, making the longest human chain, balancing etc. We also played interesting indoor games like treasure hunt which taught us strategy, trust and team work. The highlight of the programme was when all of us took turns to walk on flaming fire and came out not only unscathed but also with great confidence that we can achieve anything.

We returned after a final round of music and dancing, bringing back with us memories, achievements, new skills and plenty of new learning!

Contributed by Chandni M- HR Varsity (V Batch 2010-11)