MOVING THE AVERAGE ON RIGHT HAND SIDE

Moving the average on right hand side:

When we enrolled IIM Lucknow Noida campus in post graduate management course for working executives (approx. two year duration), most of us had one thing in mind. We expected to get a post-graduation degree from one of the premium institutes in India which would help us to get a good package white collar job. The two years we spent at IIML was really a testing period for all of us. Most of us were working with the MNC’s which were not ready to compromise on the job front & on other hand there was institute like IIML which was determined with the quality of the students passing out. Between these two ends, we students were shuttling from office to institute almost three to four days every week & were at the receiving end of both, trying to maintain the balance on both sides. Those who were married had to maintain this equilibrium at third front also i.e. with their wife & children. After completing the office hours at 5 PM, we all used to rush to the institute to attend the classes which was scheduled at 6.15 PM. I was working with a company that was in Gurgaon (approx. 45 Km from Institute). I had approx. 1 hour 15 min to cover this distance & was every day a challenge to reach the institute in time during the rush hours of Delhi/NCR. Though most of the professors used to tolerate 5-10 minutes delay, few were very strict in timings. Some of them allow sitting without attendance, few close the doors of class at 6.15 PM. This was not the end of our miseries as after the classes we used to get a lot of case studies, assignment & projects for next class.

These two years were really a testing period for all of us & today after passing out personally I can say that I enjoyed so called torture at all three fronts for two years & miss it now. I got what I expected from this course & had a wonderful experience. All the faculties from IIML were good, but I would like to mention few who left an everlasting impression on us. Prof. Rajeev Kumra was our Marketing / Sales & Distribution faculty. He started his career in sales & was very successful sales manager.  Later on he switched his career in teaching profession & joined IIM as Sales & Marketing professor. His approach was more practical rather than theoretical & he used to tell complex things in a very simple way with real life examples from his own experiences. It was a pleasure to sit in his class & learn.

One of my specializations elective subjects was Business Sustainability & Carbon Market. Again the thinking behind taking this subject was to learn the tricks of carbon trading & make money in future. Mr. Susheel Kumar was our professor for this elective. Susheel sir is an ex civil servant who left the coveted Government of India job to pursue his academic interest & went to Canada for higher studies. After returning to India, he started teaching management & subsequently joined IIML as professor. During the first lecture itself he left a profound impact on the students as an honest & dedicated person. In that lecture itself, our hope of getting 20 sessions training on understanding carbon trading tricks was dashed. He took a more holistic approach towards sustainable development & harmony between nature & environment. He started the lecture with corporate ethics, business ethics, personal ethics & sustainability. We argued the relevance of ethics under present social, political & business environment in India. At that point Professor drew one normal curve on the board & and asked us that if ethics/honesty is parameter of interest then at present whether the curve is left skewed or right skewed. The overwhelming response was that the curve is left skewed. Then he replied that during the upcoming 20 sessions, his effort would be to move this average in the right side by influencing the behaviour of the 30 students present in the class. Today I feel that he was correct when I see few people trying to change the complete political system by raising slogan against corruption. If we see the Indian society at large & if each one of us asks one question to self that am I honest? I am sure that we will find that the average will be tilted heavily on right hand side. The idea of incremental movement of average in the right hand side people like our professor & each of us would be a viable solution rather than a first approach.