Over and Out!

Q2 classes ended on Thursday and Darden partied hard. TNDC, Darden Prom, Saturday night at the corner. We have until next Friday to take our exams but most of us are heading out - near and far, in all sorts of directions - like cracks radiating out of a puncture. I wanted to get done with the exams asap but more urgently I wanted to get out. For me the question has been ‘what else while I am an MBA student?’ What else can I do, where else can I go, what else can my mind absorb. So I’ve packed and left Charlottesville. I will tackle the exams sooner or later, maybe after a day cruising the crowded flea markets in Asia or after a trip into the mountains.

I don’t know too much about the logistics and how I’ll pull it off but roughly here’s my plan. I will spend the rest of the year in India splitting time between family and travelling to parts I haven’t been to before. First week of 2010 will be spent at a Danaher plant in Charlotte, NC learning about the kaizen way of life. From there I will leave for IPADE, Mexico City where I will camp until after Spring Break. I will talk about my excitement and anticipation for the current trip to India in another blog soon.

About Danaher, I just love what they do. Personally, I embrace the concept of continuous improvement. They eat, breath and live continuous improvement at Danaher and I know that I will find a lot to learn from them. I love the company enough to fit the Kaizen event by shortening my trip to India and sacrificing my orientation at IPADE. I don’t know how I will get around with the bare minimum blocks of time I’ve left for travelling in between. The kaizen training might just teach me how to reduce my steps and lead time to get to Mexico comfortably! :)

About IPADE. I’ve lived in two countries, 22 years in India and 9 years in the USA. I experienced shock and awe when I first moved here at age 22, but I didn’t think too much into the ‘why’, I am guilty of taking things as they were. It’s like loving your dinner, but not thinking about the ingredients that made it so good. I didn’t learn by internalizing, I learned by rote. Over the years, I’ve grown comfortable with the popular habits, system and logic in both these countries. And as I wrap up my business education from a great institution that fosters leaders, I feel that at this point the one thing that will prepare me most to go out there and be a leader is a fresh mind. A mind that has been stirred out of the slumber and regularity of expecting the expected. A mind that accepts changes and shocks just as well as it accepts routine and monotony.

So I’ve decided that spending a quarter in Mexico will be a great mind-stirring exercise. I’ve always been intrigued by Latin American, it’s totally different from Asia, Europe or North America, I don’t know the language (although I started working on it since uno decembre dos mil nueve), and it’s not the safest city to live in. I will have to be extra aware of my surroundings and it will be a great learning experience. The year and a half at Darden has equipped me for this more than I expected.

Well, I face other challenges as well, most notably the bad economy. My friends think I am crazy to be leaving for Mexico without securing a job. I think I will be fine. What I won’t be fine with is choosing against challenging myself when the opportunity existed. I am in the Shumeet Banerji camp. I did enjoy hearing the Booz CEO advocate the need for putting ourselves through a variety of experiences. Not that I needed approval, it’s just nice that there was someone who strongly agreed with me.

So Darden, I will be back in March. Hopefully, after having added a few deeper dimensions to my façade.