My Soapbox Speech!

A speech from the heart.



I thought I'd upload my GSB Soapbox Speech. I didn't follow it too much, because a speech maybe a good reference, but not the right way to engage with our class.

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with my fellow candidates. We all have respect for each other, and I am sure we will help each other over the year's to come.

Special thanks to SEAL, and our volunteers. You went out of your way in ensuring this event was a success.

And finally, thank you all, fellow founders, for being patient and listening to all the presentations and QA sessions. It really motivates us to work harder.

Below is my speech.

My Dear Mohali Founders!

The American actor Milton Berle once said “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door!”

We all have accomplished a lot in life, before we came to ISB. We all have faced hardships, trials, tribulations and challenges. And with each challenge, we have grown smarter and stronger. To us challenges are nothing new. After all, we all are here with a desire to do!

This year is historical not only for us, but also for a business school that has grown so quickly. ISB made a bold decision when it decided to build a new campus. And we made a bolder decision of being part of this Founding Batch!

Just as a potter moulds the clay into the shape that he desires, we have been given an opportunity to mould a school into a personality that will live with it, for years to come.  ISB is a student driven school – we can see it in our everyday lives. Today the school is asking us to choose one of us, who will listen to all our concerns, understand what is required out of situations, and work with the entities in addressing those concerns.  This person should know how to get things done, must not hesitate in choosing the larger interests of all over personal ambitious and must constantly think of promoting the interest and activities @ ISB.

Since November 15^th, 2011, I have tried to contribute towards forming a strong community in Mohali in my own small ways. To learn how students and ISB Staff worked towards promoting and executing an event, I volunteered to help ISB during ‘Swavalamban 2011’ in December, 2011. The event was a huge success, and I learnt many nuances in event planning @ ISB.

Like most of us, I was thrilled on landing in Mohali on 13^th April. Since then, I have tried to interact with as many of us as possible and try to understand what we want from the year ahead at ISB.

1.       We all are here to ensure that ISB helps us in securing jobs which optimize our careers. Having made such a huge investment – both in time and money, it is quintessential that we charge ahead with our jobs, once we graduate.

We met the Co2012 batch during O week, and in one week, we learnt so much from them.

Wouldn’t it be better if these heroes guide us throughout the year at ISB, or even beyond?

Our year at Mohali seems to be flying ahead. One day it’s Metabical, the other day it’s Philboco. How are we supposed to find the time to identify what career is right for us?

Wouldn’t it be helpful if each one of us was assigned an alum who belonged to our same target industry who would guide us right from choosing the right electives, as well as giving us insights on the sector, functionality and company? This Student – Mentor Program will benefit all of us, and ensure we minimize the probability of changing jobs soon after ISB.

With this program, I am not reinventing the wheel. But at the same time, through CAS and AAC, we can work towards forming a total pool of alums that will have periodic, concise and effective interactions with us.

2.       Professional clubs are supposed to be the link between our academics and the industry. We all have similar ideas – We can arrange Speakers, companies, case competitions as well as conclaves.  I have three suggestions related to promoting Professional Clubs.

1.       Let us create a Professional Club showcase calendar. We should divide the next 10.5 to 11 months appropriately into promoting each club judiciously. Each promotional event should feature awareness creation about the Club, the related industry, organize competitive case competitions and invite leading experts of industries. These events should be covered elaborately by the Media and Communications club.

2.       We have 4 Centers of Excellence willing to support us. The Chairmen were kind enough to grace us with their presence and time on the very first day. We stand a clear advantage over other schools, because we are being directly supported by the industry – not just by passive support, but by active funding towards the common goal of promoting the 4 crucial foundations of India’s growth.  We are being closely watched, my fellow founders – without losing focus on the traditional clubs, let us also put special efforts in promoting the Healthcare, Manufacturing, Public Policy an Infrastructure clubs.

We can definitely request these esteemed achievers to help attract the right companies, speakers and thereby, the right publicity.  And let us not forget, these gentlemen have been entrepreneurs, we have inspiration all around us.

3.       With the Mohali campus, ISB has made a bold statement to the country – ISB means Business! The Governing Board at ISB has supported the creation and success of this campus early on. As the founding members, it is our responsibility to create an aura of professionalism and leadership for our new campus. How can we ensure that within our year at Mohali, we get this campus in the limelight?

Let us start small. We should begin creating a micro-site and ensuring that this site is updated with pictures and articles about the progress of the campus. Blogs and other social media tools should be utilized to the maximum in ensuring our presence in the digital space.

In reality, the events and activities we carry out around Chandigarh and Mohali will generate proportionate respect.  We would need the help of the members of the Net Impact club, classmates such as Saloni Bajaj and Archana Challa who have worked extensively in this sphere. Pro Bono work never goes unnoticed, and we should ensure appropriate media coverage for the same.

The activities we carry out may not bear fruits immediately, but will help future classes to build on the foundations we lay, in promoting our business school.

The fourth issue we shall approach is to increase the interaction between Mohali and Hyderabad campus. We all have proposed video recording of lectures, events and speaker sessions. This may help us know what is happening at both campuses. But does this really make the 770 of us unite?

We all know that the best way of knowing our class mates from Hyderabad is if we met some of them and personally interacted with them. And what better a chance to unite, then to unite over celebrating ISB, a school which unites all of us?

I propose we create an event – Let’s call it ISB Unites. Let’s work with the GSB of Hyderabad, and focus over inter campus social club events – be it sports, or drama, or dance! Let us follow an elimination strategy, where the winning teams get to fly across to the other campus, and compete with the finalists there. Let us split the events to be organized – half in Mohali and half in Hyderabad. I estimate around 50 of us flying to Hyderabad and 50 of Hyderabad coming to Mohali.

Let us not look at our campus as “Work in Progress” but as just “progress”. Yes, ISB is aware about the difficulties we face living in hotels which are ½ hr away from campus. We haven’t got an opportunity to really connect, because of not staying on campus. Let’s be honest, we will not be able to ensure completion of all campus amenities. But at the same time, we can definitely work with the school in ensuring the quick completion of our much needed Auditorium.  . We can also work with the Operations team, led by our dear General Bakhshi, in ensuring break out areas, where professional and social clubs can meet and interact. There are several teething troubles which arise from time to time, and we are not quite aware about how the situation will be once we move on to campus. But I am sure with periodic inputs and suggestions from all of us; we can work towards ensuring our campus is homely and beautiful.

With these plans I stand in front of you, my dear Founders.  We all have come here to achieve our dreams. Let us spare no effort in ensuring that they come true.