Session with KPMG alum - abhishek kochar

Yes you heard it right. This fine Friday evening we had an exclusive alumni session for the management students of NITIE by Abhishek Kochar.

The session got delayed by 15-20 min. This, however, did not dishearten the participants who got an opportunity to interact with the alumni committee. We also got a chance to hear about Kanika’s experience with HUL in summers. Finally the wait ended and the session kick-started with a short formal introduction about the speaker. Abhishek is currently working as a senior consultant at KPMG and he gave us valuable insights on consulting as a career choice.

Mr Kochar introduced us to 9 types of consulting. He mentioned that this categorization into 9 forms is pretty generic and the names can change from company to company. He also addressed the key differences between IT consulting and business consulting.

He also touched on the work life balance in consulting. He did mention that usually one has to slog for long hours in consulting but also emphasized on the fact that in the end it all boils down to how passionate one is about his work.

Mr Kochar also spoke about the skill-set required for consulting and the different levels at which people join in consulting. He mentioned that an analyst is usually a fresh graduate from a top college while associate consultants and consultants are mostly MBA’s depending on the amount of prior work experience they have. He also spoke about the career path in consulting and explained the importance of specializing in a particular type of consulting at the senior level to facilitate career growth

Answering the audience questions, Mr Kochar pointed out the complexities and intricacies associated with starting a new consulting business and also discussed the possibility of switching domains in consulting. He also stated how someone with experience in some niche sector can actually leverage his knowledge to make a transition into consulting. However, the reverse transition might be somewhat difficult as we don’t work on a particular area in consulting.

After an enthralling session of two hours we had to call it a day due to time constraints. It was a wonderful and refreshing experience and the PDGIM-20 batch is looking forward to some more Alum sessions.

3 Idiots crossing the valley

TeamWork??

The process of working together with a group of people in order to achieve a goal.

The team work is often a crucial part of a business as it is often necessary for colleagues to work well together, trying for the best in any circumstances. Team work often means people will try to cooperate, using their individual skills and providing constructive feedbacks, despite any personal conflicts between the individual.

Why Team work is important?

Well its one thing to create a team but quite an another to create teamwork in the workplace. Just its one thing to join a team, quite another to perform as a team member. To put it in simple words, teams doesn’t work without teamwork.

What is teamwork?

There are several ways to define team work but for some color why not think as French do. The French have an excellent term for team work “espirt de corps”. This means a sense of unity, of enthusiasm for common interest and responsibilities.

Lets have a look at the picture below

We can see that there are three people crossing the valley without much of a trouble. It has been possible only due to teamwork had made this impossible task possible. This is the beauty of team work, the MAGIC works in this way.

We have the following observations:-

1.       All three members have equal distribution of different kinds of situation :

High Risk 01 times

Half Risks 02 times

Fully Safe 02 times

2.       

All three members have the same role in terms of effort and risk. Nobody was overloaded or relaxed.

3.       Communication and feedback is essential while working in a team.

4.       Every member is indispensable in completing the task.

5.       There were equal instances when one needed each other

This particular exercise taught us that in a corporate scenario one would be times when we have to look out for others and the favor surely does not get over looked and once in a while people take care of us also. It’s the trust of a person that we have to win and we should be able to adjust well in an interdependent scenario.

Every organization strives to reach excellence which is a product of efficiency and effectiveness i.e.

Excellence (EXE) = Efficiency (E) X Effectiveness (E)