Last time we chatted it was just before my end-term exams for Term 1. After the term wrapped up most people decided to use the 5-day term break to travel around, the majority to nearby hill stations in the Himalayas . I instead had nobler intentions. I stayed back to enjoy some thinking time – using it to evaluate which sectors I want to work in, swim and run more to compensate for the near-zero physical activity during the term and also create a plan for the Business Technology Club . Did I tell that I’m the President of the Business Technology Club? The nights during the break on campus were used for either exploring restaurants in Chandigarh or playing Monodeal (I won a lot!)

Term 2 came in like a storm. I may have said term 1 was a rollercoaster, in hindsight, that was a chill summer vacation. As you can see in the schedule, we have some assignment or the other every single day and workload felt two orders of magnitude larger . We have five courses for this term – Global Economics, Competitive Strategy, Marketing Decision Making, Decision making and Optimisation and Business Communication.

Out of these the Business Communication course (BCOM for short) is my hands down favourite. Hearing the name you may think BCOM is about writing emails and making presentations, but this course goes far deeper than that . BCOM was all about ones beliefs and how this manifests in the way we communicate. Through the course we learnt how our past experiences shape our belief and value systems . Consequently, everything we experience is reality interpreted through these beliefs and value systems. Though I was roughly aware of such ideas, it was great to see a framework put to this . Additionally, as part of the class, we examined and challenged a lot of our beliefs, it was great to see how so many things that are ingrained in our minds as reality are actually just our subjective interpretations of it . The course was conducted by Professor Girish Manimaran who is an ISB alum. He was probably one of the most perfect speakers I’ve seen to date. It was interesting to hear the story of Prof . Girish, he went from working at HUL managing half a billion dollars of cash on their treasury team to starting up as a leadership coach.

Another interesting course was Competitive Strategy. Yay, strategy! The number one business buzzword on the face of the earth. We kick started the course by studying the fabled Porters 5 forces model which determines how profitable an industry is likely to be . For me this was hard formalisation of the subjectivity in business. When engineers or physicists, calculate the forces on a building, they are objective and arrive at the same (or similar conclusions) . That a building can withstand X amount of force is a testable fact. On the other hand, the Porters 5 forces model is rife with subjectivity, every person applying the model can choose to give different amount significance to different facts based on his experience or knowledge . That to me was a shock and also another chance to appreciate subjectivity in life.

This ultra-hectic term left me with very little time to exercise or play around (I have been warned that Term 3 is even more hectic). We did manage to squeeze in quite a few parties though . I have been part of the Toastmasters club on campus and am happy to report good progress on the public speaking front – I’m a fast talker (nearly a rapper) and was proud to hear that I’ve kept control of my pace . I was voted the best speaker the last time I spoke. Club activities are now getting serious and some folks I know have already working on their resumes . Grades continue to bother the quite a few people, I am goading everyone to give up on grades and focus on other things. I feel the one year of college is a great chance to do some self-reflection and initiate habit change, that’s where my energies are going.