Been there - Done that !!

After a long break, here i am (took me an hour to figure out how to sign into this account) writing my next post. So i finally joined IIM K and had the 2 best years of my life. Had a decent start to my BSchool life by missing most of the classes in the first term itself (Spoken like a true Bitsian). Had great trouble understanding the accounts and the economics' of the world and wondered how i am going to survive in the BSchool world where Finance is the way to go. But just as i was about to give up i realized that there was an easy way out of this cruel and competitive BScool world. No points for guessing - yup it was "MARKETING". There are only 2 kinds of people according to me ( in the BSchool world ) - the ones that understood finance (Like my smartass girl friend who used to make me feel like dung in front of her) and the ones that didnt (Like me who could do nothing except convincing people and make them believe that i could be a great marketer). So thats how marketing was born and is a big field in the world now, and thats exactly how i got to do my summers in HUL (the biggest fmcg in the country - http://www.unilever.com/ - bulbers pls do goto the site and check out their brands - u will be flabbergasted ). Frankly speaking, when i got in i was happy but at the same time worried cos if i didnt do well there, thats the end of the world. It all started on 15th june 2007. I started doin my internship with the global BD team of RIN(which is Surf in south africa, Brilhante in Brazil and Omo in Thailand - took me 2 full months to get used to this multidomestic and purely non-global strategy). 2 months passed and i looked back and wondered what i had done. My final appraisal was nearing and i was shitting bricks cos i had just heard that HUL had increased their salary by close to 40% and a PPI/PPO would mean a lot to me. I somehow scraped in, got a ppi (Thanks to my generous boss who mustve had to fight his conscience to give me a ppi) and comfortably cleared the interview too. Paaaaaaaaaaaaa ....... what a relief. My second year was mostly spent eating and sleeping - and those various trips to the most exotic places in the country. And ofcourse as usual learning a lot from my girl friend who helped me get through those tests and quizzes. At the end of an MBA, when i look back now, i wonder if i learnt anything more than getting used to being one of the best in the country. Even though i wasnt a topper or anything, the IIM tag gives u the confidence that can take u places. What i did best in these 2 years was learning to play to my strengths. Currently i am reading this book called "now, discover your strengths" by Buckingham and Clifton that says just that. But to play to your strengths effectively, you also need to believe that your strengths are unique and no one can beat u in ur territory; Self confidence is what an IIM degree gave me. So here i am, doing my BLT stint with Hindustan Unilever in Chennai wondering where i am going to go next !!!!!