It came to an end

Officially, it is over—a ten-month-long journey has come to an end. There were two exams and one submission before pulling the final curtain by November end.

Before delving further, I must thank Pamela for persuading me to enroll in this Executive MBA (EXMP) at IIM Bangalore.

The course, in a nutshell, covers almost all areas of management and provides a solid foundation to build your own interest in a specific area. The classes were interactive, and a significant positive aspect of attending this kind of program is the face-to-face interaction compared to other offerings where classes are conducted via video. The green campus was a retreat, providing a few hours of detachment from the outside world during the weekends. This truly recharged my energy levels, especially with no boss to manage during these sessions.

To answer how much I recommend the course to someone is a mixed bag, to put it in a few words; another answer would be, “It depends”—a typical management response for most situations.

In general, the faculty is esteemed and among the best in India. Most of them have earned their Master’s and Doctoral degrees from renowned US universities. Some were able to connect with professionals like us better and more quickly, given their significant industry experience/exposure.

However, a few tried to impose values and teaching methods more suited for full-time students. Personally, I found those sessions to be less effective than others. Overall, the learning experience was not exceptional, as I was looking for someone who could “walk the talk.”

I couldn’t appreciate the current evaluation system that was practiced for EGMP. It seems there was no evaluation method a few years earlier. As more and more corporations started to sponsor this program, the HR departments demanded a way to determine if their employees were effective or not. Every professor, before starting a subject, would mention that there would be a small evaluation, but the focus should be on learning rather than the exam part. For most subjects, we had a multiple-choice short exam. I really disliked this part, as from my engineering days, I had already mastered the art of getting a relatively OK grade by investing a small amount of time. For those subjects where there were submissions or projects, I believe my learning and takeaways were much more substantial.

Other than learning, another positive aspect is building a network with like-minded people.

The first thing I need to do is list all the recommended books by all those professors I noted in various notes. And ensure that I buy and read them in the next 18 months.

P.S. One classmate quit his job and performed exceptionally well in class exams with an “A” grade; the best part is he reached the final of CAPSIM as the 5th individual Indian to do so.