Inciting Incident

I was at the ISB during the weekend for the orientation session. What a humbling experience !! Most of us often think we are God’s gift to mankind and when you meet other superstars, you realise that even though you may be God’s gift to mankind, there are other smarter and better gifts to mankind that God made 🙂

I felt as though I was returning after a month to work – that’s how different the experience in these two days was. I am wondering how I will manage after a week at ISB !!

Krishnan is already getting ready for filling the gaps in his Harvard Business Review collection and I have a dozen ideas buzzing in my head ! What an ecosystem. The longer we stay immersed, wonder what the next buzzing idea would be.

The class of 2013 has amazing diversity in experience, from entrepreneurs to CEOs, from the BPO-wallahs to Ad-men, from Zambia to Malaysia and even the movie world ! We got reminded strictly enough about the honour code and about the range and depth of reference materials at our disposal. A different type of classroom – air conditioned, with network ports, wi-fi, laptops, two screens for presentations, speakers at each desk and bottled water – not one of which was in any school that any one of us attended, just two decades and the world has changed.

Meeting the Dean, Ajit Rangnekar and hearing him was inspiring – values and ethics do matter and the fact that children are free to do what they like at ISB, no one should reprimand them or quieten them – for me a first time experience of a session being addressed by a very senior professional and not being disturbed with the crying of a child or sounds of children playing.

The big team of four – Sanjay, Neharica, Kavita and Shrabani running around with their smiles intact, always available and managing not just the 63 of us but also our families. Each of us has managed enough events to know exactly how many things could go wrong and do go wrong – but this team made it look easy !

I am currently reading this book by Donald Miller, “A million miles in a thousand years” which talks of the need for an “inciting incident” to make a story interesting. Well, for me joining PGPMAX is the big “inciting incident” … The definition in the book for an inciting incident is – “an inciting incident is a doorway through which the protagonist cannot return”.

Hmmm – transformation on its way, EXCITING !