With GIM's PGDM Class of 1999, one thing remains common - all of them are happy and successful! A recent freewheeling interview with alumni Nisheeth Mishra reinforced this fact.
With his usual candour, Nisheeth is someone with less grievances and regrets in life. His interesting career decisions saw him delving into education, aviation, automotive, and service domains. Today a Senior Delivery Director at Accenture, he has worked on both sides: solution selling and executing and service buying and consuming. When asked whether he decisively took the leap from one big office to another, Nisheeth exclaims, "Each role has chosen me, rather than me choosing the role!" Clearly, you cannot help but feel intrigued to know more from a person like him.
From IT to being part of the "IT" crowd
After graduation Nisheeth worked with NIIT for two years. He soon realized employees with MBA degrees had an edge in the workplace. He also wanted to develop all-round administrative and team leadership skills, which is why he decided to pursue PGDM with GIM. "We were lucky to have industry exposure and to gain business acumen from the program. Being chosen for a consulting role during placements, at such an early stage of my career, was an ace. Got to work with my batch mates in Bangalore, which was great!"
Building on the strengths at GIM
For Nisheeth, the time at GIM was enriching in many ways. It laid the foundation for his career. During his PGDM stint he claims to have learnt to work in a team, leverage strengths of others, offer help before demanding assistance, and venture into the unknown to gain exposure. "These are important life lessons that we got during our learning curve at GIM. Another important trait I learnt then is to balance work and fun." He adds, with a smile, "It's interesting that some of the shortcuts of those times are best business practices today."
Staying adaptable and gaining from experience
A strong team player, he asserts that industry, role, economics, business drivers have been taught to him by the people he worked with. Now, as Senior Delivery Director at Accenture, he is part of the revolution that is defining the digital market space. "The only experience I have leveraged from one assignment to another is my people experience. As a manager you have to evolve into a team player with leadership qualities."
Importance of right professional attitude
There is a lot to learn and imbibe from Nisheeth's experience. He has seen different industries inside out. From his own experience of moving across roles and organizations from different spheres, he believes that knowledge of industry and skills can be taught. "Or it can evolve over time. But what cannot be taught is the right attitude and style. Unfortunately many organizations today look for readymade talent, when the final output is a mix of right skill, attitude, and replicability where you build a team under you and start moving up." Something he has done consistently and commendably in his career.
