Enthusiasm and the world around you.

Depravity, egregiously defying behavior, parasite mentality, creepy Soviet socialism, fascism, anti-Semitism, Left vs Right wing, glamour, and not to be named here enticing things, if these things come to your mind now and then, you too are a 'victim' of a neo-world, remember 'Neo' from Matrix series? I think now you know what kind of things I am talking about, mind boggling things.

An eminent civil servant and a former senior officer with Govt. of India, while addressing the MISB class, asked the class what is the one thing that worries them, the one thing they think about and worry when they wake up early in the morning. Stunned by a such a innocuous yet an amazingly heart wrenching and close to heart question, a student answered it's about his country, the corruption and the depravity that worries him. Cliched that it may sound, it is true. Delving deep into the issues and trying to resolve them are truly, the characteristics of an 'Argumentative Indian'.

Scraping through these random and  abstract thoughts, I wish my professors, fellow mates at MISB a very Happy and prosperous Diwali, Goverdhan Puja and Bhaiya Dooj !

Have Fun


Anurag Singhal
MISB Bocconi
Class of 2012-2014
anurag.singhal@misbbocconi.com

OB & HRM - Prof. Massimo Magni

The idea of talking about subjects such as Human Resource & Organization Behavior in most of the B-schools might make many uninterested, turned heads. Though these subjects form the pillars of any large organization that we see today, but ironically seem to instigate only a few minds in these schools, where top priorities are landing with other more challenging (so called) job profiles.

We, 2 weeks ago at MISB Bocconi were getting ourselves ready for a similar, expected experience. Apart from a short introduction of the subject and the professor’s background, the first lecture consisted of a slide-set containing a few picture strips showing the importance of OB & HR. It also contained learnings on ‘teams’ from New York Mets baseball team, ‘coaching’ from UF Gators, ‘failures’ from Space Shuttle “Challenger”, ‘success’ from the Chile Mine Rescue mission, ‘teaming’ concepts from the Water Cube of Beijing Olympics and ‘daredevilry’ from the diver, Felix Baumgartner. The following lectures were a mix of daily simulations, healthy discussions and some interesting theoretical concepts. All our apprehensions regarding the subject’s appeal started to blow away.

The daily simulation sessions covered a large array of organizational behavior and HR topics. In one such limited time computer based simulation, all the existing groups were divided into “Buyers” and “Sellers” negotiating a deal for a plot of land. The groups finished the exercise by selling the land after several rounds of negotiations. Through this exercise, the important roles of Mutuality, Believability, Bandwagon, Framing and Anchoring in a negotiation were stressed upon. In other such team based exercise, Prisoner’s Dilemma was simulated. The end result conformed to the typical human behavior as concluded by the theory itself.

The famous Zimbardo prison experiment of Stanford University with the repercussions on the volunteer attitudes was also discussed. Other exercises covered areas such as Decision Making (Carter Racing Simulation) and various Traps that we fall pray to in our decision making process not only in an organization but also in our daily lives. McClelland’s Self-Assessment and NASA Survival exercises comprised other group simulations.

For our graded assignment ‘Recruitment of a Star’, we had been given a task to recruit an analyst for a firm, which has just lost its star performer to a rival, from a pool of deserving candidates.

We never realized when the subject sessions finally concluded. HR, a theory-intense subject traditionally, turned out to be a joyride for us. 

Rahul Hisaria

MISB Bocconi
Class of 2012-2014
rahul.hisaria@misbbocconi.com

Entrepreneurship Lecture Series -II

19 October, 2012

The eagerly awaited entrepreneurship classes have started and we have been juggling with a variety of concepts starting from business plans to venture capital funds, private equity etc.

Our Professor, Mr Mikkel, was gracious enough to invite entrepreneurs and investors to hold discussions with us about the various issues that entrepreneurs have to face in the real world and also to throw light on the huge number of opportunities that the market offers.

Mr Jiten Apte, CEO of Wizarth Advisors and highly successful angel investor gave us some useful insight into the world of angel investments. We learnt about the various kinds of entrepreneurs and the types of ideas preferred by the angel investors. He told us about how the network works and the various key points to keep in mind when approaching a prospective investor.

Our belief in the importance of the much used and clichéd ‘elevator pitch’ was reinforced and we also did learn about the due diligence expected by the investors and the various ways to undertake it.

At the end of his session, interestingly, he asked us for our opinion on his next business venture where he had options ranging from solar panel research to an online education initiative and also welcomed interested students to join the India Angels network of which he is a part.

Overall, It was a great experience to learn about how investors think and to get a peek into the exciting world of seed funds. 

Sivanand Mahapatra

MISB Bocconi

Class of 2012-2014

sivanand.mahapatra@misbbocconi.com