I screwed up my CAT attempt in 2020. And then an hour later I reached home and ordered pizza.
By that time I had checked a few prep groups and realised most of us were in the same boat. So whatever happens, I knew there was a decent B-school for me.
For the next two years, my parents never asked my GPA – they already knew I won’t be paying much attention to that.
In the 5th term of MBA, in December 2022, a men’s apparel brand went to 5 IIMs to recruit 2 people for the role of Entrepreneur in Residence.
In the end, they hired only 1 person from 5 IIMs combined.
That was me.
A month later, I won a major national level corporate case competition with my team.
A few months prior to this, however, I was debarred from 6 placement applications (for skipping some PCom meets), had a GPA of 5.4, and was submitting some medical certificates to avoid attendance backs.
This previous paragraph is not endorsement from my side. But there’s something truly magical about making your life permission-less.
Making things permission-less means it doesn’t matter whether you study at IIM X or IIM Z. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a part of Placement Preparation Cell or the Industry Interaction Cell. It doesn’t even matter which companies your PCom gets on campus, because when you create your own leverage, you will find your way – regardless.
And for that, you don’t just rely on your formal curriculum, your college brand, or a sought-after internship to get ahead in life.
Man, read a wide variety of books, look into a plethora of case studies, participate in many co-curricular activites, organize a lot of events – and then start connecting the dots.
Don’t try to become better than others. Someone will overtake you sometime or the other.
Instead, start being different in your own way. You have a different set of knowledge, a different bag of experiences, and hence, a different persona.
You become the go-to person for what you do.
That will make your life permission-less.