The past academic year was indeed a roller coaster of emotions and learning. The biggest takeaway has been how self-awareness has helped me develop my personality and mitigate my weaknesses.  

A little backstory: I have been a competitive swimmer representing Team India internationally. In an individual sport, the most significant peril is the zero-sum game, i.e. an advantage to one side resulting in an equivalent loss for the other.  

The sporting world thrives on the zero-sum game, but the corporate world on the win-win attitude, at least within an organisation. What helped me primarily transition from the former to the latter in mindset can be attributed to my study group. My study group comprises a chartered accountant, a bunch of quant jocks and IT engineers, and a fresher. As we navigated the academic year filled with a flurry of assignments, exam preparation, debates and discussion, these experiences taught me the advantages of working in a diverse team.  

Our study group has done everything from excel modelling to script writing to ad films without succumbing to deadlines. Simulations running on a 24-hour cycle didn’t deter our spirits but taught us to fend for our groupmates. The learning is immense when a chartered accountant teaches you how to read complex financial statements, and engineers help you navigate quant-heavy courses and understand how digital skills can be leveraged. Challenging assumptions and unlearning biases are two core tenets of good management education — nothing does this better than hearing the perspectives of a fresh graduate.  

Winning at the Workplace (WAW) modules played a key role in helping us benefit from this intellectual diversity within our team. One such course was ‘Working in Teams’, taught by Prof Rajeshwar Upadhyay. Techniques such as storyboarding and roleplay were taught, and dedicated timeslots were provided for brainstorming. We found that having an emotionally intelligent group is conducive to constructive criticism; it allows thoughts, processes and projects to be viewed through a critical lens. Criticality leads to better ideation which, when backed with rigorous execution, is the true genesis of a high-performing team.  

As the old adage goes, practicality and execution create leaders, while theory only produces armchair experts. The course ‘Design Thinking’, taught by Dean Ranjan Banerjee, gave us a chance to apply what we had learnt to solve a critical yet unstructured problem. Our problem statement was, “How can we develop a sense of entrepreneurship in the Indian youth?” We were to conduct interviews with subject matter experts, develop empathy maps, and after iterative prototyping, finally present our answers to various audiences.  

Given the tight timelines, the turmoil and anxiety within the team were high. Yet, we found a way to leverage every member’s strength and skill sets in crafting our solution. My marketing experience came in handy as we derived consumer insights; the CA in our team built an Excel model detailing the probable expenses, expected revenues and the most feasible path to profitability. The engineers worked on building application prototypes with a keen eye on optimising usability and improving performance. In the beginning, achieving consensus on how to present and distil our thoughts seemed like an arduous task. But after careful contemplation, we confidently presented to the professor and our peers.  

It is clear, therefore, that the ability to work in teams can have far better outcomes than flashes of individual brilliance. In the end, success is sweeter when you have supportive teammates who always have your back in an atmosphere riddled with deadlines, uncertainties and no time to think, ‘What’s next?’.