Sourav Raina, is an alumnus of IE Business School. He studied his Master in Market Research and Consumer Behaviour in the year 2017-18. He is a Management Consultant at IPSOS Business Consulting, India, and co-founder of ALL CAPS, a mental health initiative of IE & University of Amsterdam alumnus.
At IE, Sourav won the IE Master Fellow Scholarship for his MBA studies. As an active student and alumnus, he advises IE on Alumni Communication and IE Foundation Funding.
Sourav has very kindly taken out time to write this excellent blog article on his experience at IE. We hope you will enjoy reading it as much as we did. Read on…
In the past ten months, I persisted 54 Group Projects, 42 Subjects, 11 exams and an unknown number of individual tasks to proudly earn my Master at IE Business School. As someone asked me, “How good IE Business School is?” and I loftily replied: “how good are you?”
Nothing comes easy and what comes easy has no glory. It was a big sacrifice to leave my job, staying away from parents for so long and keeping a sharp eye on every Euro I was spending. Today and forever, I can proudly assert that I took a bold decision and it is set to transform my life endlessly.
It was not an easy journey at all. I fought well, I survived, and I earned what I deserved.
10 months in the Mecca of Technology & Innovation, and I have gained 10 life learnings:
Go Beyond: You must push every limit you set for yourself to be successful. Success doesn’t lie where you think it is, you must be ready to go beyond. One step further, and one step more until you’re invincible. One more shot, one more improvement, one more chance to be irreplaceable.
I woke up every day to fight the great battles against my own limitations. To push myself beyond what I considered is the limit. I puked, I cried, I made horrible mistakes; that’s how I learnt, and I shall continue to learn all the way.
Collaborate: Edward Everett Hale quoted, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” If I sum up my whole IE learnings in one word, it would be, “Collaboration.” There is no force mightier than collaboration. You may walk alone a few steps successfully, but you will never reach far enough, I can guarantee it. I have seen untrained people collaborating and winning, I have witnessed extraordinary people falling apart and losing. People who are not team-players are just not good enough!
Tough Love: Is not it true to find what you love and let it kill you? People often ask me why you love IE so much and I answer them, “Why not to love something I sought with all my heart, what made me strong enough to face any reckless obstacle in my life, what challenged me to embrace difficulties to rise.” As Valeriia Nikolaienko, my philosophical coffee date and good friend told me that IE Business School made her daring enough to make her hands dirty in any damn thing even she doesn’t know about. Everything seems possible now.
No Ordinary: We all are born ordinary, but it is up to us to make a choice not to die ordinary. As Nelson Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” It is not just about life; it is about work as well. There is no passion to be found in settling for the work that is less than the one you are capable of producing. At IE Business School , I entered as an ordinary student, but I walked out with the potential to be extraordinary in whatever I shall do in my life.
Know Thyself: Life doesn’t give us many opportunities to know ourselves in depth, our values, capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. To be a great leader, you must take time to actualise and practice it. To harness the best potential of your team, you must know thyself. It starts with you, to lead with integrity, to set an example that others will follow.
At IE, you should know your strengths to survive on difficult group tasks. To turn your weaknesses into opportunities and become successful. I have seen some fantastic transformations happening around, and it was inspirational to learn from peers.
Work Until It Is Done: At IE Business School you don’t work on your projects until it is the dusk, you work until it is done! Hard work has no replacement but working hard is not enough if you wish to stay ahead. You have to be creative, collaborative and consistent regarding your efforts. The rule is simple, you have to give your 110%. There is a stage when your efforts become your luck. Especially, when you have to compete against exceedingly best people around. Define your luck with your work.
Re-think, Re-evaluate, Re-design: Challenge what they call the best, the best is yet to come. Re-think what is prevailing, re-evaluate what are the standards, re-design what should be optimised. IE is entrepreneurial, we reject what is consistent, we reject what is mediocre.
Learn Forever: You should only stop learning when you die, I wish there would be the scope of carrying some books to the grave. A minute of free time after IE experience drives me crazy, I crave to make every second worth of learning something new. Never let anything to stop you from learning every day, it should not be a need, it should be a deeply ingrained habit.
Diversity is Love: 31 students in a class representing 26 nations, it was a dream come true. We built our own nation, a nation of nations. A never-ending bond defined by love and gratitude. If I write my story about these flawless people, words will fall apart. Let me hide those tender feelings into the safe of my heart forever because few things can never be expressed but to be felt, eternally. All I do, to love you, MRCB O2.
Time Flies: As my friend, Paco said in his closing ceremony speech, “It was the year that went with the lightning speed.” We were so busy with work that we never realised that our golden days together at IE are over. That’s life! Nevertheless, we are IE family forever.
To end this note, I wish to reiterate an excerpt from my INFLUENCE AND PERSUASION assignment:
“Add value to seek value. Everything that is considered the best is scarce.” – Sourav Raina
……..so is IE Experience.