Gaining Knowledge, Network, and Resilience through the Global MBA – Insights from Ernst & Young’s Dhaerya Grover
Knowledge, Network, and Resilience – is my simplistic summary of an MBA in three words.
Gaining knowledge was never just about the assignments, presentations, Student Board Rooms (SBRs), start-up ideas, and deadlines. My time at SP Jain Global was more than just those five things. Before anything had even begun, the only thing I was coming with to the business school was a mindset to learn and expand my horizons. The goal was never to get accolades or excel in academics, but those were just a consequence of my daily recalibration to deliver the best I could in each assignment and each lecture I sat in till the last day of the course.
Just before joining the program, I had paused my consulting practice only to learn as much as I could so as to deliver maximum value to my clients. Neither the degree nor the job post-GMBA was my motivation. It was purely to learn as much as I could about the nuances of business.
One could carve his own path at SP Jain Global, as the school and professors would always give the freedom to choose courses and how much you want to get involved and learn. It wasn’t only about the classroom learning but also the pro-bono projects I took up, the relationships I built with my peers and the professors, and the projects I did in the three terms that formalised those classroom learnings into life-long ones.
Be it the project with Google Singapore (Market Entry Strategy of a new Google MVNO in the Telecom industry in the ASEAN region), the consulting project for Strategy Dot Zero (an Australia-based company trying to study the feasibility of starting their operations in Dubai) or the pro-bono projects I did with my professors, I feel they all put the chaotic knowledge one receives in a fast-paced course such as this one, which can easily fizzle out into practical cases, which even today help me understand my clients’ needs better to eventually deliver superior value to them.
Networking was an essential part of the course, which started on the first day while meeting the peers in the cohort but went beyond the boundaries of the campus. The immersive programs and guest lectures organised by the school in Dubai gave us an opportunity to meet some of the very successful businessmen and businesswomen in the country. From presenting our propositions for the NextGen technologies in the automotive sector to the GM of General Motors (UAE) himself to presenting our start-up pitches to a panel of CXOs from the top companies in India and the UAE for funding, the school gave us ample opportunities to network and understand the real-world problems while giving a podium to put forward our ideas. Such opportunities to interact with business leaders from across the globe helped me network to my advantage.
Many of the professors themselves were champions from their own industries, and each interaction or project with them was an opportunity to gain experience. Classroom learning was also sometimes a storytelling session where the professors would often share their first-hand experiences and failures and how they navigated their way through the highs and lows. One-on-one mentorship from certain professors helped guide me on the right path and, most importantly, know what I want to do in my life after GMBA.
Resilience is not a skill you can acquire but an attitude you can inculcate. It is the most sought-after soft skill recruiters look for – how you can navigate yourself and the team out of a tough situation. During the period of the MBA, there were several situations where it felt like an impossible task to achieve. It is extremely easy to feel demotivated in a hyper-competitive zone, but it’s up to your never-give-up attitude that you’ll sail through the tough times. That is when breaking down the mammoth goal into small tasks, taking it one day at a time, and creating a priority list for my daily work really helped me navigate through tough times. Putting in consistent efforts even when you are seeing others relaxing and taking a backseat was another way, I believe I could outshine others.
Through guidance from mentors, the efforts from the placement team, and my own preparatory efforts, I landed the opportunity as a Senior Consultant in a Technology Consulting Role at Ernst & Young in their Government and Public Sector advisory services. MBA moulded me to take on the world and never limit my growth, and I will live by that philosophy for life.
Even though the above three words represented my MBA, it would never have been complete without enjoying the downtime with the family I found in the friends I made at SP Jain Global. There were numerous things to do in Dubai, and over the rare weekends we used to get, we would make the most of that time – travel, explore the city, and embrace the experiences. It helped us get some much-needed breathers between the sleepless nights of assignments, projects and exams and bond with each other as a unit. We are all busy in our lives and careers today, but whenever we meet, all the memories come back in a flash, and it just feels like we have lived the best times of our lives during that one year. We matured together, built friendships, dealt with adulting problems, and found solutions to them. GMBA, more than a degree, was a life lesson in discipline, hard work, and relationships.
GMBA makes you rediscover yourself, and I hope your journey will be as enriching as mine was at SP Jain Global!
About the Author Dhaerya Arora (GMBA 2023) marked his SP Jain Global journey in 2022 with a passion to expand his horizons. Before graduating, Dhaerya, through his sole proprietorship, worked with new-age startups and IT Engineering Services clients in Advanced Engineering, Aerospace, and Automotive Sectors to scale their business and build new products and solutions. He has previously worked with L&T Technology Services and HCL Technologies for conglomerates in the Aerospace and Defense Sectors in Business Analysis Development functions. Dhaerya also has a keen interest in solving problems that affect society at large, trying to bring an impact on peoples’ lives through technology and strategic decision-making.
Knowledge, Network, and Resilience – is my simplistic summary of an MBA in three words.
Gaining knowledge was never just about the assignments, presentations, Student Board Rooms (SBRs), start-up ideas, and deadlines. My time at SP Jain Global was more than just those five things. Before anything had even begun, the only thing I was coming with to the business school was a mindset to learn and expand my horizons. The goal was never to get accolades or excel in academics, but those were just a consequence of my daily recalibration to deliver the best I could in each assignment and each lecture I sat in till the last day of the course.
Just before joining the program, I had paused my consulting practice only to learn as much as I could so as to deliver maximum value to my clients. Neither the degree nor the job post-GMBA was my motivation. It was purely to learn as much as I could about the nuances of business.
One could carve his own path at SP Jain Global, as the school and professors would always give the freedom to choose courses and how much you want to get involved and learn. It wasn’t only about the classroom learning but also the pro-bono projects I took up, the relationships I built with my peers and the professors, and the projects I did in the three terms that formalised those classroom learnings into life-long ones.
Be it the project with Google Singapore (Market Entry Strategy of a new Google MVNO in the Telecom industry in the ASEAN region), the consulting project for Strategy Dot Zero (an Australia-based company trying to study the feasibility of starting their operations in Dubai) or the pro-bono projects I did with my professors, I feel they all put the chaotic knowledge one receives in a fast-paced course such as this one, which can easily fizzle out into practical cases, which even today help me understand my clients’ needs better to eventually deliver superior value to them.
Networking was an essential part of the course, which started on the first day while meeting the peers in the cohort but went beyond the boundaries of the campus. The immersive programs and guest lectures organised by the school in Dubai gave us an opportunity to meet some of the very successful businessmen and businesswomen in the country. From presenting our propositions for the NextGen technologies in the automotive sector to the GM of General Motors (UAE) himself to presenting our start-up pitches to a panel of CXOs from the top companies in India and the UAE for funding, the school gave us ample opportunities to network and understand the real-world problems while giving a podium to put forward our ideas. Such opportunities to interact with business leaders from across the globe helped me network to my advantage.
Many of the professors themselves were champions from their own industries, and each interaction or project with them was an opportunity to gain experience. Classroom learning was also sometimes a storytelling session where the professors would often share their first-hand experiences and failures and how they navigated their way through the highs and lows. One-on-one mentorship from certain professors helped guide me on the right path and, most importantly, know what I want to do in my life after GMBA.
Resilience is not a skill you can acquire but an attitude you can inculcate. It is the most sought-after soft skill recruiters look for – how you can navigate yourself and the team out of a tough situation. During the period of the MBA, there were several situations where it felt like an impossible task to achieve. It is extremely easy to feel demotivated in a hyper-competitive zone, but it’s up to your never-give-up attitude that you’ll sail through the tough times. That is when breaking down the mammoth goal into small tasks, taking it one day at a time, and creating a priority list for my daily work really helped me navigate through tough times. Putting in consistent efforts even when you are seeing others relaxing and taking a backseat was another way, I believe I could outshine others.
Through guidance from mentors, the efforts from the placement team, and my own preparatory efforts, I landed the opportunity as a Senior Consultant in a Technology Consulting Role at Ernst & Young in their Government and Public Sector advisory services. MBA moulded me to take on the world and never limit my growth, and I will live by that philosophy for life.
Even though the above three words represented my MBA, it would never have been complete without enjoying the downtime with the family I found in the friends I made at SP Jain Global. There were numerous things to do in Dubai, and over the rare weekends we used to get, we would make the most of that time – travel, explore the city, and embrace the experiences. It helped us get some much-needed breathers between the sleepless nights of assignments, projects and exams and bond with each other as a unit. We are all busy in our lives and careers today, but whenever we meet, all the memories come back in a flash, and it just feels like we have lived the best times of our lives during that one year. We matured together, built friendships, dealt with adulting problems, and found solutions to them. GMBA, more than a degree, was a life lesson in discipline, hard work, and relationships.
GMBA makes you rediscover yourself, and I hope your journey will be as enriching as mine was at SP Jain Global!
About the Author
Dhaerya Grover (GMBA 2023) marked his SP Jain Global journey in 2022 with a passion to expand his horizons. Before graduating, Dhaerya, through his sole proprietorship, worked with new-age startups and IT Engineering Services clients in Advanced Engineering, Aerospace, and Automotive Sectors to scale their business and build new products and solutions. He has previously worked with L&T Technology Services and HCL Technologies for conglomerates in the Aerospace and Defense Sectors in Business Analysis Development functions. Dhaerya also has a keen interest in solving problems that affect society at large, trying to bring an impact on peoples’ lives through technology and strategic decision-making.
