DECEMBER 2017 | VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 2
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TALES BY CO2018, FOR CO2018
A FORTNIGHTLY PUBLICATION
IN THIS ISSUE EDITOR'S NOTE Hi there. I'd like to look at this entire newsletter as a serendipitous happenstance. The last time, you had Srijeet talk to you about how this is a labour of the MCC's love and a product of the entire team. And that stays lock-in-step with this issue as well. Going forward, we'd be having each member from the MCC editing and looking into the issues that we have for you, and a small message from each one of us, to you. This time, it's-a me, Kapil. And therefore, in typical me fashion: There's no message. But, some amazeballs quotes from one of my favourite TV Shows, "Boston Legal". Enjoy. xoxo Kapil Alan Shore: Objection, your Honor. You can't preface your second point with "first of all." Denny Crane: You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane." Denny Crane: Now, Alan, if all else fails and you think you've lost... pretend you've won! Works for our president. Denny Crane: It's fun being me! [after thoughtful pause] Denny Crane: Is it fun being you? Alan Shore: Most of the time. Denny Crane: We look good together. Alan Shore: Yes, we do.
THE FLYNN EFFECT The survival of the smartest
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THE SPIRIT OF ISB Tales of Diversity on Campus
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BITTEN BY THE PIXELBUG Pictures clicked by the ISB Photography Club
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SMALL TALK A sit down with the Director, SLC on Campus
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THE FLYNN EFFECT In 2013, a political scientist by the name of James Flynn took over the TED stage and gave the world a reason to sit up straighter. He quantified how much smarter you are than your grandparents, and how much smarter, they in turn, are than theirs. And so it goes. It’s hard to argue with; the Flynn Effect, as it is popularly known, proved beyond doubt that global IQ levels have risen an average of 20 basis points since the 1950’s. Researchers across the world have sifted through intelligence, tried to define it, categorize it, slap a label across it – logical, emotional, musical, interpersonal, verbal. Everybody is good at something – you only need to look around you, here at ISB, to see how true this really is. But what Flynn says is that we have all, collectively, definitively, become better at one thing – abstract thinking. This spike in intelligence levels is not a sign of our synapses firing more often, it’s a sign of them firing more efficiently. Steven Pinker, an acclaimed cognitive psychologist, claims that we are living in a period of extraordinary intellectual accomplishment.
But what does this mean for, and to, us? And what does it mean for our businesses? As is with most things, it is difficult to avoid bringing the T word into the picture here. The first and most obvious jump we’ve seen is in the technology space. This is especially relevant for the digitized economy we’re hoping to morph into. Kids are increasingly smarter with science and the internet – if you think Ryan Reynolds’ Twitter handle is hilarious, wait till his daughter gets on board. This early stage cognizance is leading to a faster, smarter structure across the board, with start-ups and new processes blooming everyday that cut out middlemen and encourage transparency, with the expectation that individuals are increasingly more intelligent about conducting their affairs. Blockchain is the nom du jour – SBI is testing betas even as we speak. Gene editing, cancer molecule inhibitors, a nanoscale-level water purifier – these are all things that have happened in the last few years. It is an exciting era to be in business – and the aim of doing good, while doing well, has never been more attainable than it is today. This peak in abstract thinking is also a contributing factor to the number of entrepreneurs across the globe today. Smarter people, smarter products, or smarter ways of doing things this is what ISB, with a little help from James Flynn, is nudging us towards.
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BY AVANTIKA SINHA
THE SPIRIT OF ISB
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Chatting with our own Gopi on his life leading up to ISB and the journey aheadÂ
What made you apply to ISB? ISB was my bridge to India. It always seemed like the most practical option for me to catch-up with and transition back into the Indian ecosystem with ease. The vibrant, extremely talented and diverse peer group, stellar faculty, the beautiful campus, along with everything that ISB had to offer, made it an extremely easy decision for me to make. Besides, Hyderabad was my home. What expectations did you come to ISB with? Having finished nearly 3/4ths of it, how much has your time at ISB come close to your expectations? Returning to India was one of the biggest decisions we had to make, and so when we chose ISB, we had some of the highest expectations that we could think of. Apart from considering the academic awesomeness that ISB is and the holistic learning experience, I’ve always thought about how important it was to have a smooth transition back and how I needed to have quality family time. In many ways, the quality of life at ISB is better than what you would expect in many developed countries despite the demanding academic rigor. ISB should now step up the game and generate the next wave of entrepreneurs who can shape the future of our nation. Where have your biggest learnings come from at ISB? My biggest learnings undoubtedly came from interacting with and learning from professors who are the smartest minds in their fields of study. It also came from fellow students, alumni, and various speakers who visit the college.
Tell us about your start up idea. What stage is it in? How can others contribute? I have two start-ups in the works. First, a robotics start-up that I started with my long-time school friend. Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of robotics across various industries. We’re trying to setup a continuous delivery model for robotics in the same seamless way that software today is delivered, and want to bring down the cost of delivering autonomous solutions to an affordable range. We have a process model where we break the use case into bits and pieces small enough to be shared across industry solutions. We do that with the help of in-house researchers and hold the rights to the IP to be able to deliver to multiple companies and verticals at low costs of adoption. We’ve started this May and we are already a team of 5 researchers and several robotics enthusiasts who build for various use cases with us. Second, is a blockchain start-up I am working on in the recruitment space. We have some grand plans to disrupt information exchange during hiring by using smart contracts over a private crypto network. We are actively developing the platform, and hope to take the application to market in the next few months. Would you invest in crypto-currency? Why or why not? Personally, I am not a fan of cryptocurrencies, specifically ones such as bitcoin that do not serve any purpose other than exchange of money. One could argue that if we were to entirely switch from currency to cryptocurrency, life would be so much more better because the underlying technology, blockchain allows for peer-to-peer trust for exchanging money which is what makes it a very attractive alternate to dealing with centralized systems and having to deal with exchange rates, fees and inflation effects. However, what we often forget is that such a switch would mean that we need to re-value everything in terms of the said cryptocurrency, and that is where bitcoin fails miserably because of the volatility in exchange markets that offer BTC against the $. Add to the fact that bitcoins can be traded in minute parts, one should wonder how different it is from investing in penny stocks that would have similar levels of volatility. Also, it has been proven time and again, that it is only natural that people often seek exchanges and asset classes that are not as much regulated, to evade or minimize taxes and take advantage of any loopholes that could exist. If you’re still not convinced, here’s the final reason I must offer - The current costs of power consumption during mining is only increasing and soon will become prohibitively expensive. In my opinion, bitcoin has no real value at this point and it is only worth what two parties in an exchange decide its worth. 03 | ISB INK
What should we know about you? I worked with Microsoft for over 11 years, most of it in the US, before quitting this March to return to India to live closer to parents, start up my own venture and join the Indian School of Business. When at Microsoft, I loved and enjoyed my work so much, I often wondered if it was unfair to get paid for it. Somewhere along the line, I found my inner calling to return to India and serve my part in reversing the brain drain that our nation faces and in the process also contribute to the society in a larger way by establishing a venture of my own. If there is one person who had the highest influence on me during this time, it is my now 4-year old daughter. In her own way, she taught me things that I could not comprehend in the 28-years of my life before she was born.
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SOURCED FROM THE ISB PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB
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BITTEN BY THE PIXELBUG
SMALL TALK
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In conversation with the Director of the SLC, Arpitta Jerath. From matters on the SLC, the team, parties and the road ahead.
At a place like ISB where lifestyle and the party culture make up a significant part of the attraction, what role do you think the SLC needs to play? And on a related note, are there things you have tried to do differently this term? The more people we talk to, the more we realize that the number of people who actually enjoy wild parties and thrive on them are in fact limited. Most people here are looking for an opportunity to step out of their quads, try something new and just have a good time. As the student life council we need to be cognizant of this and respect this. It’s relatively easy to throw a party. It is a little more challenging to weave a concept around it. We try our best to get our parties to be a little more than just vanilla parties. Masquerade ball, Traffic light, Halloween were attempts to do that. Overall, I think as a team we have been pretty responsive to suggestions and feedback. We have tried our hand at events like Garba night, Sufi Night, Night under the stars. Going forward, we plan to do some Karaoke nights, camping, and bonfires too! What have been some of the highlights for you so far, and what would you consider as your biggest successes? I think I can say this safely on behalf of our entire team that more than any one specific event, just the fact that we have somewhere been responsible to create memories for our class makes it all very special. It’s a different feeling when you wake up after an event and see your friends posting photos and status’ on social media calling it the ‘best night ever’ or the ‘best moments at ISB’. To be able to create something that is worthy of this is extremely gratifying. I’ll be lying if I don’t mention that getting a good rating from the class and SFA has been very special and got all of us motivated to push harder.
There seemed to be a lot more parties towards the beginning of the year, as opposed to now? Why the reduction? This I think is just a reflection of the mood of the class. Initially, we needed opportunities to hang out with each other, uninhibited and a party was the best way to do this. Now that everyone is more or less comfortable with each other, we are more inclined towards creating experiences that will last longer. Also, I think the entire team is convinced that SLC is more than just a party organizing committee and we want to show that through our events. Don’t get us wrong – we love to party and go all crazy but we just feel that you don’t necessarily need loud music and alcohol to reach there. How has it been, leading a team, and what role have they played in this entire process? I think the one thing I genuinely enjoy more than the event itself is the process of conceptualizing and creating the events with the entire team. This has been so much fun and a very significant part of my one year at ISB. It has never really felt like leading a tea. I think I have been super lucky to get the best team as part of the SLC. Everybody is a boss in his or her own right and is extremely passionate towards the events. I think all the members of SLC core have their own competencies and together it makes us very effective as a team. Each of them brings a lot of value, good sense, creativity and more importantly ownership to the table. We are comfortable with giving constructive and honest feedback to each other and that just keeps us all in check. Finally, what does the Batch of 2018 have to look forward to from the Student Life Council? With a proportion of people now placed, I think it’s time for us to up our game a little. We have a Christmas movie screening planned followed by a new year’s party. We are exploring the possibility of camp nights, bar crawl, cook offs too. January onwards we’ll be involving the social clubs as well to come up with events that are unique in spirit. We are also considering a couple of more holistic events, the details of which will be shared with the class. Since people have more time now, we are also going to crowd source some ideas from the class itself. The one thing we got a lot from the previous class was that it’s difficult to engage the class and come up with events that see participation on a large scale. I believe this has not been the case with our batch. Everyone here has been super kind and excited about our events and the response in general has been very encouraging. We sincerely hope it stays this way. We are completely committed to making the last two terms of our class extremely engaging and memorable and hope we can live up to the expectations of everyone :) 07 | ISB INK
The SLC is widely regarded as one of the most effective councils on campus. From innovative concepts to smooth execution, it's almost as if you haven't put a foot wrong. What were the objectives you set when you first started, and how far do you think you've come in meeting those objectives? That’s kind of you to say! To be honest I think we do have our occasional slip ups and judgment errors, but we have definitely gotten better at planning and last minute firefighting. But typically, the idea when I got elected and even when we were in the process of putting together a team was to create an outlet for people to deal with the stressful side of ISB. I think a major component of this year of transformation is what you experience at social events and the objective from day one was to enhance these events and create more opportunities for people to let go! While there is always scope for reflection and improvement, I think as a team we have stayed true to our job. We constantly rack our brains to identify ideas and concepts by which we can reach out to more people, wow them and promise them a good time.
Content written by Avantika Sinha, Manan Bharera, Gopi Krishna, Arpitta Jerath, Kapil Aiyer and Srijeet Bhattacharjee Images on Pg 4&5 provided by the Photography Club@ISB Designed by Kapil Aiyer All text and images used are under the Creative Commons license for personal, non-commercial use