Random Thoughts

Disclaimer: Someone at IBM asked me to post this for the benefit of those who are applying for Corporate Services Corp next year. This post in not meant to bore you or give any funda. Its just my way of giving back to my team at IBM. I had written this long essay, however at the time of submission I realized that the word limit was in Characters and NOT words. Nevertheless, having written the essay, I thought that it would be a good idea to publish it here! Content Copyright- Anil Kumar What, in your opinion, is the role of business in society? In particular assess if, how and why businesses should address core societal, environmental, educational and governance issues Veeru is in his village in North India and is rushed to the community hospital. He has sustained severe injuries in a fight that brewed between him and his neighbour over a bucket of water. It is the year 2030 and the river Ganges has dried up and the monsoon rains did not provide enough water to sustain the masses...

Disclaimer: Someone at IBM wrote an email and asked me to post this for the benefit of those who are applying for Corporate Services Corp next year. This post in not meant to bore you or give any funda. Its just my way of giving back to my team at IBM. I had written this long essay, however at the time of submission I realized that the word limit was in Characters and NOT words. Nevertheless, having written the essay, I thought that it would be a good idea to publish it here! Content Copyright- Anil Kumar If selected, how will you connect what you learn to your current and future roles at IBM?Please highlight connections you expect to make to IBM's business priorities and your development as a leader. Today the challenges we face in businesses are far more complex than what is taught in colleges or schools. The changing dynamics of business world makes innovation and continuous improvement the key to success. Companies that invest in building key capabilities by investing in ...

Disclaimer: Someone at IBM asked me to post this for the benefit of those who are applying for Corporate Services Corp next year. This post in not meant to bore you or give any funda. Its just my way of giving back to my team at IBM. I had written this long essay, however at the time of submission I realized that the word limit was in Characters and NOT words. Nevertheless, having written the essay, I thought that it would be a good idea to publish it here! Content Copyright- Anil Kumar What are your personal and professional motivations for joining the Corporate Service Corps and why are you applying now?. During my undergraduate studies I was involved in various community initiatives. Through my volunteer work with the Indian Coast Guard during Malpe Beach Coastal Clean Up drive, I learned the importance of preserving our heritage and maintaining nature’s delicate balance. I learned the importance of saving valuable human lives through the blood donation during college. This ...

Disclaimer: Someone at IBM asked me to post this for the benefit of those who are applying for Corporate Services Corp next year. This post in not meant to bore you or give any funda. Its just my way of giving back to my team at IBM. I was fortunate enough to be selected in the IBM prestigious Corporate Services Corp (CSC), IBM's Worldwide Leadership Development Program. The program attracted 7500 applications from 60 countries and only 491 people were selected worldwide. From India there were more than 3000 application and only 21 people were selected. Yes, getting into IBM CSC is tougher than getting into Harvard (less than 7% of the applicants got through the CSC) or even IIM (if you consider only India's selection rate for the CSC, approx 0.7% of the applicants). In the subsequent blog posts i will share my essays that i wrote for the CSC program. The essay questions were intriguing and required lot of thinking and introspection.

After i had shipped most of my belongings, i still had two bags full of clothes and some other stuff. Because of heavy luggage and heavy airline fares, i decided to travel back home by train. When i checked the IRCTC website, i became doubtful whether i will get the tickets confirmed or not. The mistake i did was that i did not book the waiting ticket in 3AC thinking that i would get tickets in Tatkal. Well, the Tatkal story is a sad one, with more than billion people travelling everyday on trains and half of them trying for tatkal tickets, no wonder the IRCTC website is very very slow in the 8 am to 8:40 am time slot. I was not lucky even in the tatkal scheme and got a waitlisted ticket. To hedge my risks i decided to take a tatkal sleeper ticket as well. Well, my 3AC ticket remained waitlisted however my sleeper ticket got confirmed. And i decided to travel back home in Sleeper class!! Thinking that Bangalore's monsoon to be the representative of south indian monsoons, i was ...

Time just flies away so fast. My one month notice period is about to come to an end. When the sun sets on this Friday,18th June,2010, it would mark the end of a chapter of my life. I would be leaving IBM after four long years. Wooh..i can't believe this myself, four long years!! I must say that these four years have been interesting times. I met a lot of talented individuals, managers, and colleagues. Worked on exciting projects and got the opportunities to challenge myself. I still remember the June of 2006, after my college, I was highly confused whether I should join IBM or Infosys. I am not sure how things would have been for me, had i joined Infosys, however, I don't have any regrets for having joined IBM either. I was lucky to have excellent people managers, account managers and team leads. It is also very interesting that i stayed in the same account for all these years. Many of my friends do not understand why i did not move out of the Kraft Account or IBM. Perhaps ...