The thrill of doing the REAL thing

It was about 3:30 am..... Computer Center, IIM Bangalore.

I was with my team discussing stuff about our camp - the entry strategy to be precise. Room was energetic, eyes wide open as well as minds......

Another room in the lab, and there was another group....tired and bleary eyed....working on the PnG case study due the day after.......

I couldn't but help see the contrast.....it was cool.....

The group solving the case study possibly wanted the prize, or a bullet point that would help them get placed better. They were not being paid by PnG for this, and they were not even recruited for that matter......

The case was possibly something that vaguely resembled life....the winners solution would at best prove to be some entertainment to the judge evaluating it.....

And on stake was nothing much....just time.....

And the case was to do with marketing....

For us, on the other hand it was almost diametrically different

For us we were doing it for a real life busines.....it was not restricted to a particular silo like marketing but involved switching every few minutes from strategy to ops to hr...across domains......

The pay off was great and we were working for something we owned....what we would come up in that meeting would actually be executed by us....and our stakes were ...our lives and our careers....

Friends came into the meeting and sat there for time much more than expected....realised later they too loved that thrill...the challenge of starting fresh....something new, something of your own.......a real life case study, the ultimate live project.....