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8/6/2019 3)Diversity Draft2
1/3
At the McCombs School of Business, you will be part of an active and diversecommunity. Referencing your personal strengths and unique experience, how will you
enrich the McCombs community during your two years in the program?
Limit: 500 words
A pivotal part of a b-school experience is the rich peer group learning. With the unique aspects of myprofessional experience, participation in a range of activities, and personality, I will bring to the table a
blend of energies.
My professional experience stands out on two fronts - First, though related to software, my role is to
analyze and re-engineer processes for cost/effort optimization. I have understood business processes, and
through technology, restructured them; changing the way organization operates. Hence I get opportunities
to impact bottom lines. During various discussions at the school for e.g. on case studies I will share my
perspective on cost optimization and assessing business value of technology's contribution.
Second, my current role presents to me challenges that few with similar professional experience face. As a
team leader in UK, my role is to ensure smooth transition of work to India. Achieving knowledge transfer
from professionals who would be asked to leave the organization shortly; amidst resistance in a crosscultural environment; presents exclusive learning experiences. Such experience with multicultural teams,
and their problems, will be beneficial in a culturally diverse setup as at McCombs.
Apart from my professional experience, my quest for better ways of doing things led me to experiment with
thinking aids like mind maps and free-writing. I devised 3-4 half hour coaching sessions wherein I
presented the methods for using these thinking aids, and ways to utilize them in our daily work. This
exercise has added value to brainstorming sessions, where we discuss multiple alternative solutions in
depth. I plan to share the same with the class at McCombs.
From a solo performance in front of 500 people as an exchange student in Australia, to performing in anorchestra in front of 3000 people, music has enriched my life. An impeccable stress reliever, music hasinculcated values of discipline, selfless mentoring, and has taught me that mutual trust builds a team. A
significant lesson delivered by music is that most brilliant of individuals can't succeed in a team that doesn't
works together. On a lighter note, I will contribute to the McCombs community's music scene.
Committed to spreading awareness about environment issues, I coordinated with facilities team at office to
initiate various campaigns towards an environment friendlier work place. We started with educating
colleagues about their carbon footprint by checking 3 P's - 'Printouts', 'Power', and 'Plastics'. We initiated a
campaign Kill-A-Watt to reduce power consumption in all forms, reducing additional lighting, switching
off un-used/rarely used computer hardware, keeping air conditioning levels slightly lower than normal, et
al. I will participate in the clubs at the school that focus on environment and energy issues. I will share the
experience from the challenges I faced on these fronts, and the ideas we employed to work around them.
I was amongst 8 students selected for international student exchange program to Australia. We lived with
families of students and got to know the lifestyle, work habits, and education system of people from this
part of the world. There, during sessions with local press, I was appreciated for influentially answering
questions like whether we have electricity, sweaters, or cars in India. Based on my feedback from
Australia, I was selected to go to UK as an exchange student again. These experiences exposed me to
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people with lives very different from ours, and an entirely different perspective to education and work. I
will contribute to the community by sharing my experiences in a multicultural environment
Business school experience is completed by a rich peer group contribution. With my professional and
personal experiences, skills, beliefs, and overall personality, I believe I will contribute to everyone's
learning experience.
Edited Version
At the McCombs School of Business, you will be part of an active and diversecommunity. Referencing your personal strengths and unique experience, how will you
enrich the McCombs community during your two years in the program?
Limit: 500 words
Professional Environmental convictions and application at work Personal -
Peer learning at a B-school mandates a rich diversity in the group. I believe my unique
professional and personal learnings have groomed my perspective which will benefit my
colleagues at McCombs.
My professional experience stands out on two fronts - First, though related to software,
my role is to analyze and re-engineer processes for cost/effort optimization. I have
understood business processes, and through technology, restructured them; changing theway organizations operates. Hence I get opportunities to impact bottom lines. During
various discussions at the school for e.g. on case studies, I will share my perspective on
cost optimization and factoring in business value of technology.
Second, my current role presents challenges that a fortunate few face. As a team leader in
UK, my role is to ensure smooth transition of work to India. Achieving knowledgetransfer amidst resistance in a cross cultural environment, from professionals who would
be asked to leave the organization shortly after training the new team, presents exclusive
learning experiences. Such experience with multicultural teams, and their problems, willbe beneficial in a culturally diverse setup at McCombs.
Spreading awareness about environment issues I have initiated various campaignstowards an environment friendlier work place. We started with educating colleagues
about their carbon footprint by checking 3 P's - 'Printouts', 'Power', and 'Plastics'. We
initiated a campaign Kill-A-Watt to reduce power consumption in all forms, reducing
additional lighting, switching off un-used/rarely used computer hardware, keeping airconditioning levels slightly lower than normal, et al. I will participate in the clubs at the
school that focus on environment and energy issues. I will share my conviction and the
8/6/2019 3)Diversity Draft2
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experience from the challenges I faced on these fronts, and the ideas we employed to
work around them.
Music has deeply impacted my life. From solo to orchestra performance in front of 3000
people, music has inculcated values of discipline and taught me that mutual trust builds a
team. A significant lesson delivered by music is that even virtuosos cannot succeed in ateam that doesn't works together. On a lighter note, I will contribute to the McCombs
community's music scene.
I was selected for international student exchange program to Australia and lived with
families of students to know the lifestyle, work habits, and education system of people.
During sessions with local press, I was appreciated for influentially answering questions
on whether we have electricity, sweaters, or cars in India. Based on my informedfeedback from Australia, I was selected to go to UK as well. These exposures taught me
that myths about cultural stereotypes need to be dispelled by more interaction and
communication. In an increasingly globalized corporate world, cultural awareness and
sensitivity is the key to international scaling up for success of organizations. I willcontribute to the community by sharing my experiences of multicultural environment.
Business school experience is completed by a rich peer group contribution. With my
professional and personal experiences, skills, beliefs, and perspective, I believe I will
contribute to everyone's learning experience.