Subtle Learning from Aditya Birla Group| Ankit Mirajkar| VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur

Being brought up in a lower middle class family in a place that is the cultural capital of Maharashtra, I have always been inspired by such businessmen who strive for fulfilling the lives of others by an ageless style of leadership- leading by example. Today the name Birla is synonymous with the spirit of enterprise and the dizzying heights of success achieved by an Indian conglomerate in the world of business. Mr. Birla is a visionary and no one would have any doubts about it if they glance through his stint in Aditya Birla group as this conglomerate touches our lives, emotions, our hearts. For more than 1.3 crore Indians, who live ordinary lives, Mr. Birla and his venture make them feel like they are being taken care of by the rich and the mighty class. The reason being, today this company of $44.3 billion and with operation in more than 35 different countries & more than 120,000 employees worldwide has touched a common person’s life with essentials like UltraTech cements, Idea cellular, Aditya Birla Capital, Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Limited with famous brands like Pantaloons, Peter England as well as with numerous hospitals across the country. Frankly, the best part of Aditya Birla group’s endeavour is that it has taken immense care to make sure that they make our life much simpler.

• How you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far

Engineering had opened to me numerous doors of opportunities. During the penultimate year of my engineering, I decided up to take various competitive exams and try my luck. I tried for it not once but for two subsequent years. And let me tell you honestly, I failed at it miserably. Working at an MNC as a functional consultant and in the meantime studying is a difficult job to do. But nothing is impossible if one has determination and willingness. Having prior work experience and having interacted with various business managers had kindled an interest in me to learn more about business administration and I made a firm decision to give CAT. Initially with this idea in mind, I had a proper plan and it’s execution had begun in no time. I tried to manage my time and dedicated at least five hours daily for my studies. And finally after the D-day I had multiple offers from various prominent B-schools.

These initial failures in my life had brought some subtle lessons for me. I had learnt that “Success is just an illusion and what is permanent is your failure.” These failures have the power to transform us into something better that we were never before. And when there are failures, there are only 3 things which we should do about it. Firstly “Admit it”, then “learn from it” and ultimately “never repeat it”.

So here I am at VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur after failing a number of times, standing firm and happily ready to accept whatever comes my way and firmly believing that failure really is the stepping stone to success.

#ABGLPWooMe #VGSoM #IITKharagpur