Multitasking is womans fortitude!

A woman has to play many roles all through her life in her womanhood: daughter, wife, mother, working women. And she performs all these roles with lan. The role of women in todays world was not the same as it was even a century ago. Time has demanded many changes in her role - from being a mere homemaker, today she is not only taking active interest in the nations politics but also rubs shoulders with executive on roles that were considered to be a male-bastion. Her multitasking ability has made her wade through many obstacles to climb the ladder of success in the business world also. As a woman, I was also subject to gender discrimination at many instances. However, since childhood I have always made it a point to excel in sports and other extracurricular activities like dance, extempore, JAM (Just A minute), Dramatics etc and at college I competed for the best outgoing student generally awarded to the boys / men. In fact academics and sports have always been on par all through my life. Multitasking and time management were my tools to success. These tools taught me to manage time effectively and prioritize tasks. The MBA would be yet another tool that would help me to optimize my success in the future. Security is mostly a superstition, meaning that it does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing opined Hellen Keller. I came across this quote during my school days for the activity Quote for the day. We had to read a quote and explain it to the class. I chose this quote because it was intriguing. Every time I read this quote it gives a totally new meaning to life. Now I reckon that being contented doesnt mean his/her life is secure. I believe that, to be secure in life and confront challenges as to overcome it successfully, MBA would be an appropriate tool. On campus recruitment meant glee and joy. XXX Corp picked me up for their development tactility at Bangalore. The top-of-the-batch performance during the training earned me the coveted deputation at Functional Verification Testing-Regression team of AIX in India Software Lab. As the nature of job was totally new, I had to commit myself towards more hours getting trained and even more time for self-study. Within a short span of time I was assigned the role of lead tester for many critical components of AIX and have been instrumental in improving the quality of the products delivered to the customer apart from automating the entire testing process. Currently I am mentoring another person in the team as part of the knowledge transfer process before I embark on bigger and exacting tasks. In this short tenure, I submitted an abstract titled "Exploring Agility beyond Software Development" which was selected for the Poster session for XXX CORP Academy of Technology Agile Practices and Methods Conference. All work and no play could make Jill a dull person. True to this, as the Organizer of the XXX CORP Weekend Snacks Party, Ive ensured that there was more mirth and fun before winding-up.

Moving away from the comfort zone and losing the perceived security, has never deterred me. At Schools when the school-going kids were forced to focus on studies as to sustain good grades, I did go beyond the academics and explored my ability to excel in sports and extracurricular activities. Being an athlete and team player I have represented my school, college at various interschools, district and state level sports like throw ball, basket ball, field events, and track events. Although my schools have had the best sports utility centre, sports was not given a high priority, during my high school and senior school as the school management was interested in sustaining the grades rather than the passion of the students. Rather than stifling me, such denials only further triggered in me the passion to excel in sports and academics as well as awards for proficiency in both. The demonstrated excellence won me many friends, roles and responsibilities. Additional responsibilities meant more challenges and I did achieve success through meticulous planning, sheer dedication, umpteen practice-sessions, strategy contemplation sessions and consistent motivation. My flair for dramatics perfected by ability to empathize; public speaking shaped my interpersonal skills and dance added grace to my thoughts, actions and deeds. The posts of the general secretary of my college hostel and the member of the sports committee introduced me to managerial aspects and the necessity to take judicious decisions. Furthermore I dabbled with various aspects of management by organizing many technical symposiums, organizing sporting events and raising funds for cultural events which honed my ability of managing people with lan. Coordinating with college authorities, regulatory authorities and the staff of the Presidents office during the celebration of Golden Jubilee of my college for which Our Humble Ex President was the Guest of Honor taught me new lessons in professional communication. Being excellent in job did fetch me good incentives and better pay packages. But the sense of satisfaction was eluding me. I was afraid that I would become complacent and I for sure did not want to read the Hellen Kellers quote as to regret. Looking backward I realized that my fascination for solving complex problems whether it be in mathematics or in regular life had not diminished but increased, appended by the new skills that I acquired at job. My ability to multitask had also become better in the process. I realized that the vibrant nature of finance and the ways, in which individuals, businesses and organizations raise, allocate monetary resources over a period of time, taking into account other factors such as risk involved in the projects intrigued me more. My penchant for risks egged me to consider a serious change in career. Change is necessary in any business to adapt successfully to the increasing demands of todays world. With changes in business, arises a need for handling money and the complex business processes successfully. The current financial crisis is a lesson to be learnt by many, for the crisis can be traced back to the failed attempts by the businesses to adapt to various external demands. With my aptitude for solving complex problems and fascination for numbers, given an opportunity in the field of business I would be able to work efficiently. With my learnings gained from MBA, I will be able to understand complex business concepts and master the requisite skills to be a success in the field of finance by

improving my interpersonal skills and boosting my confidence level to take gutsy decisions. Overall it will help me in multitasking effectively. Post MBA I look forward to combine my aptitude for numbers, my zeal to embrace risks and my abilities to multitask with a career in the financial sector wherein I would be able to help people take informed decisions, calculated risks and protect the interests of the stake holders more cautiously. The organization that I want to work should provide me a platform to not only learn more but also apply the concepts that the MBA program would have imbibed in me. In the medium- term, my efforts would be concentrated in understanding the finer aspects of financial management and the nuances of implementing broader plans apart from doing all that is needed to be successful in the field of finance. In the long run i.e around 10 15 years from now, I expect to become an indispensable part of the organisation that I work for and steer the company towards better progress and higher profits. Setting up a facility that would provide shelter and education to the abandoned children would be the perfect way towards my retirement and living with them during the final years of life would give the sense of dj-vu. Meeting of minds, I believe, is the first step towards long lasting relationships. Thunderbirds mission to educate global leaders who create sustainable prosperity worldwide is in synch with my goals and aspirations as I believe that a global mindset is a prerequisite to manage effectively in different social, economic and political environments. Thunderbirds well developed tenets like : Global Mindset, Global Entrepreneurship, Global Thought Leadership, Global Learning Network and Global Citizenship in a student, I believe will mould me into a person with outstanding abilities with a broad knowledge of diverse cultures, subjects etc that will help we walk hand-in-hand, if not lead, with the changes that the global village would bring about. The Thunderbird Center for Global Finance would be an area that I would immerse myself and would like to enroll in courses on finance, business intelligence etc apart from network with those who would add to knowledge that I would gain at Thunderbird. I would like to be associated with clubs/associations like: Thunderbird Finance Association, International Women's Club and also in certain sports club, a rare honour that only Thunderbird students can avail and get enlightened. Lastly, I see Thunderbird as a partner who would help me live by Hellen Kellers views about boldly embracing the new challenges that the future holds for me.