When I began ISB MBA, everyone around told me- "You need a high GPA to make it into your dream company !"
As someone who had ranked 1 in St. Stephen's College five years earlier, I absolutely despised another GPA culture. I had learned the hard way that grades are just a part of the equation, not the complete equation itself!
And one day, during my MBA, one classmate asked, " So, Shatakshi what was your GPA in 1st term". I politely refused to engage in the conversation.
Post that, my cohort mates understood I'm the go-to person to discuss some hard life questions, connect operations to a macroeconomic problem or dig answers from Indian history for a contemporary strategy case. But, GPA was just not my thing for discussion.
Mind you, this is not to say that those who chased GPA- were wrong. GPA is an important part of the equation. It's just that I had decided that I don't want my MBA journey to be driven by a GPA mindset.
On many occasions, it took me repeated self-clarity and motivation to keep on charting on the unconventional no grade race.
The thing is grades are not the end of our lives.
Learning is!
I apply all my #MBA concepts today to real-world problems and that's what matters.
The reality is, I have started to come to terms with the last 10 years of corporate experience, that I don't necessarily fit the so-called average on conventional bell curve.
This story is to celebrate all the outliers in life who are a little crazy, a little weird, and a little nice in their own way.
Here's to us- the outliers who don't fit in❤️
Author - Shatakshi Sharma, Cofounder Global Governance Initiative, Ex- BCG, Advisor, Tony Blair Institute
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