Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Anusmaran- A great experience

Back to blogging after a looong time. Can't say I was too busy for taking just 15 mins to write a blog, just laziness I guess....and probably, lack of content for me to write about. Finally, I have got something to write about.
Being the Alumni Secretary of IIMB (because of that 1 dreaded vote :)), I was in-charge of Anusmaran'06, the annual alumni reunion of IIM Bangalore. It was supposed to be held in 12 cities across the world and being here in Tokyo doesn't help the matter anyways. Basically, all coordination needs to be done from here....and here I realized the importance of technology and team in this world.
So, what was the homework I did in IIMB for this? Basically, built up my team. I was not supposed to be present in all locations and success of the entire event depended on people who were supposed to be present in these locations. People will say my team was my "circle" only. But, then I openly admit that I purposefully did that. Nothing but personal equations work in a non-rewarding situation. At the same time, I build personal relationships with many others and they are now my closest friends.
Coming now to ground reality...the real action began when I reached here in Tokyo. I was supposed to get resources for my team. Initially, no body replied to my mails, I was frustrated with lack of support from any of my team members. Had I made the right choice? But, then this is not how it was supposed to work. I needed to lead, right! All initial work had to be done by me, nobody else would do it. Then began my series of cold calls, mails and pitches to Alumni for sponsorship. Coming back from work at 9 pm, and then making those calls/mails:- aah!! Selling an event with the worst possible past record and image was not easy. Frankly, it boiled down to begging and emotional appeals. It was a long cat and mouse game between me and alumni :)
So, where was my team? Well, they got into action when we had the sponsors, and they really did get into action! Certainly, few pinches of emotion and anger had to be put in from my side here and there :)
My target was to put the entire event into "auto-pilot" mode by last week and I was able to do that. In the last week, my involvement was nearly zero. Everyone knew their responsibility and deadlines. And finally, the event was a success.
A good experience for me! certainly....made some mistakes definitely. But, overall learnt a lot. It has certainly given me a lot more confidence in myself.
Can't forget the technology part here. Gmail, gtalk, telephone calls: really, world is so small!! I certainly realized it for the first time......
My greatest personal achievement: my team members are getting more credit than me for the event.