In this series, we will be dissecting commonly asked interview questions and the questions that are a part of the form-filling process at institutes. These articles will throw ample light on the DOs and DONTs when it comes to answering these questions and will be slightly more in depth and scientific compared to the other ‘be-confident-and-give-it-your-best-shot’ generic gyaan articles that you would have come across. To start with, we will be dissecting the IIFT form that needs to be filled and sent by the shortlisted candidates so as to be your face before you turn up for the actual IIFT GD PI process. Needless to say, the form is quite rigorous and casually filling it or underestimating it would be extremely foolhardy and so, we advise that you go through these articles before you fill up the actual form. Also, talk to your seniors at IIFT and try to put the soul of the institute in your answers so as to be prepared for the IIFT GD PI process.
IIFT GD PI Preparation
Name one person who has inspired you to pursue a career in Business Management, and in what way?
People who inspire you typically fall in two brackets:
- Known-known
You know the person and the person knows you. You have had meaningful interactions with this person. For example: manager, boss, professor, parents/family member, family friend, neighbor, etc.
- Known-unknown
You know the person but the person doesn’t know you. You have seen/read about this person. For example: CEO/co-founder of any organization, management thought leader/guru, etc.
How to find the person?
Think of the last time you felt inspired. Think of ten more such instances. Write down people involved in these ‘inspired moments’ and classify them under known-known and known-unknown sets.
Write down good things against each of these names. You might be hating your manager from the bottom of your heart. For a change, start thinking if there are a few good qualities that can inspire others to perform better. He/she might be a tough task master and can get things done. Super! That’s a start. He/she might be a fantastic people manager or someone who is a top performer in the organization.
If you have someone in your family in an important position or someone who is an entrepreneur or achieved something great in his/her career, find out what made them successful. What patterns of success and failure were crucial and drove extra-ordinary behavior. There is a high chance that you haven’t looked at that person in this way and haven’t given much thought to these ‘intangible’ things. This is the time.
You will find plenty of examples for the known-unknown set. Dig through various lists. Don’t pick someone who is going through a negative patch (Mark Hurd) and is unlikely to come clean/strong out of it. Quick question: Do you know who topped the HBR’s list of world’s best performing CEOs? Answer: Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Sørensen. [Find the entire list here]
Avoid fictional characters. Keep Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark out of this.
What if you have more than 2-3 people who inspire you?
Simple. Start listing down attributes that inspire you. Someone might be ‘innovation’ driven or someone might think of ‘execution’ as the key to everything. Someone might believe in being a ‘ruthless’ leader (Neutron Jack, anyone?) and someone think of ‘social contribution’ as the supreme virtue. Once you list down all the attributes, start eliminating.
How to frame the answer?
Weave a good story. When you write the answer, have the three most important parts: Beginning, conflict, resolution/end. Without these three in place, a story is incomplete.
You can actually write two different answers before you submit your final answer. One from the ‘known-known’ and one from the ‘known-unknown’ section. It will be a good exercise and pay off in case you get a question on this in the interview. Also, think of behavioral traits that you don’t like in this person. That will tell you what to avoid in your answer.
In case you write about a person who is involved in some controversy, in the interview stage, do not justify each and every action of that person. It is better to accept the shortcomings and paint a more human picture than to keep on defending your stand.
Research
Read. If you are planning to write Elon Musk, read Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future and watch 3-4 YouTube videos featuring Elon Musk. If you are planning to write your uncle X, call him and fix a 2 hour appointment. List down all the questions you want to ask and take his interview. Trust me, it will help.
Irrespective of what you write, make sure that you do enough research before going for the interview. You don’t want to write something just because it looks fancy and pay the price of not knowing anything about it.
Examples
Find below some of the names that cropped up when we started thinking of inspirational people.
Technology/Business: Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Sheryl Sandberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Jack Ma, Sachin and Binny Bansal, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chanda Kochhar, L N Mittal, etc.
Social: Devi Prasad Shetty, Dr. Varghese Kurien, Salman Khan (Khan Academy), Chhavi Rajawat, etc.
Others: Raghuram Rajan, Warren Buffett, Harsha Bhogle, etc.
If you need to get your answers reviewed to bolster your chances of cracking the IIFT GD PI, you can send it to us at on our email ID. Do let us know in case you need any specific help with regard to IIFT GD PI preparation. Join our Facebook GD PI preparation group.
