Introductory

1. Tell me about yourself

a. Bodhisattya Bhattacharya
b. Want to talk about my childhood, time at IIT Kgp, experience at BCG and where I want to be in
the future
c. Studied Chemical Engg from IIT Kharagpur. Was the president of my hostel and led student
welfare initiatives like peer based counselling group and pan IIT cultural fest. Pursued my interest
in dramatics – 15 stage plays
d. Post college I joined BCG to experience working with very diverse teams and new teams, industry
and functions as I move from one project to another
e. Worked for two years in India on transformation and turnaround cases with industrial goods
clients helping the practice grow by 20%. I led the development of TIP – a new approach to
transformation cases and digital sub practice within India’s Mining practice
f. Transferred to Houston, where I worked with energy clients and VC firms helping them build
environmentally sustainable growth strategies and invest in Clean tech. In the process, I helped
BCG Houston’s energy sustainability sub practice grow by 12%
g. Just after my MBA I want to come back to BCG and manage projects for the energy clients and
VCs. Building on this, want to join a VC in a couple of years and in the long term start my own VC
firm in India helping and mentoring startups in the clean energy space
h. I see a MBA as a perfect stepping stone, helping me build the relevant content expertise like that
in clean tech, competitive strategy and finance and VC. Also focus on leadership elements like
delegation, taking real time decisions with limited information/clarity, putting together impactful
teams
2. Walk me through your resume
a. Bodhisattya Bhattacharya, from Kolkata which is in the eastern part of India
b. Studied Chemical Engg from IIT Kharagpur
c. I was also the president of my hostel and led student welfare initiatives on campus
d. Post college I joined BCG
e. Worked for two years in India on transformation and turnaround cases with industrial goods
clients. I led the development of TIP – a new approach to transformation cases and digital sub
practice within India’s Mining practice
f. Transferred to Houston, where I worked with energy clients helping them build environmentally
sustainable growth strategies and invest in Clean tech. In the process, I helped BCG Houston’s
energy sustainability sub practice grow by 12%
g. I am a dramatics enthusiast (part of 15+ stage plays) and a soccer fan
3. 3 strengths
a. Empathetic – feel for the cause, build strong interpersonal connections with team members
b. Analytically strong – I can dissect complex problems and think in a structured manner. Foresee
practical challenges and be more effective
c. Practical – prioritization and foreseeing challenges. >80% of initiatives implemented (detailed
road-mapping, timely escalations, backups – mult vendors); prioritization (turn case where
priorities kept on changing)
d. If one strength: extrapolate from empathetic – gives birth to my passion and relentlessness
4. 3 weaknesses
a. Delegation skills – delegating. Once delegated similar type of work to A to speed up output.
Should have ensured variety. We discussed it and with the new work, sent relevant material to
ensure faster ramp-up
 b. Delivering bad news/tough negotiations – feel very uncomfortable while delivering bad news –
like saying no (I will not do this case)
c. Letting things go – I tend to remain a bit hung up and overanalyzing failure. I think if I improve on
that, I can move on better
d. I think I should exercise more and focus on my health – just seem to deprioritize that, trusting my
metabolism
5. One thing you will never be as good at as others?
a. Telling no to people
6. What do you like to do outside of work? How does it help your work?
a. Theatre – directing and managing productions. augmented my leadership and interpersonal skills
(upto 100 member teams), multitasking (various aspects of production like lights, music, sets
design, acting teams)
7. Tell me about a defining moment in your life.
a. Joining IIT Kharagpur. I was not getting chem engg with the rank I had, but had the opportunity to
change departments if I ranked in the top 5%. I chose to risk it Special about IIT Kgp - focuses a
lot on extracurricular activities and interpersonal relations given the college is located in the
middle of no-where. So there are a number of activities on campus. For an introvert, this was a
forcing function and exposed me to leadership and team work based roles. My parents could
never imagine me campaigning during elections and giving SOPs in front of 1000s of students.
Helped me develop a lot behaviorally.
8. Anything about yourself you wished you could change?
a. Move on more easily. Typically tasks I get passionate about are rooted in a feeling of empathy
and strong feelings. While that motivates me to work very hard towards the goal, I wish, I could
move on more easily upon conclusion (esp. if unsuccessful)
9. What’s your biggest accomplishment—both work and outside work?
a. Work – leading the development of TIP. Revamped approach to run transformation programs
i. In today’s scenario when >50% of large companies are looking to transform and run
operations excellence programs, its surprising that 80% of such efforts fail. So, TIP will
have a larger scale impact than just BCG
ii. We were not doing well in Transformation cases (5 discont. Proj.) – big impact within
BCG (250M+ potential in 5 years)
b. IIT Kharagpur – work focused on improving student life and culture to combat the mental health
issues on campus. 4 suicides in 3 years.
i. Started peer based counselling
ii. Improve engagement – hall development + intra hall tournament and inter iit social and
cultural event
10. What drives you?
a. Challenge, especially when I feel a personal connect
11. What is the weakest part of your application?
a. I think my experience in pure consulting may be a weaker point (at least as per what few of my
friends told me) – but I think I was able to portray the variety of work I was lucky to have gained
exposure to (different companies – new and old, different industries, different geography)
12. Strongest part of your application?
a. Portray a clear goal and a well defined path; tied my extracurricular initiatives to how I can
impact Wharton’s culture
13. Describe yourself in 3 words
a. Empathetic, analytical, passionate
14. If you had 6 months to do two very different things, what will you do?
 a. VC internship; Travel across India (country of diversity – different people, ways of thinking,
cultures and conditions – learning experience)
15. What is something I can never guess about you from your application?
a. Heavy metal fan – that seems to surprise my friends
16. Anything beyond your application that you want to highlight?
a. Creative side, love theater, part of 15 + stage plays, written scripts. Passion from an young age
when I started participating in one act play competitions
17. Tell me something you should start doing? Should do more? Do less of?
a. Start doing – note down objectives for the day; more of – exercising; less of – soft drinks
18. How do you make decisions?
a. Few decisions – I just fix things – E.g. office lunch (Mexican and Salad alternate)
b. Otherwise steps are: Collect info as much as you can, form your own opinions, look for outside in
views + resolve conflicts -> move ahead (keep alternative if possible)
c. Transfer – choice between Houston or Gulf who reached out to me (O&G) - > spoke to people
about kind of cases and culture -> understood that Houston project mix will give me exposure to
energy sust, plus great office culture -> very diverse, number of events and initiatives like
diversity networks and SI -> My first choice was Houston -> explore other views like higher pay in
Gulf -> did not matter that much -> Put in Houston and communicated to Gulf. As a backup,
second option was Dallas and wrote to Houston partners expressing interest so I can still get
staffed in Houston energy practice.
19. How do you prioritize things?
a. List all actions
b. Consider the following factors: value from action, lead time and effort, dependencies
c. Improvise and adapt as focus area changes
20. How would you like to be remembered on the alumni magazine?
a. A friend in need.
21. How would you like to be remembered as?
a. I hope for what I did - As someone who led change in clean tech (my goals)
b. But surely for How I made people I interacted with feel – I want to be able to help them, have a
positive influence – be it team members and friends at college, juniors, co-workers
22. Tell me about a person we both know and you admire? Why?
a. Sylvester Stallone
23. How would your parents describe you when you were 12?
a. Calm, does not eat
24. 2 best advices in life?
a. You have the right to action, but not the results
b. Staying the same is moving backwards
c. We’re kept from our goal not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal

Life decisions

1. Why MBA?
a. Hardskills:
i. Expertise in cleantech and energy space – stay abreast with latest trends and
developments
ii. Learn how to develop competitive growth strategies and inculcate a culture that
encourages and manages innovation -> to help energy cos grow cleantech portfolio and
later help startups grow
iii. As I look to join a VC – develop required deal sourcing, structuring and financing skills
 iv. Learning about KSFs of startups will help me identify right startups. And coupled with
consulting skills help mentor startups and not just invest
b. Leadership and teamwork – delegation, decision making in uncertain scenarios, being inclusive
and interpersonal in teams, motivating members to remain focused on goal
c. Last but not the least – an influential and close-knit network
2. Why MBA now?
a. Over the years, working in consulting, esp. the year I spent in Houston, learning about the energy
market, trends.. My goals have crystallized
b. As I move towards achieving my goals, I feel I have a strong base to build on, contribute to a
program I join and in the process learn more
c. Also, I believe that over the next 5-10 years the cleantech and renewables industry is going to see
a number of breakthroughs, supported by favorable regulations:
i. Regulations like IMO 2020 has been passed – ULSD and desulfurization; C tax is expected
given paris agreement - CCUS
ii. Storage innovation for renewables and cost reduction – EV TCO parity in mid 2020s
d. So in the next 2-5 years, I can help companies prepare for the change and strategize as a
consultant
e. Then moving into the VC space, help boost this transition by funding and mentoring ventures as
the demand for clean tech rises

College related

 Why IIT Kharagpur?

a. My rank was not as great as I had hoped and I wanted to study Chem Engg because of my
interest in the energy sector. IIT Kgp allowed me to take the risk to join another department and
then switch by ranking in the top 5% at the end of first year
b. Amongst IITs IIT Kharagpur had the best extracurricular opportunities. Being located 70 miles
away from the city, the campus has a very vibrant student life and opportunities to get involved
in student led activities. I think coming from a rural background, and mostly working individually,
I wanted to spend 4 years in an atmosphere that had team-working opportunities.
 Why Chemical Engineering?
a. I was interested in the energy space. Before Joining IIT Kharagpur, I did a project on organic solar
cells, interacted with professors in the chem engg department – they had a great program with
experiential courses. Relevant to the energy and oil and gas energy.
 How has Chem. Engg helped you at BCG?
a. Program with O&G and petchem industry related courses – helped me when I moved to Houston
and worked with O&G and downstream companies.
 How will chem engg help you long term?
a. In the short term as I look to rejoin BCG Houston and work with Houston energy corridor clients, I
think a Chemical engineering degree will remain extremely relevant. Building on the knowledge I
gained during the undergrad and the energy market expertise I will gain at school (through x,y) –
it will be useful even after that
 What was unexpected at college?
a. Surprised to see so many of my friends there
b. Professors were amicable and supportive – 1st year – recommended books, encouraged me, tips
and tricks
c. Food and infra were bad beyond expectation – but still it’s my favorite place. Equalized ppl
 What was your favorite class?
 a. Chemical process technology – industry related processes (very practical); program included
experiential things like industry visits.
 What would you do differently if you could go through your college life all over again?
a. Two things:
i. Take courses at other schools like VGSOM
ii. Try a Foreign internship – see different work cultures, meet new people
 What will you improve at your college?
a. More experiential and project based courses. Industry treks. Team based projects. Flex
curriculum
 3 advice to juniors?
a. Take a couple of electives/courses beyond your dept
b. Mingle outside your regional group and be a member of at least one society
c. Fight for and do an internship every summer even if it’s a project with a prof
 College internships and what did you learn?
a. 3 internships.
i. Indian institutes of science education research – working on targeted drug delivery.
Learnt to structure and plan a project
ii. IISc – out of my comfort zone. Image processing work – deal with quick ramp up and
application
iii. ITC Ltd – professional project. Own a module and stab at management.
1. Lead pilots and a team of 30 people.
2. Negotiations with contracted manufacturing unit. Where expectations not
aligned

Job related

1. Describe your job in simple language

a. We help companies solve problems – be it what is their long term strategy or transformations
programs like how to improve their operations and way of working resulting in cost savings. We
helps different types of companies like manufacturing, oil and gas or startups.
b. We work in small teams – 4-5 members, but a few teams can be as big as 50+ members each
subgroup working on different parts of the problem
c. We typically draw from our expertise of working with different similar companies, doing similar
work across diff companies or simply by looking at the information from an outsider’s
perspective.
d. Work with different companies, industries, work cultures. You get to travel and stay in diff places,
fun team events.
2. Describe a typical day at work
a. Travel to the client site from hotel
b. Starts with a team discussion – brainstorm on decision points (storyline, workshop plan etc.),
share learning about different modules
c. If you are leading your module – then you discuss next steps and workplan with your team
d. Analyze -> discuss with client -> small group workshop -> team discussions/ brainstorming.
3. 2 biggest accomplishments?
a. TIP – helped bcg
b. Sustainability work – not only help bcg grow, but also impactful work
4. Why consulting?
a. It’s a great experience – across industries and functions
b. Work in different teams, adapt to diff work atmosphere – I wanted to get exposed to that early in
my career
 c. Heard great stories about the travel and seeing new places
5. What do you like most about your job? What do you dislike most about your job?
a. Like – the variety of exposure and fast paced nature of the job – different companies, topics,
teams
b. Dislike – sometimes you have to leave a few problems unsolved. E.g., we were doing a
turnaround work for a cement client and realized that we can help them with their long term
growth plan. But the work did not translate into a case. Gave a feeling that the work has
remained incomplete
6. Who was one good manager in your job? Why?
a. Steve Spencer. Two reasons:
i. Aware of developmental goals and engineered situations to allow for that
ii. Structured thinker – worked on a short term due diligence – tends to get very
unstructured and crazy. Steve was extremely calm, and the team felt that things were
under control, part of the plan – led to a higher efficiency
7. One good piece of advice you received? How did you put it in practice?
a. While working with anyone (esp. to manage clients and team leaders) understand their priorities
and interests. That will ensure a smoother conversation.
i. E.g. worked with a PL who was involved in a number of proposals – tried to give
leverage by managing junior associate’s module and being proactive. This meant less
fragmentation on the project leader’s part -> smoother project
ii. Client – transformation program, found out that a key client is bothered about credit of
the work. Cleared the air upfront, always allowed him present findings – much smoother
journey
8. Describe a poor manager at work
a. Fragmented – align something with him, later he used to lose track of what was aligned. I used to
over-align – drop a note with the summary of discussion, if I was running solo – drop a note
summarizing key points
b. Limited focus on team’s development goals – repetitive work to enhance speed of output. Can be
balanced with upfront coaching + pre-alignment
9. What decision did you make recently?
a. Green team – we moved to zero plastic and per cutlery in the Houston office, flag paper usage
(single side prints), different colored garbage bags for recyclable waste
10. Tell me about your last review
a. Strengths: PS (qualitative and quant) for holding the pen on the central strategy piece that aimed
to optimize the portfolio of the company; P&E – quick TAT and effective client engagement;
Team contribution – ran Lunch and Learn sessions
b. Weaknesses – devote more time to slide storylining and crisper slides; going ahead spend more
time thinking about the way-forward for the case and delegation as I look to lead entire projects
in 1-1.5 years
11. Tell me about a decision you made involving data?
a. A project that involves a large number of small costs to be optimized (manpower, admin costs).
The recording and alignment process is extremely lengthy (80+ columns) and taking up significant
time of the team (20-30%). Decided to spend a week creating models in excel and alteryx to
automate the same
12. Tell me about a business story you have been following
a. Crude oil to petrochem unit by S. ARMCO. Big trend as they move to produce higher value
petchems vs gasoline and diesel – underlines demand destruction of fuel
13. Tell me about the constructive criticism you received
 a. More concise during executive presentations – I was judged “at tenure” on that. Prepare before-
hand. Think about headlines and write down the flow. Provided development opportunities –
half a workshop where I pitched an investment proposition. Advice helped a lot
14. 3 advice to new hires?
a. Do not underestimate the value you bring to the table and hence do not shy away from speaking
up during meetings. Everyone will appreciate your thought
b. Do not lose touch with clients you interacted closely with – they are industry veterans and
hopefully good friends
c. Take part in office activities – they are fun and you also build deeper connections within BCG
15. How did your role evolve as you got promoted?
a. Responsibility – more crucial and heavier modules
b. Expected drive things independently, manage your clients and module
c. Mentoring junior members, co-lead subteams
d. Provide thinking support and leverage – overall direction of the project, next steps
16. Strategic plan of your company?
a. Grow 2x in 5 years (revenue) – key drivers being digital (GAMMA, DV), large scale
transformations. Region wise – APAC.
17. Why did you move to US? 3 culture shocks?
a. Gain experience in the energy space. Houston is the energy capital and hub for BCG’s energy
practice. Exposure to working with clean tech companies and VCs – helping them diversify their
portfolio, invest in clean tech and renewables
b. Culture shocks –
i. People are more secure and clear about their priorities. Upfront about saying no
ii. No one honks – in India it’s needed to survive on the road
iii. Typically people do not carry wallets – did not need to use cash!
18. Misconceptions about India:
a. Hindi is the national language and everyone speaks Hindi – actually only 30% speak Hindi as a
mother tongue. There are more than 700 languages spoken
b. Caste system – situation is not as regressive. Targeted reservation. Awareness through movies –
Article15. Limited to few regions
c. Indian food is spicy – not really – only in restaurants/few regions in North India. East central and
South India staple food is extremely bland
d. Only cricket – soccer, badminton (PV Sindhu at world championship)

Goals related

1. What are your short term goals?

a. Come back to BCG in a managerial role. Work with energy corridor clients and VC firms and help
them build environmentally sustainable growth strategies. I will help them identify investment
opportunities based on the favorable trends like marine bunker fuel regulations, advancements
in storage and EVs. I will also help them strategically balance the attractiveness of the
opportunity with their right to win – e.g. map core capabilities like partnership management to
opportunities like playing an orchestrator role in setting up renewable microgrids. This will help
make the strategy robust and sustainable.
2. What are your long term goals?
a. I want to transition into the VC space. Join a VC like OGCI or KPCB that focuses on clean tech.
Drawing from my experience of identifying opportunities in the energy market, I believe I can
help the firm back the right startups. Then drawing from my consulting skills, I can also help them
grow. Further down the line, I want start my VC fund in India – there are a number of clean tech
 startups in India focusing on clean energy access – but need patient investors and mentors to
explore different revenue model. I want to support them and help them grow.
3. 1 company you admire in your goals related field?
a. Simpa network – rural solar dev. Innovative installment payment model and participation in
village economy
b. OGCI – collab fund by O&G cos. reduce methane by 30% by 2025. Low C solution and C capture –
>15 startups. 1B+ investments. Admire this move as it is something that puts the O&G cos on the
same side. Targets zero emissions by second half of century as per Paris agreement
4. 2 role models you admire in your goals related field?
a. Vinod Khosla – clean tech investor
b. Elon Musk – visionary. Tesla, Solar CIty
5. Trends in target industry?
a. IMO 2020 – reducing S emissions from marine fuel by 80% - 2.5% to 0.5%. Big trend – that will
reduce the regular catalytic cracking, enforce desulfurization
b. EV – Tco parity by 2026 coupled with progress in Storage. Tied to demand destruction of
Gasoline in W Eu, USA
c. Focus on C capture and rising C tax – $50 - $150B will be raised
d. Distributed renewable energy and microgrids – with steady generation and storage
e. Circular economy – reusable plastics
6. Why work in the US?
a. Gain experience in the energy space. Houston is the energy capital and hub for BCG’s energy
practice. Exposure to working with clean tech companies and VCs – helping them diversify their
portfolio, invest in clean tech and renewables
7. What will you do if MBA does not work out?
a. I feel a MBA is important for me, both from a hard-skills and soft-skills POV. I will definitely re-
assess as to what went wrong, develop and reapply. Meanwhile I will continue on the track.
Attend internal conferences, chat with partners to learn more about energy market, building
competitive strategies. Develop leadership and comms skills by participating in workshops,
aligning with case team leadership that I want responsibilities that help develop the same.
8. What if the goals do not work out?
a. Energy transition trends slow down – target partnership within consulting and help companies
prepare for the long term change. So that we can bring in the clean energy wave efficiently
(without further delay)
b. If clean energy gets solved entirely tomorrow – I will focus on consulting and help companies
transform and adapt, be more efficient in delivering the solution
c. Not to work in the energy space at all – I will focus on education sector in India as a part of the
public sector PA. Support divisions like Niti Ayog and plan school infra, strategies to promote
attendance and quality education

School related

1. Why this school?

a. Spoke to Sushil who comes from an energy background looking to move to consulting; and Sayan
(my college senior) who is looking to work in clean tech investing
b. Talk about hardskills, softskills like leadership and teamwork, network, and a couple of more
personal reasons
i. As a consultant: Strategy and competitive advantage, Collaborative innovation program
to help cos inculcate an innovation centric culture; apply skills through Wharton Global
Impact consultants
 ii. Cleantech: BEES, Kleinman center, energy club activities; explore analytics related
breakthroughs
iii. VC: Wharton Venture Partners, NY VC treks, l;earns KSFs through sem in SF to guide and
not only invest
c. Develop on leadership skills like delegation, taking calculated risks, be more inclusive in teams –
McNulty program, mgmt. 610, leadership ventures. Also Influence and Negotiations class.
Listening to leaders through leadership lectures and authors at Wharton
d. Close knit network with focus on building connections and affinity within clusters
e. STEM, close to Pittsburg
2. How will you contribute to the school?
a. At IIT Kgp I worked on student welfare initiatives like the peer-based counselling society and tried
to promote D&I through a pan IIT cultural fest.
b. I hope to help foster a supportive and inclusive culture at Wharton
c. Spoke to Ben Onukwube the EVP of student leadership and engagement – he told me about SLFs
and Cluster Presidents
d. As SLF I will organize campus treks, mixers, talk about the different campus clubs, my experience
at Energy club, Wharton follies and help first years acclimatize
e. As Cluster president, I was discussing with Ben how Inter Cluster group events like Dramatics can
build cross cluster and cross year connections as well as affinity for Wharton
f. On D&I front, I look forward to organizing panels during one Wharton week and look forward to
the opportunity of leveraging the Vice dean’s fund to work with other groups like Wharton 22s,
Forte Foundation and build studies/thought leadership on Men as Allies
g. Non cultural: Energy club – organize conferences on sustainability (analytics applications in
cleantech); lead consulting club; co-lead GIP India
3. Which courses are you looking forward to? Which are you dreading?
a. Prof Massey’s “Influence” and “Negotiation” classes
b. Dreading – not really (other than the snow); One of the advanced finance classes like Energy
Finance
4. What will you improve about the application process?
a. Some more explanation on the optional question – I heard during my visit during the
conversation with ADCOMs that how one can use the section
5. Top resource you will pick at the school?
a. McNulty program
6. Ideal MBA environment?
a. Supports you on your path – curriculum, experiential program and network
b. Encourages you to explore and see what else is out there and broadens your horizon
c. Access to jobs while promoting career options like entrepreneurship and social impact
d. The culture should be diverse, collaborative and inclusive
e. Network – lifelong learning and support
7. One thing you wish is true about the school and one thing that is not?
a. Tangen hall and the promises materialize – great initiative in terms of tech and entrepreneurship
b. Not finance focused – but as I visited the campus and wrote my essays – I realized its not
8. One challenge you foresee?
a. VC related internships – difficult for immigrants. But Sayan did that and is joining the VC firm
Glenfarne. Will seek his counsel. Else, also open to working with a Cleantech startup
9. Which other programs? How do they compare to this school?
a. HBS – Flexibility coupled with grade non-disclosure; clean tech focus & major & community
b. Kellogg – Finance side of things – so Wharton’s Alumni base and curriculum has an advantage
c. Both: McNulty program is a differentiator; option of stem courses
 10. Wharton motto?
a. Knowledge for action
11. 5 questions to ask the interviewer?
a. How to start intra cluster dramatics?
b. How do you leverage the VD fund? Saw that 2 or more groups must come together but what type
of projects?
c. In semester projects/internship opportunities with VC firms?
d. More than ever focuses on people, campus, finance, analytics at wharton

Behavioral – leadership

1. Give an example of leadership

a. Formulation of TIP – leading a team of 10 BCG ers. TIP is a revamped approach to transformation
cases. Methodology piloted in India and then operationalized globally.
b. Situation: BCG India struggling with transformation cases. 5 discontinued cases
c. Task – reinvent BCG’s approach to these cases so that they hit their targets.
d. Action: Designed and simultaneously piloted
i. Energize – 1. Clear alignment, org wide alignment and commitment – avoid grudging
compliance. First you put together a robust case for change, then you build tools to align
individual baselines, targets and regular pulse checks
ii. Equip – designed learn apply embed programs, conducted 20+ trainings in the pilot.
iii. Execute – war rooms – impact centers, very visual – physical charts and standing
meeting. Pure focus on decision making and problem solving – cutting through layers of
status checks and bureaucracy.
e. After pilots and demos – BCG India saw a 15 Pp jump

Top 5 failure reason – unclear objectives, overlapping programs, grudging compliance, not equipped, layers of
bureaucracy

Learning – strategically look at an org and devise a strategy to drive something complicated; managing multiple
stakeholders (partners to associates, developers, clients with whom we were piloting). Also made me realize how
influencing people, motivating them, enabling and empowering them are key to success

-ve – mult opinions as we crystallized learnings. Huge debate as we pushed for the physical war rooms (I was a big
proponent) – general pushback was that in a world of digital. Its like taking a step back, its not a cool thing to pitch
etc. We iterated a number of times on the design. Piloted – in 3 months the diff was visible. The division was 25-30
pp ahead of others in tgt vs ach. More importantly the mood was diff – alignment, motivated by recognition, sense
of urgency

2. What is your leadership style?

a. Focus a lot on the team motivation – I prefer a team that is passionate the cause and focused on
solving the problem
b. Care about the people on the team – they should meet their development goals, have a positive
experience
c. Active problem solving and debate within the team
3. What is your view of an ideal leader? How do you fit in that definition?
a. Has a vision – trying to solve the right and meaningful problem
b. Can communicate the vision well and hence, motivate the team
c. Cares for the team and engineers opportunity to develop
d. Structures the solution, but is not rigid – encourages different ideas and brainstorming
e. Can tackle difficult conversations
 I need to develop:

f. Delegation skills keeping in mind development goals

g. Accommodate ideas while time-boxing these discussions
h. Position bad new properly and negotiate outcomes – e.g. give the message that we are not
reaching the target. Rather than take a route why the target is not justified, position it like what
needs to get done
4. Describe a time when you lead a team and convinced someone to accept your ideas. Did anyone
recognize your efforts?
a. Japanese conventional power investor
b. We were trying to build a
5. What will you improve in your leadership style?
a. Delegation skills: Once delegated similar type of work to A to speed up output. Should have
ensured variety. We discussed it and with the new work, sent relevant material to ensure faster
ramp-up
b. Balancing discussions esp approach – do not want to spend excessive time iterating, but also
want to ensure that everyone is aligned. Way is to have a going in view. Take note of points of
difference and take decisions (pro/con/rationale)

Behavioral – teamwork

1. What do your team members think about you? (3 words and describe)
a. Passionate – Soccult GC; came second – next year won
b. Crisis solver – 100K vs 1.8 M target. Other divisions were ahead at 70-80% of target. These
situations supercharge me. 3 80+ hours weeks, got the client to parallel process, held large scale
ideation workshops across all accounts
c. Mentor – I spend a lot of time trying to help other team members. I enjoy doing that. Junior team
members (college, BCG teams)
d. Street smart – scored high on practicality and effectiveness. Improve speed to output – predict
bottlenecks. Project to transport coal from one mine to another – forced client to have an
alternate route and vendor with 20% of volume. In case the main one fails.
e. Analytical – Dissect a problem and create frameworks around it and project from incomplete
data. Portfolio analysis – I was handling the central module that tied together present
performance, internal projections, market trends and scenarios to narrow down the list of 80+
process techs to a list of 15
2. What do your team members dislike about you?
a. When I see someone not being as passionate about the project, I used to feel disappointed.
Spend time charging that person up. Revised approach – find the root cause. What is the person
looking for and then take a call
b. I believe in open team discussions – sometimes I fell that communicating the full scope of a bad
new with everyone might get people a bit uncomfortable. Understand the nature of the team a
bit better. For example, once I said that we have to win this event in order to win the
championship – while that analysis motivated me to work harder, for a few members the
pressure affected their performance
3. Tell me about a team conflict?
a. mult opinions as we crystallized learnings. Huge debate as we pushed for the physical war rooms
(I was a big proponent) – general pushback was that in a world of digital. Its like taking a step
back, its not a cool thing to pitch etc. We iterated a number of times on the design. Piloted – in 3
months the diff was visible. The division was 25-30 pp ahead of others in tgt vs ach. More
importantly the mood was diff – alignment, motivated by recognition, sense of urgency
4. How will you deal with a difficult team member?
a. Important to not react in a curt manner upfront
b. Step back and think if there has been a misunderstanding/confusion – if yes then clarify
c. If no, try to think where is the opinion/thought/behavior coming from and solve for that reason
d. Else lay some clear ground rules so that there is no limited value add
5. How will you deal with an underperforming team member?
a. Understand what is driving the low performance – motivation or capability?
i. Motivation/interest – try to engineer situations which align with development goals
b. Happened – new C – module under-delivering – understood that he started solo (a lot of
expectations for a new hire, limited guidance, catchups with PL was demotivating). He gave up.
i. I though he needed support. So when we discussed this whole thing very openly, I
requested that he gives our team up a chance. We will work together on this for 2-3
weeks and lets see if at the end we feel we have made progress or not.
ii. Helped him bring in structure, streamlined communication with PL, brainstormed on
how we can expedite initiative identification. Ended the 3 weeks on a massive progress
6. Tell me about a time when you were effective on a team you were not in charge of?
a. Content – central module – complicated, that tied together present performance, internal
projections, market trends and scenarios to narrow down the list of 80+ process techs to a list of
15
b. Mentor 2 interns and junior associate
c. Organize lunch and learns every week contributing to learning and development
7. Tell me about a time when you worked well leading a team?
a. HP at IIT Kgp. Multiple initiatives aimed improving the student life and culture – peer based
counselling system, inter IIT social and cultural tournament, hall infra development project
b. I think I was able to build a good team and keep them motivated. I was able to put forward a
cause that motivated people and explain how the things we are doing will help
c. Involve juniors really well, coach them on how to manage different vendors, collaborate with
administration, how to run a society and liase with different stakeholders. I think this was the key
to sustainability of these initiatives
d. Other than this we were able to divide up the work properly, put in a quality effort
8. What will you improve in your team-working style?
a. When I see someone not being as passionate about the project, I used to feel disappointed.
Spend time charging that person up. Revised approach – find the root cause. What is the person
looking for and then take a call
b. I believe in open team discussions – sometimes I fell that communicating the full scope of a bad
new with everyone might get people a bit uncomfortable. Understand the nature of the team a
bit better. For example, once I said that we have to win this event in order to win the
championship – while that analysis motivated me to work harder, for a few members the
pressure affected their performance
9. Describe an ideal team environment
a. Sense of motivation towards the end objective
b. Working environment –
i. Inclusive – open to opinions, contrasting views
ii. Development oriented
iii. Elements of fun that take relationships beyond transactional in nature
c. Processes should result in a feeling that we are adding value or making headway
10. Describe an experience of working in a diverse team
a. Team based out of 3 countries – US, UK, India
b. Tactical norms – team meetings and schedule to work around the time zones
 c. Cultural differences – ppl in the US prefer calendared meetings – we came to a common ground.
Check ins on calendar, rest we drop a line on WhatsApp and call
d. Google what did I learn working in a different country

Behavioral – Challenges

1. Tell me about a time you faced a challenge at work and how did you influence the outcome?
a. Digital transformation at a mine. Previous efforts by other firms were unsuccessful
b. Having spent time on the field – at shopfloors, mines, I realized that these initiatives never
involved the end users – the shop floor workers, shop floor mangers, operators. Handed over to
dept heads
c. Option was to take a step back – enable the workforce; or risk sustainability
d. Involved them in workshops to make tools that are really useful; trained them, recognized fast
learners
e. Led to a much more fruitful program – 50% more than target
2. Tell me about a time when you didn’t agree with an idea. How did you work to reach a resolution?
a. Debate while formulating TIP – key aspect was impact centers – physical war rooms. But before
finalization there was a lot of debate
b. Huge debate as we pushed for the physical war rooms (I was a big proponent) – general
pushback was that in a world of digital. Its like taking a step back, its not a cool thing to pitch etc.
We iterated a number of times on the design. Piloted – in 3 months the diff was visible. The
division was 25-30 pp ahead of others in tgt vs ach. More importantly the mood was diff –
alignment, motivated by recognition, sense of urgency
3. Tell me about a situation when your ethics were tested? What did you do?
a. TURN for a new cement co. CEO asked me for a view of personnel – who should be warned/
considered for promotion etc.
b. Given my interaction with everyone was under the premise that they can be genuine with me
and discussions are not evaluator, this was not something I felt comfortable doing
c. I proposed initiating a branch health index (branch was the most granular team/unit on ground)
based on definite parameters like tgt ach, network expansion etc. Also had a presentation day
where they would present their vision, problems and proposed solution to the CMO – and will
get a score on preparedness
d. This was acceptable to the CEO and fostered a competitive and healthy spirit
4. Tell me about a time when you took a risk?
a. Engg entrance exam – I was not getting Chemical engg at IITs, but was getting anything anywhere
else. Wanted to study at IIT KGP – good chem E prog – experiential courses, focus on extracurrics
and team building given remote location
b. Decided to join and then switch dept – you have to be in top 5%. Spoke to profs who encouraged
me
c. As a first generation engg, did not know a lot about how you can change specializations, that
minors also carry weights – so was a risky call
5. Give an example of you adapting to something? How do you generally adapt to new situations?
a. Moved to the US and started working with the Houston office
b. Upfront discussion on expectations/collecting info on practices/observing others/learning fast
and not repeating mistakes
c. Discuss with PL (workstyles and expectations) – his/her preferences
d. Discuss with other Consultants – what does a typical day looks like. Tell him / her about how I
used to do things etc. Spot diff.
e. Keep observing a lot and learn fast – hey they devote time to the email subject – good practice
lets imbibe
 f. Open and force yourself out of your comfort zone – I found myself in the middle of discussions I
could not relate to (talk shows – never watched them – quite fun); Tennis fan; -> be a bit open
and outgoing -> overcome initial discomfort
6. Give an example of working with limited information
a. Working with a Japanese investment firm- who wanted us to help them find a few investment
opportunities
b. Did not have visibility as to what they actually want (other than preferably a unicorn) – so we
extrapolated their right to win from previous investment data, their long term objectives and
aspirations from interviews and reading publications. Then vetting all these during workshops
c. For opportunities – estimated the market attractiveness – opportunity size, growth, margins –
interviews and running estimates – e.g. EV charging market from EV projections

Behavioral – Failure

1. Describe a situation when, while leading a team, you failed. How did you react? What did you learn from
this?
a. Leading an 80 member sales team during a turnaround program with a cement co – EBITDA
improvement
b. Their premium product sale was low – high margin pdt. Teams opinion was that for a new
company it is very difficult to sell the premium cement as customers always defer to a reputed
brand for such an application. I was pretty convinced
c. Later in conversations, the partner on the case encouraged me to think out of the box and not
get influenced by what the team was telling me
d. Actually went on to do the research with IHBs, masons in different districts – understood that
there were initiatives we can take
e. We launch a new brand of cement – most profitable pdt
f. I failed to realize this opportunity –
i. Vet judgement calls and do the research
ii. Think more openly and unconstrained
g. Later for growth strategies this learning has helped me a lot – stretch my thinking and not just
limit to present capabilities. E.g. suggested that an inv group ventures into EV and they are doing
it
2. How have you been improving your weakness?
a. Delegation skills – delegating. Felt this in the last to last class. Spoke to P who was rated highly.
How he thinks – think from the other person’s POV as well as align other stakeholders if you are
not the final authority. Next case take up a similar role to co-PL two associates. Going better. Still
improve -> xyz activities
b. Delivering bad news/tough negotiations – being upfront, anticipate a few questions, have an
explanation but not passing the blame, have a couple of way forwards. Negotiations class?

Behavioral – Going above and beyond

1. Tell me about a time when you had to go beyond your typical role?
a. TURN with emerging cement co.
b. We were working on EBITDA improvement program
c. CFO and team was busy with an acquisition. New co – not fully ramped up team
d. Volunteered to help by leading the budgeting process
e. Step out role for me, not contracted for
i. Set up a cadence of data collection and validation
ii. Set up team workshops – plant, logistics and sales team
 iii. Broke down the macro targets to push sales in high profitability hotspots to maximize
profits
iv. Closed all loops and aligned all
f. Lauded for the alignment with EBITDA improvement program and relationship building
2. Tell me about a time when you saw an opportunity others did not?
a. Digital transformation at a mine. Previous efforts by other firms were unsuccessful
b. Having spent time on the field – at shopfloors, mines, I realized that these initiatives never
involved the end users – the shop floor workers, shop floor mangers, operators. Handed over to
dept heads
c. Involved them in workshops to make tools that are really useful; trained them, recognized fast
learners

Visit related

1. Tell me about the class you attended?

a. Accounting 742, Prof Richard Lambert
b. Marketing611 class – Raghuram Iyengar
c. Interactive classes – not a forced interaction but quite spontaneous
2. How will you contribute to the class?
a. Perspectives on energy, transformations and change management
b. ABC was being discussed – talk about how
c. Branding – talk about the case of a cement company; commodity product how do you promote
brand recall
3. What surprised you during the visit?
a. Learned about the STEM majors and grade non-disclosure
b. Expected a forced nature to the conversation
4. Who did you meet?
a. Bassem Khoury
b. Sushil Shetty
c. Sayan Pramanik
d. Anusheel Pareek
5. Where do people stay?
a. Rittenhouse square
6. Professors you are interested in?
a. Jeremy Siegel – monetory economics and global economy
b. Prof. Siggelkow – Strat and comp advantage
c. Prof Mike Useem – Mgmt610
d. Environmental sustainability and value creation – Prof Kousky