An Officer and a B-School Student

A lifetime of experience and deep thinking led this Indian Army officer to Babson College, where he hopes to both gain and share knowledge

by Vivek Bhatnagar

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Vivek Bhatnagar
Babson
MBA Class of 2008

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Hi, friends. Prior to B-school I was a career military officer in the Indian Army, and was a commanding officer of an electronic warfare regiment deployed in counterinsurgency operations in India. I took premature retirement in July, 2006, after completing 21 years service. The training, discipline, and structured regime of army life have prepared me to define clear objectives, set priorities, and manage often meager resources.

Furthermore, through my experience working under uncertainty and persevering in adversity, I have learned to be a motivator, leader, and a team player. These have provided me with foundations to handle challenges that confront most business organizations.

What makes me tick? What made me join the Army, and how has this shaped my current career aspirations? Well…as a child I was an over-energetic boy who never shied away from embracing trouble. I would pull street dogs by their tails, chase butterflies or speeding cars, or come home from play covered, from head to toe, in mud.

Bound for Adventure

In school, I was a relatively bright student, a keen sportsman, a member of the school band and the National Cadet Corps. My extensive and diverse interests helped lay foundation for what later developed into an all-round personality.

My dream of joining the Indian Army and leading a life of unending adventure was realized when, at the age of 17, I was selected to the prestigious National Defense Academy. After thousands of punishing pushups, hundreds of miles of grueling marches, long bleary nights of mockup exercises—with undergrad studies thrown in for good measure, I was a proud Second Lieutenant, ready to take on the world, and all that it beheld.

My four years of challenging Army training taught me a lot. I used to take pride in my physical fitness, but here I learned that beyond a certain threshold, physical capabilities and/or limitations lose their relevance, and only those with vast reserves of mental grit, determination, and the will to persevere come out on top.

Sharing the Knowledge

As I take the next step in my career, I recognize that I need to build my corporate business perspective. My short-term goal is to join a management consultancy firm so that all that I've learned in my service along with new skills that I'll gather from my MBA can help business organizations in improving themselves.

Later, I plan to also teach while continuing to take up consulting assignments. This will allow me not only to learn but also to share my learning with others. Furthermore, my long-term goal is to create my own consulting company.

In my career spanning two decades, I have acquired many insights into individual and organizational aspects of a society. Since I plan to switch careers, I want to explore my options in an academic setting with sufficient real-life challenges. While I had traveled to the U.S. and worked in Sri Lanka, and therefore had some international exposure, I needed a global education that would prepare me to harness expanding business opportunities in a rapidly shrinking world.

Well-Rounded Life

My intellectual curiosity, creative pursuits, and search for excellence have led me on a fascinating journey. I was an engineer, and a qualified commando. I wrote computer programs in eight languages. And I speak four languages, besides having formally learned two more (German and Sanskrit).

I have authored papers, conducted studies, taught courses, mentored officers and cadets, designed communication strategies, presided over courts of inquiry investigating charges ranging from insubordination to sodomy, organized national-level exhibitions and TV broadcasts, conducted psychological operations, and trekked over 17,000 feet on combat mission patrols. I sketch, paint, and draw cartoons. I have won photography competitions, participated in shows and concerts where I acted, played guitar or sang, ran hurdles, commanded and won military parades, and captained the Army Signals football (soccer) team.