mba on S Anand

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

At the DoMS, IIT Madras 2025 commencement, I shared how MBA students might adapt to an AI world.

Takeaways

The MBA syllabus will age fast; adaptability is a core competency https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=02m03s
LLMs have a “jagged-edge”. Management tools—redundancy, cross-checks, human escalation—still work https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=07m02s
LLMs already deliver hours of analyst work in minutes. Entry-level roles WILL vanish https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=14m21s
High-value knowledge jobs—strategy, finance, contract risk, market research—are being refactored by AI https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=23m01s
Learn less of grunt-work. LLMs can handle that https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=45m22s
Study with LLMs as Socratic sparring. Run “draft-critique-rewrite” sprints https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=49m17s

Funny bits

“It’s awkward when you don’t know whether to clap… I’ll give you a signal right at the end.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=01m08s
Grok-4: “Apparently it basically repeats whatever Elon Musk says.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=12m22s
To the lone student without a phone: “I love you… the rest of you, scan the QR code.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=20m02s
“At least for the next few years, use AI. Don’t talk about AI.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=39m09s
“Please sleep. Tell the LLM to do the assignments… This is going on record, but I’m not faculty, so I can say what I want.” https://youtu.be/sSyBUSuLduQ?t=49m52s

Scanned Target magazine

Mon, 09 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

I’ve scanned a couple of more pages of Target that have the job profile of the LBS graduating class of 2000 and the summer of MBA 2001. Incidentally, this magazine also publishes a complete list of who’s joined which company. Really neat idea, great for contacts.

Business India B-school rankings

Sun, 08 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

Business India’s business school rankings seem surprising. I’ll check with LBS and ask them what they think.

LBS vs IIMB

Sat, 07 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

How would I compare LBS against IIM-B so far? Let’s see.

Faculty: LBS probably wins marginally. More famous faculty, more industry experience, better communication. But like I said, marginal.
IT infrastructure: IIM-B wins!
IT management: LBS wins. They manage what they’ve got extremely well.
Companies coming for placement: LBS wins.
Placement process: Debatable. IIM-B definitely has a more student-friendly process.
Library: Books-wise, IIM-B wins. Electronic resources-wise, LBS wins.
Students: Comparable. Too early to tell the difference probably. The point is, however, that everyone in LBS has a lot of work-experience.
Campus: IIM-B wins hands down. I mean, LBS faces Regent’s Park and all that, but it doesn’t really have a campus.
Lecture rooms: LBS wins marginally. Slightly better rooms, better equipment.
Hostel: IIM-B wins. LBS doesn’t have one.
Location: LBS wins. Heart of London.
Exchange programmes: LBS wins.

LBS is ahead, but not by far.

Today, I saw a train coming late for the first time. The British Rail comes to the Ilford station at minutes ending in 3 (11:03, 11:13, etc.) Today, the train was TWO MINUTES late. Two whole minutes. Probably because it was raining. I hear people complain about the punctuality of these trains.

Well, most of the day was spent at the computer center doing assignments. If you want a flavour of what I’m doing, check out my report on Koito, which is about Pickens trying to take over Koito.

Infrastructure at LBS

Mon, 02 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

The session on Mergers, MBOs and other corporate reorganizations by Paulo Volpin started 5 minutes late. Reason: They had a problem with the computer projector. Fixing it turned out to be a hi-tech exercise, though. A guy came in with some kind of a hand-held device, pointed it around like a remote control, and the projector was on. 6:05PM – 5 minutes lost.

5 minutes later, “IP address conflict”. The Professor gives up and moves on to trusty slides. He came prepared.

Their IT isn’t all bad, though. In fact, it’s rather good. They have mail terminals scattered around the place for people to check e-mail, without having to go to the Computer Center.

The computer center isn’t far away, though – just across the road – about twice the distance from the IIM-B hostels to the Computer Center.

What’s lovely, though, is their audio-video system. They have one in each room, and the control panel looks lovely.

Their chairs are awful, though. The seats are cramped. There are no arm-rests. They don’t move. They’re too close to the table. (OK, I’m fat.) They aren’t shaped to my back. Anyway, to sit there for 3 hours on those chairs for a fidgety guy like me is tough.

Couldn’t tell much about the Professors. So far, they look just like IIM-B professors. The students on the other hand, are something exceptional. Each has tremendous work experience (a prerequisite for getting into IIM-B in the first place). There’s

a Russian consultant who used to work for BCG for 5 years (before you ask: he wants to become an I-Banker – that’s why he’s here)
an English lady who started a company called WorldCom (no, not that one: she sold the name to THE WorldCom :-)
an American IBMer who worked at Lehman Brothers for summers (his name is Stephen, and he’s not me, and I’ve never heard of him)
an English VP from Lehman Brothers
a French film production expert about to join UBS Warburg

and lots more.

LBS experiences

Mon, 02 Oct 2000 12:00:00 +0000

Today was my first class at the London Business School, and I’ve written up my experiences on day 1. I plan to keep updating it.