The COVID 19 pandemic has affected us all in a number of ways. One of the great assets of the International Masters Program for Managers is the opportunity for managers from organizations all over the world to spend time with fellow leaders discussing the issues they face. However, because of travel restrictions over the past year, part of the IMPM was delivered online. The silver lining was that it allowed one of our alumni, Dr. Sujit Ghosh from Cycle 12 of the program to join his spouse, Divya Bajpai for one of the modules. Sujit, a social entrepreneur and Founder of Kushal, a maternal health start up, worked for Aids Alliance when taking the program. Divya is the Director of Programs at FrontLine Aids. Read about their reflections on what the IMPM has meant to them both in the past and in today’s environment.
On the impact of the IMPM in the workplace.
Sujit Ghosh: IMPM was quite special. I got insights and understanding of how organizations and leaders work in different sectors or industries and regions globally. Framed around different mindsets it provided depth and breadth of knowledge along with language, that has helped me build on my past experiences to communicate managerial and leadership issues more effectively. My subsequent strategy and leadership linked consulting work with government agencies at national levels and multinational corporations are evidence to that learning and confidence building. That’s a big leap for somebody who had worked all along in the not for profit sector and with charities!
Looking back, the multidisciplinary nature of the course appealed most to me. It’s 12 years since I graduated and I still draw upon and use on a day to day basis some of the key concepts that I took home from each module. I think I also have better appreciation of my environment in terms of what happens socio-politically. Indeed, IMPM informs my framing of the world around me to this day!
Highlights of the IMPM Action Mindset Online Module
Sujit Ghosh: The Brazil module was special as it was online and I could attend sessions alongside Divya. She and I would have joint reflection sessions each morning, which was quite special!
What stood out was how IMPM has successfully embraced diversity. Participants cut across gender, age, ethnicity, ages, geographical regions and sector. Also, the emphasis and scope of the Action Mindset in Brazil was certainly different from that in INSEAD (where I attended the Action Mindset Module), looking beyond to understand how behaviour of and in organizations are affected by social events and history. Lectures were in tune with current discourses that are taking place in relation to COVID 19 and climate change.
Since the Brazil module, Divya and I have been sharing experiences about the IMPM more often. Our acquired ‘common language’ through IMPM i.e. concepts, frameworks and terminology feature often in our conversations. Has been great for mutual understanding! Certainly recommend couples to participate.
What difference did it make to your learning having Sujit attend with you.
Divya: It brought in a different energy to my engagement in the module. I was a bit self conscious at first, especially one day when we wore the same colour jumper! But I got used to it and quickly saw how by Sujit being there, helped provide the face-to- face interaction and reflections that we didn’t have in the virtual learning space. The content of the module was also very aligned to conversations happening between us and debates going on around the world about challenging inequality in societies. We are still having conversations about the learning from the module and continuing our reflections.