How and why did I choose a career in academia?

Yesterday I taught a masterclass for the Young Leaders Programme (YLP) aspirants of the Indian School of Business (ISB). After the session, one of the participants sent me an e-mail thanking me for the session and asked me, "I'm interested in academics too. I want to know how and why did you choose a career in academia?." Actually, I had never thought about becoming a professor before. After completing my B.Tech in mechanical engineering and spending about 8 years in engineering and consulting industries, I went to Texas Tech University to pursue a Ph.D. in Business Administration. After earning my Ph.D., I have joined the ISB as an Assistant Professor of Marketing. One of my colleagues in the early stages of my professional career said, "it's not what you know, it's who you know" and this statement has been proven so true in my career. Over the years, I met many wonderful people, who have had a significant impact on my life. 

    I was born and brought up in a small village in Srikakulam, India. After finishing my elementary schooling and high school in my village, like most Indian kids, I had two options to choose from for my higher studies: engineering or medicine. Because of my keen interest in mathematics, I chose engineering. After finishing my B.Tech in mechanical engineering, I was offered a graduate engineer trainee (GET) position at a steel plant in Maharashtra, where I worked in the operations & maintenance department. That was the first time, I moved out of my home state, and during the initial days, I hated living there. But, given the close proximity to Mumbai, I used to visit Mumbai on weekends, and I met many interesting people in the Mumbai local trains. My experiences in Mumbai have completely changed my perspective on life. After working in the steel plant for some time, I met a very special person in my life, Gajanan Bochare, who was working as a Senior Consultant in a UK based engineering & management consulting firm, Mott MacDonald in Mumbai. Gajanan hired me as a management consultant at Mott MacDonald, where I worked with clients in steel, energy, and infrastructure industries. 

    After spending about 1 and 1/2 years at Mott MacDonald, I got an offer from the Corporate Strategy group at Maytas Infrastructure Limited, which was founded by the Satyam group.  That's where I met my godfather Dr. Srinivas Reddy, who spent about 25 years as a marketing professor in the US after receiving his Ph.D. in marketing from Columbia University. Dr. Reddy has had a tremendous influence on my personal and professional career. One of the best pieces of advice I received from Dr. Reddy that guided me to become a better version of myself was "Kiran, always surround yourself with people who are better than you are." At Maytas, I have been extremely lucky to work with a team of highly motivated and talented people including Jaisooraj Nambiar (ISB Class of 2005), Parul Kulshresta (IIT KGP Class of 2004), and Vinod Chathlani (ISB Class of 2008). I keep telling my students that Maytas has completely changed my life -- in a positive way. We all lost our jobs after the Satyam crisis. I was jobless for about 10 months. One morning, I sat down and reflected upon the last 10 months and more.  As they say, "adversity allows us the opportunity to find out who we are and what we are capable of." I understood that I'm passionate about teaching and I wanted to pursue my interest in academia. I started teaching as a visiting faculty in some Indian B-Schools including SIBM and NMIMS. Upon Dr. Reddy's advice, I joined the ISB as a teaching/ research associate. When I was working as a research associate at ISB, I met Dr. Mayukh Dass (Dr. Reddy's ex-student from the University of Georgia), who came to teach a course in marketing at ISB. After speaking with him about my interests and passions, Dr. Dass made me an offer to come and join as a Ph.D. student in the marketing department at Texas Tech University. I was very much excited about the opportunity to start a Ph.D., and I readily agreed to join the Ph.D. program at Texas Tech. As William Arthur Ward once said, "opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them."We were expecting a new addition to our life and I was in a dilemma. My wife was extremely supportive and made personal sacrifices, and encouraged me not to postpone my Ph.D. plan. With the support of my family and friends, I left for the US and joined the marketing Ph.D. program at Texas Tech in Spring 2014. During my Ph.D. program, I had the opportunity to learn from some of the distinguished scholars in marketing such as Dr. Shelby Hunt and Dr. Venky Shankar. After finishing my Ph.D. at Texas Tech, I got several faculty offers, but I decided to move back to ISB and focus on continuing my research on marketing strategies in emerging markets. I was quite inspired by Dean Rajendra Srivastava's vision for the ISB, and I'm extremely grateful to have got the opportunity to work with some amazing people and contribute to this wonderful institution. 


Comments

  1. Truly an inspiring journey. Feeling myself fortunate to come in touch with you at SIBM.

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  2. It's good to hear obstacles u handled and overcome and making a Fantstic Career in ISB is really awesome

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  3. Beautiful sir. Feel proud being your student.

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  4. Beautiful sir. Feel proud being your student.

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  5. Very inspiring, hoping to follow in your footsteps.

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  6. Very inspiring journey. Best wishes.

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  7. An Awesome journey which is closely witnessed at each stage ...

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  8. Professor you deserved ISB and give insightful contribution in the area of Marketing Management and Global Marketing Management.

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  9. Thank you for sharing your life journey with us! I could relate with my life to some extent. I am also Mechanical engineer, worked for 7 years in Steel industry, now I am pursuing PhD in Finance from IIT KGP and want to spend the rest of my life in academia. After reading your life story I am now energized more than ever to complete my PhD and move into academia.

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  10. A Great inspiring journey for all new generation students, Proud to be a native of Chicacole, Dear Kiran. Wish you best of luck, Raghu Uppada (ukraghu@gmail.com)

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