Mentor---- Ms Sadhana Somasekhar

Home life and work life are two sides of a coin

Ms Sadhana Somasekhar is Director and Chief Marketing Officer, Focus Infotech, a leading strategic IT-HR and managed solutions provider. She oversees more than 150 employees, who provide consulting and software development solutions for clients.

A post-graduate (MS) in Medical Technology, Ms Sadhana also has an Honours in Systems Analysis from NIIT and is a Cisco certified Advanced Sales Expert. She gave up life sciences to get into a marketing career, selling networking products, computers and software.

Prior to Focus Infotech, Ms Sadhana worked in various capacities, as Vice-President (International Operations), Nexus Computers Ltd, and Chief Marketing Officer of US-based Kanoon Inc. Here's her take on four questions from Business Line:

Two things that my education/training taught me:

To be in control and confident. And to be able to come across that way, you have to be well prepared in your subject.

Effective communication brings success several steps closer.

Two things I learnt from my work/real life:

The strength and the passion of your belief will take you through whatever you attempt/address.

Home life and work life are two sides of a coin. Excelling in both is necessary to enjoy either separately.

One quality I look for the most in a new recruit:

Communication skills

A book that I read recently:

John Kotter's, Our Iceberg Is Melting.

Educational Questions--career

I have completed BE (Civil) and I am interested in MBA. Which specialisation will be beneficial for me? If I want to do my summer project, which field should I focus on?

Anjani Gupta

It is important at this stage that you prepare well to get into a good B-school. Enrol yourself in any of the reputed training institutes and work towards this objective. It is you alone who can determine which domain of management suits you. If you are interested in people management, look at HR. If the stock market, banking and insurance excite you, go for finance. If ads, promotions and customer relationships fascinate you, grab marketing. And if you have a strong liking for information technology, choose systems.

You need to make an objective assessment about your aptitude, interests and long-term vision. As a young management graduate, you can shine in any of the functional domains. But you have to decide on the branch, as you alone know what your strengths are. As far as the outside world is concerned there is tremendous opportunity in all these fields. But you have to work hard and excel in your chosen area.

Depending on the B-school you are in, and your chosen functional specialisation, industry verticals and the optional subject combinations, you can decide on the appropriate summer project from a reputed company at that point of time. Your professors will help you in the selection.

Mentor---- Mr Chender Baljee

Theories are best kept in classroom

Mr Chender Baljee

Mr Chender Baljee is Managing Director, Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd. He has over 30 years of experience in the hotel industry. Mr Baljee is a gold medalist from IIM, Ahmedabad and has also studied in American Hotel & Lodging Association and Cornell University. He is the member of Bangalore Management Association managing committee.

Two things that my education/training taught me:

To dream big.

Respect everyone.

Two things I learnt from my work/ real life:

People are as good as its organisation. So if you want to grow, invest in your people.

Theories are best kept in the classroom. Hands-on experience is a different ball game altogether.

One quality I look for the most in a new recruit:

Someone who is not here to win a popularity contest, but to do his job and do it right.

A book that I read recently:

Leadership secrets of Attila the Hun, by Wess Roberts.