Dushyant Kanal

Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

“A student for life, ambitious by nature, a family man, a dog father,  fitness enthusiast and a music lover.”

Hometown: Army BRAT (Born, Raised & Transferred)

Fun Fact About Yourself: I can be an entertainer with a guitar in my hand or a competitor with a tennis racquet instead. Also, I love CrossFit workouts!

Undergraduate School and Major: Diploma in Hospitality Administration from ITC Hospitality Management Institute and Degree in Tourism Studies from IGNOU

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Assistant Food & Beverage Manager with ITC Hotels.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of IIM Bangalore’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? From the program’s perspective, IIMB is known for its leadership in teaching Strategy. Ten years after this education, I see myself requiring this foundation in a critical manner and hence IIMB was the perfect choice.

What has been your favorite course or extracurricular activity at IIM Bangalore? What has been the most important lesson that you have learned from it? It is not possible to dial it down to only one course or only one activity. However, I can say that the importance given to data is significant, the fundamentals, the storytelling and important use cases like ML and NLP have really been emphasized by the professors. They are in fact showing us the way to approach these changes and how to use them to our advantage going forward.

What makes Bengaluru such as great place to earn your MBA? The obvious answer is the weather, but I’d go a step further and mention the people of the city, who are welcoming and really make you feel like a part of the city. Also, being the IT capital, there is a lot of diversity in the people you get to interact with here.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: There have been multiple milestones, but the one I’m most proud of is becoming the youngest Banquet Manager in the company of the time in 2019, in one of the legacy hotels of ITC. This step-up was motivating and a drastic jump in my learning curve.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far: This aspect again cannot be boiled to one accomplishment or one event. What stands out for me is delivering quality content every day in the form of assignments, presentations, class discussions, etc. Nothing short of consistent excellence can make the cut.

These aren’t bedside readings or journals that one writes before sleeping. You need to decipher, interpret and analyze each line. Come up with your own inferences and bring them out in class to be further analyzed during discussions.

Keeping up in an environment filled with the best, it feels like a ball of energy constantly getting bigger and bigger as it is thrown around from person-to-person. Before IIMB, I could do this for one day, maybe a week if I pushed myself, but now, being here, it has become a habit.

Showing up with the same zeal and vigor day in and day out and delivering quality day in and day out, has become a way of life rather than just a flicker.

What is your class’s favorite hangout away from school? Why do you gather there? Bangalore has some great spots to hangout, and we are not restricted to just one. It completely depends on the mood and situation. As most of us are here only for a year, we like to explore new places around the campus. If we’re in the mood for just relaxing during the day, the campus itself is amazing, filled with greenery and calm spots. Otherwise, there are a lot of parks around the school. If we’re celebrating something such as the end of term exams or just want to have a breather after a hectic period of classes and submissions, the breweries around the campus don’t disappoint.

What do you hope to do after graduation? I am targeting a Product Management role. Having managed multiple stakeholders throughout my career to deliver experiences to guests/customers, while achieving business objectives and keeping it within the reach of the ones delivering that experience, I believe a PM role would be a perfect fit for me. Especially because I come from a direct customer facing role.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into IIM Bangalore? Just one piece of advice: BE GENUINE! Don’t rely on Chat GPT or anyone else to tell your story. AI, though is a great productivity tool, cannot communicate your story in the way you want the people reading it to comprehend.

DON’T MISS: MEET IIM BANGALORE’S EPGP CLASS OF 2024