Kishan Malur - EMBA Class of 2015-B - Institute of Product Leadership

Kishan Malur - EMBA Class of 2015-B

Program Manager, Cisco Video Systems to Senior Product Manager, MagnaSoft

Background

“I spent 12 years with a Cisco division-Service Provider Video Domain (earlier NDS) creating high-tech products. I started as Developer and moved to Program Management and Product Management. I recently moved to Magnasoft as a Senior Product Manager in IOT/Mobile solving real consumer needs.

I really enjoy being in a space that involves a lot of interaction with people and technology.”

Why IPL

“While I have always been comfortable with technology, I needed to improve on business skills. I started looking at business schools for classroom MBA courses. One of my colleagues recommended IPL to me. I was a little reluctant,but attended an info-session with an open mind, and interacted actively with students and professors.” “The two main reasons I chose IPL are the cohort networking, and experiential learning the program offered.”

The IPL Experience

The collaborative classroom –“The best aspect about IPL is going back to the classroom. It seems simple and trivial, but it’s actually very powerful. The classroom is a social leveller – it does not matter whether you are a Product owner or in Sales. Your goals are aligned and you work in a really collaborative mode.”
Collaboration with cohorts – “The diversity is wonderful, and the conversations are brilliant.”
Faculty –“Every professor at IPL has had a good impact. The main reason is that they are not just academicians, but real practitioners. They bring very good experience and that reflects in the valuable conversations we have in the class.” “Particularly, Professor Pinkesh Shah has made a big difference in my career in the last year. At every stage he has encouraged us to apply what we learnt. He has coached and mentored us, and spent valuable time with us. He has motivated us to go that extra mile, and apply our learning in the real world.”

Key Takeaways

Cohort Networking – “I have met numerous industry leaders in IPL events, which I have not had the opportunity to do in the last five years. In fact, I met my current boss at an IPL event.”
Experiential Learning – “Unlike learning just for a certification, here [at IPL] the pedagogy is to learn and apply. You really have to be on your toes. [For example,] one of the assignments was to go to a coffee bar and understand consumer behaviour. Unless you do this well, you will not learn design thinking. You cannot learn design thinking sitting in a class.”
Deliverables add value to your Resume – “Assignments such as developing integrated marketing plans, analysing Google glass for its value-prop and how to bring it back to the market etc. make you generate deliverables. All the deliverables get accumulated for 18 months At the end of 18 months you don’t need a resume to show to your hiring manager. All you need is to show them the deliverables that are the work that you have done for 18 months.”