Tete-a-tete with Dr. Rohit Vishal Kumar, Associate Professor, IMI Bhubaneswar

About Dr. Rohit Vishal Kumar

Dr. Rohit Vishal Kumar did his schooling from Ram Krishna Mission, Narendrapur (WB) in the stream of Humanities. He did his graduation from St. Xavier’s College Kolkata and then his MA in Economics from CESP, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Subsequently he joined IISWBM Kolkata and completed his MBA in Marketing. He was picked up by Indica Research Private Limited from campus and then for the next three years he worked in the Marketing Research Sector with various clients and organisations. He worked in ORG-MARG Research Limited, New Delhi and TNS-MODE, Kolkata and has handled clients like ITC, TATA Steel, Bengal Ambuja, ABP Group, Eveready Industries, Smithkline Beecham and MUL. Given his Economics, Marketing and Research combination and his love for reading, he joined academics in 2001 as Research Associate at IISWBM. In 2003 he registered for his Doctorate with the University of Calcutta and was awarded the degree in 2007. His topic of doctoral research work was “Lifestyle and Psychographic Segmentation & Classification of Metropolitan Consumers in India for Effective Marketing”. In 2006 he joined XISS Ranchi as Reader. He joined IMI Bhubaneswar as Associate Professor in July 2016. In his free time,he loves to play with computers and read novels. He is developing his own website which is available here – https://rvkumar.in/ – but it is still a work in progress. He is well versed in Marketing, Marketing & Social Research and Statistical software (R, SPSS, Systat, &Statistica)

Q1. Tell us something about your journey so far?

To be frank I never ever thought that I would end up as a professor. As a young kid I had a dream to join the Indian Navy and be a submarine commander; but somehow fates had a different plan. Due to my weak eyesight any career in armed forces was out of question. After Class X I decided to focus on Economics and went on to do my B.Sc. in Economics from St. Xavier’s College Kolkata nf then MA in Economics from JNU, New Delhi. However, while doing my masters my interest was piqued in understanding how real life worked. For example, the professor in the economics class would talk about how people make choices amongst two goods – but is real life so simple? Do we make choices only based on the budget line? Or are there other reasons. This got me thinking and I ended up pursuing MBA in Marketing from IISWBM Kolkata. I was placed in market research organisation where I was fascinated by how consumers made decisions – some decisions seemed rational, others completely irrational and some which I cannot make head or tail out of it. One fine day my Head of Department at IISWBM called me and offered me the post of Research Associate. It was a tough call – give up a 20K corporate job for a 6K fixed stipend job but I decided to take the plunge. People say “curiosity killed the cat” but in this case curiosity saved the cat and I went on to do my Doctorate in Consumer Behaviourfrom University of Calcutta. In the meantime, I was promoted to Lecturer. I continued in IISWBM till 2006 and then shifted to XISS Ranchi as Reader where I stayed for 10 years. In 2016 I joined IMI Bhubaneswar and here I am for the past 4 years.

What I am today is due to the influences of many people – from my teachers in JNU who taught me to think critically to my colleagues and seniors in the Market Research Industry and in Education from whom I learned every day.

Q2. Tell us something about your experience in IMI. How has that experience helped in shaping you as a professional?

As already mentioned, I joined IMI Bhubaneswar as Associate Professor in July 2016. To be frank, when I joined, I was extremely apprehensive because IMI Bhubaneswar was a comparatively new institute established in 2011. And given the fact that any new institute faces multiple hurdles for survival I wondered whether I had made the right choice or not. But I soon realised that IMI Bhubaneswar was no pushover. Carrying the brand aura of IMI Delhi and a determined management headed by Prof. Ramesh Behl (Director) IMI Bhubaneswar took on the challenges head on and slowly and slowly started to emerge as an institute of repute in India. In 2017, we made it to the top 75 institute in the NIRF list of management colleges and then in 2018 we moved up to 66 and this year we are at 63. The PGDM programme of the Institute was accredited with NBA and in 2019 the accreditation was renewed till 2022.

I was given various administrative charges from the beginning and the learning experience was unique. In any established institute there are well laid down procedures and as a “Head” or “Chair” you tend to follow the procedures; but here – many a times – we had to invent the procedures and take decisions which had not been taken before. Systems had to be invented, tested, implemented, and monitored. In fact, as a young institute we all had to contribute in various verticals – giving us a varied exposure. These exposures helped me to better understand the various functions and the synergies needed to run a management institute and in the process made me a better administrator.

Q3. Tell us something about your daily work routine. How do you manage your stress levels in workplace which every professional faces these days?

The daily work routine consists of reaching office, taking classes, and tackling administrative work. OF course, any job would have stress, but the stress lessens when you love your job. Teaching is a superb stress buster for me. The continuous interaction with bright young and inquisitive minds helps a lot in reducing the stress. On days when I feel I need more stressbusting; I go on an hour long walk by myself. This solo walk allows me to be at peace with me and nature and acts as a wonderful stress buster.

Q4. What or who has been the biggest influence in your career so far? How do you balance your personal and professional career?

Would you believe it when I say teachers? My teachers have played an immense role in making me. I used to be a student who used to fear maths but my Class VIII teacher, for some reason, took special interest in me and before long I started loving maths. Another such influence has been my Head of Department at IISWBM. About 3 years after I had completed my MBA, he suddenly calls me an offer me the position of “Research Associate”. The salary was extremely disproportionate to what I was earning in the corporate sector. It took me hardly a few seconds to make up my mind. I believe it was destiny because if he had not called I would probably still in corporate sector.

In trying to balance my professional and personal life I try to keep the two segregated as much as possible. I do not believe that office is home or that home is office. Of course, 100% separation is not possible, but I try to keep things separate as much as possible.

Q5. Which is the biggest challenge you have faced so far? What are your future plans?

The biggest challenge I had faced was trying to do my doctorate while working as Research Associate at IISWBM. The challenge was compounded by the fact that I was also given the responsibility to coordinate the placement process. This meant I had very little time for myself and would reach home tired. It was as this juncture that a senior of mine suggested that I need to apply myself regularly to my doctorate work – at least 1 hour per day. He also suggested that I should make time after dinner. So that is what I did for the next three years. Every day I would sit down at 10:30 pm and study till midnight. This allowed me to get into the groove of things and complete my doctorate in time.

As regards future, I have only one plan – to go on teaching as long as I can. If I can touch the life of even one student, then I feel myself rewarded.

Q6. How has the lockdown impacted you as a professional?

The lockdown came out of the blue and caught us all unaware. Suddenly we were scrambling to come to terms with video conferencing software and online examination software. For Skype to Zoom and from Pen and Paper to Electronic Quizzes, the change was drastic for many of us. Fortunately, having a technical bent of mind meant that I did not have a long learning curve. Taking classes became a challenge. A Teacher depends on the non-verbal cues coming from the students for controlling the classes and making the class interesting. The non-verbal cues are missing from the electronic teaching which makes it difficult for us to gauge the overall response of the class. In such a scenario we need to rely on additional technologies (flipped classrooms, student led classroom) to engage the students. It has certainly been a illuminating experience.

Q7. What would be your advice to young professionals and MBA students?

First advice is to young MBA students. Please stop treating education as a Return on Investment (ROI). The ROI stuff is a gimmick developed by various coaching institutes and management colleges to divert your attention from the real issue. Suppose the ROI of an institute is 2 years. Does that mean that you stop using your MBA degree after two years? The degree is lifelong, the learning should also be lifelong. Focus on learning and the rest will fall into place.

And for the young professionals I would say that you are in the profession during the most challenging times. VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) would rule your workplace. Be prepared for change. Be prepared to learn – unlearn – relearn.  Never rest your laurels because the world is changing fast and the pace is going to accelerate.

Q8. How would you describe yourself outside your work.

Somewhat introverted person who loves to read novels and loves to tinker with free and open source software.

Q9. Any suggestions for IdeasMakeMarket.com?

This is a great idea. Congratulations to Ideamakemarket.com team for such an initiative.

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