Millions of talented people hate their current jobs and ignore their passion and interests which holds the potential to help them grow bigger and better. They say that choosing passion over a money minting job could be challenging as it is a difficult path to tread. As a consequence, they stick to the jobs which they hated being employed at. The primary reason for sticking to an uninteresting career is the inability to work out the career plan and move on. In some cases people are unwilling to take big risk in life due to the fear of failure.
In a book by Marcy Morrison, ‘Finding Your Passion: The Easy Guide to Your Dream Career’ she talks about choosing a career via identifying your passions and strengths. She propagates how a person can strengthen his/her abilities to work and create a personalized plan for success. For personal growth and establishing a sense of accomplishment, it is necessary that you spend your life in doing something that matches with your interest and passion. Your efforts will automatically multiply and will bear ripe fruits of success.
In this article, we have compiled a list of top 10 IIM graduates who chose their passion as a means to earn their living. At present, they are the face of our nation and have earned awards and accolades in uncommon yet lucrative fields. Another reason that could be attributed to their outright decision making is their degree which is recognized worldwide along with the exposure and skills they acquire while undergoing the coursework at IIM. These MBA aspirants get a golden opportunity to be a part of IIM family and earn a degree which is an edge in their career growth.
Read about the top 10 IIM graduates who have chosen their passion as a career:
1. Harsha Bhogle (IIM-A)
Occupation: Indian Cricket Commentator and Journalist
Born: 19 July 1961
About: Bhogle began his career as a cricket player for the APCA and has played small level cricket. He is the first Indian commentator to be invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during India's cricket series before the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Harsha pursued his masters from IIM-A and later got married to his classmate from the same institute. He and his wife Anita Bhogle have written a book titled The Winning Way based on business knowledge drawn from the sporting world.
2. Chetan Bhagat (IIM-A)
Occupation: Indian Author, Columnist, Motivational Speaker
Born: 22 April 1974,
About: Author of the best-selling novels such as Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008), 2 States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011), What Young India Wants (2012) (speeches and columns), Half Girlfriend (2014), he has won hearts of millions of readers with his writing style. He began his career in Goldman Sachs in their Hong Kong office as an investment banker for nearly a decade. An interesting fact about Chetan is that just like Harsha Bhogle, he also found his life partner while pursuing his degree from IIM. You can find out more about the author through his official website.
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3. Arvind Subramanian (IIM-A)
Occupation: Chief Economic Advisor, Govt of India
Born: 7 June 1959, Chennai, India
About: He is an Indian economist and the current Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. He was the Assistant Director in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund. Subramanian has authored essays and other publications on growth, trade, development, institutions, aid, oil, India, Africa, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). He has
4. Raghuram Rajan (IIM-A)
Occupation: Former RBI Governor
Born: 3 February 1963, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
About: He is the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and is currently serving as the Vice-Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements. He was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund from 2003 to 2007, the youngest to occupy the position. In 1987 he earned a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where he was a gold medalist. In 2014, he was conferred with the Governor of the Year Award 2014 from London-based financial journal Central Banking.
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5. Amish Tripathi (IIM-C)
Occupation: Novelist & author of Shiva trilogy
Born: 18 October 1974, Mumbai, India
About: He gained popularity among the youth of India for his novels such as the Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, The Oath of the Vayuputras and Scion of Ikshvaku. The Shiva Trilogy was the fastest selling book series in Indian publishing history and the Scion of Ikshvaku was the fastest selling book of 2015. As a token of achievement, Forbes India has ranked Amish among the top 100 celebrities in India four times in a row (in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015). Before developing a penchant towards writing, Amish worked in the financial services industry, in companies such as Standard Chartered, DBS Bank and IDBI Federal Life Insurance for nearly 14 years.
6. Shikha Sharma (IIM-A)
Occupation: Managing Director & CEO of Axis Bank
Born: 19 November 1958,
About: She began her career with a job in Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) in 1980. In 1992, she set up ICICI Securities which is a joint venture of ICICI and J.P. Morgan. At present she is the Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director of Axis Bank Limited and Chairperson and associate Director of Axis Asset Management Company Limited since June 1, 2009. Shikha Sharma is one of the two women entrepreneurs who are at the helm of a private bank in India. She was Ranked 89th in the list of 'World's 100 Most Powerful Women' by Forbes magazine in the year 2010.
7. Rashmi Bansal (IIM-A)
Occupation: Non-fiction Writer and Public Speaker
Born: 8 March 1985
About: Rashmi is a renowned writer and has published masterpieces such as 'Stay Hungry Stay Foolish', 'Connect the Dots', 'I Have a Dream' and 'Poor Little Rich Slum'. She is also the Co-founder of cult youth magazine JAM. Rashmi is also a consultant for international youth research agencies such as The Futures Company (a division of WPP, London) and Flamingo Research (Singapore). Her flair for writing has also extended as a columnist on popular Indian news portal ‘Rediff.com’. With a degree of IIM in hand, she has achieved unfanthomable heights in her career. We hope to read many more inspirational books from the prolific writer.
8. Mallika Sarabhai (IIM-A)
Occupation: Dancer (Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam) and Politician
Born: 9 May 1954
About: She is an Indian classical dancer hailing from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She began her career in parallel cinema, when she was 15. She also manages the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts located at Ahmedabad. Not only this, she also ventured into politics by announcing her candidature against the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, as an independent candidate. Read more about her by visiting her official website.
9. Salil Shetty (IIM-A)
Occupation: Secretary-General of Amnesty International
Born: 3 February 1961, Bengaluru, India
About: He is a human rights activist who currently serves as Secretary General of the human rights organization Amnesty International (2010–present). He began his career with the Indian IT company Wipro, and also served as Chief Executive of ActionAid from 1998 to 2003. Further, he was entrusted the responsibility to direct the United Nations Millennium Campaign from 2003 till 2010. So, IIM is not just about business but also about social causes if you put your education to right cause.
10. Nila Madhab Panda (IIM-B)
Occupation: Filmmaker
Born: 18 October 1973
About: He is an internationally acclaimed Film Maker and Producer. He is the renowned director of I am Kalam. He studied entrepreneurship at IIM Ahmedabad. He founded Eleeanora Images and International screen writers lab which prove to be path-breaking for the Indian film industry. He is also credited with starting a children's movement in Indian cinema. He has also been conferred with “Bharat Gaurav (India’s pride)” award in 2015. As an MBA aspirant you must take inspiration from him because he has achieved what many others fail to achieve even after directing numerous movies in their lifetime.
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We hope that these top 10 IIM Graduates must have inspired you to pursue your passion as a career choice. They are a perfect example of ‘achieving excellence by integrating your strengths with your passion’. By graduating from IIM, you can also make your future in the field which your heart wants to follow.
We wish you Goodluck for a bright career choice!!
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