It is never too early to start building relationships: Konark Singhal, MockBank

The brief I was given and what I did in the first 100 days at work
Marquee consulting firms like Bain have a wonderful way of inducting employees. My first fortnight was spent in an induction programme in Singapore. The induction was like a mini-MBA. I got to spend time with senior business leaders from the APAC region who used to frequent the Singapore office. After the training, I was given real customer cases to handle. I think my first two cases were for a global food major and for a global insurance major, respectively.

The worst mistake I made

I think I could have taken more care of my health. I neglected my sleep and ate unhealthy food, which affected my health and I still repent it.

The best leadership lessons I learnt

This is something I learnt almost inadvertently. It is never too early to start building relationships. Your current co-workers may not be movers and shakers, but in a few years many of them will be the who’s who of the industry. One person I worked closely with in Bain was Daniel Shapero, who is now a VP at LinkedIn. Some others I know have launched businesses.

My biggest innovation

I won’t call it innovation as much as I will call it self-discovery. For one of my cases, I had to conduct phone interviews with rural tractor tyre dealers in Western Europe. These were cold calls to people who, in many cases, did not even understand English. I was quite proud of the fact that I was able to dig deep and do a firstrate job of these interviews and drove a lot of insights into the western European tractor tyre market. My favourite trick was to get the interviewee to enlist the help of a local translator to converse with me.

How I had fun at work

Work itself was fun. Being a very young company, the mood in the office was mostly jolly. Dinners, parties, weekend trips, football, darts, off sites; the list is long.

The best friend I made on the job

I developed a good relationship with a senior partner in the firm, who later became the chairman of the company. Besides me having his counsel for difficult decisions in my life, it paid off when he became an angel investor in my venture.

How I managed my work-life balance

At that stage of life, work-life balance did not quite matter. Work was fun and there wasn’t much to do outside work, anyway. I used to stay with a close friend and we used to hang out after hours and on weekends discussing everything under the sun