Introduction - Intuition is always in vogue.

Hard to imagine that in just a little over a month's time, will be the close of my first semester. Perfect timing for my attempt ever at blogging!

Holding down a full-time job and attending business school while making time for family and friends can be daunting for even the most adept schedule-jugglers. Welcome to my world of juggling, as I share with you a practical insight into the program.

My decision to join this MBA program, was driven by many considerations. A key factor for me was its robust curriculum and breadth of academic content in the general management space. I value the school's legendary scope of academic interests. However, my candid discussions with current and past students about the program, and my positive experience dealing with the admissions staff during the pre-application process, simply 'felt' that the program was the right 'fit' for me. It is this human element that I sense even during the program, has been extremely effective in surviving my academic journey so far.

I am finding that my business school experience over past few months has been more than just what I learn in the classroom. I am learning a lot from my class mates, especially my team mates who are just a very smart group of people. In turn I am learning about myself too. Ask yourself whether you can imagine being part of a program that (in our class) managed to attract 65 highly talented and motivated people, at various professional levels and from diverse industries. A sample industry representation in my batch includes,financial services, technology, education, consulting, pharma, healthcare, real estate, manufacturing, retail and non profit. Ask yourself whether this incredible diversity might just give you a snapshot of life beyond your current boundaries, and hopefully, beyond your current comfort zone.Personally, the program is helping me harness my intuition, embracing diversity, thereby creating a platform for business success. I do believe in intuition - that feeling you have about something or someone, without knowing quite why. The difference is that now, with the exposure gained since the commencement of this program, I am gradually and slowly learning to apply my intuition with a powerful academic edge. It is helping me to not only use the skills of logical reasoning, but more aptly put - it is further enabling me to rely on my own 'inner knowing'.

This is just an introduction- more to come soon!

Meet Dina Keswani

Seeing my parents succeed in life through various trials and tribulations has taught me that reality is truly what you make of it. My street smart attitude therefore developed towards work and life in general, is what has got me this far in my career and my professional accomplishments. This has particularly equipped me to be an effective professional, having gained over a decade of business experience while employed with companies like NIIT, MphasiS (an EDS company), IBM, Accenture, and presently American Express. I have worked with both functional and matrix type organizations, at various levels, specializing in diverse capacities and functions namely sales/management, IT consulting, business process operations, and general management. This fruitful exposure both in the United States and in India included collaborating with teams in these countries, as well as project teams in Slovakia, Germany and the United Kingdom. My degree in Economics, from the Stella Maris College, Chennai India, provided me a good backbone as I made my way up in the corporate world. Gradually I developed an increased need, respect and motivation to absorb and apply fundamental yet critical business perspectives, in my everyday work. My academic accomplishments with Cornell University’s ILR Off Campus school, made me even more keen to expand my scholastic potential and in particular - the Cornell Executive MBA program.Studying at Cornell will mark yet another new beginning to reflect on the past, contemplate the present and to dream of the Ivy future. I am indeed fortunate to be given an opportunity to share my insights and experience with the Cornell’s Executive MBA program.