Rahul Karippath

Why did you decide to do an MBA?

After completing my undergraduate degree in Engineering, I thought I was done with the academic world. But, after spending considerable time in analytics strategy consulting and interacting with leaders from the largest organizations in the world, my gaps in business knowledge became apparent. I knew that I needed to learn about business functions such as Marketing, Finance, and Operations to become successful in the corporate world. An MBA degree was the perfect next step in my career to achieve this objective.

What is the most significant thing you've learned at Ivey?

Ivey, through its cases, teachings, and events encouraged me to think of business impact in terms of environment, employees, communities, and future generations. For instance, every core course had one class session in which we discussed a case from the lens of Sustainability with a guest lecturer. These sessions forced me to take a holistic approach for resolving the issues presented in the case, helping me become a responsible business leader.

What's been the most surprising aspect of the Ivey MBA journey to date?

The strength of the Ivey network has amazed me. Every alum that I reached out has been supportive and encouraging. They genuinely want each of us to succeed and are ready to help in any way they can. The ‘paying it forward’ culture was most visible during the Get Connected events, which helped me build strong connections with Ivey alums across industries.

Describe the role you play professionally:

I was a Manager in the Analytics Consulting industry, working on solving challenging business problems across industries with data science, business acumen and technology. My last role focused on client relationship management, project management, developing strategy roadmaps and business development.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

Since I was in the consulting industry prior to my MBA, the most challenging aspect was embracing change. Every few months, I would be in a new project with a new team, new clients, new industry, and a new business problem to solve. It made me feel overwhelmed and exhausted. To overcome this feeling, I began focusing on the learnings I get with each project, and the opportunity to work with new people.