Mandar Shastri is currently Vice President, CIB Technology at J.P. Morgan. With approximately 20 years of experience, he has also worked with Tata Consultancy Services. Mandar specializes in JAVA EE, Spring, Unix , Flex, LINUX, PERL, requirement gathering and analysis, software development and testing, and business knowledge of stock markets. He attended the Berkeley EPM 2021-22 cohort.
The Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley has four defining leadership principles that are core to how the school approaches business and organizational thinking. Mandar shares his experience of and learnings from the program based on those four principles.
I studied at one of the most prestigious schools in the world. I work with a Fortune 500 company. I also enjoy taking instructions from seniors and working in a well established system. Everything is great at work and in school. And our professors taught us to be empathetic towards the world, to look at things from the eyes of others, and to stand up to be change-makers and innovators – to make a difference. Perhaps, this is the most difficult thing to do. But, I try to keep evolving, especially with the support of my cohort.
-Question the Status Quo
I am doing really well with my startup project. My partner and I are getting all the support from our network to succeed. It’s been a great journey so far. We recently presented our project at UC Berkeley for which we were judged runner up in the final round. While congratulating everyone for their efforts, our mentors at UC Berkeley asked us to show humility in victory and grace in defeat. Being in the company of such distinguished faculty and a diverse and talented cohort, my attitude is in check and my confidence level is high.
-Confidence Without Attitude
Going back to school is so much fun. Although, this was a different kind of school. Our faculty told us that there are no right or wrong answers. We are on a quest to find better solutions. So, I keep trying to improve my answers.
-Students Always
Sometimes, we played games in the classroom, and I always wanted to win. I did my best to win these games, but just because somebody didn’t want to share their trump card, I never did. Why is it so difficult to win? Maybe the game itself is wrong? Maybe my peers don’t want me to win? Our faculty advised us that the secret to overcoming a personal challenge is to help others with theirs. I will try this trick next time.
-Beyond Yourself
I still have a lot to learn and practice to be a UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business student who lives by these four defining principles. But the faith that the faculty and cohort have in each other will be my guiding light in the journey ahead.