Speaker 1: Hi guys, my name is Shrikant Mirgu, I am the co-founder of the Toppers and Tile, and in this video I am going to talk about why I left my management consulting role in EY, and what are the dark realities and harsh realities of management consulting in India. First of all, I will talk about company cultures. As a management consulting company, projects have very short deadlines. So your entire work is output driven and work driven. Your entire professional life, your personal life is not given much attention. Companies call you as a resource, not as an employee. You are treated as a resource only. Because you are a resource in a project that is going to run for 3 months and you just have to give the output and close the project. For that, whether you work in 6 hours or 16 hours, no one is bothered. But no work is done in 6 hours because the deadlines are so short and the data is so heavy that you have to work at least 12-14 hours. And only as a consultant, I didn't have to work, my seniors, managers, senior managers, directors and even my partners. In a lot of projects, literally throughout 3-4 months, I used to be in meetings with my partners even at 2 in the night. After that, I used to get up at 7 in the morning and meet my clients again at 8 o'clock. So for that, I had to prepare at night. It happens that at 5 or 6 or 7 in the night, you will be told that you need data on this point tomorrow. So you have to sit all night and work on it with your managers and present it in the morning. So if you look at the work culture and company culture, it is completely output driven. Nobody is particularly focusing on your health. All focus is on your professional work. Coming to the other point of work environment. As a consultant, where do you work? We know that as a consultant, you feel very fancy that you will get to travel. Every week you are taking a flight to client locations. You will get 5 star hotels for travel and accommodation. The client will also give you a driver and a car with which you will travel to the location. But if you go to the location, then let me tell you my experience. My first client was a hospital. So for that hospital, if I am doing manpower work, then they will give me a table in the HR department. I will sit there and work. If I am working on a revenue leakage project, then I will sit in the finance department. If I am working on a pricing or strategy role, then I will sit on a small table in the strategy office. So there is no proper work environment. Whatever space is given to you in the client's office, you have to sit there and work. In the example of my friends, there were a lot of people who worked for mining companies, petrochemicals companies. Mining companies have offices far away. In mining areas, where there is a small office, there is a makeshift office. You have to sit there and work. Though you have to travel, but the office environment is not that good. So the work environment is not a very good experience in consulting. But apart from work, your travel and accommodation is taken care of. So that is how the work environment is not super fancy or glamorous. On the ground, reality is completely different. And this is true for all the consulting companies in India. Coming to the point of my initial motivation, why did I join EY in the first place as a management consultant? Why was this my motivation? When I got into MBA, my dream was to work in a company where I get a lot of impactful work. Whatever my work is, I can show a lot of substantial improvements to my clients. So just to give you an example, my first project in EY, in 6 months, I made a profit of around 70 crores in the first 6 months itself. Although I had no knowledge of that industry, zero knowledge. But throughout the duration of the 6 months, my managers guided me, everyone explained to me. So it was such an environment, such a project, in which I got learning very fast and very quickly. But what I expected, it was almost the same truth that my work was very impactful. But I didn't think about how much impact my personal life aspect had. Like my health. If I stay in a hotel for a week, in a client's hotel, and I have a meeting at 2 in the night, then my food schedule is not good. I am eating at any time, I have acidity, gastric troubles, I am disconnecting from my family because every other day I am in a different part of India. It gets really difficult to manage your personal life. You can give importance to your professional life to an extent, for some years. After that, you will think that I have some personal aspirations, I am very conscious about my health. So to make sure of my health, I don't eat biryani, pizza, or burger every day. So just to give you an example, I had a manager who ran a project for almost a year. And in that entire year, that person used to live in the same room in the same hotel. So that became his home. And every weekend, he used to fly back to his home. So for a whole year, every week, he ate food from the hotel or from outside. And I did the same thing in the first 2 years, and I saw that it had a huge impact on my health. And I thought, no, health is wealth, so I can't compromise on my health. And that is why, now I will talk about the reasons why I left EY, Management Consulting. The first reason is that my health was having a huge impact. Apart from that, the stress that comes with work. Because of the stress, because the deadlines are very short, you can't complain. Because if you don't work, then you will have to sit on the bench and your competition or your team will have to work for another member. And the more you work, the more bonuses, the more salary you have to draw. So that competitive feel is there all the time in consulting companies, which increases the stress a lot. And we have heard a lot of news in recent past about EY, McKinsey. People not being able to sustain the work stress and doing wrong things, which they should not do. And I also felt the same during my time in EY. And that's why I decided that no, I have made priorities in my life. My health, then my family, and then my work. So you can't keep work first. There's a reason why I left EY. But while leaving EY, I thought what are the transferable skills that I can learn here. Which I can take to my other companies or other ventures. So there are a lot of skills like my Excel skills. I improved a lot in 2 years. My business analytical skills. And then my communication skills. If I compare my learnings as a management consultant for 2 years in EY. Versus any other peer from GBIMS who is working in a different company. So if you look at my CV and their CV. I have a lot of projects. High value projects. High impact projects. But at the same time, I am not that satisfied with that job. And the industry I was working in, I was not a very relevant industry. I was working for the hospitals industry. I was working for the healthcare industry. But if you look at my CV. I am a civil engineer. And I have 2 years of work experience in education. So I have nothing to do with healthcare. Still, I did a lot of projects for 2 years. I did a lot of revenue optimization. I did a lot of high impact work for a lot of clients. Then I realized that this industry seems very passionate to me. Then I thought that I should do something in an industry which I am very passionate about. And then I decided to join Viacom 18. Right now, I work in Viacom 18 for IPL. For BCCI. Since I like sports a lot. I like cricket. I like football. So right now, I am in the revenue strategy role in Viacom 18. Pricing for IPL. What you see on Jio Cinema. BCCI. Pricing for bilateral events. How to sell ads. How to sell to clients. How to manage revenue. That is my job. Which is very interesting, which I feel. If you want to know more about it. How I got into Viacom 18. And started working for BCCI. Please let me know in the comments if you want to watch that video. Now I will be talking about. What are the things you should be aware of. If you are an aspiring management consultant. And what are the things that you will be experiencing. And what are the things that you should keep in mind before going into. As an advice, I want to tell you. Which person should go into management consulting and who should not. If you are someone early in his career. Who wants to learn a lot. To gain networking in a particular domain. Then consulting is the right fit for you. Because you will go for 2 years. You will learn a lot. You will do a lot of work. After 3-4 years. Your salary will also be very high. After a very high salary. At one point of time. Your lifestyle will be such that. You will think that now I will go to another company. Now I have to take a salary cut. Because as a management consulting. You are making anywhere around 30 lakhs. If you see BCG, McKinsey, Bain. Their average salary is around 35 lakhs. Big 4's average salary is around 25 lakhs. Now you will draw a good salary. But the cost of your personal life. So things that you should be aware of is that. Yes, the learning curve is very steep. You will get to learn a lot. But at the same time. Your nutrition, your health. It will have a lot of impact on your lifestyle. You will not be able to give your family a lot of time. You will feel very disconnected from your family. There are a lot of small things. Like you have to work even on holidays. Even if your client has a holiday. But there is no holiday for you. You have to finish the project. Within the stipulated amount of time. So you have to finish. So as a fresh MBA grad. I think consulting is the best job. For maybe 1 or 2 years. Or maybe 4 years. This is my personal opinion. Obviously people continue to more. More than 4 years. But I have seen that. Anywhere around 2 years. Around maximum people. Leave the management consulting job. And they move on to an industry. Which they are interested in. And consulting gives you this benefit. That you can exit in any industry. Even if I was working for healthcare. For like 2 years. Still I managed to get into. Viacom 18. Where I was working for IPL and VCCI. Which was my interest. So because of the transferable skills. Which I learned in EY. I utilized them. To get a job in an industry. Which I am very passionate about. And that is how I ended up. Working for IPL. And you know. Followed my passion. So these are the few pointers. Which you should definitely keep in mind. If you are someone. Who is going into a management consulting role. So these are my reasons. Why I left EY. As a management consultant. If you are someone. Who is preparing for MBA CET. 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