1.

Customer Obsession
Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn
and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess
over customers.
• Who was your most difficult customer?
The consultant in NTL Lemnis, who was responsible to bring customers from
M.E region, was the most difficult customer, I’ve faced so far. The proposals that he
used to bring for LED lights were often very stringent which were not available in the
product portfolio. For his requirement the product has to be often outsourced &
tweaked to make them conforming to the given requirements
• Give me an example of a time when you did not meet a client’s expectation. What
happened, and how did you attempt to rectify the situation?

• When you’re working with a large number of customers, it’s tricky to deliver
excellent service to them all. How do you go about prioritizing your customers’
needs?
I’ll take the example of the photography club in the campus which is responsible for
covering all the events.
Many of the requirements that come to the club are to create pre & post A/V of the
events, marketing collaterals like poster, banner or the pictures after the event,
We classify it as a pre-event & post-event tasks:

Prioritising Pre-event tasks:

 Do the task which grabs the most publicity like videos, followed by the
posters
Prioritising Pre-event tasks:
1. Edit the few best pictures out of the lot and upload it to the Facebook on the
same day to garner maximum likes, edit the rest and upload it the next day to
the batch
2. Followed by a post video if possible

• Tell the story of the last time you had to apologize to someone.
-The team made a blunder while covering the grand alumni meet event,
though a clear-cut instruction were given, the junior coordinators didn’t cover the
alum as much as they did their own batch. Moreover, the alum of the picture wasn’t
as clear as they should be, I had to apologize to the alum coordinator for the team’s
mistake

2. Ownership
Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for
short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own
team. They never say “that’s not my job.
• Tell me about a time when you had to leave a task unfinished.

• Tell me about a time when you had to work on a project with unclear
responsibilities.
It was my time in Cognizant when I was assigned to a newly acquired account of an
American insurance co. The account was in a shadow phase & the consultant used
to give the instruction over call every night. Being newly assigned to the account I
didn’t much clarity about the work.
I took up the task of to document the KTs video with the instruction & screenshots,
so that no only I could learn also I could do documentation which was anyways
required by the company

3. Invent and Simplify

Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always
find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere,
and are not limited by “not invented here”. As we do new things, we accept that we
may be misunderstood for long periods of time.
• Tell me about a time when you gave a simple solution to a complex problem.
Master contract & Proforma Invoice
• Tell me about a time when you invented something.

4. Are Right, A Lot

Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek
diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.
• Tell me about a time when you were wrong.
While hiring from the junior batch for my club, I had a preconceived notion that, a
fresher would work harder & would be more enthusiastic than an applicant with a 3
years of work-ex, I was totally wrong on this the guy who has 3 years of work ex not
only works diligently for my club but also volunteers to be a part of the events of
others
• Tell me about a time when you had to work with incomplete data or information.
It was during my internship project, when I went to the field I had no idea about how
the grain looks, to whom to contact & what question to be asked.
I garnered all the information during my visits on the field
5. Learn and Be Curious
Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are
curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.
• Tell me about a time when you influenced a change by only asking questions.

• Tell me about a time when you solved a problem through just superior knowledge
or observation.

6. Hire and Develop The Best

Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize
exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the organization. Leaders
develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others. We work on behalf
of our people to invent mechanisms for development like Career Choice.
• Tell me about a time when you mentored someone.
My buddy was having hard time getting placed during summers. I mentored him by
connecting him to my friends who were placed in the company that was about to
come for the process, as well as took his mock PI & asked him to be get hold of
himself.

PPC?TRAdE/mentoring/CV
7. Insist on the Highest Standards
Leaders have relentlessly high standards – many people may think these standards
are unreasonably high. Leaders are continually raising the bar and driving their
teams to deliver high quality products, services and processes. Leaders ensure that
defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.
• Tell me about a time when you couldn’t meet your own expectations on a project.
I did a competition called Bajaj Offroad. It was a marketing competition where
objective was to increase the sales of Bajaj bikes in Africa. There were frequent
clashes in the ideas of mine with the partners. She, being interned with a FMCG co.,
was more adamant of her views & opinions. To come to the agreement, I proposed
to take care of the ppt as well as the number crunching. The ppt didn’t come out well
as for me it’s difficult to make a ppt when I couldn’t visualise the idea behind it

• Tell me about a time when a team member didn’t meet your expectations on a
project.
Same alum comm story
8. Think Big
Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold
direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways
to serve customers.
• Tell me about your proudest professional achievement.
I was into the product management team, when I got a chance to work on the export
operations with the CMO when the manager for the concern department left
suddenly due to his health issues.
Having no knowledge about the imports & exports, firstly I tried to gain the superficial
& working knowledge from the various stakeholders in the company to keep the
process running & then with time I took up a course from IIFT in imports export
management to execute the task more efficiently
• Tell me about a time when you went way beyond the scope of the project and
delivered.
My summer internship project required me to find cash…………in 5 commodities…..,
there are delivery centred required for
9. Bias for Action
Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not
need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking.
• Describe a time when you saw some problem and took the initiative to correct it
rather than waiting for someone else to do it.
Setting up photography society
• Tell me about a time when you took a calculated risk.
I secured a seat IMT Ghaziabad in straight out of the clg, took risk to not join as I
didn’t have any work experience & wanted to try for a better one
• Tell me about a time you needed to get information from someone who wasn’t very
responsive. What did you do?
During the time of my summer internship the project required me to talk to traders to
get the information of the suppliers as well as the carrying cost. Few of the traders in
Indore weren’t receptive at all. I started asking about other players in the market
(their competitors) and if they can supply the commodity in this huge quantity. It
made them little insecure and they started engaging so to gain our firms account/

10. Frugality
Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and
invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size or fixed
expense.
• Tell me about a time when you had to work with limited time or resources.
When we started the weekly photographic competition, the # of entries were less
than 5 as the batch wasn’t enthusiastic enough about the prize money which was
only Rs 250/-. Instead of increasing the price, we came up with an idea to setup a
photo corner on the notice board, where we would put up the hard copy of the best
pictures so that it could be much more than the winning amount.
11. Earn Trust
Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are
vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do
not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark
themselves and their teams against the best.
• What would you do if you found out that your closest friend at work was stealing.
It would depend on the nature of stealing, I would confront him with the evidence, &
ask him to not repeat it again, keeping a close eye on him in future.
• Tell me about a time when you had to tell someone a harsh truth.
It was the time when I was coordinator of the trade club at IIFT. We were designing a
magazine for the Trade conclave, which was to be taken place in Dubai. My co-
coordinator, who was responsible for compiling the articles & designing the interiors
wasn’t doing the great job. There were mistakes in the alignment or inconsistency of
the font type & size. Even after pointing out, these mistakes were happening
repetitively. Then I spoked to him about his inefficiency clearly & made him realise
that we are going behind our schedule for getting it printed.

12. Dive Deep

Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are
skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.
• Give me two examples of when you did more than what was required in any job
experience.
My time during NTL Lemnis, when I just joined

13. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit

Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even
when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are
tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision
is determined, they commit wholly.
• Tell me about a time when you did not accept the status quo.
A small example could be my time in Cognizant when the project was in the support
phase & there was no activity going on, I asked my mentor if we can bring some
improvements, & I designed the portal where only entering the clinical
• Tell me about an unpopular decision of yours.
• Tell me about a time when you had to step up and disagree with a team members
approach.

• If your direct manager was instructing you to do something you disagreed with, how
would you handle it?

14. Deliver Results

Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right
quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never
settle.
• By providing an example, tell me when you have had to handle a variety of
assignments. Describe the results.
• What is the most difficult situation you have ever faced in your life? How did you
handle it?

• Give me an example of a time when you were 75% of the way through a project,
and you had to pivot strategy–how were you able to make that into a success story?