The MBA´s second Guest in Classroom event was a very motivational session. This time, we had the pleasure of hosting Mr. Ravi Kumar Sapata, Senior Product Manager at IONOS. He is equally accomplished outside of work with his own blog and podcast. Giving his very own example of how he moved from being a technical writer to a product manager, he urged students to pick up jobs that help the company they work for and therefore consequently themselves to make money.
The session was divided into two sections. In the first section, Mr. Sapata gave the student a glimpse into the fascinating world of Product Management by discussing concepts like product lifecycle and explaining the multitude of tasks a product manager must deliver on. Product managers basically drive the vision, strategy, design and execution of a product through a roadmap. He also emphasized the importance of building on one’s people skills as they are extremely pivotal in a cross-functional role such as that of a product manager.
In the second part, Mr. Sapata enlightened the students on how they can build themselves and become the CEO of their own careers. Drawing analogies between management of a product and building your professional profile, he urged students to invest and go the extra mile in building their brand. He dropped a few ideas to do so such as a blog, book and a YouTube channel through a personal branding pyramid, which fueled some thought-provoking discussions. Lastly, while motivating the students to go out and talk to people and seek guidance without hesitation, he suggested some books that he believed would help the students.
The Guest in Classroom #2 session with Mr. Sapata was very inspirational and gave the MBA students lots of food for thoughts.

text: Surel Surve, Class of 2021
screenshots: Surel Surve