Koundinya “Koudy” Desiraju is an MBA Candidate in the Class of 2022 at Georgetown (McDonough) Learn more about Koudy’s journey to business school, and some great career advice that has helped him grow his career.
MBASchooled: What did you do before business school, and why did you choose to get an MBA?
I worked as a Senior Associate Consultant in Infosys back in India. Being on the implementation side of technology and platforms, I wanted to learn about the strategic decision-making that goes into deciding which technology to invest in and how the investments affect the topline and bottom-line for the organizations, and how these investments improve the customer experience.
MBASchooled: What’s one goal you have for yourself that you want to achieve before you graduate from business school?
Serve more than 100 hours volunteering and graduate as a Community Fellow.
MBASchooled: What is the most important lesson that you’ve learned in your career so far?
I have learnt to be my own Chief Marketing Officer. Early in my career, my elder brother, a couple years older than me, told me this – “Your work will never speak for itself. You have to speak for your work.”
MBASchooled: What is a career or personal development related podcast or book that you recommend for other MBA students?
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, and Search Inside Yourself, by Chade Meng Tan.
MBASchooled: Who is someone who you admire or look up to for career guidance or advice, and why?
I admire and look up to three of my colleagues at business school – Kate Bodner, Jugal Shah, and Tarun Vats. Each of them competes to win the title of “The hardest working person that I know” and they all win.
They are as on top of my goals as I am and have helped me reach one goal after the other. When I finally got to a recent short-term goal, one of them said, “Well, I guess you now have to make a new list of goals because this was the last on the list”. To be clear, I never shared a list but I did make one for myself that I worked towards. It only shows how devoted they are in helping one in need, while balancing their individual goals.