Feature

Battle of Minds

Arif Ashraf Nayan

The warriors in the 'Battle of Minds' congregated on 2nd December 2006 at BAT Bangladesh's corporate office in DOHS, Mohakhali for an energizing session. BAT Bangladesh's unique talent promotion programme (un)officially began on that day. The energizing session was a day-long event which was organized for breaking the ice between the participants and give the quintessence of BAT's unique corporate culture. After experiencing different activities of that day's session I clearly understood why it is the number one preferred job for business graduates. Inside the corporate office of BAT Bangladesh I had the feeling of entering into a completely new domain, replete with state-of-the-art facilities, huge land area and of course a strong smell of tobacco. I later discovered that inside the premises BAT maintains a very strict protocol toward the use of tobacco and the most interesting thing is that no one is allowed to carry cigarettes inside the premises.

The warriors who were students of the participating universities were very enthusiastic about the whole day's event as they were completely unaware of what was going to happen. One thing was for sure; all the students had a mental picture of the environment being very formal and serious executives of BAT delivering lectures on the 'Battle of Minds' event. However, luckily the real picture was totally different as the whole environment was semi-formal and the BAT officials were not delivering long boring lectures. But they did something for sure something magical that unlocked a completely new dimension for the students. Ms.Rumana Rahman, HR Manager - Talent & Resourcing introduced the students to the rest of the team comprising of Mr.Q.M. Shahed, head of HR, Mr.Akhteruddin Organizational Development Manager, Saood Bin Masood Marketing HR Manager and Mr. Drabir Alam, the Territory officer.

The real surprise came when one of the BAT officials asked the participants to introduce the teams representing the universities but the fun part was that it had to be anything but a speech. So the students came up with all sorts of creative endeavors like acting, singing, rhyming for their introductions. Some of the teams acted like aliens, while another team dramatized the political situation of Bangladesh as introduction. However, after the introduction a music-video was played that encompassed various activities of BAT Bangladesh featuring the employees of the organization. The music-video did it all! Yes, a picture says more than a thousand words, indeed. Job satisfaction was glowing in the eyes of the BAT team and they also became quite nostalgic at the event. One of the HR managers gave the warriors a speech on leadership highlighting the fact that the employees of BAT are always encouraged to think 'like a child' which metaphorically means that the employees need to have an open mind and always be ready to accept changes. They should think big and aim for the stars. The session was really becoming more and more energizing as time went by. During the lecture on leadership it was mentioned several times that the organization must be customer-focused and all its activities must be related with customer satisfaction. Later another activity was given to the warriors. A simple task but unfortunately most of the teams failed to perceive the bigger picture that the task was designed to elicit. Each team was given a task to build a paper bridge for a theme park; the teams were taken to separate rooms and each room had a customer. Among other specifications the bridge had to be strong enough to hold six tennis balls. The teams were so busy building the bridge that they did not even feel the presence of the customer in the room. After the completion of the task one group became so excited that they cheered that the bridge was ready to be sold. However, the whole idea was to interact with the customer and construct the bridge according to the need of the customer about which most teams did not bother at all. What a mind game!!

After an exciting first session the teams had lunch at BAT's cafeteria and the energized warriors were ready for the second session. The second session was all about case solving and presentation. Teams were given short cases on which each team had to give a presentation. For instance, teams were asked to sell a flying car or a truth pen. However, the warriors are the top-notch presenters of Bangladesh and they presented their case in such a professional manner that even the impossible products seemed like believable items that one can actually buy from the market. After the presentation each team was given feedback from BAT's trained experts. The experts gave tips on how to improve on the warriors' presentation skills.

The day was very eventful and many had the experience of a life time. A whole day at the BAT's office not only reinforced the academic learning of the students but also gave them an essence of the real 'Battle of Minds' tournament. It is really very much appreciable that that corporate giants like BAT is coming forward to groom the business students to face the challenges of the business world. The officials looked good and the team looked even better after their first encounter. 9th December is the day when the full-scale battle begins. May the best team win!