Our guest, Yogesh Pingle, is a Corporate Development Manager at Intel. He partners with business leaders and their teams to define and execute strategic growth initiatives.
Yogesh was born in India, where he spent most of his formative years before moving to the US to pursue graduate school. Getting an MBA had always been part of his plans, and choosing Haas was a no-brainer.
In this episode, Yogesh shares his experiences from studying engineering in India, moving to the US and balancing work and school, and his career as a planning engineer before eventually going to product design and marketing and ending up in corporate development.
Episode Quotes:
On pursuing a business education
I realized that to create maximum impact, you have to be on the business side of things essentially. And so, it was sort of what stoked in me, the desire to be a business leader. And I realized that perhaps if impact is what I’m driven by, then having a business education is also something that’s critical to creating impact.
Having different plans to mitigate risks
Something that has always been a part of my philosophy is to mitigate risk in such a way that the next step I take should always be something that doesn’t close too many doors.
On procrastinating and compartmentalizing
Focus on the essentials, whether it is homework or your actual job. If you just do the main important tasks and ensure that they’re done well, then that’ll keep you moving forward. I think it’s really important to sort of compartmentalize things and making sure that you’re not procrastinating and the absolute essential tasks are being taken care of so that you’re not distracted when you’re with family or when you’re at work.
Word of wisdom to his future self
Continue the hustle and not settle. Regardless of what I end up doing in my life, I think there is this constant deal of learning that I should never let go of. So, just keep hustling and keep learning.
Show Links:
Transcript:
(Transcripts may contain a few typographical errors due to audio quality during the podcast recording.)
[00:00] Chris: Welcome to the OneHaas Podcast. I’m Chris Kim. Today, we have Yogesh Pingle, Berkeley Haas EWMBA and corporate development manager at Intel. Yogesh is an engineer turned marketer, turned corporate development manager, and partners with business leaders and their teams to define and execute strategic growth initiatives at Intel. Yogesh, welcome, and great to have you on the show.
[00:26] Yogesh: Thank you, Chris. Glad to be here.
[00:28] Chris: Yogesh, I’m super excited to have you on the show today. We’re classmates. And we started the program together, pretty much, from the beginning. I’d love to, if you would just start with your story, where did you grow up, and was corporate development or corp dev always in the plan when you were a kid?
[00:45] Yogesh: So, no. Corporate development wasn’t always part of the plan. It’s a combination of things that have led me here. So, to begin with, I’m originally from India. I was born in the city of Bhopal. And Bhopal is, if you look at the map, right at the center of the country. It’s the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh, which literally translates to the central state.
And I am a part of a huge family in India. My parents had two kids. I’m the younger one. I have an elder sister and there’s a larger family though. That’s still, really close, together. Most of them are back in India. So, on my dad’s side, he had about nine siblings, including him on the mom’s on my mom’s side. Huge. On my mom’s side, five siblings including her and she’s close to the youngest. Overall, I have about, 29 first cousins
[01:33] Chris: Oh, my goodness. Wow, that’s a lot.
[01:36] Yogesh: So, growing up, I grew up in a really tight-knit family environment. Both of my parents had professional careers. My dad, he’s a banker. And my mom, she is a professor. She basically had a PhD in organic chemistry, and then pursued academia as a career. And, really, I have grown up with very strong values of hard work, service, and working to earn a living and thrive in society.
One of the things that I distinctly remember growing up, and it’s a very big part of my growing up and my identity, is my parents, dad being in the bank, he used to travel a lot. And there was a part of time where my parents both had the flexibility in their work to travel together. But once my sister and I came along, they took a conscious decision of having a stable base. And so, my mom, she basically… Both of them at that time were stationed in Bhopal for their respective jobs. And then, they decided that, once my dad had had a transfer and he had to travel outside of town, they decided that my mom would basically be stationed in Bhopal so that both me and my sister could have stable schooling and didn’t have to move around a lot.
So, in India, the schooling system is you have two years of kindergarten, and then 12 years of schooling, from grade one to grade 12 — that’s high school. And so, I went all of the 14 years, two plus 12, to just one school. So, that’s…
[03:02] Chris: Oh, really? Oh, my gosh, that’s super unique.
[03:06] Yogesh: Yeah, 14 years at the same school. I went to Campion School in Bhopal, which is one of the good schools in the city and the state at that time. And I have a lot of friends from those times who, just like me, had parents who were both working and very similar stories, but who went to the same school for all of the 14 years.
[03:25] Chris: Oh, wow.
[03:26] Yogesh: And I have some really deep-rooted, long-term friendships with a lot of those friends.
[03:30] Chris: That’s awesome, you guys. We talk a lot about one of the pivotal points for folks is when they have to leave high school or leave secondary school and they go to college. And, for you, you ended up coming to the states later for grad school and, of course, the business school, but, in my understanding, you stayed in India for your undergrad. Can you explain what that experience is like, and what was it like, not just being a student, but also having that university life as a young person?
[03:55] Yogesh: Oh, yeah, absolutely. When kids are in high school in India… And before that, getting into college in India is extremely competitive. There are essentially competitive entrance exams that are there for every field of study. So, in my case, I wanted to be an engineer. And, essentially, some of the main entrance exams that time were JE, the joint entrance exam, was the entrance exam for the IITs, the AIEEE (All India Engineering Entrance Exam) that was for all the NITs, which are National Institute of Technologies. And then, there were other engineering entrance exams. And, similarly, if you wanted to pursue medicine or any other field, you would have similar exams.
So, a lot of time in high school, my friends and I spent preparing for these exams. And I’m sure it’s similar here, where people prepare for SATs. So, it was two very intense years of high school preparing for these entrance exams. I actually got a decent rank in AIEEE. And while choosing a college, I had a choice of different NITs to go to. And in terms of majors, I really wanted to be a mechanical engineer at that point. And my rank was such that I could get mechanical engineering in an IIT Bhopal, which was, at that time, one of the fairly ranked mechanical engineering programs. And I essentially made that choice. That meant that I had to stay at home for four years of engineering, which wasn’t my first choice, but, again, I had to. I decided to pick my college and my major ahead of that decision of going and living by myself in a different city.
So, that time of my life was fairly transformational. There’s a stark difference between college life and life in high school in India, just like it would be anywhere else. And, for me, it was fairly entrepreneurial. The advantage of going to a national institute was that there were kids from all over the country who came there. And so, it was a great lesson in national integration. India, as you might be familiar, has a lot of cultures. And, I’d like to say, actually, to all of my friends here that, in India, every 200 kilometers, the culture changes, the way people dress changes, the food changes, and, many times, language changes as well.
And being in the institute that I was in, I was lucky enough to experience the different parts of the country all in one place. And so, it was very formative. It was very transformational. The alumni relation was very deep-rooted. We knew seniors who had graduated almost 20 years ago from the program. And even today, when I meet some of my undergrad friends, we share the same passion for the institute.
In that sense, there was just a lot of deep-rooted camaraderie amongst everybody, because it was a part of the culture of the institute. And so, again, I was lucky enough to have a lot of great friends who are all doing great in their life right now.
[06:53] Chris: In your case, you graduated, you were successful. My understanding is you went straight into work and worked at Schneider Electric for a couple of years, and then decided to come to the states for grad school. Can you explain, what was that experience like for you, going from full-time student to being a working professional? And then, how did you decide that you wanted to come to the U.S., of all schools?
[07:12] Yogesh: Yeah. So, that’s an interesting story. In our undergrad, it was generally the case in India back then, I’m not sure how it is now, but there would be what’s called campus selections. And so, you would have these companies coming to campus for recruitment. And I was recruited into Schneider through that channel. And Schneider at that time was fairly new in the power transmission and distribution business in India. And they were, that year, trying to scale business. And they wanted to hire a huge pool of RCGs, which stands for recent college grads, to take up entry level roles or, in some cases, based on the individual’s qualification, some managerial positions. And then, it was a pool of 140 people from different colleges in India that were selected.
And then, that pool was placed into different businesses of Schneider. And if you look at the value chain of power transmission and distribution, there is a manufacturing side, where you manufacture equipment, like transformers, switch gears; and then there is a service side, where you basically build and manage substations, electrical substations.
And so, I was placed in one of the medium-voltage transformer facilities in Gujarat after my initial orientation. I was part of the leadership development program within the medium voltage transform factory. And the whole idea was that I would be, essentially, for the first six months trained across different functions. So, I started with design, then spent a lot of time on manufacturing being an associate plant manager. Then, I spent some time in procurement. I did quality and reliability work. The only function I didn’t do at that time was finance because that was a focus function.
And they were looking for dedicated financial knowledge, which engineering graduates didn’t have.
And then, after all of this, based on my performance, my personality, the way I was conducting myself and my past experiences, I was handpicked by the GM of the plant to be a part of the two-person planning team. So, basically, my manager and I, we did the whole production and supply planning for the whole manufacturing facility. And the job was, to not only do production planning for which I basically did everyday shop floor meetings and, essentially, created production roadmaps, but also do sales and financial planning.
And it was basically a ringside view of looking at the GM of our plant and seeing how he operated, because my manager directly worked for him. And essentially, I got a lot of opportunities to see him from close quarters and see how he interacted. Now, he was an engineer by training, but again, he also had a business degree. And what I realized from that was that he was in a position to make the maximum impact. When I was working for design or for production at the manufacturing side of the plant, there were directors and VPs in that side of the business as well. What I realized was that their sphere of influence was fairly limited. And to create maximum impact, you have to essentially be on the business side of things. And when I tried to extrapolate this, I saw that the head of finance or the head of procurement had a lot more influence in the day-to-day running of the show. And ultimately, the GM of the plant was the most pivotal in direction-setting and, also, in terms of what we achieve as a business.
And so, it was what struck in me the desire to be a business leader. And I realized that, perhaps, if impact is what I’m driven by, then having a business education, having business knowledge is something that’s critical to creating impact.
[11:02] Chris: It sounds like you knew that, eventually, you’d be at business school. But then, how did you decide that you wanted to go to grad school, specifically? And then how did you land at UT Dallas?
[11:10] Yogesh: This is back in 2010 when I realized that I really want to be on the business side of things to create impact and business school is something that I certainly wanted to pursue at some point in life. But when I looked at the different options that I had around me, there were the Indian institutes of management that I could have gone to. They are IMs, as they’re popularly known. They’re great institutes. I really wanted to go there. They had an engineering… They had a management entrance exam called CAT. That’s called a combined admissions test. And, at that time, there was a requirement of a certain amount of work experience as well as a holistic background in terms of what sort of grade that you had gotten in high school and at the end of your middle school. And all of that combined for me to get into the IMs, it would’ve taken me a long time
[12:00] Chris: I got you.
[12:01] Yogesh: At the same time, it’s something that is also a part of me since my childhood. Both of my parents, they have always loved to travel a lot and explore a lot. And from childhood on, we, as a family, travel to all parts of the country and even abroad. And a part of me, really, is excited by exploring different parts of the world, different cultures, different cuisines. And at that time, while I was a planning manager and was in business function, I was still in touch with my mechanical engineering basics. And I was still technical enough and still like it. I thought, perhaps, the route to creating impact and being on the business side of things doesn’t have to wait for five years for me to get the MBA. And at that time, applying to U.S. universities for a master’s in engineering sounded a lot more enticing and attractive.
And I essentially gave my GRE and applied to certain schools. UT Dallas was one of them. And I got a few admits. But at UT Dallas, I was essentially getting a scholarship and a job at the GSI right off the bat. And I was getting a chance to work with Prof. Hongbing Lu who was doing a great work at that time in solid mechanics. And I was going to get a chance to work with him. And I essentially took it because, not only would I get to come and live in the U.S., get to learn more about mechanical engineering, but also, work with a great prof. So, I came over in 2011. It’s been 11 years now. I recently had my 11th year anniversary on August 14th.
[13:39] Chris: Very nice.
[13:40] Yogesh: So, Dallas was an amazing experience. I think some of the other admits that I had were from USC and a bunch of other places. But I think Dallas was everything that I was looking for in a U.S. city. And because Dallas is a very cosmopolitan place, I haven’t really heard this sentiment a lot from other people, but that’s how I experienced it. There are people from all over the world in Dallas. And for someone who was new in the country, it was essentially a perfect introduction to American culture and the American way of life. So, it was a large city, multicultural, and essentially, had all the opportunities for me to grow and thrive.
And at the same time, the other thing that my grad school experience I really cherish was the fact that I was a GSI throughout the two years. There was a point in time where my professor had gone for a conference for about two weeks. And because I was working with him throughout, he had a certain level of confidence in me that he allowed me to teach the class for two weeks. And that was three classes per week. So, I had the unique opportunity to teach six classes while he was away. And the whole experience of planning my lectures and executing them, answering queries on some of the conceptual topics on the fly, all of that was a unique experience that I hadn’t done before. And part of me really enjoyed it because my mom, she’s a professor. And academia is a core part of our family and was really something that was around me while I was growing up. I thought I would share that because that was really unique about my journey there and something I cherish deeply.
[15:21] Chris: That’s awesome, Yogesh. You were successful in your grad program and graduated. And then, you went pretty much straight to Intel, if I’m remembering correctly. And you’ve been there ever since. But you’ve had a really awesome journey, just in terms of different things that you’ve been able to do at Intel and, really, just your career progression. Can you share a bit, what was that experience like leaving school again, now for the second time, and then, I think, you also moved to Arizona for your new job, what was that like going through a ton of transition and then also being in a really iconic firm like Intel?
[15:53] Yogesh: Yeah, absolutely. So, again, grad school ended a little too early for me. I’m not sure if I was prepared to go back into the workforce in two years’ time. At the same time, I was super excited about Intel.
It’s actually a very interesting story. It was a very early lesson in networking for me. I hadn’t really directly applied to the Intel position, but one of my undergrad seniors used to work for TI at that point, Texas Instruments in Dallas. And he had my resume, and Texas Instruments had a lot of mechanical engineering positions for graduate students. And I was actually interested in a few of them. None of them worked out, but he had my resume and he had passed it on to a colleague of his who was on the design side in the mechanical engineering group. She was basically a mechanical design manager.
Now, she didn’t have an opening in her org, but at that time she had a friend at Intel, who became my future manager, who was looking for candidates. And she happened to have the resume. And she passed it along. And my resume was basically liked, and I got an interview invite. Thankfully, I was able to crack it. And it was a fantastic role. It was basically in Intel’s packaging organization. And packaging is basically a core part of microprocessor development at Intel. And so, I joined what’s called Assembly and Test Technology group at Intel, or Assembly and Test Technology Development group at Intel (ATTD). And it’s the packaging technology development organization. And my job was essentially a packaging R&D engineer. It was a core technical role, where I was basically working on packaging technologies, for both short and long-term product families. So, I did that for about four years after joining.
[17:40] Chris: Did you decide to change or move on? Because you already had several years being successful in that role, but you ended up, eventually, going to design and then product marketing before you ended up in corporate development at Intel. What was that like? And what were you thinking throughout those processes?
[17:56] Yogesh: So, that’s a great question. Intel, actually, is a very technical company. And at the same time, a lot of stuff that we study in business school has been founded at Intel. So, Intel has a really strong business side as well. And, as I got better at my job and as I got more exposure to the broader organization, I realized that the engineering life at Intel was great, first of all, because you were at the cutting edge of science and what you were doing was real R&D.
But, at the same time, it was a very niched science. And so, because of that, the very nature of the engineering organizations was fairly siloed. So, if you continue on the engineering path, then the only way to go is deeper in the silo. And while that is great for someone who has passion about that, because the technical path can take you to being a principal engineer or a fellow at Intel, or perhaps, an engineering manager and later director or beyond, it has a fairly limited impact when you think about the broader business of Intel.
While technology is the cornerstone, business still drives the technology, is what I learned. And going back to the experience at Schneider, I wanted to be in positions where I could create impact. And it became clear with my experience in engineering that I would rather be on the business side of things. Also, throughout working on different projects, as I got a little more senior in the engineering role, I realized that I really loved every conversation that I was having with the folks in marketing or the folks in strategic planning who are working with people like me in technology development. And so, it was a validation of what I really thought of something of a north star even before I came to the U.S. And so, I had, at that point, made up my mind to move to the business side of things.
Now, I have always been someone who likes to mitigate risks. Something I didn’t touch upon earlier about my family. While both of my parents were working and we were pretty well to do — we came from an upper middle class family, we are obviously not super rich, but we had all the resources that we needed — but all of those resources came because my parents worked hard their entire life and did really well in their careers. And so, something that has always been a part of my philosophy is to mitigate risk in such a way that I can always… The next step that I take should always be something that doesn’t close too many doors.
And so, I’ve always had plans. This is back in 2015, where I was already three years into my role in engineering. And I had to think about plan A, B, and C. And so, my plan A since 2010 — I realized this in 2015 — was always to do the MBA. I was like, if I have to move on the business side, I need business education.
When I thought of my overall skill set, I realized that I probably need… I really seek formal business education because, like I said, I came from parents who were both working in careers that we didn’t really necessarily have a business attitude to life while growing up. So, I felt that I lacked some of those business-building skills and instincts. So, to get those, I was fairly certain that a business school had to happen in my life, because I’m fairly driven by impact. And whether I wanted to be a corporate leader and be in decision-making positions or whether I wanted to create an enterprise of my own, I needed those business-building skills. So, to get both a practical training, as well as an academic foundation on business, I wanted to go to business school.
So, that was plan A. And plan B was within Intel. Within Intel, like any large corporation, there are many opportunities. And if you plan it, you can perhaps go on the business side within the organization itself and, in many cases, without having a formal business degree.
So, that was my plan B. And, at the same time, there was a plan C as well that was not career-related. The plan C was to move to the Bay Area because I was about to get married in 2017. My wife and I, we were talking about it back in the 2016 timeframe. And plan C was to move to the Bay Area because we were in a long distance relationship for a while. She was in New York, I was in Phoenix. So, it was hard for us to be in one place, even on weekends, because, for anyone who has been in Phoenix, knows that going to New York, that commute is really bad. And so, doing that for a weekend is really tough. So, we wanted to be in one place. And the Bay Area was it for us. And so, plan C was for me to get to the Bay Area. And all of that happened, actually. Plan A, B, and C all came through for me.
[22:57] Chris: Oh, my gosh, that’s crazy. I didn’t know all that background. So, it goes without saying you were going to end up in the MBA program. How did you decide on Haas? And did you think about applying to other places when you were actually going through the application process?
[23:11] Yogesh: Yeah. For me, I only wanted to go to the top 10 programs. Haas was one of them. And so, Haas was certainly always up on my list. But up until 2016, I actually wanted to pursue a full-time program.
[23:26] Chris: Interesting.
[23:27] Yogesh: And, that was in the plan. But then, life happened and my wife and I, we decided to get married earlier than we thought. And then, it didn’t make sense for me to do a full-time MBA right at that time. I was also cognizant of the opportunity cost of doing it slightly later in my life, a full-time program. So, if I had to pursue the full-time program in 2019, while being married, I thought doing a part-time program gives me, not only the flexibility to be a family man, but at the same time, also, allows me to keep growing professionally while I pursue my MBA.
It wasn’t a singular decision, I had motivation to think like this. I had a colleague at that time in my engineering team in Phoenix. And he had a similar career journey. And he, at that time, was pursuing the Evening & Weekend MBA program at Haas. So, he’s a Haasie as well. And he was, at that time, commuting to Berkeley from Phoenix and taking weekend classes and whatnot. And after his school, he moved to the Bay Area. But, from him, I actually got the motivation to learn more about the Evening & Weekend program. And the more I explored it, the more I realized how amazing the Evening & Weekend MBA program is. And so, part of pursuing plan C first, which was moving to the Bay Area, was also because I wanted to be closer to the Haas community and target that Evening & Weekend MBA program. So, I had that always as the long-term goal when I moved to the Bay Area. And I moved in 2017. That I basically want to go to Haas. So, essentially, get to talk to more people who are in the Haas community, go to more events that are organized by the program office. And essentially, in general, be in a position where I can execute my goal of applying to Berkeley. Thankfully, for me, I was able to move here.
And then, in 2018 timeframe. I was actually convinced that Haas was the program. And even before that, doing a part-time MBA was actually the right thing for me. So, that leaves essentially two programs out of the top 10 where you can do that. It’s either Haas or Booth in Chicago. At that time, Haas was not only the number-one program, it was, in my opinion, a better program.
And so, it was a no-brainer. So, I was locked and loaded on my way to buy GMAT books and preparing for my Haas application.
[25:56] Chris: I mentioned at the beginning you and I were classmates at Haas, and we both experienced Haas during the pandemic, and we also both had children during the pandemic. And so, I know, for me, it was super busy during that time of life. What was that like for you? And how did you balance? You’re working. You have a family. You’re doing the coursework. And then, you’re also thinking about your future career when you’re in the MBA program. How did you balance it all?
[26:20] Yogesh: So, interesting story, my wife and I, we learned that she was pregnant one week into the program. From the very beginning itself, my Haas journey was always… I had always balanced how much time I was giving to the program and how much time I was giving to my wife. And then, once my kid was born, at that time, it was the beginning of the pandemic. So, it was fairly challenging for us because it was scary to have a newborn at that time. There were no vaccines. And we are fairly nervous about interacting with people because of the young one.
The whole pandemic also was a blessing in disguise for me. I hate to say it this way, but there are new parents, especially, fathers who can’t get the same time off from work. And so, they get a very limited bonding time with their children. And so, for me, because we were all working from home, I got to spend a lot of time with my kid. And I think that was a silver lining for me at that time. And the same goes to Haas as well. Commuting was a huge part of my daily routine while coming to Haas. I spent time living in the South Bay. I spent about two, two and a half hours every day commuting. I had to leave super early for work, get to the shuttle pickup port, and then spend an hour and a half in the shuttle every day before class. So, all of that time was now saved and I had available when my family needed it.
So, like all of us, I wanted to be on campus, be with my classmates and spend as much time as I could in the program on campus. But the ability to be at home while my kid was young and while my wife needed me the most was actually fantastic. Even after all that, even without commuting, having a child, having a full-time job, and working through an MBA, which is as rigorous as the Haas Evening & Weekend program, is a decent challenge, as I look back. When we are doing it, we don’t really realize it. But now, when I reflect on it, I realize that I thought of it as fairly transformative for me. And a couple of things that I did okay and helped me. And my main takeaway from this experience is, there’s this art of compartmentalization, which I feel that I’m still getting good at. Essentially, compartmentalizing your headspace and trying to keep things separate. So, when you’re doing school work, you really do deep work and get things done, so that it doesn’t spill over onto the work compartment or onto the family compartment. So, that’s something that I think I got good at over time. And I’m still working on it.
The other thing is that there was a mantra that was given to me by my very first manager at Schneider, which was never leave a file on the table. So, he was being metaphorical and trying to tell me to never leave a key task unattended. So, if you have something that really needs to happen, just do it right there and then. And if you procrastinate it, then it’s essentially going to spill into other areas of life and consume your time when you would rather be doing something else.
And something that I have picked up along this journey is also to not procrastinate on some of the key tasks. So, just focus on the essentials, whether it is homework or your actual job. And if you just do the main important tasks and ensure that they’re done well, then that’ll keep you moving forward. So, anybody who is in the Evening & Weekend program and in a similar situation like ours, Chris, I think it’s really important to compartmentalize things and making sure that you’re not procrastinating and the absolute essential tasks are being taken care of, so that you’re not distracted when you’re with family or when you’re at work.
[30:11] Chris: I guess that’s awesome. We’re coming towards the end of the podcast, but one of the things I’m super excited to talk to you about is your most recent move, post-graduation, but you and I are both on the other side, thankfully. So, we made it. Congrats.
But you also started a new job in corporate development, or a newer job in corporate development. And I would love to just hear what motivated you to make that move, even after having so many successful years at Intel. And what was that process like for you, going from full-time working and then MBA student, and then making the pivot into corporate development?
[30:44] Yogesh: So, for me, through the program, from an academic standpoint, I really liked the strategy, finance, and marketing courses. And at the same time, entrepreneurship also remains a life dream. I’m not able to pursue it at this point, for a combination of reasons, one of them being my visa status. I’m currently an immigrant in the country on an H-1B visa. And so, that’s something that is plan B for me. But at the same time, I wanted to pursue an opportunity, which kept me closer to the entrepreneurship ecosystem. And at the same time, it allows me to be in a function that is fairly strategic and allows me to use some of the skills in finance, strategy, and marketing that I learned in the MBA program.
From all of those perspectives, I found corporate development to be, really, like a sweet spot, because not only are you working on strategizing some of the transactions, answering the why in terms of why you need to carry out a certain transaction, but at the same time, also, pursuing evaluations, evaluating opportunities, and so on. And, while doing that, you are constantly interacting with VCs and other investors, or startup founders, who are associated with the asset that your company is interested in. Corporate development was certainly something that sounded like a great balance of things that I liked and, at the same time, would also keep me fairly focused on my long-term goal. At the same time, thankfully, an opportunity came along in the corporate strategy office within Intel for the corp dev role. And, thankfully, I was able to grab the opportunity. And I’m really excited. It’s been four months. And it’s been a great learning journey, so far.
[32:29] Chris: Yogesh, that’s awesome to hear. We have a tradition on the podcast, Yogesh. Before we close, we typically ask guests to give some words of wisdom, maybe some Haas words of wisdom. So, if you’d be up for it, I’d love to just ask a couple questions, and we’d love to get your words of wisdom that you could share out with the community.
[32:46] Yogesh: Great. Let’s do it.
[32:47] Chris: First question, Yogesh, could you share some words of wisdom for people who might be listening and are thinking about going into corporate development or being a corporate development manager in their company?
[32:57] Yogesh: I think a big part of corporate development is still the corporate role. And while, in most companies, it’s fairly focused in terms of the team structure, and in general, there’s a lot of focus and visibility. So, I think one thing that anybody who is trying to pursue the corp dev role needs to keep in mind is that these roles are generally reserved for people who have experience in either investment banking or consulting. So, a lot of my colleagues right now are ex-bankers or consultants or who have had experience in some form of investment management.
And so, for anybody who doesn’t come from these backgrounds, like myself, I think the ability to network and find your way, the ability to get a foot in the door is crucial. And so, networking is something that is a key skill that anybody who wants to pursue this without having the banking or consulting background should have. At the same time, it’s also important to not be bashful. Be willing to put yourself out there. Have your story straight. And have the confidence and conviction to tell it, because, ultimately, as a corp dev manager, you would be pitching a lot about rationales, business cases, and recommendations to senior executives who would know about their business a lot better than you would. And the initial part before getting the job, if you can have the same kind of conviction in telling your story, that’ll go a long way in making people believe in you. My final advice would be just to network, be confident in telling your story, and just do it.
[34:36] Chris: And Yogesh, one last question before we close, what are some words of wisdom that you would give to your future self?
[34:43] Yogesh: The one thing that I really learned during the MBA program is that all experiences add up, whether it’s case competition or whether it’s a leadership position in a student club or the student government, or even whether it’s presenting in front of your class on behalf of your project team, all of those experiences add up. And there are lots of learnings and takeaways and things that form your overall ability.
[35:10] Yogesh: And one word of wisdom that I certainly want to give myself is, continue to hustle and not settle. Regardless of what I end up doing in my life, I think there is this constant zeal of learning that I should never let go off. And my takeaway, or my favorite leadership principle from Haas principles is “student always.” So, just keep hustling and keep learning.
[35:35] Chris: Yogesh, it’s been great to have you on the show today. I’m super excited for you, especially as you’re on this new journey. And here from the podcast, we want to wish you all the best in the future and in everything that you’re doing. And of course, go, bears.
[35:48] Yogesh: Go, bears.
[35:54] Outro: Thanks again for tuning in to this episode of the OneHaas Podcast. If you enjoyed our show today, please remember to hit that Subscribe or Follow button on your favorite podcast player. We’d also really appreciate you giving us a five-star rating and review. You’re looking for more content? Please check out our website at haas.fm. That’s spelled H-A-A-S.F-M. There, you can subscribe to our monthly newsletter and check out some of our other Berkeley Haas podcasts. And until next time. Go, bears.