There is benchmarking. And then there is blue ocean strategy. The latter is about creating benchmarks. When one lives in a context where there is little scope to benchmark and no incentives exist, how does one grow? How does one grow from good to great.

Good is the enemy of great. This is the theme of the book Good to Great by Jim Collins. People are happy being good and hence do not try to become great. Good is about looking to benchmarks. Great is about blue ocean strategy, creating benchmarks.

Since I am moving to a new industry which requires slightly different skills from those of what I had used in banking, taking inspiration from what the book says, I want to spend time on reading some books and working on some basic quant before i join the firm.

As the signature line of one of our colleagues reads, “fortune favors the prepared mind”.

PS:
There are two views about what to do between receiving ISB admit and getting into ISB

1. Chill out, because once you are here you are going to slog
2. Start preparing. It will help, one, to be prepared to take the heavy load, and two, to understand the concepts relatively easily.

It is for the individual to choose what to do. My type will go for the latter.