When I did my MBA in the 1980s, the total number of IIM MBA seats in India was just 300. Today, lakhs of people apply for an MBA and about 5,000 graduate from IIMs every year!
An MBA really polishes and sharpens you. It gives you the theoretical concept and the framework to think differently. It gives you the background to be a good general manager because an MBA gives you width across many functions.
What it doesn’t teach
B-schools teach a lot of theory and concepts and principles; the concept of a corporation; what they don’t teach you too much is the way to work with people. That you can only learn hands-on. I believe B-schools could do more in that direction and if you really want to be a successful leader you have to work well with people. That’s a huge determining factor. And I don’t think there is enough emphasis on that.
When I address young students, I tell them to build relationships. Because in the next 25 years if anything happens, it’s your classmates who help open doors for you. In my class I am proud that i knew all the other 96 people. Today, I would be surprised if one knows all his or her 499 classmates. So, you need to go out of your way to build relationships. Otherwise, you might end up at a party 15 years later and say: “Hey, we were in the same class but we didn’t know each other”.
I am in touch with my classmates, both in Chennai and Bangalore, and meet up with them regularly.
And, what I discovered
An important thing I discovered in my conversations with them is that you need stamina. If you want to be a leader of significant contribution, you have to think of the long term. You don’t get to be a CEO at 35. You are very lucky if you get to be a CEO in your 40s, which I was. But the problem is most people lose their stamina by the time they are in their 40s. They don’t think of the long term. And that’s why they drop off.
It is a process of self-discovery. Nobody tells you that in order to be a CEO or a leader the effort or the sacrifice it takes is a lot more. It sounds good when you read a magazine or paper and how somebody has done it.
If I were to design a curriculum
I think Harvard Business School is already doing that. As part of its course, every year, students have to go to a country which is not their home country, as a team and do project work. After this, they come back and discuss the experience in the context of their subjects. I think a much more practical and people orientation is something I would definitely look for. B-schoolers can be an arrogant lot. I think a good human being is far more desirable in the world than a good degree.
The other issue is of corporate governance. When people come to B-schools, they are thinking of the pay packet they will get when they leave. But what you really need to think is what will be the contribution you make to society in a positive way without breaking rules. Things like that are what I would focus on; practical stuff, rounding off the rough edges by bringing upfront the whole concept of ethics and governance. Greed is not good; don’t measure yourself by your salary but by what you have given back to society.
On what I am reading now
I am reading a book by Chicago Bulls’ Phil Jackson -- Eleven Rings. I just finished reading last week a wonderful book on Switzerland, why it has so many wonderful industries. It was a powerful book; it explains why the banking and watch industries started in Switzerland, and what makes them competitive. I have also started reading a book on the East India Company. Amartya Sen's new book is also good.
And what I would recommend for B-schoolers…
Read a lot of biographies of successful and unsuccessful businesspeople and politicians. JRD Tata's biography and Margaret Thatcher’s book are very different from Barack Obama’s biography or from Nehru’s or Churchill’s biographies. And Richard Branson’s and Steve Job’s books are likely to be very different as well, probably much closer to real life.