The hallowed halls of Wharton, were more intimidating than I had expected. Every professor who cruised by seemed intent on achieving a super-ordinate goal and the students seemed equally concerned about maximising their returns on an Ivy League education. A decade later, I believe that B-school education prepared me for the challenges of a corporate career but with a missing ingredient "" the art of creating value without getting caught in the trivial pursuit of management perfection.
What would happen if all our finance professors were to use their knowledge to play in the market, initiate their own hedge funds and challenge the analysts' perception of EVA versus EBIDTA? I'm sure they could create a lot of wealth for themselves, but they don't. I wonder why not.
Indeed, B-schools continue to be steeped in theory, as a result of which in most schools the critical opportunity to create value gets lost in the plasma of historical quotes from management case studies and financial fundamentals. They completely lose the simplicity of solving the problem.
Wharton is no exception. Looking back, I don't recall spending much time finding simple answers to the case studies. We were always trying to do a more detailed analysis than the other workgroup, always trying to shove in as many concepts as we possibly could. And if we had a person with a consultant's mindset in the group, we would be using the 5 Forces, 4 Ps and 3 Cs to ensure that no angle was left out.
But business is about taking calculated risks, looking at a long-term future and investing appropriately to realise the goal. More often than not, it's the small and incremental gains that result in creating value.
My take on creating value (and they don't teach you this at B-school) is to have a burning desire to stay the course and simplicity of purpose.
B-schools have not been able to inculcate in their methods an ability to solve problems by simple means. I would encourage students and teachers to follow the age-old idiom "" get it right the first time. The simple way to do that is by identifying the problem statement. Ask five whys to get to the root cause "" you should hit on it by why three. But ask another two whys anyway to ensure that you haven't missed anything.
Find a quick hit to arrest the problem "" a tactical, street-smart solution and one that has worked effectively for you before. Don't even think about going for the 5 Forces or 7S analysis here or solving world poverty.
Create a milestone-based action plan that ensures a process is in place and the long-term implications have been addressed.
Simplicity is easier to manage. Value creation was not built in a day. B-schools tend to provide us with so many examples of value creation that one always believes that we too have the Midas touch. By just reading the cases does not entitle us to a buy-one-get-one-free value creation voucher. It has to be earned the old fashioned way.
There's a slightly more evolved process for value creation. First have an agenda in mind. Don't ever assume that the best and the richest got there because they were sleep walking. Nor did they get there because they had the best team, a filing process par excellence and were meticulous in their planning.
Successful people have an agenda and they don't usually talk about it (like vision statements). But the moment they see an opportunity that fits that agenda, they capitalise on it.
Explore the problem from all angles. De Bono is a good source for this process, and you could consider reading his Atlas of Management Thinking to get the picture.
Alertness of mind is vital. In management-speak, it's called attention to detail. You can be rest assured that your ability to capitalise on a business deal is directly proportionate to the manner in which you connect the dots in your head.
Find a mentor to suit your style. It's possible they could be older and wiser or they might be in your age group.
Trust your instincts and test them in crucial situations when the risks are lower. This way you'll be well-prepared when the risks are higher "" and the returns are too.
(Bikash Mathur is business head and senior vice-president, Polaris Software, Asia Pacific. He graduated from Wharton in 1993)
