'No B-school teaches you to become an entrepreneur'

WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU AT B-SCHOOL: GAUTAM SINHA

GAUTAM SINHA

The job I do at present has nothing to do with what I studied at B-school. As taught in management courses, recruitment is about assessment "" does the candidate fit the psychological profile, the cultural profile and so on.

As the head of an IT recruitment firm, my job is to "sell" jobs to people. I get people to the table "" it is the company's job to assess whether they fit the necessary profile. Less than 15 or 20 per cent of what I learned from my MBA is still relevant.

What those two years did give me, though, was a chance to interact with some really sharp people from across the country. At school and college levels, you don't get such an opportunity.

Also, at MBA programmes, most work is done in groups. This was a occasion to understand group dynamics, when to lead, when to disrupt... Such a learning can be crucial because little about organisations is about the individual.

Also, unlike B-schools that are located in metros, the Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), where I completed my MBA, is in Jamshedpur, a sleepy little town with few avenues for entertainment.

The positive fall-out of that, though, was that students spent most of their time with each other. Consequently, the XLRI alumni network is exceptionally strong. And, as has been proved again and again, the old boys' network is necessary for success in corporate life.

But no B-school teaches you to become an entrepreneur. At no time is the emphasis on starting something on your own. Almost everybody who graduates from B-school joins a company.

These are some of the best minds in the country. Shouldn't they be encouraged to start something on their own "" create jobs instead of working for someone?

Ideally, you should be in your 20s when you set out on your own. Unfortunately, at that age you don't possess the necessary maturity or knowledge. That's where B-schools can step in. Students should be provided guidance on how to get into business.

Avenues for funding, how to make business plans, what to look out for, what to avoid "" these are aspects students need to be learning constantly. This lack of emphasis on entrepreneurship is a huge lacuna in B-school education.

B-schools concentrate on imparting more functional knowledge. Students are taught branding, marketing, finance "" they are expected to specialise in one of these streams. But, as an entrepreneur, you wear several hats "" you're the HR in-charge, you're the administration in-charge, you decide marketing, finance.... When I set out on my own "" after just two years' work experience "" I knew nothing about these functions. I was riding on passion, fuelled by sheer energy and dreams.

I can understand the B-schools' point of view, though: how do you teach a quality like entrepreneurship? A course on entrepreneurship may not serve the purpose. What institutions need to do is to develop case studies on role models like Narayana Murthy of Infosys "" educated, middle class people who ventured into business and have been successful.

As of now, no shining examples of Indian entrepreneurship form part of the coursework at any management institution. That must change.

Another imperative in management syllabi is a course on business history. In the past couple of years I've been reading about the histories of some Indian business houses "" I was not taught this in my institution. Unfortunately, little has been written about Indian businessmen. Still, business history as a subject should be made a compulsory part of the course.

Reading about people who made it big is not theory "" it's a sort of practical experience. In any case, B-schools should aim to provide more practical experience to the students "" less than 30 per cent of the course should focus on theory.

Perhaps one way of helping students develop entrepreneurship would be for them to intern with first-generation businesspeople, instead of big conglomerates.

As it is, the summer training that MBA students undertaken at present is a farce. Most companies agree to take in a few trainees in the hope that it will gain them a Day One position during campus placements.

There is no inclination to impart anything useful to the student, and the reports they painstakingly prepare are certainly never read "" in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they're junked before the student leaves the room. Perhaps the summer training project should be scrapped "" and students left free to enjoy the last two-month break they'll ever get.

One of the biggest flaws in management education in India is that it targets freshers. I did my MBA straight out of college. I couldn't take too much from my course because I couldn't relate to a large part of what was being taught. The relevance would have multiplied had I had a few years' work experience. Freshers have neither the maturity nor the experience to take full advantage of an MBA course.

So, ideally, everybody should have some work experience before signing up for an MBA. It doesn't matter what kind of work you've done before "" whether you sold cellphones or worked in a call centre is irrelevant.

What is important is that you have interacted with people, with teams. You know what a boss is, you understand organisation structures and working systems. When you bring that knowledge to your business course, you will be able to relate and understand better.

(Gautam Sinha is the CEO of IT recruiting firm, TVA Infotech. He graduated from XLRI, Jamshedpur, in 1994)