B-schools teach analysis; real life needs synthesis

WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU AT B-SCHOOL

Ashok Reddy

Straight out of MBA school, I believed in the power of biology; give me big, strong, fast, articulate and intelligent. After 10 years, I believe chemistry trumps biology; give me teamwork, emotional intelligence and all that soft stuff that differentiates extraordinary people from the ordinary.

Early in my career, the entrepreneurial bug bit me and I moved from working for a large company to creating one. At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, the key challenge to building a company is to ensure the difference between a "baby" and a "dwarf"; both are small to start with, but the DNA of a baby ensures growth. Authoring this baby-DNA is a different kind of leadership than my MBA preparation for running an IBM.

Also, for a long time I didn't get a salary that my mother was proud of; deferred gratification was somewhat at odds with the dysfunctional auction to the highest bidder of campus placements. Of course, one is not better than the other; just different.

Building a scalable organisation needs much scaffolding (people, process and technology) but the key ingredient is a meritocracy aligned behind a powerful vision. You need an environment that "self-selects" people attracted by flat structures and open debates. A culture of accountability is another non-negotiable in attracting and retaining high performers.

Performance management in any organisation not only needs to be fair but has to be seen as fair. These optics were not something I cared about after my MBA since I believed logic makes its own case. Of course it doesn't.

Out of B-school, I thought breaking down a problem into smaller pieces (analysis) was the killer skill; I now realise that putting together different information points under uncertainty into a single decision (synthesis) is the hardest thing of all. Because, with perfect information, even a clerk can make decisions.

Ashok Reddy is Managing Director, Teamlease Services. He graduated from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, in 1995.