B-schools train students to be CEOs, not management trainees

WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU AT B-SCHOOL

Management schools need to teach their students the importance of getting their hands dirty.

"If you build castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be built. Now, put the foundation under them."

Henry David Thoreau

Let me say at the outset that I have the highest regard for an MBA programme, its thoroughness and rigour, and the way it prepares you for the real world.

That said, I sincerely feel the biggest limiting factor of any business programme is that it is taught in the confines of a classroom, bereft of the vagaries of real life situations that managers face in the daily running of business.

To be sure, I learnt a lot during my stint at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, but over the years, I also learnt many things that my B-school did not teach me.

At a B-school, young minds are shaped and taught how to go about conducting business. Their rough edges are smoothened and skills are honed.

There is a set of well-researched techniques, procedures, case studies and so on, which initiate future managers into the basics of running a business.

Another benefit is the interaction with peers, which teaches you to find a right mix of caution and assertion in interpersonal relationships.

I believe that clarity, vision and process are the three key tools to attain success. Clarity of thought and communicating it clearly to work towards a clear vision is the key to getting best results.

While a B-school equips you with tools and methodologies, the workplace teaches you how to use the skills and learning acquired at the B-school.

The margin for error in using these tools and techniques is minimal and this is what makes a manager nimblefooted and astute.

There is no denying that an MBA degree opens doors to a plethora of opportunities. The workplace goes beyond classroom presentations and case studies to expose you to a mix of people coming from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

You meet people with different mindsets and personalities, which may not be totally compatible with you. It is these idiosyncrasies of people we work with that makes the workplace a greater teacher.

The foremost thing that a B-school should teach students from day one is the attitude and habit of "getting your hands dirty". Most B-schools train people to be CEOs rather than to be management trainees.

I think an important lesson that all of us have learnt, irrespective of our backgrounds, is that the best learning and grounding in any business happens when you perform the smallest task yourself.

It not only instils within you a respect for every person in the organisation, but also makes you empathise with each job, however small it may be.

It also helps managers to keep in touch with ground realities even when they sit in the boardrooms. The more you get your hands dirty in your initial years of work, the easier it is for you to identify, decipher and manage problems in the later years when you get less and less time for operational issues.

One of the most important things that a B-school does not teach is the dynamics of people and the art of people management. Managing people and working with them to achieve certain goals is one of the biggest trials in any workplace.

Aligning individual goals with organisational goals is the greatest challenge in any organisation. No B-school can possibly teach the art of achieving a "common vision" that benefits an organisation and at the same time satisfy individual needs and aspirations.

This can only be learnt with experience and skills developed while working in a real life scenario.

Also, every interpersonal interaction is a learning experience by itself in a work place. "Gut feel" is not taught but it is imperative in any situation that calls for solving or managing problems and people.

And by gut feel, I do not mean hunches. I'm referring to the ability to recognise patterns and react instinctively to situations based on prior experiences.

The importance of gut feel in a workplace cannot be overstated. When and how to use it is something that you learn by trial and error. This cannot be taught in a classroom, where situations are mostly hypothetical.

Creating distinctive brands and harnessing the spirit of entrepreneurship is learnt only in real life. Through trials and tribulations.

What does our product do that a competitor's product can't? What makes a consumer buy brand A and not brand B? Case studies analysed in B-school can only give direction.

Nonetheless, experience is the best teacher and provides one with answers to these questions.

Understanding the needs of each company that a manager works for is extremely critical for a manager to function optimally. In other words "role clarity" is what determines success.

While young managers may feel that they can change the world, it is important to understand that every company comes with a history, culture and baggage of its own.

You can beat the system only after you become part of the system. The workplace teaches you to operate within a framework. Adapting to working in a set environment and gaining acceptance is the biggest challenge that young managers face, and it is not easy to teach in classrooms.

The bottomline is fairly simple. Today's young managers needs to build their careers on solid, measurable and specific achievements and not just B-school laurels.

Goal setting is the first such measurable step. Zest for continuous learning and an open mind in the early years of your career lays a strong foundation to future success.

A B-school background is only a stepping-stone and door opener to the world of business. After that every manager writes his own business card.

At the cost of sounding clichéd, an important lesson that I have learnt over the years is that "the people you meet on your way up are also those you meet on your way down".

To conclude, a manager is but a sum of his team. His ability to assess, assimilate and act on the interpersonal and group dynamics involved determines his effectiveness.

Be it a nation, a private enterprise or an individual, the future belongs to people who see possibilities before they become obvious. And this I learnt, not at B-School, but in the real grind of the real workplace.

(Nagendra Venkaswamy is president, India and sub-continent, Datacraft India. He graduated from IIM Bangalore in 1982)