5 Things B-Schools Don't Teach!

8/14/2019 5 Things B-Schools Don't Teach!

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/5-things-b-schools-dont-teach 1/3

5 things B-schools don't teach!

Stepping out of B-school into the real world is like learning golf from manuals,or like teaching you cricket online. You have all the required theoretical inputs;a clear understanding of the rule book, the jargon and concepts; a dash of historyto boot; and anecdotes and trivia as fillers.

As this package comes in contact with reality, it goes through a range ofemotions, starting with denial, wrath, angst, confusion, wonder, and finallysettles into pragmatism, with bouts of nostalgia and a few clear learning s that� are far removed from what the rule books preached.

The moral of the story: the real world teaches you some home truths that academiadoes not touch upon. In our journey down the road of experience, some of them getetched as gospels. If I were to pick a few of them, and share them here, theywould be:

1. Brevity:All the case studies, presentations, analysis and concept notes do not prepare youfor the first reality of life. The world does not give you the opportunity to

expound on theories over a 40-page Word document, or a 120-slide PowerPointpresentation.

In most real life situations, you get a tiny window in which you need to make yourpoint, in as impact a manner as possible. The more august the audience, theshorter the time.

From 10-second one-line summaries, to elevator pitches, to one paragraph e-mail,you need to cultivate the habit of being concise. There are no secondopportunities in a real-time scenario.

Keeping that in mind, all your thinking needs to be crystallized and constantlycarried around, to capitalize on the opportunity.

The clearer the thinking, the easier it is to say it succinctly. I would like tosee the day when we put tight leashes around time, space and resources, and startrecognizing and appreciating brevity as a virtue in academics, instead of lettingduration, length or aesthetics drive judgment.

2. People skills:Real life is about real people. It involves dealing with diverse personalities,cultural backgrounds and competencies that you do not normally encounter in B-school. The challenge is, thus, compounded and you often see stars of academiaunable to deal with this core reality.

Working with, dealing with, and successfully arriving at mutually beneficial and

satisfactory decisions on a day-to-day basis is what the real world teaches you --sometimes harshly.

Understanding, communication and appreciating someone else's point of view isdifficult. It is seldom as the books expound, a clear rational process aided bythe theories of people management.

3. Execution:In B-school, all that you learn is from books, periodicals, case studies, whichdo not prepare you for the biggest differentiator in the real world: the abilityto execute.



Perhaps the most understated competency needed, it hits you between the eyes thefirst time you try to execute a plan, a project or a campaign.

The various parameters you deal with and the fickle nature of the elements are notissues you think about in B-school.

The need to plan with buffers, with alternatives, and the need to keep an eye on

the ball at all stages of execution, cannot be overemphasized.

Unfortunately, in our desire to move ourselves up the knowledge curve, there is apropensity to take this skill for granted, and most management programmers don'texpose you to this harsh reality.

4. Dealing with failure:Learning to live with failure is another of those often not realised truths. Inthe real world, we are constantly dealing with the fact that not all decisions,activities, interactions, strategies, or communication translate into success.

My favorite saying is that learning comes from experience and good learning frombad experience. But no B-school teaches you to take failure in your stride.

More often than not, there is enough time to mull over a failure or even lick yourwounds. Facing it with grace and bracing yourself for the next set of decisions oractions is what the real world is all about.

We will still deal with the same environment where we failed; at times, lead thesame team that could not pull it off, have the same limited facts and figures andinformation; and more importantly, yet have the same objectives to achieve. It canbe a humbling experience, which no education with books or classrooms cansimulate.

Dealing with failures is paramount. Otherwise, a propensity to shy away fromdecision and action for fear of failure can easily become a self-fulfilling

prophecy.

5. Multi-tasking:This is probably the most common, yet the most demanding task. Unlike academics,more often than not, executives have to deal with the very real implications oftheir ability or inability to multi-task.

Financial, organizational and people implications are the riders we contend with.On a day-to-day basis, the ability to multi-task, yet prioritize and drop a fewtasks and live with the implications is something no classroom can teach in itsentirety.

To quickly estimate the impact, segregate the critical, handle them with speed and

calm, constantly scan the environment for changes, and build them into yourthoughts and actions as you go through the day, is an experiential learning.

Add to this the fact that often, the information available is scant or incomplete,there are always a few angles no one knew about, the unpredictability of people weare dealing with -- and your hands are more than full. In hindsight, vision isoften 20-20, but reality is not.

B-schools do give you an understanding of the tools, aids and theories with whichyou need to arm yourselves, but where they fall short is in correctly teaching theapplication and the virtues of experiential learning.



Documents

5 Things B-Schools Don't Teach!