MBA - Why do it?
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They say, you learn more from
your mistakes. My 'gyan' on why one should do an MBA comes from my 'no
gyan' when I decided to do it, or even when I did it!
Ask me and I would say don't do
an MBA if you don't know what it means to you, if you don't know how it adds
value to your self / career, if you think it's just a big bait to fish out a
well paying job.
No, that's not it! Why do you
think companies would want to hire MBAs? They want your ability to see the
bigger picture in aspects concerning the company. They want you to analyze where
they stand, what they are capable of, where they can get to, how soon they can
get there, why certain things do not happen the way they should, and what is to
be done to make them happen. In short, they want you to lead the way.
Now you may think that this is
not a real world situation and all jobs don't throw this kind of experience.
Like, when I was handling retail
banking operations in ICICI, I was responsible to handle teams that processed
checks and opened accounts. I never saw the big picture when I started off. I
was frustrated. Was that why I did an MBA? Slowly I realized, the catch was in
visualizing the large scenario in smaller ones, and relate it to other
scenarios, and then think from the company's point of view. It was fun, real
fun, because then you started realizing that you, of course, could make a
difference to your company. Then I knew why those case studies were a relevant
part of my course!
You need to go in there with a
perspective. Well, this applies to anything you do. But your ability to see the
big picture is the very crux of this two year rigorous course. It's not just
your content, but how you present it, how you can make people relate to it; not
just about numbers, but how you apprehend them; not about selling products or
services, but selling yourself.
Now what I just said may have
many counter arguments. I myself can think of at least seven of them. But my
point is not whether or not you should do an MBA, but if you are doing it, you
better know why you should do so, and then do it well. And this again holds true
for anything you do.
