"Sir I would like to hone my business acumen and gain structured insights into the strategic domains in which a business operates."- The clichéd answer every MBA guy gives in his interview
It's only a matter of months after which a nascent b-school guy realises the importance of structure. A method to the madness is what that we perceive when we look at the chaotic semblances of the dynamics of various industries. With a series of arduous classes, assignments and projects we soon learn to optimise our lives the same way we do for businesses. The article intends to cover the four essential pillars of
decision making, risk-taking, time management and problem-solving which helps a b-school student apply his erudite learnings in the real world.
Decision Making & Risk Taking: “Grey” is the ideal oxymoron which defines the atmosphere in which a b-school graduate is trained to operate. Optimism was never noted a business strategy. Thus, we are formalised to data-driven decision making and sometimes also susceptible to blind spots that aren't crunched by numbers. We soon unveil how to implement game-theory in our regular decisions to optimise our opportunity costs. The uncertain conundrum of the potential opportunity costs transforming into sunk costs is an inseparable aspect of the decision-making process. We tend to be more aware of our core competencies and invest our resources judiciously to maximise our returns.
Time Management & Problem Solving: Time is the currency we trade in, and just as companies diversify concerning the synergy in operations to maximise their scope of returns, we tend to do the same regarding initiatives that we venture in to achieve. The amount of time we devote to a particular task is a function of its probability of success, and its glory of return which may be a minuscule biased by the subjective factor called passion. So, what if we go wrong with our calculations sometime? Failures- are an integral part of our everyday learnings. When we learn about how economies of large countries have failed and survived, relating them to the size of our personal failures resembles to be a mere fragment in a vast continuum. The concepts of treating failures as sunk costs and understanding the ravages of escalation of commitment for businesses are some of the things that are not only confined to large institutions but also extend to the outlook of the smallest decisions of our everyday lives. Regarding problem-solving, we are equipped with an arsenal of knowledge that we can use to solve organisational problems, and the best thing is that we can use some of it to solve personal ones too.
In conclusion, the practical exposure that students get inside a b-school not only hones their ability for business development but also helps them undergo a significant transformation which helps them achieve better personal growth with the help of a few condiments from the plethora of knowledge that they acquire in the span of two years.