Why MBA? And why not MBA just for….
Here, I am definitely not writing the answer I prepared during my PI of IIMs. I had a very well written answer for that. And now I know how lame it was!
What I am writing is something I realized during the first 5 months of my MBA.
Have you ever tried to cook something or thought of cooking something for a long time and end up not cooking it actually because of loss of appetite or getting tired or being lazy in doing that?
Or, have you seen a very tasty cake not having any colours, cherries, creams over it? People don’t choose that cake, because they doubt whether it tastes good.
That’s exactly how it is if you don’t do masters after your graduation. Today, the world is transforming itself, I repeat the word itself, more rapidly than ever. You have laid the foundation for your education for almost 14 years and then do 3 or 4 years’ graduation in your life to settle down. What makes you think, you can contribute to the world with that 4 years’ graduation? I am not advocating a long formal education here. I know there are a lot of people who have successfully made the world a better place without formal education. But not everyone can do that. We need something called as fine-tuning. What is fine-tuning, why it is important? Engineers can relate to this!
And unfortunately, we grow up hearing how to survive, when to settle down, where to settle down, not how to impact people’s lives or make the world a better place.
After graduation we have the option of working, continue education, do own business, do nothing and do anything else.
Continuing education could be done by choosing specialized courses like M.Tech., M.Com., M.Sc., M.D., M.S., etc.
But MBA is one course, which is not specific to one thing, but it takes us through a lot of things in a span of 2 years. The fact that it takes us through a lot of things in just 2 years is the best thing. It makes us stronger and broader mentally.
If you choose to work or do your own business, at one point you would feel you would definitely feel you need an MBA. MBA is a course which helps us understand the values of business and get some acumen. It becomes an important layer of our education.
Don’t do it to get a better job, to have a great salary, to have the best ROI or to impress your parents and society.
It is beyond all this. And pursuing an MBA in IIMs is definitely above all these things.
In the next 20 years, the jobs we do and the way we live would be entirely different than it is today. Why? Because of automation and Artificial intelligence. China has made special policies for AI. They have realized its importance, and that is one of the reasons why it is able to compete with the USA without any fear.
Weapons and wars are the things of the past. Maintaining economic stability is the biggest challenge for every country now. We need to know about skills which machine cannot do. Creativity, strategy making, planning, negotiation, consultancy are some of those skills.
Please do not wonder why I am saying all these things. I am saying these things because MBA, especially from IIMs would prepare us to face these happenings more confidently. Today, we are not using phones, the phones are using us. All the millennials have their phones within 3 feet of their reach and they check it 40 times per day even when they don’t get any notifications. In near future, we would forget interacting and understanding people. In such times, during MBA we live with 500-700 odd students from diverse backgrounds of regions, education, works, traditions, culture, for 2 years. And all these people would be one family. It is not only beautiful; it is also important for one’s life. Each one of us would be having different goals and end goals of life. All of us would be supporting each one of us knowingly or unknowingly. Academics would be one of many things happening in the campus. Not the only thing. You would be part of committees to run the campus, help your peers, be part of clubs to engage with like-minded people, build network, do live projects, conduct events, interact with corporate leaders, discuss, debate, fight for things, read a lot of cases, articles, books and of course celebrate birthdays, festivals, party, cook food, watch TV series, go on trips.
These things would mould us, make us better human beings, have a better personality and multiple viewpoints. And as a result, IIM graduates would get great ROI, a better job, impress people, become a better entrepreneur, leader, speaker, and listener.