Topic You CAN be a good manager, though you are not completely comfortable with numbers.   Professor Maurizio Poli mentions in the Article

“In 2014, you cannot be an effective manager without being comfortable with numbers”

I strongly disagree with this statement. I feel management consists of a set of skill-sets a person needs to acquire and being comfortable with numbers is not one of those skill-sets. Especially in 2014 I don’t think that it is necessary for a manager to be comfortable with numbers. This is an age of technology and numbers and computations are just a click away. A manager these days needs just to acquaint himself with the technology and everything is in his fingertips. But the technology does not help the managers in motivating employees, conflict management or decision making. These are the skill-sets which are required by managers. A manager needs to be confident, bold in their decision making and have effective communication skills. A person who is not comfortable with numbers but is great with his communication, leading and conflict management can make a great manager. I would like to support my arguments with an example. MS Dhoni is one of the most successful managers of a cricket team the world has seen. He is not totally comfortable with numbers. In fact in one of the interviews he mentions that mathematics used to scare him while he was a student. Many Business schools and managers study Dhoni and his leading ways as a case. Managing consists of managing skills rather than computation skills. Other examples are Mahatma Ghandhi, Gauthama Bhddha and we can find leaders from every field who are great managers yet not very comfortable with numbers. So I don’t think that computational abilities are in anyway connected with being a good manager. Article refuted:- http://insideiim.com/in-2014-you-cannot-be-an-effective-manager-without-being-comfortable-with-numbers-maurizio-poli-prof-of-quantitative-techniques-misb-bocconi/ ---------------------------------- This is an official entry for The Great Indian Debate competition. Our Team- Y-Nots Team mate- Srikarthik College: VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur