1. It is Master of Balanced Administration:
It
is about learning how to balance work-fun, theory-practical, duties- hobbies,
man- machine, brain-emotions, following- leading, listening- speaking, obeying-
challenging, classes- events, failure-
success and most importantly outer you- inner you.
It’s
not about This “Or” That. It’s about This “And” That.
Ex:
IQ and EQ both are equally important. Followers are as important as leaders are.
2. It is studying subjects in the light of other subjects:
Most
common mistake done by students who have an inclination towards a particular
subject is: While studying their favourite subject they forget about the
subjects that they do not like much.
Ex:
While studying Marketing one must understand it within the light of Finance,
HR, Operations, and Systems etc. Because, in market every marketing manager has
to handle numbers, people, systems and distribution. A creative marketing
manager who does not understand finance and systems will never be able to
create and execute a profitable marketing plan.
One
must understand that these subjects cannot be studied in isolation because each
area is dependent on other areas. The student must ask for numeric solutions
while studying marketing and human resource management cost of solution. And
while studying systems management one must study it from an HRs eye too as it
is people who would run the system.
3. It is being in the shoes of the head:
While
studying management or solving a problem or a case study one must put himself
into the shoes of the boss/ leader who is tackling the issue. Unless you
consider the case being discussed as your own business problem/ opportunity you
will never be able to get to the depth of the issue and the solution generally
will be superficial.
To
learn the most: One must analyze the problem/ case study from each stakeholder’s
point of view. Because the solution provided by a typical Marketing Manager
might not be feasible to the operations manager for technical reasons or the
finance manager would not approve it because of it might not be financially
feasible.
A
good manager will not provide solution for his department by creating problems
for another department.
Those
who condemn theory/ theoretical knowledge must realize that an established
theory is always based on inferences drawn from practice (or what is being
practised). Theory is a reflection practice.
Ex:
What came first: Marketing or Marketing Theory?
The
problem lies in not using theory intelligently. Just because one is not
intelligent enough to use theory does not suggest that Theoretical knowledge is
useless.
Management
theory is a not prescription it is just a description. Theory might not give
you a solution; it can definitely help you to discover a way to approach the
solution.
Any
theory has some assumptions. One must study theory in the light of those
assumptions. One must understand the constraints of a theory and the
constraints of the actual problem at hand. Theory can definitely help a person
to understand the problem and crystallize it to get a solution.
The
aim of MBA should not be to make you learn theories but to make you capable
enough so that you can develop your own theories and solve problems in your own
way. Experience helps you have your own
ever evolving theories. An experienced person can run many simulations
simultaneously and has a brain to consider multiple numbers of constraints and
visualize the effect (based on his previous self discovered theories or as the
world calls it as experience).
MBA
case studies are meant to give the candidate a variety of experience but under
a limited number of constraints and wide number of assumptions.
One
can very well start from theories but one must not stop at them only.
A
good student can learn more from a bad teacher than a poor student from a
skilled teacher.
A student should not solely depend upon the efforts of faculty for his learning. He must strive to get the best out of his teacher. Make the best out of the worst teacher. You will never be able to say “I had a bad teacher for this subject” as an excuse in the industry. By having the courage to take the responsibility of self development a student can make the most out of the situation. “Don’t sit on your ass and depend on others for your improvement.” You be the driver.
Question,
ponder over examples, search for more analogies and demand for in-depth
explanation, have an open mind and urge to learn. Learn from friends, library,
non-teaching staff, the canteen manager, the hostel guard. Learn from anybody
and everybody.
Even
if you have not reached IIMs you must behave and develop habits that can make
you at par with IIM students and thus prepare you to give a tough fight to the
graduates from top notch B-school. The best students always keep searching for
more avenues for learning. They believe that they are going to use the
learning. Most importantly they actually use them!
6. Managing pressure and expectations:
A
typical B-school would have parties, cultural programmes, sports, exams,
competitions and classes all at the same time. A candidate might want to excel
in exams as well as cultural programmes. One must understand that there is
opportunity cost associated with every action. One must figure out creative
ways to manage the trade offs. One must stretch his capacity but without
burning out.
Following
crowd will at best make you a part of the crowd.
Multitasking
might appear to be a smart way of handling things but one must not forget the
power and the need of concentration. Concentration requires good mental and
physical health, discipline with mind and work and organising things properly.
If one reaches late in the class he is bound to take more time to get in sync
with the class. If ones phone is vibrating in the bag he is bound to loose on
the topic being discussed.
The
basic thing that our school teachers always demanded from us: “Be there
physically and mentally” remains important throughout the life.
Sleeping
on time, doing some warm up exercise, and meditating a bit is the least you can
do for making the most out of your young - productive days. Relaxing a bit
during breaks and going into hibernation mode can help a lot.
One
of the most common things the students do when under fire (assignments/ exams
etc.) is to skip meal. Skip meal for what? For studying during exam days
because you were lazy earlier? How can a person who cannot manage his meal, can
think of managing a company?
7. Knowing oneself, being with oneself:
In life there is only one
person who is going to be there with you always. And it is “You”.
Know thyself and the world
will know you.
A manager who does not know
about his business will never do justice with the business. A person who does
not know himself cannot do justice with his potential.
Spend time with self to
understand yourself. Ask yourself: how are you, what you like, what you don’t,
what makes you happy, what kind of work would suit you, what kind of boss you
want, what is the environment that you are seeking, are you improving every
day, where have you reached so far, where do you stand, what do you intend to
do, how do you intend to do it, where will this rush and hurry take you, are
you a good human being, what is it you can do for others, do you really have
good friends, have you ever helped someone inspite of being busy, are you
becoming insensitive and calling it professionalism, do you still find a little quality time for
your mother, have you looked at the moon
and felt the peace as you used to, ...there are enough questions that no one
would ask you but the answers to them can make you closer to your true self, to
be at peace with self and thus solve the riddles life would present you.
Spend quality time with
yourself. Explore yourself. Work on yourself. Believe in yourself. Evolve
yourself.
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