Is MBA A Sure-fire Passport to Success? Date:   Thursday , May 13, 2010 I keynoted a few weeks ago at the Silicon India’s flagship event branded, “Utkarsh” focused on Executive MBAs. I must say the “executive MBA” business in India has come of age and is thriving! The packed auditorium bore evidence to this. Many of the delegates who attended the conference flocked me post my session and made a suggestion that I write and share my views and suggestions I expressed at the event for the benefit of larger section of the readers. So here I am bowing to their suggestion and doing my first piece: Do you need an Executive MBA (or for that matter an MBA) at all for being and becoming a successful manager and if it is necessary, but not sufficient, then what are the other success ingredients. In subsequent issues, I will make an effort to elaborate on each of the ingredients I believe are critical for success. Managers and not MBAs: Well, that was the title that Prof Henry Mintzberg gave to one of his best-selling books published in 2004. Dr Mintzberg is a professor of Management at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and is credited with conceiving and launching the International Masters Program in Practicing Management. In his thought provoking book above, Dr Mintzberg makes some powerful observations that open the eyes of both the B-Schools and the students investing their money and time there pursuing MBA program. Here are some of them: * Management is a practice that has to blend a good deal of craft (experience) with a certain amount of art (insight) and some science (analysis). * Using a classroom to help develop people already practicing management is a fine idea, but pretending to create managers out of people who have never managed is a sham! (Executive MBAs, take some solace!) * MBAs without management experience have encouraged two dysfunctional styles in practice: calculating (overly analytical) and heroic (pretend art). * Successful managing is not about one’s own success but about fostering success in others! With this introduction, I added my own perspectives with some data (not a thoroughly researched one, but based on my experience with thousands of MBAs and extensive reading) : * Two-thirds of world’s CEOs do not have MBA degrees * Of the remaining one-third with MBA degrees, no more than half of them did anything great that they could not have done without the MBA! * Of the several hundred MBAs that many of India’s best B-Schools churn out each year, no more than a third or half of them make it to the top slots (CEO and CXO jobs). * A third of MBAs passing out of the premier B-Schools never crossed the middle management jobs * A third of these MBAs found non-corporate jobs more exciting like teaching and research. Context is as important as the Content: The context in which I shared the above is even more important than the data points above. And the context is that MBA programs are great and helpful, but not sufficient to be successful. One has to demonstrate certain attributes and credentials to be able to make a difference. Rest of my keynote dealt with what is the missing link drawing the attention of the delegates to focusing on understanding and acquiring some of these attributes to enhance the chances of their success. Most of the Executive MBA (E-MBA) aspirants sign up for these (expensive) courses because they believe they can augment their career growth either with their current employers or possibly by changing their employer. It is some kind of hope to be CEO-ing sometime in the future with these degrees and diplomas! Nothing is wrong with the ambitions. In fact, without ambition, no progress will ever be made. Just that my own theory and model of talent management I keep sharing in various fora provides a more rounded view that ambitions will lead to success when accompanied by a right measure of two companions, viz., ability and engagement. E-MBA programs are in demand for a variety of reasons. In a down economy, pursuing an MBA is one of the wiser ways of spending time, if you did not have a job to stick on. So, registrations increase manifold. Also, many aspiring first line and middle managers going strong in their organizations also pursue executive MBAs as they perceive this as a career-expanding investment. In many progressive organizations, there are policies to encourage, nominate and reimburse for these programs as well. Long live Executive MBAs! While E-MBA programs do serve as a “ladder to be a leader” (and that is the tagline for the summit!), my view is that it is not enough to find a ladder to be a leader, but it is important to find ladder to become a ‘result-oriented’ leader. And the results include customer results, people results and investor results- all in right balance! Corporate disasters presided over by many an Ivy-league MBAs worldwide could have been avoided, if these ‘leaders’ understood and practiced the right balance instead of being overly lopsided! So, where do we go from here? There is no gainsaying the fact that MBAs have their role to play in accomplishing career success for their aspirants and corporate success for their employers and the multiple stakeholders. But in the absence of certain critical competencies and attributes that need to be built over time and demonstrated at work, these MBA degrees (Executive or otherwise) will not help. This is the message I share with MBAs, particularly those with experience and an E-MBA, but are not able to achieve their much dreamt career goals and stuck precisely where they did not want to. In the forthcoming issues, I will throw some light on how to make a success out of these E-MBAs. So, stay tuned! The author is Executive Vice President & Chief People Officer, Symphony Services. He can be reached at mahalingam.c@symphonysv.com