‘Ability to adapt defines MBAs’ success’

The success of MBA graduates lies in their ability to quickly adapt to changing market dynamics, said Vice-Chairman of IT services major Cognizant Lakshmi Narayanan at The Hindu BusinessLine-MBA Universe careers conference here on Friday.

Narayanan said the need for reinvention is one of the key business ingredients for success. Citing the example of electronics giant Haier, he said the company brought about a lot of reinvention based on case studies conducted internally. It was able to quickly shift strategies and got into new business areas, thereby ensuring the company does not stagnate.

Top three He, along with TV Rao, Chairman, TVRLS; Shailesh Kekre, Principal, McKinsey India; Sundar Kondur, Vice-President of Kasturi and Sons ( The Hindu Group); and Amit Agnihotri, founder of MBAUniverse.com, released the B-school rankings of 2016 on the occasion.

IIM Ahmedabad won the top honours in The Hindu BusinessLine–MBAUniverse.com B-School rankings for 2016. IIM Calcutta came second, while the third place was taken by IIM Bangalore, signifying the contribution of these B-schools to the management discipline.

Earlier, addressing a gathering, made up of B-school students and faculty members, Narayanan spoke about the impact that MBA students are bringing to a company like Cognizant. “If you see, all of our C-suite executives are from leading colleges in India and abroad,” he said. The CEO of the company, which figures in the top five software exporters list, Francisco D’Souza, did his MBA from Carnegie Mellon.

Narayanan also pointed out the need for institutions to collaborate on issues which have a larger bearing — on the industry, economy or for the nation. As an example, he pointed to efforts put in by US institutions to assess the impact of cyber security breaches on many of its corporates. “The study assessed that electronics and communication technology, aerospace and aviation and healthcare (including pharma) are most often attacked by hackers from China,” he said. As a result of this, cyber security got top priority as customer data had to be protected.

Kekre was of the view that an MBA is not a prerequisite for a successful management career, pointing to dropouts such as Steve Jobs and other famous CEOs. “Students should not sit back and think that once they complete a degree the work is done,” he said and urged them to keep their learning caps at all times.

Industry veterans, including TV Rao, also addressed some of the psychological aspects of business, such as what makes people effective.

Being effective

Rao, who has written a book that addresses a lot of these concerns, told the gathering that he categorised performers into four buckets. “The first are doers — they work hard and follow job descriptions. The second are achievers, who work faster than others and are focussed on achievements,” he said. Rao categorised the third as visionaries, who chart their path following their conviction and belief. Innovation is an important aspect and colleges should dispel the belief that 20-year-olds cannot be visionaries. The last category is made up of missionaries, who are passionate about the cause and who have a combination of some of the above-mentioned traits, he said.

The issue of values also came up for discussion, especially at a time when corporates around the world are being slammed for their lack of values. Rao said that values are a very important metric and urged corporates to do their bit to inculcate more values which, in turn, would result in a better Human Development Index (HDI).

The cover of the forthcoming booklet by The Hindu BusinessLine-MBAUniverse on rankings and with content for MBA aspirants titled Inform & Inspire was released. The booklet will be released in mid-December. An eight-page special feature, which will capture the proceedings of the conference, will be published on December 9.

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