MBA - Master in Business Administration. Really?

Dear Blog,

The other day, while Dad and I were on a train journey, we just got talking about the education field and the various options…and also the reaction of our relatives on my completing my MBA and still choosing to join the business, when Dad came across what I think is a very valid point – Why call this degree/diploma an MBA? Before you develop any notions/opinions, let me explain…

You see, every post-graduate degree/diploma has a “Masters” prefixed to it, so you have a Masters in Finance, a Masters in Psychology, a Masters in Education and so on. But none of the “Masters” has been glamorized so much by the academic fraternity, public or the corporate world, except Masters in Business Administration. The effect of this being that the perception about an MBA grad is that he has been taught some secret formulae of success by which he has the weaponry to “Bring a better Future” or “Change the World” or, at least, become a “Money Magnet”!! The "Masters in BA" is seen as "Master of BA" !!

The truth cannot be far from it! We’ve never been taught how to create the future. No one can be taught that. What we have been taught largely is success stories of the past, mostly penned by those who never did an MBA!

We’ve been taught is to think in a sort of structured manner. Ironically, we’ve been taught to do so in a structured environment, whereas what we need is to think with a level head in an unstructured, “real” environment! True, Institutes can’t simulate the exact outside environment inside the campus, but they can – if they want – get pretty close to it.

I am digressing…let me come back to the moot point – why glamorize this discipline so much that it stops a person from coming back to his earlier “normal” life? The perception about the person changes not only in among the people, but in the person himself too, so much so that he may find it difficult to believe that he is the same old version before the diploma!

After all, we’ll all agree…the theoretical knowledge that we gather on campus doesn’t really help us much in isolation – the real learning starts when one is out of the campus in the practical field. All it does is provide us a fancy, comfy ‘cushiony’ start in the name of “Placements”.

What an MBA doesn't teach you...

Dear Blog,

I have been thinking about this for quite some time…in fact, any friend in XL who was patient enough to lend an ear has heard this question from me – what is it in a person that makes him/her successful? What is it in that person that separates him/her from those that are unsuccessful or not so successful?

Better still, allow me to be a bit blunt –what qualities should a man possess that would make him become a “Big Man”? (Sounds a bit weird when expressed in English! So let me express it better – Ek Insaan mein aisi kaun si khubiyan honi chahiye jisse wo ek kaamyaab insaan, ek bada aadmi, ban sake?)

Nope, Bloggie! This isn’t bringing out the “edge” in my question…what I want to ask is, “What stops a person from becoming Dhirubhai Ambani, JRD Tata, Sam Walton?”

What a stupid question, you’d say? I don’t think so. Can you give me an answer? Is there a comprehensive “list” of such qualities or facilities or both? Don’t give me the usual gassy answers…I’ve heard plenty of those…

To Believe or not to Believe...

I was once having this rather interesting conversation with a client of mine some days ago on - believe it or not - life after death and whether there is anything called re-birth! The client believes in all this big time and said that she had had a dream where one of her deceased relatives was telling her how it was up "there". I've also read a couple of instances in magazines about cases where a certain person had died and was reborn with evident marks of the earlier birth...I find the subject quite fascinating...

During the conversation, she mentioned an author in this field, Dr. Brian Weiss. She said that he is an absolute authority on this subject in the current time and highly recommended his research..

Seems like an interesting topic :) Soch raha hoon padhunga...

Just Thought...

- There's no point in taking a break when there's work around you...no matter how much fun it provides...you might think it'll relax you, but if you are serious about your work, it'll never relax you. Breaks are fun only when you have earned them, not taken them...

Learnt The Hard Way...

- A customer who shouts on you for faster delivery is better than one who is silent.

- Never compromise on quality for the sake of faster shipments. It can cost you a lot.

"The White Tiger" - A Must Read

Been reading an amazing book currently – “The White Tiger” by Arvind Adiga.

After a long time, a book that shows a true and clear picture of the Real India without any direct gaali-galauch on how this isn’t right and that is wrong…and doesn’t preach about the so-called morals of living. It’s admittedly a little bitter in places (justified) with a pinch of dark humor to add to the flavor, but after a while, the book makes you see the world (and a murder) through the eyes of Balram Halwai, a chauffer (and the murderer).

Arvind has a knack of coming up with some very witty one-liners which keeps the tempo alive. (Throughout the book, Balram is talking to the Chinese Premier and “educating” him about India prior to his visit here.) “Mr. Premier, you don’t speak English and I don’t speak English, but there are certain things that can be said only in English” –one of my favorite one-liners :)

Arvind’s sarcasm and scorn on the Indian Life is well brought out; the passion in expressing what he wishes to never losing tempo.

…and if you want to tickle your brain-buds a little more, read it with the accent that Russell Peters uses when he is mimicking Indians. The fun really starts then! ;-)

Does God Play Dice?

If God laid emphasis only on our actions – Karma – disregarding our intentions, wouldn’t that be an unfair method of evaluating our existence? If so, then it makes God unfair and partial (Partial because, He’s the One who creates the constraints within which we have to make decisions, and He’s the One who gives us our nature which influences our decision making; He controls both the environment and the act of decision-making in us). If He does not disregard our intentions, then He has to be a little subjective in evaluation, for strict parameters in His decision-making may make Him prone to mistakes…and He can’t take the “I’ll-make-an-exception-in-this-case” stance, for that, again, makes Him partial…

So how does God evaluate our life? Or rather, does He evaluate it at all? Or does He just play Dice?