I took up my first job at 24. I was among the first batch of management trainees to be hired by the company and was assigned advertising as my key responsibility.
Initially, it was exciting since I was involved in identifying advertising spots and running entire campaigns. Young and enthusiastic, the high point of my life at that time was going on photo shoots to Lonavala with super models of that era.
As the initial excitement of the campaign faded, I realised that I was not contributing to the larger goals of the organisation and that I had merely become a bill-approving executive. After sharing this perspective with my CEO, I was put in charge of revamping the company's MIS systems.
My journey into the world of information technology began soon thereafter when I was invited to join Computronics. From there I moved to IDM, a company formed by ex-IBM employees after IBM's exit from India. It is there that I learnt how to be a successful sales manager.
I began to understand that sales is not a matter of chance: it is a science. It involves forging long-lasting and fruitful relationships, a soft skill that B-schools often do not teach.
A textbook education often misses out on teaching the granular aspects of sales that comes from hands-on experience, rather than from a perusal of the written word.
Yes, the words and numbers matter, but do they actually teach you how a successful salesperson sets and meets his targets time and again? This knowledge comes only from practical experience of the market, business and, most importantly, from the relationships you form in the course of your career.
While all the theoretical aspects of marketing were valuable in deriving strategies, I learnt more about implementation from my practical experiences, from the insights that were derived by my fellow-professionals and from the best practices, which the organisation adopted from IBM.
The most important learning, however, was that in this knowledge-intensive economy, the key strategic differentiator would be to channel all existing resources towards a common organisational goal. It is important to find ways to tap individual intellectual properties and build the organisation's intellectual capital.
In a fast-growing economy such as India where competition is cut-throat and technology has become an enabler, concepts such as enterprise applications and business intelligence need to be included in the syllabii of B-schools.
A basic knowledge of these technologies would be invaluable for new recruits looking to make their way in this dynamic and competitive marketplace.
The IT industry itself is a fast-evolving one, with newer concepts and technologies being introduced regularly and older technologies becoming rapidly obsolete. B-schools need to train students in all these aspects of business.
The ability to harness the capabilities of business intelligence and other enterprise applications lies in practical knowledge of these technologies.
There is no substitute for experience, but if it is made available as anecdotal teachings, it will prepare the students to face the ground realities of the corporate world. It is, however, important for students to be groomed to handle technology as well as the change management techniques that go with technology adoption and implementation.
These are critical factors in the corporate world where often success is defined by how quickly one adapts to change.
At the same time, it is imperative that the business leaders of tomorrow are able to evaluate success on parameters that are not restricted to only an increase in profitability and reduction in cost.
To prepare successful business leaders for tomorrow, it is important to bridge the intelligence gap between academia and business.
To do this, the educators of today need to necessarily imbibe in students an appreciation of soft skills, a thorough grounding in the application of theoretical knowledge to real life situations and practical knowledge of technologies as business enablers.
Only then can corporate India look forward to a new and sophisticated breed of leaders.
Sudipta K Sen is CEO and MD, SAS Institute (India). He graduated from Lucknow University in 1978.
-- As told to the BS Strategist Team
