Let me start with what I did learn at B-school. The most important were the financial tools. As an entrepreneur, understanding finance is extremely important as it impacts everything around us.
Second, it taught me how to think as a business person -- in B-school you are exposed to so many case studies, profit and loss statements, balance sheets and strategic decisions based on that information, that you automatically start thinking of everything around you as a business.
Another important lesson is that on valuations. Sure, MBAs are theoretical at times -- but it is in theory that you develop a deep understanding of the subject.
What you don't learn is equally important. As a business leader, building, motivating and carrying a team are many a times most important. This includes identifying talent, attracting talent and getting the most out of people.
The real world also involves making quick decisions based on imperfect data and you have to develop and trust your instinct.
When you sit in an MBA class and analyse case studies of companies that have revenues that run into several hundred million dollars, you tend to get comfortable with those number and underestimate the value of good execution -- thinking and discussing strategy is easy -- the real challenging part is the execution.
Add to that the risk factor. How does risk impact decisions versus purely imaginary risk? In the real world, you develop instincts for this and you carve out your way of doing things which works for you. This cannot be taught in business school, but what can be created is a simulation of a more realistic decision-making environment.
Also, I think business schools need to move beyond the data-intensive paper case studies to visual cases through videos and interviews describing the situations more vividly and realistically.
For an entrepreneur, it is all about the idea and good execution -- B-schools should try and add skills in their students through some practical experiences and lessons in superior execution and in establishing methodologies on identifying ideas that can provide value to customers and hence make a business successful.
Vivek Pahwa graduated from Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
