The Exec-Ed Zone

In a recent interview in the Indian magazine MBAUniverse the managing director of Tata Steel, Mr B Muthuraman, made the clear statement that:

A typical MBA program, as taught in B-schools, is focused on imparting knowledge about subjects like marketing, finance, organization behavior, operations etc. In my view, knowledge about these subjects contribute to only 20 percent of what makes a good manager; 80 percent of good management is based on what I call the behavioral traits of a person – it is the mindset and attitudinal make up of a person that makes him or her a successful executive and leader.

While this is probably not a total revelation to anyone who has thought about the competencies of a great manager or leader it does neatly sum up the challenge that business schools face. When they kicked off as the elite badges of management excellence that executives could hang on their breasts back in the 1960's and 70's the idea that they should be teaching soft subjects such as emotional intelligence or Neurolinguistic programming would have been too far out in the left field to be countenanced. Corporate culture, negotiation strategy, communication and leadership became more main stream as the 80's progressed into the 90's, but the thrust of those MBA's was still very much on hard facts, theories and tools.

 The rise of the executive coach and mentoring shows that Mr Muthuraman is right - success does not necessarily come to those who know the most but those that can translate their ideas into practical achievements.