| WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH
YOU AT B-SCHOOL |
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| Praphul Misra / Mumbai August 19,
2003 |
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| A foreign B-school education was
of little help when the author was handed a pink
slip... |
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| Mr. Praphul Misra & Significant
Other” said the cover of the envelope bearing an
invitation to the Dean’s Welcome Dinner for the
new batch of MBA students — my first lesson in political
correctness and etiquette in Corporate America,
much before the first class assembled! And I still
remember my first date in the US with this young
lady from Japan. |
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| In addition to the usual subjects
of accounts, marketing, finance and human resources,
an American MBA gets you a whole host of additional
learning. |
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| Managing time is the first thing
that an Indian (South Asian) student gets to learn
very early, irrespective of the degree programme.
Team meetings scheduled for 8:35 am or 5:40 pm give
you a quick appreciation of what I call the “decimal
system of the clock”. |
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| Analytical depth in the decision
making process is a big learning — all reasoning
is expected to be backed with data, even if they
are “qualitative” or “directional”. Few generalisations,
as we are so used to in India, are accepted. |
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| One thing that has held me in good
stead was the value of networking and cultivating
relationships. Early on in the programme, students
are encouraged to join student associations. |
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| Their publications, seminars and
regular executive meets in downtown not only provide
students exposure to the real world but also give
invaluable opportunities to bond with those who
could (and are willing to) help budding careers.
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| But then, that was the late eighties
in New York, recession was hitting hard and pink
slips were being handed out in the thousands. |
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| From the protected confines of the
School of Management, we sighed at headlines
in The Wall Street Journal and listened confusedly
to horror stories from classmates who were in the
evening or part-time programme. |
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| The economic slow-down left broken
marriages, severe health conditions (and high grad-school
enrollments) in its wake. |
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| While the process of landing a well-paying
job at America’s largest custom research company
in early 1991 was stressful enough, losing it 12
months later was even worse. And that is where my
management course failed to deliver — on teaching
me to cope with failure. |
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| While hindsight is 20/20, reflecting
on what is happening again around the globe (and
also nearer home), I strongly feel that a half-credit
course on Stress Management or sessions on
“How to handle failure and come out winning”
should be a mandatory in the MBA curriculum. |
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| When it happened to me, my immigrant
defence mechanism kicked in the moment I left the
building at noon with my pink slip. |
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| First call (to my wife), “I am going
to tell you something important, but don’t panic
and promise not to call our parents in India. I’m
off to meet AJ to seek his advice. Will call you
from there.” |
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| Second call (to my desi friend AJ
who was my senior in B-School), “Hi. Can you cancel
all your meetings for this afternoon. Am coming
right over... This is urgent.” |
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| At home, in the evening, four of
our closest desi friends came over. Together, they
helped me get the anger out of my system and give
me hope that “all ain’t lost”. |
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| I had learnt the ropes of managing
a job well with my MBA. But sadly, it didn’t teach
me what to do when one lost it or failed. |
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| The roller-coaster ride of emotions
from shock, denial, anger, bargaining, guilt, depression
and loneliness, to acceptance and hope (they have
a process for everything in America) took me four
to six weeks before I was back on my feet. |
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| The first step was to re-activate
the professional support group — I got involved
with the local chapter of the American Marketing
Association. |
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| Next step, prepare a good resumé
(and print “business cards”). I even made customised
versions of the resumé for various industry verticals
and optional functional roles. Finally, I networked
like crazy! |
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| As I was relatively new to corporate
America, what worked for me was the desi network.
Although, in those days, Indians in management
positions were few and far apart and too insecure
in their jobs. |
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| I finally met this guy, AP, through
a common friend and we found that he had gone to
the same high school in Delhi, only 10 years before
me! |
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| AP was the client servicing director
in an ad agency, and didn’t beat around the bush.
“I have a planning position where I can really use
someone with your background. But, being an ad agency,
we can’t match your last pay.” I parked the offer,
hoping to find a better paying job soon. Months
later, I would read an agony aunt column — “it’s
easier to land a job when you are working than when
you are unemployed”. |
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| The stress was unbearable; time
was running out on my H1B status. One could not
share this with family (the big emotional safety
net in India) for fear of loss-of-face. |
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| My New York B-school’s placement
cell information was not easily accessible from
Texas — websites were still unheard of. Rent payments
(we’d moved to a smaller apartment), phone, utility
and credit card payments were piling up. |
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| It was illegal to take up odd jobs
due to my visa status — though I even contemplated
offering to add Dosa and Kachori to a local restaurant’s
menu that passed off only Mughlai food as Indian
food. |
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| My wife and AJ were the only anchors
during this time of crisis. AP called the following
week and suggested I take up his offer now and that
he was willing to “sponsor” and pay for my Green
Card. I signed up. |
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| The lesson I learnt on my own was
to shorten the “grieving process” with a personal
contingency plan. It not only helps you bounce back
professionally but emotionally as well. |
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| Whatever be the crisis, don’t let
your health suffer — you can’t win a battle with
a weak body. De-link personal failure from professional
failure — only later did I learn that the content
on my pink slip was a standard template. |
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| It bore no reflection on my personal
skills or abilities, it was just that my company
had lost a major account and I was the easiest employee
(being a foreigner) to let go of. |
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| In developing programmes for “Managing
Failure…”, I would recommend a multi-pronged approach
to B-schools. Encourage formation and participation
in Student Chapters of Professional Associations.
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| Revitalise the Alumni Association
with more meaningful content than the clique-ish
“get-togethers” — catalyse formation of local chapters
in different cities. |
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| Back on campus, assign faculty mentors
for students during their last semester — they become
crucial links among corporates, alumni and academia.
Add yoga to the curriculum compulsories. |
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| Another simple, yet powerful medium
is the use of guest speakers to speak on how they
faced failure head on and came out winning — almost
every successful career has a failure (and a woman)
behind it. |
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| I have seen informal networks (user-groups
on Yahoo!) of old-students of an institute performing
an interesting role that can be institutionalised
— extend the role of the placement cell to that
of a career resource centre that is linked to the
alumni association. |
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| Incidentally, the career resource
centre ranked No. 1 in the world according to a
recent Wall Street Journal survey is at the School
of Management (1992 batch), University at Buffalo
— my alma mater. |
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| (Praphul Misra is director
and CEO, Netcarrots Loyalty Services) |
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A course on how to handle failure is crucial
