Which B School are you from?
Prakash Iyer
Leadership Trainer | Motivational Speaker | Best selling Author | Former CEO | Helping Unleash the Leader Within
Imagine a new rule. A rule that prohibits candidates from mentioning in their bio-data the institution where they obtained their MBA. And interviewers are not allowed to ask that question either.
What would happen?
A tiny snippet in a Malcolm Gladwell podcast set me thinking about this. Imagine working your way to a premier B School - and then not being allowed to flaunt it. Unfair, no? And then, would there still be such a clamour to get into the big name schools?
Have you ever felt that people get unduly impressed by ‘which institute you are from'? Do you feel some fabulous organisations unfairly shut their doors on deserving candidates from lesser known schools?
Maybe recruitment would get tougher. How do you screen candidates? Sure, it could be argued that the name of the institute is a good filter to use - but AI or some other tools could do the job too?
We all know of some fantastic talent that’s come from tier-2 schools. And you can probably name several great leaders who are from the not-so-premier schools. In any case, once you get on to the job, no one cares really which school you went to. Or even whether you have an MBA. Don’t think a CEO selection committee ever said let’s hire him (or her), she’s from XYZ School.
Would a rule like this give real talent a better chance? Will it force us to let go of our biases, and dig harder to find real talent? Will it mean the end of old boys’ clubs? Will it make B Schools focus on the curriculum and the teaching, rather than being ranked the top school and attracting the best talent?
What if this rule actually came into force and you were forbidden from mentioning the name of your alma mater?
Keen to hear your thoughts.
TEDx Speaker | Empowering Global Supply Chain Excellence | Driving Lean Implementation | Master Black Belt | GE Alumnus | Winner Asia Podcast Awards'24
2 年Prakash Iyer , Simply loved this article!! thought provoking. Forget about the B School/University/Institute, there are many bright leaders who made it to the top without proper "qualification" which is a mandatory eligibility criteria. These leaders have proven that qualifications doesn't matter but passion to do something different with persistence and perseverance. In fact in many cases, they didn't even imagine they would MAKE it to TOP. Strong purpose and working towards their vision relentlessly is all that they do!
Independent Brand Strategist - Brand - CEO Coach - Start-Up Mentor - Best-Selling Author - #TEDx Speaker - Podcaster
4 年Terrific experiment waiting to happen. At Ulka I had designed a MAQ - Marketing & Advertising Quotient Test. It was a test that was revised every year. It used to give a pretty good idea of the candidates suitability. And we used it to filter out candidates from the third tier institutes. They used to be called to our office for this 20 min test. It worked. Always.
Chief Financial Officer @ TerraPay
4 年Ha Ha
PhD (International Studies, JNU); Fellow (Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Germany)
4 年Couldn't agree more. There is an inherent hierarchy embedded in that one question.
GTM | Global BD | Corporate Strategy | 40 under 40 | Problem Solver | HEC Paris MBA
4 年I agree with the article except one point in which Mr. Iyer takes an assumption that a school can manage to have a top ranking without managing good education and teaching. 1. I see the discussion happening here on flaunting the B school name while the question raised in the article is why others asks "From Where". 2. Answer of "From Where" gives a bit of initial assurance on the quality of education imparted and the rest depends on the student how much one takes out of that quality. 10% of 100 (premier) is less than 50% of 50 (semi premier) 3. Internationally, one does not get admitted just based upon some score in a test. They ask for industry experience, quality of experience, accomplishments, academics, co-curricular etc. So good schools take a balanced approach. 4. Some schools are premier bcoz they impart quality of education and hence enjoys the top rankings.