Ask 9 out of 10 MBAs whether an MBA degree adds value and they’ll say that it does. Ask 9 out of 10 recruiters and hiring managers the same question and they’ll say they aren’t sure.Unfortunately, it’s the recruiters and incumbent managers that do the hiring, promoting and bonus-giving.
That means it’s up to MBAs to tip the market’s perceptions in their favor. One way to do this is for graduates and MBA aspirants to undertake a self-directed strengthening program, designed principally to make their skills more relevant to their businesses or the ones the hope to work for. Here’s a 5 step program that might help:
Step 1. Become a data-driven, not solely idea-driven, leader.
With so many MBAs becoming startup founders these days, the notion of a graduate walking into a job where he or she directs skilled people that manage data while he or she remains ignorant of the details are fading. The MBA of tomorrow must get his or her hands dirty. This starts by aiming to become a data-driven (as opposed to merely idea-driven) leader.
Ideas and vision, of course, are still essential for any manager or business leader. However, idea-driven leadership is just daydreaming without a solid basis in the data (i.e., reality). Indeed, one pundit suggests that at least 4 out of the 13 reasons he lists for startup failures relates to founders ignoring data-driven factors, such as who would buy their product or what’s wrong with it.
To become data-driven, the MBA needs to become accustomed to opening discussions with a reality check; that is, potent illustrations of the relevant facts. What are the trends in key performance indicators, risk factors and other diagnostics of performance in the company? What are the targets in relation to the overall strategy? Where is the strategy in relation to the target? What factors are detracting performance? Which ones are aiding it? How might these be related and managed in a way to move things forward? (This is, by the way, a great agenda structure for meetings.)
Calling to bear the common “spreadsheet acrobatic” skills that most MBAs learn in school, data-driven leadership rests in using forecasts of these sorts of numbers to predict the direction of key strategically-relevant variables: then outlining strategies for improving their trajectories.
Step 2. Replace canned knowledge of theories with genuine, analytical skill.
MBA programs typically teach students how to fit well-known and elegant theories of business management to everyday business situations. This ‘generalist’ approach is akin to poor, one-size-fits-all, management consulting.
Instead, the analytical skill that MBAs require most in today’s data-intensive environment is one of dissecting his or her company or its market quantitatively, then assessing prevailing challenges and forming (his or her own) strategic and innovative solutions to those challenges. Importantly, he or she should follow this sort of analysis by testing the proposed solutions.
An MBA can acquire this skill simply by practicing the process of framing and answering questions using data and analytics. For arithmophobes, even just reading up on analytics using lighter weight treatments can help catalyze thinking about business as driven by root causes, drivers and hurdles that affect the business and its competitors. This knowledge can be strengthened further by a bit of a refresher on spreadsheet mathematics.
Step 3. Become a master of gathering and using business and competitive intelligence.
My father always taught me that the person most aware of the situation is the one with the power. That principle’s long been understood in the corporate world and, evidently, it’s also becoming common knowledge in the startup world. Without intelligence (i.e., awareness of the business and competitive environment and its dynamics), a business cannot survive, let alone thrive.
Nonetheless, many MBAs confuse information with intelligence. While information is important in terms of making important connections between cause and effect, intelligence is essential to know in terms of how it informs strategy, response and success. The MBA can master intelligence by understanding and repeatedly practicing analyses such as the following:
Data (say, on the amount of customers or the trend in customers dissatisfied with the company’s product), should be analyzed to produce information (e.g., surfacing the question of how customer dissatisfaction is driving increased costs through resolutions) and information studied to acquire intelligence (e.g., an understanding and comparison of how production in China versus Mexico impacts the company’s product quality, bottom line and competitive position).
From intelligence one determines how various factors impact the company’s strategic direction as well as that of its competitors. This is insight. Few skills are more valuable or relevant in today’s business environment!
Step 4. Turn the one-size-fits-all modeling talent into a means for stress testing organically devised strategies.
Wait, those canned models and theories mentioned in Step 2, do actually have their place! While pre-packaged analyses and one-size-fits-all models can be misleading when taken too seriously and out of context, they can add value if viewed as alternative approaches (or “stress tests”) to when compared with organic solutions.
Thus, casting a “Blue Ocean Strategy” sort of model onto the question of whether a company should roll out a new product or service line, for example, could expose deficits in the organic strategy that the MBA has devised, based upon his or her own analysis. Such a stress test subjects the organic analysis to scrutiny that can only make it stronger.
Step 5. Leverage connections for “live” case studies.
Professional connections made during business school can represent a gold mine in terms of helping an MBA devise strategic solutions without the sweat and pain of trial and error. Even two green MBAs have twice as much experience when putting their heads together. If the MBA reaches out to classmates and alumni with the aim of picking their strategic brains, he or she can effectively forge a strategic, “think tank” out of an inner circle. Current challenges that are faced within that network of associates can even be diagrammed (if the MBA is really geeky) and feedback on the performance of various solutions studied.
The skills that MBAs acquire in school are certainly not limited to this list. However, as I’ve argued elsewhere, these areas provide a core structure from which MBAs can meet the quickly changing demands of today’s business world and—when demonstrated in the workplace—can tip the balance of hiring managers and recruiters in their favor.
Πηγή: LinkedIn.com
