Creating Leaders of Tomorrow
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
— John C. Maxwell
Last year, in our B-school special, we had asked the question: Can leaders be created in the classroom? As we present the most-awaited, most-reliable, and most-feted annual BW Businessworld B-school rankings, we stick to the question: Are our B-schools equipped to create the leaders of tomorrow?
Our B-schools have not just produced managers, but also helped create leaders who’ve shone in various vocations. A Ramachandra Guha, or a Harsha Bhogle, too, are products of our B-schools.
This, however, is not the central question that we are addressing. We are trying to evaluate if Indian B-schools are geared up for the future challenges. An AIMA vision document says that India should be the biggest (and best) B-school hub after the US by 2025. We ask the questions: Is it really doable? Also, why our best B-schools don’t figure in the top global B-school lists.
We ask the B-school dons as to why they fail to publish papers as frequently as their western peers. Also, while Industrial Revolution 4.0, automation and machine learning have fundamentally changed the workplace, how have the B-schools been impacted?
Reports suggest a welcome spurt in the number of women graduates taking CAT. We evaluate if women B-school graduates are any better, or different from their male counterparts. In addition, we profile top B-schools, and interview directors of top-ranked institutes.
Successive governments have created newer IIMs. Is it enough to arrest the slide in MBA education? There’ve been reports of lower-rung schools closing down, and failing to find students. Indeed, students passing out from those institutes are hardly employable.
The avante garde institutes must learn to adapt to the newer socio-economic realities. We, as a nation, have set for ourselves certain mid-term and long-term targets. Our B-school ecosystem must act in sync with the larger national goals. They must produce leaders who straddle the corporate and outside world alike.
We hope that our annual most credible B-school issue provides just the right kind of impetus for reprioritisation of our schools’ objectives and long-term goals.
We have a second cover in this issue. The recent development of ZEE promoters deciding to sell stake to a global partner has the industry abuzz. The promoters maintain that the objective is to become a front-ranking global media company.
We speak to the patriarch Subhash Chandra and his two sons Punit Goenka and Amit Goenka to understand the journey forward and find that they already are ahead of the curve. What interests readers is the likely choice of suitors for a tie-up which will make the group’s dream come true. It’s a riveting read, with extensive interviews.
This issue of BW Businessworld also has an interview with the Air Force chief, while another feature talks about auto major Audi’s India plans.
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