MBA & the Ganga Belief.....

MBA- Master of Business Administartion, PGDM - Post Graduate Diploma in Management are few of the courses under the academic domain of Business management which are hugely popular today. If we consider the growth of this domain of studies, it is surpassing any other masters course like M.Tech, MCA, M.Com and many more.

In India, the belief with which one joins this intellectual course is as same as the belief a person has with the river Ganga (the Holy river according to Hinduism). Like the belief with the River Ganga states "one dip in Ganga and all your sins will wash away"; likewise majority of the students who joins this course thinks that they just have to enroll for the course and their life is all settled.

The centuries long belief with Ganga has been misinterpreted. The real and apt interpretation according to mythology : "One who takes a dip in the river Ganga will do it because he/she accepts that they have done some sins and they will struggle hard to make sure that they wont do it ever again in their life". So the person who goes to Ganga have a goal that he/she will do good deeds and be pure. But in reality people have tailored this belief according to their convenience saying that "one dip in Ganga and you are sinless".

Same is the case with the MBA/PGDM course, people think this course to be an ATM machine, you insert you card (Fee) from one end and you get the cash (Great Placement) from the other end. But students forgets to understand that they need to work hard, understand the business scenario, groom themselves and so on. In this dream that just by having admission they will get placed well stops their growth and finally they end up getting jobs which otherwise an uneducated fellow may also deliver.

I would also like to discuss the fact that an MBA student from an average college struggles more than a student from IVY League college to get placed due to several reasons. The reason for this thinking of mine is : a student who gets admission in a Top B-school have to just focus on studies and assignments but a student from average B-School have to  push themselves harder to get placed. The learning which one acquires in struggling is far much better than one which is bought through a brand name of the school.

I really appreciate what the lead character of Mr. Chetan Bhagats recent novel titled "Revolution 2020" says. He says "If you are in the top 20 Percent of the entrance exam rank holders then you are seen as a guy with intellectual brains,;if you don't belong to that league of 20 Percent, then you are seen as a good for nothing fellow". I think this loop hole in the education system has to be drastically change, the approving authority like AICTE , Ministry of HRD etc should not provide grants to the incapable institutions. 

Regards,
Rohit Tiwari

The "NO" Factor is better than the "YES" Factor

ENGLISH in India is taught in a very funny way. Firstly the child is made to learn the alphabets and then is made to by heart sentences and so on. But the two words "YES" & "NO" are cutely and hilariously used by each and every one during their child hood. In India you will not be surprised to see each and every student who is admitted in an English Medium school saying "Yes Teacher/Miss" or "No Teacher/Miss". Till the child remains a child he/she remains brave enough to use this both words whenever possible but as he/she grows the first word surpasses the next word (Yes surpasses No).  Once the child enters the world of business, he starts saying yes for everything in order to make career, close a sale deal, impress the boss, impress the person and so on.  But often he/she forgets to use the most important word "NO".

In marketing the most important word according to me is NO. Every marketer should learn to say this word. You may be puzzled now thinking why this fellow named Rohit Tiwari is suggesting to say "NO"? ; For which my answer is :

If you cannot say a NO to your customer and cant explain him why you cannot do what he wants then you are selling the product on a wrong platform which may yield result for a while (short term) but in long term once the customer gets to know about the false promise made with a "Yes" added to it at the point of sale, then you loose on two things :

1. The trust of your existing customer (the sufferer) &

2. the most important; the power of "word of Mouth" advertising


One of my favorite author Robin Sharma quotes: 
 "Every time you say yes to something that is unimportant, you say no to something that is important. “Yes men” never create anything great. There’s great value in getting good at saying no." 


Likewise every time you say a "YES" to customer and bluff him/her you misses a long term opportunity. 


Now the question arises "Why should an employee think of the long term benefit of a company, he can leave whenever he wants once his short term goals are achieved"? 
This question is apt for majority of the employees. Everyone thinks of achieving short term targets/goals integrated with them by the company, but let us not forget that the customer is buying a product from you and once you cheat him you loose your contact for ever. On other hand if you be truthful to him, irrespective of which competitor you join later, the customer will buy whatever you sell. So retain your prospective customers by telling them all "NO's" and all "YES" but tell them a NO at least.


Regards,
Rohit Tiwari