The discipline of execution

WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU AT B-SCHOOL

My two-year stint at IIM, Ahmedabad helped open a world of opportunities for me. It helped open doors that would have otherwise been inaccessible. My peer group still acts the best-sounding board I can ask for, but most of all, the realisation that I was in the company of such stalwarts, humbled me.

On the academic front, the case study method at B-school simulates real life business situations. This not only gives you a peek into the issues faced by business managers, but also equips you with the conceptual frameworks to handle them.

Still, the lack of an actual business environment means that most solutions stay at a conceptual and strategic level. B-schools are unable to provide the experience of implementation. Although an Excel sheet or Powerpoint presentation can create worthy solutions, there’s no way to test their effectiveness on the field.

Eleven years after I entered B-school, my biggest learning is that execution is the only strategy that the consumer sees. You might have the best communication idea, but unless your TV advertisement translates that idea clearly, sales will remain stagnant. Similarly, you might have the clearest “where to play” choices, but until your business development manager filters out the unwanted ones, you’ll have business dilution. One could have the best entry strategy in the world, but until you get the product available to the consumer at the right place, time and quantity, one will not succeed.

It is the attention to detail, the follow-through on decisions, and the review of in-field performance that makes or breaks a business initiative. B-schools do not lay enough emphasis on this all important “last mile”.

Business lessons apart, experience has taught me three other valuable things. One, don’t burn bridges. It’s a small world, you will meet the same people again. Second, treat others with respect. Human dignity should not be confused with a person’s designation. The last big lesson — an anti-thesis to B-school teaching — enjoying the journey is sometimes more important than reaching the destination. If you’re not doing what you love and instead working to amass those millions, chances are by the time you get there, life would have passed you by. This is the biggest reason that prompted me to switch from Procter & Gamble, Singapore, to India where I am pursuing my love for education through Kidzee and Zee Schools.

Sumeet Mehta graduated from IIM, Ahmedabad