Time and experience are greater teachers

WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU AT B-SCHOOL

About 21 years ago, I left IIM, thinking I knew it all. I did know a lot, thanks to my education, and it gave me self-confidence. What I didn't realise then was that my academic learning wasn't enough for success. Not at all!

My first job was to lead a team of seasoned sales people. The team was experienced and knew its markets. It didn't need a rookie like me to lead it. So I wondered how I could make them work together and with me, how I could energise and motivate them, and how I could gain their confidence and make the company grow.

I learned "on the job," from the experiences of others and myself; from great mentors and trial and error. B-school did not teach me the softer skills of getting that important buy-in to drive change.

A few years later, I had to take the business to a higher level. I had to confront the brutal truth that many in my team did not make the cut. Though we had achieved success together in the past and were friends, I had to let them go. It was personally a painful step, something B-school never teaches you to handle. The fact that I worked with great leaders and organisations that constantly questioned the status quo guided my decisions.

Time has taught me that organisational culture and values shape and drive individuals' behaviour and team behaviour. B-schools don't teach skills to shape organisational culture and build teams that can win in a rapidly changing world.

In conclusion, I must say that time and experience are great teachers. They taught me that energising a team, continuous learning, learning from mistakes, managing change and real-life mentoring are critical to success. B-schools don't teach soft team skills, taking hard decisions to build the right team and sculpting culture that takes the organisation to the next level. You must get into the trenches to learn those.

V N Tyagrajan is executive vice president, Genpact. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, in 1985