Dear Students,
LAST WEEK WE ASKED:
Do you think it is good for students to spend a day training under CEOs?
Chief executive officers and senior level executives are usually responsible for managing all other executives in the company and are ultimately accountable for achieving results. The best way to get a firm understanding on what you must do to reach the top job in your field is to learn from those who have already made it to the top job. This would boost the morale of students and help them improve their idea of managing a firm and subordinates under them. This would help the students to think like leader before they become one. The top job of any company would usually require many years of experience and several qualities and skills such as leadership, communication skills, charisma, financial acumen and a strong understanding of business.
- AB Karthik Monnappa, Bharatidasan Institute of Management, Bangalore.
OTHER RESPONSES
As per a recent report, CEOs who had an MBA on average ranked 40 places higher than CEOs who didn't have an MBA. Hence spending a day training under CEOs not only provides a hands-on industry experience, it also adds substantially to a student's skills and adds value to his or her resume. An exposure of this sort would help the students to understand the business philosophy, vision and ethical views of the business leaders. It also helps the students in building a good professional network.
-Sanket Agrawal, Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad
A day with a CEO is not so much for understanding what work he does in that one day but what has made him capable of doing that work. The concept of a CEO is not applicable to the corporate sector only but it only extends to the purview of administration and politics too. Today's students are going to run the country in the coming years. So a day with a CEO would definitely make the students a better leader which ultimately promises better prospects for tomorrow.
-Prerana Patil, Welingkar Institute of Management and Research
CEOs are used to facing changing situations and try to successfully lead their companies. So training with CEO's will help students experience the former's journey from a fresher, their journey from bottom to top, the art of implementing knowledge and successfully leading a company. A student also gets a chance to establish a corporate link. Once a student gets a chance to know more about the corporate world, he can very well conduct his SWOT analysis, can work upon his weak areas and make his own strategies to enter in the market.
-Sapna P Thadani, Idea Institute of Management and Technology, Ahmedabad.
Business schools proposing a day's training for the students with CEO's of different companies is a good move which would surely benefit the students. Good CEO's can certainly inspire the aspiring students who have aimed of achieving something big in life. Such a move by the institutes is sure to improve the morale of the student who is getting trained. Such training programmes tame the students into being professionals even before they come out of college. Institutes should undertake such programmes more regularly so that all the students so they can come out of the shell and become effective managers in their careers. Our country needs trained administrators who can take on the reins of administration and effectively guide their organisation towards progress.
-A Bhuvana Bhimaiah, M.Com, Insurance Management, Alagappa University, Bangalore.
For students to get a day training under CEO would not do any good to them because a CEO has innumerable roles to play, which is often very intricate to understand by a student. A student may get confused and may not get any clear picture regarding the role. No doubt, a student can gain lots of insight of the business but he/she may not be able to master a particular field. To get a good start to their career, students should get training under their respective fields. Once they get a fair knowledge of their interest area and are well equipped with the level of commitment required, he/she can get an opportunity to spend a day with CEOs, where they might come up with the actual technicalities and skills required to run a business.
-Saharsh Poddar, Unitedworld School of Business, Ahmedabad
Today's business is very demanding, customer centric more than ever before, complex and yet challenging. CEOs can share their various experiences with the students so that students can get a feel of the present day business environments in which companies operate, which is necessary to form clear perceptions about career and business prospects, and choice of field. It is good for students to spend a day's training under CEOs that can do a world of good for them.
-Arvind Umashankar,B. Tech (Chemical) Final, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, (VNIT), Nagpur.
Contrary to popular misconception, a CEO's daily schedule mostly revolves around spending most of their time inside the company, attending to phone calls, uncalled emergencies, meetings, coupled with progress review of executives reporting directly to him/her; each customised as per the operating environment of the CEO. Spending a day watching the life of a CEO will thus teach management graduates invaluable lessons of time & resource management and allocation and will go a long way in their path to career enhancement. This exercise may also aid the CEO, as sometimes, it is an outsider who spots your fallacies more than an insider.
-Akanksha Sharma, PGDBM First Year, Sydenham Institute of Management Studies (SIMSREE), Mumbai.
Training under a CEO for a day will hugely benefit the students. Of course, this is not a job that one is going to land straight out of college and, in fact, only a small percentage of men and women who work in the upper levels of business will ever attain the highest job. Yet it will help students to learn time management and multitasking. CEOs are the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave. The CEO is responsible for virtually every decision made within the company. It is true that CEOs earn top pay, but that paycheck is well earned through hard work and long hours. But for those who succeed, they leave behind the legacy of a successful company.
-Kaushal Majithia, Fr. Agnels' Business School, University of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai.
The real question is if a CEO would have the time to entertain the student. And if yes then will he paint the real picture or one that he wants his company to be perceived as. At the end of the day, it would turn into a marketing gimmick for the college and the organizations involved. It would be better to identify the purpose which would be enabling the students to experience a company’s culture through an internship and then let him intern at the level he is most likely to start at post the course. This will allow him to taste and assess his dream job.
-Ashwini Vasudevan, Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai
In a training program of this kind, a CEO acts both as a coach and a leader. He increases the morale of the students by telling his multifaceted experiences, how to handle stressful situations, time management as he spends a large part of his time managing and training sales, financial professionals and technical staff. He elaborates the vision of the company, over -sees everything from top to the bottom and projects the company's potential for growth and success. In this way he prepares the students not to miss out on the finer details so as to complete the bigger picture of a successful manager.
-Priyank Jaiswal, L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai,
The purpose of a management is to serve customers. Perhaps the best way to present a richer and more accurate concept of management is to look at what good managers do or supposed to do in the course of a typical working day. Management theories tend to ebb and flow like tides but one of the best ways is by observing by what an actual manager does. The students will gain hands-on exposure while working with a top level manager.
-Ankit Pandya, Welingkar Institute Of Management Development And Research, Mumbai.
Learning under a CEO can't be taught in classroom. A meeting with a CEO helps students to know their business philosophy, their mindset, ethical views, the reality of a corporate environment and they also get to understand the pressure’s of a CEO's life. B-schools say such mentoring programs allow students a deeper exposure into the corporate world and also help better their decision making abilities.
-Nilaya Mitsah Shanker, Institute Name: Shri Ram Swaroop Memorial College Of Engineering AND Management (SRMCEM), Lucknow.
Students spending a day training under CEOs is a golden chance for them to take a glimpse of corporate world. Firstly it increases the job opportunities because CEOs can get the right talent for their organization by interacting with the students. Secondly the students would get mentoring from the CEOs and it will give them a clear idea for them as to where they see themselves in the corporate world. As CEOs share their experiences with students, their perception towards life and business will change and they will be motivated to do something innovative which will help them survive the tough competitive world of business.
-Heena. M. Chhabaria, Idea Institute Of Management And Technology, Ahmedabad.
Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Tuesday evening every week. Please ensure that your response does not increase 150 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name institute's name, year, batch and complete mailing address for your entries to be accepted. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Are visiting faculty members a boon to B-schools?
