Monday, February 1, 2010

A Life After the Classroom


Management students today come every year to business schools to study and fulfill their dreams. In two years. Who are these students and which business schools are we exactly talking about? There are so many of them. And what do dreams really mean? Can they dare to dream?

We are talking about students who need to do much more in life than graduate. Joining the lowest rung in a company after graduation would mark the beginning of their end. Their parents see a lot more in them than end up working as a clerk. Their obituary needs much more space. We are talking about them. 
 
Most of the students are from the commerce stream. Next in numbers come BMS. Bachelor in Management Services or BMS is a recent development in Mumbai. Many science students and young engineers are also taking a lot of interest in studying management. Also, we have people who come back from industry to take a fresh look at studies, to start from where they had left, to make their lives more meaningful to live.   

The pros and cons of the things that come to mind and which go a long way in making successful managers out of these students are discussed below.

Communications skills are an important part of life. The more these are developed and nourished at an early age the more are the chances of success in any field of activity chosen. But for a manager this is an important parameter.

Inter personal skills are developed in the class room to a reasonable extent. Being part of group discussions, team activity, team building help in this. A lot of student activities are carried on during the two year of management study. Right from organizing annual festivals, participating in inter collegiate meets, organizing seminars and workshops in different domains, being part of individual and group operational workouts, industry visits, participating in mock interviews before placement, etc. These constitute the common platform which enhance a student’s communication skills. A student needs to take the positives from all these activities and find out how to go to the next level. That is,  how to outperform the others. 

It needs to be emphasized here that ultimately it is the personality which marks out a manager : a person who can lead from the front. Interaction with people and attitude are the key areas which determine a manager’s personality.
Attitude, behaviour and thinking go a long way in this. Responsibilities need to be accepted and logical thinking needs to be done by a manager. Behaviour and  its change towards a positive one makes a manager contribute positively to the organization.     

Hard work, knowledge, leadership skills and the right attitude are some of the things that make a successful manager. Every problem has a solution, only if we change our attitude. It is our attitude towards life and work that makes our life worth living. A change in attitude changes one’s life.  Having a positive attitude is the bottom line to success. Management students have multiple opportunities to develop these things if they are focused. 

Distraction is an evil word in any institute. Students who come in with a lot of expectations often become so distracted that they lose focus and be a let down to themselves, their faculties and their parents from the second semester onwards. It becomes very difficult if not impossible then to come back and shape their careers. There are a lot of things that should be complemented with to complete their formal education. The following are a few things which will go a long way in developing their personality and stand in good stead for a long time to come.

Reading business dailies
Reading business magazines
Being aware of current news and affairs nationally and globally
Viewing business channels
Being aware of important political and social developments
Capital markets
Developing an interest in things that they are passionate about outside the classroom and continuing to excel in them.

And last but not the least reading. In today’s age of supersonic speed the internet has made everything available at the click of a mouse. But it will never ever be able to take away the joy of reading a text book or a novel. This is one thing to think about.










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