Business from 30,000 ft
The career trajectory of an average Indian MBA graduate looks something like this:
AIEEE => Engineering => CAT => MBA => Rainbow with a pot of gold at the end or,
AIEEE => Engineering => Work => GMAT=> MBA=> Rainbow with a pot of gold at the end
I had worked for over 6 years as a civil engineer before I began my MBA adventure. Sometimes my job was fun and interesting, and at other times it was a real drag. It took a about a year of convincing myself to let go of the comfort of the familiar. The decision to finally stop doing what I had been doing for the past 6 odd years was a difficult one. After that many years of experience, GMAT was the obvious choice. Then the evaluations, applications and the usual train of activities followed. Looking back, it seems all that happened very fast and suddenly, I was on a plane speeding towards the unknown. It is interesting to note that, neither the Engineering degree, the work experience, nor the years of education prior to the dreaded AIEEE had prepared me for this new experience. The traditional educational practices of memorizing by rote and regurgitating in the exams is a major disservice to the development of any mind. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why the film "3 Idiots" hit the right nerve so hard. A lot of flaws in our education system as well as in the society were pointed out and apparently all these valid social issues were taken in the same lighter vein as the ragging the of the freshers. The result being- big money at the box office and status quo in society.
Nevertheless, here I was halfway across the world sitting in a classroom of 30 people from 17 different countries- from China to the US and, from the Netherlands to Columbia. Sometimes that feeling of being an outsider started creeping up silently- that I was not good enough to be there, that I would be found out as a phony. Self doubt can be very damaging if you let it overwhelm you. Otherwise it isn't all that bad as it keeps you on your toes, ever prepared. As an engineer you are supposed to be good with numbers, especially you are from Asia. That label never completely leaves you. Consequently, I generally managed to breeze through the courses that were largely quantitative. And for everything else there was Google. WRONG!!! There is a thing called plagiarism.... References and bibliographies were not just meant for books. This is where the lack of critical thinking comes to hurt you. You have been used to doing it by rote for so long that the mind becomes mechanical. And coming out of this robotic way of thinking can be a difficult process. Having said that, one of the positive things that the 4 years of engineering life had given me was a huge appetite for effort and industry. The problems at hand never intimidated me. No matter how complex, convoluted or Byzantine the problem, the "ho jayega" and "dekhlenge" attitude eased many a critical moments. We always, find a way. No wonder, the Indian concept of "jugad" is getting more and more traction in the business world and is being taught in many leading business schools.
Another thing worth mentioning here is that your command over the language does play an important role. Reports, essays, cases, articles, presentations, lectures, it is all jargon, semantics, rhetoric, play of words, call it what you may if you know how to use the language well, it can be a very handy tool. As George Bernard Shaw had said "The problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished". Your knowledge also lets you make your communications concise where needed and verbose where required. These skills come in real handy when you are burning midnight oil trying to complete assignments.
Moreover, as an engineer a lot of my work was detail oriented. I was always in search of the proverbial devil hidden in the details. As a result, I suffered from a tunnel vision. Just like a horse's blinders, the nature of my job had restricted my vision. It was so important to broaden my perspective and the MBA program was the perfect platform for that. Not only did I break out of the detail oriented narrow view but was also able to see business from 30,000 ft - a bird's eye view that revealed all the "bigger picture". This view is so important to understand the synergies and overlaps of the different aspects of business. As decision makers of tomorrow, it would be handy to understand how a decision can transpire and have implications in the different aspects of a business. Further, this kind of perspective really complements one's knowledge base after having seen the nuts and bolts of an organization.