An MBA could end up being an empty degree. Unless…

Contributing blogger Abhishek Gupta says an MBA isn’t enough to guarantee a successful life. Read on to understand aspects that students could be ignoring in their single minded focus on high salaries and big titles. 

By Abhishek Gupta

Getting into a B-school like the IIMs is really tough and once you are in you hope the MBA degree will change your life. But let me tell you something: the MBA degree could well turn out to be an ’empty degree’. By ’empty degree’ I mean that it may not equip us to tackle tough situations in life. My article is in part inspired by an HBS article by Clayton Christensen, a Harvard veteran professor with over 30 years of teaching experience and over 50 publications.

A few years down the line I am sure that each one of you will be in a good position in life. Imagine that as a Manager you leave for work one morning with a high level of self esteem. Then picture yourself driving home to your family at the end of the day, feeling unappreciated, frustrated, underutilized and demeaned. Just imagine how profoundly your lowered self-esteem would affect your interaction with your spouse and children.

Now fast forward to another day and picture yourself driving back home with high self-esteem – feeling you had learned a lot, been recognized for achieving valuable things, and played a significant role in the success of important initiatives. Then imagine the positivity this would spread in the home.

Isn’t this the career we aspire to? Then should money and titles alone be the guiding light for our futures? Something to keep in mind when contemplating placements.

Consider another aspect. In the chase for a successful career what else are we losing? Time magazine noted in a recent survey that at alumni reunion events of some of the top business schools, more than ten percent of the alumni were going through immense stress in their personal lives. They were either unhappy, divorced or alienated from children. We can safely assume that none of them had a deliberate strategy for getting divorced or raising estranged children when they were young MBAs like us. Yet a shocking number of top managers implemented a flawed strategy in their family life.

The third aspect I want to touch upon is ethics. Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard played for the Oxford University basketball team during his college years. The team he played for worked hard and reached the college tournament championship finals. It turned out that the championship game was scheduled on a Sunday – the problem was that the professor had made a commitment to god when he was 16 that he will never play ball on Sunday.

His team mates and coach tried to convince the professor to break the rule only once, however the professor refused. Even though it was a small decision, by resisting temptation he made one of the biggest decisions of his life.

It is easier to hold on to your principles 100% of the time than to hold on to them 98% of the time. The small indiscretions we give in to often cost us big and are behind many of the cases that have lead to top managers going to jail.

What is the gist of all of this? For MBA students the next one year is going extremely important. But instead of just focusing on career goals, I would advise everyone to also do some self-reflection. Don’t just focus on short term career choices, but also think about your long term well being. Don’t just focus on professional growth but also learn to build a fine balance at home. Don’t just have principles but also commit to live by them 100% of the time.

An MBA is going to give us technical knowledge, but it’s self-reflection that will ensure that we live successful lives.

Contributing Blogger Abhishek Kumar Gupta (AKG in short ) is an MBA (PGPEX) candidate at IIM Calcutta (Class of 2015). Abhishek graduated from IIT Bombay in 2007 and after working in strategy & operations consulting and with an NGO (TechnoServe) over the last 7 years, he now aspires to lead Indian businesses to global success. He has traveled extensively to the Middle East on work. He is an avid reader, sports enthusiast, flutist and guitarist, educational blogger and an entrepreneurship fan. He can be reached at [email protected]

Cover image courtesy – http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/