At a B-school, you need to understand that you are a variable in the entire scheme of things and that you are undergoing a continuous process – evaluation, experimentation or improvement.
Each one is a case under study, yet ready with at least one solution.
After religiously pursuing a goal, you are told that it’s a “myth”, something else is the “king”! There is no one right answer, i.e. “correct decision” is, virtually, an oxymoron.
You don’t choose “core competence” or “diversification”. You “select” a point between these two “extremes”. Another one the protocol here mandates is “attached detachment”.
Without numbers, somebody’s life becomes number and for others, “marketing” is the only way to make a mark in life.
Even if someone is “pulling your legs”, “strategically” speaking, you need to always “keep yourself on your toes” to “stretch yourself beyond your limits”, often, “pull up your socks”, “wear different hats” and “put yourself into different shoes” (and, hence, nobody wears his or her own shoes and size doesn’t really matter!!!). “Networking” is your favourite pastime and “impression management” is indispensable to survive here.
Disclaimer : As is true of whatever we learn at B-school, the “contingency” approach of management that states that actions should be based on the circumstances of a case is applicable here also.
(Rishav studies at the Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli.)