According to the World Economic Forum, innovation, self-management, learning ability, working with people are key skills for future leaders. The organization’s stakeholders and educators have come together to think and reflect on how B-Schools can revise its structural design, evaluate excellence beyond the scorecard, and bring in the best diversified class mix.
CXOs are constantly examining managerial and leadership characteristics that can identify and define future business leaders in times of turmoil. So, while identifying the right skills and promising potential, the recruitment battle for the right talent continues.
Demand for this specialty has grown significantly as a result of recent corporate scandals. Divyendu Bose, Senior Director Admissions, Indian School of Business (ISB) mentions the multifaceted elements that are vital for student development. “There is a lot of demand in the market for analytical thinking. Corporates are looking for candidates who are not only good at analytics, but also at business development and digital transformation. ” Bose of ISB further highlights the widespread lack of peer-to-peer learning and collaborative growth in online learning methods.
Out of cognitive diversity
Focusing on creating a diverse class mix, Matt Symonds, co-founder, Fortune Admission and Centercourt MBA and Masters Festivals highlight the importance of academic excellence but also the need to bring in students from around the world, he said. Essentially focusing on the importance of globalizing learning design, understanding cross-functional sensitivity and meeting the needs of their diverse class mix ৷ Symonds further praised the quality of Indian academics and congratulated the CEO of Twitter and recently appointed a channel CEO to inspire an upcoming student.
As the world has recently seen such uncertainty and ambiguity that finding the ‘perfect-fit’ seems to be the most difficult task. “Who is the ideal student in the new world classroom?” Ranjan Banerjee, Dean, BITSOM Mumbai asked. Speaking on the line of future skills, he said, “How can we expect whole-brain thinking, when one only examines and accepts left-brain thinking.” He believes that an organization must focus on the whole spectrum of diversity as well as nurture both job seekers and job creators.
Identifying excellence outside the GMAT score
The dynamics of the business is changing every second for which the change can be accepted, its impact can be processed and it requires a high level of agility to respond in order to work successfully. Amit Khanna, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers mentions a change of mindset when speaking from a corporate perspective. “A person will be hired to adapt and work in an environment where one person and machine coexist and work together,” said Khanna of PwC.
Sundarbharadhan Venkatesh, Professor, SME, Shiv Nadar University, noted, “Teaching has changed globally and going back to the drawing board has given us a chance to rethink and reflect on whether our universities and curricula are suitable for today’s dynamics.”
Artificial intelligence will not work in silos but digital literacy is important and to be able to establish a balance between technology and apply the same in business processes and work performance. Must be able to find and acknowledge ‘a perfect class mix is a science’.