About the book
Demonstrated experience compels one to introspect if academic credentials drive professional achievement or there are other less understood factors driving one’s destiny. Disconnect between knowledge and performance has been a subject of continuing debate.
This book attempts to unravel the criticality of complimentary / individual factors in determining success. An endeavour to bridge the void between academic standing and real world demands, the book exposes gaps in application of management theories in isolation and their accelerating obsolescence. The intent is to sensitise students and practitioners on nurturing an open mind on continuous learning, challenging and application of knowledge with contextual sensitivity.
Formal educational system fails to address critical elements essential to effectively put into practice, knowledge acquired from an undergraduate /graduate program. Gaps between formal education and real world practice are filled by a mentor / coach, on the job, who interprets situations in the context of theories, to carve a judicious just-in-time amalgam of concepts to apply, and interpret outcomes. This book is expected to be such a coach or mentor; from experience of a management professional (by formal training and research from a management institution of global reputation as well as four decades of experience as management consultant, academician, practitioner, writer), as a guide and a companion, not a lecturer on theory.
An attempt to demystify the role of complementary factors in determining success, the book is aimed at students, graduates, aspiring managers, and entrepreneurs to internalise real world demands / drivers in the practice of management and its finer nuances.
The book chronicles evolution and transitions in management concepts, contrarian views on celebrated theories / models, highlights significance of soft elements, drivers of employability.
This book has gained from handling assignments for MBA students from universities across the globe, three decades of consulting practice, association with management education, management students, employers and those employed.
Most theories get revisited, challenged or rewritten as fresh concepts, fresh considerations emerge and new practices evolve. Many times this evolution is less documented, till it reaches a level of maturity when practice gets the stamp of theory. The practitioner needs to be alert, to challenge his own understanding.
One learns the art of reaching one’s goal, ingeniously, using tools from formal education or even challenging them. Same tool used differently by equally competent persons turns out different outcomes. Equally endowed persons may follow different trajectories for the same origin destination set, ending up with different outcomes. Both could be successful depending on what one considers to be success; the trajectory he/she follows and when and how success is measured. Plurality and ambiguity are reality, not to be despised. The book is expected to be of educative value for MBA students, freshers and those aspiring for managerial roles, from experience of those before them.