The Next Power House of Talent by Umesh Mukhi for MIL

Business schools have become the next powerhouse of Talent, yet in this increasingly competitive environment there is a sense of homogeneity in what value they offer to students and organizations thereby creating a societal value. Leaving the stats apart, let’s take a generic yet a critical perspective at business school, almost every business school claim to be a leader and yet from my experience they are still following the same traditional paradigm of offering courses and conducting research which is mostly disseminated among academics.

In my discussions with professors and to some extent senior management, I find that they all are passionate about doing something disruptive, but the institutional environment often obstructs from this passion to be executed. It is here I feel that schools should take a step back and see how they can create “meaningful’ dialogue with the society by seizing unconventional thinking.

For instance, schools have been providing talent to organizations by shaping lives of student who enter via selective admission process which ultimately creates another elite structure in the society. However, schools can seize the opportunity of unconventional admission take in by looking into immigrating talent due to refugee crises.

In this context some questions could be asked regarding the capacity of business school as a socially responsible institution which would eventually value humanistic thinking such as Can the business schools offer scholarships to refugees, can they create entrepreneurial spirit among the refugees or can they train them to become successful business leaders or managers, can they create intangible assets by transforming lives of men and women who have left their home with nothing but only hope and inspiration.

This gives a unique opportunity to schools to partner with NGO’s and civil society to tackle something measurable and impactful. I recall seeing Venezuelan refugees in Brazil on street signal asking for money, the same case with Syrian family asking for help in Paris Metro, yet I felt as if my hands were tied because couldn’t see any visible initiatives from business schools.

Although I may only presume, they are equipped with desire, motivation to succeed, some of them even with educational degrees. Yet they business schools are in dormant stage and the refugee talent in despair. The task of creating a new ecosystem for them could thus be collaborative where regional authorities and business school could work together to devise talent and competency programs.

Some of this is already happening in Germany and I believe there is a huge scope in France if the government deals with it from strategic value creation perspective.

Umesh MUKHI has a diverse profile with active interest in Business, International Relations and Youth affairs. He completed his Doctoral research from France, which focuses on integrating sustainability in management education through the lens of Organizational Learning theories.

Umesh likes working in multicultural and international atmosphere and is fluent in English, French and Hindi. Today Doctor Umesh Mukhi is pursuing as Professor of Management at FGV - Fundação Getulio Vargas