“All Illusions About One’s Smartness Quickly Dispelled”

Blurb: “Management education structures your thinking, gives you analytical skills, teaches your rigour and provides you with the ability to deal with information overload because the workload is so high”

Sanjeev Bikhchandani is an entrepreneur and businessman. An MBA from IIM Ahmedabad (1989 Batch), Bikhchandani is the Founder and Executive Vice-Chairman of Info Edge which owns Naukri.com, an online job portal. The 2020 Padma Shri awardee is also the Co-founder of Ashoka University, is on the board for MDI and advises on several other management institutions. Bikhchandani reflects on the key learnings he carried from his B-school years and what he looks for in B-schools today.

Setting High Standards

Reflecting on his days as a student, Bikhchandani states that the first thing that stands out in his memory is the admission process for management institutions. “The standards were high, the rigour was high,” he says. Every step of the process was a welcome challenge, from the entrance exam to the group discussion and finally, the interview process. Being accepted into the institute and chosen among thousands of students, felt like the greatest accomplishment. However, once admitted into the institution, “all illusions that I may have had about how smart I am were rapidly dispelled and I suddenly realised that everyone was smarter than me,” shares Bikhchandani. Being in a hyper-competitive academic environment allowed the Padma Shri awardee to work harder, not to excel but to stay afloat in class. What became a humbling experience, was also a great opportunity to network and meet people with similar intellect and ambition. “I have never worked harder in my life than I did in those two years,” he reflects, adding, “It's academically rigorous, competitive and it’s a very high bar for grades.”

Conceptualising Naukri.com

Early in his career, while on the marketing team of Horlicks, Bikhchandani would observe his colleagues reading magazines from the back. This was because there would be appointment ads placed in the last 35 to 40 pages. Despite his colleagues expressing no desire to leave their current positions, the job pages remained the most fascinating part of the magazines. Bikhchandani would realise that jobs were a high-interest category. “You know people are very interested in knowing about jobs, even if they are not looking for a job,” he states. A few years later, when the internet became widespread, Naukri.com started as an experiment that ended up taking off. This was then followed by many other internet portals launched by Info Edge, in order to bring announcements and appointments, traditionally reserved for newspapers and magazines, onto an online platform.

On the recruitment side

Like most companies, Info Edge regularly participates in campus recruitment during placement season. Being on the recruitment side now, the one thing that makes candidates stand out is having prior, relevant work experience. “We believe that one can hit the deck running,” he says, having sorted out key skills of teamwork, good academic record and practical smarts. Following a successful interview process, the company makes an offer. In some cases, with summer trainees, a job offer comes in after the degree is successfully completed.

Lessons from B-schools

It is difficult to pinpoint where a lesson comes from or how exactly a skill was learned and effectively implemented. The biggest lessons Bikhchandani takes from his time at IIM Ahmedabad are those that were learned outside of the classroom. B-school education provides options of courses and subjects, blended knowledge with skill and while most of it will not be used, he points out that there is no way of knowing what lessons will be relevant in one’s job or situation. “It [management education] structures your thinking, gives you analytical skills, teaches you rigour, and provides you with the ability to deal with information overload because the workload is so high. It teaches you the importance of deadlines and of teamwork,” he shares. The biggest advantage of going into management education is relevant to job experience.  The principles of management can be applied anywhere in the government, public, not-for-profit, and private sectors. Bikhchandani advises, “Work in a real organisation, perhaps in an area where you ultimately want to work, for two to four years before going to a B-school. You will gain a lot more from your two years of management education.” This also bridges the skill gap that is ever present between academia and industry today.

Future of Management Education

Having consulted for many management institutes and co-founded Ashoka University, Bikhchandani emphasises the need for quality, not quantity, in India.  This extends from the quality of teachers and pedagogy to hard-working students. To build this quality, education needs investment. From infrastructure to research, institutes need proper tools to shape the leaders of tomorrow. While placements and employment are important, education serves a higher purpose of expanding the boundaries of knowledge. Here Bikhchandani believes that “we need to leave it up to the academics to figure out what research they want to do, what is it relevant for them, what they're interested in, and what will further knowledge in their field of practise”. There is no way of knowing what technology and research will be relevant in the future. Therefore, trust in the experts and working closely with higher education institutes, and encouraging research is required.