Business Schools – Shaping Tomorrow’s Leaders

Everyone knows how important schools are. Schools provide a platform for imparting knowledge and wisdom to the new comers to this world. But, a school is never just a teaching institute. It is much more than that. It is a place where the children, not only learn, but mature also. They learn things about the world that no teacher can teach them something which is ruled by instincts and personality of an individual – the ability to create relations with others. So is the school just for teaching the chapters and finishing classes? No, something that a child may learn on his/her own, can be educated in a better way and under the guidance of adults having loads of experience, the child can be shaped into a much better person. It’s imperative for children to make a mistake, that’s how they learn. But it is equally vital that they do not learn the wrong lesson, this is where a guiding hand comes into play. Similarly, the importance of Business Schools cannot be undermined in their ability of shaping the leaders of tomorrow.

A university degree’s significance and worth have revolutionized noticeably in the 20th century. Earlier, during the 19th century, to be successful in business or corporations there was no requirement to have an academic background and degrees were for the more privileged classes. Even today one can find many successful entrepreneurs who do not have university education. But a large number will claim that a management degree provides an edge over those who do not think it is important. To climb the steps towards higher management positions, more and more people are going for the MBA degrees. The popularity and acceptance of the MBA degree became quite apparent in the mid-1970s when the degree grew in prominence. Many large business schools popped up providing various courses ranging from bachelor’s degree, like BA Economics Hons, Bachelors in business and many more; to master degrees like MBA Finance, Operations and the list goes on. It is certainly not necessary to have a MBA degree in order to succeed but having one definitely provides a corridor to many more opportunities that might not be open to others. The knowledge imparted in these institutes help the candidates have an advantage over their rivals and paves the path to success – but in the end the one who walks the path has to be and is the person himself.

There has always been a debate whether leadership is something that is instinctive and cannot be taught or something that can be imparted with teachings and trainings. The most common viewpoint, however, is that the leadership abilities and the knack of succeeding is the child of the parentage of context and personality. Many successful leaders are the offspring of this parentage of traits. Such leaders possess unique persona and strong characteristic qualities risk tolerance, vision, etc.). But their achievements are not due to just the ownership of their distinguishing qualities but due the application of these skills at the right opportunities and the ability to control them due to the knowledge and wisdom from their background and context. Business schools help the candidates know themselves better and capitalize on their innate characteristic traits. In this way the schools distill the leadership potential of the individual helping them control it and apply themselves when the time is ripe