Only the big apple gets hit

It gives me a pleasure that some of my friends take my blog seriously and pull me up for writing not-so-good-things about IIM. Thank you. But why do I write only those and neglect a thousand good things about this institute?

Americans, I would say is the most self effacing race on earth. For the thousand good things they have done to this world, they only pick up the occasional bad things and laugh at their own follies. What does this do with my question?

My point is, mature institutes, like mature nations and individuals, know their strengths and weaknesses. We don’t have to cringe about our shortcomings, but neither have we strut on our good things. If IIMs and Americans gloat on their successes, the typical response would be ‘Why not? After all they are…’

My mom is a BSNL engineer, complains about the unethical practices of reliance telecom all the time, but that doesn’t stop dad or me from buying Reliance shares. Why? For all the bad things reliance does, the bottom-line is profits.

What is the bottom-line of IIM? It is not the infrastructure, faculty or location; a lot of Indian B-schools have them, thank you. The bottom-line is the talent it attracts. Students pass out of IIMs, make a name for themselves and build goodwill for the institute, companies get attracted like bees, and so does talent, year after year. It is a virtuous cycle.

As long as this happens, not a thousand bad things I write (are they that bad?) would make any difference to this institute. That I write what I do is only natural. After all, only the big apple gets hit. And IIM is one.

Note: I will try to make my future posts less pungent, but please, let me take names. After 10 years, if I see my posts, I want to see sahay. Mr.X won’t ring a bell!