An open letter to Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Dean & Director, IBA, Karachi
Posted by Ahmed Mustafa , Wednesday, May 5, 2010 11:06 PM
Sir,
After reading the article that I just sent to you, I got down to thinking. How will IBA in an increasingly unstable world be able to differentiate itself?
I believe that values and ethics and creativity of business solutions is the way to go. IBA has previously been known for supplying the market with cut throat executives that will do just about anything to succeed. However in view of the financial crisis, its evident that such a strategy will not work.
Since Islam has always taught tolerance, values and ethics, I personally believe that IBA can become a shining beacon of such a system and this is something that I have realized after having been taught by Dr. Mahnaz Fatima this semester. The approach that she has taken with corporate strategy is one that cannot be found in any other business school in Pakistan, and I believe that she is a real asset to our institution. However one thing that is fundamentally wrong with the MBA right now is that we had her in the last semester, rather than in the first.
When the new crop of MBAs/BBAs come to IBA, they come here hungry for success in the corporate world. That is exactly why the race for grades has become the order of the day amongst our students. If they were to be given lessons in values by Dr. Mahnaz in the first semester, I am sure that this mindset can change. The way she has taught my class, and myself included, has really changed our perception. Every class is like a call to arms, which includes a drive for excellence in education, success in the corporate world, but at the same time, never forgetting what our true value system is and how we should maintain it in our daily lives. We come out of every class completely inspired, and this has never been the case in any class that I have taken here since 2002 (I worked for 3 years in between) save a few other illustrious examples which include Ms. Lalarukh Ejaz and Mr. Samir Amir.
Another thing that needs to be instilled within our graduates is the love of our country and finding creative solutions to the problems that we see around us. It should be our graduates that are making and implementing new BOP marketing and microfinance models rather than people sitting in harvard, because these problems are in Pakistan and not in the US. Our graduates should be consulting with NGOs or even governmental departments on how to improve their functioning and helping them effeciently achieve their objectives.
Our new positioning should not only be that we produce leadership within the ranks of the corporate world, but the world overall.
yo. really liked your blog. it's warm and it has a distinctly comforting chicken-soup feel to it. and for this post in particular:
I had Dr. Mahnaz Fatima for Development Economics last semester and it pretty much changed my life- if not in terms of habits, rituals or core beliefs then in the way I look look at things and the world. She was the fascist and I, the atheist. I remember telling anyone who'd listen that this was the only course that I'd remember, or moreover, CHERISH taking and that that semester (5th) 'paisay pooray hogayay IBA aanay kay'.
cheers.