Why executives are heading back to the classroom

Rupesh Bisht’s career had been moving on a steady pace but that wasn’t enough. There was always a feeling of wanting to move faster in life, to do better. “I wanted to jump to the next orbit,” he says. At many points in his career he met people who had done their management programmes from reputed institutes drawing more and with a better portfolio when he had more years of experience.

The disparity was not because he wasn’t a good performer; he was always a good worker, but it was because he had started from scratch as a frontline sales person, while the management degree holders usually got a head start as management trainees. That made all the difference. “I realised that I had to bridge the gap.”

Rupesh started working straight after his postgraduate diploma in management from an institute in Meerut. “I didn’t know much about rankings then.” His first job was with Gujarat Ambuja Cements, where he was part of the sales management. He got a good break with Titan Industries as a sales officer. He oversaw the distribution network of Sonata in western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. After three years, he was given the task of setting up the sales and distribution network in Rajasthan.

It was an enormous responsibility — the challenges helped him grow, however his profile did not change substantially. When he joined ICICI Lombard he felt that it was time he considered doing an MBA from a good institute. “I was also getting married then, I had responsibilities and if I had to reach the CFO, CEO, COO level I had to act fast.”

Going to the United States was his first choice, but since he got married he wanted to do a course he could finish in one year. The UK also seemed a good option, but the cost of living was high. Studying in India was another option. The choice was between Indian School of Business (ISB) or IIM. Rupesh got through ISB. Applying to business schools took a year but when he finally arrived at the ISB campus he was relieved.

“It’s a big risk leaving a job, after all. And when one leaves the security of a job not knowing what the future has in store, it can be a little unnerving.” But there was no doubt that the course would improve his prospects considerably