Leaders of The Future

One of the interesting things about having your own website is seeing all the different search terms that lead people your way, and in some cases, noticing patterns and trends amongst them.

As I am studying for my MBA at BI in Oslo, and as such tend to write about the experiences here on 'The Global Perspective', if you type in anything to do with MBA's into a search engine, chances are this weblog will be pretty high on the list.

The following are some real examples of MBA and organisation-related searches that have led users here:

• how does an MBA degree help in personality
• about organizational behaviour of any organization
• does mba make a good manager
• current affairs for m.b.a.
• google, mba hungry
• organizational behaviour
• humbler, kinder people are going to be the future business leader
• humbler and kinder managers should be mbas

What is curious about all of the above searches - and they represent only a scattering of many - is that they all originated from Google India. What this seems to imply is very revealing - a deep interest in personal development to become leaders of the future.

Compare this with the following MBA and organisation-related searches returned from Google's webpages in the U.S.A., U.K. and Europe that again, led to this weblog:

• Does MBA make higher income
• MBA millionaire??
• how can i make millions with MBA
• MBA's and income

Not one of the 'Western' searches related to the above contained any terms about bettering leadership or managerial ability - equally, none of the Indian searches have so far mentioned money, salaries, or income.

The comparison is startling: while the Indians seem to be focusing on education as a form of leadership training and bettering the organisation per se, Western countries appear to be focusing on the bottom line. Without reading too much into such limited data, it's hardly surprising so much business is being outsourced.

The trends should be at least wake-up-call as to where business is to continue to be headed over the next few decades unless Western business education and practice can adopt a less selfish form of thinking - after all, such immediate focus on profit maximisation has led to the ruination of many a once-great organisation.