Much of the criticism of the MBA program in its current form revolves around ’soft skills’, and how b-schools have failed to teach them to MBA students successfully. In that light, here are two examples of thoughtful communication from two b-schools, one from SIMS – Pune and another from ISB – Hyderabad that really caught my eye and begged to be featured here.

4Thought 2009′, the recently concluded annual business seminar at Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies talked about the “Power Shift from the West to the East in Currency, Culture and Politics”. Eminent speakers like Gulu Mirchandani, Chairman and MD, MIRC Electronics, Shikha Sharma, CEO and MD, Axis Bank and Dilip Chhabria, CEO and MD, Dilip Chhabria Designs India Ltd. to name a few presented their viewpoints on the topic. However, before we talk or argue about it, it becomes really important to know if the power is shifting from the West to the East or are we just getting ahead of ourselves.

A talk with the Director SIMS makes you put an MBA in perspective. Quite simply. Brig Rajiv Divekar is a retired Army brigadier who did his MBA while still at services and through it realized the ‘why’ of his own job. He still believes that this is what an MBA ought to do for a future manager. And though only a month old at SIMS, this is the MBA he plans his students will take back from the institution. Continuing with the backpacker story on SIMS, here is what the Director, SIMS has to say about his college, its students and its ideology.

Nothing can stop you from taking a pause at the dome of Symbiosis Institute of Management (SIMS), look up and say a few words in its praise. The colored stripes intercepted with translucent ones create a semi luminescent environment below which is as close to serene as it gets. No wonder it is prohibited to talk underneath. Well you can dare.