What you don’t learn in the MBA program
If you think the MBA is your ticket to the top job, think again. A degree in Arts is now the hottest credential in the world of business. Why? The reason is twofold: first, the generous supply of MBA graduates has driven down its value. Second, the skills taught in arts is increasingly on demand. MBA programs emphasize skills that develop our left brain: language, numbers, logics, analytical thinking etc. With advance in technology, more and more of these left-brain-centric tasks including financial accounting, computer programming, routing calls can be done more efficiently by computers or outsourced overseas at lower costs.
Arts, on the other hand, uses and develops our right brain. But how is that of value in the business world? Let’s look at some of the skills our artistic right brain control:
Design
People that are left-brain dominant tend to think in a linear fashion. But the world is non-linear so using a purely linear thinking approach will not suffice. Sometimes the solution to a chaotic business problem requires an artistic sense to find/design. A solution that resolves a technical problem but not welcomed by users is not gonna work. Imagine: a solution that transmits emotion. That is significant! Design is a high-concept ability that is nearly impossible to automate or outsourced, making it a business advantage. Using the iPhone as an example – functionally it is not the most superior (die-hard fans may disagree!). Yet, its sales consistently rank top spots worldwide. Design matters! Afterall, it was the calligraphy class that Steve Jobs took while at college, that inspired the beautiful typography of Macs.
Storytelling
With google search, wikipedia, quora etc., information has become accessible at minimal cost. What is valuable no longer lies on the information itself. Rather, it is the ability to contextualize and deliver the information with emotion that is of high value. “Stories” are contexts enhanced with emotions. They heighten one’s understanding of a concept by positioning alongside another. As routine knowledge continues to be reduced to rules and carried out by fast computers, the ability of storytelling becomes increasingly valuable. We don’t have to be as good as Steven Spielberg, but we do need to strive to tell better stories to become better managers, innovators, entrepreneurs and even human beings.
Empathy
With the right programming, computers are going to be faster and more accurate on quantitative and reasoning tasks than humans. But can computers empathize? Well, no, at least not yet. Empathy is the ultimate virtual reality experience — imagine putting on a pair of VR goggles and start exploring the world inside the mind of another person. Empathy enables us to understand why customers behave a certain way so we can stimulate a specific feeling, that drives a specific action. As Google’s VP of Global Marketing Lorraine Twohill puts it: “If we don’t make you cry, we fail.”
Are these skills trainable?
Employees trained on arts tend to already possess the skills and temperament that business leaders regularly say are in short supply. art-trained employees can draw on the same creative process they used for art creation at designing solutions. Their experience gained from performing arts enable them to tell stories in a more compelling manner. What more, they are trained to be empathetic and to connect with the audience.
Question is, can our left-brain-trained employees learn to become better at designing, storytelling and understanding customers? Fortunately the answer is YES, we can develop our right-brain through intentional training. For one, organizations can partner with local theatre groups to provide improv training for the employees. Such training is found to develop ability to adapt, think quickly, communicate, create, listen and tell stories. If your organization does not have Design Thinking in the curriculum yet, maybe it is worthwhile to consider adding it as a core skill for management level and talents. Because afterall, the magic teams are the ones that could integrate art with business.
About the author:
Dr. Mike Leung has more than 30 years’ experience in information technology, creative, marketing, advertising and management, and has achieved outstanding results in both academic and project implementation arenas. He has worked extensively in the United States, Canada and Hong Kong, providing consulting advice and expertise to a wide array of multinational corporations. He is a visiting lecturer and speaker in various universities and training institutes in Asia.
Mike has a Ph.D. in Management Sciences from the University of Waterloo, Canada and has been trained in Psychology and Anthropology at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong respectively. Besides attending executive training at the University of Toronto and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, he also attended executive workshops at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. He was invited to visit Google and Facebook headquarters in the United States to understand their culture of project management and innovation. Mike is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and certified Management Consultant (CMC).