Earlier this week I received a request to see a team of IBA students on their RMG sector research. It was a busy week but I agreed to meet them the following day. I emphasized to the friend making the request that I had multiple appointments that afternoon and could only meet them for 30 minutes at 1:45pm prompt. Furthermore that they should read the 10-point post Rana RMG plan I co-wrote before coming. I rushed back from a lunch commitment to meet the students at our office in Pantha Path and then had to be at the Westin for an IFC seminar at 3pm.
I was at my office by 1:45pm, but there was no sign of the students. No phone call to alert me that they would be late. Finally, the IBA student turned up a full one hour late. He failed to apologize for his late. Behaved rudely with my personal secretary. I could not meet the young man at that point, as I needed to leave for Gulshan.
In any event, I would not care to make time for someone who runs an hour late, without any alerts and apologies and is rude to boot.
I write this piece not to air personal inconvenience or annoyance, but because IBA is our top business school and this kind of behavior from one of their students is frankly appalling. Our young aspirants should hear about the importance of humility from their teachers and other seniors in their intended fields.
I reported the incident to the concerned faculty. The next day the student did write an email to apologize stating that “I am in the learning process of these tasks. Inshallah, these will never happen again I hope that you would see me as a junior brother and accept my apologizes. Please have your blessings for me.” What tasks is he in the learning process of? Checking his watch? I assume if he is bright enough to get into IBA he can at least do that. And why does he think I would consider him a “junior brother”? He’s an undergraduate business student coming to see a senior finance professional for help and advice. He should act responsibility with consideration and respect for other’s time and schedule.
Let me contrast the arrogance (which I have much less tolerance for than inexperience in our youth) of our IBA student elite with global elite business schools. As a Managing Director in research, I was on the final interview panel for MBAs and PHDs for Deutsche Bank New York from 2001-2003 and met some of the very best Ivy League students from Harvard, Wharton Stanford etc. Those that showed arrogance were always disqualified. Beyond that, even the most brilliant students were brought crashing down to earth if they displayed any hubris in the interviews. I remember a Harvard MBA told me confidently and cock-sure that he had a firm grasp on the outlook for US Federal Reserve monetary policy. It only took 10 minutes for my colleagues and I to fire enough questions at him to demonstrate his lack of abject knowledge on that subject.
Were we being vindictive for the sake of it? No actually. Humility with clients and fellow colleagues is important even in the testosterone world of Wall Street. As is punctuality and consideration. The very best investment banks such as Goldman Sachs emphasize teamwork and keeping egos in check above all other things as a critical ingredient in their success.
Moreover in 18 years working in finance in London and New York, I could never imagine an undergraduate business student being one hour late for a meeting with a Managing Director. There is traffic in those cities as well believe it or not. But the student would plan ahead and sit in the lobby for an hour before the meeting to ensure he was not late. In Wall Street, a 10-minute delay would not only guarantee a cancellation of an appointment, but also being blacklisted from future interviews.
Someone asked me recently who is the most impressive person I met in my career on Wall Street. It was actually a hedge fund manager I sat next to at a conference in Aspen, Colorado in 2003. He stood up when he saw me, greeted me warmly, and asked how my family was and how business was going. He also expressed appreciation for the research he was receiving from Deutsche Bank. A few months after the conference I read that same hedge fund manager earned $300m that year! His humility and lack of hubris just blew my mind. That was more impressive than his wealth.
In Bangladesh perhaps the scarcity of business students from IBA or other top schools gives them a sense of invincibility. But this is myopic on the part of them and their faculty. Reputations of educational institutions are fragile and the business community is a small place. I will be extremely reluctant to see any other students or give lectures at IBA or probably any other university in Bangladesh. But more than that, the faculty should encourage humility, consideration and respect for others as an important element in the curriculum and their education. Humility is perhaps the most-under-rated ingredient in business and professional success. It should be nurtured in our best students.
