Strategy+Business – August 2019

24

lea

din

g (^) i
de
as
stra
tegy
+bus
ines
s^ iss
ue^9
6

I

teach an experiential learning course in Mumbai, India, in which MBA stu-

dents visit and mentor schoolchildren in slums. The goal is to help children

explore their areas of interest and strengthen their capabilities. These rela-

tionships are yearlong journeys of discomfort and discovery.

At the end of the year, I ask my students to answer the question, “Why is

your mentee’s family poor?” In a group discussion, we examine popular miscon-

ceptions. Are the poor lazier than, say, those in your own family or community?

Are they somehow less capable? Is

there some cultural or religious reason

they are poor? Is it a lack of gender

parity? A lack of ambition? A lack of

interest in education?

When we dig deeper into the

“whys,” eventually insightful answers

emerge. We begin to see structural is-

sues at play: barriers to education, lack

of social capital or private assets, class and group discrimination, lack of access to

markets and credit, skewed pricing in the labor market, and a host of other prob-

lems. As my students think about the families with whom they have spent a year

and compare those families’ situations with their own, stereotype after stereotype

gets busted. Eventually, many come to the realization that the poor are poor be-

cause they were born that way, into a veritable whirlpool of factors that keep

them down.

As I watch my students draw their conclusions, it strikes me that what pro-

How business schools can

change the world

Exposing management students to people in adversity

can help develop future leaders who’ll be motivated to

build a more equitable, sustainable world.

by Deepa Krishnan

What provides students

the ability to go beyond a

theoretical analysis of poverty

is their firsthand experience

of the slum, and the lived

experience of their own

family life.