‘Crossover crusaders’
Anustup Nayak of iDiscoveri on why MBAs are choosing to work in education

In July 2002, I returned to India after a three-year stint in corporate America to join a little-known startup iDiscoveri. Between the eight employees we had, we shared one dialup Internet connection, a three-room office operating out of a small DDA flat in South Delhi, little in the way of resources and a burning desire to create a social enterprise that would renew education in our country. Almost four years later, today I am part of a growing team of 50 passionate thinker-doers who have worked together to create five school reform projects, trained close to 200 school leaders and over 2,000 teachers and are now poised to go to national scale. Though there are thousands of miles separating us from our ultimate dream, I am often grateful to the team of people that has helped us get this far.

Many of the people who made this story happen are young management professionals who crossed over into education from the corporate world. I term them ‘crossover crusaders’. I am excited to know that the education domain is getting attention of bright young talent from the management profession — almost every other day I get an email from a young MBA wanting to know more about how to enter the domain. We are not alone in this wave — there are at least a dozen such new ventures that are recreating education in India today, promising opportunities for management professionals who want to contribute to education and social enterprise.

I am often asked — Who are these people? Why did they choose to crossover from lucrative corporate careers? What thrills them about education? In my view, the move of management professionals into education is propelled by three key forces.

First, many management professionals are losing a sense of personal meaning in corporate work-life and beginning to see alternative professions as a way to lead a more fulfilling vocation. In 2001, when I left a successful management consulting job in the US, I was disillusioned by the reckless focus on profits and the cutthroat work culture of the corporate world. I realised that I could do much more than making jazzy powerpoint presentations, pleasing unreasonable bosses and working only to net a fat bonus. Could there be a workplace where I could do intellectually challenging work, contribute to a larger cause, touch the lives of people and yet make a living for myself, I asked myself.

Second, education represents one of the biggest crises in our society today. While a few of us have had the opportunities of studying in top-class institutions, the vast majority of young talent in the country suffers through a school and college system that is oppressive and archaic. This wasteful learning environment is characterised by an excessive focus on rote learning in order to pass examinations. I realised that my schooling didn’t necessarily prepare me for the demands of being a successful professional and a fulfilled human being. If I felt that way, what would young people with less means go through? Why can’t I design schools more engaging and purposeful? Education needs a revolution. Revolutions needs soldiers. I wanted to be one. The choice became clearer.

Third, the last few decades have seen the rise of social entrepreneurs who set a live example of what is possible when the world of social action and business strategy meet — making it easier for others to take a plunge. One of my professors at Harvard was Iqbal Quadir, a Bangladeshi investment banker who went back to his country to set up a rural telephone network that connected villagers and created women entrepreneurs. When I was making a choice to enter education I got to meet Iqbal and many other ‘doers’ in the social entrepreneurship space, whose lives bore testimony to the purpose and viability of choosing a path outside the beaten one. India in the last few years has seen the emergence of many organisations such as mine that marry education with enterprise.

However, once chosen the path is not for the faint hearted. To work in education requires very deep study of the principles of psychology (how the mind works?), pedagogy (how to teach?) and curriculum (what to teach?). Educational institutions have values, cultures and practices that are vastly different from businesses. Sensitivity to these differences took me time and effort to understand. It took us years to establish a presence in the school space and convince principals, owners and parents that their institutions needed fresh air. However there is a lot that management professionals can contribute to educational institutions — the practice of organisational leadership, the design of systems and processes, creation of structures that promote efficiency and accountability and most importantly, the ‘can-do’ spirit of the entrepreneur that is sorely missing. To those choosing this path, I repeat what Margaret Mead had to say, “Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world... it’s the only thing that has.”