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Catch the New MBA Craze: Raoism
by Anne Fisher
Fortune Magazine: February 8, 2006: 11:32 AM EST
URL: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/02/20/8369147/index.htm
The terms "self-help" and "MBA" don't often go hand in hand. So it's surprising
that a Columbia Business School class called Creativity and Personal Mastery
(CPM) is fast becoming one of the most popular B-school classes in the U.S.
Weirder still, it's arguably the toughest to get into, requires thinking about
the "meaning of life," and not infrequently convinces MBA students that
--surprise!-- money isn't everything.
CPM is the brainchild of Srikumar Rao, an ex-marketing executive from Wall
Street and Hollywood. (The Exorcist was one of his early successes.) He went
into teaching when, he says, "I needed to integrate my spiritual life with my
work life." Now Rao is spreading his message with a new book called Are You
Ready to Succeed?: Unconventional Strategies for Achieving Personal Mastery in
Business and in Life.
Unconventional is right. "Raoism," as his devotees call it, uses a system of
intense introspection to revive energy and creativity. In a series of eight
mental exercises, Rao explains how to shush the inner chatter and clear the way
for career growth. Granted, it sounds like New Age hokum. "I was sticking my
neck out a bit to recommend that we take on this course," says Paddy Barwise,
head of the marketing department at the London Business School, where Rao
taught last fall. "Most of the people who come to my class are downright
unbelievers," admits Rao. "But is the mental model you're using now working
better for you than the one I'm proposing?" There must be something to it. The
class is so oversubscribed that he has had to devise a rigorous application
process. (Each candidate must submit a resume, agree to be interviewed, and
write seven essays.) And Rao's is the only course at the Columbia B-school that
has its own alumni association.
If you read Rao's book, brace yourself: Some Raoists have had dramatic
epiphanies. Magnus Asbjornsson, a newly minted MBA, was hell-bent on a
high-powered consulting job--until he took Rao's course. "I realized I was
chasing brand names, and it was all driven by pure ego," he says. Now he works
for Marakon Associates, a small strategy firm whose culture emphasizes
work-life balance and public service.
From Fortune Magazine VOL. 153, NO. 3 - February 20, 2006
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