What does an MBA get paid for?

What does an MBA get paid for?

My unequivocal answer to the above question would have been: the intelligence that 1 brings to the table. Intelligence, in my mind, was always associated with defining thought-through strategies and processes, making the processes more effecient and effective, finding loopholes in processes (and laws!), etc etc.

However, having heard about life on the trading floor, there is a very interesting dimension that got added to the answer to the question above: the amount of stress that the job forces on you. From what I heard from Madhur M, I could clearly sense that trading is not so much a call upon 1's intelligence (after one has mastered the basic skills) but is severly taxing emotionally. The 6 hours * 5 days of a market are enough to drain you out for the entire weekend!

As with consultants, I would add the third dimension where a recruit from the IIMs is helpful: one where you have to make him work hard in very trying circumstances. I can see all my sales manager friends at HLL, Asian Paints, Colgate, etc. What they bring to the table is not just much above the average intelligence to the system but also the emotional maturity to survive in trying circumstances in far-flung states away from their homes.

When I look back at life at IIMA now, I can now visualise why banks and FMCGs love to recruit traders / SMs from MBA schools: it is not necessarily for the intelligence (which no doubt facilitates the work) but for the ability to handle the huge stress and show the emotional maturity that the job demands (and is there any place better than IIMA that prepares you for the same?)!

PS: Why do software companies hire from campus? :)