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| I think the lack of street smarts is real. I think it's a function of age AND experience—and, quite frankly, is probably an inverse relationship with many of the qualities of HBS grads. |
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| —Anonymous |
In recent weeks, I have encountered several situations in which senior managers and investors of all ages have said, "(name) is a really sharp person with a good MBA, but (he or she) just doesn't have street smarts." That has raised questions that seem to need addressing. The first is, just what are street smarts anyway? The contexts in which the term has come up seem to indicate that they include things like knowing how to close a sale, when to walk away from a deal, when to remain silent, and how to select winners as employees or colleagues.
In our work with outstanding service organizations, we have found that they invariably hire for attitude and train for skills. Are street smarts attitudes or skills?
If street smarts are attitudes, should MBA program admissions offices look for them in applicants? If so, how? Is it more than a matter of just age and experience? If they are skills, should the curriculum be designed to foster them, perhaps through greater emphasis on courses in negotiating skills and increased field experience, among others, on the assumption that street smarts can be taught?
The second question concerns just how street smarts are obtained. Is it a matter of the genes? Do they result from experience, therefore precluding most newly-minted MBAs in their twenties from having them? Or does their presence depend on the environment in which one grows up? For example, a study by John Kotter several years ago found that one of the best predictors of success for at least one class of Harvard MBAs was whether or not a parent of the applicant had had a career in management. An implication that one might draw from this finding is that the presence in a household of a management role mode contributes to the business success of offspring. This, of course, may not guarantee the early development of street smarts.
If experience is the key, how does one get it? Should more MBAs be counseled to become involved in jobs, perhaps in start-ups, where they can hone their street smarts? Or can they be developed in any kind of organizational context?
Finally, just how important are street smarts anyway? What does your experience tell you regarding these questions? What do you think?