Interdisciplinary degrees produce leaders or dilute core management skills?

Within a dynamic business environment, interdisciplinary programs have emerged as a popular approach to leadership development.

- Deepankar Chakrabarti

Integrating fields such as technology, psychology, public policy, and design into business education aims to produce leaders with a broader worldview. However, as the scope of business education expands, a critical concern arises: Are we compromising the depth and rigor of core management skills in the process?

While interdisciplinary learning offers valuable perspectives, the foundation of effective business leadership still lies in mastering core management competencies, such as strategic thinking, financial acumen, operations, marketing, and organizational behavior. Without a strong grounding in these areas, even the most innovative ideas can falter in execution.

Core management skills are not just academic constructs—they are the bedrock of decision-making in real-world business scenarios. A leader who lacks financial literacy may struggle to interpret financial statements or make informed investment decisions. Similarly, without a solid understanding of operations, managing supply chains or optimizing processes becomes a matter of guesswork. These skills may not always be substitutable through knowledge from allied disciplines.