New Delhi, Oct. 8 -- As the adage goes, "Whatever gets measured gets managed." This principle is evident in education, professional recruitment and performance evaluations worldwide. The metrics we prioritize influence how individuals prepare, perform, and are judged.

Every management consultant will tell you this. Ironically, management education is one area where we have never stopped to ask whether we are testing the right skills.

The Common Admission Test (CAT) and similar entrance exams for management institutes test for two areas of competency: One, English vocabulary and comprehension. Two, solving arithmetic and logic problems. In both, the latter especially, the test is mostly of speed. At best, it is like an IQ test.

But is s...