When people ask me about what I learned during my year as an MBA student, a lot of things come to mind. Did I enjoy Management course more than orkutting, surfing and googling??Or maybe it was the corporate finance and strategic management classes that really got the juices flowing. But if I really think about it, it was 'developing a perspective' that really made a difference to the person that I am today. Ability to respect others for their views. It honed my way of thinking. I was amazed to see so many ways to look at a single thing.It taught me to have different persectives and have a groomed personality.
So, as a tribute to the unsung learning sessions that are never mentioned in many MBA brochures, I thought that some of my class mates and me could sing a few praises to these, in a short series.
The MBA degree is a high risk proposition because MBAs tend to adopt 'herd-like thinking'.What does this mean?
Basically, that MBAs are under the perception that by getting an MBA degree they will be immune to adversity in their careers. MBA students are in an environment that breeds conformity and risk averseness. The truth is that life is full of uncertainty. To be successful, one must find one's passion and pursue it enthusiastically.
Shortcomings of MBAs:-
They expect a high degree of structure.
They have a false sense of arrogance.
They have a sense of entitlement.
They underutilize the alumni network.
Well, To being with I wanted to highlight the lessons that I learned as during the group work performed during our year at B-school.
LESSON 1: GROUP WORK and BALANCE
For those that are unfamiliar with our curriculum, it emphasizes on group work rather than on individual contributions for completing majority of the course assignments. To make matters more complicated, the groups are shuffled every now and then, during the year. So everyone is a member of different groups. I’m not sure if the same procedure is followed at other schools, but in my opinion it is something that should be highlighted as a 'Best practice'. Let me explain why….
The first group is the one that brings the most anxiety and is also the one that sets the trend for the year to follow. At this time, people are just getting to know each other and impressions are being formed. So the way that we behave and react in our first group defines how we get recognized for the rest of the year. For example, if you are a hardworking individual that always does his work on time, then you will come to be recognized as a reliable and efficient individual (or, in some cases a nerd). If you are always late and lazy with your team assignments, then lazy and fun loving is what defines you. I guess the best one to be, is the person who manages to achieve a balance between these two extremes. Everyone needs to have a mix of seriousness and fun that manifests themselves at the right times. And to add to the complexity, the balance shifts with each group. Hence, we find some groups that are serious achievers whilst others always seem to have fun while working together. I guess that finding the balance that fits the group is one of the toughest and best lessons that one learns during the MBA.
LESSON 2 :
In addition, the learning curve was extremely high, with the constant pressure of studying, group work and social activities (which are numerous to say the least). I have heard that an MBA is about balancing all of ones responsibilities and sorting out what is the most important to each individual. I believe the brief experience I have had here at B-school, has been a valuable learning experience in prioritizing 'what is important to me', because people will always try to make a fool of you at each and every step and its you who is going to suffer.
LESSON 3 :
Prioritizing things : At any point of time, inundated with assignments and projects to be submitted, the trick is to identify and prioritize things to do.
LESSON 4 :
Balancing Your Personal and Professional Life, individuals learn how to establish priorities and make their daily life reflect those priorities. They explore ways to identify and manage the sources of stress in their life and pursue lifestyle changes in order to help manage various sources of stress. There woud be lot many things to distarct you during your studies, which could even divert your mind but that all has to be managed so that one comes out doing what he realy wants to do.
LESSON 5 :
Putting a argument has to be bound with data. Without data, any argument look fake. Data supports your point or argument.
LESSON 6 :
Logic, whatever one does has to have a logic. Before doing anything we need to ask 'WHY' five times. When we are clear in our thinking as to why we are doing this, we have better understanding as to where we are going and we can better communicate.
LESSON 7 :
When faced with our own experiences,(professional as well as personal) many of us wonder if we have made the right choices and what other paths we could have chosen.
LESSON 8 :
People would'nt do anything, unless there is some interest. So one needs to identify that interest and set it as a goal and communicate that to them. People would be more than happy to work towards it.
However, there were lot many things that we tried and have learned, but stil there's lot to be done on that.
More lessons to follow…….
Things we did not Learn.......
B-school for me was an amazing world of learning. Sure, some subjects were rather dry, but I suspect most of it was in the way the subject was taught.
I recall that a full credit course in Sales and Marketing, was one of the most attended classes in my batch, because it was taught outstandingly well by one of the most renound professor in the industry. Overall, I would attribute a lot of my professional success to what I learnt at B-school. That said, I still think there are things a B-school education does not prepare you for, or does not teach much about.
Real life decisions are more than "class participation": People here are at the same wavelength like us. More or less, dealing with this crowd is easier. How about real life situation, when your customers are uneducated? Some how we dont know how to communicate and respect their point of view.
Brevity, Someone said "Brevity is the soul of wit". Real world has no time. When one presents anything to a client or a customer, these guys dont have time. There we need to sell ourselves within seconds. Dynamic environment today demands that one is precise and succint. But through out the course we kept giving more than 20 pages write-ups and more than 50 slides PPTs! Exams always were lenghty and testing the memorizing aspects not the ability to execute any learning from the book.
Execution, In B-school, all that you learn is from books, periodicals, case studies, which do not prepare you for the biggest differentiator in the real world.
Moreover, B-school teaches you to have 'ego'. One feels as if he knows everything and that applies to all of us. It this cockiness and complacency that sometimes becomes his own adversary.
Dealing with Failure: learning comes from experience and good learning from bad experience. But no B-school teaches you to take failure in your stride.
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