What I Learned Earning My MBA

May 162011
 

So I recently walked across a stage to collect my MBA diploma. It has taken me two very long years to get to that point. Two major questions arise as I graduate from business school:

  1. Was it worth it?
  2. What did I learn?

The notion of worth is dependent on each person, and I would not be totally surprised if I were to learn that some of my b-school colleagues felt they got less than they bargained for. For the most part, though, I imagine the vast majority of my peers found the experience totally worthwhile. And even though the job search has been – and still is – quite difficult for me, I definitely think earning my MBA has been a completely worthwhile experience.

Why do I think it was worth it? Because, simply put, I know way more things now in April 2011 then I did back in August 2009. For me, that knowledge has value.

Some of the things I learned were technical and academic book knowledge such as accounting, finance, marketing terminology, operations, a plethora of strategy frameworks, and so forth. More importantly, though, I learned to think things at both a strategic 30,000 foot level as well as down in the weeds. I suspect most people are either detailed oriented or ‘big picture’ sort of folks. When looking at issues I think it takes a bit of conscious effort to learn how to be able to flip between these extremes. I give credit to my MBA studies in helping me flip between them.

Something unique to the Weatherhead program is the Manage by Designing program. This has been a fantastic experience. It has allowed me the opportunity to go to Denmark to the  Kolding School of Design where I had an opportunity to work with designers from all over the world. We looked at designing new approaches and thinking regarding transportation, which is a problem not limited to Denmark, but rather the entire globe. In addition to the Denmark trip, I had an amazing opportunity to work with the Office of Patient Experience at Cleveland Clinic to design new approaches in physician-patient interactions. In general, the Manage by Designing program was a fantastic approach to build a holistic management tool-belt.

I would not go so far as to say I learned some useless material; however, I did notice a few business things that had marginal value (that wording itself reeks of business school education).

For example, I do think that business jargon is needlessly complex. Many entities share a piece of the blame. Business textbooks, journals, cases, websites, and so forth. I am not entirely certain why business school students and professors tend to use complex wording; I have my guesses, though. With that being said, my aforementioned Design curriculum had a considerable focus on communication and structuring a compelling argument. Again, though, it does seem as if business folks tend to write more complicated than they need to.

Since I did not have a formal background in business, I structured my courses so I learned a little bit of everything. For example I made certain to take an additional finance class, a Six Sigma/lean operations class, as well as a couple of entrepreneurship courses. However, I did take more marketing and strategy courses than any other type. It is what I enjoy. Along similar lines, the Weatherhead program is moving away from being heavy in concentrations to cultivating more of a general management education. I think this is a good move. It is how I structured my education and I think good managers need to know a bit of everything.

Finally, I met some absolutely fantastic people. We had a very international class and I would like to think I can now travel all over the globe and have friends wherever I may be. I have had a blast hanging out with my classmates in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago, Darden Softball, New York, and many other places including a certain paintball field.wsom_paintball

I’m going to miss seeing these folks on a daily basis.

In conclusion, I learned a great deal of stuff earning my MBA. I learned formulas as well as new ways to thinking. The lessons made it worth my time.

Definitely good times.

 May 16, 2011  , ,

Can M.B.A. Students Write?

Mar 272011
 

The Wall Street Journal is accusing MBA graduates of poor writing skills (Why Can’t M.B.A. Students Write? – WSJ.com).

They are probably right.

First off, regardless of the profession the ability to write coherently is very important. During my career as a scientist I wrote several analytical reports that were read internally at our laboratory, then delivered to our sponsoring client, and in theory they could be reviewed by the U.S. FDA.  While there is a certain scientific voice in writing these reports and a tendency to use particular phrases that would not typically be used by ‘mainstream’ writers, in general these reports still had to be concise, yet precise. Simply, they had to convey quantitative and qualitative data.

I suspect that if scientists are expected to have decent writing skills, then it should not be unreasonable to assume that MBA graduates, too, should have such skills.

What I have noticed over the past two years of my MBA work is that business articles and cases themselves are needlessly complex and wordy for no apparent reason. Many MBA programs teach from the case method and when business school students read material written this way, it should not be surprising that the students, in turn, tend to mimic the style of writing that they read.

From the Wall Street Journal article:

M.B.A. students often have to unlearn bad behavior, such as using complicated words over simple ones, says Carter Daniel, business communication programs director at Rutgers Business School. Students might use the word “edifice” instead of “building,” for example.

My simple response to Mr. Daniel is that if you do not want to see the students (or perhaps more appropriately graduates) writing this way, then do not teach or influence them to do so. Granted I do not know much of anything regarding Rutgers’ business program, however if they teach using cases or use popular business books then it is likely they are one of the sources of the problem.

Who would seriously answer "No" to this?

I also must question the motives of the Wall Street Journal for their poll associated with the article. I am not entirely certain what they are looking to achieve with this brainless poll; are there many readers of the Wall Street Journal who genuinely believe writing is for suckers?

Again, since I began my MBA program I was always amazed with the non-parsimonious (there is a complex scientific sounding word!) manner in which business articles and cases were written. At first I thought that perhaps I had some chip on my shoulder as I sold out from the science world into the business world. I figured that the writers really did not have anything profound or insightful to state, so they buried their thoughts in needless complexity. Then I got over it and, to use a cliche, drank the Kool-Aid and wrote in a similar style. I think, though, that I have come full circle and again believe that there may be a tendency in the MBA world to make things more complex than they need to be.

Why this happens, I have no clue.

I could venture a hypothesis in that by the nature of medical, engineering, and scientific writing there is a tendency to rely on vocabulary and concepts that are not easily understood by a layperson. I am sure this could be applied to nearly every academic field. Therefore perhaps MBA graduates feel that they want this same sort of exclusivity, in other words write in a manner that is intentionally difficult for the layperson to understand.

In conclusion, as I stated above, I tend to think that MBA graduates write in a manner similar to which they were taught (this is probably true with every field of study). This may have been explicit or implicit, but regardless of the nature of the influence, it happens. Therefore, business school academics may want to reconsider the style in which they write and publish articles and cases, least they unwittingly construct a cultural paradigm shift in the generation of text-based information bolstered with a significant positive statistical correlation describing the GIGO relationship.

Garbage In, Garbage Out.

 March 27, 2011  ,

2010 NBMBAA Conference Part 2

Oct 022010
 

I had a great time on the National Black MBA (NBMBAA) conference in Los Angeles. Had a few great conversations with some prospective employers, meet a few other MBA candidates at other schools, and just had a fun time in L.A.

It is amazing to see thousands and thousands of MBA students milling about and pitching themselves to hundreds of recruiters. While on one hand it is exhausting but on the other hand it’s energizing to experience these events.

Got another one coming up in October in Chicago hosted by NSHMBA!

 October 2, 2010  , , ,

2010 National Black MBA Association Conference

Sep 222010
 

Wednesday September 22 I will be flying out to Los Angeles to attend the 2010 National Black MBA Association Conference. I am pretty excited about this opportunity to connect with a whole host of companies and MBA students. Hopefully I will have a fantastic time there!

 September 22, 2010  , ,
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