This morning I had a conversation with a college about his intentions to do an MBA. I naturally asked him what his goals were and what he wanted to achieve. From this information I initially recommended an executive education management course. It met all of his criteria and I think would set him up much better for the future. But then we started to discuss situations.
As I am in the UAE right now and this particular young man was a national there were some arguments that he had for me that made sense. One, is that he is never going to work overseas and another is that he will be starting a family soon and not going to want to travel. From what I can gather the MBA programs here are generalist basic programs that follow on curriculum from the undergraduate programs and are more of a Masters in Business program than a challenging MBA.
My advice for people who are looking to do their MBA is as follows:
Specialize!
You are a commodity in the marketplace and are able to sell yourself on your experience and skills. If you are in IT/Healthcare/Marketing/Finance/etc.. find a program to match. You are better off selecting a school with the right curriculum that interests you than doing an MBA for the letters after your name.
Learning doesn’t necessarily happen in the classroom!
The value of an MBA course comes out of the conversations and debates you have with your classmates during projects, downtime and working groups. People being able to challenge others on topics ranging from the India/China debate to Management/Leadership. This is where you are challenged to take what you have absorbed through lectures, notes and readings and actually apply it to real world situations.
Connections!
The adage is still true about the ‘old boys club’. Even though there is a bit of a stigma about it – your connections will allow you to get jobs, network into other organizations and create lifelong friends. In my experience you have shared a crazy, challenging and intense journey with a group of people and will always have that shared experience. Utilize this to your advantage!
Know your Goals!
Before you start an MBA you have to figure out what you want. If you want to work for one of the big 4 consulting firms – you need to go to a top name school and get a 4.0 average. If the journey is more important to you – ensure you are at a school that fits and is able to support your learning goals.
Accounting….
My final piece of advice for most of the population is to re-take a 1st year university accounting course before jumping into the MBA. In any MBA there is a requirement for finance and financial management. A lot of people I talk to indicate this is their weakest subject. So to minimize the pain of finance on top of the astronomical amount of reading, assignments and other ‘stuff’ – do yourself a favor and take accounting!
