While in their presence for only a short while, I learned a great deal about managing my career from 100 ambitious ladies and admission counselors from some of the US’s top colleges at a recent MBA forum. I share some of these ideas with you in this post.
As I stepped into the room, I could feel the drive and determination. Ambitious thoughts filled the room, creating a haze of excitement. One hundred potential MBA students had gathered into the conference room to listen to the stories from the Alumni panel members and collect insight from the admissions counselors from the over 16 top college programs represented.
The MBA forum was hosted by the Forte Foundation, a consortium of major corporations and top business schools dedicated to inspiring women business leaders. I don’t think you’ll find a better group of people anywhere.
I was at this forum to learn. I was gathering information for my next book. My time was spent walking from table to table talking with the admissions counselors and listening to the potential candidates asking questions about the MBA programs. After a couple of hours of quality listening, I became quite enlightened into the complexities of building a successful career.
After reflecting upon the numerous comments and questions, I was able to draw a few commonalities that identify why we have a difficult time gaining the success we desire. Brace yourself. You just might recognize some of them.
Decide what you want. This seems like a relatively simple question but it isn’t. The answer always changes. These smart, ambitious women know that getting an MBA will improve the quality of the career in the future. But, exactly how is not quite clear. So, they appear to focus on getting the degree. Their thinking is only about 2 years out; that is, to the point they graduate. The picture beyond that is a blank canvas. The hope is that their education “will open many doors for them.”
The problem with this thinking is that it creates a barrier to your forward progress at a point in the near future. The degree is seen as a way get ahead but we aren’t certain just how it will do it. It seems that we are defining opportunity as “someone will come along and offer us a really nice job with good pay.” The degree isn’t seen as a vehicle that gives you the credentials to work your way up. It should be. It’s your admission ticket to the big game but it doesn’t guarantee you any play time. You’ll have to earn that.
As with many MBA potentials, students and graduates, there is always a little disillusionment. The MBA, as with most degrees, is a tool that is used to help you achieve greater success. After all, when you graduate after years of hard work and handing out lots of money for tuition and books, the school gives you a piece of paper to put on your wall. The degree by itself does nothing.
I’m not saying the MBA isn’t useful. I have one. I’m saying that if you get one, greater success is achieved when you have a plan for its use.
Surround yourself with the best people. Building a great network isn’t something that comes to many graduates early on. Sure, we think of making friends that will help us through our program but we put little energy into building the friendships that can help grow our skills and potential for achieving greater success. We tend to focus on the “here and now,” as opposed to what we want to be many years from now.
Just imagine if Michael Jordan had lived in a really small town. The high school rarely won a game. He was a one man show. The other guys on the team tried to help but lacked the ability to do so. Then, there no big colleges around that would snatch him up once he graduated. Where would he be now? Great desire, determination and passion are infectious. It draws people near you. It pulls them into your success. So much so that they strive to become part of it and help you to achieve more and more.
One of my clients changed jobs 3 times over a decade. Each change was manifested from relationships he established before he started his MBA. He had nurtured these friendships throughout his degree and well into the beginning of his professional career…and it paid dividends.
Work hard at it. The MBA teaches you skills that are very, very useful in your professional career. However, it may not be the ones you’re thinking of. If you’ve found the MBA to be a lot of work, then maybe you do know the skill I’m talking about. Malcolm Gladwell captured the essence of this trait in his latest book, Outliers. He called it the 10,000 hour rule. Without going into too much detail, Gladwell basically shows from a history of some of the greatest performers, that it takes about ten years of serious effort to become great at what you do.
Somehow, many graduates seem to think that an advanced degree removes this requirement from their future. If you’ve ever worked around any executives, you know this isn’t true. Many dedicate their lives to their work. Often, they expect the same of those that work around them. It almost becomes a requirement for greatness. As Gladwell implies in his book, the greats put in more time and effort than their competition. If you’re seeking greatness, you’ll need to do this as well.
Reevaluate. As we grow older, gain more experience and achieve our goals, our needs change. Quite often this impacts our satisfaction levels, forcing us to consider making changes to our plans. Changes that can have a direct impact on the results you get.
Just think about the great athletes that managed to become great, only to change what they were doing. They changed the behaviors that made them great. They got away from the environment that supported them. Think about when Michael Jordan, since we’ve been talking about him, decided to play baseball. He got away from his real skill and all of the people who supported him. It’s not a big surprise that he didn’t achieve great results in this endeavor.
Stay focused on what you want, who you're with and what you're doing. Success will come.
Author:
Todd Rhoad, MSEE, MBA is Director at BT Consulting, a career consulting firm in Altanta and author of the soon to be released book, The MBA Owner's Manual. He can be reached at todd.rhoad@blitzteamconsulting.com.
