World Sojourner : 3760

I seem to be having a lot of conversations about ‘getting an MBA’ with various friends.  My conversations normally consist of the following themes:

1. Take the GMAT – it’s all fluff until that’s taken care of
2. Pick a school that is respected
3. Pick the school that is the best fit for personality
4. Don’t sleep during it

The benefits part of the conversation is pretty standard as well.  I was able to change industries and jobs, great experience, loved the travel, yes London was great; hard to believe I got to sit beside some of the most remarkable people on the planet (my fellow 2007s and those who attended the school during my time there).

I’m in the process of realizing that the value of the MBA extends past the obvious learning about business and helping me become a better thinker.  The value also lies in the wealth of resources at your finger tips three years later.  I’m doing some work right now that requires diving into some of my second year classes to find models, good approaches and ideas.

And, it’s all here.  The notes, the templates and approaches.  In fact, I’ve gotten more out of some of the course designs right now then I did during the class.  Good stuff. 

One-fourth of my MBA was spent at New York University as an ‘exchange’ student.  London Business School’s exchange program goes through two rounds of applications.  The policy is that during round one a student cannot go back to their home country, but if the exchange school has openings after the first round of applications then it’s game on.  I applied to NYU and was accepted.

My experiences at NYU are documented in the archives of this blog.  It was great to spend time in New York City and the NYU professors were fantastic.  One of my classes was Brand Management taught by Scott Galloway.  He started Red Envelope, sold it and then moved into activist investing and teaching.  I learned a lot from Professor Galloway – he is very good and I respect him a lot.

A few things that stick in my mind from his class – think before speaking because he punishes bad logic and never, ever be late to class.  Yes, there was some Brand goodness mixed in but the above points rank first and second.  Also, somewhere on that list is ‘never join a group where one of the business owners is also a member of the team if they can’t separate emotion from logic’ but – I digress.

My buddy Daniel (who learned the same points as listed above) dropped this link onto my Facebook page.  It seems Scott’s policy on fuzzy logic and tardiness has now gone viral thanks to an email he sent to one of his students.

My favorite quote from his email:

In addition, your logic effectively means you cannot be held accountable for any code of conduct before taking a class. For the record, we also have no stated policy against bursting into show tunes in the middle of class, urinating on desks or taking that revolutionary hair removal system for a spin. However, xxxx, there is a baseline level of decorum (i.e., manners) that we expect of grown men and women who the admissions department have deemed tomorrow’s business leaders.

For the record – I completely agree with most of his points.  His email is an instant classic.

http://deadspin.com/5477230/nyu-business-school-professor-has-mastered-the-art-of-email-flaming

Too early to challenge for a repeat?

Today marks my second full year with Infosys Consulting.  A banner day for lots of reasons.  First, things are going pretty well with Infy thanks to my change of practices.  Now, I’m in our Change Management group – a better fit.

And second, any financial commitments I have to Infosys cease to exist as of today.  My sign-on bonus had a two years, or pay us some part of it back clause.

I’ve learned a lot over the last couple years and look forward to continuing the trend as I head into my third year.