I know that my past couple of blog posts have been pretty heavy stuff. So think of this post as a comic relief of sorts. I really want to get this down before I forget it!
One of the things I've been trying to do a little bit more (as I kind of eluded to in my previous post) is spend quality time with my family. Last night, my bro and I were hanging out and just chitchatting about our high school.
I had forgotten all about high school phys. ed. until yesterday and now I'm really disturbed by what I remember: principally, the fact that we had one change of clothes in our gym lockers and no time to shower. Starting in 8th grade, we were required to change clothes for gym -- I guess that is the magical age at which you start stinking after working out :) They were pretty strict about it. It's an automatic F for the day if you don't look like you've changed (although, I would argue that it's pretty hard to tell if you wear a t shirt and sweat pants to school ... which is basically what we always wore to school). Because of this, we were terrified of ever NOT having clothes in our gym locker. So we never took it out of our gym locker. At least in the girls' locker room. I guess I can't really speak for the boys.
But I actually think this is way worse than just letting us do phys ed class in our regular clothes, because we'd literally have the same gym clothes in our gym locker for one marking period at a time. That, ladies and gents, is 9 weeks. Ew.
So this is what happens: you bring a set of gym clothes on your first day of gym for the quarter. You wear and sweat profusely in them for 42 minutes a day (if I remember correctly) and then you throw the still-damp set back into your locker, and lock it up where it will not ventilate. And change into your CLEAN clothes without showering. And head off to your next class as quickly as possible so you don't get slapped with a detention. Rinse (NOT!), repeat.
You're basically marinating in your own sweat for 9 weeks at a time!
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Business School: "Strictly Business"?
Is business school strictly business?
As a blogger, I really should take more time to self-reflect. Don't get me wrong, I do reflect... I reflect so intensely it keeps me up at night sometimes. I reflect on events, projects, people. But... on the topic of who I am as a person - on my twenty six years - I must admit that I have not reflected too much.
Ironically, this whole impending business school thing - researching and telling my story, has caused me to reflect way more than anything else ever has. My professional goals -- well, I've always known those. As much as I've repressed them in my past 4 years, I have always known, all along, EXACTLY what I wanted to do.
But what I want to achieve personally ... I didn't really realize until I had to ask myself that critical question when considering applications to business school. I was forced to because that's a pretty major underlying theme of many of the essay questions I've seen.
These are the things that I want to maintain and improve, with or without an MBA. But ultimately, I think these are things that an MBA can help me attain.
Family time
For me, spending quality time with my family is about forming happy memories, learning together, and enjoying the people tied to me (by choice or not). I think an MBA could help me be a better family person.
How the heck, you might ask, would a program geared toward advancing your career by making you a more valued firm contributor (and probably hiking up your hours as a result) make you a better family person?
But I think about it in two ways. I'll start with the less cheesy one.
(1) That which makes you a good manager can also make you a good family member. In learning to manage projects, you gain proficiency in many things, one being juggling time and priorities. In other words, picking your battles. As a kid, I had a lot of trouble doing this and ended up being mad at someone for long stretches of time. As I've gotten older, I realize that our parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, are only getting older. You only have them for a set amount of time and the time you spend being angry only detracts from that. I've gotten a bit better at conflict resolution, but I still sometimes struggle with seeing from others' perspectives. A lot of MBA programs force you to work with groups - which is totally great for learning to gain perspectives.
(2) You can think of your work team as a family (If you're still reading you're probably either nodding vigorously, shaking your head with repulsion, or vomiting.) In many ways the people you work with come to understand you to a much deeper level in some respects than many of your friends or people you choose to see outside of work. For me, that means showing my most vulnerable side - the person who makes mistakes (tons of mistakes!), the person who faces difficult choices, the person who is all in, cards on the table, for the dreams that matter most to her.
Intellectual fulfillment
I think that if we did not have someone to argue with, life would be so, so boring. Think about the last time you were in the middle of a back-and-forth (a nonviolent one, that is) with someone you respect. Didn't feel good to stand up for your points and also to consider how to counter your opponent's points?
That is definitely one of the things I love about working in finance. No one can see the future -- so we're all just giving our own views, fed by analysis, personal experiences and differentiated opinions.
An MBA would definitely provide an avenue to talk about things I care about among respected classmates who may have different views. It will also give you a network of intelligent people that you can turn to later in life for these debates, e.g., when you need someone as a sounding board if you're starting your own business.
A final product
In other words, narcissism. Seeing my stuff on the shelves is so, so important to me. I've phrased this as "tangibility" in my application, but let's be real, it's just a detached form of narcissism ;)
When I worked in R&D, I really loved seeing my brand at stores and to this day, almost always purchase products of the brands under my former company. There is just something wonderful with being able to connect with something touchable after spending 8 hours a day working on it.
Of course, this is also something I look for in finance jobs, which is what I do now. Whenever anything I work on has an impact, not just on my firm but on the companies we invest in or the people in the communities affected by that company, asset, or good, that just really makes me feel wonderful.
An MBA would really help me make more of those impact choices.
xoxo,
the closing belle
* * *
Ironically, this whole impending business school thing - researching and telling my story, has caused me to reflect way more than anything else ever has. My professional goals -- well, I've always known those. As much as I've repressed them in my past 4 years, I have always known, all along, EXACTLY what I wanted to do.
But what I want to achieve personally ... I didn't really realize until I had to ask myself that critical question when considering applications to business school. I was forced to because that's a pretty major underlying theme of many of the essay questions I've seen.
These are the things that I want to maintain and improve, with or without an MBA. But ultimately, I think these are things that an MBA can help me attain.
* * *
For me, spending quality time with my family is about forming happy memories, learning together, and enjoying the people tied to me (by choice or not). I think an MBA could help me be a better family person.
How the heck, you might ask, would a program geared toward advancing your career by making you a more valued firm contributor (and probably hiking up your hours as a result) make you a better family person?
But I think about it in two ways. I'll start with the less cheesy one.
(1) That which makes you a good manager can also make you a good family member. In learning to manage projects, you gain proficiency in many things, one being juggling time and priorities. In other words, picking your battles. As a kid, I had a lot of trouble doing this and ended up being mad at someone for long stretches of time. As I've gotten older, I realize that our parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, are only getting older. You only have them for a set amount of time and the time you spend being angry only detracts from that. I've gotten a bit better at conflict resolution, but I still sometimes struggle with seeing from others' perspectives. A lot of MBA programs force you to work with groups - which is totally great for learning to gain perspectives.
(2) You can think of your work team as a family (If you're still reading you're probably either nodding vigorously, shaking your head with repulsion, or vomiting.) In many ways the people you work with come to understand you to a much deeper level in some respects than many of your friends or people you choose to see outside of work. For me, that means showing my most vulnerable side - the person who makes mistakes (tons of mistakes!), the person who faces difficult choices, the person who is all in, cards on the table, for the dreams that matter most to her.
Intellectual fulfillment
I think that if we did not have someone to argue with, life would be so, so boring. Think about the last time you were in the middle of a back-and-forth (a nonviolent one, that is) with someone you respect. Didn't feel good to stand up for your points and also to consider how to counter your opponent's points?
That is definitely one of the things I love about working in finance. No one can see the future -- so we're all just giving our own views, fed by analysis, personal experiences and differentiated opinions.
An MBA would definitely provide an avenue to talk about things I care about among respected classmates who may have different views. It will also give you a network of intelligent people that you can turn to later in life for these debates, e.g., when you need someone as a sounding board if you're starting your own business.
A final product
In other words, narcissism. Seeing my stuff on the shelves is so, so important to me. I've phrased this as "tangibility" in my application, but let's be real, it's just a detached form of narcissism ;)
When I worked in R&D, I really loved seeing my brand at stores and to this day, almost always purchase products of the brands under my former company. There is just something wonderful with being able to connect with something touchable after spending 8 hours a day working on it.
Of course, this is also something I look for in finance jobs, which is what I do now. Whenever anything I work on has an impact, not just on my firm but on the companies we invest in or the people in the communities affected by that company, asset, or good, that just really makes me feel wonderful.
An MBA would really help me make more of those impact choices.
* * *
No, business school in all aspects - its course material, its fit into a professional's life, and my impetuses for applying - is anything BUT strictly business.
xoxo,
the closing belle
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Business school & my biggest secret
It has been awhile since I posted here, and I'm very sorry for that. I know every time I take a couple of weeks from blogging, I chalk it up to how busy I am at work, blah blah blah. But this time, I've been dealing with kind of a mental/sentimental busy. And it's been interfering a little bit with my sleep.
So, BUSINESS SCHOOL. Let's talk about that today.
I love my job as an investment analyst, my respectful, kind, amazing company, and my potential career path from where I am. Yes, I have been incredibly happy for the past year and half that I've lived and worked in New York City, and that's why I have been constantly feeling terrifically guilty for logging onto GMATClub every once in awhile to see what the current MBA applicant pool is like.
But recently I realized I really need to stop feeling guilty. Because, well, just because you're happy it doesn't mean you have to be stagnant. There is a world of things that I still have to learn. Not gonna lie, taking 2 years off to explore the world and to learn about all things business really kind of, um, appeals to me. And also, well, the BIGGEST reason is that there's been something I have wanted to do for a long time now, and business school seems like the highest probability shot of getting there.
I have spent a lot of commutes over the past few months stewing over this. Do you remember my blog post a few months ago about my mid year review with my manager and realizing I needed to start taking more risks? (HERE). That kind of started it all. And after running that through my head over and over for two months, I am finally ready to be really honest with myself and you guys, here goes:
I spent almost my entire life as an analyst supporting investments in funds when I've secretly wanted so, so much to be supporting direct investments.
There, I said it. My deepest, darkest secret. To the Internetz.
So you might be thinking, well, if you want to do directs so badly, why don't you just go do it? Go join a firm that does directs and work there.
... It's not that easy. They won't want me. And why won't they want me? Because I have never worked on directs before, never built a financial model in 2 hours, never met with management teams or been involved in a corporate transaction. The role "investment analyst" is quite misleading. When I took my first job, effectively locking myself into funds and allocations, I had no idea how big the world of difference is between investing in funds and investing in companies.
In particular, I've been really interested in how companies make direct investments (rather than hedge funds, mutual funds, banks, etc.). I follow pharma and biotech for my personal account, and I've been able to see some really cool corporate venture deals. In pharma/biotech, the small guys are lacking in capital ... and the big guys are lacking in risk. It makes so much sense for a company like GlaxoSmithKline to pour some funds into a small start up.
Business school opens up opportunities like that. Alternatively, if I wanted to do more directs at my current firm, I think I need the skills that business school would give me in order to be successful. Because guys, to be 100% honest I have tried to build models a lot. Spent a lot of evenings and my personal time pouring over 10K's, googling spreadsheet tricks. But at the end of the day what makes a model is knowing how a business makes money. And I struggle with that. I need to develop business instinct, something that B school is set up to deliver.
So yes, guys, I am going to apply to business school. I still need to work out some details, but just wanted to update y'all!
xoxo,
the closing belle
So, BUSINESS SCHOOL. Let's talk about that today.
I love my job as an investment analyst, my respectful, kind, amazing company, and my potential career path from where I am. Yes, I have been incredibly happy for the past year and half that I've lived and worked in New York City, and that's why I have been constantly feeling terrifically guilty for logging onto GMATClub every once in awhile to see what the current MBA applicant pool is like.
But recently I realized I really need to stop feeling guilty. Because, well, just because you're happy it doesn't mean you have to be stagnant. There is a world of things that I still have to learn. Not gonna lie, taking 2 years off to explore the world and to learn about all things business really kind of, um, appeals to me. And also, well, the BIGGEST reason is that there's been something I have wanted to do for a long time now, and business school seems like the highest probability shot of getting there.
I have spent a lot of commutes over the past few months stewing over this. Do you remember my blog post a few months ago about my mid year review with my manager and realizing I needed to start taking more risks? (HERE). That kind of started it all. And after running that through my head over and over for two months, I am finally ready to be really honest with myself and you guys, here goes:
I spent almost my entire life as an analyst supporting investments in funds when I've secretly wanted so, so much to be supporting direct investments.
There, I said it. My deepest, darkest secret. To the Internetz.
So you might be thinking, well, if you want to do directs so badly, why don't you just go do it? Go join a firm that does directs and work there.
... It's not that easy. They won't want me. And why won't they want me? Because I have never worked on directs before, never built a financial model in 2 hours, never met with management teams or been involved in a corporate transaction. The role "investment analyst" is quite misleading. When I took my first job, effectively locking myself into funds and allocations, I had no idea how big the world of difference is between investing in funds and investing in companies.
In particular, I've been really interested in how companies make direct investments (rather than hedge funds, mutual funds, banks, etc.). I follow pharma and biotech for my personal account, and I've been able to see some really cool corporate venture deals. In pharma/biotech, the small guys are lacking in capital ... and the big guys are lacking in risk. It makes so much sense for a company like GlaxoSmithKline to pour some funds into a small start up.
Business school opens up opportunities like that. Alternatively, if I wanted to do more directs at my current firm, I think I need the skills that business school would give me in order to be successful. Because guys, to be 100% honest I have tried to build models a lot. Spent a lot of evenings and my personal time pouring over 10K's, googling spreadsheet tricks. But at the end of the day what makes a model is knowing how a business makes money. And I struggle with that. I need to develop business instinct, something that B school is set up to deliver.
So yes, guys, I am going to apply to business school. I still need to work out some details, but just wanted to update y'all!
xoxo,
the closing belle
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