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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.
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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.
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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
