Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Start working and building your real-world experience. School will teach you the theory of how the world works, but there's nothing like doing it yourself. Employers want to see real-world skills more than simply a list of degrees accumulated.

Dear bijeshrims83,

An EXCELLENT question! What one might do post-MBA to advance one's career is to realize that the MBA is just a piece of paper.

The certificate means nothing other than you could afford the time, money, and ego boosting process necessary to get it or earn it.

Look at the MBA as another screw driver, (and a small one at that) and not as the toolbox.

Having a big box of tools does not make you a craftsperson or a master mechanic: it makes you a person with a big box of tools.
Likewise having lots of books in one's library. Having the books
is one thing. Reading them and putting the knowledge you've acquired to work is another.

The keys are your attitudes and your actions. When you think you know it all and are not shy about telling people so, life has the unique ability to cut you down to size. I've seen it happen, and yes, I've been on the receiving end, paid the price, and learned from my arrogance as a result.

When it comes to tempering and expanding one's palate, a decent serving of humble pie every now and again, and all washed down with a good bottle of that year's Chateau Apology can be a great dish to whet one's appetite for being less of a wise ass and more of a wise mind.

Tell your boss or prospective employers that having the MBA in hand, you are now ready to begin learning.

Read that again if you need to, then summon the courage to actually do it.

Tell them you'd really, REALY appreciate the chance to begin learning from practical experience and not just from theory an academic examples.

Volunteer for non-profits and see if you can help them with their needs. Run adult literacy classes. Help out at a Kindergarten. Apply for a part time job stacking shelves in a supermarket and LISTEN to the conversations of customers.

Your MBA is the tiniest piece of fancy frosting on top of a plain cake. Avoid the temptation to over complicate other people's needs just because you think (and have been told that) your MBA puts you several notches above everybody else.

Your MBA does no such thing.

A qualification cannot and will not make you into a marketing super human. The sooner you get this into your head and accept it the better for you and the people you'll be working with and for.

It takes an ability to be like other people and to conform to other people's ways of thinking to earn an MBA. But it takes balls, guile, courage, and commitment to become a renegade, to challenge the system, and to get stuff done.

Many of the top minds don't have a degree, let alone an MBA: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates spring to mind. So, focus on constant learning and continual improvement. Your MBA is one ULTRA TINY step. It might be a big deal to you, but to many other people, it's worth less because it confers no value to them and their needs.

When you take time to learn more, to add value, and to help other people, then you'll be on your way to gaining knowledge and wisdom that you can then use to help and gently direct other people.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA