Welcome! Or I really should say "Howdy!" since that is the official greeting here at Texas A&M. Below are my thoughts about being the 40 Year Old MBA and the rants, trials and triumphs that will come during this journey back to school. Thanks for reading and leave a few comments.
For those that were with me during the MBA program or to those that I have talked about the MBA experience; I often mention that going to class is not enough, you must fully engage with other student, especially those outside your normal social circle. My trip to India was a testament to this fact; I went to India and was shown the country and experienced a traditional wedding by my close friends from the MBA program Rajeev Singh, Arnav Sunny Sinha, Shivramakrishnan Iyer, Megha Kalani and Shweta Singh all of whom I thank for a tremendous experience. Thank you friends. I don't believe that students that simply go to school and do not look beyond their textbooks would have received such hospitality. Remember; an MBA program is more than just academics, it is an introduction to future colleagues, partners, investors, and entrepreneurs.
One particular year, not too many years ago, Santa Claus came to a company office party and with the help of Miss Claus children sat on Santa’s lap to receive a gift.One particular little angel said, in her mousiest voice, to Miss Claus, as she was too embarrassed to talk to Santa: “Will Santa come to our house too?”This was not the voice of a child seeking more presents, but the sound of a child who stilled believed in Santa, but was told by her mother that Christmas would not happen this year.
Miss Claus heard through the grapevine that this particular child was one of five to a mother who had a heart of gold, but men of coal.Married three times and children by all three husbands, all five children lived in a rented 3 bedroom home along with their mother and her sister.
Miss Claus relayed this story to Santa the next day, along with some other details of this mother and her dismay; in fact the mother had broken down in tears when hearing of the office Christmas party and that management was buying gifts for all the children … since these would be the only gifts her children would receive this year.After many tears Santa decided to make a special trip with Miss Claus to the mall … On Mercedes, On Jaguar, Out Visa and MasterCard and little AMEX too.Santa and Miss Claus purchased presents for all the children, five each, and two for Mom and sister too; there were jeans and sweaters and jackets and shirts and necklaces and toys and a PlayStation too.
Some elves helped Santa and Miss Claus wrapped all the presents and stuffed them in clear plastic sacks, those industrial strength garbage bags that are five feet tall, so all the ribbons and bows and name tags would show.With a ruse from a friend, Santa and Miss Claus arranged for Mom to be home one evening a week before Christmas.So on drove Santa in the sleigh to make an early delivery of the three giant sacks stuffed with presents.
Santa knocked on the door and exclaimed; “Too many presents to deliver on Christmas Day!”And with a flick of his wrist and a heave from his back Santa set down those big heavy sacks … “Now don’t open these till Christmas.” he said to those in shock, and he left with a whirl and a knock.
Several weeks later a card was hand delivered to Miss Claus in which each child wrote a short note … but the message from Mom was the one to remember; “Thank you for delivering us “HOPE” that humanity still exists.”
If you have not guessed I was “Santa” … I am often asked what I hate most about being unemployed this long after earning my MBA, … and it is that I cannot play Santa to a family who has lost “Hope”.
I would suggest that each of us knows a family who has had hard times and is too proud to ask for help … I would also suggest that playing “anonymous” Santa has a profound effect on not just their lives but yours too.
Please share this story and share your good fortune this year.
The more I follow politics the more I understand the need for compromise and collaboration. However, each party has to pander to their base and will not put forward bills that actually get things done. In business the concept is 'tone at the top" simply means that employees follow the 'tone' from the leader; Congress is no different. This is not to say that you don't vote for the best plan for your constituents, it means that if the President works with both parties and is obviously not completely bias than Congress will work across both parties to get things done, Today it seems that Congress will cut off their nose to spite their face. Examples: GOP members want "NO" increase in revenue ... not even if it is a 5:1 spending cuts to revenue increases. I understand their point, in the past bills that link spending cuts to increase in revenue seems to increase the revenue but don't cut the spending. In business you would set milestones and release funds when these milestones are met. Why not impose this in government? Raise the revenue, and release the funds when spending cuts are made. Democrats want no changes to social welfare, this is not realistic, their BIG issue is defense spending OK lets have a compromise: for every dollar in defense cuts we get equal dollars in social welfare cuts. The problem always stems from the decisions that each parties base wants to see. Business cannot run that way and neither should the government. I am convinced that a strong leader that is willing to work with both parties will get this country back on its feet. So far the only candidate seems to be Mitt Romney, my fear is that people will not vote for him because of is religion, my hope is that moderate democrats and independent voters will want Romney over Obama.
Too many times I hear this argument: "They do this in Europe" usually this is from someone left of center. I don't suppose that this argument holds water given the crisis in Greece and Italy as well as Ireland and Portugal. What most people don't understand is that what may work in Europe most likely will not work in the US: Why? Cultural. Look at starting a business, in the US you could start a business in many states in a day, in Europe to start a business may take months. My friends in Europe discuss capital requirements: "money in the bank" before you can get a business license ... I started my business with nothing more than the filing fee required to register the business. The problem this causes is opportunities are missed not because of lack of motivation and the willingness to risk and fail, but because the government sets limits on someone's "pursuit of happiness" think about that ... Our constitution is all about freedom and the ability to risk failure in the "pursuit of happiness".
Recently watched a terrifying view of the Illegal Pill Shops in Florida and subsequently read a report on the number of illegal prescriptions written from stolen prescription pads or written by Dr. "FeelGoods" Then it dawned on me ... electronic prescriptions written at the doctors office which could be printed or sent directly to the pharmacy. Each would have a code on it identifying the doctor, date, and patient. It would eliminate fraud from illegally written prescriptions, it would allow tracking of prescriptions of dangerous pain killers (OXY series) and would reduce the incidents of pharmacies miss reading the prescription (medicine or dosage or both).
Some might counter a POTENTIAL invasion of privacy, but I would counter that we have an epidemic of prescription abuse that needs to be deterred.
I received an email today asking if my MBA experience was worth it? Being over 40 when starting the program and graduating at 42. There are too many ways to answer the question .... overall YES the program was worth it on many fronts. I recognized that I have a natural ability to lead teams and people to success. During the program there were two competitions that all students had to participate; first was the Mays Business School Tech Transfer (read posting concerning that experience) the team that I lead took second place, I think we could have taken first but our topic was just not entertaining; second was the capstone consulting project which was a semester long project and the team that I lead and was SME for the project took First Place.
During the program I developed several close relationships with students from all corners of the world, in fact, I am going to India this December for a traditional Indian wedding. I will always remember the friendships developed through the program.
The academics were strong, I think the program could have a stronger leadership development aspect to the program but no complaints.
However, getting an MBA has NOT brought financial success to me. My background is all small business and even with an MBA from Texas A&M University I have yet to find employment. My background and age are both limiting factors for those recruiters that are seeking to hire MBA candidates from business schools. It does not help that we are in a horrible economic crisis, but you would think that my experience and leadership would be of benefit to companies in times like these ... apparently not.
Would I do it again ... not at 40 plus with a NON-TRADITIONAL background ... if I was out of an under graduate program with 5 years of work experience I would be all over an MBA program like Texas A&M University.
I am the first to admit that I do not see most movies when in the theater, this was true for "The Blindside" with Sanrda Bullock.I did watch the movie and had an interesting discussion afterwards. The movie was good and very touching, but more important was the simple message of change. Change does not occur through big government programs to try and help make a difference ... there is little passion. Change occurs when one person or family makes a consistent meaningful impact on another person or family. Notice the use of the word consistent ... this does not mean each Thanksgiving you donate a meal ... it means each day you strive to change one person's life and keep striving with that person until they are able to be the mentor and not the mentee.
It is not the responsibility of the government ... it is your responsibility. So volunteer for Big Brothers / Big Sisters and change one person's life.
Recently George Soros along with musician Sting have come together to promote the legalization of drugs in the USA; not just medical marijuana, but all drugs. I believe the biggest argument against legalization is the number of people who will become addicted to drugs and become a burden on society. A possible solution to this problem is simple: Legalize drugs, tax the sale of these drugs, but require any person that receives unemployment, welfare, food stamps, or other social program dollars to take a drug test and PASS before funds are distributed. If the person is CLEAN than they would be allowed to receive assistance ... if not then NO money. Logic is simple: if employers can randomly drug test employees and these employees are paying taxes (either income tax or property taxes or sales taxes ... which are obstensibly paid by their income from working) that help support those receiving social assistance (welfare, food stamps, unemployment) than those receiving such aassistance should also be randomly drug tested.
I don't use drugs and I agree that the legal drug trade causes tremendous amounts of criminal activity ... but I just cannot agree to help support someone's drug habit through my tax dollars.
Lately there has been a rash of news pieces concerning "student" rights. Before going to far with this I should let every reader know that I attended Columbine High School (the site of the worst US School shooting) and experienced first-hand the bullying that occurs on these massive high school campuses. My graduating class was only 700 students the next class was over 1000 and the following class even larger. People want to "belong", younger people especially. School's are notorious for forming cliques; jocks, preps, motor-heads, brainiacs etc. ... The problem with cliques is that people don't get past the stereotype associated with members of a clique. Many times individuals are mistakenly associate with a particular group.
How do high schools deal with cliques and / or can they? Cliques are going to form, based on the student's own personal morals, experiences, passions and attitudes ... what should be avoided is students being judged by the clothing they wear versus the content of their character ... yes I am adjusting the famous MLK quote. School uniforms would be one way to avoid such prejudice. Uniforms have been successfully used in public schools systems for years. A standard school uniform requires students to go beyond what someone wears to know who they are. Most importantly it prevents the pressure of the latest trends.
Many oppose uniforms says it is against an individuals "freedom of expression" to which I say "horse manure". Students in public high schools receive a free education paid for by taxpayers of the disctrict, some of whom do not have children in the school system. To require a uniform in exchange for a free education is little to ask.
Congratulations to the Class of 2010 Strategy Consulting Project Winner ... Team A2GS (Abraham Mohan, Allen Wright, Govind Karadelkhar, and Sholeh Killingsworth) This team beat out 5 other teams to win the competition for best strategy, process, and presentation. The project dealt with labor relations in a down market and proved to be an exceptional project with real world application. This competition was the culmination of the MBA program and represents our capstone project.
Throughout my tenure here at Texas A&M University I have often done things for others because I enjoy doing them and did not except any type of reward in return. Example: I love to cook and last year hosted 9 of my fellow students (all from India) to celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving ... it was such a blast that it was requested to do this again this year. So this year, instead of taking the easy way out and going to our A&M vs. UT tailgate, I again hosted students for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
During a conversation with David Alexander, Texas A&M alumni and mentor to a dear friend of mine, I told him about cooking dinner for several students. He asked if I was going to the tailgate on Thanksgiving and I said I would stop by after dinner just to say "Hi" ... to my surprise David handed me a ticket to the Texas A&M vs. University of Texas game that evening ... these are very coveted tickets and the seats were fantastic ... and the game was really close ... best game I have seem here at Texas A&M.
Thank you David ... that was very generous and very much appreciated.
So where am I going with this ... the Aggie Spirit is alive and well ... this is a school about giving ... if you are a taker go to UT.
President Obama is coming to Texas A&M University to talk about "Community Service." This is very appropriate when you consider that this fine University has the largest assembly of student volunteers each year. At Texas A&M University a tradition each year is the "Big Event" this event is a day of volunteerism within our community. This past Spring (2009) 14,000 students spent the day helping in the community with various tasks such as painting, cleaning gutters, and picking up trash. Former President George H. W. Bush came to speak to the students prior to them departing for their tasks.
Below is the email from Former President George H. W. Bush concerning the Obama speech at Texas A&M University:
October 14, 2009
To My Fellow Members of the Texas A&M Family:
Howdy! As you have probably heard, I have invited the 44th President of the United States of America to come visit the Bush Library and Texas A&M, and President Obama has graciously accepted.
Along with the administration, faculty, and so many of you, I am honored that The President, our President, is taking the time and making the effort to come to College Station on October 16th to talk about an issue that unites all Americans - namely, community service and its vast importance to our continued well-being as a Nation. Our country still faces many tough challenges, and the message that will come out of our Presidential Forum on Service, I hope, is that every American regardless of age has an important part to play in helping us overcome the obstacles to our common progress.
This is not about politics. This is about the importance of service to our communities and our country.
It would be hard to imagine a more deserving college campus to host a Presidential Forum on volunteerism and community service than Texas A&M - which is, after all, a school steeped in a rich tradition of service. That's why I am so proud to have our Bush Library and Museum and Bush School of Government and Public Service here, and I cannot wait for President Obama to experience the open, decent and welcoming Aggie spirit for himself.
This will be an important national moment, and a moment for Texas A&M to shine in the global spotlight as it always does. I sincerely hope and believe it will serve as a point of Aggie pride for many years to come.
Healthcare is a business and all businesses face the same question that is being posed to doctors in the healthcare system reform bill … “receive less pay for the work you perform”. Like any business when a revenue stream decreases one of two countermeasures must be enacted to offset the decrease in revenue; reduce expenses or increase the quantity of work performed. Many doctors do not have the ability to increase the patients they see, there are only so many hours in the day, and decreasing expenses may work for some but not all doctors involved in the proposed cut.
A logical reduction in expenses can be administered by the Obama administration. Reduce physician liability in tort cases. A very low cap on punitive damages will reduce doctors’ insurance premiums and may offset the reduction in payments received from patients in the proposed healthcare reform.
A reduction in punitive damages extended to the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, medical device makers may also reduce costs that can be passed along to pay for healthcare reform. The only group that will not approve of such reduction is tort lawyers … darn.
There is no reason that such tort reform cannot be implemented. This is not to say that an injured person cannot claim economic damages in a legal case, but the punitive damages would be capped. An additional benefit from such a reform to tort liability may be reduced lawsuits brought by those that are looking at punitive damage awards as their own personal lottery.
During the summer I have been researching MBA Rankings from the various "ranking authorities." It is surprising when you look at the raw data how various schools' rankings change. The four major "ranking authorities" are Financial Times, US News and World Report, BusinessWeek, and Forbes; each has its own ranking method.
When examining the data, there is a clear distinction between those that use quantitative analysis and those using qualitative analysis. Financial Times using the most quantitative information (20 different measurable factors) BusinessWeek uses the least (10% of its rankings is based on measurable results the rest is surveys).
As an MBA candidate, what should you do when looking at school rankings? Do your homework. Speaking to many admissions directors all stated roughly the same sentiment "really impressed with those candidates that make their own rankings based on what is important to them" Each of the four "ranking authorities" has value and it is important to understand what value they offer the reader.
My parting thought is simple, "Don't Judge A School By Its Singular Ranking from One Source, Look At Its Ranking Among Similar Schools Over Various Sources"
It is that time of year again when new MBA students start winding down their current jobs to prepare for the 16 month program at Texas A&M Mays School of Business. So what should a new student expect and be prepared for?
First and foremost, be completely moved in by the time you start orientation in early August; there will be little time for cable guys and furniture delivery while in orientation and then classes start mid August. If you need help start befriending your future classmates using FACEBOOK and ask for help and be willing to give back (you are all in this together)
Second, start being a leader; start taking charge of the experience and living like a leader. At A&M there will be 20% of your class that are international students ... no car, new to the area etc. if you are a student with a car start volunteering to drive your classmates to the various functions (understand that the campus bus system is not yet running when the program first starts).
Third, A&M is not like other programs that have a lot of sink time ... you will need to stay on top of your assignments and homework or you will be left in the dust. Unlike your undergraduate course participation is MANDATORY so just doing well on the tests will NOT will not guarantee you an A ... you are to be a leader, not just some smart person ... so speak up.
Finally, make friends, these will be the people you may hire in the future.
WOW! What a treat, George Bush, 41st President of the United States, will hosted an Economic Leadership Forum featuring Maria Bartiromo, Richard Kovacevich, Lawrence Lindsey, and Rick Santelli. Part of the Twanna M. Powell Lecture Series at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the George Bush Presidential Library Center.
And you thought Texas A&M was too small or out of the way for anyone to bother ... here is a list of the panelists:
Maria Bartiromo is the anchor of CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo" and host and managing editor of the nationally syndicated "Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo." In addition, she writes a weekly column in BusinessWeek magazine entitled "Face Time with Maria Bartiromo." In 1995, Ms. Bartiromo became the first journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on a daily basis.
Richard "Dick" Kovacevich was named Chairman for Wells Fargo & Company in 2001 after serving as Chief Executive Officer of Wells Fargo since 1998. He has also served as CEO of Norwest Corporation, group executive and member of the Policy Committee at Citicorp, and division general manager at General Mills. He currently serves on numerous boards and committees, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth.
Lawrence Lindsey is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Lindsey Group, a Washington, D.C.-based economic advisory firm. Prior to forming The Lindsey Group, he held the positions of Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council under President George W. Bush. He also held positions in the administrations of President George Bush and President Ronald Reagan and served as a Governor of the Federal Reserve System from 1991-1997.
Rick Santelli joined CNBC Business News as on-air editor in June 1999, reporting live from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. His focus is primarily on interest rates, foreign exchange, and the Federal Reserve. He joined CNBC from his position as a vice president of Institutional Financial Futures and Options at Sanwa Futures, L.L.C.
Ken Lewis, CEO and Chairman of Bank of America, spoke in a town-hall forum to MBA students at Mays Business School, Texas A&M University. An incredible honor for the CEO, who has no ties to the school, took time to speak to a class of MBA students. This was arranged by Don Powell, former FDIC president and Aggie.
Mr. Lewis's talk coincided with a morning special with CNBC's Becky Quick. So both CNBC and Ken Lewis flew out to College Station to do an hour long special interview with CNBC and then spend an hour with Mays MBA students answering their questions.
Texas A&M, ranked 9th, won their first round game against 8th ranked BYU 79-66. Today the Texas A&M fighting Aggies face top ranked Connecticut. Go Aggies!!!!
The title of this post should really be "What Spring Break?" One of the disadvantages of a 16 month program is the fact that Spring Break is a working break. This 10 day period was a chance to do things such as taxes for my consulting company, getting ahead on reading for the upcoming weeks, and preparing for Mid-Terms that are only a couple of weeks away.
It will all pay-off shortly ... Term Three will be completed in less than 60 days and that means one term left before graduation. As the 40-Year-Old-MBA one of the key reasons for selecting Mays Business School at Texas A&M University was the compressed program. This allows the student to get back into the workforce as quickly as possible ... one of the drawbacks is that some events such as Spring Break get lost.
I did have some fun over these 10 days ... I celebrated a friends 40th birthday, played a round of golf, and got in several good work outs.
So Team 18 completed the Technology Transfer and we won 2nd place. It was a wild ride. We had perfected our presentation after some 40+ rehearsals ... we even went into the presentation room to make sure we were comfortable with the setting and knew where each person would be standing.
On the day of the presentation we went through the whole thing one more time and it was smooth as butter. Then at our presentation the computer was having problems with the USB port and all of our videos went blank. This was a major portion of our presentation and we spent a lot of time working on the video pieces. Needless to say we did not win our first round, we were placed into the Wildcard round which would be our ticket into the finals.
My team did a great job presenting and handling questions. We won 2nd place out of 18 teams.
This was a great learning experience and a thrilling ride of emotions and a real honor to have won.
Thanks Team 18 (Katia Delgado, Sachit Dwivedi, Mohammed Mazi and Jamie Applewhite)
One of the questions repeatedly asked before going back to school to earn my MBA was, "What will an MBA teach you? You already have all this experience." I found myself dwelling on this question over and over. Having completed half of the MBA program I can tell you that my experience has allowed me to wrap around the big picture much more easily. In class discussions, that for many students focus on the mechanics of doing the problems, comments from experienced students challenge or confirm the "lesson".
Without the experience I have had I am not sure how much I would appreciate the MBA program.
But the above does not answer the original question. What I am learning from the MBA proram is how to apply the mechanics to the problems faced in business. Looking back on my career and thinking about the number of capital-budgeting decisions I have made without fully understanding the mechanics of the decision I had just made. Sure I did analysis, but nothing to the extent learned in our Finance class ... I have made improvemnets to various operations but never understood the details of these changes and how applying specific formulas would have allowed me to uncover some of these changes earlier.
Probably the most interesting aspect of the program, and maybe a sign of the times, is the amount of fraud detection that is being taught. Many of the classes spend a good deal of time examing how frauds are constructed so that as future managers we can detect such situations.
My career has been in small business ... an MBA is giving me the knowledge of big business. And that is what I am learning from the MBA program.
At Texas A&M Mays School Business an entire week between the second and third is devoted to analyzing a new technology invented on campus. During this week teams of five students must research a technology, determine its marketability and write a proposal listing research and analysis. All of this in one week.
The competition is designed to expose students to the process of understanding the technology, gathering information, determining the marketability, researching the competition, and making a critical accessment of the viability of the technology. At the end of the week each team will present their analysis in front of one of six groups of 20 business professionals. These professionals will judge the presentations and select one presentation to move to the final round.
At the end of the day the six finalists and one additional group will make their presentation to the entire MBA class and all 120 judges. There will be three prizes awarded to the top teams. Each team is self selected and comprised of five MBA students; my team includes Katia Delgado, Sachit Dwiveda, Mohammed Mazi, and Jamie Applewhite.
The most interesting fact of the entire competition is that each team will learn of the technology until day one, hence giving each team the same time to prepare.
This past Friday I was at a Mens basketball game between Texas A&M and Arizonia. There is a saying here at Texas A&M that goes something like this ... "Those on the outside cannot understand it and those on the inside cannot explain it."
The game appeared to be a blow out with A&M down by 12 quickly; and still they stood. A&M never was closer than 7 points through most of the game; and still they stood. In the last 4 minutes the team seemed to rally and the point difference shrunk and those noise got louder and with 17 seconds left A&M was up by 1 point and throughout the entire game the students stood, yelled and cheered ...
The final results and best said with the following photo:
The Class of 2010 is finishing up the first of four terms; that means completing projects and studying for final exams. Unfortunately this term has one extra piece of pressure ... the stock-market collapse. On the minds of many a first year MBA student is whether the economy will be in good enough shape to be able to get an internship for the summer of 2009 and ultimately a job come graduation in December of that same year.
This pressure is greater for those MBA students that are graduating this December. FYI; the Mays MBA Program at Texas A&M University is a 16 month accelerated program starting in mid August and finishing mid December the following year. Many of the second year students are discussing staying an extra semester if they cannot land a job offer by the end of November.
Let's hope the economy turns around and the upcoming election puts some confidence in the market.
One on the more difficult tasks to overcome is the workload an MBA program requires. Each course has a number of cases in addition to team related activities to be completed. Several of my classmates, including myself, also have work-related responsibilities including graduate assistant programs, work-study and off-campus jobs. Interestingly enough is the way various students reconcile the workload.
Some students diligently study each and every day for a set amount of time each day, these students tend to be the ones with little outside conflicts; per student. Others study throughout the week at various times and use the weekends to prepare all the deliverables for the upcoming week, these students tens to be the ones more engaged in outside committments. The last personality in the students that waits till the last minute and is often seen running to the computer lab to print out an assignment.
As we approach the half-way point in our ten week term I see many of my classmates starting to change their habits ... I guess they are realizing that this isn't an under-graduate program.
One of the lessons learned is how much time I have wasted in the past by not diving into tools deep enough. Just completed a Wall Street Prep course which goes through various Excel functions ... there are functions that are available that would have saved me hundreds of hours. I guess that is part of the learning process ... learning what you don't know ... and learning more about what you think you know.
Well I will spare you the details about my move from Orange County, CA to College Station, TX ... needless to say I am glad to be here. However, I would invite every moving company out there to improve their business practices, it can only help ... (see related blog on Active Rain). Since arrival I have setup my apartment and have become comfortable with the surrounding area.
August 3, 2008 is the kick-off, we meet at 6PM for a formal reception at the George Bush Library ... there I will meet the rest of the Texas A&M MBA class for 2010. Prior to this event I have already met many of my future classmates. On July 31, 2008 I hosted a picnic for as many of the class that wanted to attend, there was about a quarter of the class there in addition to friends or family that they invited along. I canot tell you how many people came up and thanked me for putting this event on ... it was a nice ice-breaker.
As the start of the MBA draws near I am working to complete all the required course work prior to beginning orientation. I am currently taking a Harvard Business School online course on Quantitative Analysis. The class is very interesting and I enjoy the subject matter, but I am the first to say that the calculations can be overwhelming.
I understand the concepts and the practical application, but remembering the specific formula to answer a particular question is the tough part. Repetition is the only retention tool that seems to work, but for a class that is 20 plus hours long repetition has its limits. Multiple regression is the current section, WOW! there are some really smart math gurus out there.
Who thinks about how to calculate these equations? Thank you Excel.
I have read many books in preparation for my upcoming adventures as a 40 year old MBA. What I find interesting with many of these is two-fold; first the number of companies that have been ruined by the greed of those at the top, second the inability of management to learn from the mistakes of the past.
Greed has created goods and services and ruined companies along the way. What I find interesting is that many large publicly held corporations tolerate some of the extravagances without a bat of the eye. Some of the pay packages and perks are beyond outrageous. From a management point of view the perks are reversed. Those at the top should have less perks than those at the bottom. Example: I worked for the Hyatt Regency as a night audit manager, the position was salaried without overtime; my staff made more than I when you add their overtime and benefits. Staff had uniforms that were paid and laundered by the hotel; lower end management had to dress in business attire and pay for their own dry cleaning. By simply allowing a modest perk to cover dry-cleaning would have made the loss of overtime more bearable.
If you read some of the required books you will see a litany of perks such as personal use of corporate jets, personal limos and drivers, paid apartments; and I can appreciate the need for many of these items, but a corporate apartment for one person? A limo and driver for one? Can an apartment not be shared by multiple executives, a car and driver for multiple groups? Are accesses to communication devices makes operating remotely less of a burden than in the past and therefore we are much more efficient in our down time.
Interestingly enough you rarely see these types of perks from companies that carry their founders name and are run by members of the founder’s family. Sure, you can site examples, but as a general rule companies that are still run by entrepreneurs see less use for $30,000 pieces of art than companies that are run by “professional” guns-for-hire.
Learning from past mistakes seems to have missed several of the characters in the books I have read. Did we not learn from the S&L collapse that loaning too much to one group or not examining the asset closely enough is a mistake? Did these same S&L’s not demonstrate that perils of excess? Have we not learned from the Milken’s and Nabisco’s and Enron’s and MCI’s of the world the problems of cooking the books and short-term goals?
As an entrepreneur that has put money into my the company’s bank account to make payroll I have always looked at business as a personal statement of success … when I leave, will I be proud of what was left behind?
Cjust completed the World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman, if you have not read the book it is very interesting for those that are not directly involved in the supply chain, off-shoring or outsourcing business. Essentially the book presents the idea that with the Internet the world has become a place without boundaries on what can be done where.
The author is very passionate about India and what has occurred there to take advantage of a flattening world. But more important was his insight to what needs to be done to keep competitive both as individuals and as businesses. Individuals need to be more educated and develop skills that are local such as plumber, mechanic, contractor or global such as engineer, scientist etc. One might think that a global economy will always shift things to the lowest cost, and that is just not correct, a global economy allows non-localized functions to be performed anywhere, but local functions must be performed locally ... doctor, teacher, surveyor, hairstylist, sales functions that require relationship building ... a simple way to look at this is there will always be the need for the person that can communicate between the technical and non-technical; the "Explainer".
For a company to continue they must focus on how to extend their reach, either the process side or the sales side, outside their market and focus on what they do best. Here is a little example, I have a friend who is a court-reporter and she has added a person that works from home but is able to do the preparation of the transcripts, a scopist. This has enabled my friend to do more work that requires her to be face-to-face and spends less time doing the preparation. Using her computer and some special equipment she can email over a transcript as well as a audio file of the hearing and let the scopist do the rest, my friend reviews for accuracy and sends over to the client. Bottom line, she now employs someone and makes more herself, all because of a flat world ... by the way, the scopist is local and must be a legally approved officer of the court, not something that can be shipped overseas.
The final thought from the book that I found interesting is why someone, some group or some country would not want to participate in this global economy ... simple answer is fear; fear of loss of power, fear of being exposed as a fraud.
One of the projects that needs to be completed before start of the MBA program this August is a Havard Business School Accounting and Quantatative Analysis course. Both of these courses are online and are provided by the Mays MBA program. So far I have gone through about 50% of the Accounting class and it is a great refresher from my days as an Accounting major.
Since completing my undergraduate I have done little accounting work outside reading balance sheets, auditing and keeping my own company's books; it is a pleasant surprise that I have not forgotten the concepts and thought processes learned almost 20 years ago. However, someone pointed out to me that maybe I am just gifted in Accounting and that it just comes natural ... out of all the things to be gifted I get Accounting!
There are many assignments to prepare us for the upcoming MBA program; I applaud Texas A&M for starting this process early many of my friends with MBAs have indicated that they were completely unprepared for the FALL interviews since the first few weeks of school were all about getting re-adjusted to school life. One of my assignments is to write a resume, of course I already have a resume with exhaustive work experience so this assignment should be a slam dunk ... wrong.
The criteria was to take my 2 page resume and break it down to one page with a Summary of Skills and simple Work History. Basic, and maybe easy for a MBA candidate with 3-5 years of work experience, but how do I describe 12 years as a small business owner along with years in management with small firms.
What I am finding is that I have multiple skill sets to serve multiple needs and that has become difficult to describe on paper.
Need to do marketing? I have written ad copy, PR, Blogs and publiched Whitepapers
Need sales? I have conducted sales campaigns, made sales presentations, written sales proposals and made collections calls
Need training? I have developed training material, written step-by-step user guides, gotten courses approved for continuing education credits, conducting Online and LIve training sessions
Need a speaker? I have given lectures on topics ranging from technology to business planning to economics
Most everything you do as an entrepreneur is out of necessity not because it is "YOUR JOB" ... How does one describe Master of anything that needs to get done TODAY?
The World is Flat according to Thomas Freidman author of the famous book, and the more I get involved in IT projects the more I agree. Just recently I spoke with a friend and business relation, Brett Miller, who spoke of his project developing this very platform that this website is on. Brett explained that he did not program but was the "innovator" behind the scenes and his role as project manager is what got this program off the ground.
In the book, The World Is Flat, Freidman discusses those jobs that will always be there. Innovators is the top of the list, those that innovate are in high demand. Another prized skill in a flat world are those that can explain and implement; what good is having a great program if none of the company's staff can opperate it or understand how all the parts are connected. That skill of explaining the technical to the non-technical will also be rewarded in the flat economy that we are evolving towards.
I have volunteered for Big Brothers in two different cities and have spent close to 3 years in the program. During this time I have been matched with 2 really neat kids and I hope that I have made an impact on their lives in some way. Recently I had to explain to my little "Kohl", for those of you not familiar with the terminology, a Big is the adult and a little is the child, why I was leaving California to return to Texas and go to school. This is a difficult conversation to have, but it made me think of why, at the age of 40, am I returning to school?
Kohl and I had a discussion on happiness and what happiness meant and what things would you do to be happy. As the discussion continued the focus came on the feeling of fulfillment and that is the reason. Being fulfilled in my career has always been the challenge that I face. Earning my MBA will enable me to take on more challenging and hopefully more fulfilling roles.
Needless to say there will be challenges during this process. Challenge number one being returning to school and being the oldest "kid" in the class. Another challenge will be the task of being recruited, let's face it I am not your typical MBA candidate. Challenge number three will be financial loss during this time period.
However many challenges, the reward will be worth every bit.
I am a voracious reader and love to read articles that stimulate my brain or make me think outside my comfort zone. For the last 20 years I have read the Wall Street Journal, and will be a reader of this quality paper until they day I can no longer read. I find the articles well written and balanced.
During the next 8 weeks I have some additional reading to do in preparation for classes this August. Some of the books I have already completed and some were on my to-do list of books to read. There are over 50 books on the suggested reading list; here are some of the titles of the suggested reading for MBA Candidates:
Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage of Wall Street by Michael Lewis Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell Management Challenges for the 21st Century by Peter Drucker
Some of my favorites that were not listed:
Jack: Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch and Mike Barnicle
Today I received a call that will change my life forever, I was notified that I have been excepted into the MBA program at Texas A&M Mays School of Business. Well this is a life changing decision to return to school and earn my MBA. That being said the next 20 months will be a running blog on life as a 40 something MBA candidate at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
To say that I am thilled is an understatement. I crave the learning environment and being around those that crave learning too.
