Isn’t supposed to be downhill from here?
When I first started this 21-month program, I used to round up and tell people it would take two years to complete. However, having finished one year and now having less than a year to go, I’m quick to point out to folks that we are on the way downhill. Well we would be, if it felt like it.
No one in my class is counting down the months. We’ve done enough finance, statistics and accounting to make us a bit weary when it comes to counting pretty much anything. Even so, the OneMBA experience keeps you so busy that it forces you to live in the now. Perhaps Eckhart Tolle’s bestseller, “The Power of Now” should’ve had a section on doing global executive MBA. A program like this bombards you with readings, assignments, papers and meetings. There is little time to worry about the long term because you have to dedicate so much energy to surviving and succeeding today. This need to live “in the now” teaches you a skill that is not always abundant among busy executives – the ability to be present.
This is especially true on the weekends when we have class. And you don’t just have to be present “in” class, it’s also important to be present outside of class on the weekends away. So much of this program comes from the bonds you make with your classmates and a lot of that bonding happens after class. Be it on a racquetball court, golf course or in the bar dominating the shuffleboard – having fun with your classmates is all part of the MBA experience.
What has been interesting for me in the last few months though is that while you’re going through the rollercoaster of MBA work, real life happens. The world outside the OneMBA doesn’t have a pause button. Some of my classmates have had some wonderful adventures of having babies, getting engaged and getting married (I have 2 more months to go). Some have had stressful adventures like having their company taken over or losing a parent or changing countries. In between all of these events, it’s the people sitting next to you that keep you going. Your classmates, especially the members of your study group, are the ones that hit you up on Skype when you’re having a bad day or who send you crazy Youtube movies about the why you need to be badass like the honey badger. You’re supposed to work together on MBA stuff but in truth you end up leaning on each other for so many other things. That’s how you benefit from being “present” for your group.
Everyone tells you beforehand that the best thing about doing an MBA is the people who you get to work alongside. Learning from world-class professors: Pretty Cool. Discovering new management skills: Pretty Valuable. Developing a support network of top-notch professionals from around the world: Priceless.
And it’s this support network that’s the real reason why no one is counting down the months till we’re done. Or maybe it’s because half my class are Apple geeks and they can’t focus since Steve Jobs left us. Either way, not long from now we’re all going to have to work a lot harder at maintaining these friendships, and we’ll have to do it without seeing each other in class or gathering over GotoMeeting. Which makes me wonder: maybe the real uphill comes when all of this is done.
