An MBA experience is life changing! -By Ishita from SIBM Pune

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Ever wondered how much learning actually happens in a B-School? Well, an MBA experience is one of a kind! Lets have a look at it.

‘A day has 24 hours. 24 hours!’ 

The first sentence is a fact. The second is the realization of the fact. It doesn’t come to everyone. It requires discipline and dedication to use the biggest gift offered to mankind - time, effectively and efficiently. Luckily for B-School students, they are made to realize it, even before they get to come out of their honeymoon period of breathing a sigh of relief for making it to a B-School. And like Janice of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, they go, ‘Oh My God!’

While it starts as a chaotic drama where no one knows their roles, lines or even has a clue of what they are doing onstage, it is only the beginning of a transformation. And like all other transformations, it is painful. And like all other transformations, it is worthwhile.

Did you know how much work you can get done in a day? Breakfast. Two 3-hour-long classes. Lunch in between. One quiz. One presentation. Two corporate sessions. One group assignment. Dinner. Preparation for another quiz. Late night meet up with friends over coffee at the midnight canteen (because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy). Sleep

And Repeat! Designed to look crazy to the outside world, this regime is the key to learning to use time optimally. You might have heard about Eisenhower’s Time Management matrix in theory, but this regime will make you apply it to your daily life. Subtract your sleeping and eating hours from 24, and the rest is time waiting to be conquered, time, that is to be appropriately divided into multiple tasks based on their priority, all requiring your undivided attention. Multiple Tasks without multitasking! 

‘VUCA’ 

The acronym meaning little to outsiders, is a people favorite in a B-School. During your journey of MBA you will experience that this word comes at least 5 times a day by professors and corporate leaders. ‘We are living in the VUCA World!’ 

Short for ‘Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity’ and first coined by the American Military, it is used by corporate leaders to characterize the complex external environment and hence the need to be flexible as individuals and businesses to stand the test of time.

Well B-Schools took it quite seriously! With last minute schedule changes in classes, one day notice for quizzes, and 15 minutes to report to a session in formals, you can say goodbye to your pre-planned events and to-do lists for the day. You mold, as the situation demands, learn to get rid of to-dos and start making time blocks as small as the next 15 mins or 30 mins of the day to get things done. That’s the only time under your control. Rest is unknown. Be ready. Be agile.

‘Your next assignment will be a group assignment’ 

Kindergarten kids take seconds to turn from strangers to friends. School kids take minutes. Undergraduates take a few days or a week. With age, our ideologies solidify and presumptions replace an open mind. Now imagine a group of early to mid-twenties and above, coming from different parts of India or the world, with diverse academic backgrounds, trying to work through their spectrum of thoughts to come to a consensus. Tough? Yes! Amazing? Also yes!

You put ‘open mind’ back on table, removing all conjectures and ego, trying to understand each other’s’ point of views, contributing where their strengths lie and observing in areas of weaknesses. You learn about different histories and cultures. MBA experience will make you learn to have conflicts but also, to negotiate and resolve. Isn’t that what the world is looking for in their leaders? 

Join the dots 

A B-School curriculum, along with the proximate exposure to the creme de la creme of corporate, is designed to give a wholesome view of business, the world, the future and what it holds! Everybody knows the different business functions. But do you know how they work together, like a well-oiled machine to give final output? If you come with prior work experience, you might have a clear picture of your division but did you know how and where it intersected the others? Do you know what are your responsibilities and rights, as an employee contributing to the ethics of the company? Have you tried to place yourself in the bigger picture to understand your role in this intricate business of business?

Well, now you do. 

While your friend is in a frenzy, shopping at the IKEA store, you carefully examine its in-store product placement, warehouse structure and customer relationship management. You don’t look at an ad for entertainment anymore. Because of your MBA experience, you will try to understand the company’s thought process behind the positioning of the product. You don’t just read the brand name, you read the name of the company, the manufacturer and notice its packaging. You try to find gaps in processes to optimize it further, even if it is a party plan. You start segregating people you meet, into the 9-box grid. You start observing how a service center works while they are fixing your laptop. You start understanding how businesses impact the climate and politics. An image finally starts evolving while joining the dots! Life is now a series of business problems ready to be attacked from different angles.

It’s about learning to look at the same things differently, reorganizing your thoughts and putting them into perspective. It’s not just about knowing the facts. It’s about knowing its impact. It’s about learning to go into the details, keeping the bigger picture in mind. It’s about learning to change and adapt, to have opinions yet be receptive. 

It is not just about books, not even about money. MBA is an experience, learning a way of life.

This article was submitted as an entry to Become an Author 2.0 with Dare2Compete.