{"id":2597,"date":"2018-10-04T09:58:44","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T08:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/mba\/?p=2597"},"modified":"2018-10-05T03:13:46","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T02:13:46","slug":"what-i-really-learned-at-business-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/mba\/what-i-really-learned-at-business-school\/","title":{"rendered":"What I really learned at business school"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was lucky enough to spend the 19 months up to May 2018 studying in the full-time MBA program at IESE Business School. After 400+ case discussions, I should have all the technical tools I need to help lead organisations through a wide range of challenging situations. This is great, and was one of the main attractions of an MBA, but for me it is definitely not the most important learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, I learned about entrepreneurship, operations, negotiation, decision analysis, accounting, at least five different ways to value a company, all the marketings, how to design an HR system, some programming in R and Python, dozens of frameworks for simplifying complex problems and much more. But when I look back, what matters to me most are all the ways I have grown as a person.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As a committed IESE Ambassador, I\u2019ve been asked numerous times what I got out of the MBA. Here is my attempt to explain why and how it was such a transformative and rewarding experience, categorised into four areas: perspective, self-reflection and growth, focus, and career success factors (not<\/span> MECE<\/span><\/a>, sorry!)<\/span><\/p>\n

Perspective<\/b><\/p>\n

My pre-MBA job was based outside my home country, where I worked for several years alongside 800 engineers representing over 70 different nationalities. Before that I had completed a doctorate in a well internationalised university research department. \u00a0<\/span>I thought I knew a lot about the differences between people from different cultures. I was wrong!<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the start of our very first class at IESE we were introduced to the concept of \u2018mental models\u2019. Mine is different from yours, is different from everybody else\u2019s, and it\u2019s a function of your personality, the culture(s) you have grown up in, your knowledge, education and experiences.<\/strong> I didn\u2019t immediately understand why this was so important, but over the next weeks and months of classes, team meetings and projects it became obvious.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my MBA team with 8 classmates, there were professionals from marketing, finance, oil & gas, HR and sales (as well as engineering!) and we are from from Chile, China, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Korea, Saudi Arabia and the UK, with work experience ranging from two years to twelve years. This kind of pattern was repeated across <\/span>40+ teams over the 5 sections<\/span><\/a>. The mental models concept perfectly encapsulates how we can learn and grow through respect for diversity and difference.<\/strong> I can still recall the exact moment during a class case discussion that this perspective on the world became crystal clear to me. I now consider this to be a genuinely important moment in my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Teammates for life!<\/p><\/div>\n

Self-reflection and growth<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to list all the situations and responsibilities which contributed to my personal growth in different ways over the 19 months: like the rest of my classmates I had many amazing, unexpected and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. What is true is that from day one I was well outside my comfort zone, and I pretty much remained there until the end of the 4th term, 16 months later. If you ask me now, this is the first principle of personal growth: get outside your comfort zone.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We probably completed and then discussed the results of 10\u201320 different personality \u201ctests\u201d during the MBA, and I spent countless hours preparing my CV and for interviews \u2013 at workshops, with Careers Services and classmates, and by myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I know a lot about the origin of my psychological reactions to different situations: why I am less comfortable around natural \u201cnetworkers”, why I get stressed when the future is unknown, how I had the motivation to write this post while everyone else was out enjoying the summer, etc. On top of this, many tools were provided to reflect on our strengths and weaknesses and how to take advantage of them, in the job search and in the workplace.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The most \u2018corporate\u2019 experience of my life to date \u2013 a first round interview at Bain & Company in London \u2013 was a wonderful experience of personal growth, even as both parties discovered that we probably weren\u2019t a good match for each other. Reflecting on that experience later triggered the realisation that really knowing what you don\u2019t want to do with your life is probably as important as knowing what you do want to do. \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Understanding myself so much more feels like I\u2019m beginning a new chapter of my journey through life, seeing many things in a different light. It helps me both to communicate about myself with confidence and purpose and also to position myself clearly with respect to my career ambitions.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Focus<\/b><\/p>\n

I’ve never been as busy as I was for those first four terms and 16 months. I could have probably filled seven 36 hour days each week \u2014 \u00a024 hours definitely wasn\u2019t enough for all the classes, case preparation, project work, team meetings, club activities, organising of treks and seminars, job searching, Spanish lessons, eating, socialising, AND sleeping! In those stressed conditions it\u2019s impossible not to form very strong bonds with your classmates, especially during 1st year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through this you also learn some of the skills essential for leaders of high-performance organisations: <\/span><\/p>\n