363 Days Later, I’m an MBA

May 24th, 2006 • Business, Education

I’ve promised to dissect my MBA experience at Goizueta Business School before and I thought publishing now, after graduation, made the most sense.

On May 15, 2006, two days shy of a full calendar year, I became a full-time MBA graduate from Emory’s Goizueta Business School. “Wait a second here,” you say. “Aren’t full time programs two years long?” Yes, normally they are two years long but I was a part of a fifty-four student program which compresses the entire MBA experience into one calendar year. As a side note, I met some of the new incoming students for the new one year class (they started the day after graduation just like we did last year). The class is about fifty-eight students (I think) for the 2007 graduating class.

What Did I Learn?

This is the obvious place to start. What do you actually learn in graduate business school? A lot of the classes are extremely theoretical and honestly not very applicable to real life. But this isn’t confined to b-school. The same can be said of undergraduate classes as well (at least it was true of my time at Georgia Tech where I got my degree in electrical engineering). In b-school you learn a lot of frameworks that are supposed to help you analyze situations and organize your thoughts. Sure, I can see some of that. More helpful is the ability to frame issues and discussions in ways that will make sense to others. And really, these frameworks will make the most sense to others who have been through b-school. So perhaps what I learned was the ability and method of communicating effectively to other b-school graduates.

What Didn’t I Learn?

Often MBA’s are viewed as being spreadsheet jockeys. I am by no means a spreadsheet jockey. Being an engineer, I can hold my own but I definitely don’t get my jollies tweaking numbers in spreadsheet. Therefore I stayed firmly away from most all non-required finance classes (the exception being Venture Capital & Private Equity). My forte is most definitely not in the finance area but with the classes that I’ve now taken I think I can definitely hold my own.

I instead opted to take classes which furthered my strengths. This reflects one of three schools of thoughts when it comes to b-school: focus on your strengths, focus on your weaknesses, or don’t focus on anything. I would propose that the vast majority of b-school students fall into the last category. For a lot of students, getting a MBA is really about getting a stamp of approval from an academic institution.

Was It Really Time Well Spent?

Yeah, I think it was. I definitely honed some of the skills that I often use and I got to learn about subjects that I normally would have never thought about. For example, I took a class on product and brand marketing and learned the theory behind why things have and haven’t worked in the past for me when marketing products and services to clients. In the same class I learned extensively about marketing of consumer packaged goods. I’ll probably never use the knowledge professionally but knowing why and when companies use coupons, end aisles, and other marketing campaigns has made me a better consumer.

Was It Really Money Well Spent?

Possibly. See the section below on why I really went to b-school. In light of that, for me it probably made sense. Of course the cost that I’m bearing isn’t the same as others are for various reasons. So yes, for me I think it was money well spent.

How Were My Classmates?

For the most part, my classmates in the one year class were great. I didn’t get to know the two year students as well but the ones that I did get to know were pretty nice as well. I’ve probably got a handful of friends now from the one year class who I’ll continue to stay in touch with. Fortunately a large number of my class is remaining in the Atlanta area. I think plans are in the works for monthly lunches so that should help us all keep up with each other.

Why Did I Really Do It?

Honestly, I needed a break. After doing my startup for six years, I got tired. I needed to do something that would re-energize me and allow me to think about different ideas and ways of approaching business. I’m still fully engaged with what is happening at Digital Envoy but the time off has been phenomenal.

So What Is Next?

Ah, good question. The wheels are in motion but I’m not going to discuss what exactly is in the works just yet. For the short term I’ll be consulting for some folks in town. I’ll still be working in technology and hopefully you’ll see the fruits of my labor later this year.

I’ve also been asked to join a handful of boards (mainly startups). I’m currently evaluating those offers as well (as those folks are evaluating me). If I do join any boards I’ll talk about them here.

Regardless of what happens this year is going to be fun and interesting.

Tags: Emory-University, Georgia-Institute-of-Technology, Goizueta-Business-School, MBA

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