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SNOWED UNDER My search for beauty in this bleak B-School landscape Well school is certainly back in session. Yesterday marked my return to classes for the 7th quarter of my MBA education and, for better or worse, it felt like a cold splash of water to my face, emerging from the comfortable slumber of winter break.
I chose my classes this quarter on the merits of what they could teach me about the intellectual life of a manager. Maybe that's overstating my goals... In any case, I wanted to learn less technos type stuff (how to run a DCF analysis, how to construct a strategy map, how to conduct conjoint analysis, etc.) and learn more about managerial logos, that is, develop better instincts about how to make good managerial decisions.
This decision came to me late in vacation and concurrent to a short hike I took with my family in the hills near where I grew up. There was snow everywhere and so it was quite difficult to find the things that I would normally photograph. No flowers, rocks, animals, or moss were visible anywhere, so I was forced to pull back and focus, instead, on the big picture. It was only when I pulled back like this that I began to notice things (like the dead weed above in the picture) that were good-looking enough to photograph. These things had always been there (and were actually much larger than the small things I normally focus on) but were suddenly brought into sharp relief. As I began taking pictures of the weed above, a few old trees, and the snow everywhere, I started thinking about how I have been very focused on the little things in my MBA as well, and should probably consider taking some time to focus on the bigger picture this quarter.
Which brings me to where I am today. Q3 - 2009 on Tuesday, January 13th. I am currently enrolled in a Darden Business Project - doing strategy consulting with the Virginia Wine Industry and writing a case for Managerial Communications based on my time at Lehman Brothers. I am also taking classes on Innovation, Business to Business Marketing, and two classes on Ethics: Religion in the workplace, and Leadership ethics.
Next quarter, to wrap up my MBA, I have several "technos" oriented classes planned to round things off, but for now I am content to pull back a little bit and ask some of the more difficult questions that have been haunting me. This, it seems, is the thing to do when you feel snowed-under with technical facts, historical lessons, and best practices: pull back and try to find a way to apply all of this information to the real world.
After all... it strikes me that this is one of the few things that MBA students do too little of - find a way to use their skills and technical abilities to make the world a more beautiful place.
Even if that's too lofty a goal, maybe I could at least keep the world from becoming more ugly. I think few would dispute the fact that we need less Bernie Madoffs and more Warren Buffets in the world. The thing that makes them different? It's not their technical abilities. It's their ability to see the big picture and act in its long-term best interest.
I'm just trying to find the beauty in all these numbers, spreadsheets, and formulas. I'll let you know how it goes. Posted January 13, 2009 COMMENT ON THIS POST
