INDIVIDUAL TASK

ACTIVITY 1

WHY YOU SHOULD PURSUE AN MBA

Matt Gavin HBS Community This blog is a re-post from the HBX Business Blog
Should I go to business school? It’s a question many professionals face in their career, and one that
requires serious thought and introspection. Pursuing a graduate education is a major commitment. One
that requires you to take stock of where you are in life and think about your future goals.

It can be a way to accelerate your career, or take your profession in an entirely new direction.
While institutions offer a range of graduate-level programs, the MBA is the predominant credential
sought by prospective business students. Around the world, the share of companies hiring MBA graduates
in 2018 rose across industries ranging from consulting to manufacturing. Not only that, but compared
with other advanced business degrees, an MBA has been shown to lead to a higher starting salary for
graduates entering the workforce.

Beyond the market value an MBA can provide, there are numerous personal and professional rewards you
can reap by immersing yourself in an academic environment. If you’re considering business school but
aren’t sure if it’s the right path for you, here are seven reasons to further your business acumen by getting
an MBA.

REASONS TO PURSUE AN MBA

1. It’s an Investment in Yourself

The path to an MBA is different for everyone. After all, it isn’t a required credential to advance and it
doesn’t necessarily translate to a specific position in the workforce.
Kate Bennett, director of marketing for MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School and a 2009 HBS
graduate, says that enrolling in an MBA program is a personal choice that stems from a desire to better
yourself and elevate your career.
“The purpose of a full-time MBA program is to give students an opportunity to immerse themselves for
two years in a period of intense personal and professional development that enables students to really
accelerate their career, as well as prepares them to lead organizations,” Bennett says.
By stepping back from the day-to-day demands of your work life and immersing yourself in an
educational environment, you’re afforded time for both self-discovery and reflection.
“It’s rare to have two years to focus on improving yourself and charting how you want to make an
impact," Bennett says. "The two years allow you to reflect on the difference you want to make in the
world."
Pursuing an MBA can provide you the chance to look inside yourself and determine how you can hone
your skills and abilities to pursue your passions and make your career goals a reality.

2. You Develop a Framework for Problem Solving

Learning how to assess a problem and come up with a viable solution is a core element of an MBA
education.
At Harvard Business School, those skills are largely built through the case method. This teaching
approach places you in the role of a decision maker, such as CEO, and requires you to imagine how you
might respond to real-world business issues. You then share your point of view with your classmates and
listen to their perspectives as well.
“At HBS, students read and discuss over 500 cases by the end of their two years,” Bennett says. “That
develops a great ability to quickly assess a situation and figure out what path to go down.”
Through engaging in such rigorous classroom lessons, an MBA program can equip you with a framework
for breaking down complex issues and exercising sound judgement in the face of uncertainty.

3. You Grow as a Leader

In an MBA program, you don’t just discuss leadership—you practice it, too. And the academic setting of
business school enables you to experiment with different leadership styles in a low-stakes setting. “If a
student wants to try out a new way of persuading someone else, the classroom environment is a very risk-
free way to get feedback from peers on how that worked,” Bennett says. “If you were the founder of a
startup in an investment meeting with a VC, that would be a much riskier time to try a new approach.”
At Harvard Business School, you apply the leadership lessons that you glean from cases through the field
method. By assuming the role of a leader in interactive workshops and global immersion programs,
you’re able to identify which managerial styles suit you—and which ones don’t.
This type of hands-on experience reinforces the knowledge that you gain in the classroom, and provides
you with a better sense of how you can effectively lead within an organization.

4. You Build a Global Perspective

An MBA program with a general management curriculum is designed to prepare you to lead in any
function, in any industry, anywhere in the world. It’s a distinct benefit to learning about business in an
educational setting versus the workplace.
“A number of people have a chance to work in one other country or one other global market, but it’s
pretty rare to find a job where you can learn about how business is conducted in every region throughout
the world,” Bennett says. “An MBA program gives you the opportunity to learn that in a classroom and in
field-based exercises.”
Through access to international research centers, a diverse student body, and immersion programs, an
MBA program can present you with numerous resources to expand your knowledge of international
business—instilling the confidence you need to manage people and teams across the globe.

5. You’re Exposed to Diverse Viewpoints

The lessons you learn in an MBA program don’t just come from your coursework, but from fellow
students as well.
“I came to business school from consulting and thought my perspective was broad having worked in
multiple industries—ranging from education to retail to aerospace and defense—but it wasn’t until I got
to HBS that I realized my perspective wasn’t nearly as broad as I thought,” Bennett says. “It took hearing
perspectives from classmates who had started companies, led troops in the military, built amazing
nonprofit programs, or served in the CIA to really start to see the full range of angles to a problem.”
Business school can broaden your world view and allow your opinions to be challenged by peers from all
over the globe and from all different industries. The knowledge that your classmates impart can not only
lead to tremendous personal growth, but deeper business intuition as well.

6. You Form Meaningful Relationships with Students and Professors

While an MBA program is an intense academic experience, its culture is one that fosters collaboration
over competition. Between your interactions with students in the classroom, discussion groups, and clubs,
you’re part of a warm, inclusive environment from the moment you begin business school.
Whether you’re seeking career advice, help with coursework, or insight into a particular industry, you’ll
be able to find a member of the community who is willing to help you.
“There is such a diversity of backgrounds prior to coming to school that for almost any path a student is
interested in taking after, there are going to be people on campus who would be happy to talk about their
experience,” Bennett says.
The meaningful connections you make aren’t just with your classmates, but professors as well. Beyond
teaching, faculty members often serve as mentors and advisors, and many are willing to put you in touch
with their professional connections, setting you up for success in your job search.
7. You Join an Extensive Alumni Network
In addition to the network of peers and professors you build throughout your academic experience, you
also have access to an alumni community that you can reach out to for career advice and business
opportunities.
“You graduate with a network of people you know, but on top of that, it’s wonderful how responsive the
entire alumni network is, even people that you’ve never met before,” Bennett says.
Harvard Business School has a community of more than 80,000 alumni in 167 countries, and Bennett
says that many graduates have tapped into it to find business partners, investors, and co-founders, or to
gain leads for their next job.

On top of leveraging the network to make professional connections, many alumni choose to form clubs
and affiliations. Becoming a member of these groups builds on the sense of camaraderie that you
experience during your time in an MBA program and can sustain it well past graduation.

DETERMINING IF AN MBA IS RIGHT FOR YOU

Whatever your goals, an MBA program can help you build management and leadership skills that you can
carry with you for the rest of your career.
While business school is a major time and financial commitment, the personal and professional rewards it
can yield are invaluable.
“Between the students and alumni you meet, the cases you discuss, club speakers and conferences, and
career education programming, the MBA experience will open your eyes to possibilities you didn’t know
existed before,” Bennett says.

POINTS TO PONDER

1. Your take on the article (6 bullet points)

2. What will you internalize and practice during your 2 year MBA journey
(6 bullet points)
ACTIVITY 2
Refer Simon Sinek Ted talk and define your WHY. (People don’t necessarily buy ‘what’
you do, they buy ‘why’ you do it)-

In this TED Talk, Simon Sinek attempts to answer the question of ‘why’ and explain how
great leaders inspire action.

His concept: the golden circle. At the center of the golden circle is the answer to the
‘why’ question.

Every organization knows ‘what’ it does, but very few know ‘why’.

Making a profit isn’t enough to answer ‘why’ – profit is a result, not a purpose.

The ‘why’ needs to focus on the purpose, the cause, and the beliefs. It should be why we get
out of bed in the morning and attempt to make a difference in the world.

People don’t necessarily buy ‘what’ you do, they buy ‘why’ you do it.

• What makes a company great?

 It isn’t just profitability or growth. There are many companies that achieve both of those, yet
still remain mired in negativity or conflict.

• What makes a great leader?

It isn’t just managerial skills, it’s something that goes beyond, something that inspires and
resonates with people – especially customers.

TASK:

Define ‘what’ you do:

Define your WHY: