One of the most enduring reasons to get your MBA (or even EMBA) goes far beyond the “so-called” traditional reasons for going back to grad school (starting with increasing your pay check). It also extends much further than your expanded business network and the knowledge that you pick up along the way, including bettering how you work in teams.
The MBA experience, where-ever you get one, is also structured very differently from other graduate degrees. That is why getting your MBA, whenever you obtain it, will almost undoubtedly enhance just about any other skill set that you have.
Beyond this, however, getting your MBA is one of the best ways of building confidence – and I would add, particularly for women. I know I am not the only woman who I have talked to recently that has specifically mentioned that getting the degree, no matter one’s professional background and track record, helps you understand that business is as much a “conversation” if not “communication” with the rest of the world as it is anything else.
Part of this, I think, is that the MBA experience creates a solid framework for knowing how to “think outside the box” and to express that in terms that other business people will understand. It is not just about creating pretty PowerPoints (although you will probably find yourself doing a lot of those). It is very much about learning how to express yourself in structured terms in order to summarize complicated concepts much more simply and effectively. The ability to “speak fluently” in any language and be much better understood is, in and of itself, a confidence builder.
Presentations and team work are a big part of what you learn (or learn how to do better) – and there is no better way to learn than to try and fail. While this may not sound ideal, it is in fact a vital part of any entrepreneurial story. The skills gained from experiencing both successful and unsuccessful attempts to deal with leadership, management challenges, product launches and marketing if not defining a market itself are invaluable. The only way to understand business is to live it, and I am starting to see a difference in my classmates, and already in myself.
Part of it, I think, is that the MBA experience gives you a framework to look at your own life in a different way – in all its aspects even beyond business. It allows you to separate the idea of “failure” and “success” from personal traits and better define a life path – no matter where you find yourself on it. It certainly allows you to use different benchmarks.
As a relatively “late bloomer”, I can definitely say that the program I attended, at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, has allowed me to define myself differently. In one way, getting an MBA is almost like learning to tell the story better – whether it is a story about yourself or a story about a business idea, concept or initiative.
One thing I do know after a very hard year and as I head into delivering my final presentation. The process of getting my MBA has changed me, for the better. I am a more confident and capable woman, and this is an asset I can lean on no matter where, in the future, my personal and professional journey may end up taking me.
Marguerite Arnold is an entrepreneur, author and third semester EMBA candidate at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
(Image Source: Frankfurt School of Finance and Management)
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