And so it begins: the post-MBA era. I completed my final obligation to the MBA last Wednesday evening, capping the 15-month experience with a presentation on Managing Change. It’s quite a fitting way to end the program, now that I think about it. After all, there’s no bigger change that needs to be managed than the transition from school back into the work force.
So, what did I learn in the MBA? To be honest, I’m not really sure. It doesn’t seem that I learned anything that I didn’t already know. Oh sure, things got a bit more formalized, what with all the two-by-two matrices favoured by business folks, and the dull edges of thoughts I’d had in the past were somewhat sharpened. But nothing genuinely new, per se.
On second thought, that’s not exactly true. I did learn one valuable thing: other people aren’t like me. They’re bad with computers. They’re disorganized. They’re bad at spelling and grammar. I didn’t think that was such a big deal before, but now I realize how much those differences play a part in creating all of the other problems encountered in both business and the world at large.
While that lesson certainly wasn’t what I anticipated learning when I entered the program, I guess it’ll have to suffice. I always seem to expect more from education, a more direct lesson that can be delivered in a distilled, encapsulated form. But growing big, fluffy dendrites is hard work – and maybe the important stuff you learn comes in more intangible packaging.
Maybe true learning really is about the journey, rather than the destination.