MBA? Check.

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.

Crazy Or Feisty?

It’s internship time! Given that the UBC Commerce Career Centre has a grand total of seven jobs listed for the Lower Mainland, I’m taking matters into my own hands these days. But where to work?

On an impulse, I remembered my old friend Mark Hanson, VP of Sony VAIO Marketing. Given the amount of work I’ve done to solve Sony laptop problems for Sony customers, I figured I’d be a shoo-in for an internship position there. After all, I’d pretty much been working for them for over the past year anyway, right?

I fired off the following quick email to Mark Hanson last night:

Hey Mark,

Don’t know if you remember me, but I’m willing to bet you remember this website:

    www.brendonwilson.com/ideas/sony/getangry.shtml

I’m still getting email on a weekly basis regarding the Sony thermal shutdown problem, not just on old Sony models but on new ones as well. That got me thinking:

I should work for Sony.

What I’m going to suggest might be classified as either ballsy or just downright crazy, but I think it makes sense: I’m currently in the middle of my MBA at the University of British Columbia, and it’s coming around to internship time (June – August). I’m already helping Sony to solve its customers’ problems when Sony’s own customer service seems incapable of recognizing and addressing customer issues, or addressing them in anything but the most ham-fisted manner (ie: replacing whole motherboards for $800).

The failure of their laptops is costing people more than money or lost work: it’s costing Sony the loss of a lot of street credibility. I talk to people and see just how disappointed they are with their laptops, especially given that they bought a Sony specifically because of the dependability they’d come to expect from Sony. Now they’re swearing they’ll never buy a Sony again. Not just a Sony laptop. Any Sony product.

So, here’s what I propose: you hire me for my MBA internship and I track down your customer service and your quality assurance issues.

You already know my attributes: I’m smart. I’m technologically savvy. I’m an evangelist. I take service seriously. And I get the job done. It’s all there on the resume on my web site.

I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Brendon

I just can’t decide: would this be considered “crazy” or “feisty”?