Considering context and timing
In October 2019 I decided to apply to an online executive MBA: a full year course, on top of the usual work and family schedule. Honestly the yet-to-start-course is already keeping me between the excitement of the challenge and the scare of the mess that might happen during such a long period of studies.
I started considering an MBA as a prerequisite for who really wants to grow a successful professional career in his mid-30s and 40s but, after being admitted, a mix of questions are now coming up to my mind:
- Did I take the right decision?
- Is the effort and sacrifices worth it?
- Is it the right moment during my career development?
- How would my manager, colleagues and human resources react to it?
- Will I be able to deal with the required time management and stress?
- Will I plan and direct my efforts to the right direction, to get the most out of it?
- Will I be able to develop the proper "soft" skills to build upon my current role and put my studies into practice?
Let's give some background.
As Information Management and Program Quality Officer within the satellite telecommunication business, I developed an E-Shaped cross-functional profile with several years of experience in Web and Intranet communications as well, through previous assignments across EU policy making, investor relations, and e-commerce.
I am a Masters’ graduate in Philosophy (go ahead and continue reading :) ) with three postgraduate degrees: one in Statistical Methods for Data Analysis (yes, Statistics and R programming), a second one in Management of IT Systems (yes, Engineering) and a third one in Social Communications (yes, Social Sciences).
Several professional certifications (COBIT5, ITIL, P3O, MSP, PRINCE2, M_o_R, AGILE) and vocational training courses (data analysis, programming, cybersecurity) complement my curriculum.
It becomes fairly evident that the struggle is between developing an even stronger vertical technical profile and/or a managerial one. Can I have it all?
While trying to answer this question I decided to list all the competencies I believe to provide companies and institutions with:
- Program and Project Management support through process modelling, data analytics, administration of project management and collaboration tools;
- Data Analysis and Statistics for business and executive reporting, such as development of analytical models and administration of dashboards, through Tableau, R programming, APIs and MySQL;
- Digital Content and Information Management for corporate multilingual communication; project management, maintenance and administration of websites, Intranets and collaboration platforms;
- Corporate Communications support for events, media relations and the implementation of new business processes through content development, web editing, social media management, help desk, project management support, multimedia productions, research and development.
I developed all those competences with patience and persistence during my professional life through studies, training and by working with amazing professional colleagues.
Why an online AND executive MBA?
Sorting and evaluating MBA education options is a business management exercise itself: calculating the R.O.I. of it, before even knowing what a R.O.I is about, is a compulsory exercise to avoid an investment that could be harmful to personal and family finances.
Based on my previous studies, I approached my search in the following way:
- Reduce the financial risk and impact on personal finance
- Look for scholarship availability
- Evaluate the realistic R.O.I. of a worst case scenario
With about 15 years of professional experience, an executive MBA seemed to be a natural career development decision, but being able to take into consideration all the different variables is not obvious.
In the first instance, taking a year off work or a sabbatical was not an option: I could not afford such luxury, and the risk that comes with it.
The FT ranking guide, the UK Open University and the London School of Economics were the first places where I started looking with no luck, again because of the prohibitive fees for me.
I checked for MBA education close to my hometown (Turin, Italy) were I found plenty of choices, but they were way too expensive again, or requiring a commitment during weekdays, or even both of them. Bocconi University, Polytechnics of Milan and SAA Business School were obviously the options of choice for me, but I had to avoid them again for the previous reasons.
So, through building upon my previous experience in lifelong learning (LLL) of postgraduate and professional studies, I decided to go for an online edition.
Sorting and evaluating MBA education options is a business management exercise itself: calculating the R.O.I. of it, before even knowing what a R.O.I is about, is a compulsory exercise to avoid an investment that could be harmful to personal and family finances.
Based on my previous studies, I approached my search in the following way:
- Reduce the financial risk and impact on personal finance
- Look for scholarship availability
- Evaluate the realistic R.O.I. of a worst case scenario
With about 15 years of professional experience, an executive MBA seemed to be a natural career development decision, but being able to take into consideration all the different variables is not obvious.
In the first instance, taking a year off work or a sabbatical was not an option: I could not afford such luxury, and the risk that comes with it.
The FT ranking guide, the UK Open University and the London School of Economics were the first places where I started looking with no luck, again because of the prohibitive fees for me.
I checked for MBA education close to my hometown (Turin, Italy) were I found plenty of choices, but they were way too expensive again, or requiring a commitment during weekdays, or even both of them. Bocconi University, Polytechnics of Milan and SAA Business School were obviously the options of choice for me, but I had to avoid them again for the previous reasons.
So, through building upon my previous experience in lifelong learning (LLL) of postgraduate and professional studies, I decided to go for an online edition.
What possible options could I REALISTICALLY consider?
After long searches on the Financial Times website, EdX, Coursera and several MBA review sites, I was about to give up the full-programs and re-set my goals on the following:
- Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration (UK Open University): http://www.openuniversity.edu/courses/postgraduate/qualifications/c66
- MicroMasters® Program in MBA Core Curriculum (USMx-UMD): https://www.edx.org/micromasters/USMx-UMD-MBA-Core-Curriculum
then I read the advertisement of the Smartly Executive MBA and decided to apply to it:
- Executive MBA (Smartly Institute): https://smart.ly/the-executive-mba
I found attractive the mobile based learning together with the chance of studying with international students at accessible costs.
I know the strengths of in-person business studies: attending classes allows for better networking and bonding among classmates, driving stronger business relations and long term collaboration. Doing the same through online studies it is much more difficult, if not impossible sometimes. I believe it requires a huge effort and the results are not always ensured.
On the other hand, for all participants in online studies, it is a matter of compromising. Anybody interested in networking makes the extra effort of doing it through the platform provided AND through the meet-ups eventually organised during and after the course.
I believe that sharing knowledge and looking for advice outside the everyday professional network is key to healthy career and professional development. Isolation and alienation could often create a distorted interpretation of the surrounding environment.
Further to it I decided to challenge the traditional academic path for two reasons:
- by having a job about innovation, I wanted to try something innovative myself in the field of education to add to my curriculum and put what I preach into practice :D
- as said before, it would never be accessible to me due to prohibitive costs and time away from work that it requires
I understand the risk of not taking an education path through a traditional academic institution but, after passing through a selective curriculum evaluation and the admission interview, receiving more detailed information about the actual cohort of studies it made me feel better about the background of other students I will deal with and learn. Here is a snapshot of it the cohort background:
Such information made me feel pretty excited about confront myself with C-level managers and better understand their strategies and their issues, understanding constant and variables across different countries, confront myself with people from companies that are making history in the field of innovation, especially in the technology field.
Last but not least, I look forward to share my knowledge and issues with people with similar seniority and understand what different solutions we have found to similar problems.
After long searches on the Financial Times website, EdX, Coursera and several MBA review sites, I was about to give up the full-programs and re-set my goals on the following:
- Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration (UK Open University): http://www.openuniversity.edu/courses/postgraduate/qualifications/c66
- MicroMasters® Program in MBA Core Curriculum (USMx-UMD): https://www.edx.org/micromasters/USMx-UMD-MBA-Core-Curriculum
then I read the advertisement of the Smartly Executive MBA and decided to apply to it:
- Executive MBA (Smartly Institute): https://smart.ly/the-executive-mba
I found attractive the mobile based learning together with the chance of studying with international students at accessible costs.
I know the strengths of in-person business studies: attending classes allows for better networking and bonding among classmates, driving stronger business relations and long term collaboration. Doing the same through online studies it is much more difficult, if not impossible sometimes. I believe it requires a huge effort and the results are not always ensured.
On the other hand, for all participants in online studies, it is a matter of compromising. Anybody interested in networking makes the extra effort of doing it through the platform provided AND through the meet-ups eventually organised during and after the course.
I know the strengths of in-person business studies: attending classes allows for better networking and bonding among classmates, driving stronger business relations and long term collaboration. Doing the same through online studies it is much more difficult, if not impossible sometimes. I believe it requires a huge effort and the results are not always ensured.
On the other hand, for all participants in online studies, it is a matter of compromising. Anybody interested in networking makes the extra effort of doing it through the platform provided AND through the meet-ups eventually organised during and after the course.
I believe that sharing knowledge and looking for advice outside the everyday professional network is key to healthy career and professional development. Isolation and alienation could often create a distorted interpretation of the surrounding environment.
Further to it I decided to challenge the traditional academic path for two reasons:
- by having a job about innovation, I wanted to try something innovative myself in the field of education to add to my curriculum and put what I preach into practice :D
- as said before, it would never be accessible to me due to prohibitive costs and time away from work that it requires
I understand the risk of not taking an education path through a traditional academic institution but, after passing through a selective curriculum evaluation and the admission interview, receiving more detailed information about the actual cohort of studies it made me feel better about the background of other students I will deal with and learn. Here is a snapshot of it the cohort background:
Such information made me feel pretty excited about confront myself with C-level managers and better understand their strategies and their issues, understanding constant and variables across different countries, confront myself with people from companies that are making history in the field of innovation, especially in the technology field.
Last but not least, I look forward to share my knowledge and issues with people with similar seniority and understand what different solutions we have found to similar problems.
What skills and competences I expect to develop?
MBA curriculum around the world is quite heterogeneous from institution to institution, but a core subset of subjects is pretty constant among them. So I checked and kept as a reference the core curriculum offer from the following three programs:
- Executive MBA (Smartly Institute): https://smart.ly/the-executive-mba
- Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration (UK Open University): http://www.openuniversity.edu/courses/postgraduate/qualifications/c66
- MicroMasters® Program in MBA Core Curriculum (USMx-UMD): https://www.edx.org/micromasters/USMx-UMD-MBA-Core-Curriculum
I believe that doing this helped me setting a realistic skill set I would / should expect to strengthen or develop by the end of the course:
- Marketing Management
- Human Resource management
- Leadership and Influence, including team management, management of conflicts and developing emotional intelligence
- Accounting and Corporate Finance
- Markets and Economies
- Strategy and Innovation Management
- Project Management and Change Management
- Strategic Thinking
- Data Analysis, Statistics and Data-Driven Decisions for Business
- Operations Management and Supply Chain
- Startup Entrepreneurship
- Regulatory and Business Law
"Three aspects of your MBA study can really help you become aware of, and change, your ways of thinking. The first is the theory you will learn, the second is the group discussions you will take part in, the third is your attempt to relate theory to your own professional practice." (S. Cameron, The MBA Handbook)
First, by bringing such a diverse study and professional background, I believe that attending the course should help me understand what my strengths and weaknesses are today, together with a better understanding of my development priorities. I should also learn how to push forward and deal with them to join the dots and improve my professional and personal self awareness.
Help me better understand the corporate context, by having an eagle eye over the flows of the different functions that keep a company alive, it is the second major learning outcome I expect from this experience.
I have always seen my job in an holistic way within the companies I worked for, trying to understand the whole picture beyond separate tasks and approaching it as a service to the people and the functions. Doing it is not always easy, we have to deal with the human factor, and during stressful and tough time we don't always have time and energy to do so, or maybe it seems just an overkill.
I start my new learning path with the objective to acquire that new knowledge that will help me better understand the work and the issues my colleague face on the daily basis, and help them to improve the flow of data, information and tasks through the processes and the whole company.
I can sum it up as the effort of making sense of complexity, trying to understand a complex reality and trying to create a compelling vision of it while increase mental / cultural flexibility.
The third relevant competence is improving self-management, self-reflection and challenge the comfort zone. MBA studies seems to me a way of "learning management through self-management" by further stretching specific skills:
- Managing leaning skills within a suitable learning context, including managing huge amount of (unstructured) information
- Report writing and presentation skills
- Improve time management and stress management
- Networking through collaborative learning, involving
- questioning and dialogue with other students
- improving the importance of understanding other's values
- improve self-awareness, self-control, motivation and empathy
- Coping with complexity and the ability to make sense while learning from experience
- Improve pragmatism and drawing conclusion from evidence taken from a variety of sources
So a MBA is a management exercise itself, even before bringing such academic knowledge to the professional life.
Try to fill the gap between theory and practice, engage theory, thinking and practice it are therefore come of the skills to develop before the end of the course. A realistic set of study objectives may include:
- learning and practicing techniques
- understanding and evaluating theories
- learning and evaluating methodologies
- ability of learning about the business and professional context
- developing critical thinking
- reflecting on personal practice in the light of what it was have read
MBA curriculum around the world is quite heterogeneous from institution to institution, but a core subset of subjects is pretty constant among them. So I checked and kept as a reference the core curriculum offer from the following three programs:
- Executive MBA (Smartly Institute): https://smart.ly/the-executive-mba
- Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration (UK Open University): http://www.openuniversity.edu/courses/postgraduate/qualifications/c66
- MicroMasters® Program in MBA Core Curriculum (USMx-UMD): https://www.edx.org/micromasters/USMx-UMD-MBA-Core-Curriculum
- Marketing Management
- Human Resource management
- Leadership and Influence, including team management, management of conflicts and developing emotional intelligence
- Accounting and Corporate Finance
- Markets and Economies
- Strategy and Innovation Management
- Project Management and Change Management
- Strategic Thinking
- Data Analysis, Statistics and Data-Driven Decisions for Business
- Operations Management and Supply Chain
- Startup Entrepreneurship
- Regulatory and Business Law
"Three aspects of your MBA study can really help you become aware of, and change, your ways of thinking. The first is the theory you will learn, the second is the group discussions you will take part in, the third is your attempt to relate theory to your own professional practice." (S. Cameron, The MBA Handbook)
I can sum it up as the effort of making sense of complexity, trying to understand a complex reality and trying to create a compelling vision of it while increase mental / cultural flexibility.
- Managing leaning skills within a suitable learning context, including managing huge amount of (unstructured) information
- Report writing and presentation skills
- Improve time management and stress management
- Networking through collaborative learning, involving
- questioning and dialogue with other students
- improving the importance of understanding other's values
- improve self-awareness, self-control, motivation and empathy
- Coping with complexity and the ability to make sense while learning from experience
- Improve pragmatism and drawing conclusion from evidence taken from a variety of sources
So a MBA is a management exercise itself, even before bringing such academic knowledge to the professional life.
Try to fill the gap between theory and practice, engage theory, thinking and practice it are therefore come of the skills to develop before the end of the course. A realistic set of study objectives may include:
- learning and practicing techniques
- understanding and evaluating theories
- learning and evaluating methodologies
- ability of learning about the business and professional context
- developing critical thinking
- reflecting on personal practice in the light of what it was have read
What are my expectations?
Further to completing all exams and taking my beautiful certificate home, I would love learning from others, share experiences and better understand how people from all over the world solve similar problems in different ways.
I hope to develop the skills to better understand the complex and uncertain context of the companies, markets and the business world.
"No one can create a leader in a classroom. But existing managers can significantly improve their practice in a thoughtful classroom that make use of those experience" (H. Mintzberg, http://www.mintzberg.org/books/managers-not-mbas)
I really hope that you will enjoy this blog. I will try keeping it updated as a learning log by sharing my learning experience through the different modules of the course.
Alberto
I really hope that you will enjoy this blog. I will try keeping it updated as a learning log by sharing my learning experience through the different modules of the course.
Alberto
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