Business school is an interesting time and I know that many of my peers at Johnson and at other schools would agree. Looking back on last year's madness that was applying to business school I have a whole new outlook on the process itself. There are many things that as an applicant I thought were important, but now that I'm in school I see how, not unimportant, but less important certain things are. Conversely, I now understand why certain things are more important that applicants think. With that being said I would like to just jot down some things that I learned DURING THE CORE in business school that probably capture the essence of business school. And no - it's not necessarily the hard skills that one learns.
FINANCE - For me, Finance is no longer another language. As per THIS post that I made before I can speak at a very high level about derivatives, synthetics, calls, puts, forwards, futures, time value of money, weighted average cost of capital and all that jazz. Don't get me wrong, Finance was a tough course, especially since I didn't have ANY Finance background, but I can say that I did learn an immense amount in that class. So now with that I feel comfortable asking deeper questions to my classmates who are more than happy to further my knowledge given that they're pursuing careers in Finance.
STRENGTH - I've also learned that I'm a WOO. In the beginning of the semester we all took a Strengths Finder test. This test gives the top 5 character traits of someone and then we were put into our Core groups based on our Strengths. My top quality was a WOO - Woo stands for winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. On the contrary, strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport.
This was an interesting Strength to have because it's not like other strengths that my classmates got like Analytical. If you get the Analytical strength, you kind know how you fit into a situation or a group and you essentially know what your role is. As a WOO, I must say that at first it was tough to figure out how I fit into my Core group that consisted of 3 engineers and a consultant. The beauty of the Core though is that I had faith that I was put in the group for a reason, and that the reason would naturally come out. I definitely learned that my strengths compliment the weaknesses of some of my classmates (which is why it's important to BE YOURSELF throughout the application process.)
WALMART - I learned that not everyone in the world has been to a Wal-Mart. As per the post that I made right when I got to school, I took a classmate from Georgia (the country) to Wal-mart and he had never been before. It's nice to experience Wal-Mart through the eyes of someone who had never been. Maybe we should have started with Target!
STRESS - I've learned that people deal with stress in a myriad of ways. I'm the type of person who will convince myself that things are not stressful if everyone around me is stressing. However, if the situation is one that only pertains to me, then I will stress about it a lot. In a group I try to be the calming voice so that people just take a step back and realize what's really important. That's a quality about myself that I think will definitely stick with me for the rest of my life. Knowing how I react in certain situation is uber important and b-school is definitely a place where one finds out their true self.
DRINKING - I've learned that there is a lot of drinking that goes on in business school! I feel like we are always celebrating something. In the beginning of school we were celebrating BEING at school. That stint lasted for about 3 weeks. Then we started having corporate briefings on campus, so of course there were cocktails and finger foods served at those. Then we had mid-terms, so we celebrated for finishing midterms. Then we drank because we had all of these new friends whom we quasi-knew, so what better way to get to know them even better? Then we drank because we finished finals. Then for about 2 weeks after our Fall break, we didn't go out much. Then after Mid-terms we drank to celebrate that! Then it was Thanksgiving, so the day before that break we WENT IN! That following weekend we had our Winter Formal which was a Masquerade party. Then we had finals and of course after that last day of finals we had an incredible time! It was an 80's party. Enough said right?!?
HOLISTIC VIEW - In hindsight one of the things that the Core has afforded me is a holistic view of business. In that regard this long winter break is a good thing because it's allowed me to reflect. When I came into business school, I had only seen business problems from one angle. Now that I'm in school and have been exposed to many subjects, I now see things from many angles. Sure I have a lot to learn STILL but I have learned a lot. It's interesting to me to see how everything comes together because it really does come together and a lot of it has to do with weighting other options that someone or some firm may have. A true joy that I have now is going back and re-watching movies that are related to business because I now understand more deeply what they're talking about. Not that I didn't before, because of course those movies are made for the masses, but when I re-watch something like Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room or Inside Job, there's just something more intriguing about the situations.
Out of all of the fun that I've been having in business school, one of the key takeaways that I think the Core had provided me is simply (or not simply) is learning how to deal with multiple personalities. Sure, I took Stats/Marketing/Strategy/Finance/Accounting/and Economics, but my biggest learnings have come from being around incredibly smart people with different personalities and strengths. As we all progress up the corporate ladder or start our own businesses the likelihood of us encountering more and more strong Type A personalities will increase. Knowing how to deal with those types of personalities in different settings is what will make a good manager, trader, managing director, consulting or what have you. The sooner one realizes this the easier his/her experience through the Core of ANY business school will be. I whole heartedly believe that. Don't get me wrong, the hard skill learning will occur. Maybe not in the Core, but I'm sure at some point in business school.
I think that's all I have for now. I'm hungry and am going to go eat some leftovers while watching the morning news!
P.S. - To all of those people who are stressing about January deadlines. JUST BREATHE! You will get through it. Let me know if you'd like a 2nd eyeball on your essays. I really have all the time in the world at the moment. Just shoot me an email at richardbattlebaxter@gmail.com with a little bit about you. I'll try to respond within 24 hours - THIS WEEK!
No comments:
Post a Comment