However there are some experiences that are common to global MBAs around the world. Recently I came across this article on Forbes where Tara Sophia Mohr, a Stanford GSB Alumna shares her experience of the "value of an MBA" with a particular emphasis on how women can benefit from the degree.
The article is reproduced below:
I was a nontraditional M.B.A. candidate. At my business school the liberal arts majors were nicknamed "poets," but I'm pretty sure I was the only one who spent most of college actually writing poetry. My economics education was comprised of one high school summer class, where a typical day involved watching the movie Wall Street and then discussing it for 15 minutes.
If that doesn't paint a clear picture of my background, let me add that I had used Microsoft Excel exactly four times before business school: once to make the invite list for a barbecue, once for a housewarming party and twice to make the grocery lists for those events. As far as I could tell, Excel's major feature was columns. Columns.
But in other ways, I wasn't all that unusual. More and more, women like me are heading to business school as a way to give themselves the tools and credibility to realize their vision--whether to start a socially responsible business, lead a nonprofit or change systems and institutions to better serve people.
If you are a woman who wants to do meaningful work and contribute something positive to the world, and think an M.B.A. might help you do it, here's my verdict on the pros and cons of the experience.
The Upside
I balanced out my brain: Two years immersed in business school balanced me out as a person. Before, I was comfortable with creating a vision, but unsure how to execute. I was comfortable with words, but avoided doing heavy lifting with numbers. After business school, I was as comfortable with strategy and implementation as with vision. I never grew to love math, but I could deal with it just fine. My classmates with more traditional backgrounds also balanced their brains, though in different ways: finance geniuses took classes about the "people side" of business. People who knew big companies learned about start-ups, and vice-versa.
I learned to see the big picture: Through the business school curriculum, I was trained to see organizations from the CEO's point of view. I learned how to understand an organization's big picture, think about strategy at the highest level and see how all the functional pieces fit together and support (or don't support) that big picture. That's been invaluable to my career.
Gained credibility: No question: I gained a lot of credibility through the degree. Even in the nonprofit sector, my M.B.A. gave me authority and a common language with donors and board members, who were often business people.
Read the rest of this section here
MBA Myth Busters
"I'll find the answer to, What should I do with my life?"
A lot of people go to business school with the idea that the classes, internships and time out of the workforce will allow them to figure out what they want to do with their lives. For most people I know, business school didn't do that. The intensity of the M.B.A. experience, the early start of recruiting for jobs and the nature of career services at most business schools are not conducive to that.
"What should I do with my life?" is a really important question. It gets answered by setting aside time to do the real work of identifying your interests, strengths and lifestyle needs, and by having the courage to face the truth about what is and isn't important to you--what really makes you happy. It's about looking inward and stepping into a more authentic you. It's about finding the courage to do that. Business school can't do that for you. Business school can't even help you do it.
"Once I have an M.B.A. then I’ll be able to…."
Sometimes women who want to change the world think they need a particular degree or education to before they can start that organization or business, before they can feel more confident, exercise more leadership or speak up about their ideas. That's a cop out.
An M.B.A. has many wonderful benefits, but many women also use it as cozy way to postpone stepping out of their comfort zones, owning their abilities now and taking some risks to pursue their dreams. Ask yourself: are you doing that? Pay attention to the answer--the one that comes from your gut not from your head.
For me, the training I received was more than worth it, for all the reasons outlined above. What an M.B.A. can offer is very valuable and tangible: skills, knowledge, connections--and the degree itself.
If you are looking to business school for more than that--for end to insecurities or a roadmap to pursuing your dreams, be careful. Only you can give yourself that, and you can give yourself that starting now
To read the complete article visit the orginal post here. To learn more about Tara Sophia Mohr visit her website at Taramohr.com or follow her on Twitter @tarasophia
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