One of the finest gifts of MBA has been the changes and improvements in my personal life. I have become a more intellectual, peaceful, kinder, and understanding version of myself.
I have become better at understanding the other person’s point of view. I consider this a gift from our Negotiations as well as a Marketing courses. They taught us that you must have an in-depth understanding of your customer needs, wants and motivations before you can design your marketing strategy. I learnt that before framing your arguments in case of disagreements, you must understand both the position the person is taking (what they are saying) and their interests (what they truly want out of this). For a variety of reason, in most situations you will face, what people say will differ from what they truly want. Sometimes they are embarrassed to ask for what they want. At other times, their emotions take over and hurting the other party takes precedence over their true interest. This will throw a curve ball at you. Read more about this fascinating negotiation problem and ways to tackle it in the chapters on Negotiations.
People believe I am more understanding now. I am more humble. I can thank Leadership development for that. I have gotten better at accepting things I cannot change. I have learnt that it is better to understand people and accept them for who they are, than to try to change them. I have learnt from Harry Kraemer: Always do the right thing. I have learnt you should not do anything that will come at the cost of freedom or peace. Sometimes, it is better to defer to those around you than to prove to them how intelligent you are. Victory is vain, if it comes at the cost of the relationship. I have learnt that humility is the true hallmark of great leadership. This has made me better at bringing together my family, my friends and people at work on issues that they have disagreements about.
I learnt in Business Strategy that you must choose the strategic course in business that closely matches your capabilities as a company. Pursing a path that is not true to the DNA of your company or a path that is beyond your belief system, will not be something you will be passionate about. And if you are not passionate about something, you will not have the perseverance to follow through when difficulties outnumber you. Steve Jobs said that. Let me extend that by saying that if you somehow do power through something you don’t believe in, you will not be proud of yourself. Personally, this has also put me at peace about lucrative opportunities that presented themselves in the past, but I couldn’t pursue because they just didn’t feel right. And, doing the right thing is important if you wish to be at peace. I am not petty about my failures anymore and I don’t blame anyone else. I have grown as a person. Both physically, but metaphorically. Yeah, I might have gained a little bit of weight .. haha.
I can now look to look through sales pitches and spot the fake ones instantly. Car salesmen get an instant answer from me, with numbers, if their leasing proposal are a money loser compared to buying. I’ve gotten better at the financial fundamentals of valuing stock, investments, and volatility of options, thanks to courses in Managerial Finance. The learnings from Accounting courses have made me better at understanding the quarterly statements from stocks I care about in the market. The courses on accounting have improved my understanding of taxes and I am no longer scared to look at the final tax forms that Turbotax has generated to understand the past tax year and how I should manage my spending, savings and stock sales in the coming tax year. All of this has improved my understanding of personal finances better.
On a lighter side, what I have learnt in Marketing has completely changed the way I look at advertisements. I am now able to spot and dissect the different parts of an advertisement and understand what kind of viewers they are trying to reach and instantly make a connection with what their brand is about. Many of these ads are mediocre and the firms made some basic mistakes while designing them. These are big companies wasting their marketing dollars. They badly need your help. Read more about these in the chapters on Marketing. So, learn up and get out there and help them.