I will kick off this article with a bit of a hot take: the main reason why MBA candidates pursue their degree is to tick a box for making a career pivot. From what I’ve seen, everyone I’ve met in MBA programs—at the Wisconsin School of Business and elsewhere—said they were mainly doing it to switch careers. I cannot think of anyone who expressed an interest in learning the tenets of good organizational management as the original Harvard University Graduate School of Administration had intended for this style of degree back in 1908. This lack of focus on the academics coincides with the commodification of bachelor’s degrees over the past twenty or so years as more firms mandate that candidates have a four-year degree and then some to get through the screening. Given this trend, the lack of outward focus in the academics was to be expected.
This is unfortunate, because I would argue that the most important aspects of an MBA are the classroom and experiential learning that teach you how to lead.
I will be transparent and admit that my primary motivation for pursuing a graduate degree in business was to change careers, closely followed by wanting to double my compensation post-grad. However, my third motivation that I wrote about in my application and shared with folks was to learn how to become an effective manager. Prior to starting my degree, I held two manager-level roles. Despite the title, I did not manage anyone directly, with all my management being dedicated to operational and business development work. Given that one of my career goals is to become an executive or sub-executive, I knew that my lack of people management was a hindrance.
I believe I am a team player and I’ve had a variety of leadership roles that I could pull from to figure out management without school. Part of being a good leader, however, is recognizing your weaknesses and then taking steps to address them. The MBA felt like a good means to address this deficit given the academic and experiential learning built into the program. Fall semester first year was the first class-level introduction to managing with our Leading & Working In Teams course, where we worked with our respective core teams to develop team charters and responses to managerial-nightmare case studies. While only one credit, this course set a foundation for how my team and I would work together for the remainder of the semester.
Beyond leadership frameworks, and perhaps more importantly, the MBA has provided ample opportunity to learn the tenets of management experientially. Group work is built into the WSB curriculum, where the majority of my classes had some sort of teamwork component, such as case studies or semester-long projects. A particularly great learning experience has been the RMI applied learning projects, which are semester-long consulting projects where the RMI MBAs work on a consulting engagement with a real-life entity. As a part of this project, we “hire” a group of undergraduates to assist us with various components of the work. This part of the experience has been particularly helpful, as it has given me a close approximation for not only assigning tasks to junior employees, but also practice in managing expectations, deliverable deadlines, and reviewing and providing constructive feedback. I’ve definitely learned a lot about my management style through these practical experiences and have made notes on where I can improve. I expect to carry these lessons into my work with UnitedHealth Group following my graduation.
Like the motivations behind getting an undergraduate degree (a similar hot take), the main reasons why early- and mid-level professionals seek out an MBA has shifted from the degree’s founding. While this change is likely to stay for the foreseeable future, my experience during these past two years has attested to the efficacy of the degree’s original purpose!
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