Something for Christmas

Insead File:'Tis the season to be . . . festive'. So as a parting gift to any aspiring MBAs, allow me to offer some final festive-themed insight and advice, writes Niall Dunne.

In my first month at Insead, it found its way to me - a shocking bill for tuition fees. Lesson number one: if you're thinking of pursuing an MBA in the new year, make it your resolution to start saving now. It's an expensive hobby and may well cost your annual gross salary.

In my second month at Insead, a speaker said to me: "Do what you love."

Lesson number two: listen carefully to guest speakers. From CEOs to entrepreneurs, all guest speakers have made it clear that you must do what you love if you're going to succeed.

So don't follow the crowds to investment banking if it's not your passion. Look for the career that makes you jump out of bed in the morning. It might just exist.

In my third month at Insead, it suddenly hit me - no, not three French hens, but the wisdom of my friends.

In an average class of 70 participants, there's a cumulative total of 350 years of work experience. Imagine what you can learn from that wealth of experience - and MBA participants are seldom shy about sharing their opinions.

Participants don't so much ask questions as make statements to display their knowledge, but their insights are valuable nonetheless.

In our fourth month at Insead, a classmate said to me four chilling words: "Credit- crunch hiring-freeze".

Lesson number four: do it for personal development, for long- term career prospects and for the chance to build a network of contacts around the world. But don't do the MBA assuming you will immediately double your salary. You simply can't tell when the next credit-crunch will come and what effects it might have on corporate recruitment decisions.

Later on at Insead, the postman brought to me five cold dings. Lesson number five: the reality check. A straw-poll of my classmates reveals that an MBA participant will receive at least five rejection letters, or "dings", from prospective employers during their job search.

No matter how qualified you might think you are, recruiters invariably see things differently. Strangely though, it all works out in the end. If a company rejects your application, it's usually because they can't see a fit between you and their organisation's culture. When you find a firm with an atmosphere where you know you'll fit, you'll be glad the others turned you down.

Six months into Insead and it started to change me - six hairs a-greying. Lesson number six: it's hard work. Anyone who has fond memories of their undergraduate youth should reconsider if they think an MBA is a sabbatical from the business world for a year or two.

Twenty- five subjects, 600 hours of classroom tuition, 16 exams and 40 group assignments later, I wish it were only six hairs "a-greying" atop my head. Still, at least the hairs are still there and my salt-and- pepper shading should attest to my new-found wisdom.

In seven months at Insead, professors taught to us the seven habits of highly effective people. Lesson number seven: get ready for lots of management-speak.

Whether it's quality control and Six-Sigma, strategy analysis and the five competitive forces, or the four-factor matrices so beloved of management consultants, you'll definitely graduate with a degree in business jargon.

Over eight months at Insead, I gathered around me eight friends in banking.

Lesson number eight: networking. While maids a-milking are thin on the ground, by the time you graduate you'll have friends in banking, consulting, industry - just about every field you might ever consider entering in the future.

In our nine months of lessons, we listened repeatedly to tales of cars and financing.

Lesson number nine: you'll learn from other's mistakes. Business school teaching is based on the case-study method, whereby an account of a decision is used to provoke class discussion. Invariably, the main actor in the case is always about to screw-up.

That's why the 1998 merger of Daimler and Chrysler, and the subsequent destruction of $30 billion in stock market value, figures so prominently in the curriculum.

Over 10 months at Insead, I learned with some glee of 10 boards a-cheating (and the punishments imposed).

Lesson number 10: corporate social responsibility. Forewarned is forearmed and all students graduating this year will clearly understand just how crucial it is for boards to behave ethically, to create and protect shareholder wealth (and to avoid jail).

After 11 months at Insead, it is understood by me the need to question recruiters' hyping.

Lesson number 11: just because they claim it's a MBA development programme, many roles offered to graduates are in reality rather mundane.

When you find yourself choosing a post-qualification career, consider your options carefully and don't end up with a firm that hires MBAs just for the sake of appearance.

And finally . . . after 365 days at Insead, it's all caught up on me - 12 months a-running.

Lesson number 12: if you choose to do an accelerated MBA, get ready for the fastest year of your life, at the end of which you'll be mentally exhausted, forever indebted to the patience of your family and loved ones, but ready to look at the business world in a whole new light. So trust me - you'll never regret the decision to go to business school. Bon chance.

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