MBA is Transformational

Life has changed a lot in the last year. Since starting the Weekend Executive MBA program just under a year ago, I’ve learned so much, gained so much, and have changed a lot, too.

From my team-building experiences, I learned to speak my mind, and have gained confidence in my abilities. I’ve never been what you’d call a shrinking violet, but I used to bite my tongue and not say what I really thought. It would just about kill me to give employees less than favorable feedback. Now, I make sure that I give them feedback quickly, but with kindness. That way, I’m ensuring that they know when they’ve made a mistake, and also make sure that we can correct small problems before they become big ones. I also find that I’m taking credit for all of my own work now, where before I’d shrink away from praise.

From the finance classes, I’ve learned a lot about how to read a company’s financial reports, and I’ve gained a much better understanding of what those numbers and ratios mean. I began to understand my own portfolios better, and I also understand my much better.

From the Operations Management class, I am learning to address bottlenecks, and to find other ways around problems. I also now understand why metrics are important, and can even hazard a really good guess at what management is trying to get from those measurements. I quit rolling my eyes when managers wanted my team to get their tickets closed quickly for our lab managements, because I understand what they’re trying to measure and convey. Suddenly—it’s important to me, too.

From my Leadership, Ethics, and Organizations class, I learned how to be a better leader, and I’m excited to learn more in this term. It’s interesting to see how I am looked at to lead people in every aspect of my life—with my children, my father (becoming the family matriarch at 38 was pretty daunting!), Girl Scout troops, and at work.

From a strategy perspective, it has become clear to me that in order to succeed, one must have a strategy, and be willing to execute it. I started putting a strategy in place at work to build our Co-Op Program both in Massachusetts and in the Research Triangle Park area. That will enable us to train and hand-pick many qualified employees. From a personal strategy perspective, my focus is on becoming a better leader in all aspects of my life.

When I started the Weekend Executive program, I was told that it would have an immediate benefit, and that I would become a very different person. I’m not sure I really believed that. How could everything change so much in a short year? Now I’m a believer. With 7 months to go, I’m anxious to see where this journey will lead.

Learn more about Weekend Executive MBA courses.