4 Things You Need To Do If Your MBA Isn't Benefitting You As You Expected

Like most situations and opportunities, what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. In my case, getting an MBA changed my life. This is what I always say when telling my own MBA story. It helped me to transition from an R&D engineer to a business person, bring me to China, and build my confidence to pursue something I feel passionate about. You could say that I really got my money’s worth out of my MBA.

Why I decided to get an MBA

Actually, when I decided to get an MBA, I was doing pretty well in my career. I was getting regular promotions. I worked in a great industry (the toy industry) and great company (Mattel, the world’s #1 toy company), had a great boss and great colleagues, and did something challenging and interesting for a living (designing toys for kids).

Unfortunately, engineering work just didn’t fit my personality or idea of what I wanted to be. I felt uninspired in my career. I’d go to work every day and wasn’t excited about what I did. That didn’t seem right. So an MBA was my big move to pursue something completely different.

What I did to fully leverage my MBA

Even before starting my MBA program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, I knew this was my chance to redefine myself and my future. However, as an R&D engineer, I felt inadequate to be a successful at anything else. I lacked confidence. I was afraid to face new situations where I could fail or embarrass myself.

But even more, I was afraid of settling for a career that I had no real desire to become very good at. So I felt almost desperate to get the most out of my MBA. While business school would offer me great resources and opportunities, I knew there were no guarantees. So to make sure I got everything I could out of my MBA, I always tried to do four things, both during and after my MBA program. I shared these with MBA Club members last Friday evening.

1)   Confirm your alignment – Like many people who want to make a career change, I knew what I no longer wanted to do, but not what I should be doing instead. Still, I needed to make choices that could help me head in the overall, right direction. To do this, I identified three elements that are most important to me. After doing this, I would assess every situation and opportunity I faced relative to these elements.

The three elements I came up with were 1) business, 2) helping people, and 3) China. I know they sound very general, but they helped me make important choices that got me closer to what I wanted to be. So if you look at my career since business school, these elements run through everything I’ve done and every situation I’ve been in.

How much of what you’re currently doing aligns with what is most important to you? If your MBA isn’t benefiting your career as you expected, this is the first thing you need to assess.

2)   Confirm your gaps – Although I often felt lost and uncertain during my MBA, I was at least clear on what I was, and what I wasn’t. I had good analytical and project management skills, but very weak soft skills. These included my communication skills, initiative and accountability when facing new situations, leadership skills, and big picture view of many things.

After business school, I wanted to do marketing. From talking to other marketing professionals, I also got a clear sense of the capabilities I needed to become one. These included developing my consumer and market sense, strategic thinking, and ability to communicate with impact.

Simply put, you always need to have a clear idea of what you need to develop. Otherwise, you’re not going to achieve your career objective.

3) Confirm your platform – I always describe joining Wang Computers as the best career decision I ever made. At the time, however, it wasn’t an easy or obvious one. I had marketing manager offers with two leading FMCG companies. Frankly, anyone pursuing a marketing career would have chosen one of them over an IT company.

By going to Wang Computers, I also took a lower title (management trainee), 30% less money, and had to go through 4 ? months of sales training. But their offer came from their Asia Pacific division. So based on my three elements, it was the fastest way for me to get to Asia. Fifteen months after joining the company, I was sent to Taipei. If I hadn’t chosen Wang Computers, I’m not sure how long this would have taken.

Choosing the right job situations is huge. Because if your platform has limitations providing you what you want, they’ll be your limitations for achieving what you want as well.

4) Confirm your approach – My approach to getting the most out of my MBA wasn’t complex or strategic. It was simply to be more proactive and courageous to do things beyond my comfort zone. No matter what happened, I wasn’t going to let opportunities pass by easily.

So in business school, I led an organization for the first time (AMSA, or Asian Management Students Association). I flew to Taipei to find a summer internship (although I’d never been there before) and pursued two independent study, marketing projects. After b-school, I became president of Wang Computers’ new class of sales trainees. I founded a professional organization (CAPT, Chinese-American Professionals In Taiwan), started my own company, and made moves to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.

What about your approach and what you’re doing to build the capabilities and experience you need to get you closer to what you seek?

Whatever your career goals, becoming a lot different or better than what you are now isn’t easy. To make that happen, you can’t be passive or conservative. You have to overcome your doubts and fears. You need to be proactive, stretch yourself, and make good job choices and moves.

So if you’re going to make a big investment with your time, effort, and money to get an MBA, then I’ll encourage you to look honestly at your situation and be realistic about what achieving the success you seek will actually take, and what you’re doing about it. At the end of the day, an MBA itself won’t have a big impact on your career. Ultimately, it’s what you do with it that will determine the value you get out of it.

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经验之谈 | 我是如何充分利用我的MBA的？

种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆，付出多少，收获就有多少。就我个人而言，MBA学位改变了我的一生——在分享我自己的MBA历程时，我总会说到这句话。它使我从研发工程师成功转型成为商务人士，促使我来到中国，建立起自信，勇敢追求热爱的事业。MBA学费早就赚回来了——这么说一点儿也不过分。

我为什么要读MBA？

其实，在决定要读MBA时，我的工作很顺利。我隔一定时间就能得到晋升，在一个不错的行业（玩具行业）工作，公司优质（世界头号玩具公司Mattel），老板好，同事也好，做的工作富有挑战性，也充满趣味（给孩子设计玩具）。

可是，工程师工作不适合我的个性，也不是我想做的事情。我感到没有斗志，每天上班时，对自己的工作打不起精神。哪儿出错了？因此，我采取了个重大举措，决定读MBA，追求完全不同的事业。

我是如何充分利用MBA的？

早在进入加州大学洛杉矶分校安德森商学院就读MBA项目前，我就知道它会重新定义自己和未来。然而，当初在做研发工程师时，我觉得无法在这方面出人头地。我缺乏自信，害怕面对新情形，担心自己会失败，会落入尴尬。

不过，我更害怕一份工作做了一辈子，却根本没有在这个领域好好钻研的欲望。因此，我急切希望能从MBA中得到巨大收获。虽然商学院可以给我提供优质资源和机遇，但我知道，这也不是百分百的事。因此，为了能充分利用这次MBA机会，我一直在项目过程中，以及项目结束后，努力做四件事。

1)   确定自己的标准——我和许多想要换职业的人的一样，知道自己不想从事某份职业，但不知道接下来该进哪一行。尽管如此，我还是得做好决定，朝正确的大方向前进。为此，我确定了对我而言最重要的三点。确定完这三点之后，无论碰到哪种情形和机遇，我都会将它们与这三点放在一起考量。

我想到的三点是——1）商务，2）帮助他人，3）中国。我知道这三点听起来很空，但它们的确帮到了我，使我更好地做决策，更接近目标。所以，在商学院毕业后，我做的所有事都与这三点有关。

你目前做的事是否符合你的标准？如果MBA对你职业的帮助与你的理想情况有出入，那么首先要衡量这一点。

2)   确定差距——尽管在就读MBA期间，我常常感到迷茫、不确定，但至少我明白自己的长处和短处。我有优秀的分析能力和项目管理技能，但软技能不够。其中包括沟通技能、主动性、面临新情形时的责任心、领导技能、大局观。

商学院毕业后，我想做市场方面的工作。在与这方面的专业人士沟通过后，我清楚明白到要想进入这一行，需要哪些能力。其中包括培养消费者和市场意识、战略性思考、沟通时要向对方施加影响。

简单来说，你必须清楚了解到自己需要培养哪些能力，否则，就很难实现职业目标。

3)   确定平台——我一直认为，加入Wang Computers是我做过最明智的职业决策。然而，这一决定并不容易。那时，已经有两家国际顶尖快消公司给了我市场经理的offer。老实说，任何想要做市场营销的人都会选择进入快消公司，而不是IT公司。

Wang Computers给我的职位（管培生）不如快消公司，薪水也少30%，还得接受四个半月的销售培训。但他们给的是亚太分部的offer。因此，考虑到之前我提到的三点，我选择了它，因为它能使我最快地来到亚洲。进公司十五个月后，我被派到台北。如果我没有选择Wang Computers，不知道要到哪年哪月才能来到亚洲。

选择正确的工作情形十分重要，因为一旦你加入的平台有局限性，不能给你想要的，你也就很难实现自己的目标。

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4)   确定方法——为了从MBA项目中得到最多收获，我采取了十分简单的方法——更加主动，迈出舒适区，勇敢做之前不擅长做的事情。无论发生什么，我都不会轻而易举地让机会溜走。

在商学院中，我第一次领导了一个社团（“亚洲管理学生协会”），我飞到台北找暑期实习（尽管之前我从未去过台北），进行两项独立市场项目研究。商学院毕业后，我成了Wang Computers新一届管培生的“班长”，建立了一家职业协会（“美籍华裔工作党在台湾”），创办了自己的公司，去到香港、上海和北京。

你采取的是什么方法呢？为了接近目标，你在如何提高能力，积累所需经验呢？

无论你的职业目标是什么，要想改变自身现状，更进一步，这并不容易。为了做到这一点，你要告别保守和被动，克服疑虑和恐惧，变得更加主动，不断拓展自己，做好优秀的职业决策和行动。

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如果MBA收获并未如己所愿，那请认真、坦诚地审视自身情形，了解在目标领域达成成功究竟需要哪些元素。归根结底，MBA本身不会对你的职业有太大影响，你从MBA中得到的收获完全取决于你自身的行动。