Lessons from my MBA experience (so far)

I began my MBA at 美国纽约大学 - 斯特恩商学院 with the mindset of keeping perspective, don't take things for granted, and making the most of the experience. Recently, I have been reflecting on the things that I have learned in the last four months since moving to New York from Uruguay and how I have sustained that mantra.?

Before starting the MBA, I had big expectations. “It’s all about the experience”, “Networking, the connections”, “Living in one of the best cities in the world”, “Access to top-notch faculty and companies”, “Being in touch with people from all over the world with diverse backgrounds”... I heard ideas like these hundreds of times while I was considering to apply to business school and before starting the program.?

Now that I finished the 1st semester, I wanted to take everything into account: the experience, the people I met, the new places, the new ideas I was exposed to, the events I attended, being back in school, and how past learnings emerged with new meaning.

Why share it? Learning something valuable from another person and passing it to someone else, helping ignite questions that may lead to new journeys of personal reflection, encourages me to write this note. I also wanted to recognize those who have inspired me.

In no particular order, here are some of my lessons from my MBA experience so far:

Dealing with a “new” language

I’ve always been grateful and took pride in my early education; especially, the fact that I attended an excellent school in Uruguay that taught me English. So I wasn’t really afraid of moving to the US and going into a top business program while facing life in a new language. But during Orientation, I encountered the first case with my study group and I realized that I wasn’t being able to express my ideas with the clarity and speed I’ve always had in Spanish. It made me feel stressed, angry, and less smart than the rest of my classmates. I remember recalling this great post by Lanna Collares that spoke about the difficulties she faced when she moved from Brazil to Uruguay. So my first step to addressing this issue was to let those feelings go and recognize that my role in this type of group dynamics would be different from the one I often had while working in Uruguay (at least until I became more comfortable). Then, I sought counseling from Communications Professor Brian Hanssen . He gave me simple yet good piece of advice. First, know that you are doing better than you think.?Second, use pauses in your favor while communicating to better articulate your ideas, engage your audience, and look more confident. Lastly, be open with your teammates/professors about your challenges. Ask for patience.?

Making friends, not networking

If you ever read, heard about, considered, applied for, or did an MBA you probably are aware that an important aspect of business school is creating connections. Based on my experience so far, it seems to be true. As an example, during recruiting time, you want to get to know people from the companies you are targeting. But my biggest issue with "networking" is having the approach of building relationships for future leverage, even while developing relationships within your class. At Stern's Marketing Conference this semester, Suzy Welch discussed this topic and framed it very nicely: at the end of the day, you want to create bonds and relationships with people you enjoy spending time with. And even for professional relationships, keep in mind that both parties should benefit.??

Don’t being afraid to reach out to people — and be willing to give my time

There’s always someone willing to share their time and experience on a company, field of study, career path, or general information. Knowledge is built collectively and great value can be created for both sides from random meetups and conversations. I've done it during this period and found amazing people happy to share a coffee with me. To name a few, Ignacio Pakciarz who has always been willing to provide me with personal and professional guidance, Thoma? Serdari who has shared her insights on career opportunities, and my incredibly smart cousin Juan Elenter who helped me and other classmates prepare for our Statistics final. Vice versa, I got to know awesome people such as Daniel Caicedo Maldonado and Carlos Figueroa who reached out to me to discuss their projects.

Motivation vs enthusiasm

My good friend Rodrigo Capdevielle talked to me about the distinction between these two concepts. Motivation is an external impulse resulting from the incentive to achieve something and enthusiasm is an internal impulse that results from the inspiration that moves you. I’ve seen this learning applied to my personal life in NYC as I encountered a city that bombarded me with stimuli and opportunities. But by asking myself what moves me, I can make better decisions for my life today and the direction I want to take in the near future.

Being intellectually honest with myself

This may be one of the hardest learnings to put into practice. As we move forward in our lives, we repeat and convince ourselves of why we decide to take certain paths, but we forget to formulate and address complex (yet simple) questions. Two different resources have led me to better think about this type of introspective questions: the book Lighter, from Yung Pueblo , and Hard Reset (blog post) by Sarah Guo . I’ve also been inspired by past conversations while building Spotlike with Nicolás Ovalle and Bruno Petcho when we used to picture “the perfect outcome” for the company and reflect on how we would feel about it. The key learning for me has been to accept that I can think, feel and desire something different today than what I used to in the past.

Holding perspective

I’ve learned that being able to hold perspective is a superpower when it comes to any pursuit in life. Placing things into context makes every journey - even my academic and recruiting experience in the MBA - more enjoyable and less painful. Throughout the last few months, I've been learning to control how much weight I put on what I experience and how I react to it. Conversations with my classmate Noey Jacobson have been helpful and as well as following Scott Galloway ’s thoughts on his podcast and newsletter No Mercy / No Malice.

When giving your 90% is the right thing to do

Moving to NYC, allowed me to reunite with my brother Federico J. Wynter . While being here, I learned from him the notion of knowing how to regulate how much effort and dedication one puts into a task. In high-performing environments, we try to give our 120%. But this tends to come with stress, and anxiety and leaves no time for other things aside from work. Deliverables can always be enhanced, but I learned that if I want to provide the best version of myself in all the different scenarios of my life (work, school, relationships, and personal time), sometimes I will have to settle for giving my 90%.?

Valuing myself

Coming to a top business school such as NYU Stern was intimidating. During the first weeks, it was common to hear people talking about how they were experiencing Impostor Syndrome. I felt it too, especially since I come from a generalist background. But, though I was running from behind on certain topics, as different classes, projects, assignments and events went through, I started being recognized for my knowledge of other subjects. Often, we underestimate our own abilities and detract from them, which creates insecurities, as well as miss the opportunity to help others. My key learning here was to continue relying on and keep building on my strengths while doubling down on the areas I’ve got the biggest opportunities to grow. Great conversations with my classmates Mariana Mendez and Mohamed Nazer ???? ???? have helped me develop this growth mindset.?