3 first findings on the MBA journey
As an MBA blog fanatic and long time reader of blogs, writing this post is a momentous occasion. Since I started my MBA journey, I have moved from applicant to candidate to student, and now two months into the program, I am enjoying this experience to the fullest. In order to share my experience with you, I like to keep things simple to separate the music from the noise, so if you bear with me, I would like to share with you three realities - just three - of the INSEAD MBA life that have shaped my first period at the school:
1 – Learning at two different levels
Business education is all about developing soft and hard skills. This means that it's not just enough to work on your knowledge of challenging business processes, but you also need to master daily situations that arise in the business life, like working in groups or managing people. Most successful people in the world have both the knowledge to run an operation and the personal skills to manage the daily business life. I fully expected to get a solid business education at INSEAD but I did not anticipate to grow so much in terms of soft or personal skills. From the beginning, we have simulated many business situations that have a huge impact on how you conduct yourself, from receiving feedback to negotiating contract fees, the amount and quality of information available to you to learn from the best and make sure you know how to make the best of these situations in your career.
2 – Exploring career opportunities
Everybody doing the MBA has their own story: some come from a consulting background and are returning to their companies after the program, some come from a finance-focused career and want to change to a more operational role, and others like me come in their thirties with a longer experience and are aiming to open our own companies. Having such a diverse set of students, one must wonder if the solutions the school provides to students can really cover the wide spectrum of the class. Well, after two months here I can definitely tell you that the reality of the career opportunities is much wider than any of us could expect: from company presentations, fairs, networking, the experience from other students, you actually need to start to focus on what you want in order to avoid joining more things than you can handle.
On a personal level, I joined the leadership team of the Fintech club, attended one-on-one meetings with local entrepreneurs, visited two Fintech companies, contacted more than 20 international professionals through several channels, and joined more than 10 career presentations for multinational companies. Even when I had the lead role of the Mexican branch at my previous company, I was not exposed to this level of opportunities.
3 – Expanding your horizons
If you pay close attention to the lecture slides, a quote placed in the bottom of all them will remind you what INSEAD is all about: “Understand the World. Expand your World”. After two months in the program, I cannot think of a better way to define the MBA experience. Often my own international experience sets me apart from coworkers and friends: in the last two years I have lived in four countries through three continents. I am used to change and to live and work with different people, and still, I am just one of the amazing bunch of people in this school. Just my study group is a testament on how international this school is, with members from Romania, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium, and yours truly from Spain. Cultural awareness and continuous learning is a huge part of the INSEAD MBA, and getting to know how other people deal with their lives and challenges is truly inspiring. Without a doubt, this is the most international program in the world, a world that is expanding every day for me.
