The transformation -
Impression by Georgio Mosis, Winner FD Career Challenge 2009
Change seems to be the new constant. It is therefore the best time to do an MBA . This is the era of the lifelong learners and those who are best able to adapt to change. As Eric Hoffer stated “…in times of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists”.
I realize that everything that me and my fellow MBA students have hold as a ground truth yesterday, could be wrong today. After all, we all know that by the time we graduate 30% of all we have learned will be obsolete. My current job didn’t exist when I graduated back at the beginning of this century. It is also certain that I will not retire doing what I’m doing now.
Change also has to do with transformations. Besides the transformations in our environment, there is also personal transformation in the phases in life. A few years back my friends use to joke about the “quarter life crisis”, defined as the moment in life where you have to make too many life changing decisions. We were all between 25 and 30, and the life changing decisions comprised things such as choice of career, choice of spouse, choice of a place to settle and more of that kind of stuff. It seemed so definite then; still, we are in another process of change a few years later.
In the summer in 2008, I visited New York to be part of my best friend’s wedding - talking about huge transformations! While sharing the ambition to better understand business, a Nyenrode alumnus recommended reading Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” companies. It was an excellent read and it triggered me to identify “level 5 leaders” and how they lead their excellent companies. After the tectonic shift a few months later in 2008, many of these companies are in deep trouble, despite their level 5 leaders.
In March 2009, I started the executive MBA program and since then I’m on my way to become a Nyenrodian myself. “The best times to be in a MBA class”, the alumnus texted, after I sent him a LinkedIn message that I won my scholarship. He is right; these are the times when shifts happen. I recommended him to read Collins’ update on his theory about great companies “How the Mighty Fall”. This recommendation was inspired by a lecture of Philip Kotler. As a student I got in for “free”.
In the first year of my executive MBA my view on science, innovation and business has transformed. My intention was to learn the skills, develop the habits and gain the knowledge of business professionals. In retrospect that greatest learning came from interactions with my fellow MBA mates. With more than 300 years of combined working experience there is enough cross-inspiration on topics such as pay-for-performance, sustainability, corporate social responsibility and the power of social networks. My state of mind is green, and I don’t mean the color of the dollar.
This is the best time to be in an MBA class.
Georgio Mosis
Participant Executive MBA - Nyenrode - http://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiomosis
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Impression Mini MBA - 2009 & Network Event March 25, 2009