Finweek, in conjunction with MBAConnect.net, has just released their first research report on the impact the MBA has on the lives of students and graduates in South Africa.  This survey probed the question on whether or not the MBA was a worthy endeavor and what impact this objective had on the lives of students and graduates.  Over 1500 respondents shared their views on the good and bad of the MBA pursuit.  Here’s a few of the key findings of the survey.

One of the more interesting findings was related to why students pursue the MBA.  Popular opinion suggests that the MBA is sought for career advancement and better pay.  This survey found that professionals obtained the MBA to “be more productive in a business environment.”  However, 77% of respondents indicated they had received a promotion or greater responsibility after earning the MBA.

Is the MBA a positive force on their career?  Over 95% of respondents felt that the MBA improved their decision-making abilities.  Nearly 90% felt the MBA bestowed more credibility on their careers by elevating the perceptions others had of them and improving their ability to interact with others at various levels.  The MBA also made them better leaders, with other 90% of respondents attributing their skills learned in courses, skills learned from group interaction and a heightened self-awareness as the main drivers for this improvement.

Career changers found some benefit from the MBA, as 56% of the respondents changed careers after graduation.  Of these graduates, 65% said the MBA made the difference.

One of the more profound positive impacts identified was the change in their outlook on life.  Over two-thirds felt the MBA opened their eyes to new opportunities, renewed their interest in the business world and improved their level of confidence and self-belief.

As you might expect, the MBA isn’t “all that.”  There were a few downsides to its pursuit.  Most students (68%) stated that the financial requirements forced them to cut back on normal lifestyle expenses.  Negative impacts were noted with regards to diet (48%), sleep (82%), stress (81%) and sex (42%). 

What about beyond the MBA?  This survey found room for improvement within the universities for several key career-related activities for Alumni.  These include access to MBA-level job opportunities and networking events, helping graduates start and grow businesses and building personal brands.

While these are only a few of the results, it’s important to note the overall message from the survey; that is, the MBA is worth the pursuit.  Even though students and graduates felt the universities were failing to meet some expectations, they are still looking to the MBA programs to be a big part of their post-MBA career.

You can find the survey results at MBAConnect.net (http://www.mbaconnect.net/finweeksurvey.aspx).  

How do you become successful with an MBA? Many professionals today are searching for that one key to a highly successful career...the MBA. After they’ve earned it, they struggle with achieving the success they expected. The problem is that they don’t learn to communicate their new value to managers, potential employers and many others. This book will provide considerable insight to what many MBAs have done. Also, you’ll learn how they’ve found the value and shared it with others to achieve the success they sought. Lastly, you’ll get a simple plan to follow to establish your own value proposition.

How do you become successful with an MBA?

No one argues that networking is a vital part of your career.  Brand new college graduates already know that their network is the biggest factor in finding their first job after graduation.  If you’ve been laid off recently, you are fully aware of the power of having friends in other companies.  Career mobility in periods of high unemployment is almost entirely driven by your ability to connect with other professionals.  But what happens when you don’t have a big network?  You’re forced to reach out to people you don’t know personally and ask them for help.  It’s like mass marketing.  You send out tons of emails and get very few responses.  What should you do?

First, it’s not you.  But it could be your approach.  In this post, we’ll look at a few things you should consider including in your networking strategy. 

Authenticity. Your request must feel genuine.  Don’t be afraid to share the truth of your situation.  Hiding the fact that you got fired or laid off will send signals up like roman candles.  If your recipient gets that slightest sense that something isn’t right, they’ll just delete your request.   

Action-oriented.  You must ensure your request defines how you found the person, why you chose them and how they can help.  Make sure they know what you want them to do. The email recipient will assume you’ve taken the time to assess what they do, what their company does and how you will fit in.  Therefore, you should have some idea what you them to help you with.  If you’re just sending it blindly with the hopes that they’ll figure something out, it won’t happen.  Don’t do it.

Reciprocity.  Giving back does work.  However, your initial approach should offer something to the recipient rather than simply asking for help. As a writer, I'm always asking others for advice. I usually find a way to give something beforehand or in return for their support. It’s a sign that I value their time and effort and appreciate them spending it on me.

Likeness. Search for those who are like you.  People who have the same background or upbringing are likely to share the same values as you do.  Try to find some commonalities with those you reach out to as it helps establish a connection and give them a reason to consider helping you.

Validation.  This is the most powerful tool you can use. If you're looking for help from someone at a higher level than you or in an industry you’ve never worked in before, get a referral.  If you’re reaching out to a CEO and another CEO makes a referral for you, you’ve got a good chance that you’ll get a response.  Otherwise, the CEO’s gatekeeper will stop your request from ever crossing their desk. 

Persistance.  Never give up on what you want. People respond to passion.  If you’re trying to get a contact in a particular company, don’t quit until you get one.  Try different methods for contacting people in the company, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or direct email. I once sought a contact for 18 months.  I did get it.  Be persistent. 

Help others. Many roads to success have been paved with this strategy. Offer your support to others without regard for reward or payment of your efforts.  Good things will come to you. This was Oprah’s claim to fame.

Networking is the key to opportunity in today’s economy.  Having all of the other ingredients, such as knowledge, skills, abilities and a college degree, are just part of the admission price to the game.  Networking is a skill that can be learned.  If you don’t have a big network, you’ll have to practice a lot.  But once you find something that works, you can quickly build upon it to find that next great opportunity.

He personally consults, mentors and coaches some of the country’s largest church Pastors, speaks regularly at leadership conferences, churches, corporations, Leadership Roundtables, Minister’s conferences, seminars and other leadership development opportunities. He was named in the top-30 global leadership Gurus list.  His singular vision for his life is to Help Others Succeed.  Being raised in a pastor’s home in India has uniquely equipped Dr. Chand to share his passion – that of mentoring, developing and inspiring leaders to break all limits – in ministry and the marketplace.

We are truly privileged to bring to you the following interview on Leadership.

Todd: How can MBA graduates become change leaders?

Dr. Chand: The old adage “ the only constant in the world is change” is still true.  The challenge with most MBA programs is that they are taught by people like me; that is, boomers, for whom stability and consistency is a mantra.  How do we keep the environment stable? How do we make changes or translate changes?  The risk threshold for my group is not as great as the risk threshold for students coming up in current MBA programs.  To be a change leader is this environment, the professor or mentor has to be a person that transcends their generational stability and consistency issues and be willing to go above and beyond them.   Change really is a more constant art.  You can’t teach people to change.  It is the environment that allows people to change.  I mean an environment where change, risk taking, innovation, creativity and new ideas are not frowned upon but are seen as experimentation.  That’s what creates the leader attitude.  But it has to begin with what happens in the classroom and the environment students find themselves in.

Todd: What skills do students and graduates need to focus on to become a leader?

Dr. Chand: Students and graduates need to build both hard and soft competencies.  The hard competencies include project management, strategic planning, implementation, team creation. The soft competencies are far more important than the hard ones.  Soft competencies include skills like listening.  Listening is one of the top priorities where you are not just hearing biologically but are listening internally, not only to what is being said but what is being omitted.  You must go after the omissions because what is not being said is a whole lot more volatile than what is being said.  Another soft skill is the idea of having organic conversations.  That is holding a conversation that doesn’t begin with the end in mind.  You got into the conversation open minded and let the conversation take you where it is going to go.  Most people that come out of management or business schools come out with strategic conversations where they have formed some type of mental template.  This means that if they take the conversation down a certain road or path, they will get a certain result or outcome.  Lastly, a great soft skill is putting aside what you have to bring to the conversation aside and not letting your contribution be the centerpiece of the interaction.  It is not about getting this account, getting the job or what you’ll get out of it.  It’s about helping others succeed.  It’s about going into a situation where you are thinking about what can make this other person successful.  It’s about a win, not a win-win.   A win-win is a 50% proposition.  A win is a 100% proposition.  Every promotion or raise you’ll get will come because you have created significant value for someone else, so much so that they want to continue to take you along on their journey.  If you make them successful, you will be successful.

Being a change leader today requires the development of some unique soft competencies.  They are unique in the fact that these aren’t the type of skills business schools teach.  Taking from one of today’s leadership gurus, who has tested these skills in many different environment with many different audiences, the soft side is your ticket to greater success, even if you aren’t focusing on making yourself successful.  Good luck on your journey.

Thanks, Dr. Chand for sharing your time and experience with us.  You can learn much more about Dr. Chand at www.samchand.com.  You can capture more of his wisdom from his many books and CD sets located on his Resources page.

Our first ebook "The Joy of an MBA" has been released!

The first book in the Henry Series for MBAs has been released!


                                        
                                                                 

This book is for all who've thought about getting an MBA and what it could do for your career.  It's also for those who have the MBA but haven't felt the impact of it yet.  While the MBA is touted as the credentional to have to build real career success, few have learned how to use this key to unlock the door to success.

The Joy of an MBA will take you deep into the minds of MBA graduates and students from around the globe.  You'll learn why they got their degree and what they are doing with it.  It's a look into the career paths of others who share the same dreams as you. 

This book is not a bunch of statistics about the MBA that, while interesting, are not useful in helping you plan your path to success.  Experience is learning by trying.  That's what you'll get from this book.  You'll feel the years of experience and you will take the lessons to fold into your strategy for making your dreams come true.

You can find "The Joy of an MBA" at Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites. If you're considering the MBA or are a student, this book will serve as a guide through your program and into the business world. If you’re an MBA graduate, you'll enjoy the stories told by other MBA graduates from around the globe on how they use their MBA to improve many aspects of their career.

http://www.amazon.com/Joy-MBA-Henry-ebook/dp/B005OD6TB2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1316608323&sr=8-4

Stay tuned, Book #2, The MBA’S VALUE PROPOSITION, will be released at the end of this month.  In this book, students and graduates will learn how to communicate their value as an MBA holder to potential employers, bosses, admissions and many more audiences.

I’ve always wondered why employees really need to be concerned with personal branding.  It’s certainly a hot topic on the web.  I’ve watched people write blogs that eventually became books and magazines.  Heck, some even grew into businesses.  So why does a regular employee in a company concern themselves with branding?  You would think that their performance against their goals should be sufficient to determine their value to the company, unless business has gotten more complicated.  I can’t see that as being the case.  However, I do think change has come.  Actually, it has diffused from the top echelon to the lowest levels of the organization.  Here’s my pitch.

Henry Mintzberg performed an amazing study in the early 1970’s for his PhD dissertation at MIT analyzing the actual work habits and time management of chief executive officers (CEOs).  He found that CEOs performed ten managerial roles.  I don’t want to go into much detail here on each role.  You can read his book by HarperCollins, entitled “The Nature of Managerial Work” if you want to know more.  The point is that of these roles, the CEOs spent most of their time looking outward.  This means they don’t spend a lot of time analyzing the internal workings of the company or developing the next level of leaders.  They are the face of the company and consider themselves challenged to grow the company by interacting with potential customers, partners, etc.

Since they are CEOs and just one individual in the company, their absence from the day-to-day work is tolerable.  Now, let’s look just below the CEOs.  In the 1980's, top managers and practitioners began to question middle managers' importance. At the same time, environmental changes such as the globalization of the economy and the development of information technology fostered variations in organizational structures. These changes, often associated with downsizing, probably resulted in a modification of middle managers' roles.  You think?

Pavett and Lau performed a study in the 80’s looking at the other level of managers and compared them with Mintzberg’s results on CEOs.  They found that the lower level managers emulated the higher levels of managers.  Why?  One startling conclusion was that managers that performed the duties we would normally think a manager should perform, such as training and development of employees, were promoted far less than managers that emulated the top brass.  This is a breakdown in design.  If managers can get promoted by avoiding the activities that were originally designed into their job, then they will undoubtedly abstain from doing that work.  You get what you reward, right?

So here’s my thinking on branding today.  The same trend that went from the CEOs down to the lowest levels of management has diffused further into the ranks of the salaried and even hourly workers.  Performance isn’t something we are graded on anymore.  Just look at your last performance review.  It’s all social or soft skills that we need to be good at.  But why?  That seems more like a skill for those outward facing, like a CEO, than it does for the lower ranks of the company.  Employees should be focused on their tasks and ensuring they perform effectively and efficiently.  However, if they aren’t graded on that performance, then you won’t get it.  Lower managers are focused on acting like a CEO.  It’s on their minds.  It’s how they grade themselves.  Have they passed this down to their own employees?  Could we now be faced with a system that’s totally based on social awareness?  Are we now in a society were social prowess trumps technical prowess at all levels?

Share your thoughts.

In this post, I share some advice from my recent discussion with Brian Tracy.  Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.  Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 4,000,000 people in 4,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 40 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.  Brian Tracy has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

Here’s a few notes from this interview.

Todd:  What are the most difficult aspects of the career to set goals for?  How do can MBAs get around them?

Brian:  You start off with your income.  Make a five or your ten year plan. Then you say “what will I have to contribute for them to willingly pay me this amount?”  What MBAs have to understand is that the MBA degree is a like a merit badge in the Boy Scouts.  It indicates to the employer that you have certain abilities to achieve goals.  It doesn’t indicate that you can, just that you have the ability.  Most companies take two years to detrain an MBA to get them to the point where they can contribute something worthwhile.  The job of the MBA is to short circuit that learning curve.  The key focus to MBAs has to be results, not just the goals you get from your employer.  The most important results are financial results.  You have to increase sales or revenue, or either reduce cost, depending on your area of specialization.  A great opportunity in business today is to put great focus on increasing revenues through marketing and sales.  You have to find some way to have an influence on revenues.  That has to be the central focus of the MBA.  Now remember that 80% of people that graduate from college never use what they learned for the rest of their lives.  Therefore, all the courses you take are what I call mental pushups.  They indicate you can do mental pushups.  Now you have to get results to to help your company get more results today.  That has to be the focus.  With the law of indirect effort, the giver results in higher pay, job security, faster promotion and greater attractiveness in the market.   The indirect way of impressing another person (Law of Indirect Effort); however, is simply to be impressed by the other person.  The more you are impressed by the other person, by who he or she is, or what he or she has accomplished, the more likely it is that the other person will be impressed by you.  

Todd:  How should MBAs set priorities for achieving their goals (e.g. effort, time, reward)?

Brian:  The most important qualities for success with the MBA are focus and concentration. You must have absolute clarity about what you are trying to accomplish.  Then, concentrate on just these activities.  So, I’ve deemed what I call the Law of Three.  There are basically three tasks that we engage in that contribute 90% of the results or value in that job.  Everything else is in the other 10%.  So what you have to do is to make a list of everything you do in the course of a week or a month.  Then ask yourself if “I can only do one thing on this list which activity contributes the greatest value to my business?”  Put a circle around that.  Then, ask the question again, if I can only do two things? Then, try three things.  The answers should pop out at you.  If you don’t know the answers, you haven’t got a chance.  One of the ideas I share when teaching teambuilding is that you are not only competing with every other company, you are personally competing with your counterpart in every other company.  There’s an old saying that goes “if you’re not constantly learning to get better, somewhere some else is.”  If you are doing this, when you meet that person you will lose.  Therefore, you are competing with your counterpart who is doing the same job trying to get the same result in a competitive company.  Just like in the Olympics, you’re competing against athletes from other nations.  Your competing against business athletes from other companies.  The other thing is you’re also competing with the people within your business, who also want the same rewards, promotions, perks and opportunities that you do.  Don’t forget that while teamwork is working together, loving, hugging and sharing, every person you are working with wants to get more and better rewards, So you are going to have to outperform the people to the right and left of you.  The only way you can do that is first by focusing on the really valuable things that make a big difference to your boss and company and continually getting better at what you do. 

So I say with regards to the Law of Three, do fewer things but do more of them, do them more of the time and get better at it.  Getting better is one of the most important skills for an MBA; that is to continually get better at the most important things.  If you don’t know what they are, just go ask your boss.  Just say “Hey, I just got my MBA.  If there were a few major things that contribute 90% of the value to the company, what would you say I could do to make the biggest contribution I can?”

 Our thanks to Mr. Tracy for taking time to speak with us.  More tips and advice from Brian Tracy will appear in our upcoming ebooks for MBAs.

Go to www.briantracy.com to learn more.  You can also capture some great advice from his blog at www.briantracy.com/blog.

John Adair is the Chair of Strategic Leadership for the United Nations and one of Britain's foremost authorities on leadership and leadership development in organizations. In this post, you'll learn about one of his most important contributions to the understanding of leadership.

Before Adair, and arguably still today, people associate leadership with the so called 'Great Man Theory.'  In other words, we see leadership as one charismatic individual who uses his or her personal power and rhetoric to mobilize the company.  Even Adair admits that this mentality needs to change.   

Adair approaches leadership from a more practical and simple angle; by describing what leaders have to do and the actions they need to take.  This is a warm welcome to many MBA graduates who seek to be a high achiever and are looking for a path to greater career success.  Knowing what to do and how to act is one of their largest hurdles. 

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), about 156,250 MBA degrees are granted each year in the US. MBA students represent about 25% of all Master’s graduates.  That’s a lot of potential leaders heading into the corporate world every year.  But many graduates have little leadership experience and are cast into organizations that hold the perception that MBAs are created to lead.

Where should MBAs graduates begin?  “It is absolutely essential that MBAs take on board the relatively recently discovered generic role of a business (using that term in the widest sense) leader. For that centres on the three circles of task, team and individual. So it forms the basis of effective leadership at all three levels: team, operational and strategic,” says Adair.

These circles are part of Adair’s Action-Centered Leadership Model.  Each circle overlaps and influences the other. A good leader recognizes that a healthy interaction between the team, the task and the individual is vital. So for example, if you’re leading a project, then you, as the leader, would need to think about:

            Task:  what are the goals, what are the resources needed, what are the timelines, etc.

Team:  how will the tasks be divided amongst the team, how often will they meet, how will they interact with stakeholders, how will they measure success etc.

Individual:  are the team members working to their strengths? Are they learning from each experience? Are they being listened to on the team? etc.

Basically if one person is to run a group of others, then the size of the group will be determined in the first place by the task requirements of the job. This is the first area of need that a leader must to look at, i.e. task needs. They also have to try to use the expertise and talents of their subordinates and more importantly, coordinate one person with another and create an effective working group or team.  Success is achieved by balancing all three circles.

                                           

We can see through our own experience in everyday life, how these three areas interact with each other and how sometimes one area can be ignored, resulting in disruption in the other two.  In organizations, such disruptions invoke a leader mindset failure that if ignored for a length of time can easily derail your personal success. 

As an MBA graduate, you’re expected to be a good leader.  If you remain focused on Adair’s three circles, you can prove your worth at almost any level of the organization.

If the three circles aren’t providing you enough clarity for proper execution, you may want to take a step back and engage in introspection.  Adair has provided many great resources to aid in creating more success.  Among these are his ‘100 Greatest Ideas’ series which includes ‘100 Greatest Ideas for Being a Brilliant Manager’  and ‘100 Greatest Ideas for Effective Leadership’. 

We would like to thank Dr. John Adair for taking the time to share his expertise with us.  You can learn more about his work at http://www.adair-international.com and http://www.johnadair.co.uk. 

Please stay tuned for more of his expertise in our upcoming ebook series for MBA potentials, students and graduates.

Action Centred Leadership and the Three Circles (words and image) are trademarks™ used by John Adair and Adair International Ltd.  ACL is a registered trademark®  of John Adair.