INTENSIVE WEEK

Did you just read that headline? By every meaning of it, that’s exactly what this week has been; INTENSIVE. I doff my hat for all the Lagos business school MBA graduates and EMBA participants alike. Whoops, by no means a walk in the park.

When I signed up for the EMBA at LBS earlier this year, I was so excited. I envisioned the end and thought how nice it will be to add a feather to my cap. I was so eager to start the program. I recall making a couple of calls to the administrative department, when I wasn’t getting updates on the program start date, school calendar and a few other things. Little did I know that I was going in ‘on a long thing.’ Oh dear. If I knew what I know now, I probably would have had a re-think and braced up a little more before starting on this journey.

Long thing short, I am now fully into the EMBA program and almost can’t believe it’s week 8 already! The days go by very quickly and 24hrs just seem too short for a day. I mean with the number of assignments and tasks reeled out per weekend, and combining same with a 9-5 job, one would need some extra 12hrs thereabout per day.

Now here we are, its intensive week and I was so happy to take some time off from my 9-5 job to be in the 9-4 MBA class. Hmm, some relief I thought. An extra free hour for myself, without bothering about a 9-5 job, since I was on leave certainly felt like a win for me. But ops, not so fast. Ever seen a famished man take an orange? That’s the way it feels right now. With the LBS EMBA class squeezing every minute of my time, like a famished man would squeeze an orange. It feels so overwhelming, I could cry. I can tell for free that even my 11year old son, know a thing or two about an MBA by now. I mean I don’t seize to rant about how busy I am and how demanding the program is, and oh lest I forget the application of analyzing business problems? I take it home. Ahaha! Applying the 8 processes to solving business problems even to everyday life issues. Okay, maybe not every, but some at least. While the learning of this week at the EMBA has been quite intense, intensive indeed has been the stress that accompanies it.

However, the gains have been many as well. The data analytics (DA) class for one is starting to come together as I begin to connect the dots between the standard deviation Prof Bongo had taken us through and the linear progression and regression classes by Dr Okoye. Similarly, the business accounting (CFA) concepts have also started adding up; with Dr Ojiabo building on the foundation lay by Dr. Owolabi. Having the background knowledge of debit and credit accounts, creating the balance sheet, etc. relates to business transactions. While Dr. Ojiabo has banned use of the terms debit and credit accounts in his class as being elementary, the principle sure enables clearer understanding of the topics he is within the CFA class. More importantly is that, the relationship between the different courses is also beginning to get apparent; such as in analyzing business problems using the learning from the data analytic course.