In my last post titled, Growth Mindset: Secret to Learning and Unlearning, I established that anyone that is not willing to embrace change in today’s world stands the chance of becoming irrelevant. Specifically, I said that any entrepreneur that is not ready to embrace change in the fast-paced and ever-changing world of business should be ready to face extinction.
As a business owner, I want my business to remain relevant and evolve into a global brand. However, I understand that my business can only grow as much as I grow. More so, John C. Maxwell, the leadership expert said, everything rises and falls on leadership.
Also, I understand that to be more is to know more. That was why I decided to enroll for the Executive MBA (Master of Business Administration) at the Lagos Business School (LBS) early this year.
I desired a change, for the better, in the way I have been managing my business. But I never knew that the change would be so radical and transforming as I am already experiencing in less than 6 months into the program.
The truth is, LBS is not just changing my business perspective. It is actually changing me as a person.
Yes, I have always loved challenges being the dynamic person that I am. And I love to explore. Hence my quest for more knowledge and competence.
My goal was to brush up. But I must admit that my experience in the school is more than brushing up. It is a total reconstruction.
Specifically, let me quickly review my knowledge upgrade in just three areas of my learning so far.
Data Analytics:
This is where you learn how to turn day-to-day challenges into mathematical equations, linear programming, and formularized solutions.
Without mincing words or exaggerating, I had to tell myself, after receiving this lecture, that I need a total mental reset to accommodate this body of knowledge. In other words, I need to unlearn and relearn if I must succeed in this new venture. The area opens you up to how variables in decision making affect other variables and ability to forecast positive and negative impacts.
Analysis of Business Problems (ABP):
This is another key area of new learning that I found intriguing.
Yes, I have always solved business problems. But not in a more detailed form as to involve the 8 process model and the PROACT model of solving problems.
For clarity purpose, the acronym PROACT stands for Problem, Objective, Alternatives, Consequences, and Trade-offs.
Through this model, I have come to understand that to solve a business problem, I need to review it as a case, ascertain the problem , have a clear objective, review criteria and implications not just the obvious symptoms, ensure proper framing, and avoid framing bias and use both qualitative and quantitative analysis to draw my conclusions.
Also, I realized that I need a clearly specified objective to guide my decision-making.
In addition, I must review the available alternatives, relate them with available options, and weigh the criteria before concluding.
Above all, I will never forget the fact that there are consequences for every decision we make, hence very important that we do a proper analysis in resolving problems and decision making especially business problems.
Communication:
I have learnt again that communication is not just about passing a message across to a target audience and expecting a desired response or feedback. No.
There is how I should pass my message down such that the key detail is properly relayed to achieve the expected response and reaction.
Let me conclude this post by reiterating the fact that LBS is a different kind of business school. Though it is challenging, I know at the end it shall speak!
See you in my next post.
Nkem Adenuga
