ROAD TO MASTERY – 4 WEEKS IN

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” – Lao Tzu

Yes! I took the first step. I am in. Finally at the butt end of all the wisecracks about MBAs. I have exchanged my farm clothes for corporate and business casual. I look too good in a shirt and tie. The program started off with a steep nose dive into the world of business, introducing new concepts at near breakneck speeds, some concepts forcing you to evaluate your previous knowledge (question everything), while others playfully embrace and welcome you into the land of the unknown. Pardon my dramatic writing, I don’t know why the words came that way to me.

We have been introduced to 5 courses this semester:

Corporate financial accounting; Analysis of business problems; management communication; data analysis and human nature.

Corporate Financial Accounting

CFA takes you on a roller coaster ride of the accounting cycle. You don’t have to become an accountant but yes, you should have similar competencies in writing and interpreting financial statements, and using financial information to make informed decisions.

Analysis of Business Problems

In ABP you dive into the world of metacognition – just a fancy word for critical thinking – which is also a fancy way of saying thinking about thinking. This course forces you to question every idea and also be able to back up your reasons with logic. We have been introduced to a structured way of analyzing and solving problems that skips the usual reflex of jumping to conclusions or mistaking symptoms as cause. When you are able to identify and solve the root cause of a problem, managing the symptoms becomes a whole lot easier.

Management Communication

Oh, what a beautiful thing it would be to be able to articulate your ideas with as much clarity as you perceive them. This course begun by driving home the fact that communication is a two-way street and clear thinking, empathy and active listening play major roles in effective communication. Clear thinking begets clear writing and clear writing begets clear speaking. Revision is the key to improved thinking; it demands that the writer remove unnecessary words so that the main ideas can stand out (don’t ask me if I revised this post). The benefits of good communication are enjoyed when your efforts to communicate clearly has become a habit.

Data Analytics 1

Welcome to the world of numbers, if you thought you’ve escaped mathematics and statistics by going into life sciences, sorry to burst your bubble. Welcome to the world of data driven decision making. In this course you learn how to take data in its raw form, analyze it, and transform it into useful information to guide our decisions. The back end of everything in data analytics is statistics. We’re also learning how to use modern tools and software to make data analytics easier.

Nature of Human Beings

I find it interesting how these courses synergize with each other in the way that in getting to the root cause of a problem (critical thinking in ABP), you may need to analyze data (Data analytics), which could be financial information (CFA) among other things, and you will also need to be able to communicate your prescribed solution (management comms). Tying this all together is the Nature of Human beings course which deepens our understanding of our selves and others and drives home, how we can be change agents for ourselves and others in diverse aspects of interpersonal interaction.