I have always had a deep sense of admiration for persons who are Directors or Trustees of the Organisations I served. I loved listening to directors deliberate on matters laid before them and how they make strategic decisions. My admiration spurred my desire to want to understand Board Dynamics, Management decision-making processes, business projections and business strategy.
An opportunity became open for me to apply for an Executive Master in Business Administration with the Lagos Business School, and I took it. I went through the preliminary stages of the Test, the Interview and the waiting period which ended on the evening of the 9th February 2023 when I received a call, informing me that I was granted admission into the Executive Masters in Business Administration Set 28, also known as the EMBA28.
My excitement soon turned to trepidation, when I was further informed that I had to join the Class the next day or risk having my admission rescinded! My fears increased when I discovered that I had missed four Sessions- the realisation put me off-balance, but nothing prepared me for my experience the next day.
You see, I always assumed that my role and experience as a Company Secretary/ Executive Assistant was sufficient to provide context to new learnings, but alas, how I was so wrong! My first class was Corporate Finance Accounting and although I understood some of what was being taught, most of it sounded like an alien language. The lecturer, Prof. Akintola Owolabi simplified the class but my mind went blank. My mind also wandered when Prof. Bongo Adi lectured on Probability soon after. I was temporarily depressed! I asked myself, how was that even possible?
It was obvious, the lecturers did a brilliant job of simplifying the Courses for the benefit of their students who didn’t have any background in Finance but my saturated mind couldn’t help it. This experience taught me a valuable lesson, which I intend to apply for the duration of my study at the Lagos Business School. It was then that I understood, that sometimes, our roles in our respective places of work become a routine that we do not have any place for new learning. Because the Accountant or the Audit team did the work, I have never had cause to ask them how they arrived at certain decisions. What I knew was peripheral- if at all- part of Accounting, yet, financial statements were part of the documents I reviewed quarterly! That wasn’t good!
Our lecturers were tutoring us on the “nervous system”, and the “back-end operations” of the basis of strategic decisions, the qualities I admired of my Directors. Yours truly, decided, with a better understanding that it was time for a change. I understood that to be successful in my learning, I would have to unlearn most of what I thought I knew. I would have to allow my mind to become a sponge, to squeeze out what I knew, and like in osmosis, absorb new learnings albeit all Courses for the first year of the academic session, not being my core area of practice.
The best of me has begun unfolding and the saying, the more you know, the less you know, was never truer! Journey with me… #EMBA28
Reflection on Choices