Student Experience, Action Learning, MBA – Page 9

It’s been 100 days since I embarked on this journey called the “MBA” at Asia School of Business. Life has been a constant roller coaster, and I have been deeply challenged to rethink the way I work and engage with others. In just 100 days, my perspectives about leadership, friendship, teamwork, culture and strategy have shifted. Here are 10 key takeaways that have impacted me the most:

1. It’s not about me, but the team.

The work will only be as strong as the team, so invest heavily in building trust and understanding within the team. Take extra effort to understand your teammates, as understanding fosters trust, and trust creates results.

2. I don’t need to always be right.

I am among talented people who have abundant knowledge and experience. What I bring to the table is only a fraction of our combined talent. I need to be ready to put aside my ego and experience, to listen and to follow.

3. Ask, even if it makes me look like a fool.

I would rather ask my burning question and be a fool for a day than remain silent and be a fool forever.

4. There is a bigger game, and it’s not about the grades.

Sure, grades can be an indication of how much I have been learning. However, there are other skills more difficult to attain than going through my professors’ slides and textbooks. Skills like communication, leadership, teamwork, building a strong team through culture, listening, developing empathy and executive presence, networking, building friendships, and so forth. Focus on those.

5. Be okay with feeling average and mediocre.

If I am not the smartest one in the room, that means I have a lot more room to learn and grow, and isn’t that a wonderful place to be?

6. It’s okay to not be the hero.

I don’t need to be the one with the best idea. I don’t even need to be the one in the limelight. Not having the best idea or being in the limelight does not diminish my worth or my strengths in any way.

7. Be unapologetic about rest and do what recharges me.

There will always be more articles to read, emails to send, parties to attend and group discussions to have. Nobody will die or catch fire if I do not immediately attend to any of them. I need to prioritize my rest and recharge because that is something only I can do for myself. My effectiveness in resting determines my effectiveness in my work.

8. Be militant about how I deploy my energy and focus.

The only currency I have is energy. It is perishable and can never be regained if I were to waste it. With how scarce energy is, I need to ensure I maximize it. I aim to find balance and be careful about how I spend my energy and focus.

9. Spend time with people who tell you the truth and build you up.

Not everyone is interested in that. One of the key purposes of doing an MBA is to find comrades who are aligned and willing to give honest (and sometimes painful) feedback. They ask good, piercing questions with the intent of supporting, building and developing me. They are interested in understanding my intentions and perspectives. They are quick to encourage but slow to criticize, quick to provide honest feedback and slow to express anger and impatience.

10. Relax

It’s not the end of the world. Find joy in every situation. Be ever-ready to lean back and laugh. Take a chill pill; no one is going to die. Enjoy the journey and savor every moment. This is just the first 100 days. Who knows what else is in store? I can’t wait to see how life unfolds, the kinds of friendships that will form and deep conversations that will take place. So come at me, life. I welcome you with open arms.

Here’s to exponential growth and transformation!

Do you know how much time a manager spends usually on dealing with people aspects versus dealing with technical aspects of their job? Depending on the seniority of the role, anywhere between 60%-80%! And why is that? Well, it turns out that the job is simple, but people are not! The truth is that managing people is a hard job, especially in a highly heterogenous global environment, defined by multiple generations and perspectives (ok boomer?).

But also, in actuality, most of the global education system places a higher value in teaching technical skills such as such as finance, accounting, statistics, mathematics, coding, machine learning, engineering, etc. (otherwise known as hard skills). However, it turns out that what’s really hard is managing diverse teams, navigating competing perspectives and cultures, handling and delivering critical feedback, dealing with office politics, etc. (otherwise known as soft skills).

This reality brings up a difficult challenge to educators around the world: how to prepare market ready graduates that can easily navigate between soft and hard skills, or how we call them at ASB, smart (soft) and sharp (hard) (read more on MIT Sloan Experts). So, how does ASB prepare the MBA graduates with an education that makes them transformative, principled market ready leaders, that balances smart and sharp skills and provides a more holistic education?

The answer comes in the form Action Learning and how we imbedded this methodology of learning in action in our curriculum, a feature for which PoetsandQuants considered us the most innovative MBA in the world. The intense ASB action learning curriculum provides our students productive opportunities to engage, each of the 5 semesters with partner companies all across the region and beyond in month long projects of various range and focus.

As an ASB MBA student, you could end up with 5 different projects, in 5 different companies, in 5 different teams and even possible in 5 different countries. So far at ASB, we had over 237 projects with 127 companies in 22 countries across the world. Why do we think this is valuable? “Because to develop transformative leaders, we have to create a transformative experience, so every semester has to include an experience that students have not had before,” says Prof. Loredana Padurean, the Faculty Director for Action Learning.

“To create market-ready leaders, we have to expose students to those experiences as early as possible. To teach principles, we have to allow them to observe principled leaders in action. And to teach managers how to manage people, we have to expose them to as many types of people and management styles as early and as much as possible. Read more about Action Learning at ASB on the AACSB website.

The ASB students

But who are these ASB students? To start with, they come from over 26 countries from all over the world, have an average professional experience of 5-7 years, and along with the ASB MBA they get to study at MIT Sloan for one month and obtain a Certificate of Completion from MIT upon finishing the MIT Sloan Immersion Program. After graduation, many of them chose to stay in SE Asia and join various companies such as AirAsia, Petronas, Maybank, CIMB, but also choose international careers with McKinsey, Esquel, Microsoft and more.

Thanks to the generous ASB corporate partners, many of these extraordinary students are sponsored by companies from Malaysia, SE Asia and beyond because they recognize the need for a sustainable pipeline of talent market ready talent. If you are interested to learn more about how to sponsor a student in the MBA program, contact us at partners@asb.edu.my.

Why host an Action Learning project at ASB?

Donald Lim, CEO of Hotel Equatorial, a returning host company for the third time, said, “We are facing the same problem (but) in a very different perspective because the ground is shifting. (And) because the ground has shifted, we’ve got to recalibrate again. And this is where the students’ perspective is so valuable.” Host companies, Donald believes, need to have an open mind to benefit most from Action Learning.

“At the office level, we’re doing the same thing every day. This whole exercise of being back in a classroom-type lab is very helpful to me.” Another happy consequence of Action Learning, as Prof. Charles Fine, ASB President put it, is the “mini-MBA” that participants from host companies receive. “The people in your organization who work with our students are going to get exposed to a broad range of the curriculum that our students do.”

Working in new environments is not without its challenges and it stretches the ASB students’ capacity to balance the smart and sharp skills in action. Prof. Fine has three nuggets of advice for the new Action Learning hosts.

1. Be ever-ready for change

“One thing we’ve learned about AL projects is that they are unpredictable. Although all projects begin with a project description, none of those project descriptions will come true because organizations and the world are in a constant state of flux. What is important is to find a balance while navigating changes, and to focus on learning something new.”

2. Maintain a practical mind-set

“In Action Learning projects, you never get nice neat tables of data.” That’s why is important for students to learn how to find a balance between “the great analysis we’d love to do” and what is practical using the data currently available. Similarly, students will need to navigate wisely through differing points of view. “Welcome to the real world. You’ll never get 100% alignment from all stakeholders but we still have to decide.” Ultimately, “we want students to be responsive to all the advice they get, sift through, make sense of them and go ahead and do something productive.”

3. Learn to bridge cultural differences

Especially in initial Action Learning projects, Prof. Fine noted, “it takes time for everybody to learn how to interpret the statements of others.” The diversity in ASB’s student body and Action Learning host companies often results in people from 3 or more continents sitting at the same table—while it can pose a challenge at first, it’s also a unique learning experience for all.

To Johan Khoo a very prominent industry leader and one of ASB’s student business coach, believes that the value of Action Learning comes from the breadth of experience available. “I’ve been a consultant for over 20 years so I’ve seen a lot of business issues; but I’ve seen more types of business issues in the (past) year-and-a-half than I could ever expect because of the breadth of the Action Learning program across the region and in a variety of industries,” he shared.

Offering an academic perspective, Prof. Renato Lima de Oliveira, Assistant Professor of Management at ASB, enjoys the unconventionality of Action Learning as a learning tool. “We have the world as a classroom!” he enthused, referencing past projects at supermarkets in Thailand and banks in Myanmar, among others. As faculty, his job is to ensure that the project deliverable is academically sound as well as business-relevant.

Speaking from a student’s perspective, Alex Snedeker, an alumna of ASB’s inaugural MBA Class of 2018, shared how Action Learning dramatically shifted her US-centric world-view. Her Action Learning project in Bangkok with the Acuvue brand transformed the way Alex perceived the contact lens market in Thailand, which is drastically different from back home in the US. “There’s no way to learn these dynamics any other way than going on the ground.”

Alex also highlighted another benefit of Action Learning—as a connector between students and companies. “These companies are test driving you,” she reminded students. “Action Learning projects are excellent opportunities for students to discover their passions and culture fit, and for companies to find the talent they need.”

The Action Learning Symposium

Each semester at ASB (usually December and April of each year) ends with the flagship event – the Action Learning Symposium, an event that celebrates the successful completion of these challenging action learning projects. Here students, current hosts, potential and future hosts and various friends and sponsors of ASB, gather to learn more about this innovative learning process, observe the evolution of our students in action and engage in future project discussions.

As I sat in class, looking at several different faces from different countries, terrifying thoughts ran through my head. Have I made the right choice? Do I really fit in? Am I really sure that this is what I want to do? Then she walked in, aiming a beautiful smile at every one of the 36 students from 16 countries sitting in the class. She stood in front of the class, looking at us for a while, then greeted us.

“Good morning, class, my name is professor Loredana Padurean, Faculty Director of Action Learning.” Those words came to my ears with a sense of assurance, and at that point I knew why I was here and why this was the right place for me. That was my first day in class as an MBA student at the Asia School of Business (ASB) in Malaysia.

By the end of class that day, I walked out with an absolute conviction that I had made the right choice and that I was in the right place specifically designed for me. My colleagues on whose faces I had read uncertainty, doubt and unanswered questions were equally excited, walking with so much confidence radiating from their faces. Yes, there is a place for everyone and there is a place for unconventional people, I told myself.

Sometimes in life, we struggle so much to change ourselves just to fit into others’ definitions of what an ideal person is. The results are always devastation, dissatisfaction and self-hatred. We hate ourselves because of someone’s perception about us. We live a fake life just trying to please the people around us or trying to meet the standards set for us by society. How perfect are those who define these standards?

How good are those who tell us how to live our lives? How fair is it for our society to determine for us how we should live our lives? Looking back at the journey of my life so far, I found that I have struggled to maintain my identity. By establishing who I am and what I stand for, I lost a lot of friends and parted ways with loved ones and business partners. However, I am glad I held on to my values.

I am happy I lost those friends, loved ones and business partners, because it gave me the opportunity to further discover and embrace myself. Nothing is worse than losing yourself and changing yourself in order to fit someone’s definition of anything. To anyone out there who is still struggling to figure out their true identity and still living by the standards set for them by others: know that you are you.

You are not like anybody and nobody is like you. You are unique. You are special. Your life is more important than what others think about you. Don’t worry, it’s okay to be stupid, confused, or arrogant. It’s okay to not be beautiful or loving. You know why? Because nothing has meaning apart from the meaning you give to it. Define your own standards. Assign your own meaning to each action and stand by it. Very soon, you will know that there is a right place waiting for you.

I have found that there is a place for extraordinary and unconventional people. I found the right place for me and that is ASB. Thank you ASB for showing me that there are others like me and there is a place in Malaysia for us. Thank you Sean Ferguson for finding me. Thank you Loredana Padurean for inspiring us and giving us the tools to uncover ourselves. Thank you ASB for welcoming us.

“I got my first job during a short plane ride from Zimbabwe to South Africa,” Tawanda Mutsopotsi, a recent Class of 2019 graduate, says. “I sat next to this guy and we started talking about the economy, sports, and politics. He asked me what I wanted to do and I said ‘banking,’ and he asked, ‘Have you considered working in this country?’” For most people, this kind of conversation is a rare stroke of good luck.

But for Tawanda, whose classmates gave him the superlative “world’s best networker,” opportunities seem to arise with every new connection that he makes. For example, during his off-hours on an Action Learning project in Indonesia, Tawanda was approached by a stranger on the golf course who asked to play with him. After conversing for eleven holes, Tawanda was surprised to find a convoy of SUVs approaching them.

He eventually found out that the stranger was a popular presidential candidate in the country, who continues to keep in touch. He also spotted a popular South African politician at his hotel on a trip to Abu Dhabi to watch a Formula 1 race. Though his friends advised him to “not embarrass himself,” he walked up to the politician’s entourage and made small talk.

He was not only invited to watch the race from the VVIP area, but got the politician’s direct phone number in case he later needed a job. In fact, his first post-MBA job offer came through this chance meeting. Some people seem to be born with a natural talent for networking, while others struggle to make connections that last. But despite appearing to be a “natural,” Tawanda believes networking is a skill that can be learned, and that ASB helped him take his networking game to the next level.

He notes that, during Board of Governor’s meetings or similar events, most MBA students wait with business cards in-hand for their turn at a thirty-second career pitch. By his second semester, he had abandoned this as a networking strategy. Instead, he comes to events without an agenda, later finding the people he’s met on LinkedIn and sending a personalized connection request.

“You start meeting them for drinks or coffee, or a game of golf. You shouldn’t tell them right away that you’re looking for a job. Just by being with them, they get to know your likes, dislikes and aspirations, and they can propose opportunities for you,” Tawanda says. With this advice, he touches on a common theme taught at ASB: the importance of soft skills (we call them “smart” skills). He notes that even those networkers with a great deal of natural ability should continue to actively develop these skills.

Why he’s a natural networker

Tawanda’s practice began early. He grew up in Zimbabwe with six siblings and has always been surrounded by family. Early on, he learned how important it was to have a support system, and seeks out environments that put him in the middle of the action. Because his house was close to Zimbabwe’s main airport, Tawanda first wanted to become a pilot. As he saw flights take off and land each day, he fantasized about being on one of them and traveling to exotic destinations.

Then, in high school, his career goals changed. He grew to admire bankers, if only because he would be able to wear a suit every day. Having landed his first job in the banking sector, he appreciates the knowledge that he’s gained about financial markets, as well as the personal growth he’s experienced. Most of all, he’s appreciated how it has helped him develop his networking skills.

At the bank, half of his job was client-facing, which meant he was meeting or entertaining clients every day. That was when he began networking on a different level. “When you’re growing up, it’s just about making friends and you don’t expect anything to come of it. Now, it’s all about maintaining relationships or gaining new clients on behalf of the bank, but you also gain personal relationships,” he says.

How ASB helped kickstart his career

While he didn’t want to move away from the banking sector completely, he joined ASB’s MBA program to leverage his current financial knowledge and take his career, as well as his professional relationships, to the next level. What first struck him about the program was how diverse the MBA class was. With the Classes of 2019 and 2020 hailing from 29 different countries, he gained a truly global network of friends and colleagues.

His class included people from Brazil to Turkmenistan that he wouldn’t have otherwise met, all with varied expertise that helped him learn unfamiliar subjects more quickly. He was also impressed by ASB’s intensive Action Learning curriculum, which he calls “the heartbeat of the school.” The projects helped fulfill his childhood dream of traveling to places such as Vietnam and Indonesia, all while working on impactful business challenges with companies such as Unilever.

“Every single project teaches you a lot about business culture in Asia,” he says of the Action Learning curriculum. “As a non-Asian, it was a learning experience every day.” Most importantly, through his Action Learning projects, Tawanda learned how to be part of a team. He notes that, though most people label themselves “team players” in cover letters and job interviews, few have experienced what it is like to be part of a highly diverse Action Learning team working in a foreign country. And from a networking perspective, he claims, “ASB was the best decision I ever made.”

Tawanda’s networking advice for MBAs

For incoming students looking to enhance their networking skills, his advice is to not overthink the strategy. While some students are afraid to sacrifice precious networking time to make small talk rather than pursuing their goals, the latter could be more counterproductive in the long run. Instead, he recommends being authentic and approachable.

He believes first impressions are often made based on subconscious “cues” or “vibes,” and that as a result, people who approach relationships with a transactional mindset fall far behind those who are genuine. When Tawanda met his first employer on that long-ago flight to South Africa, he never could have known where he would end up years later. But on the flight, he learned a lesson that he would take with him through his journey at ASB and beyond.

For when he expressed his doubts about getting a visa in the country, the banker laughed and said, “Sometimes you just need to know the right people.”
Tawanda now echoes that advice for those who are just starting their MBA journey at ASB. “Build a bridge all over the world,” he says, “because you can never know when you’ll have to cross it.”

“So, what did you learn from your MBA? Has it transformed you?” I recently graduated from Asia School of Business (ASB), established in collaboration with MIT Sloan, a school globally renowned for both Technology & Management. As someone who has worked with emerging technologies in a top tech firm, I often encounter inquisitive youngsters with similar backgrounds deliberating whether an MBA can add value.

To this, I can say yes, my MBA program has been truly transformational. Through courses such as Building Successful Careers and Organizations, Leadership, Communications, Negotiation, and Ethics & Corporate Accountability, I started reflecting on questions such as the purpose of my life, my values, and my mission. Working on projects with people from diverse backgrounds made me more aware of my working style, strengths, and personality.

This self-realization changed me as I started appreciating and building on skills that I already had. Specifically, the MBA has added value in the following ways:

1. The MBA provided me with exposure to multiple industries and multiple functions.

As someone with a tech background, I didn’t have formal training in Finance, Marketing, Sales, Strategy, Operations, or Managerial Analytics. I not only learned these subjects from some of the best faculty in the world, but also applied this knowledge outside of the classroom.

Through the program, I solved real-world business challenges across several industries in the form of Action Learning projects, which exposed me to the ways in which businesses operate. This exposure, combined with a technical background, gave me a unique skillset that allowed me to design and implement solutions. Not to mention, I could understand the business implications of these technological innovations.

2. The MBA enhanced my ability to work with a diverse group of people.

In my cohort, I had the opportunity to work with students from 16 countries: Canada, Denmark, Ghana, India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Taiwan, Turkmenistan, the United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. The 2020 cohort also included students from countries such as Australia, Botswana, Bosnia, Morocco, the Philippines, and Russia.

I lived and interacted with this diverse group for 20 months, working with them on high-impact projects. From these experiences, I learned the importance of establishing good team dynamics, becoming more adaptable, appreciating different perspectives, integrating cultural differences and becoming more inclusive.

3. The MBA made me a better storyteller.

I gave innumerable presentations and pitches to CEOs, department heads and investors during my courses and projects, becoming a more effective presenter. For example, here is a pitch I gave for a strategy project with Nestlé on YouTube. Of course, those in technical careers also give presentations and deliver trainings. But through my MBA, I was able to present financial projections, business models, and growth strategies using a data-driven storytelling approach.

4. The MBA provided a structure for problem-solving and decision-making.

Throughout the MBA program, I analyzed case studies and learned frameworks that stimulated my thinking. Further, the common practice of cold-calling improved my ability to think on my feet and develop a plan of action with factual support. Tools such as Cluster Analysis and Discriminant Analysis, as well as courses such as System Dynamics and Financial Analytics enabled me to make well-informed decisions and create cost-effective strategies.

Also, courses on Entrepreneurship and Strategy improved my ability to deal with ambiguity and emerge from difficult situations. These days, when discussing the Future of Work, soft skills are often acknowledged as the skills most difficult for machines to replace. At ASB, soft skills are referred to as smart skills.

Through the MBA program, I acquired a lot of these smart skills along with what ASB calls sharp skills. While I believe that techies without an MBA can still acquire these skills, I credit the ASB experience with the transformation I underwent over the last 20 months.

KUALA LUMPUR: Education is an essential foundation for the betterment of the nation, paving the way for future progress, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. “The best investment that can be made is in education. Education raises the potential of the individual through value-added means, which, in turn raises the potential of businesses and economies to perform well,” he said in his speech at the Asia School of Business’ (ASB) Master of Business Administration (MBA) convocation ceremony, here, today.

Read the full article here.
This article was originally published on News Straits Times website.

Category: Student Experience, Action Learning, MBA