(click to download)
I'm a huge proponent of business school because the experience is like no other. The diversity of people, classes, and opportunities is surreal. The possibilities in business school are infinite; MBAs are more likely to start companies, travel to multiple countries, and meet global thought leaders than I think any other grad programs allows.
The two greatest lessons I learned in business school weren't from classes; they came from my classmates challenging me to be my best and me challenging myself. My MBA taught me:
1. how to think bigger and
2. how to communicate complex ideas
For all those being admitted to B-school, congrats!!!
My MBA Action Plan is the tool I created and used to keep me focused on the reasons I chose to go to business school and what I wanted to get out of the two years. I hope this tool blesses you and helps you make the most out of your MBA experience in the same way it did for me.
Jullien,
Thanks. Awesome idea! Awesome tool!
I am going to start my bschool journey this fall. Your tool is going to help many like me.
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@k
hey julien, this is an awesome tool. I'm going to use it all the time (I hope)
Jullien, I found your action plan on another blog. You were an inspiration for them so for that I applaud you.
Your plan is a terrific starting point and I think it has potential to do a lot of good.
I hope you don't mind me sharing my comments with you. 1st - I think your plan is a great start. I would encourage your large network of friends to make suggestions for the model and continuously update it. I think it could be a very valuable tool (and more meat for a book ?) if you could expand it to a dozen worksheets, room to print them and fill them in as well as download and modify.
My suggestions are: the action steps below the goals are far too broad and each could have an overwhelming amount of activities.
I would focus on moving from an outline to grid where you can determine and focus on the areas that overlap several goal. For example an inner circle encompassing the corners of 4 goals. You could do some nice graphics on this - for fun - that when people print out can be useful for visual learners.
Also, on the 3rd page where you have the interview questions for 1st and 2nd year students - I would ask those questions of 3 year previous alums to determine whose wisdom was the best in hindsight. Also, ask the professors, and not over lunch. Their answers will give you insight into their souls as well as their priorities.
You could really create a useful, downloadable, workbook for MBA candidates in their 1st term. Of course, on the revenue generating side, once you hit 20 pages of really good stuff and got some schools linking to it, you could offer the download for $10 and give the proceeds to your favorite non-profits.
Complete action plans, from yourself and friends are needed too. This would be both the initial plan and a retrospective of how it worked, what went wrong, what you would do again.
Your site is great. Your network looks wonderful. I like that you share so much of yourself.
Good luck.
Jill Roy Jolley, www.jillsconsultantlist.com