my EMBA Chronicle

If you are thinking about going back to school to get an EMBA — be prepared for challenge.  After being in my profession for fifteen years, I did not realize how accustomed I’ve become to “getting it” and being able to speak the language of my business.  I can navigate my environment, I know my customers and I’m used to getting results.

This week I realized that succeeding in an EMBA program requires something different from how I succeed in my job.  I’ve struggled a bit in the past two weeks trying to keep the theories of economics and accounting straight and to put the learning into practice.  I’m accustomed to thinking big and believing that I can do almost anything.  And so this week, school is teaching me to accept my limitations.  I’m learning about moments of fail.

I know that I do not have the natural inclination for economics or accounting.  While this program is giving me a solid foundation and good understanding of both disciplines, it is unlikely that I’ll be an expert — or have the mastery to pursue a career in either field.  And I certainly will not be skating through graduate school with straight A’s.  As I reflect on it, these are not really moments of fail…but moments of great discovery.  Time to dust myself off and move on.

Discovering great art in Schaffhausen

Now that we’ve started the second module I can really see the building blocks of Loyola’s EMBA program.  Some connections are more obvious — economics parallelling and expanding on the lessons in accounting.  While others take less obvious path to connectivity like the ways data warehouse and analysis tools support strategy planning and assessment.

This week’s reading for economics class had a focus on pricing strategies took me right back the days of the residency in September.  As part of the residency, we participated in BSG — the Business Strategy Simulation.  With our class divided into teams, we used this web-based tool to execute production and business plans for a fictitious company.  After each BSG session, results were tallied and we were able to see our company rise (or fall) based on the actions of competitors.  It was intense, challenging and fun.  And at the time, I realized just how much learning I had ahead of me.

As I read this week’s economics assignments, I understand more fully the flaws in my team’s BSG strategies — if only I had taken economics before the residency!

http://www.sodahead.com/question/148143/its-a-block-party/