A Corporate Monk who traded a premium SUV for Executive Education!

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever”, said Mahatma Gandhi.

In essence, education is eternal and a continuous process.

For most of the corporate executives formal education in terms of going back to college stops especially for those who have gathered more than 15+ years of experience. While education on account of daily job continues by virtue of undertaking new initiatives, projects and assignments, there seems to be an inertia to take a break either for a short or an extended period of time to go back to the college.

There is never a dearth of reasons for not going back to the college. Infact, there could be zillions of them. Common ones are usually :

• Ah! Its difficult to take a break from work.
• Oh! I Am past the age to go back to college.
• Ouch! It is too expensive.
• Hmm! Will it really help me in getting a break?
• Ha ha! I didn’t qualify for an admission at an IVY League Institute. Will I really qualify?
• No, its difficult to convince spouse and children to invest in one’s own education.
• Actually, I need the money to buy so and so. Its difficult to make the sacrifice!

 Sounds familiar?!.

I confronted these questions; debated them thoroughly and eventually took the plunge in favor of Executive Education. I sacrificed the choice of buying a Premium SUV in favor of Executive Program in Management (EPM) at Columbia Business School.

In my evaluation, the perceived benefits far outweighed sacrifices. My decision was based on following aspects

1. Skills upgrade – We live in a world where everything needs an upgrade – Computer, Tablet, Phone, Car, House, Lifestyle and so on. Similarly our skills need an upgrade too. Our employability in an organization primarily emanates from the skills inventory we bring to the table. If we are not up to date with them, how can our compensation be. It’s a general practice that we tend to apply frameworks, especially in the field of Management, that we learnt at business school several years ago.

These have changed over a period of time and we need to be in tune with such changes. For eg The sustainable competitive advantage in the current world is no more sustainable. The Core competence could be transient and needs to evolve with time. This has been a big learning for me at the EPM Program

 2. Career Pit Stop – All of us need a pit stop to take a retrospective and prospective view of our careers, our leadership and interpersonal skill sets. While some of us are equipped to do that precisely, most of us need professional help. The professional help is available in the form of self assessments through a set of questionnaires that are carefully developed by experienced career coaches and teachers. These not only provide a perspective of individual skills but also compare them with regards to others and provide insights on our competitive positioning and standing.

The concept of Career Pit Stops being facilitated by organizations is becoming a passé. Hence the onus is on self to manage the careers rather than depend on the organization to do so. The career pit stops also help in preparing for the world that has already transitioned from the concept of a ‘stable career path’ to ‘a series of gigs’. 

3. Ivy League Education – This is remarkably different from the rest, not because of the brand name. It is purely on account of the pedagogy. Professors at Ivy League adopt experiential learning developed on account of their hands-on practice and consulting experience with global organizations. Thus, most of them are authors of best selling books not on account of their writing skills but on the account of simple practical insights they bring to the picture, that are completely aligned with ‘on the ground’ situations.

4. Global Networking – Several of the executive education programs offer benefits that are not just comparable to alumni benefits, but are on par. The prospect of featuring in Columbia’s global alumni directory and access to fellow alumni across the Earth, either through online portal or through an offline club was a big benefit and keep for life. However, realizing the benefits of alumni networking requires efforts and intelligent outreach and not just cold emailing.

Its like having a Porsche in the garage. We will realize the power of Porsche only when we know technical driving. If we don’t know driving, we cant blame Porsche as a lousy car. The same analogy applies to alumni networking and realizing benefits there upon.

Obviously, time will only tell if my decision of sacrificing a SUV was a prudent one or not! If the decision is not a prudent one, the sobriquet ‘Corporate Monk’ will be apt for me as I have not only forgone a SUV but also the possibility of horse powering my career forward.

Cheers

Rajesh