I just got my final marks from all my courses, and so I officially have all the credits needed to graduate from the MBA!  Fun ride, probably the best two years of my life. It was full of learning, new friends, connections and a lot of Schuligan shenanigans!

I’m taking this time to reflect on some of the bigger a-ha moments from the program.  The MBA was an incredibly different experience for me as compared to my undergrad at Waterloo, and I’m proud to say I put a lot of effort into making it a useful and productive time. 

As I reflect on my top 5 lessons learned list, I realize that these are not difficult things to know, but the MBA has helped me internalize these lessons which is very different from simply understanding them.  So without further ado, here are the top 5 things I learned from the MBA (in no particular order).

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

This is borrowed from Peter Drucker and it has become my favorite motto in business.  Strategy is useless without a strong culture to back it up.  It’s like having the recipe for delicious barbeque chicken without any of the ingredients. 

For the most part, I think business strategy is a lot less complicated than it is made out to be, finding the answer is relatively easy, doing the action is much harder.  In his book Hidden Value, Jeffrey Pfeffer discusses many organizations with relatively simple strategies such as Southwest Airlines (no frills air service), NUMMI (people centered vehicle manufacturing) and SAS (best customer service in software).  The strategies are easy to understand, and difficult to imitate.  Imitating or recreating culture is incredibly difficult because it requires commitment, values and dedication, which many leaders seem to lack.

Finally, a strong culture will ensure that strategy is emergent because you are listening and leveraging the power of all your people.  The best ideas don’t come from the leaders, they come from the experience and understanding of the front line employees.

Success of the Highest Order is Achievable

During my time at Schulich I had the pleasure of meeting some incredibly successful, and rich people.  They were generally very smart, but I was not once blown away by anyone or made to think, they are WAY better than me. 

These are ordinary people that through a combination of hard work, good luck, talent, passion and determination were able to reach extreme success.  Some of these people include the CFO of RBC, Janice Fukakusa, SVP of tc.media Pierre Marcoux, many senior consultants from firms such as Deloitte, CGI, Ernst&Young, incredibly talented and successful professors, as well as CEO’s of various smaller organizations.  The bottom line is there is nothing obviously different between me and them, so if I have the same ambition and drive along with some good fortune I can reach the same level of success. 

The most consistent point of difference was in passion, they have found it and pursued it with dedication, and I have only recently discovered my career passions.  This goes across every commencement speech I’ve heard and it is the most common advice from people of great success, see JK Rowling and Steve Jobs in two of the most famous speeches.

Networking is King

An obvious statement no doubt but one that I am still struggling to fully appreciate.  Networking is the key for research, job opportunities, career advancement and power. 

I have increased my network by at least five times through the MBA, I now know people in just about every industry from management consulting and investment banking to CPG, healthcare and human resources.  It might seem like a useless metric but since the start of the MBA, my LinkedIn connections have increased by over 300, my Facebook friends have increased by about 350 and my phone book has exploded.

I’m looking forward to the day when all my new friends are running incredibly successful business :) 

Leadership is Complex

Not just complicated but complex.  I learned the difference in first term and it is a good distinction.  Complicated means it is confusing but it can be known, complex means it is too dynamic to ever be known fully. 

Steve Jobs was insane, a perfectionist and a mean asshole, but he was also brilliant and able to motivate people in an almost cultish fashion.  He led the resurrection of Apple to make it the most valuable company in the world, but he broke all the rules of standard leadership along the way.  Rob Ford, currently Mayor of Toronto is another example of a leader that is not at all the typical leader.  He’s not charming or a good communicator, he’s fat and ugly, but he is able to connect with people and has consistently been a public figure with high approval ratings (until most recently).

I’m not Steve Jobs or Rob Ford, but I have no doubt I am a strong leader.  I had incredible success as President of the Schulich Association of Management and Organizational Studies, and I believe it had a lot to do with enabling my team.  In the theme of this blog and the concept that culture beats strategy, my idea of leadership is centered around enabling others to be the best they can be. 

Business is Far More Competitive than Engineering

Getting into Waterloo was much more difficult than getting into Schulich, but being successful at Schulich was much more difficult than being successful at Waterloo.  This extends into post-graduation as well because the barrier to entry is higher in Engineering. 

There is far more competition and far less to differentiate between people in business.  An engineering degree says you have the technical ability that no other degree can provide.  A business degree says you have a strong understanding of business fundamentals, but so do a lot of other people including economics majors, psychology majors, marketing majors etc. 

Other than finance and accounting, most MBA positions don’t require significant technical knowledge and they can be learned by reading the top 2 or 3 books on the topic.  This ties perfectly with all the other lessons learned, because it is difficult to define and codify success in business.  There is no easy way to create a great culture, or be a good leader.  There is a reliance on relationships and success is a result of much more than technical ability.  Intangibles are king in business and that makes it extremely competitive. 

Schulich is an Incredible Community

As a bonus sixth lesson, I absolutely loved my time at Schulich, becoming involved in the community and attending all the “networking” events.  It’s an incredible bunch of people with strong values and a real sense of camaraderie.  Much thanks to all those who I’ve met through the program for making it an incredible ride!  That is the legacy of Schulich and it will be what I remember 30 years from now.

More Reading

My thoughts on employee engagement

My thoughts on why executives fail at creating great cultures

Why valuing employees is the first step in the value chain