#3 - What I want to get from my MBA

Business school and personal development

Like many of my peers, one of the reasons that I am at business school is for personal development. Business school provides a unique opportunity to remove yourself from regular life and spend most of your time interacting with some of the most intelligent, genuine and motivated people I have ever come across. Schools like Kellogg spend a lot of time and resources on developing their students into the leaders of tomorrow and encourage their students to constantly focus on pushing themselves. Opportunities for personal development range from leadership roles in student clubs, to organising events, to just doing something that you find uncomfortable.

Dean Merrick's ask

To ensure that people start thinking about their personal development from day one, many of the sessions during our orientation focused on development. One exercise that everybody had to do was to respond to Dean Merrick's question that “In addition to a job-related goal, what is it that you want to accomplish before you graduate from Kellogg?”.

In one and two years' time, Dean Merrick's office will send our goals back to us, asking us how well we went at achieving these.

What I want to get from my MBA

In the interest of radical transparency, here is a slightly edited version of what I sent in to Dean Merrick.

  • Personal development – I want to become a more confident, people-focused leader
    • Do at least 2 things that makes me uncomfortable each week (at least one in class, one outside of class)
    • Take up one leadership role in a club
  • Social – I want to make strong friendships with a diverse group of people
    • Have a meaningful discussion, every week, with at least one person I have never met before
    • Host a weekly philosophy/life discussion over wine and cheese
    • Eat lunch with someone else everyday
    • Find a girlfriend
  • Health and Fitness – I want to use this time away from work to become fit and healthy
    • Run the 2019 London Marathon in 3.5 hours
    • Meditate each morning for 15 minutes
    • Do 1.5 hours of yoga each week so that I can touch my toes and do a headstand
    • Increase my weight by ~7kg through putting on muscle mass from weight training and Krav Maga

How you can help

I can't achieve these goals on my own. For that, I need your help.

If you're a friend from Kellogg, chase me up on these in person, Put me in touch with your interesting friends and join me in the morning for a jog to the Baha'i temple.

If you a friend who isn't from Kellogg, harass me on facebook and ask me how I am tracking against these goals. Shame me when I'm not working towards my goals and congratulate me when I am.

If any of you also have thoughts on incentive/punishment/accountability structures that I could put in place to make sure that I achieve these goals, please let me know as well!

Ameya Avasare