Today I had an opportunity to participate in one of @SFUMBA Mock Interview sessions which the Career Management Centre arranges for its students. Interviewing me today was an SFU MBA alumni who had graduated recently and has gone on to work with a local consulting firm. This firm is particularly focussed on communication and public speaking training and so we, the interviewees, were able to receive immediate, constructive feedback on our interviewing ability.
For anyone who has interviewed for a job (that means, um, everyone over 15!), it is a rare, basically unheard of, privilege to be able to hear what the interviewer is thinking about you right away. Without the pressure of a "real" interview (although I'm sure many mock interviews have lead to real jobs), students are able to practice answering the tough requests like "tell me about a time that you really failed" or "tell me about the most difficult interpersonal conflict you've ever had at a job..." Today, I got to hear from the interviewer what he liked about my responses and what could be improved upon. Even more fortunately, this interviewer was an expert at providing feedback. He's trained to listen, observe and keenly attend to my body language, eye contact, hand gestures, the speed of my voice (definitely too fast), and the quality of each response. And, I got to hear all of this feedback right away. He coached me on ways to strengthen my responses and to sell my abilities clearly and honestly.
I don't think that I've ever had such a useful session of feedback. There was no performance review on the line, no promotion at risk, no boss to impress...only this individual observing me, listening to me, critiquing me.
To this man and to the Career Centre staff I say a huge thank you.
One of the career preparation opportunities offered by the @SFUMBA is a Mentorship Program. This program pairs individuals with strong business experience with students from the MBA program who are seeking to expand their networks and gain important guidance and counsel about their careers. Yesterday, I had my first mentorship meeting and have been pondering our discussion.
One of the pieces of feedback I received from my mentor was about the frequency of negative words that I use to describe myself. One of the things that I know about myself is that I have a strong "values radar." When I see something that violates my values, I feel an overwhelming urge to speak up. Unfortunately, this has been difficult in some of my past work experiences. The result of this is to turn what should be a positive attribute (strong values) and turned it into something that I am negative about. "I'm too outspoken, narrow-minded, harsh."
My mentor urged me to attend to this - to consider reframing this sense of values as a positive quality. In her experience, more companies want employees who can bring a strong value set to the work environment.
So, my task for the week (and beyond), is to work to minimize the internal voice that says "you're too x" and instead to view my sense of values as an asset and not a character flaw.
We had a Marketing class yesterday where we discussed a Harvard Business Case on Real Madrid. I guess I thought that I had a sports-filled upbringing living in a house with a father and three brothers who watched EVERY sport on TV (except the girl sports like gymnastics or generally anything with a judge). After reading this case, I realize that I didn't really have it so bad. There are many people who are a lot more sports crazy than my family was...that is, soccer fans.
What was particularly interesting about the Real Madrid case is that the fans of that club (and the same is true for many sports teams' fans), draw no dividing lines between their lives and this brand/team that they love so much. The sports club becomes a part of their cultural DNA. The fans identify so strongly with the given team that they don't know who they'd be with that team. It's a marketers' dream come true. "What would I BE without my Coke or my Apple Computer?"
The excellent film Silver Linings Playbook has a sub-plot about a family's complete commitment to the Philadelphia Eagles. My father was born in Philadelphia and my Grandad would typically include a Phildelphia sports update in the weekly family letter he would mail around; so, I have some familiarity with this kind of team allegiance. But, I don't think I had ever thought that a sports team could have that much influence over a person's life.
The ultimate achievement for a brand is to become so enmeshed with people that they can't imagine themselves without it. There are very few brands that have achieved this kind of sociological status. Certainly the Real Madrid brand can count itself as one.
My MBA Classmate @sophie_collins writes a brilliant food and wine blog called Sip, Savour, Share. http://sipsavourshare.wordpress.com/ Hundreds of readers watch this energetic 20-something cook, travel, drink lovely wine, maintain a beautiful home AND pursue an MBA. When I was her age, I certainly did not have that kind of drive, vision or productivity under my belt. It's truly impressive.
Now, after having been married for 25 years, raising 2 daughters, working in a variety of not for profit organizations in British Columbia, I find myself back at the beginning to an extent. In September, 2012, I began an MBA at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University. As a person born in the last year of the Baby Boomer Generation (oh dear, I've given it away - born in 1964), I am experiencing education from a new point of view.
I hope to use this blog to explore some of the ideas - big and small - that present themselves through this MBA experience. Jettisoning the steady paycheque, the predictability of a working life is certainly a huge challenge. One thing I already know - I hate getting marked. My daughter is not so silently chuckling everytime I gripe about a test or a paper that I think should have been marked higher. "See!" she says, "it's really hard to just 'get over it'!"
Fundamentally, returning to school is about making a decision about priorities. I've always wanted to pursue an MBA - ever since I was 20-something. Only now that I'm almost 50-something am I being given the chance and that's a blessing.
Now, after having been married for 25 years, raising 2 daughters, working in a variety of not for profit organizations in British Columbia, I find myself back at the beginning to an extent. In September, 2012, I began an MBA at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University. As a person born in the last year of the Baby Boomer Generation (oh dear, I've given it away - born in 1964), I am experiencing education from a new point of view. 