Wednesday 17 April 2013

What leaving my job for b-school has taught me about "fit"

With an admit in hand, bonus received, and annual review complete - I thought that by this time of the year, I'd slowly be riding off into the sunset of my pre-MBA career.  What I didn't know, but have come to realize, there's a short period - after getting admitted before resigning - that not a lot of people talk about.

I don't think enough gets said about the experience of leaving a job for b-school.  Say this because it would've been nice prepare for the frequent impromptu career discussions with various people, and the very polarized opinions a lot of people have about MBAs.

You learn a lot about people's priorities when talking about careers and going back to school.  I've had people have tell me about the way that their career paths have gone, and even some advice on what jobs to take, or cities to live in.  These are discussions that I appreciate because I'm a huge fan of stories.


Speaking of great stories - I should mention that I love the show Lost.  Its about a group of people brought to an island for a specific purpose, which is to protect the island.  As it turns out, this task is not straight forward - it takes a huge amount of time, several decades actually (and some time travel to boot).  But then as the story concludes, you begin to see that the characters were never really brought to do a job - each one was brought to the island to build a life.

When I talked to people about their careers, a lot of people say they got to a point of inflection - the moment when everything changed and they realize exactly what the characters in 'Lost' did.  At some point, you career becomes less about finding a great job, and more about building a great life.  A great job is a part - but its not the only part.

Now its very possible I could have had these conversations before my departure became public - and maybe that would have changed my career path a bit.  But right now, I'm really embracing the post-MBA advice I've been receiving and hope to post any other gems I uncover soon!