I’ve always dreamed of becoming a billionaire to run my own business. Having enough money to buy a Lamborghini without having any second thoughts. But then it occurred to me that there is a lot of demanding work involved before I realize my aspirations. The answers aren’t all peaches & cream, but this doesn’t mean there is no hope left.
The interesting part is that in this era, there is no need to experience everything ourselves. There are lessons gleaned from successful people around us. From a distance, it seems like there are a lot of lessons we can all take away from business schools, such as those that emphasize planning and making informed decision-making.
Regardless of how well the professors teach, they cannot instill in us everything. At the end of the day, there will still be some things they don’t teach you in business school. Sure, you can ask a few questions before joining a medical school or even an engineering degree, but this doesn’t mean that you’ll earn a lot of success early in life.
I am extremely sorry to murder your sweet dreams, but getting an MBA degree alone won’t be a ticket to your success. But the prudent choice you made by reading this blog will indubitably make your wallet a tad bit heavier. But in terms of lessons learned, you’ll get to know what things you need to consider if you’re willing to start a business or work for a budding startup.
Lessons Learned Outside the Business School
1. How to Act Like a Leader?
Some say that leaders are born, while others say that leaders are borne of the circumstances they face while pursuing their grand dreams. According to a survey conducted by Harvard Business Review, out of the top 100 best-performing CEOs, only 24% hold an MBA degree.
For a leader to be successful, there are leadership skills which cannot be learned in a classroom. You must move out of the classroom to know your strengths and weaknesses.
2. Not Everything Can be Solved on Paper
There is no single way to success. In a business school, you’re taught theories and principles from highly successful brands. While it is okay to know what worked for them, it is also important to know that it might work for you.
To succeed in business, you need to move away from paper and do some practical work. On the long arc of life, you’re either falling backward or falling forward. You must figure out everything that comes to you.
3. How to Develop & Forge Good Relationships?
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” ~African Proverb
In life and business relationships lead to more sales. If you take some time to build your soft skills, your business will grow. In a business school, you’ll learn a lot about principles, theories, and even how to grow your numbers to maximize your sales. But hardly anyone will teach you about forging relationships and closing more sales.
Until you meet great people you won’t learn tricks of the trade. Meeting people will help you to learn how to interact with people and attract them towards you without freaking them out.
4. How to Start a New Business?
A business school will teach you how to do research, how to make a budget, choose a great business idea, and so on. Despite lessons learned, starting a business is more about generating an idea. Do you have to learn how to build a billion-dollar business without spending time? And they don’t teach you this in high school.
To build a successful brand, you can start in your parents’ basement, but to grow your startup from zero to a billion dollar you need to learn from people and successful businesses around you.
Know people so they can invest in your business and make you a millionaire. And for that, you need to learn everything outside the business school.
5. Get Great at Instant Problem Solving
Business models are important. But sometimes it takes more than a set of rules to grow your business. When the conventional wisdom ends, there lies an opportunity for an Entrepreneur to surpass their limits and make something worthwhile.
Business schools teach you about following rules and solving each problem with the help of a business model. While in real life there is no one way to solve a problem. Good businesses solve problems faster than their competitors.
At times the usual solution doesn’t work and then what businesses do is think outside the box, and successful businesses even reward their employees for solving creative problems. Nothing of this sort is taught in business schools.
6. Taking Risks is Prohibited
MBA programs are designed in a way which limits the ability to take risks. If you take risks, you’ll fail, and failing is not an option in a business school. But without failing you cannot succeed. When it comes to weighing opportunity over potential failure, you are bound to follow certain rules and formulas in a business school.
While if you don’t take risks how will you explore the depth of your pond? Unless you’re comfortable living in a shared apartment you must choose from your comfort zone & start taking risks.
7. How to Whip the Office Politics?
Regardless of how good you are as a human being, there will always be some black sheep around you. Mostly, business schools will teach you a lot about SOPs and the internal workings of an office, but what they don’t teach is how to deal with mongrels? Starting from the top-level management right to the low-level employee, this is one thing that you can only learn on the go.
It is up to you. You can either create an environment of fun or you can create a never-ending cycle of problems and challenges.
How to Outdistance Your Competitors Without Killing Them?
While you’re in a business school competition keeps you alive. You’re motivated to stay ahead of the curve and get good grades. But it doesn’t teach you how to utilize your strengths & overcome your weaknesses. Despite crying real-life competition will teach you how to survive and do head-to-head competition.
1. Stop Being Logical & Start Trusting Your Instincts
“Never discredit your gut instinct. You’re not being paranoid. Your body can pick up vibrations, some better than others, and if something deep inside you says something’s not right about a person or situation, trust it and keep pushing.” Anonymous
Ultra-successful entrepreneurs would prioritize their instincts over anything else. Your intuition will realize the vibrations and make course corrections along the way. While pursuing an MBA program, there are lessons learned in the books. But apart from the books, sometimes you need to trust your guts and take guidance from a higher power.
2. Goal Setting
While in an MBA program the only goal you need to worry about getting higher grades than your friends, in business you must sit down and make some long-term goals. Goal setting makes you accountable and ensures that everyone in the team is going in the same direction. With a single business goal, there is more chance of succeeding than just getting good grades in your MBA course.
The End
“Imagine if you will be being on your deathbed – And standing around your bed – the ghosts of the ideas, the dreams, the abilities, the talents given to you by life.” – Les Brown
I am sure you’re not planning to die with your song buried in your heart. If you’re serious about leaving a legacy behind, start learning and get ready to embrace every setback you get in life.
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