Post MBA career myths- Part 3: The MBA will help you find your dream career
You already had a career. Maybe even two. And yet you haven’t found the work that makes you feel that you’re making a difference, that you have impact. Even if you’re now more experienced and more senior in the corporate world, you question your contribution. And you have a longing to contribute to something bigger than yourself.
The MBA feels like the ticket to your dream career, even if you don’t know (yet) what that is.
A common struggle comes from the tension between thinking you have to choose to be a generalist or to specialise. The likelihood is that if you are one, you will believe you should be the other.
For instance, if you work in sales, you may think that during the MBA you will be exposed to a variety of business subjects and that, in the process, you will figure out which one you like the most so you can specialise in it, thus becoming more fulfilled and successful.
Conversely, if you are in a highly technical role, you may believe the MBA will give you exposure to the wider business landscape and therefore will make you suitable for managerial roles.
Both camps look forward to the second part of the MBA and choosing the elective modules that will give them the insight, answers and key to their dream job.
The MBA doesn’t do that. It tells you how a business works, not how you work. It tells you how the various business functions work together and contribute to the wider business success.
There are two important aspects you need to know about yourself when it comes to deciding what is your dream career:
1) external circumstances that are more likely to help you stay happy from moment to moment (the environment, the people you’re surrounded by, your social network);
2) your willingness to reevaluate and rethink the decisions and experiences you had in the past, in a way that supports new possibilities, not in a way that limits you.
This last one is the hardest. For example, if you come from a family of high achievers who measure success in monetary terms, you will find it very difficult to follow your dream of becoming a professor who maybe earns less but feels fulfilled by their contribution to the future of students they look after. In this case, you need to be aware of what definition of success you adopted from others and how you can redefine it to work for you.
Still, your dream will follow and pester you until you give it the attention it deserves. This is why working with a coach can get you out of the confusion and fog you may experience now, to clarity about what you want and how to get it.
My work with MBA clients focuses heavily on that. If you are serious about figuring out how to get the sense of fulfillment, achievement, and contribution you crave from your career, sign up for one of my strategy sessions.
Here’s what we’ll do during the call:
1. Create a crystal clear picture of the work you want — I’m going to help you uncover with incredible clarity what you want in your career and life, and help you define a simple set of 3–5 goals you can focus on to move towards your dream work and life.
2. Identify the biggest 2–3 obstacles you’ll need to overcome to get there, so that you can be focusing on closing the gaps that keep you stuck in a job you don’t like.
3. Leave the session re-energized, knowing exactly how to shift to a career that excites you and fulfills your aspirations (even if you feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing else has really stuck).
Message me for details on how to sign up.
This is part three of a five part series. Stay tuned for part four which will be tomorrow.
Post MBA career myths- Part 1: The MBA will help you change career
Post MBA career myths- Part 2: The MBA will help you leave a job you hate
