The FINANCIAL — My friend Sarah just got admitted to the MBA (Master of Business Administration) program at Harvard Business School (HBS).
Congratulations Sarah! The reason why she was admitted to HBS is because he has done truly amazing things in her still relatively short life: she started a malnutrition program in Uganda, worked with the United Nations in Laos, graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard College, and worked at a prestigious management consulting firm after college. The MBA program at HBS is a truly amazing problem, but I know what you’re thinking: what if I am not like Sarah? Don’t worry, even if you don’t have the opportunity to study at a world class business school, you can still get pretty much the same skills an MBA graduate would get. How? By building your own mini-MBA.
A mini-MBA can be built from your bedroom, using the amazing resources that are available for eager learners online. While you may miss the experience of being in a classroom with your fellow students, you will be able to build a learning experience that is much more focused and specific than a traditional MBA: you can choose what you want to learn.
A very good place to start is EdX (www.edx.org). Originally started as a partnership between Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, twelve universities from all over the world now offer free online courses on this platform. While the course offerings are still relatively few – 33 courses are now being offered – they are highly interactive: you will actually be able to work with university instructors who will answer your questions and grade your assignments. You will also be given an “X” certificate from the university whose course you are taking.
Another excellent starting place for your mini-MBA is Coursera (www.coursera.org), which started at Stanford University. With 370 free courses, it offers something for everyone. The key at Coursera is not interacting with university instructors, but with your peers, while course syllabi and materials come from renowned universities. Some of the courses that may be interesting for your mini-MBA include offerings such as “An Introduction to Operations Management”, “Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence”, “Introduction to Finance”, “Startup Engineering”, and “Competitive Strategy”, amongst others.
If the prospect of going through these courses alone frightens you, it may help to start a study group with your friends or colleagues. While these online courses do offer you the option of interacting with your coursemates online, studying together with people you actually know might help you stay motivated and work through difficult material together. Make it a habit to meet once or twice a week, and talk through the course materials together.
There are also a ton of other good materials out there. Fred Wilson at avc.com (http://www.avc.com) for example, has a great series called “MBA Mondays” (click on the button at the top of the page). This is a series of longer blog posts about the basics of entrepreneurship, with a focus on high-growth technology startups and the venture capital business, but the lessons apply to any business. If you’re interested in a specific industry, make sure to look for the places online where people in your industry gather – often you’ll be able to learn a lot by just reading popular blogs about your industry.
Yes, the traditional MBA offers a lot of value, but you don’t have to miss out if you are not enrolled in an MBA program. There is a plethora of information and courses available online that can help you build your own mini-MBA and develop yourself professionally.
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