The Global MBA versus I !!

For a Business Excellence professional with 11 years of Sourcing, Manufacturing and 6 Sigma flavors already in my experience, the decision to go the MBA way was pretty easily facilitated. I see two ways going from here while pausing at a career junction in my endeavour up the ladder. One is to contemplate lateral or vertical moves to attain soak time in other functions and broaden my domain knowledge. The other, is to go through an accelerated MBA program with high General Management focus which would also likely deliver a similar effect. There are 3 primary areas of comparison, among others that helped me draw my logical conclusion in favor of an MBA.
- both provide experiential learning (one in the real world setting while the other in a simulated learning environment)
- both help building the desired competencies (one needing probably 10~20 drawn-out years while the other needing 1~2 super-challenged years)
- both could pave the way to the top (one on the basis of painfully garnered experience while the other on the basis of it's brand equity opening doors at will)

So the battle has in a way just begun. The study of the Top 50 Schools for fit has already been accomplished and the scope narrowed down to the few target Schools based on a composite set of preferred criteria (see below).
- Total Cost Implications & Affordability
- Brand Equity
- General Management focus & Flexibility
- Program Duration
- Post-program Earnings Capability
- ROI / Pay Back period
- Diversity / International Focus
- Network / Alumni breadth
- Surviving the Rigors of the Program
- Balance with my other extra-academic passions

Before everything, a primary affordability check has been run and the results are delightfully positive and the 5 next actionable steps have been captured, beginning with the GMAT. GMAT preparation to notch a 700 thereabout score has just been launched and honing is underway on my Quantitative skills. An amazing discovery is that I am not dumb as I thought I am and haven't lost my acumen yet. My confidence in the Verbal piece will be upped over the next month or so and a few full-fledged Practice Tests later, will have my GMAT sitting in Mar08. Trying times ahead given that it's been ages since I have laid my mind on rudimentary Mathematics and Grammar and worse still, writing a serious test.

I have also started greasing-up people in my Networks for Reco-readiness and treading a sensitive note here since it involves a few corporate biggies and movers and shakers in my present company. This sure is a long drawn process and calls for the fine art of butter-smooth planning and execution. Everything else about me seems fine, but for the usual adversary .. the lack of sustained focus. Nevertheless, I have lived through this experience a few times earlier, so, I think I can make this tick. I will share insights about my comprehensive plan of action / schedule in a later blog.