This blog documents my MBA student life at Ryerson University, Canada (2010-2012). It was an attempt to demystify the MBA experience, help understand MBA topics & encourage MBA wannabes. I have a Pre-MBA blog about B-School application process (and a few other blogs) as well. I used to blog actively in the past and interact with readers regularly, but life got very busy after my MBA. Good luck. Take care. Cheers! Gerry.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Economics is sooo much fun !!!
Economic Profit is not the same as Accounting Profit and Economic Investment is not the same as Financial Investment... how do you like that?!
Economics is sooo much fun! I had heard about the term GDP a gazillion times, but finally learnt about it today in class. Economics in many ways teaches you about life and gives you confidence to just... exist in the world full of business jargons. Finally the business section of newspapers make sense. Frikkin' awesome!
Here is an extra nugget (that has a lot of people confused):
Advertising is not the same as Marketing and Accounting is not the same as Book keeping. Yeeee Haw! :)
Economics is sooo much fun! I had heard about the term GDP a gazillion times, but finally learnt about it today in class. Economics in many ways teaches you about life and gives you confidence to just... exist in the world full of business jargons. Finally the business section of newspapers make sense. Frikkin' awesome!
Here is an extra nugget (that has a lot of people confused):
Advertising is not the same as Marketing and Accounting is not the same as Book keeping. Yeeee Haw! :)
"Teach me how" vs "Lemme show you how"
Which of the following two sentences do you like more?
(a) Can you please show me how to do this?
(b) Lemme show you how it is done!
This topic arose during a discussion with my classmate today... We were talking about career choices and options after our MBA program is complete. And the discussion was "What should be our line of thought with regards to career choices in the future?"
Should we pursue the path we had already walked on (building on past education and / or experience) or should we go for a totally new career path and look for new challenges / experiences?
From what I have observed from what some of my classmates and seniors in the MBA program have gone through, it is like this:
(a) Can you please show me how to do this?
If you choose a totally new career path, then, the chances are that you shall land an entry level job and shall start with a small salary or a small internship pay. You shall get the joy and experience of learning on the job, but the cost is that you shall be paid peanuts for it. Some of students from previous batch got into jobs that pay about $5000 for a 4 month internship - that is just $1250 a month (for the internship part)
(b) Lemme show you how it is done!
If you choose a career path based on your previous experience, then, the chances are that you shall land a job contract straight away and shall start with a high salary. Some of the students from the previous batch got into full time jobs straight away after completion of their studies, even before getting their MBA degrees! These students shall make more than $7000 a month + benefits + perks. These students bring in immense experience and expertise to the companies where they shall be working.
So the choice is yours:
- learn new skills but make less money or
- continue using existing skill sets and make more money?
Of course, it is important to continually learn new skills at work and through out life. And I am a huge fan of multi tasking and multiple expertise. But at some point, we have to decide how to steer our careers. Remember that saying "Luck / Success is what happens when preparation meets opportunity!"
Cheers!
Gerry.
(a) Can you please show me how to do this?
(b) Lemme show you how it is done!
This topic arose during a discussion with my classmate today... We were talking about career choices and options after our MBA program is complete. And the discussion was "What should be our line of thought with regards to career choices in the future?"
Should we pursue the path we had already walked on (building on past education and / or experience) or should we go for a totally new career path and look for new challenges / experiences?
From what I have observed from what some of my classmates and seniors in the MBA program have gone through, it is like this:
(a) Can you please show me how to do this?
If you choose a totally new career path, then, the chances are that you shall land an entry level job and shall start with a small salary or a small internship pay. You shall get the joy and experience of learning on the job, but the cost is that you shall be paid peanuts for it. Some of students from previous batch got into jobs that pay about $5000 for a 4 month internship - that is just $1250 a month (for the internship part)
(b) Lemme show you how it is done!
If you choose a career path based on your previous experience, then, the chances are that you shall land a job contract straight away and shall start with a high salary. Some of the students from the previous batch got into full time jobs straight away after completion of their studies, even before getting their MBA degrees! These students shall make more than $7000 a month + benefits + perks. These students bring in immense experience and expertise to the companies where they shall be working.
So the choice is yours:
- learn new skills but make less money or
- continue using existing skill sets and make more money?
Of course, it is important to continually learn new skills at work and through out life. And I am a huge fan of multi tasking and multiple expertise. But at some point, we have to decide how to steer our careers. Remember that saying "Luck / Success is what happens when preparation meets opportunity!"
Cheers!
Gerry.
The pressure is on! Having fun learning new concepts :)
Currently doing the Spring term of MBA. Taking 2 courses with 2 classes per week per subject. There are 2 chapters covered per class on average and things are moving at a pretty fast pace. We have already written the mid term tests for these two subjects !!! Another 3 weeks and we shall be DONE with these 2 courses - Economics & Accounting.
Happy that I have learnt a lot of new concepts. I feel greatly empowered and enlightened! I feel that I can now run the world with my business knowledge, ha ha. Its good that we are having fun with our subjects. The new class is amazing. So may bright students. I feel blessed to be part of this MBA program. 3 cheers to Ted Rogers School of Management and its awesome students and faculty!!!
Happy that I have learnt a lot of new concepts. I feel greatly empowered and enlightened! I feel that I can now run the world with my business knowledge, ha ha. Its good that we are having fun with our subjects. The new class is amazing. So may bright students. I feel blessed to be part of this MBA program. 3 cheers to Ted Rogers School of Management and its awesome students and faculty!!!
Love your subjects (and they shall love you back :)
My teacher in high school used to say 1 simple sentence with regards to study of books: "Love your subjects and they shall love you back". That is so very true!
What you sow, so you reap. Putting in efforts certainly pays off. Spending more time with textbooks is directly proportional to amount of knowledge gained and info retained. The problem is how to find these hours. There are only 24 hours in a day! I guess this is where the concept of LEAN comes in - maximizing time, energy and money for the pursuit of studies and avoiding activities that do not directly contribute to the furtherment of education and knowledge.
What you sow, so you reap. Putting in efforts certainly pays off. Spending more time with textbooks is directly proportional to amount of knowledge gained and info retained. The problem is how to find these hours. There are only 24 hours in a day! I guess this is where the concept of LEAN comes in - maximizing time, energy and money for the pursuit of studies and avoiding activities that do not directly contribute to the furtherment of education and knowledge.
General (Business) Knowledge
Yes, it is important to have General Knowledge - to read newspapers, surf the internet blogs and news sites. But it is also important to have general business knowledge. Profs advise that it is useful to read the business section of newspapers like the Globe & Mail, Toronto Star & National Post.
I like spending time in bookstores. Books excite me tremendously. I could spend hours and hours in the Chapters Indigo book store. When in the business section, I feel that I could spend all day there, looking at various books and try and capture the essence of the knowledge offered by the books.
Someday, I hope to be able to dedicate more time to studying these business books. One good idea is to visit the Chapters Indigo book stores, pull up a chair, sit down and scan the books. Doing this from time to time gives a good idea about what are the current topics of interest and what is hot in the market right now. For example, a few years ago "Blue Ocean Strategy" had become a big deal and these books were selling like hot cakes. There is always such revolutionary theories coming out once in a while and MBA students love such new concepts.
I like spending time in bookstores. Books excite me tremendously. I could spend hours and hours in the Chapters Indigo book store. When in the business section, I feel that I could spend all day there, looking at various books and try and capture the essence of the knowledge offered by the books.
Someday, I hope to be able to dedicate more time to studying these business books. One good idea is to visit the Chapters Indigo book stores, pull up a chair, sit down and scan the books. Doing this from time to time gives a good idea about what are the current topics of interest and what is hot in the market right now. For example, a few years ago "Blue Ocean Strategy" had become a big deal and these books were selling like hot cakes. There is always such revolutionary theories coming out once in a while and MBA students love such new concepts.
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