Recounting the LSE edge

I had never really considered doing an MBA, but for the last few years I had hit a saturation point as far as the kind of work I was doing was concerned. After having spent close to 16 years in information technology and working with some of the best companies I sensed monotony at work. I was looking for a quantum difference. This, I felt, was critical to hone myself for the fast-changing and challenging decade ahead.

This along with the fact that many of the top executives that I came across seemed to have an MBA from a reputed university got me interested. Also the inference that after doing an MBA people have seen significant growth in their careers, got me to do further analysis.

As I started researching, I found that leaving a job and doing a full-time MBA was not for me. This made me exclude all full-time courses. For me, the only option was an executive MBA. I went through famous schools including Wharton and Kellogg, HKUST and Columbia, but finally chose Trium as it worked best for me. The fundamental reasons would be the global curriculum, focus on entrepreneurship, qualified faculty and diverse student community. In September, I completed my first module at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK, and look forward to my stints at Stern School of Business, New York University, USA and HEC, Paris.

One morning, everyone arrived at LSE dressed in formal executive suits ready to begin the formal MBA Journey. We started Day One expecting the standard lecture on the agenda for the next two weeks about the campus and professors. We were pleasantly surprised by the next event that was in store for us.

After a very quick introduction we were broken into multiple teams. We were then shown a film by Charlie Chaplin. We were also informed that he was such a genius that he could create a film in just a few hours in some instances. We were then asked to do something that most of us had never done before, ie, create a movie from scratch. It was great fun where we had to divide our team into multiple roles like story writing, cameraman, director-actor, etc. This was very ably supported by a professional movie producer who along with her team had come in from France to guide and support us. This exercise helped executives forget the formality which gets ingrained when you move around in three-piece suits and attend meetings most of the times.

From the next day we started on our formal journey in which we had deep dive sessions in many areas but some of my favorites were sessions in politics and economics, evidence-based decision-making and WTO.

I was thoroughly surprised to see how Professor Robert Faulkner (who teaches at LSE) went ahead and decently dissected the economics and wove around the politics with excellent examples and statistics to back it up. Another round on emerging markets and I was convinced that just by having stayed in India does not imply a person really understands the economics and the global impact, and that there is a huge interest, data and understanding of the economics of the country outside it.

The other session which was a complete eye opener was on how to work based on evidence by Professor Matt Mulford. This seemingly simple issue is critically important for any person to be able to take correct decisions. I cannot close this without giving credit to the excellence in negotiations required at WTO — how individual countries campaign to get their economic policies pushed, behind-the-scene diplomacy and direct or indirect retaliation results from Prof Gary Sampson.

The module finally ended with a formal dinner reception at House of Lords. All of us returned to our respective countries with cherished memories and this is just the beginning.

— piyush.sa@gmail.com