Happy December + AFter-MBA Poem

Wow! What a ride! If you had asked me in November 2019, when I was registering for classes for my upcoming first semester of my MBA program, what predictions I had for the world while I attended school, I would not have guessed widespread pandemic, global upheaval and supply chain disruption, and long-needed collective action for social justice and change. Yet, here we are, two years later, my program is done and I know I'm as transformed as this world I live in. 

I feel a deep sense of satisfaction and pride that I kept the contract with myself. I had declared sometime in late 2018 or early 2019 that I was ready to attempt my MBA. Initially, I was expecting it to take me closer to two and a half years and, I'm relieved to have finished in two. It was not two years without tears or worries or frustrations. The material was challenging as was my pace. 

I feel a deep sense of gratitude for my program. I believe the courses I took were extremely useful and applicable. My professors typically chose up-to-date books with relevant looks at our rapidly evolving environments. We were given challenging and appropriate assignments that I could translate into my day-job. We were charged to think beyond our anecdotal experiences and put on our research caps for validity and reliability of our hypotheses. I got to study operations and statistical process control, true strategic marketing, and the latest research in human resources and organizational development. I got to put my mind together with my fantastic classmates as we analyzed and summarized Friedman and Porter's arguments, as we dug into and actually practiced negotiation and ethics. 

Because my program was small. I got to know the 15-20 folks who were repeatedly in my courses. I feel connected to my graduating cohort even though we took 75% of our program online. I'm grateful to the university for acknowledging that online doesn't have to be boring or uniform. It can be adaptive and real and foster a sense of connection when done well. 

I'm so grateful to the numerous individuals whose support, encouragement, commiseration, and shoulders-to-cry-on made completing my MBA possible. You know who you are <3. 

And finally, I leave you with a poem I wrote today while reflecting on my learning journey. If there is anything out there you're thinking of doing, do it! There is beauty in transformation, my butterflies.