Blonde MBADocumenting the life of a blonde MBA student in sunny California. Maybe some blondes DO have brains!

Oops…with the start of school, it appears more time is elapsing between my blog posts, as I’m trying to fit in web time between hours spent on an extreme amount of assigned reading for the first 2 weeks of class…I’m still working on figuring out the best study schedule to stay on top of my regular stuff!

So…I am here in a MBA program that is turning out the decision makers of tomorrow’s business world, yet my first team for our group project could not decide on or even come up with a team name. Other teams in our class so far include “Team Cobra” (um, OK) and “Playdough Junkies”. One of our team members brought up a few…a) Happy Campers (b) The Mouseketeers (we have a Disney theme by the way) or (c) Blue Barracudas (some “Legends of the Hidden Temple” reference I don’t know about).

The rest of the team was not sure about these, but as the best the rest of us could come up with was “No Names” or “The Lamewads”, we figured we should take what we could get. “Blue Barracudas” it is then…we figured if we don’t know what it means, we should at least sound fierce!

~Blonde ‘Barracuda’ MBA

(P.S. OMG, I just found “Legends of the Hidden Temple” is some old Nickelodeon game show…I was in High School when it aired! I feel old…)

Blue Barracudas on game show...yikes!

I just completed my first day of MBA orientation…mixing and mingling with my soon-to-be fellow MBA classmates, going through the dreaded icebreakers (which weren’t too bad considering what they could have been), and going over the numerous opportunities that we would have even just starting out this first semester, from MBA mixers to our personal career campaigns to leadership opportunities.

I’m definitely excited to jump in and get back to school…in the case of the MBA, I think what you put into it is really what you get out of it. Coursework is just a small part of the program, as the networks you build and people you meet will most likely lead to your greatest success. 

That being said, some of my first priorities in getting started are

• to meet as many of my fellow classmates as I can so when it comes time to dividing into teams, a good effective team can form (as unfortunately learned in my undergrad, when I followed my friend into a group I didn’t know, and simply, we sucked); and
• to figure out what activities I want to get involved in that will be most beneficial to my overall experience and growth.

Example of a good team...my BFF's helping to put together my wedding flowers!

These sound easy enough, right? Here we go!

In watching the Beijing Olympic games these last few days, most individuals are there in pursuit of their own medal, but also have to work with the rest of the team within their sport for preliminaries, relays, and overall country dominance in the games. Most often there is a leader, someone who has most likely been through the games before and has some senior experience or word of advice, but in the case of the men’s USA gymnastics team, there were many rookies and just as many leaders. As they showed the team in a huddle, each proclaiming their own words of motivation, I wondered who could actually listen as they all seemed to be talking at once?

I’ve often been party to this in the boardroom, when there are too many ‘cooks in the kitchen,’ all trying to lead and effectively not accomplishing anything. In pursuing a MBA in a competitive program, you must assume that everyone is as accomplished, ambitious, competitive, and smart as you, and is working to hone their leadership skills…why else would they be there? I’m about to take a personality test as required for my first day of orientation and I wonder what I will find out about myself, my strengths and weaknesses? I’m obviously there to work on my leadership skills, but there must be a balance between leading and listening to others on your team.

I’ll let you know my personality test results when I’m done and I’m sure my observations on the team environment in the MBA program. In the meantime, check out the blog of Steve Churm, President of Churm Media here in Orange County, on ocmetrobusiness.com…he’s at the Beijing Olympic games right now and blogging about the awesome experience!

Enjoy! ~ Blonde MBA leader
(P.S. below are some pics of my first trip to Beijing, about 9 years ago…the Beijing Olympic games are bringing back some of the memories, but not the skinny high school body *sigh*!)

Great Wall of China, circa 1999

Temple of Heaven, Beijing

Last Friday was my last day of work and I didn’t get a chance to say anything about it before we left for Arizona. While I am SO GLAD to be done with that job and will not miss ‘working’ per se (at least not 9-5), I WILL miss the people I worked with. Most jobs are probably 10-20% actual work, 80-90% dealing with people, (depending on your industry of course). It doesn’t matter how well you can perform in a job if you can’t ‘play well with others’ and be a strong part of the team. 

That said, I was able to work with a strong team of office support staff. Unfortunately undervalued by management and the institution we worked for, nothing would get done without this team. I hope each of them are able to find the job satisfaction and growth they deserve, and beyond that, I hope to keep in touch with them as friends!

Blonde MBA