Business School in 2021
Published January 12, 2021
Business school often gets some criticism - if you want to be an entrepreneur, learn technical skills and pick up the business side on the job, goes the advice. I know this because I've been told it by parents, buddies and even some professors here at Sauder. But there's much more to business school than most people realize.
Business school is worth it because it helps you learn how to think like an entrepreneur
No matter what you do in your career, you'll always have to think like an entrepreneur. Say you work for a large company and you're given the task of developing a new product. The good news is you're a big company so you have a lot of resources at your disposal that you can use to build the product you're after. But in order to get the resources you need, you'll have to sell your idea to the higher-ups. You'll have to convince them that the product you want to build is the best possible solution to the problem at hand. You'll have to convince them that it's worth spending the money on. And then you'll have to convince them that it will pay off in the long run.
In the private sector, the higher-ups are the shareholders. They want to see the company or project achieve success. You have to prove to them that you can make that happen.
In the public sector, it's not shareholders but taxpayers. They want to see public money being used effectively. You'll have to prove to them that the product you're proposing will create a better value for the public sector than other options.
To do that, you need to develop a plan that will help you achieve your desired results. You have to have a vision and you have to know how to get there. This is what business school can help you with.
It helps you develop the skills you need to succeed in your career
In business school, you'll learn how to think and act like an entrepreneur. But that's just the beginning. You'll also learn a lot of other skills that will help you succeed in your career.
One of the most important skills is how to sell. A lot of people think of selling as something that's done by salespeople. But selling can be done in a number of different ways. To do it well, you have to know how people think. You have to know how they make decisions. You have to know how they want to see themselves. In other words, you have to know how to speak to them. Business school teaches you all of these things. It teaches you how to set goals and achieve them. It teaches you how to deal with people and get them to work with you. It teaches you how to negotiate to get what you want.
Another important skill is how to write. In business school, you'll have to write a lot of papers. The good news is you'll learn how to do it well. You'll learn how to present your thoughts in a clear and precise way. You'll learn how to get to the point. You'll learn how to make your point without rambling on and on. Business school teaches you how to get your point across in a way that people will understand and respond to.
You learn how to work with others
Most people work in groups. And no matter what you do, you'll have to work with other people to get things done. In business school, you'll learn how to work with others. You'll learn how to lead a team and how to follow. You'll learn how to work well with others and contribute to group projects. You'll learn how to communicate clearly and effectively. You'll learn how to work with people who are different from you and people who have different interests and goals.
Your analytical skills will also flourish. The more you can analyze a situation, the better you can solve it. In business school, you'll have to solve a number of different problems using a number of different analytical tools. From the very beginning, you'll be taught how to think like an entrepreneur and how to solve problems creatively. You'll learn a number of analytical tools that will help you solve problems. You'll learn how to use spreadsheets, databases and even computer coding to solve problems.
Prepare for the future
In the past, it was enough to have a college degree to get ahead in your career. The problem is that the world is changing very quickly. The average shelf life of a business is about 15 years. This means that the skills you learn in college may not be enough to get you ahead in your career. In an increasingly competitive business world, you have to be able to adapt to a changing environment. You have to be able to learn new skills and adapt to new strategies when necessary. And to do that, you need to have a flexible, creative mindset. This is what business school will give you.